View Of Consciousness Research Articles

Local wakefulness-like activity of layer 5 cortex under general anaesthesia.

Consciousness, defined as being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings, is characteristic of normal waking life and typically is lost during sleep and general anaesthesia. The traditional view of consciousness as a global brain state has evolved toward a more sophisticated interplay between global and local states, with the presence of local sleep in the awake brain and local wakefulness in the sleeping brain. However, this interplay is not clear for general anaesthesia, where loss of consciousness was recently suggested to be associated with a global state of brain-widesynchrony that selectively involves layer 5 cortical pyramidal neurons across sensory, motor and associative areas. According to this global view, local wakefulness of layer 5 cortex should be incompatible with deep anaesthesia, a hypothesis that deserves to be scrutinised with causal manipulations. Here, we show that unilateral chemogenetic activation of layer 5 pyramidal neurons in the sensorimotor cortex of isoflurane-anaesthetised mice induces a local state transition from slow-wave activity to tonic firing in the transfected hemisphere. This wakefulness-like activity dramatically disrupts layer 5 interhemispheric synchrony with mirror-image locations in the contralateral hemisphere, but does not reduce the level of unconsciousness under deep anaesthesia, nor in the transitions to/from anaesthesia. Global layer 5synchrony may thus be a sufficient condition for anaesthesia-induced unconsciousness, but is not a necessary one, at least under isoflurane anaesthesia. Local wakefulness-like activity of layer 5 cortex can be induced and maintained under deep anaesthesia, encouraging further investigation into the local vs. global aspects of anaesthesia-induced unconsciousness. KEY POINTS: The neural correlates of consciousness have evolved from global brain states to a nuanced interplay between global and local states, evident in terms of local sleep in awake brains and local wakefulness in sleeping brains. The concept of local wakefulness remains unclear for general anaesthesia, where the loss of consciousness has been recently suggested to involve brain-wide synchrony of layer 5 cortical neurons. We found that local wakefulness-like activity of layer 5 cortical can be chemogenetically induced in anaesthetised mice without affecting the depth of anaesthesia or the transitions to and from unconsciousness. Global layer 5synchrony may thus be a sufficient but not necessary feature for the unconsciousness induced by general anaesthesia. Local wakefulness-like activity of layer 5 neurons is compatible with general anaesthesia, thus promoting further investigation into the local vs. global aspects of anaesthesia-induced unconsciousness.

Classical Indian Vitalism Found in the Abhidhamma as an Approach to the Hard Problem of Consciousness: Problems and Perspectives

Currently, vitalism stands as a discredited theory in the Western empirical sciences. However, the Indian analytical traditions, specifically the Jaina, Bauddha, Sankhya-Yoga, and the Vedanta, unanimously propose a vital energy “prana” or “jivitindriya” to bridge the explanatory gap between internal conscious states and physical states in the body. The philosophical development of vitalism both in the East and West follows independent and different trajectories. In this article, the view of consciousness as a transient internal state (found in the Abhidhamma) and the modes of its interaction with physical states is critically examined. An attempt is made to find some parallels between the classical Abhidhamma model of consciousness and modern biophysical studies. How the model arose from meditative observation and the status of vital energy prana in mediating the interaction between internal and physical states, is discussed. The article ends by noting the application of these concepts in a therapy found in the Ayurvedic system of medicine.

Inferring Consciousness in Phylogenetically Distant Organisms.

The neural dynamics of subjectivity (NDS) approach to the biological explanation of consciousness is outlined and applied to the problem of inferring consciousness in animals phylogenetically distant from ourselves. The NDS approach holds that consciousness or felt experience is characteristic of systems whose nervous systems have been shaped to realize subjectivity through a combination of network interactions and large-scale dynamic patterns. Features of the vertebrate brain architecture that figure in other accounts of the biology of consciousness are viewed as inessential. Deep phylogenetic branchings in the animal kingdom occurred before the evolution of complex behavior, cognition, and sensing. These capacities arose independently in brain architectures that differ widely across arthropods, vertebrates, and cephalopods, but with conservation of large-scale dynamic patterns of a kind that have an apparent link to felt experience in humans. An evolutionary perspective also motivates a strongly gradualist view of consciousness; a simple distinction between conscious and nonconscious animals will probably be replaced with a view that admits differences of degree, perhaps on many dimensions.

Советское прошлое как миф и повестка

The article attempts to look at the theme of the Soviet past through the lenses of the political myth making. According to the starting premise of the study, any ideology from the point of view of mass consciousness is first and foremost a set of myths. At the same time, the article assumes that myths are most effective when they remain implicit and impact mass consciousness by implication, rather than directly. When explicated, myths are subject to intensive criticism and become less persuasive for a significant part of the audience. The author states that during almost the whole post-Soviet period, the topic of the Soviet past was present in the inter-party discussion more in the background and therefore acted mainly like mythology. The discussion around it largely resulted in the confrontation between the communists and the rest of the political spectrum (“communists against everyone”). In 1993—2003, that confrontation had a significant impact on mass political consciousness and occupied at least second place in its importance. Since the 2010s, this confrontation has been replaced by another one e.g., “everyone against the liberals”, which also manifested in the discussion on the issues of the Soviet past. Bearing the imprint of the imperial-patriotic mythology, the new confrontation was not clearly explicit, and at the level of the political agenda it was camouflaged by the theme of the Soviet past. The transformation of the latter from a “myth” into an “agenda” put Soviet mythology under the fire of criticism, diverting attention from the imperial-patriotic mythology.

The Ethical Implications of Illusionism

Illusionism is a revisionary view of consciousness, which denies the existence of the phenomenal properties traditionally thought to render experience conscious. The view has theoretical attractions, but some think it also has objectionable ethical implications. They take illusionists to be denying the existence of consciousness itself, or at least of the thing that gives consciousness its ethical value, and thus as undermining our established ethical attitudes. This article responds to this objection. I argue that, properly understood, illusionism neither denies the existence of consciousness nor entails that consciousness does not ground ethical value. It merely offers a different account of what consciousness is and why it grounds ethical value. The article goes on to argue that the theoretical revision proposed by illusionists does have some indirect implications for our ethical attitudes but that these are wholly attractive and progressive ones. The illusionist perspective on consciousness promises to make ethical decision making easier and to extend the scope of our ethical concern. Illusionism is good news.

The Dilemma and Solution of Academic Ethics Construction for Graduate Students under the Three States of Consciousness View

Currently, relevant departments in China attach great importance to the construction of academic ethics for graduate students. At the same time, their expectations and requirements for graduate academic ethics are also increasing. However, incidents of graduate students violating academic ethical standards have occurred from time to time. It can be seen that the construction of academic ethics for graduate students still has a long way to go. The three states of consciousness view, as a three-dimensional comprehensive educational concept, takes consciousness forms, consciousness ecology and consciousness mentality as entry points. In addition, it conducts a comprehensive analysis of education from three dimensions, that is to say, macro, meso and micro. The construction of academic ethics for graduate students is also an important component of graduate education. Based on these understandings above-mentioned, this article applies the concept of the three states of consciousness to research on the construction of academic ethics for graduate students, providing some theoretical reflections on the difficulties and solutions of graduate academic ethics construction.

A Cat of One’s Own: The Woman Writer and the Feline Companion in Emily of New Moon

Using an animal studies lens, this essay analyzes the role of cats and kittens in Emily of New Moon and draws connections to the solitary path of the female writer. The literary representation of cats gives us a human-mediated view of animal experience and consciousness, inviting us to reflect on the kinds of stories that are told about animals.

A philosophical and technical view of artificial consciousness

<p>The article reflects various approaches of philosophy and programming to methods for solving the technical problem of creating and software implementation of artificial consciousness (AC). Various purposes of creation and basic approaches to determining the nature of AC are described. To solve the problem of creating an AC, an architecture is proposed that includes ten levels, starting from the basic level of collecting and systematizing information about the external world and ending with the upper level of influence on it, agreed with the person and the level of decision-making. The features of the delimitation of functions and the procedure for interaction between a person and an AC are considered in detail. In conclusion, the most important, from a programmer’s point of view, properties that characterize artificial consciousness are given.</p>

An Ecofeminist Interpretation of As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying, published in 1930, one of William Faulkner’s best works, depicts Addie Bundren’s burial journey to Jefferson. Faulkner told a thought-provoking story of how Bundren suffered and endured trials of flood and fire. Critics have commented extensively on this novel, especially regarding its multiple points of view and stream of consciousness. Ecofeminism combines ecology and feminist literary criticism that originated in the 1970s, emphasizes biocentrism and biodiversity, and rejects the oppression of both women and nature. As I Lay Dying is rich in descriptions of patriarchy, nature, and women, so I adopt an ecofeminist approach to interpret the novel from these perspectives and explore the ecofeminist thought and consciousness embodied in the novel.

Doing and Knowing

Abstract A naturalistic view of consciousness depends on a naturalistic view of agency, which draws a distinction between things just happening and things doing things. Agents depend on control, which depends on information used by agents to anticipate outcomes, so agents must situate themselves in time, with a distinction between past, present and future.

Stronger Than Yesterday: Investigating Peoples' Experiences of View Strengthening on Social Media

ABSTRACTPolarization of views (known as ideological polarization) is one of the greatest societal challenges of our time, potentially sewing distrust and hate among individuals and communities and threatening to undermine the fabric of democracy. Divisive issues such as abortion and gun control are ever‐present and can drive issue polarization, and even affective polarization—a disdain for ‘the other side,’ which can further divide society. Social media has been flagged as a breeding ground for polarized views, with private groups and personalized algorithms facilitating self‐creation of echo chambers that may lead to polarization. While there is prior research on the technological influences on view strengthening, scant Human‐centered research exists and most of it has focused on view change in general, rather than view strengthening specifically. To investigate peoples' experiences of view strengthening on social media, we interviewed 10 people who recently strengthened their views on important topics. While some took steps to avoid creating echo chambers (e.g., by seeking out opposing views), others intentionally created them to allow their views to strengthen without interference. These findings have important implications for designing social media platforms that support careful and conscious view strengthening while mitigating against the risk of information manipulation.

Perceptual Awareness Occurs Along a Graded Continuum: No Evidence of All-or-None Failures in Continuous Reproduction Tasks.

Does sensory information reach conscious awareness in a discrete, all-or-nothing manner or a gradual, continuous manner? To answer this question, we examined behavioral performance across four different paradigms that manipulate visual awareness: the attentional blink, backward masking, the Sperling iconic memory paradigm, and retro-cuing. We then asked how well we could account for participants' (N = 112 adults) behavior using a signal detection framework that factors in psychophysical scaling to model participants' responses along a single continuum. We found that this model easily accounted for the data from each of these diverse paradigms. Moreover, we reanalyzed the data from prior studies that had posited a discrete view of perceptual awareness and found that our continuous signal detection model outperformed the models that had been used to support an all-or-nothing view of consciousness. This set of data is consistent with the idea that conscious awareness occurs along a graded continuum.

The Inconceivability Argument

This paper develops and defends a new argument against physicalist views of consciousness: the inconceivability argument. The argument has two main premises. First, it is not (ideally, positively) conceivable that phenomenal truths are grounded in physical truths. (For example, one cannot positively conceive of a situation in which someone has a vivid experience of pink wholly in virtue of the movements of colorless, insentient atoms.) Second, (ideal, positive) inconceivability is a guide to falsity. I attempt to show that the inconceivability argument enjoys a significant advantage over the more familiar conceivability argument. One can reasonably endorse the inconceivability argument without endorsing the conceivability argument, but one cannot reasonably endorse the conceivability argument without also endorsing the inconceivability argument.

A New View of Consciousness: Understanding It as a Pattern Recognition Signal of the Brain

A New View of Consciousness: Understanding It as a Pattern Recognition Signal of the Brain

A biphasic relational approach to the evolution of human consciousness

Background/objectiveHuman consciousness is arguably unique, and its features are hard to explain. Continuous and discrete accounts of consciousness are commonly viewed as incompatible, but both have limitations. Continuous accounts cannot readily account for what appears to be unique about human consciousness; discrete accounts have a hard time explaining how human consciousness could have evolved. The present position paper shows how both continuous and discontinuously elements can be combined. MethodA biphasic model is constructed by unifying complex systems theory, the evolution of symbolic reasoning as a relational extension of human cooperation, and evolutionary science. The application of this approach to modern views of consciousness is then explored. ResultsOur analysis suggests that human consciousness may be viewed as a discontinuous event, that emerged from continuous foundations. This biphasic account contains processes that can be targeted clinically. For example, developmentally delayed children with problems in consciousness may be helped by targeting the processes the present account suggests are important at different levels of complexity. ConclusionsThis biphasic relational approach fits with the evolutionary record and with data on human cognitive development. It may be useful in guiding clinical intervention.

Unveiling The Dream: The New Frontiers of Dream Technology and Radical Rest

This article situates the meeting points of dream tech and the radical rest movement, centering on Black creative and community practices to contextualize the emergence of dream tech in academic research labs, tech startups, consumer markets, and artistic incubations. The article describes the rise of the Radical Rest movement, led by Black activists and artists, in response to the need to reclaim sleep and dreams from colonial agendas and capitalist systems of oppression. This movement has developed parallel to the rapid growth of sleep technology, offering new products for sleep-deprived consumers of the global North. The next frontier of this new multibillion-dollar industry is dream neurotech—technology that directly interfaces with the dreaming mind. The article introduces dream tech by unearthing a largely forgotten dream that shaped the trajectory of modern Western science, a trajectory that is contrasted with views about consciousness in sleep espoused by classical Indian philosophers. With this historical and global context for understanding how sleep and dreams are measured and quantified, the article then historicizes racial sleep inequities in the U.S. to frame how systematic oppression continues to have adverse effects on the sleep health of Black Americans. The article examines the aims of commercial dream tech, discerning agendas and assumptions that reverberate with the Cartesian dualism underlying Western scientific views of dreams, selfhood, and consciousness. These views will be complicated by the practices and values of Black activists and artists in the contemporary Radical Rest movement. Their work uplifts physical and emotional rest as a powerful site for healing trauma and resisting the oppressive vectors of white supremacy and capitalism.

On the Ideological Quality Requirements of Higher Vocational College Students in the New Era from the Perspective of Overall National Overall Security

In the new era of China’s development for higher vocational college students have new quality development requirements, especially in terms of ideological quality, college students in the new era are required to have patriotic feelings and practical action, correct overall view of world development, and conscious view of global ecological environment protection. At a higher vocational college in Anhui province for two months investigation and study of the topic, through the data analysis found that some problems existing in the college students in the new era of ideological quality development: some college students of level of concern for domestic event and domestic security is not high, and the patriotic practical actions need to be further improved; Some of them have a shallow understanding of the international situation, and the ideological quality of a few college students does not meet the requirements of The times; College students have nearly for ecological environment protection is the lack of action. It puts forward the corresponding countermeasures and Suggestions: Guiding the college students pay attention to the national development, and to the right side of thinking, actively safeguard national interests; Guiding the youth to learn to distinguish right from wrong, and form a correct global vision and the soul of thought; Through the education of higher vocational college students to learn ecological security concept of national overall security, enhance their awareness of environmental protection, ecological security and the ability to consciously maintain ecological security.

Kantian Conscientious Objection: A Reply to Kennett.

In her paper, "The cost of conscience: Kant on conscience and conscientious objection," Jeanette Kennett argues that a Kantian view of conscientious objection in medicine would bar physicians from refusing to perform certain practices based on conscience. I offer a response in the following manner: First, I reconstruct her main argument; second, I present a more accurate picture of Kant's view of conscience. I conclude that, given a Kantian framework, a physician should be allowed to refuse to perform practices that break the moral law and, thus, refuse practices that violate her conscience.

Репродуктивная культура как актуальное направление современных гендерных исследований

The article continues the series of publications devoted to the problem of conceptualization of reproductive culture within the framework of modern gender studies. The work is based on the principle of fragmentation and typologization of masculine and feminine reproductive cultural strategies. Within the framework of the publication, author analyses the main conceptual scientific points that actualize significant issues of masculine and feminine reproductive experience. The importance of the study of reproductive culture for the humanities in general and for gender studies is emphasized. The expediency of the reproductive vector within the framework of modern genderology is justified explicitly and implicitly by the inherent hierarchical categorization in relation to a particular masculine or feminine reproductive scenario from the point of view of public consciousness. The prospects of traditional and innovative masculine and feminine reproductive strategies within the framework of a gender approach to the reproductive culture of modern Russian society are analyzed.

Judge the Evil of Human Nature: “Moll Flanders” and Defoe's View of Conscience

“Moll Flanders” is a companion piece of Daniel Defoe's “Robinson Crusoe”, known as Defoe's "female version of spiritual autobiography". For a long time, Defoe researchers have focused on the "individual self-sufficiency" and social problems in his works. However, the research on Defoe's moral outlook is slightly fragmented, involving money and morality, Christian morality, national morality and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to start from the text of “Moll Flanders” to deeply explore the core of Defoe's moral thought, reveal Moll Flanders' crime and punishment under the threshold of his view of conscience, and analyze the birth context of Defoe's view of conscience, which mainly includes the following aspects: The relationship between Moll Flanders and the spirit of early capitalism, the lack of national welfare policy and Moll Flanders’s moral crisis, Moll Flanders' criminal predicament and spiritual redemption. Finally, this paper aims to explore the similarities and differences between Defoe's view of conscience and David Hume's and Adam Smith's view of conscience in the context of moral philosophy, to reveal the continuity and development of the ideas, to provide the thought resources from Defoe for the modern society. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the behavior and moral concepts of the heroine Moll Flanders in Defoe's work and to explain how the social values and ideas implied in it reflect Defoe's notion of conscience. The significance of this paper is to explore the moral philosophy of Defoe's work and the connection between his conscience and Hume and Adam Smith.