PS267 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Shining Light, Cortical Blindness, Eye Tracking
Document Summary
Antonio damasio and stephen pinker tried to conceptualize consciousness. Damasio: distinction between two categories: core consciousness and extended consciousness. Core consciousness = like awareness (alive, awake, alert, conscious, in the here and now) Even your dog could qualify for this; present in many organisms. Extended consciousness = where there"s a breaking point between people and other organisms. Depends on build-up of autobiographical self from memories and expected future experiences very unique to each individual. Hard to imagine other organisms are able to do this (maybe bonobos). A lot of extinct organism related to humans most likely could do this. By itself, not hugely interesting; no consciousness. However, you need this structure for other structures to function. Reticular formation = related to core consciousness. Spans a lot of the brain stem. Arousal + sleep/waking cycles = function of reticular formation. Been a topic of discussion between philosophers and scientists for ages. Product of neurons functioning is the mind.
