Where Does Consciousness Come From?
As your eyes scan this article, you are aware of that you are
reading it on a computer screen, where you are as well as who you are; in other
words; you perceive the self and your surroundings. But where does this ability
to know come from? This is a question that scientists and philosophers alike
have pondered for many years; with any number of hypotheses to account for conscious
awareness in humans. One question they asked is whether awareness is the result
of changes in brain connections themselves or whether it is a product of
activity transversing the brain.
While answering these questions has been a difficult task, in a study that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, some scientists believe they may be a step closer to
understanding how consciousness awareness occurs with what is considered to be
a discovery of overall changes within the connectedness of different areas
during awareness; which, according to researchers, challenges the assumption
that consciousness results from local changes in neutral action.
This study seems to show that biological theories of
awareness can be divided into two main groups: those
that suggest that conscious perception is maintained by specific, regional
changes in brain activity, and those who propose that awareness is the result
of broad changes in neural signaling throughout the brain.
Scientists
in Vanderbelt University conducted a study in order hoping to show support for
either theory. In this experiment, they wanted to see how connectivity between different
areas of the brain were related to awareness. Using MRIs, researchers examined
the brains of 24 volunteers by using a
technique that measured brain activity by marking changes in blood
oxygenation. Volunteers were asked to look for a disk that would appear on a
screen; then asked how confident they were that they saw the disk; those who
stated they were confident they saw the disk were considered “aware,” as others
fell into the unaware category, after comparing each group to look for changes
in brain activity as well as looking at how different areas of the brain
communicated during awareness.
As
researchers saw broad increase in activity between brain networks, they felt it
suggested that conscious awareness is not specific to one area; but rather is
spread across, with neural activity traversing the brain; giving credence to a
global connectivity with awareness being more of a “whole brain” endeavor. “We
know there are numerous brain networks that control distinct cognitive
functions such as attention, language and control, with each node of a network
densely interconnected with other nodes of the same network, but not with other
networks,” lead researcher Réne Marois said in a news release “Consciousness appears to break down the modularity of
these networks.”
Next: Consciousness and the "Big Bang" How are we related to the Universe?For further reading:
Photo: Human Anatomy & Physiology, Solomon & Davis, 1983, pg. 286
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