PSYA01H3 Lecture Notes - Ebbinghaus Illusion, Donald O. Hebb, Optical Illusion
Document Summary
Donald hebb: consciousness, a variable state, is a present activity of thought processes in some form and thought itself is an activity of the brain. We must not confuse consciousness with complex mental processes like perceiving, remembering, or thinking. Consciousness is the awareness of these processes not the processes themselves. Therefore consciousness is a characteristics that exists in addition to functions such as perception, memory, thinking, planning. Think of consciousness as a by product of a characteristic of the brain that has a useful function. The factors of natural selection that favour this other characteristic would also be the factors that favour consciousness. Consciousness does not refer to a thing; consciousness does not exist; instead humans have to ability to be conscious. It is a private experience that cannot be shared directly. We conclude that other people are conscious because they are like us and because they tell us that they too are conscious.
