What is the mind? Is it our soul?
You guys have the mistaken impression that consciousness is matter or energy, or at least analogous to matter or energy, and therefore there is some law analogous to "conservation of matter" or "conservation of energy" that demands that the "total amount" of consciousness cannot be reduced.Where does consciousness go when a person is in coma?
His conscious awareness is still within him, but not projected on the colorful canvas of mind.
according to science, everything is made of "matter" and our mind/consciousness is a part of the universe, it's not supernatural, beyond nature... that's why they believe that consciousness disappears when the body dies.
but it might as well be the opposite: everything is inside our mind. like dreams.
It's not quite accurate to say that his conscious "awareness" is within him when he's unconscious. That was an unfortunate and misleading choice of words. "Awareness" is a cognitive state that only exists when we're conscious.So why do we talk about a person in a coma as being unconscious ? Hit potentyial consciousness is within but not functioning because of damage to his brain. It's as somple as that/
It's not quite accurate to say that his conscious "awareness" is within him when he's unconscious. That was an unfortunate and misleading choice of words. "Awareness" is a cognitive state that only exists when we're conscious.
What should have been said is that all of the memories, ideas, feelings, etc. that we use in conscious life are safely stored when we're asleep or otherwise unconscious. But we are not aware of them during that time. We become aware of all of that when we wake up or regain consciousness.
Dreaming is a unique state (which apparently all mammals and birds experience) during which we have some limited cognitive ability and access to some of those stored memories, ideas, etc. We become aware of some of those things, but we remain unaware of the external environment.
Since in almost all instances of dreaming, we have no ability to control the development of the experience, not even the words that we imagine speaking, dreaming is generally regarded as an unconscious process.
Almost all. But surely you've experienced dreams where you suddenly become aware that you're dreaming?Since in almost all instances of dreaming, we have no ability to control the development of the experience, not even the words that we imagine speaking, dreaming is generally regarded as an unconscious process.
Fraggle Rocker, I'd contest your point that dreaming is always "unconscious." Lucid dreaming is a pretty well tested phenomenon, and dreamers can even communicate with the outside world via prearranged signals.
Google/PubMed "Time required for motor activity in lucid dreams," for one great example study (I'd post the link but the forums won't let me until I have 20 posts).
The experiment had subjects do various motor tasks and cause eye movements (looking from side to side repeatedly) before beginning a task in-dream, and upon finishing that task in-dream. The eye movements performed in the dream world were established to show up on an electrooculogram, presumably since the eyes aren't subject to the same cholinergic suppression as the descending spinal pathways (hence the well known rapid eye movements).
Studies of dreamers, in fact, has led many to conclude that consciousness is an entirely internal process which is just modulated by sensory input while awake, but could persist otherwise (thus dreams occur when consciousness is being generated internally, but sensory input is disregarded).
I would imagine that are conscious mind is a direct product of the materials that make up our body, powered by energy...with out either consciousness is impossible.
For instance, the major observation from the dreaming studies was that slow wave sleep was characterized by slower oscillations that were coherent over the whole brain, where as both dreaming and being awake were characterized by faster oscillations that linked specific areas' activity temporally--proposed as a solution to the binding problem.
This isn't new stuff. I think Christof Koch ended up deciding that the 40hz theory was off a few years ago, but I may not remember correctly. I'll go look it up later.
I'm really bad about remembering dreams, but I know that many people have had this experience. I'm no professional expert and I qualified all of my controversial assertions:Almost all. But surely you've experienced dreams where you suddenly become aware that you're dreaming?
Dreaming is a unique state. . . . during which we have some limited cognitive ability. . . . but we remain unaware of the external environment. . . . In almost all instances of dreaming, we have no ability to control the development of the experience,
You're hardly the only person to contest this. What I said was:Fraggle Rocker, I'd contest your point that dreaming is always "unconscious." Lucid dreaming is a pretty well tested phenomenon, and dreamers can even communicate with the outside world via prearranged signals.
Dreaming is generally regarded as an unconscious process.
Duh? What else could it be?frisco said:Studies of dreamers, in fact, has led many to conclude that consciousness is an entirely internal process. . . .
Sure. People are always in the news after being in a coma for a year and then repeating the things people were saying when they thought they couldn't hear.Those declared Brain dead living in VEG. state are said to experience consciousness, scientist argue it isnt possible, others say it is very possible.