Defining consciousness

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Phenomenological Description ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
The Common

I review the problem of how to define consciousness. I suggest that rather than continuing that debate, we should turn to phenomenological description of experience to discover the common aspects of consciousness. In this way we can say that consciousness is characterized by intentionality, phenomenality, and non-reflective self-awareness. I explore this last characteristic in detail and I argue against higher-order representational theories of consciousness, with reference to blindsight and motor control processes.

Action and the Problem of Free Will

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Pure Consciousness ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Traditional Notion ◽  
Intentional Actions ◽  
Neuronal Processes

This chapter examines the concept of free will as it is discussed in philosophy and neuroscience. It reviews reflective and perceptual theories of agency and argues against neuro-centric conclusions about the illusory nature of free will. Experiments conducted by Benjamin Libet suggest that neural activations prior to conscious awareness predict specific actions. This has been taken as evidence that challenges the traditional notion of free will. Libet’s experiments, arguably, are about motor control processes on an elementary timescale and say nothing about freely willed intentional actions embedded in personal and social contexts that involve longer-term, narrative timescales. One implication of this interpretation is that enactivism is not a form of simple behaviorism. Agency is not a thing reducible to elementary neuronal processes; nor is it an idea or a pure consciousness. It rather involves a structure of complex relations.

scholarly journals N-soliton solutions and the Hirota conditions in (1 + 1)-dimensions

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Xiu Ma
Keyword(s):  
Common Factors ◽  
Soliton Solutions ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Kdv Equations ◽  
The Common ◽  
Bilinear Formulation ◽  
Generalized Kdv Equations ◽  
Hirota Bilinear

Abstract We analyze N-soliton solutions and explore the Hirota N-soliton conditions for scalar (1 + 1)-dimensional equations, within the Hirota bilinear formulation. An algorithm to verify the Hirota conditions is proposed by factoring out common factors out of the Hirota function in N wave vectors and comparing degrees of the involved polynomials containing the common factors. Applications to a class of generalized KdV equations and a class of generalized higher-order KdV equations are made, together with all proofs of the existence of N-soliton solutions to all equations in two classes.

Understanding the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Combined With Aromatherapy, to Enhance the Wellbeing of MCAST ICS Lecturers: A Narrative Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-39
Author(s):  
Nadia Cauchi
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Narrative Study ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Inquiry Approach ◽  
The Common ◽  
Mindful Meditation ◽  
The Individual

This study looks at the effects of the combined practice of mindful meditation and aromatherapy on the wellbeing of MCAST ICS lecturers, potentially providing resources that can help them deal with various stressors. Each practice is supported with literature underlining its effects towards a holistic wellbeing. The researcher uses a qualitative narrative inquiry approach to draw meaning and understanding out of the participants’ experiences. Three MCAST ICS lecturers participated in this study. Their background in health care enables them to relate better with the benefits of mindful meditation and aromatherapy. The research design of this study consists of four stages; a pre-session held with the three participants, weekly mindful meditation sessions for six weeks, individual interviews with each participant, followed by a focus group. Three of the six sessions included aromatherapy and a mindful journal was kept throughout the sessions. The analysis format could either develop as an analysis of narrative or narrative of analysis. In this study both formats were used, however, due to the word count limit only the analysis of narrative is seen. The researcher elicited whole segments from the individual transcripts to develop various themes. To examine the data for the emergent themes the researcher chose to use thematic narrative analysis as it focuses on the ‘told’ (Riessman 2008). In this case the ‘told’ is what helped identify the common patterns found across the narratives. As themes started to emerge, whenever possible the researcher used the MAXQDA software to facilitate the process. Mindful meditation was found to lead to a series of events that enhance self-awareness, thus enhancing holistic wellbeing and positively effecting the individual’s approach towards work and family. This can be achieved because mindful meditation has the potential to enhance one’s social skills, soft skills, and emotional intelligence. Furthermore, combining aromatherapy with mindful meditation was found to positively enhance one’s experience. However, it was not the only decisive factor since the ambience was also an influencer.

Localized Cognitive Functions

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Language Function ◽  
Constructional Apraxia

Chapter 3 discusses aspects of normal and abnormal language function, followed by a brief description of disorders of calculation (acalculia) and of higher-order motor control (apraxia). The second half of the chapter deals with disturbed right hemisphere functions: neglect phenomena, dressing and constructional apraxia, and complex visuo-perceptual deficits (agnosias).

scholarly journals A network underlying human higher-order motor control: Insights from machine learning-based lesion-behaviour mapping in apraxia of pantomime

Cortex ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 121 ◽  
pp. 308-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Sperber ◽  
Daniel Wiesen ◽  
Georg Goldenberg ◽  
Hans-Otto Karnath
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Motor Control ◽  
Higher Order

scholarly journals The Attractors of the Common Differential Operator Are Determined by Hyperbolic and Lacunary Functions

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Wolf Bayer
Keyword(s):  
Differential Operator ◽  
Taylor Series ◽  
Analytic Functions ◽  
Chaotic Behavior ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Limit Behavior ◽  
Hyperbolic Functions ◽  
Limit Sets ◽  
The Common

For analytic functions, we investigate the limit behavior of the sequence of their derivatives by means of Taylor series, the attractors are characterized by -limit sets. We describe four different classes of functions, with empty, finite, countable, and uncountable attractors. The paper reveals that Erdelyiéshyperbolic functions of higher orderandlacunary functionsplay an important role for orderly or chaotic behavior. Examples are given for the sake of confirmation.

scholarly journals The network underlying human higher-order motor control: Insights from machine learning-based lesion-behaviour mapping in apraxia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Sperber ◽  
Daniel Wiesen ◽  
Georg Goldenberg ◽  
Hans-Otto Karnath
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Canonical Correlations ◽  
Neurological Patients ◽  
Left Hemisphere Stroke

AbstractNeurological patients with apraxia of pantomime provide us with a unique opportunity to study the neural correlates of higher-order motor function. Previous studies using lesion-behaviour mapping methods led to inconsistent anatomical results, reporting various lesion locations to induce this symptom. We hypothesised that the inconsistencies might arise from limitations of mass-univariate lesion-behaviour mapping approaches if our ability to pantomime the use of objects is organised in a brain network. Thus, we investigated apraxia of pantomime by using multivariate lesion behaviour mapping based both on support vector regression and sparse canonical correlations in a sample of 130 left-hemisphere stroke patients. Both multivariate methods identified multiple areas to underlie high-order motor control, including inferior parietal lobule, precentral gyrus, posterior parts of middle temporal cortex, and insula. Further, long association fibres were affected, such as the superior longitudinal fascicle, inferior occipito-frontal fascicle, uncinated fascicle, and superior occipito-frontal fascicle. The findings thus not only underline the benefits of multivariate lesion-behaviour mapping in brain networks, but they also uncovered that higher-order motor control indeed is based on a common anatomical network.

scholarly journals Cotard syndrome, self-awareness, and I-concepts

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (I) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Rocco Joseph Gennaro
Keyword(s):  
Mental State ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Conscious State ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Internal Organs ◽  
Thought Insertion ◽  
Previous Discussion ◽  
Delusional Belief ◽  
Conscious Mental State

Various psychopathologies of self-awareness, such as somatoparaphrenia and thought insertion in schizophrenia, might seem to threaten the viability of the higher-order thought (HOT) theory of consciousness since it requires a HOT about one’s own mental state to accompany every conscious state. The HOT theory of consciousness says that what makes a mental state a conscious mental state is that there is a HOT to the effect that “I am in mental state M.” I have argued in previous work that a HOT theorist can adequately respond to this concern with respect to somatoparaphrenia and thought insertion. There is also Cotard syndrome which is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which people hold the delusional belief that they are dead, do not exist, or have lost their blood or internal organs. In this paper, I argue that HOT theory has nothing to fear from it either and can consistently account for what happens in such unusual cases. I analyze Cotard syndrome in light of my previous discussion of somatoparaphrenia and thought insertion, and argue that HOT theory can provide a somewhat analogous account without the worry of inconsistency. It is crucial to recognize that there are multiple “self-concepts” and levels of HOTs which can help to provide a more nuanced explanation. With regard to the connection between consciousness and self-consciousness, it is proposed that Cotard patients are indeed capable of having some “I-thoughts” about their bodies and mental states.

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