76 FR 64124 - Implementation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-17

... Register notice (FRN) for public comment. The NRC's ADR Program is comprised of two entirely different sub... safety conscious work environment by facilitating timely and amicable resolution of discrimination concerns without resorting to prolonged litigation and unnecessary expenses. The second sub-program...

A theory of working memory without consciousness or sustained activity

PubMed Central

Trübutschek, Darinka; Marti, Sébastien; Ojeda, Andrés; King, Jean-Rémi; Mi, Yuanyuan; Tsodyks, Misha; Dehaene, Stanislas

2017-01-01

Working memory and conscious perception are thought to share similar brain mechanisms, yet recent reports of non-conscious working memory challenge this view. Combining visual masking with magnetoencephalography, we investigate the reality of non-conscious working memory and dissect its neural mechanisms. In a spatial delayed-response task, participants reported the location of a subjectively unseen target above chance-level after several seconds. Conscious perception and conscious working memory were characterized by similar signatures: a sustained desynchronization in the alpha/beta band over frontal cortex, and a decodable representation of target location in posterior sensors. During non-conscious working memory, such activity vanished. Our findings contradict models that identify working memory with sustained neural firing, but are compatible with recent proposals of ‘activity-silent’ working memory. We present a theoretical framework and simulations showing how slowly decaying synaptic changes allow cell assemblies to go dormant during the delay, yet be retrieved above chance-level after several seconds. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23871.001 PMID:28718763

On the quantum mechanics of consciousness, with application to anomalous phenomena

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jahn, Robert G.; Dunne, Brenda J.

1986-08-01

Theoretical explication of a growing body of empirical data on consciousness-related anomalous phenomena is unlikely to be achieved in terms of known physical processes. Rather, it will first be necessary to formulate the basic role of consciousness in the definition of reality before such anomalous experience can adequately be represented. This paper takes the position that reality is constituted only in the interaction of consciousness with its environment, and therefore that any scheme of conceptual organization developed to represent that reality must reflect the processes of consciousness as well as those of its environment. In this spirit, the concepts and formalisms of elementary quantum mechanics, as originally proposed to explain anomalous atomic-scale physical phenomena, are appropriated via metaphor to represent the general characteristics of consciousness interacting with any environment. More specifically, if consciousness is represented by a quantum mechanical wave function, and its environment by an appropriate potential profile, Schrödinger wave mechanics defines eigenfunctions and eigenvalues that can be associated with the cognitive and emotional experiences of that consciousness in that environment. To articulate this metaphor it is necessary to associate certain aspects of the formalism, such as the coordinate system, the quantum numbers, and even the metric itself, with various impressionistic descriptors of consciousness, such as its intensity, perspective, approach/avoidance attitude, balance between cognitive and emotional activity, and receptive/assertive disposition. With these established, a number of the generic features of quantum mechanics, such as the wave/particle duality, and the uncertainty, indistinguishability, and exclusion principles, display metaphoric relevance to familiar individual and collective experiences. Similarly, such traditional quantum theoretic exercises as the central force field and atomic structure, covalent molecular bonds, barrier penetration, and quantum statistical collective behavior become useful analogies for representation of a variety of consciousness experiences, both normal and anomalous, and for the design of experiments to study these systematically.

76 FR 55136 - Implementation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-06

... the NRC's ADR program. The ADR program is comprised of two entirely different sub- programs; the first... tends to preserve relationships and generally promotes a safety conscious work environment by... litigation and unnecessary expenses. The second sub-program (commonly referred to as ``Post-Investigation ADR...

Job satisfaction in relation to energy resource consciousness and perceptions of energy utilization in selected Illinois manufacturing firms

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haynes, T.S.

1986-01-01

This study was developed through a synthesis and review of literature and research related to the current status of job satisfaction, energy resources, and perceptions of how energy is utilized in the manufacturing work environment. This synthesis and review revolved around several proven contributing factors of job satisfaction, such as age, education, and challenge from work itself. Quality of work life programs and their components are discussed in relation to their impact on job satisfaction. The nature of energy resource utilization is traced back through history with an emphasis on the limitations of current resources and options for the future.more » The review highlights the current debate over what should be the future path of energy resource development. The concept of satisfaction of human needs is reviewed and related to job satisfaction and energy resources. The purpose of this research study was to contribute to the understanding of how perceptions of energy resources relate to job satisfaction. Results of the study indicated that there were no significant differences between an individual's energy resource consciousness and perceptions of energy utilization in the work place, energy resource consciousness and job satisfaction, and job satisfaction and perceptions of energy utilization in the workplace.« less

On the Role of Working Memory in Spatial Contextual Cueing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Travis, Susan L.; Mattingley, Jason B.; Dux, Paul E.

2013-01-01

The human visual system receives more information than can be consciously processed. To overcome this capacity limit, we employ attentional mechanisms to prioritize task-relevant (target) information over less relevant (distractor) information. Regularities in the environment can facilitate the allocation of attention, as demonstrated by the…

Public Acceptability in the UK and USA of Nudging to Reduce Obesity: The Example of Reducing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Consumption.

PubMed

Petrescu, Dragos C; Hollands, Gareth J; Couturier, Dominique-Laurent; Ng, Yin-Lam; Marteau, Theresa M

2016-01-01

"Nudging"-modifying environments to change people's behavior, often without their conscious awareness-can improve health, but public acceptability of nudging is largely unknown. We compared acceptability, in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), of government interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Three nudge interventions were assessed: i. reducing portion Size, ii. changing the Shape of the drink containers, iii. changing their shelf Location; alongside two traditional interventions: iv. Taxation and v. Education. We also tested the hypothesis that describing interventions as working through non-conscious processes decreases their acceptability. Predictors of acceptability, including perceived intervention effectiveness, were also assessed. Participants (n = 1093 UK and n = 1082 USA) received a description of each of the five interventions which varied, by randomisation, in how the interventions were said to affect behaviour: (a) via conscious processes; (b) via non-conscious processes; or (c) no process stated. Acceptability was derived from responses to three items. Levels of acceptability for four of the five interventions did not differ significantly between the UK and US samples; reducing portion size was less accepted by the US sample. Within each country, Education was rated as most acceptable and Taxation the least, with the three nudge-type interventions rated between these. There was no evidence to support the study hypothesis: i.e. stating that interventions worked via non-conscious processes did not decrease their acceptability in either the UK or US samples. Perceived effectiveness was the strongest predictor of acceptability for all interventions across the two samples. In conclusion, nudge interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages seem similarly acceptable in the UK and USA, being more acceptable than taxation, but less acceptable than education. Contrary to prediction, we found no evidence that highlighting the non-conscious processes by which nudge interventions may work decreases their acceptability. However, highlighting the effectiveness of all interventions has the potential to increase their acceptability.

Progress in machine consciousness.

PubMed

Gamez, David

2008-09-01

This paper is a review of the work that has been carried out on machine consciousness. A clear overview of this diverse field is achieved by breaking machine consciousness down into four different areas, which are used to understand its aims, discuss its relationship with other subjects and outline the work that has been carried out so far. The criticisms that have been made against machine consciousness are also covered, along with its potential benefits, and the work that has been done on analysing systems for signs of consciousness. Some of the social and ethical issues raised by machine consciousness are examined at the end of the paper.

49 CFR 225.19 - Primary groups of accidents/incidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... or loss of consciousness of any person; or (iii) Loss of consciousness; (3) Injury to a railroad... result in death, medical treatment, loss of consciousness, a day away from work, restricted work activity... consciousness; or (iv) Medical treatment; (5) Significant illness of a railroad employee diagnosed by a...

The rise of machine consciousness: studying consciousness with computational models.

PubMed

Reggia, James A

2013-08-01

Efforts to create computational models of consciousness have accelerated over the last two decades, creating a field that has become known as artificial consciousness. There have been two main motivations for this controversial work: to develop a better scientific understanding of the nature of human/animal consciousness and to produce machines that genuinely exhibit conscious awareness. This review begins by briefly explaining some of the concepts and terminology used by investigators working on machine consciousness, and summarizes key neurobiological correlates of human consciousness that are particularly relevant to past computational studies. Models of consciousness developed over the last twenty years are then surveyed. These models are largely found to fall into five categories based on the fundamental issue that their developers have selected as being most central to consciousness: a global workspace, information integration, an internal self-model, higher-level representations, or attention mechanisms. For each of these five categories, an overview of past work is given, a representative example is presented in some detail to illustrate the approach, and comments are provided on the contributions and limitations of the methodology. Three conclusions are offered about the state of the field based on this review: (1) computational modeling has become an effective and accepted methodology for the scientific study of consciousness, (2) existing computational models have successfully captured a number of neurobiological, cognitive, and behavioral correlates of conscious information processing as machine simulations, and (3) no existing approach to artificial consciousness has presented a compelling demonstration of phenomenal machine consciousness, or even clear evidence that artificial phenomenal consciousness will eventually be possible. The paper concludes by discussing the importance of continuing work in this area, considering the ethical issues it raises, and making predictions concerning future developments. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In Search of the Precious Commodity Time: How To Use and Abuse It.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burnstad, Helen

Time management is critical for effective leadership and productivity among community college chairs and deans. An organization that is more time conscious tends to be more productive and less stressful. Similarly, an organization's time management culture can provide ideas for improving productivity and the work environment. One model of time…

Literacy Cafe: Making Writing Authentic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniels, Erika

2007-01-01

The "Literacy Cafe," a celebration of genre study and student writing, offers students (and visitors!) a positive environment in which to engage in reading and discussion of writing without self-consciousness or fear of criticism. It works because students learn to recognize writing as a learning tool and a relevant, authentic skill in the real…

Creating Art Environments That Address Social Justice Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tremblay, Gail

2013-01-01

In this article, I examine strategies for teaching students to make socially conscious art using a variety of media that emphasizes installation work. I present issues of social justice in the contemporary art world and include concerns of censorship that artists sometimes confront. I offer examples of team taught coordinated studies programs…

Detecting and interpreting conscious experiences in behaviorally non-responsive patients.

PubMed

Naci, Lorina; Sinai, Leah; Owen, Adrian M

2017-01-15

Decoding the contents of consciousness from brain activity is one of the most challenging frontiers of cognitive neuroscience. The ability to interpret mental content without recourse to behavior is most relevant for understanding patients who may be demonstrably conscious, but entirely unable to speak or move willfully in any way, precluding any systematic investigation of their conscious experience. The lack of consistent behavioral responsivity engenders unique challenges to decoding any conscious experiences these patients may have solely based on their brain activity. For this reason, paradigms that have been successful in healthy individuals cannot serve to interpret conscious mental states in this patient group. Until recently, patient studies have used structured instructions to elicit willful modulation of brain activity according to command, in order to decode the presence of willful brain-based responses in this patient group. In recent work, we have used naturalistic paradigms, such as watching a movie or listening to an audio-story, to demonstrate that a common neural code supports conscious experiences in different individuals. Moreover, we have demonstrated that this code can be used to interpret the conscious experiences of a patient who had remained non-responsive for several years. This approach is easy to administer, brief, and does not require compliance with task instructions. Rather, it engages attention naturally through meaningful stimuli that are similar to the real-world sensory information in a patient's environment. Therefore, it may be particularly suited to probing consciousness and revealing residual brain function in highly impaired, acute, patients in a comatose state, thus helping to improve diagnostication and prognostication for this vulnerable patient group from the critical early stages of severe brain-injury. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Computational consciousness: building a self-preserving organism.

PubMed

Barros, Allan Kardec

2010-01-01

Consciousness has been a subject of crescent interest among the neuroscience community. However, building machine models of it is quite challenging, as it involves many characteristics and properties of the human brain which are poorly defined or are very abstract. Here I propose to use information theory (IT) to give a mathematical framework to understand consciousness. For this reason, I used the term "computational". This work is grounded on some recent results on the use of IT to understand how the cortex codes information, where redundancy reduction plays a fundamental role. Basically, I propose a system, here called "organism", whose strategy is to extract the maximal amount of information from the environment in order to survive. To highlight the proposed framework, I show a simple organism composed of a single neuron which adapts itself to the outside dynamics by taking into account its internal state, whose perception is understood here to be related to "feelings".

Paradox and Cross Purposes in Recent Work on Consciousness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Block, Ned

2001-01-01

Functionalists about consciousness identify consciousness with a role; physicalists identify consciousness with an implementer of that role. The global workspace theory of consciousness fits the functionalist perspective, but the physicalist sees consciousness as a biological phenomenon that implements global accessibility. (Author)

Exploring the Relations between Childhood Experiences in Nature and Young Adults' Environmental Attitudes and Behaviours

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broom, Catherine

2017-01-01

This article presents the findings of a research study with young adults who explored the connections between their early childhood experiences in nature and their attitudes and actions towards the environment in adulthood. Drawing on E. Wilson's (1984) work, environmental or ecological consciousness is theorised to connect to ecological identity…

[Attitude survey of radiological technologists toward qualification acquisition of licentiate and degrees in Mie prefecture].

PubMed

Nakanishi, Satoshi; Kamigiri, Akira; Yamada, Tsuyoshi; Nanba, Kazuyoshi; Kitano, Tokio; Ito, Morihiro

2011-01-01

We conducted a questionnaire consciousness survey concerning qualification acquisition of licentiate and degrees among 406 radiological technologists working for medical facility in Mie Prefecture. We employed a mail-back questionnaire method. Then we analyzed relationships between progressive purpose and gender, age, and membership of the Japanese Society of Radiological Technology (JSRT). Results derived note the most common licentiate the participants wanted to acquire was the license concerning emergency medical care. On the other hand, they had limited interest in radiation therapy, nuclear medicine areas and the working environment measurement expert class I. In conclusion, the results of this study revealed the present condition that the necessity of qualification acquisition of licentiate is not recognized incorrectly. In addition, there was a mountain of issues for working radiological technologists to attend graduate school to get degrees. It is important to utilize the results of this study to enlighten their consciousness for limited interest licentiate, and interest them in attending graduate schools.

Consciousness and the Prefrontal Parietal Network: Insights from Attention, Working Memory, and Chunking

PubMed Central

Bor, Daniel; Seth, Anil K.

2012-01-01

Consciousness has of late become a “hot topic” in neuroscience. Empirical work has centered on identifying potential neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs), with a converging view that the prefrontal parietal network (PPN) is closely associated with this process. Theoretical work has primarily sought to explain how informational properties of this cortical network could account for phenomenal properties of consciousness. However, both empirical and theoretical research has given less focus to the psychological features that may account for the NCCs. The PPN has also been heavily linked with cognitive processes, such as attention. We describe how this literature is under-appreciated in consciousness science, in part due to the increasingly entrenched assumption of a strong dissociation between attention and consciousness. We argue instead that there is more common ground between attention and consciousness than is usually emphasized: although objects can under certain circumstances be attended to in the absence of conscious access, attention as a content selection and boosting mechanism is an important and necessary aspect of consciousness. Like attention, working memory and executive control involve the interlinking of multiple mental objects and have also been closely associated with the PPN. We propose that this set of cognitive functions, in concert with attention, make up the core psychological components of consciousness. One related process, chunking, exploits logical or mnemonic redundancies in a dataset so that it can be recoded and a given task optimized. Chunking has been shown to activate PPN particularly robustly, even compared with other cognitively demanding tasks, such as working memory or mental arithmetic. It is therefore possible that chunking, as a tool to detect useful patterns within an integrated set of intensely processed (attended) information, has a central role to play in consciousness. Following on from this, we suggest that a key evolutionary purpose of consciousness may be to provide innovative solutions to complex or novel problems. PMID:22416238

Public Acceptability in the UK and USA of Nudging to Reduce Obesity: The Example of Reducing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Consumption

PubMed Central

Petrescu, Dragos C.; Hollands, Gareth J.; Couturier, Dominique-Laurent; Ng, Yin-Lam; Marteau, Theresa M.

2016-01-01

Background “Nudging”—modifying environments to change people’s behavior, often without their conscious awareness—can improve health, but public acceptability of nudging is largely unknown. Methods We compared acceptability, in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), of government interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Three nudge interventions were assessed: i. reducing portion Size, ii. changing the Shape of the drink containers, iii. changing their shelf Location; alongside two traditional interventions: iv. Taxation and v. Education. We also tested the hypothesis that describing interventions as working through non-conscious processes decreases their acceptability. Predictors of acceptability, including perceived intervention effectiveness, were also assessed. Participants (n = 1093 UK and n = 1082 USA) received a description of each of the five interventions which varied, by randomisation, in how the interventions were said to affect behaviour: (a) via conscious processes; (b) via non-conscious processes; or (c) no process stated. Acceptability was derived from responses to three items. Results Levels of acceptability for four of the five interventions did not differ significantly between the UK and US samples; reducing portion size was less accepted by the US sample. Within each country, Education was rated as most acceptable and Taxation the least, with the three nudge-type interventions rated between these. There was no evidence to support the study hypothesis: i.e. stating that interventions worked via non-conscious processes did not decrease their acceptability in either the UK or US samples. Perceived effectiveness was the strongest predictor of acceptability for all interventions across the two samples. Conclusion In conclusion, nudge interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages seem similarly acceptable in the UK and USA, being more acceptable than taxation, but less acceptable than education. Contrary to prediction, we found no evidence that highlighting the non-conscious processes by which nudge interventions may work decreases their acceptability. However, highlighting the effectiveness of all interventions has the potential to increase their acceptability. PMID:27276222

Stoic Behavior Hypothesis in Hint Seeking and Development of Reversi Learning Environment as Work Bench for Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miwa, Kazuhisa; Kojima, Kazuaki; Terai, Hitoshi

2014-01-01

Tutoring systems provide students with various types of on-demand and context-sensitive hints. Students are required to consciously adapt their help-seeking behavior, proactively seek help in some situations, and solve problems independently without supports in other situations. We define the latter behavior as stoic behavior in hint seeking. In…

H.W. Longfellow: A Poetical-Dwelling Poet of Ecological Wisdom from the Perspective of Eco-Criticism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xu, Jingcheng; Nangong, Meifang

2012-01-01

Among a minority of Longfellow's studies in China and abroad, there has even scarcely been one made from the perspective of eco-criticism. Eco-criticism aims at exploring the relation between literature and natural environment to find out the ecological wisdom in literary works so as to awaken the ecological consciousness of the contemporaries.…

Different effects of executive and visuospatial working memory on visual consciousness.

PubMed

De Loof, Esther; Poppe, Louise; Cleeremans, Axel; Gevers, Wim; Van Opstal, Filip

2015-11-01

Consciousness and working memory are two widely studied cognitive phenomena. Although they have been closely tied on a theoretical and neural level, empirical work that investigates their relation is largely lacking. In this study, the relationship between visual consciousness and different working memory components is investigated by using a dual-task paradigm. More specifically, while participants were performing a visual detection task to measure their visual awareness threshold, they had to concurrently perform either an executive or visuospatial working memory task. We hypothesized that visual consciousness would be hindered depending on the type and the size of the load in working memory. Results showed that maintaining visuospatial content in working memory hinders visual awareness, irrespective of the amount of information maintained. By contrast, the detection threshold was progressively affected under increasing executive load. Interestingly, increasing executive load had a generic effect on detection speed, calling into question whether its obstructing effect is specific to the visual awareness threshold. Together, these results indicate that visual consciousness depends differently on executive and visuospatial working memory.

Contextualizing How Undergraduate Students Develop toward Critical Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Kari Brooke

2017-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how interactions between undergraduate students and their learning environments influenced their development toward critical consciousness. Critical consciousness represents a complex way of making meaning of one's self in relation to one's social world that is necessary for meeting the…

Consciousness Lost and Found: Subjective Experiences in an Unresponsive State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noreika, Valdas; Jylhankangas, Leila; Moro, Levente; Valli, Katja; Kaskinoro, Kimmo; Aantaa, Riku; Scheinin, Harry; Revonsuo, Antti

2011-01-01

Anesthetic-induced changes in the neural activity of the brain have been recently utilized as a research model to investigate the neural mechanisms of phenomenal consciousness. However, the anesthesiologic definition of consciousness as "responsiveness to the environment" seems to sidestep the possibility that an unresponsive individual may have…

Environmental Consciousness, Sustainability, and the Character of Philosophy of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonnett, Michael

2017-01-01

This paper argues that education itself, properly understood, is intimately concerned with an individual's being in the world, and therefore is ineluctably environmental. This is guaranteed by the ecstatic nature of consciousness. Furthermore, it is argued that a central dimension of this environment with which ecstatic human consciousness is…

Imaging neural signatures of consciousness: 'what', 'when', 'where' and 'how' does it work?

PubMed

Sergent, C; Naccache, L

2012-01-01

'What' do we call consciousness? 'When' and 'Where' in the brain do conscious states occur, and 'How' conscious processing and conscious access to a given content work? In the present paper, we present a non-exhaustive overview of each of these 4 major issues, we provide the reader with a brief description of the major difficulties related to these issues, we highlight the current theoretical points of debate, and we advocate for the explanatory power of the "global workspace" model of consciousness (Baars 1989; Dehaene and Naccache 2001; Dehaene, Changeux et al. 2006) which can accommodate for a fairly large proportion of current experimental findings, and which can be used to reinterpret apparent contradictory findings within a single theoretical framework. Most notably, we emphasize the crucial importance to distinguish genuine neural signatures of conscious access from neural events correlated with consciousness but occurring either before ('upstream') or after ('downstream').

Opposite Effects of Working Memory on Subjective Visibility and Priming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Loof, Esther; Verguts, Tom; Fias, Wim; Van Opstal, Filip

2013-01-01

Cognitive theories on consciousness propose a strong link between consciousness and working memory (WM). This link is also present at the neural level: Both consciousness and WM have been implicated in a prefrontal parietal network. However, the link remains empirically unexplored. The present study investigates the relation between consciousness…

Correlation changes in EEG, conditioned and behavioral reactions with various degrees of oxygen insufficiency

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agadzhanyan, N. A.; Zakharova, I. N.; Kalyuzhnyy, L. V.; Dvorzhak, I. I.; Moravek, M.; Tsmiral, Y. I.

1974-01-01

The dynamics of change in bioelectric activity of the brain during acute hypoxia are studied for the time that working capacity and active consciousness are preserved, and to establish the correlation between EEG changes and behavioral reactions under oxygen starvation. Changes in body functions and behavioral disturbances are related to the degree of oxygen saturation in the blood, to bioelectric activity of the brain, and to an increase in conditioned reflexes. The capacity for adequate reaction to external signals and for coordinated psychomotor activity after loss of consciousness returns to man after 30 seconds. Repeated effects of hypoxia produce changes in the physiological reactions of the body directed toward better adaptation to changing gaseous environments.

William James, Gustav Fechner, and Early Psychophysics

PubMed Central

Hawkins, Stephanie L.

2011-01-01

American psychologist and philosopher William James devoted the entirety of his career to exploring the nature of volition, as expressed by such phenomena as will, attention, and belief. As part of that endeavor, James’s unorthodox scientific pursuits, from his experiments with nitrous oxide and hallucinogenic drugs to his investigation of spiritualist mediums, represent his attempt to address the “hard problems” of consciousness for which his training in brain physiology and experimental psychology could not entirely account. As a student, James’s reading in chemistry and physics had sparked his interest in the concepts of energy and force, terms that he later deployed in his writing about consciousness and in his arguments against philosophical monism and scientific materialism, as he developed his “radically empiricist” ideas privileging discontinuity and plurality. Despite James’s long campaign against scientific materialism, he was, however, convinced of the existence of a naturalistic explanation for the more “wayward and fitful” aspects of mind, including transcendent experiences associated with hysteria, genius, and religious ecstasy. In this paper, I examine aspects of James’s thought that are still important for contemporary debates in psychology and neuroscience: his “transmission theory” of consciousness, his ideas on the “knowing of things together,” and, finally, the related concept of “the compounding of consciousness,” which postulates the theoretical possibility for individual entities within a conscious system of thought to “know” the thoughts of others within the system. Taken together, these ideas suggest that James, in spite of, or perhaps because of, his forays into metaphysics, was working toward a naturalistic understanding of consciousness, what I will term a “distributive model,” based on his understanding of consciousness as an “awareness” that interacts dynamically within, and in relation to, its environment. PMID:22016738

49 CFR 225.19 - Primary groups of accidents/incidents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... professional even if it does not result in death, medical treatment or loss of consciousness of any person; or (iii) Loss of consciousness; (3) Injury to a railroad employee that results in: (i) A day away from..., loss of consciousness, a day away from work, restricted work activity or job transfer of a railroad...

Discussion and theoretical summarization of the experimental data. [psychophysiology in human factors engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mileryan, Y. A.

1975-01-01

A summary of research on psychological factors that cause substantial changes in the reliability indicators of an operators work is followed by a conclusion that strong moral-volitional qualities are the basic factors that make the human behavior under conditions of stress effective; emotional subcortical subdominants affect a person's conscious organization and self control in a man machine environment.

Working Conditions and Career Parameters in the Educational Environment for Foreign Teachers of Languages in Japan: Conflict and Resolution, Discrimination, and Empowerment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shiozawa, Tadashi; And Others

1993-01-01

This paper seeks to identify invisible factors influencing language institutions in Japan that consciously or unconsciously treat non-Japanese teachers in a totally different way from the way they treat their Japanese counterparts. Among the factors are the social, organizational, and legal parameters surrounding non-Japanese teachers in Japan.…

The interpersonal work of dental conscious sedation: A qualitative analysis.

PubMed

Woolley, Stephen M; Chadwick, Barbara; Pugsley, Lesley

2017-08-01

Whilst there is a considerable body of literature examining the pharmacology of conscious sedation, the social tasks required to successfully provide conscious sedation have not been reported. This paper discusses data regarding the interpersonal work integral to effective conscious sedation provision, from a larger qualitative study exploring how patients and clinicians engage with secondary care conscious sedation provided within the UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 conscious sedation providers and nine patients within UK-based secondary care sedation settings. Digital audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim and subsequently analysed using a constant comparative method within NVivo Data Analysis Software. Four main themes of interpersonal work were reported by participants: displaying care, containing emotions, demonstrating competence and maximizing the effect. This study shows that performing conscious sedation requires more than technical delivery, and involves the projection of attributes in a literal "performance." The importance of managing outward emotional appearance reflects previous dental research. The need to manage outward appearance, and the emotional impact this has, is of relevance to all clinicians. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Walter Ong, Technology, and the Transformation of Consciousness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hassett, Michael J.

1996-01-01

Agrees with Walter Ong that technology can serve as a transformer of consciousness and, hence, of writing. Shows how technology can work dialectically with consciousness or thought. Discusses two of the potential implications of this dialectical view of the technology/consciousness/writing relationship. (TB)

The conjunction of non-consciously perceived object identity and spatial position can be retained during a visual short-term memory task.

PubMed

Bergström, Fredrik; Eriksson, Johan

2015-01-01

Although non-consciously perceived information has previously been assumed to be short-lived (< 500 ms), recent findings show that non-consciously perceived information can be maintained for at least 15 s. Such findings can be explained as working memory without a conscious experience of the information to be retained. However, whether or not working memory can operate on non-consciously perceived information remains controversial, and little is known about the nature of such non-conscious visual short-term memory (VSTM). Here we used continuous flash suppression to render stimuli non-conscious, to investigate the properties of non-consciously perceived representations in delayed match-to-sample (DMS) tasks. In Experiment I we used variable delays (5 or 15 s) and found that performance was significantly better than chance and was unaffected by delay duration, thereby replicating previous findings. In Experiment II the DMS task required participants to combine information of spatial position and object identity on a trial-by-trial basis to successfully solve the task. We found that the conjunction of spatial position and object identity was retained, thereby verifying that non-conscious, trial-specific information can be maintained for prospective use. We conclude that our results are consistent with a working memory interpretation, but that more research is needed to verify this interpretation.

Conscious Thought Is for Facilitating Social and Cultural Interactions: How Mental Simulations Serve the Animal-Culture Interface

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baumeister, Roy F.; Masicampo, E. J.

2010-01-01

Five empirically based critiques have undermined the standard assumption that conscious thought is primarily for input (obtaining information from the natural environment) or output (the direct control of action). Instead, we propose that conscious thought is for internal processing, to facilitate downstream interaction with the social and…

The importance of vertical buildings in perception and memorising the city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alihodzic, Rifat; Zupančič, Domen

2018-03-01

Being aware of the surrounding we live in, among other things, means establishing of spatial relationships between oneself and the environment, equally important as relationship between oneself and others. Environment consists of facilities and space. Space, "gift by itself", is defined by terrain topography, sky horizon, plants and animals. The architecture, as a profession, is interested in space created distinctively. Perception, as elementary process of consciousness and psychological life, deals with being conscious about something. In this case, physical structures that create a city. Psychological experience of urban environment is important factor having effect on perception, memorising and orientation in urban space. Gestalt psychology of perceiving is area applying to and significant for architecture either. The importance of vertical lies in its perceiving the gravitation, forming perceiving focus, landmark, for urban units and subunits to be memorised, creating spatial hierarchy and perception logics, remembering and orientation in space. This work analyses reasons for building upright with comparative analyses in their participation in space and on human psychology. This paper's purpose is to, using fundamental facts, show the importance of vertical buildings, not as a spatial use phenomenon, but also as significant phenomenon.

The Neurogenetic Correlates of Consciousness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grandy, John K.

2013-09-01

The neurogenetic correlates of consciousness (NgCC) is a new field of consciousness studies that focuses on genes that have an effect on or are involved in the continuum of neuron-based consciousness. A framework of consciousness based on the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) has already been established by Francis Crick and Christof Kock. In this work I propose that there are NgCC underlying the NCC which are both active during the conscious experience. So how are genes involved? There are two significant connections between DNA and neurons that are involved in the conscious experience. First, any brain system can be adversely affected by underlying genetic abnormalities which can be expressed in an individual at birth, in adulthood, or later in life. Second, the DNA molecule does not lay dormant while the neuron runs on autopilot. DNA is active in translating and transcribing RNA and protein products that are utilized during neuron functioning. Without these products being continuously produced by the DNA during a conscious experience the neurons would cease to function correctly and be rendered unable to provide a continuum of human consciousness. Consequently, in addition to NCC, NgCC must be factored in when appreciating a conscious event. In this work I will discuss and explain some NgCC citing several examples.

Environment Conscious, Biomorphic Ceramics from Pine and Jelutong Wood Precursors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Mrityunjay; Yee, Bo-Moon; Gray, Hugh R. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Environment conscious, biomorphic ceramics have been fabricated from pine and jelutong wood precursors. A carbonaceous preform is produced through wood pyrolysis and subsequent infiltration with oxides (ZrO2 sols) and liquid silicon to form ceramics. These biomorphic ceramics show a wide variety of microstructures, densities, and hardness behavior that are determined by the type of wood and infiltrants selected.

Narrating consciousness: language, media and embodiment.

PubMed

Hayles, N Katherine; Pulizzi, James J

2010-01-01

Although there has long been a division in studies of consciousness between a focus on neuronal processes or conversely an emphasis on the ruminations of a conscious self, the long-standing split between mechanism and meaning within the brain was mirrored by a split without, between information as a technical term and the meanings that messages are commonly thought to convey. How to heal this breach has posed formidable problems to researchers. Working through the history of cybernetics, one of the historical sites where Claude Shannon's information theory quickly became received doctrine, we argue that the cybernetic program as it developed through second-order cybernetics and autopoietic theory remains incomplete. In this article, we return to fundamental questions about pattern and noise, context and meaning, to forge connections between consciousness, narrative and media. The thrust of our project is to reintroduce context and narrative as crucial factors in the processes of meaning-making. The project proceeds along two fronts: advancing a theoretical framework within which context plays its property central role; and demonstrating the importance of context by analyzing two fictions, Stanislaw Lem's "His Master's Voice" and Joseph McElroy's "Plus," in which context has been deformed by being wrenched away from normal human environments, with radical consequences for processes of meaning-making.

Consciousness and stereoscopic environmental imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mason, Steve

2014-02-01

The question of human consciousness has intrigued philosophers and scientists for centuries: its nature, how we perceive our environment, how we think, our very awareness of thought and self. It has been suggested that stereoscopic vision is "a paradigm of how the mind works" 1 In depth perception, laws of perspective are known, reasoned, committed to memory from an early age; stereopsis, on the other hand, is a 3D experience governed by strict laws but actively joined within the brain―one sees it without explanation. How do we, in fact, process two different images into one 3D module within the mind and does an awareness of this process give us insight into the workings of our own consciousness? To translate this idea to imaging I employed ChromaDepth™ 3D glasses that rely on light being refracted in a different direction for each eye―colors of differing wavelengths appearing at varying distances from the viewer resulting in a 3D space. This involves neither calculation nor manufacture of two images or views. Environmental spatial imaging was developed―a 3D image was generated that literally surrounds the viewer. The image was printed and adhered to a semi-circular mount; the viewer then entered the interior to experience colored shapes suspended in a 3D space with an apparent loss of surface, or picture plane, upon which the image is rendered. By focusing our awareness through perception-based imaging we are able to gain a deeper understanding of how the brain works, how we see.

Development links psychological causes to evolutionary explanations.

PubMed

Fedyk, Mark; Kushnir, Tamar

2014-04-01

Our conscious abilities are learned in environments that have evolved to support them. This insight provides an alternative way of framing Huang & Bargh's (H&B's) provocative hypothesis. To understand the conflict between unconscious goals and consciousness, we can study the emergence of conscious thought and control in childhood. These developmental processes are also central to the best available current evolutionary theories.

Consciousness and Complexity during Unresponsiveness Induced by Propofol, Xenon, and Ketamine.

PubMed

Sarasso, Simone; Boly, Melanie; Napolitani, Martino; Gosseries, Olivia; Charland-Verville, Vanessa; Casarotto, Silvia; Rosanova, Mario; Casali, Adenauer Girardi; Brichant, Jean-Francois; Boveroux, Pierre; Rex, Steffen; Tononi, Giulio; Laureys, Steven; Massimini, Marcello

2015-12-07

A common endpoint of general anesthetics is behavioral unresponsiveness, which is commonly associated with loss of consciousness. However, subjects can become disconnected from the environment while still having conscious experiences, as demonstrated by sleep states associated with dreaming. Among anesthetics, ketamine is remarkable in that it induces profound unresponsiveness, but subjects often report "ketamine dreams" upon emergence from anesthesia. Here, we aimed at assessing consciousness during anesthesia with propofol, xenon, and ketamine, independent of behavioral responsiveness. To do so, in 18 healthy volunteers, we measured the complexity of the cortical response to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)--an approach that has proven helpful in assessing objectively the level of consciousness irrespective of sensory processing and motor responses. In addition, upon emergence from anesthesia, we collected reports about conscious experiences during unresponsiveness. Both frontal and parietal TMS elicited a low-amplitude electroencephalographic (EEG) slow wave corresponding to a local pattern of cortical activation with low complexity during propofol anesthesia, a high-amplitude EEG slow wave corresponding to a global, stereotypical pattern of cortical activation with low complexity during xenon anesthesia, and a wakefulness-like, complex spatiotemporal activation pattern during ketamine anesthesia. Crucially, participants reported no conscious experience after emergence from propofol and xenon anesthesia, whereas after ketamine they reported long, vivid dreams unrelated to the external environment. These results are relevant because they suggest that brain complexity may be sensitive to the presence of disconnected consciousness in subjects who are considered unconscious based on behavioral responses. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emotional consciousness: a neural model of how cognitive appraisal and somatic perception interact to produce qualitative experience.

PubMed

Thagard, Paul; Aubie, Brandon

2008-09-01

This paper proposes a theory of how conscious emotional experience is produced by the brain as the result of many interacting brain areas coordinated in working memory. These brain areas integrate perceptions of bodily states of an organism with cognitive appraisals of its current situation. Emotions are neural processes that represent the overall cognitive and somatic state of the organism. Conscious experience arises when neural representations achieve high activation as part of working memory. This theory explains numerous phenomena concerning emotional consciousness, including differentiation, integration, intensity, valence, and change.

Extending Gurwitsch's field theory of consciousness.

PubMed

Yoshimi, Jeff; Vinson, David W

2015-07-01

Aron Gurwitsch's theory of the structure and dynamics of consciousness has much to offer contemporary theorizing about consciousness and its basis in the embodied brain. On Gurwitsch's account, as we develop it, the field of consciousness has a variable sized focus or "theme" of attention surrounded by a structured periphery of inattentional contents. As the field evolves, its contents change their status, sometimes smoothly, sometimes abruptly. Inner thoughts, a sense of one's body, and the physical environment are dominant field contents. These ideas can be linked with (and help unify) contemporary theories about the neural correlates of consciousness, inattention, the small world structure of the brain, meta-stable dynamics, embodied cognition, and predictive coding in the brain. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A roadmap for the study of conscious audition and its neural basis

PubMed Central

Cariani, Peter A.; Gutschalk, Alexander

2017-01-01

How and which aspects of neural activity give rise to subjective perceptual experience—i.e. conscious perception—is a fundamental question of neuroscience. To date, the vast majority of work concerning this question has come from vision, raising the issue of generalizability of prominent resulting theories. However, recent work has begun to shed light on the neural processes subserving conscious perception in other modalities, particularly audition. Here, we outline a roadmap for the future study of conscious auditory perception and its neural basis, paying particular attention to how conscious perception emerges (and of which elements or groups of elements) in complex auditory scenes. We begin by discussing the functional role of the auditory system, particularly as it pertains to conscious perception. Next, we ask: what are the phenomena that need to be explained by a theory of conscious auditory perception? After surveying the available literature for candidate neural correlates, we end by considering the implications that such results have for a general theory of conscious perception as well as prominent outstanding questions and what approaches/techniques can best be used to address them. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Auditory and visual scene analysis’. PMID:28044014

Awareness Information with Speech and Sound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kainulainen, Anssi; Turunen, Markku; Hakulinen, Jaakko

In modern work environments, people have many tasks, collaborate with other people and use various equipment and services. Staying aware of other people, processes and situations in work environments is important. We naturally use our hearing to maintain this awareness; hearing other people talk let us know they are present, sounds of people walking, typing, etc. help us stay aware of overall situation almost without conscious effort. Such awareness can also be supported by technology; information can be presented with varying levels of subtlety ranging from loud warning signals to subtle cues, such as the sound of a hard drive indicating activity in a computer. Creating a computer system that supports our awareness of coworkers and overall situation in the workplace can increase our productivity and make the workplace a more social and enjoyable place.

Recovery of cortical effective connectivity and recovery of consciousness in vegetative patients

PubMed Central

Rosanova, Mario; Gosseries, Olivia; Casarotto, Silvia; Boly, Mélanie; Casali, Adenauer G.; Bruno, Marie-Aurélie; Mariotti, Maurizio; Boveroux, Pierre; Tononi, Giulio; Laureys, Steven

2012-01-01

Patients surviving severe brain injury may regain consciousness without recovering their ability to understand, move and communicate. Recently, electrophysiological and neuroimaging approaches, employing simple sensory stimulations or verbal commands, have proven useful in detecting higher order processing and, in some cases, in establishing some degree of communication in brain-injured subjects with severe impairment of motor function. To complement these approaches, it would be useful to develop methods to detect recovery of consciousness in ways that do not depend on the integrity of sensory pathways or on the subject's ability to comprehend or carry out instructions. As suggested by theoretical and experimental work, a key requirement for consciousness is that multiple, specialized cortical areas can engage in rapid causal interactions (effective connectivity). Here, we employ transcranial magnetic stimulation together with high-density electroencephalography to evaluate effective connectivity at the bedside of severely brain injured, non-communicating subjects. In patients in a vegetative state, who were open-eyed, behaviourally awake but unresponsive, transcranial magnetic stimulation triggered a simple, local response indicating a breakdown of effective connectivity, similar to the one previously observed in unconscious sleeping or anaesthetized subjects. In contrast, in minimally conscious patients, who showed fluctuating signs of non-reflexive behaviour, transcranial magnetic stimulation invariably triggered complex activations that sequentially involved distant cortical areas ipsi- and contralateral to the site of stimulation, similar to activations we recorded in locked-in, conscious patients. Longitudinal measurements performed in patients who gradually recovered consciousness revealed that this clear-cut change in effective connectivity could occur at an early stage, before reliable communication was established with the subject and before the spontaneous electroencephalogram showed significant modifications. Measurements of effective connectivity by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with electroencephalography can be performed at the bedside while by-passing subcortical afferent and efferent pathways, and without requiring active participation of subjects or language comprehension; hence, they offer an effective way to detect and track recovery of consciousness in brain-injured patients who are unable to exchange information with the external environment. PMID:22226806

Visual consciousness and bodily self-consciousness.

PubMed

Faivre, Nathan; Salomon, Roy; Blanke, Olaf

2015-02-01

In recent years, consciousness has become a central topic in cognitive neuroscience. This review focuses on the relation between bodily self-consciousness - the feeling of being a subject in a body - and visual consciousness - the subjective experience associated with the perception of visual signals. Findings from clinical and experimental work have shown that bodily self-consciousness depends on specific brain networks and is related to the integration of signals from multiple sensory modalities including vision. In addition, recent experiments have shown that visual consciousness is shaped by the body, including vestibular, tactile, proprioceptive, and motor signals. Several lines of evidence suggest reciprocal relationships between vision and bodily signals, indicating that a comprehensive understanding of visual and bodily self-consciousness requires studying them in unison.

Consciousness in dolphins? A review of recent evidence.

PubMed

Harley, Heidi E

2013-06-01

For millennia, dolphins have intrigued humans. Scientific study has confirmed that bottlenose dolphins are large-brained, highly social mammals with an extended developmental period, flexible cognitive capacities, and powerful acoustic abilities including a sophisticated echolocation system. These findings have led some to ask if dolphins experience aspects of consciousness. Recent investigations targeting self-recognition/self-awareness and metacognition, constructs tied to consciousness on some accounts, have analyzed the dolphin's ability to recognize itself in a mirror or on a video as well as to monitor its own knowledge in a perceptual categorization task. The current article reviews this work with dolphins and grapples with some of the challenges in designing, conducting, and interpreting these studies as well as with general issues related to studying consciousness in animals. The existing evidence does not provide a convincing case for consciousness in dolphins. For productive scientific work on consciousness in dolphins (and other animals including humans), we need clearer characterizations of consciousness, better methods for studying it, and appropriate paradigms for interpreting outcomes. A current focus on metamemory in animals offers promise for future discovery in this area.

Predictive Feedback and Conscious Visual Experience

PubMed Central

Panichello, Matthew F.; Cheung, Olivia S.; Bar, Moshe

2012-01-01

The human brain continuously generates predictions about the environment based on learned regularities in the world. These predictions actively and efficiently facilitate the interpretation of incoming sensory information. We review evidence that, as a result of this facilitation, predictions directly influence conscious experience. Specifically, we propose that predictions enable rapid generation of conscious percepts and bias the contents of awareness in situations of uncertainty. The possible neural mechanisms underlying this facilitation are discussed. PMID:23346068

The "serendipitous brain": Low expectancy and timing uncertainty of conscious events improve awareness of unconscious ones (evidence from the Attentional Blink).

PubMed

Lasaponara, Stefano; Dragone, Alessio; Lecce, Francesca; Di Russo, Francesco; Doricchi, Fabrizio

2015-10-01

To anticipate upcoming sensory events, the brain picks-up and exploits statistical regularities in the sensory environment. However, it is untested whether cumulated predictive knowledge about consciously seen stimuli improves the access to awareness of stimuli that usually go unseen. To explore this issue, we exploited the Attentional Blink (AB) effect, where conscious processing of a first visual target (T1) hinders detection of early following targets (T2). We report that timing uncertainty and low expectancy about the occurrence of consciously seen T2s presented outside the AB period, improve detection of early and otherwise often unseen T2s presented inside the AB. Recording of high-resolution Event Related Potentials (ERPs) and the study of their intracranial sources showed that the brain achieves this improvement by initially amplifying and extending the pre-conscious storage of T2s' traces signalled by the N2 wave originating in the extra-striate cortex. This enhancement in the N2 wave is followed by specific changes in the latency and amplitude of later components in the P3 wave (P3a and P3b), signalling access of the sensory trace to the network of parietal and frontal areas modulating conscious processing. These findings show that the interaction between conscious and unconscious processing changes adaptively as a function of the probabilistic properties of the sensory environment and that the combination of an active attentional state with loose probabilistic and temporal expectancies on forthcoming conscious events favors the emergence to awareness of otherwise unnoticed visual events. This likely provides an insight on the attentional conditions that predispose an active observer to unexpected "serendipitous" findings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-Conscious Emotional Activation Colors First Impressions: A Regulatory Role for Conscious Awareness

PubMed Central

Lapate, R.C.; Rokers, B.; Li, T.; Davidson, R.J.

2014-01-01

Emotions can color our attitudes toward unrelated objects in the environment. Prior evidence suggests that such emotional coloring is particularly strong when emotion-triggering information escapes conscious awareness. But, is emotional reactivity stronger following non-conscious versus conscious emotional provocation? Or does conscious processing specifically change the association between emotional reactivity and evaluations of unrelated objects? In this study, we independently indexed emotional reactivity and coloring as a function of emotional-stimulus awareness to disentangle these accounts. Specifically, we recorded skin conductance responses (SCRs) to spiders and fearful faces, along with subsequent preferences for novel neutral faces during visually aware and unaware states. Fearful faces increased SCRs comparably in both aware and unaware conditions. Yet, only when visual awareness was precluded did SCRs to fearful faces predict decreased likeability of neutral faces. These findings suggest a regulatory role for conscious awareness in breaking otherwise automatic associations between physiological reactivity and evaluative emotional responses. PMID:24317420

Consciousness: the radical plasticity thesis.

PubMed

Cleeremans, Axel

2008-01-01

In this chapter, I sketch a conceptual framework which takes it as a starting point that conscious and unconscious cognition are rooted in the same set of interacting learning mechanisms and representational systems. On this view, the extent to which a representation is conscious depends in a graded manner on properties such as its stability in time or its strength. Crucially, these properties are accrued as a result of learning, which is in turn viewed as a mandatory process that always accompanies information processing. From this perspective, consciousness is best characterized as involving (1) a graded continuum defined over "quality of representation", such that availability to consciousness and to cognitive control correlates with quality, and (2) the implication of systems of metarepresentations. A first implication of these ideas is that the main function of consciousness is to make flexible, adaptive control over behavior possible. A second, much more speculative implication, is that we learn to be conscious. This I call the "radical plasticity thesis"--the hypothesis that consciousness emerges in systems capable not only of learning about their environment, but also about their own internal representations of it.

Consciousness in dreams.

PubMed

Kahn, David; Gover, Tzivia

2010-01-01

This chapter argues that dreaming is an important state of consciousness and that it has many features that complement consciousness in the wake state. The chapter discusses consciousness in dreams and how it comes about. It discusses the changes that occur in the neuromodulatory environment and in the neuronal connectivity of the brain as we fall asleep and begin our night journeys. Dreams evolve from internal sources though the dream may look different than any one of these since something entirely new may emerge through self-organizing processes. The chapter also explores characteristics of dreaming consciousness such as acceptance of implausibility and how that might lead to creative insight. Examples of studies, which have shown creativity in dream sleep, are provided to illustrate important characteristics of dreaming consciousness. The chapter also discusses the dream body and how it relates to our consciousness while dreaming. Differences and similarities between wake, lucid, non-lucid and day dreaming are explored and the chapter concludes with a discussion on what we can learn from each of these expressions of consciousness. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The interplay of attention and consciousness in visual search, attentional blink and working memory consolidation

PubMed Central

Raffone, Antonino; Srinivasan, Narayanan; van Leeuwen, Cees

2014-01-01

Despite the acknowledged relationship between consciousness and attention, theories of the two have mostly been developed separately. Moreover, these theories have independently attempted to explain phenomena in which both are likely to interact, such as the attentional blink (AB) and working memory (WM) consolidation. Here, we make an effort to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, a theory of consciousness based on the notion of global workspace (GW) and, on the other, a synthesis of theories of visual attention. We offer a theory of attention and consciousness (TAC) that provides a unified neurocognitive account of several phenomena associated with visual search, AB and WM consolidation. TAC assumes multiple processing stages between early visual representation and conscious access, and extends the dynamics of the global neuronal workspace model to a visual attentional workspace (VAW). The VAW is controlled by executive routers, higher-order representations of executive operations in the GW, without the need for explicit saliency or priority maps. TAC leads to newly proposed mechanisms for illusory conjunctions, AB, inattentional blindness and WM capacity, and suggests neural correlates of phenomenal consciousness. Finally, the theory reconciles the all-or-none and graded perspectives on conscious representation. PMID:24639586

The interplay of attention and consciousness in visual search, attentional blink and working memory consolidation.

PubMed

Raffone, Antonino; Srinivasan, Narayanan; van Leeuwen, Cees

2014-05-05

Despite the acknowledged relationship between consciousness and attention, theories of the two have mostly been developed separately. Moreover, these theories have independently attempted to explain phenomena in which both are likely to interact, such as the attentional blink (AB) and working memory (WM) consolidation. Here, we make an effort to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, a theory of consciousness based on the notion of global workspace (GW) and, on the other, a synthesis of theories of visual attention. We offer a theory of attention and consciousness (TAC) that provides a unified neurocognitive account of several phenomena associated with visual search, AB and WM consolidation. TAC assumes multiple processing stages between early visual representation and conscious access, and extends the dynamics of the global neuronal workspace model to a visual attentional workspace (VAW). The VAW is controlled by executive routers, higher-order representations of executive operations in the GW, without the need for explicit saliency or priority maps. TAC leads to newly proposed mechanisms for illusory conjunctions, AB, inattentional blindness and WM capacity, and suggests neural correlates of phenomenal consciousness. Finally, the theory reconciles the all-or-none and graded perspectives on conscious representation.

Attention and working memory: two basic mechanisms for constructing temporal experiences

PubMed Central

Marchetti, Giorgio

2014-01-01

Various kinds of observations show that the ability of human beings to both consciously relive past events – episodic memory – and conceive future events, entails an active process of construction. This construction process also underpins many other important aspects of conscious human life, such as perceptions, language, and conscious thinking. This article provides an explanation of what makes the constructive process possible and how it works. The process mainly relies on attentional activity, which has a discrete and periodic nature, and working memory, which allows for the combination of discrete attentional operations. An explanation is also provided of how past and future events are constructed. PMID:25177305

Environment Conscious Ceramics (Ecoceramics): An Eco-Friendly Route to Advanced Ceramic Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, M.

2001-01-01

Environment conscious ceramics (Ecoceramics) are a new class of materials, which can be produced with renewable natural resources (wood) or wood wastes (wood sawdust). This technology provides an eco-friendly route to advanced ceramic materials. Ecoceramics have tailorable properties and behave like ceramic materials manufactured by conventional approaches. Silicon carbide-based ecoceramics have been fabricated by reactive infiltration of carbonaceous preforms by molten silicon or silicon-refractory metal alloys. The fabrication approach, microstructure, and mechanical properties of SiC-based ecoceramics are presented.

It May Be Simple, But It's Not Easy: Conscious Case Management.

PubMed

Treiger, Teresa M; Powell, Suzanne K

As in everything, case management has an evolutionary trajectory. Perhaps, the latest in case management is Conscious Case Management. In today's harried health care environment and with multiple "productivity" criteria to measure usefulness, case managers should not move to just finishing your daily responsibilities or trying to close the most cases; rather, a mindful approach, whether in listening or doing, will yield the best outcome. Instead of mindlessly completing tasks and checking off boxes, practice in-the-moment-and do so consciously.

Psychic reality and the nature of consciousness.

PubMed

Fonagy, Peter; Allison, Elizabeth

2016-02-01

In this paper we make the case for a psychoanalytically informed reconsideration of the phenomena of consciousness. Classically, following Freud, who viewed consciousness as merely a reflection or perception of unconscious mental activity, psychoanalysts have tended to regard a focus on conscious experience as potentially reductionistic and at risk of overlooking the mind's deeper structures. We describe the case of Mr K, a patient who experienced disturbances of consciousness that forced us to consider the possibility that the capacity to experience ourselves as conscious, intentional agents in a coherent world of objects is not merely a modality of perception but rather a maturational and developmental achievement that to some degree depends on adequate experiences of caregiving and is vital in ensuring the possibility of human communication. As such, it is a capacity that is vulnerable to experiences of neglect and maltreatment. We suggest that as well as compromising the capacity to think about one's own and other people's feelings, such experiences may have the further adverse consequence of leading the individual to experience and risk becoming conscious of certain dangerously maladaptive, destructive states of mind which in normal development remain inaccessible to conscious experience. Phenomenologically, such states of mind are experienced as fragmentation and disturbances of consciousness. We discuss the clinical implications of these reflections and the limitations they place on psychoanalytic work in the context of their impact on the work with Mr K. Copyright © 2015 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

The Oppositional Consciousness of Yolanda M. Lopez

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davalos, Karen Mary

2009-01-01

Based on an oral history interview, this essay examines the work of Yolanda M. Lopez, one of the most significant Chicana artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It posits that her work portrays feminist intersectionality and oppositional consciousness, predating the Chicana feminist literature on these paradigms. Documenting her…

The Living Classroom: Teaching and Collective Consciousness. SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bache, Christopher M.

2008-01-01

This pioneering work in teaching and transpersonal psychology explores the dynamics of collective consciousness in the classroom. Combining scientific research with personal accounts collected over thirty years, Christopher M. Bache examines the subtle influences that radiate invisibly around teachers as they work--unintended, cognitive resonances…

Working Women's Consciousness: Traditional or Oppositional?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costello, Cynthia

Based on an analysis of oral history interviews, this paper examines the events and consciousness surrounding a 1979 strike initiated by 53 female office employees of the Wisconsin Education Association (WEA) Insurance Trust. Faced with sex-discriminatory working conditions, the women at the Trust responded by initiating a strike. For many of the…

Understanding Brain and Consciousness?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vitiello, G.

This is a review of the dissipative quantum model of brain in the form of an extended abstract of recent works addressing to the question of the scientific understanding of brain and consciousness in the frame of quantum field theory. The intrinsic dissipative character of the brain dynamics appears to be a possible root of consciousness mechanisms.

Occupational Consciousness.

PubMed

Ramugondo, Elelwani L

2015-10-02

Occupational consciousness refers to ongoing awareness of the dynamics of hegemony and recognition that dominant practices are sustained through what people do every day, with implications for personal and collective health. The emergence of the construct in post-apartheid South Africa signifies the country's ongoing struggle with negotiating long-standing dynamics of power that were laid down during colonialism, and maintained under black majority rule. Consciousness, a key component of the new terminology, is framed from post-colonial perspectives - notably work by Biko and Fanon - and grounded in the philosophy of liberation, in order to draw attention to continuing unequal intersubjective relations that play out through human occupation. The paper also draws important links between occupational consciousness and other related constructs, namely occupational possibilities, occupational choice, occupational apartheid, and collective occupation. The use of the term 'consciousness' in sociology, with related or different meanings, is also explored. Occupational consciousness is then advanced as a critical notion that frames everyday doing as a potentially liberating response to oppressive social structures. This paper advances theorizing as a scholarly practice in occupational science, and could potentially expand inter or transdisciplinary work for critical conceptualizations of human occupation.

A framework for investigating animal consciousness.

PubMed

Droege, Paula; Braithwaite, Victoria A

2015-01-01

An assessment of consciousness in nonverbal animals requires a framework for research that extends testing methods beyond subjective report. This chapter proposes a working definition of consciousness in terms of temporal representation that provides the critical link between internal phenomenology and external behavior and neural structure. Our claim is that consciousness represents the present moment as distinct from the past and the future in order to flexibly respond to stimuli. We discuss behavioral and neural evidence that indicates the capacity for both flexible response and temporal representation, and we illustrate these capacities in fish, a taxonomic group that challenges human intuitions about consciousness.

Electrophysiological evidence for phenomenal consciousness.

PubMed

Revonsuo, Antti; Koivisto, Mika

2010-09-01

Abstract Recent evidence from event-related brain potentials (ERPs) lends support to two central theses in Lamme's theory. The earliest ERP correlate of visual consciousness appears over posterior visual cortex around 100-200 ms after stimulus onset. Its scalp topography and time window are consistent with recurrent processing in the visual cortex. This electrophysiological correlate of visual consciousness is mostly independent of later ERPs reflecting selective attention and working memory functions. Overall, the ERP evidence supports the view that phenomenal consciousness of a visual stimulus emerges earlier than access consciousness, and that attention and awareness are served by distinct neural processes.

A Heuristic Model of Consciousness with Applications to the Development of Science and Society

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curreri, Peter A.

2010-01-01

A working model of consciousness is fundamental to understanding of the interactions of the observer in science. This paper examines contemporary understanding of consciousness. A heuristic model of consciousness is suggested that is consistent with psycophysics measurements of bandwidth of consciousness relative to unconscious perception. While the self reference nature of consciousness confers a survival benefit by assuring the all points of view regarding a problem are experienced in sufficiently large population, conscious bandwidth is constrained by design to avoid chaotic behavior. The multiple hypotheses provided by conscious reflection enable the rapid progression of science and technology. The questions of free will and the problem of attention are discussed in relation to the model. Finally the combination of rapid technology growth with the assurance of many unpredictable points of view is considered in respect to contemporary constraints to the development of society.

Impact of Neighborhood Environments on Health Consciousness, Information Seeking, and Attitudes among US-Born and Non-US-Born Free Clinic Patients.

PubMed

Kamimura, Akiko; Ashby, Jeanie; Jess, Allison; Trinh, Ha Ngoc; Nourian, Maziar M; Finlayson, Sarah Yukie; Prudencio, Liana; Reel, Justine J

2015-12-01

This study examined the impact of neighborhood environments on health consciousness, information seeking, and attitudes among uninsured free clinic patients to better understand the specific needs of the population for health promotion and prevention efforts. US-born English-speaking, non-US-born English-speaking, and Spanish-speaking free clinic patients completed a self-administered survey using reliable measures in autumn 2014 (N = 769). The results of this study suggest that social cohesion is positively associated with health consciousness, information seeking, and attitudes. Lower levels of available healthy food in the community were associated with higher levels of health consciousness. Although Spanish speakers reported lower levels of the availability of healthy food, social cohesion, and access to the Internet or text messaging compared with US-born or non-US-born English speakers, they were more likely to be health conscious and have higher levels of health information seeking. Spanish speakers as well as non-US-born English speakers, were more likely to attend health education classes compared with US-born English speakers. Health education programs for free clinic patients should include strategies to increase social cohesion. Health education programs should consider the diverse needs of these individual populations to maximize the effectiveness of the programs for free clinic patients.

Gender, religion, and sociopolitical issues in cross-cultural online education.

PubMed

Zaidi, Zareen; Verstegen, Daniëlle; Naqvi, Rahat; Morahan, Page; Dornan, Tim

2016-05-01

Cross-cultural education is thought to develop critical consciousness of how unequal distributions of power and privilege affect people's health. Learners in different sociopolitical settings can join together in developing critical consciousness-awareness of power and privilege dynamics in society-by means of communication technology. The aim of this research was to define strengths and limitations of existing cross-cultural discussions in generating critical consciousness. The setting was the FAIMER international fellowship program for mid-career interdisciplinary health faculty, whose goal is to foster global advancement of health professions education. Fellows take part in participant-led, online, written, task-focused discussions on topics like professionalism, community health, and leadership. We reflexively identified text that brought sociopolitical topics into the online environment during the years 2011 and 2012 and used a discourse analysis toolset to make our content analysis relevant to critical consciousness. While references to participants' cultures and backgrounds were infrequent, narratives of political-, gender-, religion-, and other culture-related topics did emerge. When participants gave accounts of their experiences and exchanged cross-cultural stories, they were more likely to develop ad hoc networks to support one another in facing those issues than explore issues relating to the development of critical consciousness. We suggest that cross-cultural discussions need to be facilitated actively to transform learners' frames of reference, create critical consciousness, and develop cultural competence. Further research is needed into how to provide a safe environment for such learning and provide faculty development for the skills needed to facilitate these exchanges.

Raising Historical Consciousness in the Novel "The Giver", a Dystopic Work According to Social Studies Teacher Candidates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yildirim, Sefa

2017-01-01

It is known that in many of the developed countries of the world, especially the U.S.A, educators benefit from dystopic works in education and training of the topics such as historical consciousness, metaphors, numbers, color perception and development of language. From this point forth, it can be suggested that dystopic works, as long as they are…

[Investigation and analysis of China residents' environmental conservation desire].

PubMed

Cao, Shi-Xiong; Chen, Jun; Chen, Li; Gao, Wang-Sheng; Yin, Hong-Wei

2007-09-01

From the viewpoints of country's safety and residents' desire, this paper investigated and analyzed the factors affecting China residents' attitudes on environmental protection policies, and the implementing results of these polices. It was indicated that people have an enhanced consciousness on environmental protection, and the relations between this consciousness and economic growth fit Kuznets curve, because most of the poor people are living in the suburban or remote regions with bad or seriously degraded environment, while the fast development of urbanization accelerates the deterioration of urban environment. People are more concerned about environment deterioration, and support the governments' policies of environmental conservation. The environment policy-making should put more emphasis on developing economics, strengthening education, and improving residents' livelihood.

Investigating Adolescents' Critical Consciousness Development through a Character Framework.

PubMed

Seider, Scott; Tamerat, Jalene; Clark, Shelby; Soutter, Madora

2017-06-01

Brazilian philosopher-educator Paulo Freire defined critical consciousness as the ability to engage in reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it. A growing body of research has found that critical consciousness is predictive of a number of important academic and civic outcomes in adolescents from oppressed groups. The present mixed methods study considered the critical consciousness development of 335 adolescents (57% female, 92% African American or Latinx) attending urban secondary schools that sought to foster their students' critical consciousness, but featured five different pedagogical approaches. We hypothesized that considering these adolescents' critical consciousness development through a character lens would highlight ways in which different schooling models contribute differentially to their students' development of the intellectual, performance, and civic dimensions of critical consciousness. Longitudinal analyses revealed significant differences in the critical consciousness development of adolescents attending different schooling models along these dimensions. Interviews with adolescents and field work conducted at their schools offered insight into the programming and practices that may have contributed to these differences in students' critical consciousness development.

The Global Coherence Initiative: Creating a Coherent Planetary Standing Wave

PubMed Central

Deyhle, Annette; Childre, Doc

2012-01-01

ABSTRACT The much anticipated year of 2012 is now here. Amidst the predictions and cosmic alignments that many are aware of, one thing is for sure: it will be an interesting and exciting year as the speed of change continues to increase, bringing both chaos and great opportunity. One benchmark of these times is a shift in many people from a paradigm of competition to one of greater cooperation. All across the planet, increasing numbers of people are practicing heart-based living, and more groups are forming activities that support positive change and creative solutions for manifesting a better world. The Global Coherence Initiative (GCI) is a science-based, co-creative project to unite people in heart-focused care and intention. GCI is working in concert with other initiatives to realize the increased power of collective intention and consciousness. The convergence of several independent lines of evidence provides strong support for the existence of a global information field that connects all living systems and consciousness. Every cell in our bodies is bathed in an external and internal environment of fluctuating invisible magnetic forces that can affect virtually every cell and circuit in biological systems. Therefore, it should not be surprising that numerous physiological rhythms in humans and global collective behaviors are not only synchronized with solar and geomagnetic activity, but disruptions in these fields can create adverse effects on human health and behavior. The most likely mechanism for explaining how solar and geomagnetic influences affect human health and behavior are a coupling between the human nervous system and resonating geomagnetic frequencies, called Schumann resonances, which occur in the earth-ionosphere resonant cavity and Alfvén waves. It is well established that these resonant frequencies directly overlap with those of the human brain and cardiovascular system. If all living systems are indeed interconnected and communicate with each other via biological, electromagnetic, and nonlocal fields, it stands to reason that humans can work together in a co-creative relationship to consciously increase the coherence in the global field environment, which in turn distributes this information to all living systems within the field. GCI was established to help facilitate the shift in global consciousness from instability and discord to balance, cooperation, and enduring peace. A primary goal of GCI is to test the hypothesis that large numbers of people when in a heart-coherent state and holding a shared intention can encode information on the earth's energetic and geomagnetic fields, which act as carrier waves of this physiologically patterned and relevant information. In order to conduct this research, a global network of 12 to 14 ultrasensitive magnetic field detectors specifically designed to measure the earth's magnetic resonances is being installed strategically around the planet. More important is GCI's primary goal to motivate as many people as possible to work together in a more coherent and collaborative manner to increase the collective human consciousness. If we are persuaded that not only external fields of solar and cosmic origins but also human attention and emotion can directly affect the physical world and the mental and emotional states of others (consciousness), it broadens our view of what interconnectedness means and how it can be intentionally utilized to shape the future of the world we live in. It implies that our attitudes, emotions, and intentions matter and that coherent, cooperative intent can have positive effects. GCI hypothesizes that when enough individuals and social groups increase their coherence baseline and utilize that increased coherence to intentionally create a more coherent standing reference wave in the global field, it will help increase global consciousness. This can be achieved when an increasing number of people move towards more balanced and self-regulated emotions and responses. This in turn can help facilitate cooperation and collaboration in innovative problem solving and intuitive discernment for addressing society's significant social, environmental, and economic problems. In time, as more individuals stabilize the global field and families, workplaces, and communities move to increased social coherence, it will lead to increased global coherence. This will be indicated by countries adopting a more coherent planetary view so that social and economic oppression, warfare, cultural intolerance, crime, and disregard for the environment can be addressed meaningfully and successfully. PMID:24278803

Consciousness-Raising, Error Correction and Proofreading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, Josephine

2015-01-01

The paper discusses the impact of developing a consciousness-raising approach in error correction at the sentence level to improve students' proofreading ability. Learners of English in a foreign language environment often rely on translation as a composing tool and while this may act as a scaffold and provide some support, it frequently leads to…

Socially Conscious Ventures and Experiential Learning: Perceptions of Student Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vasbinder, William; Koehler, William

2015-01-01

This qualitative study explored stakeholder perceptions of the outcomes of semester-long experiential learning projects in five selected business courses at a small, private college. Students worked with the owners of socially conscious startup firms to develop and present strategic marketing and business plans. The work draws upon interviews with…

Transformation of Consciousness: Decoding Conceptual Metaphors in Mira Bai

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amrita; Anisha

2016-01-01

Mira Bai, a saint-poet of North India is an important figure in medieval Hindi literature. Her "bhajan"-s (songs) profoundly represent the transforming of consciousness working through conceptual metaphors which fall in the realm of religious poetry wherein target domains are generally abstract. Since, the working of the mind is more…

Investigating the Relationship between Ethnic Consciousness, Racial Discrimination and Self-Rated Health in New Zealand

PubMed Central

Harris, Ricci; Cormack, Donna; Stanley, James; Rameka, Ruruhira

2015-01-01

In this study, we examine race/ethnic consciousness and its associations with experiences of racial discrimination and health in New Zealand. Racism is an important determinant of health and cause of ethnic inequities. However, conceptualising the mechanisms by which racism impacts on health requires racism to be contextualised within the broader social environment. Race/ethnic consciousness (how often people think about their race or ethnicity) is understood as part of a broader assessment of the ‘racial climate’. Higher race/ethnic consciousness has been demonstrated among non-dominant racial/ethnic groups and linked to adverse health outcomes in a limited number of studies. We analysed data from the 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey, a national population-based survey of New Zealand adults, to examine the distribution of ethnic consciousness by ethnicity, and its association with individual experiences of racial discrimination and self-rated health. Findings showed that European respondents were least likely to report thinking about their ethnicity, with people from non-European ethnic groupings all reporting relatively higher ethnic consciousness. Higher ethnic consciousness was associated with an increased likelihood of reporting experience of racial discrimination for all ethnic groupings and was also associated with fair/poor self-rated health after adjusting for age, sex and ethnicity. However, this difference in health was no longer evident after further adjustment for socioeconomic position and individual experience of racial discrimination. Our study suggests different experiences of racialised social environments by ethnicity in New Zealand and that, at an individual level, ethnic consciousness is related to experiences of racial discrimination. However, the relationship with health is less clear and needs further investigation with research to better understand the racialised social relations that create and maintain ethnic inequities in health in attempts to better address the impacts of racism on health. PMID:25706560

Investigating the relationship between ethnic consciousness, racial discrimination and self-rated health in New Zealand.

PubMed

Harris, Ricci; Cormack, Donna; Stanley, James; Rameka, Ruruhira

2015-01-01

In this study, we examine race/ethnic consciousness and its associations with experiences of racial discrimination and health in New Zealand. Racism is an important determinant of health and cause of ethnic inequities. However, conceptualising the mechanisms by which racism impacts on health requires racism to be contextualised within the broader social environment. Race/ethnic consciousness (how often people think about their race or ethnicity) is understood as part of a broader assessment of the 'racial climate'. Higher race/ethnic consciousness has been demonstrated among non-dominant racial/ethnic groups and linked to adverse health outcomes in a limited number of studies. We analysed data from the 2006/07 New Zealand Health Survey, a national population-based survey of New Zealand adults, to examine the distribution of ethnic consciousness by ethnicity, and its association with individual experiences of racial discrimination and self-rated health. Findings showed that European respondents were least likely to report thinking about their ethnicity, with people from non-European ethnic groupings all reporting relatively higher ethnic consciousness. Higher ethnic consciousness was associated with an increased likelihood of reporting experience of racial discrimination for all ethnic groupings and was also associated with fair/poor self-rated health after adjusting for age, sex and ethnicity. However, this difference in health was no longer evident after further adjustment for socioeconomic position and individual experience of racial discrimination. Our study suggests different experiences of racialised social environments by ethnicity in New Zealand and that, at an individual level, ethnic consciousness is related to experiences of racial discrimination. However, the relationship with health is less clear and needs further investigation with research to better understand the racialised social relations that create and maintain ethnic inequities in health in attempts to better address the impacts of racism on health.

Applying Neuroscience to Enhance Tactical Leader Cognitive Performance in Combat

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-16

to respond emotionally, (2) stress degrades the form of conscious attention know as “working memory ,” and (3) certain brain areas can be...Combat, Prefrontal Cortex, Tactical, Army, Working Memory 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 19a...sacrifices cognitive resources to respond emotionally, (2) stress degrades the form of conscious attention know as “working memory ,” and (3) certain

Implicit working memory.

PubMed

Hassin, Ran R; Bargh, John A; Engell, Andrew D; McCulloch, Kathleen C

2009-09-01

Working Memory (WM) plays a crucial role in many high-level cognitive processes (e.g., reasoning, decision making, goal pursuit and cognitive control). The prevalent view holds that active components of WM are predominantly intentional and conscious. This conception is oftentimes expressed explicitly, but it is best reflected in the nature of major WM tasks: All of them are blatantly explicit. We developed two new WM paradigms that allow for an examination of the role of conscious awareness in WM. Results from five studies show that WM can operate unintentionally and outside of conscious awareness, thus suggesting that the current view should be expanded to include implicit WM.

Reviewing the Role of Cognitive Load, Expertise Level, Motivation, and Unconscious Processing in Working Memory Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuldas, Seffetullah; Hashim, Shahabuddin; Ismail, Hairul Nizam; Abu Bakar, Zainudin

2015-01-01

Human cognitive capacity is unavailable for conscious processing of every amount of instructional messages. Aligning an instructional design with learner expertise level would allow better use of available working memory capacity in a cognitive learning task. Motivating students to learn consciously is also an essential determinant of the capacity…

A Neural Region of Abstract Working Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowan, Nelson; Li, Dawei; Moffitt, Amanda; Becker, Theresa M.; Martin, Elizabeth A.; Saults, J. Scott; Christ, Shawn E.

2011-01-01

Over 350 years ago, Descartes proposed that the neural basis of consciousness must be a brain region in which sensory inputs are combined. Using fMRI, we identified at least one such area for working memory, the limited information held in mind, described by William James as the trailing edge of consciousness. Specifically, a region in the left…

DOE Chair Excellence Professorship Environmental Disciplines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Riley, Reginald

2014-10-08

The DECM Team worked closely with other academic institutions, industrial companies and government laboratories to do research and educate engineers in “cutting edge” environmentally conscious manufacturing practices and instrumentation. The participating universities also worked individually with local companies on research projects in their specialty areas. Together, they were charged with research application, integration and education in environmentally conscious manufacturing.

Balancing between sensitization and repression: the role of opium in the life and art of Edgar Allan Poe and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

PubMed

Iszáj, Fruzsina; Demetrovics, Zsolt

2011-01-01

The creative process contains both conscious and unconscious work. Therefore, artists have to face their unconscious processes and work with emotional material that is difficult to keep under control in the course of artistic creation. Bringing these contents of consciousness to the surface needs special sensitivity and special control functions while working with them. Considering these mechanisms, psychoactive substance can serve a double function in the case of artists. On the one hand, chemical substances may enhance the artists' sensitivity. On the other hand, they can help moderate the hypersensitivity and repress extreme emotions and burdensome contents of consciousness. The authors posit how the use of opiates could have influenced the life and creative work of Edgar Allan Poe and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

On the role of working memory in spatial contextual cueing.

PubMed

Travis, Susan L; Mattingley, Jason B; Dux, Paul E

2013-01-01

The human visual system receives more information than can be consciously processed. To overcome this capacity limit, we employ attentional mechanisms to prioritize task-relevant (target) information over less relevant (distractor) information. Regularities in the environment can facilitate the allocation of attention, as demonstrated by the spatial contextual cueing paradigm. When observers are exposed repeatedly to a scene and invariant distractor information, learning from earlier exposures enhances the search for the target. Here, we investigated whether spatial contextual cueing draws on spatial working memory resources and, if so, at what level of processing working memory load has its effect. Participants performed 2 tasks concurrently: a visual search task, in which the spatial configuration of some search arrays occasionally repeated, and a spatial working memory task. Increases in working memory load significantly impaired contextual learning. These findings indicate that spatial contextual cueing utilizes working memory resources.

Moving into the wide clinical spectrum of consciousness disorders: Pearls, perils and pitfalls.

PubMed

Calabrò, Rocco Salvatore; Milardi, Demetrio; Cacciola, Alberto; Marra, Angela; Digangi, Giuseppina; Casella, Carmela; Manuli, Alfredo; De Luca, Rosaria; Silvestri, Rosalia; Bramanti, Placido

2016-01-01

The last few years have been characterized by a growing interest of the medical and scientific world for the field of consciousness and its related disorders. Medically speaking, consciousness can be defined as the state of awareness of self and environment and the alertness to external stimulation, besides responsiveness to inner need. Transient loss of consciousness can be due to alterations in cerebral blood flow leading to fainting or syncope, migraine, metabolic dysfunctions, unexpected intracranial pressure increases, epileptic seizures, and sleep disorders. Chronic disorders of consciousness are a tragic success of high-technology treatment, in an attempt to maintain or reestablish brain function, which is to be considered as the main goal of therapeutics. Management of vegetative or a minimally conscious state individuals involves charily getting the right diagnosis with an evidence-based prognosis, also taking into account the medical, ethical, and legal key factors of the ideal treatment. This paper is aimed at exploring the wide spectrum of consciousness disorders and their clinical differential diagnosis, with particular regards to those with a negative impact on patient and their caregiver quality of life, including epilepsy, sleep disorders, and vegetative/minimally conscious state. Copyright © 2016 The Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.

Afference copy as a quantitative neurophysiological model for consciousness.

PubMed

Cornelis, Hugo; Coop, Allan D

2014-06-01

Consciousness is a topic of considerable human curiosity with a long history of philosophical analysis and debate. We consider there is nothing particularly complicated about consciousness when viewed as a necessary process of the vertebrate nervous system. Here, we propose a physiological "explanatory gap" is created during each present moment by the temporal requirements of neuronal activity. The gap extends from the time exteroceptive and proprioceptive stimuli activate the nervous system until they emerge into consciousness. During this "moment", it is impossible for an organism to have any conscious knowledge of the ongoing evolution of its environment. In our schematic model, a mechanism of "afference copy" is employed to bridge the explanatory gap with consciously experienced percepts. These percepts are fabricated from the conjunction of the cumulative memory of previous relevant experience and the given stimuli. They are structured to provide the best possible prediction of the expected content of subjective conscious experience likely to occur during the period of the gap. The model is based on the proposition that the neural circuitry necessary to support consciousness is a product of sub/preconscious reflexive learning and recall processes. Based on a review of various psychological and neurophysiological findings, we develop a framework which contextualizes the model and briefly discuss further implications.

[Awareness of hazards to health caused by pollution of the environment].

PubMed

Racz, A

1993-01-01

This work deals with the results of an ecological/psychological study into the development of Zagreb inhabitants awareness of the potential health risks posed by the ten most significant forms of environmental pollution and into how each examinee influences the development of ecological consciousness. This research was conducted with representative population sample of two significantly differently ecologically critical Zagreb communities: the shanty town community of Kozari Bokand the highly urbanized community of Slobostina. The survey was conducted on site using the Liekert scale in 1990. The results have shown that air and water pollution are considered potentially most dangerous, as opposed to the total lack of awareness concerning noise pollution. The factors significant in the formation of ecological awareness are: occupation and the perception of immediate danger as opposed to age, sex and personal background. However, the subject's educational level and familiarity with the relevant facts are crucial elements affecting the awakening and development of ecological consciousness.

Dynamics and forecast in a simple model of sustainable development for rural populations.

PubMed

Angulo, David; Angulo, Fabiola; Olivar, Gerard

2015-02-01

Society is becoming more conscious on the need to preserve the environment. Sustainable development schemes have grown rapidly as a tool for managing, predicting and improving the growth path in different regions and economy sectors. We introduce a novel and simple mathematical model of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in order to obtain a dynamical description for each one of the sustainability components (economy, social development and environment conservation), together with their dependence with demographic dynamics. The main part in the modeling task is inspired by the works by Cobb, Douglas, Brander and Taylor. This is completed through some new insights by the authors. A model application is presented for three specific geographical rural regions in Caldas (Colombia).

The Relationship between Home Environment and Children's Dietary Behaviors, Lifestyle Factors, and Health: Super Food Education School Project by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

PubMed

Nakahori, Nobue; Sekine, Michikazu; Yamada, Masaaki; Tatsuse, Takashi

2016-01-01

Objectives The numbers of nuclear families and working women have been increasing. Such changes in the home environment may affect children's dietary behaviors, lifestyle factors, and health. This study aims to clarify the associations between the home environment and children's dietary behaviors, lifestyle factors, and health.Methods In July 2014, we questioned the students and parents of five elementary schools that joined the Super Food Education School Project in Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture. Of 2057 subjects, 1936 (94.1%) answered and 1719 of these subjects were analyzed. In this study, the phrase "home environment" describes such terms as "mother's employment status", "family structure", "subjective economic state", "communication between parents and children", "having breakfast or supper with family", "household chores by children", "parents' awareness of food education", "regard for balanced nutrition", and "teaching table manners". We performed logistic-regression analyses using children's dietary behaviors, lifestyle factors, and health as dependent variables; the items relating to home environment were independent variables.Results Children with parents who are employed, those who do not have breakfast or supper with family, those who do not help with household chores, and those with parents who are less conscious of food education were more likely to eat fewer vegetables, to have likes and dislikes of foods, to skip breakfast, and to have snacks. Children who have little communication with their parents, who do not help with household chores, and those with parents who are less conscious of food education were less likely to exercise, sleep well, spend less time with television, and spend less time on playing videogames. Children with less affluence, those who have little communication with their parents, those who do not help with household chores, and those with parents who are less conscious of food education were less likely to have high health satisfaction levels, to feel good when waking up, to be calm, or to have good self-affirmation.Conclusion The results of this study show that a good home environment relates to children's good dietary behaviors, positive lifestyle factors, and good health. It is important to maintain a good home environment, such as by raising parents' food awareness, increasing opportunities for communication between children and parents, and having children help with household chores to improve children's dietary behaviors, lifestyle factors, and health.

Cybernetics and consciousness.

PubMed

Trabka, J

1999-01-01

This paper is a review of hypotheses of consciousness which arose from application of the theory of information and regulation and the cybernetic theory of mathematical machines in medicine. The author presents these hypotheses on the examples of his own works.

The notion of "double consciousness" in Alfred Binet's psychological experimentalism.

PubMed

Foschi, Renato; Cicciola, Elisabetta

2006-01-01

Between 1889 and 1892, Binet published two remarkable essays, On Double Consciousness and Les alterations de la personnalité, which marked the end of a period of researches and interests closely linked to the doctrines on hypnosis and hysteria elaborated by the Ecole de la Salpêtrière. Later on, Binet was to abandon the utilization of hypnosis as a technique of experimentation, after he realized that the suggestibility of the "subjects" of these experiences had led to major experimental mistakes. However, during the years of his work at the Salpêtrière, he elaborated the notion of "double consciousness," which can be considered an alternative both to Ribot's idea of dissociation and to Janet's idea of disaggregation. The notion of double consciousness reveals both the originality of Binet's psychology--which was elaborated at the end of the nineteenth century--and its verifiable link to twentieth-century psychology. Unlike Janet, in fact, Binet did not support a theory of psychological deficiency or "misery," or of the retraction of the sphere of consciousness, which a normal capacity for psychological synthesis would oppose. On the contrary, Binet's psychology resulted in a theory stating that the duality of consciousness works in a perfect and autonomous way within the individual and, thanks to hypnosis, can be investigated in a laboratory.

On the definition of the concepts thinking, consciousness, and conscience.

PubMed Central

Monin, A S

1992-01-01

A complex system (CS) is defined as a set of elements, with connections between them, singled out of the environment, capable of getting information from the environment, capable of making decisions (i.e., of choosing between alternatives), and having purposefulness (i.e., an urge towards preferable states or other goals). Thinking is a process that takes place (or which can take place) in some of the CS and consists of (i) receiving information from the environment (and from itself), (ii) memorizing the information, (iii) the subconscious, and (iv) consciousness. Life is a process that takes place in some CS and consists of functions i and ii, as well as (v) reproduction with passing of hereditary information to progeny, and (vi) oriented energy and matter exchange with the environment sufficient for the maintenance of all life processes. Memory is a complex of processes of placing information in memory banks, keeping it there, and producing it according to prescriptions available in the system or to inquiries arising in it. Consciousness is a process of realization by the thinking CS of some set of algorithms consisting of the comparison of its knowledge, intentions, decisions, and actions with reality--i.e., with accumulated and continuously received internal and external information. Conscience is a realization of an algorithm of good and evil pattern recognition. PMID:1631060

Family caregivers' opinions about interaction with the environment in consciousness disorders.

PubMed

Moretta, Pasquale; Trojano, Luigi; Masotta, Orsola; Cardinale, Viviana; Loreto, Vincenzo; Estraneo, Anna

2017-05-01

To assess family caregivers' opinions about level of interaction with the environment in their relatives with disorders of consciousness (DOCs) and to explore psychological features of caregivers whose opinions diverge from clinicians' diagnosis. Forty-five family caregivers of 38 DOC inpatients without communication abilities answered 2 questions assessing their opinion about level of interaction with the environment in their relatives. Self-report questionnaires were used to evaluate caregivers' depression, anxiety, psychophysiological disturbances, prolonged grief disorder, coping strategies, quality of perceived needs and social support. Fifteen caregivers (5 relatives of patients in vegetative state and 10 of patients in minimally conscious state) considered their relatives able to communicate, in contrast with clinical diagnosis. These caregivers had significantly higher depressive symptoms, and higher worries about possible death of their relatives with respect to the remaining caregivers. Caregivers of DOC patients detected some interaction with the environment in their relatives more often than care professionals. This is likely related to caregivers' beliefs and expectations, but is also based on observations closer and longer than those possible for physicians. These considerations are important to build a therapeutic alliance with caregivers and to involve them in the diagnostic process and rehabilitative program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Nonconscious emotional activation colors first impressions: a regulatory role for conscious awareness.

PubMed

Lapate, Regina C; Rokers, Bas; Li, Tianyi; Davidson, Richard J

2014-02-01

Emotions can color people's attitudes toward unrelated objects in the environment. Existing evidence suggests that such emotional coloring is particularly strong when emotion-triggering information escapes conscious awareness. But is emotional reactivity stronger after nonconscious emotional provocation than after conscious emotional provocation, or does conscious processing specifically change the association between emotional reactivity and evaluations of unrelated objects? In this study, we independently indexed emotional reactivity and coloring as a function of emotional-stimulus awareness to disentangle these accounts. Specifically, we recorded skin-conductance responses to spiders and fearful faces, along with subsequent preferences for novel neutral faces during visually aware and unaware states. Fearful faces increased skin-conductance responses comparably in both stimulus-aware and stimulus-unaware conditions. Yet only when visual awareness was precluded did skin-conductance responses to fearful faces predict decreased likability of neutral faces. These findings suggest a regulatory role for conscious awareness in breaking otherwise automatic associations between physiological reactivity and evaluative emotional responses.

Person and consciousness.

PubMed

Crosby, J F

2000-04-01

My interlocuter is Locke with his reduction of person to personal consciousness. This reduction is a main reason preventing people from acknowledging the personhood of the earliest human embryo, which lacks all personal consciousness. I show that Catholic Christians who live the sacramental life of the Church have reason to think that they are, as persons, vastly more than what they experience themselves to be, for they believe that the sacraments work effects in them as persons that can only be believed but that cannot be experienced within themselves in this life. I also show that Christians and non-Christians alike have an experience of moral good and evil in themselves that implies that they are, as moral persons, far more than they find in their conscious self-presence. It is, therefore, natural to think that if my being a person so far exceeds my consciousness, I may well have once existed as person even before the awakening of consciousness.

Right Orbitofrontal Cortex Mediates Conscious Olfactory Perception

PubMed Central

Li, Wen; Lopez, Leonardo; Osher, Jason; Howard, James D.; Parrish, Todd B.; Gottfried, Jay A.

2013-01-01

Understanding how the human brain translates sensory impressions into conscious percepts is a key challenge of neuroscience research. Work in this area has overwhelmingly centered on the conscious experience of vision at the exclusion of the other senses—in particular, smell. We hypothesized that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a central substrate for olfactory conscious experience because of its privileged physiological role in odor processing. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging, peripheral autonomic recordings, and olfactory psychophysics, we studied a case of complete anosmia (smell loss) in a patient with circumscribed traumatic brain injury to the right OFC. Despite a complete absence of conscious olfaction, the patient exhibited robust “blind smell,” as indexed by reliable odor-evoked neural activity in the left OFC and normal autonomic responses to odor hedonics during presentation of stimuli to the left nostril. These data highlight the right OFC’s critical role in subserving human olfactory consciousness. PMID:20817780

Education for the Australian Environment. Bicentennial Australian Studies Schools Project Bulletin 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fien, John

Connotations for the word "environment" have increased to include a wide range of meanings. It has become a political force with candidates of most major parties being very conscious of what is referred to as the "environment vote." In the classroom and society, "environment" is a controversial issue. For example, at…

Decide Now - Ditch Decision Making

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-05-01

Consciousness I was first sensitised to the issue of consciousness by my work on Blindsight (Campion et al, 1983) and Visual Agnosia (Campion...Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 6, 423-448. Campion J. and Latto R. (1985) Apperceptive agnosia due to carbon monoxide poisoning: an

The Work of Power and the Power of Work: Teaching for Class Consciousness in the Neo-Liberal Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weiner, Eric J.

2004-01-01

As workers throughout the globe struggle to gain control over the conditions in which they labor as well as the means by which capital is produced, the importance of understanding class struggle, class formation and class consciousness as they relate to education and schooling takes on a new urgency. In the early part of the twenty-first century,…

Anesthesiology training using 3D imaging and virtual reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blezek, Daniel J.; Robb, Richard A.; Camp, Jon J.; Nauss, Lee A.

1996-04-01

Current training for regional nerve block procedures by anesthesiology residents requires expert supervision and the use of cadavers; both of which are relatively expensive commodities in today's cost-conscious medical environment. We are developing methods to augment and eventually replace these training procedures with real-time and realistic computer visualizations and manipulations of the anatomical structures involved in anesthesiology procedures, such as nerve plexus injections (e.g., celiac blocks). The initial work is focused on visualizations: both static images and rotational renderings. From the initial results, a coherent paradigm for virtual patient and scene representation will be developed.

Enhancing career marketability through intrapreneurship.

PubMed

Manion, J

2001-01-01

Building a career of depth and breadth is lifelong work. While conscious forethought and planning is important, even more critical is the courage to take risks and to continually "push the envelope" in terms of skill development. Active intrapreneurs find opportunities to create change and innovation in their organizations and personally benefit from an increased repertoire of marketable skills. In today's health care environment, middle management and executive positions are being consolidated and even eliminated, making it more difficult for upward mobility in the organization. Intrapreneurship offers a way to develop marketable career skills and creates visibility for the individual.

Top Mysteries of the Mind: Insights From the Default Space Model of Consciousness

PubMed Central

Jerath, Ravinder; Beveridge, Connor

2018-01-01

Aside from the nature of consciousness itself, there are still many unsolved problems in the neurosciences. Despite the vast and quickly growing body of work in this field, we still find ourselves perplexed at seemingly simple qualities of our mental being such as why we need to sleep. The neurosciences are at least beginning to take a hold on these mysteries and are working toward solving them. We hold a perspective that metastable consciousness models, specifically the Default Space Model (DSM), provide insights into these mysteries. In this perspective article, we explore some of these curious questions in order to elucidate the interesting points they bring up. The DSM is a dynamic, global theory of consciousness that involves the maintenance of an internal, 3D simulation of the external, physical world which is the foundation and structure of consciousness. This space is created and filled by multiple frequencies of membrane potential oscillations throughout the brain and body which are organized, synchronized and harmonized by the thalamus. The veracity of the DSM is highlighted here in its ability to further understanding of some of the most puzzling problems in neuroscience.

Top Mysteries of the Mind: Insights From the Default Space Model of Consciousness.

PubMed

Jerath, Ravinder; Beveridge, Connor

2018-01-01

Aside from the nature of consciousness itself, there are still many unsolved problems in the neurosciences. Despite the vast and quickly growing body of work in this field, we still find ourselves perplexed at seemingly simple qualities of our mental being such as why we need to sleep. The neurosciences are at least beginning to take a hold on these mysteries and are working toward solving them. We hold a perspective that metastable consciousness models, specifically the Default Space Model (DSM), provide insights into these mysteries. In this perspective article, we explore some of these curious questions in order to elucidate the interesting points they bring up. The DSM is a dynamic, global theory of consciousness that involves the maintenance of an internal, 3D simulation of the external, physical world which is the foundation and structure of consciousness. This space is created and filled by multiple frequencies of membrane potential oscillations throughout the brain and body which are organized, synchronized and harmonized by the thalamus. The veracity of the DSM is highlighted here in its ability to further understanding of some of the most puzzling problems in neuroscience.

40 CFR 33.408 - May a recipient use race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false May a recipient use race and/or gender... race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program? (a) Should the good faith efforts described in subpart C of this part or other race and/or gender neutral measures prove to be inadequate to...

40 CFR 33.408 - May a recipient use race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false May a recipient use race and/or gender... race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program? (a) Should the good faith efforts described in subpart C of this part or other race and/or gender neutral measures prove to be inadequate to...

40 CFR 33.408 - May a recipient use race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false May a recipient use race and/or gender... race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program? (a) Should the good faith efforts described in subpart C of this part or other race and/or gender neutral measures prove to be inadequate to...

40 CFR 33.408 - May a recipient use race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false May a recipient use race and/or gender... race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program? (a) Should the good faith efforts described in subpart C of this part or other race and/or gender neutral measures prove to be inadequate to...

40 CFR 33.408 - May a recipient use race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false May a recipient use race and/or gender... race and/or gender conscious measures as part of this program? (a) Should the good faith efforts described in subpart C of this part or other race and/or gender neutral measures prove to be inadequate to...

A comparison of the 'cost per child treated' at a primary care-based sedation referral service, compared to a general anaesthetic in hospital.

PubMed

Jameson, K; Averley, P A; Shackley, P; Steele, J

2007-09-22

To compare the cost-effectiveness of dental sedation techniques used in the treatment of children, focusing on hospital-based dental general anaesthetic (DGA) and advanced conscious sedation in a controlled primary care environment. Data on fees, costs and treatment pathways were obtained from a primary care clinic specialising in advanced sedation techniques. For the hospital-based DGA cohort, data were gathered from hospital trusts in the same area. Comparison was via an average cost per child treated and subsequent sensitivity analysis. Analysing records spanning one year, the average cost per child treated via advanced conscious sedation was pound245.47. As some treatments fail (3.5% of cases attempted), and the technique is not deemed suitable for all patients (4-5%), DGA is still required and has been factored into this cost. DGA has an average cost per case treated of pound359.91, 46.6% more expensive than advanced conscious sedation. These cost savings were robust to plausible variation in all parameters. The costs of advanced conscious sedation techniques, applied in a controlled primary care environment, are substantially lower than the equivalent costs of hospital-based DGA, informing the debate about the optimum way of managing this patient group.

Consciousness: individuated information in action

PubMed Central

Jonkisz, Jakub

2015-01-01

Within theoretical and empirical enquiries, many different meanings associated with consciousness have appeared, leaving the term itself quite vague. This makes formulating an abstract and unifying version of the concept of consciousness – the main aim of this article –into an urgent theoretical imperative. It is argued that consciousness, characterized as dually accessible (cognized from the inside and the outside), hierarchically referential (semantically ordered), bodily determined (embedded in the working structures of an organism or conscious system), and useful in action (pragmatically functional), is a graded rather than an all-or-none phenomenon. A gradational approach, however, despite its explanatory advantages, can lead to some counterintuitive consequences and theoretical problems. In most such conceptions consciousness is extended globally (attached to primitive organisms or artificial systems), but also locally (connected to certain lower-level neuronal and bodily processes). For example, according to information integration theory (as introduced recently by Tononi and Koch, 2014), even such simple artificial systems as photodiodes possess miniscule amounts of consciousness. The major challenge for this article, then, is to establish reasonable, empirically justified constraints on how extended the range of a graded consciousness could be. It is argued that conscious systems are limited globally by the ability to individuate information (where individuated information is understood as evolutionarily embedded, socially altered, and private), whereas local limitations should be determined on the basis of a hypothesis about the action-oriented nature of the processes that select states of consciousness. Using these constraints, an abstract concept of consciousness is arrived at, hopefully contributing to a more unified state of play within consciousness studies itself. PMID:26283987

Consciousness as a useful concept in epilepsy classification

PubMed Central

Blumenfeld, Hal; Meador, Kimford J.

2014-01-01

Summary Impaired consciousness has important practical consequences for people living with epilepsy. Recent pathophysiologic studies show that seizures with impaired level of consciousness always affect widespread cortical networks and subcortical arousal systems. In light of these findings and their clinical significance, efforts are underway to revise the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) 2010 report to include impaired consciousness in the classification of seizures. Lüders and colleagues have presented one such effort, which we discuss here. We then propose an alternative classification of impaired consciousness in epilepsy based on functional neuroanatomy. Some seizures involve focal cortical regions and cause selective deficits in the content of consciousness but without impaired overall level of consciousness or awareness. These include focal aware conscious seizures (FACS) with lower order cortical deficits such as somatosensory or visual impairment as well as FACS with higher cognitive deficits including ictal aphasia or isolated epileptic amnesia. Another category applies to seizures with impaired level of consciousness leading to deficits in multiple cognitive domains. For this category, we believe the terms “dyscognitive” or “dialeptic” should be avoided because they may create confusion. Instead we propose that seizures with impaired level of consciousness be described based on underlying pathophysiology. Widespread moderately severe deficits in corticothalamic function are seen in absence seizures and in focal impaired consciousness seizures (FICS), including many temporal lobe seizures and other focal seizures with impaired consciousness. Some simple responses or automatisms may be preserved in these seizures. In contrast, generalized tonic–clonic seizures usually produce widespread severe deficits in corticothalamic function causing loss of all meaningful responses. Further work is needed to understand and prevent impaired consciousness in epilepsy, but the first step is to keep this crucial practical and physiologic aspect of seizures front-and-center in our discussions. PMID:24981294

Consciousness as a useful concept in epilepsy classification.

PubMed

Blumenfeld, Hal; Meador, Kimford J

2014-08-01

Impaired consciousness has important practical consequences for people living with epilepsy. Recent pathophysiologic studies show that seizures with impaired level of consciousness always affect widespread cortical networks and subcortical arousal systems. In light of these findings and their clinical significance, efforts are underway to revise the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) 2010 report to include impaired consciousness in the classification of seizures. Lüders and colleagues have presented one such effort, which we discuss here. We then propose an alternative classification of impaired consciousness in epilepsy based on functional neuroanatomy. Some seizures involve focal cortical regions and cause selective deficits in the content of consciousness but without impaired overall level of consciousness or awareness. These include focal aware conscious seizures (FACS) with lower order cortical deficits such as somatosensory or visual impairment as well as FACS with higher cognitive deficits including ictal aphasia or isolated epileptic amnesia. Another category applies to seizures with impaired level of consciousness leading to deficits in multiple cognitive domains. For this category, we believe the terms "dyscognitive" or "dialeptic" should be avoided because they may create confusion. Instead we propose that seizures with impaired level of consciousness be described based on underlying pathophysiology. Widespread moderately severe deficits in corticothalamic function are seen in absence seizures and in focal impaired consciousness seizures (FICS), including many temporal lobe seizures and other focal seizures with impaired consciousness. Some simple responses or automatisms may be preserved in these seizures. In contrast, generalized tonic-clonic seizures usually produce widespread severe deficits in corticothalamic function causing loss of all meaningful responses. Further work is needed to understand and prevent impaired consciousness in epilepsy, but the first step is to keep this crucial practical and physiologic aspect of seizures front-and-center in our discussions. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2014 International League Against Epilepsy.

The power of wholeness, consciousness, and caring a dialogue on nursing science, art, and healing.

PubMed

Cowling, W Richard; Smith, Marlaine C; Watson, Jean

2008-01-01

Wholeness, consciousness, and caring are 3 critical concepts singled out and positioned in the disciplinary discourse of nursing to distinguish it from other disciplines. This article is an outgrowth of a dialogue among 4 scholars, 3 who have participated extensively in work aimed at synthesizing converging points in nursing theory development. It proposes a unified vision of nursing knowledge that builds on their work as a reference point for extending reflection and dialogue about the discipline of nursing. We seek for an awakening of a higher/deeper place of wholeness, consciousness, and caring that will synthesize new ethical and intellectual forms and norms of "ontological caring literacy" to arrive at a unitary caring science praxis. We encourage the evolution of a mature caring-healing-health discipline and profession, helping affirm and sustain humanity, caring, and wholeness in our daily work and in the world.

How good strong union men line it out: explorations of the structure and dynamics of coal-miners' class consciousness

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yarrow, M.N.

1982-01-01

This study explores how working-class people apprehend and analyze the class dynamics of their social world. As an exploratory empirical study of the structure and dynamics of working-class consciousness, it seeks to develop the theory of actual class consciousness by bringing previous theories into dialogue with the articulated analyses of coal miners in central Appalachia. Although changing conditions are shown to have a powerful effect on class consciousness, the respondents were found to respond differently to the changing context and to remain loyal to important elements of their earlier perspectives. Suggestions are made for how the theory could be developedmore » further. The data for the study are flexibly structured interviews which were conducted with active, retired, and disabled miners in southern West Virginia and western Virginia. A dozen miners were interviewed during the 1978 strike and again the following summer; during the summer of 1978, nineteen additional miners were interviewed.« less

Diminished self-conscious emotional responding in frontotemporal lobar degeneration patients.

PubMed

Sturm, Virginia E; Ascher, Elizabeth A; Miller, Bruce L; Levenson, Robert W

2008-12-01

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a neurodegenerative disease that dramatically alters social and emotional behavior. Recent work has suggested that self-conscious emotions (e.g., embarrassment) may be particularly vulnerable to disruption in this disease. Self-conscious emotions require the ability to monitor the self in relation to others. These abilities are thought to be subserved by brain regions (e.g., medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and insula) that are particularly vulnerable to damage in FTLD. This study examined emotional responding (expressive behavior, peripheral physiology, and subjective experience) in 24 FTLD patients and 16 cognitively normal control participants using a karaoke task known to elicit self-conscious emotion reliably and a nonemotional control task (isometric handgrip). Results indicated that FTLD patients showed diminished self-conscious emotional behavior (embarrassment and amusement) and diminished physiological responding while watching themselves singing. No differences were found between patients and controls in the nonemotional control task. These findings offer evidence of marked disruption of self-conscious emotional responding in FTLD. Diminished self-conscious emotional responding likely contributes significantly to social inappropriateness and other behavioral abnormalities in FTLD. 2008 APA, all rights reserved

Diminished Self-Conscious Emotional Responding in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Patients

PubMed Central

Sturm, Virginia E.; Ascher, Elizabeth A.; Miller, Bruce L.; Levenson, Robert W.

2009-01-01

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a neurodegenerative disease that dramatically alters social and emotional behavior. Recent work has suggested that self-conscious emotions (e.g., embarrassment) may be particularly vulnerable to disruption in this disease. Self-conscious emotions require the ability to monitor the self in relation to others. These abilities are thought to be subserved by brain regions (e.g., medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and insula) that are particularly vulnerable to damage in FTLD. This study examined emotional responding (expressive behavior, peripheral physiology, and subjective experience) in 24 FTLD patients and 16 cognitively normal control participants using a karaoke task known to elicit self-conscious emotion reliably and a nonemotional control task (isometric handgrip). Results indicated that FTLD patients showed diminished self-conscious emotional behavior (embarrassment and amusement) and diminished physiological responding while watching themselves singing. No differences were found between patients and controls in the nonemotional control task. These findings offer evidence of marked disruption of self-conscious emotional responding in FTLD. Diminished self-conscious emotional responding likely contributes significantly to social inappropriateness and other behavioral abnormalities in FTLD. PMID:19102597

Intentionality, consciousness, and creating community.

PubMed

Malinski, Violet M

2009-01-01

Intentionality is briefly explored from the perspective of seminal written works on therapeutic touch and recorded conversations with Martha E. Rogers. This overview hints at possible interrelationships among intentionality, consciousness, and creating community, along with conceptual ambiguities, which are explored in detail by Zahourek and Larkin in this column.

[Brain-computer interfaces, Locked-In syndrome, and disorders of consciousness].

PubMed

Lesenfants, Damien; Chatelle, Camille; Laureys, Steven; Noirhomme, Quentin

2015-10-01

Detecting signs of consciousness in patients with severe brain injury constitutes a real challenge for clinicians. The current gold standard in clinical diagnosis is the behavioral scale relying on motor abilities, which are often impaired or nonexistent in these patients. In this context, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) could offer a potential complementary tool to detect signs of consciousness whilst bypassing the usual motor pathway. In addition to complementing behavioral assessments and potentially reducing error rate, BCIs could also serve as a communication tool for paralyzed but conscious patients, e.g., suffering from Locked-In Syndrome. In this paper, we report on recent work conducted by the Coma Science Group on BCI technology, aiming to optimize diagnosis and communication in patients with disorders of consciousness and Locked-In syndrome. © 2015 médecine/sciences – Inserm.

Probing consciousness with event-related potentials in the vegetative state

PubMed Central

Faugeras, F.; Rohaut, B.; Weiss, N.; Bekinschtein, T.A.; Galanaud, D.; Puybasset, L.; Bolgert, F.; Sergent, C.; Cohen, L.; Dehaene, S.

2011-01-01

Objective: Probing consciousness in noncommunicating patients is a major medical and neuroscientific challenge. While standardized and expert behavioral assessment of patients constitutes a mandatory step, this clinical evaluation stage is often difficult and doubtful, and calls for complementary measures which may overcome its inherent limitations. Several functional brain imaging methods are currently being developed within this perspective, including fMRI and cognitive event-related potentials (ERPs). We recently designed an original rule extraction ERP test that is positive only in subjects who are conscious of the long-term regularity of auditory stimuli. Methods: In the present work, we report the results of this test in a population of 22 patients who met clinical criteria for vegetative state. Results: We identified 2 patients showing this neural signature of consciousness. Interestingly, these 2 patients showed unequivocal clinical signs of consciousness within the 3 to 4 days following ERP recording. Conclusions: Taken together, these results strengthen the relevance of bedside neurophysiological tools to improve diagnosis of consciousness in noncommunicating patients. PMID:21593438

"Wanting," "liking," and their relation to consciousness.

PubMed

Anselme, Patrick; Robinson, Mike J F

2016-04-01

Most animal and human behaviors emanate from goal-directedness and pleasure seeking, suggesting that they are primarily under conscious control. However, "wanting" and "liking" are believed to be adaptive core subcortical processes working at an unconscious level and responsible for guiding behavior toward appropriate rewards. Here we examine whether "wanting" is an inherent property of conscious goals and "liking" an intrinsic component of conscious feelings. We argue that "wanting" and "liking" depend on mechanisms acting below the level of consciousness, explaining why individuals often struggle to enhance or refrain their motivations and emotions by means of conscious control. In particular, hyperreactivity of subcortical "wanting" systems has been tied to pathological behaviors such as drug addiction and gambling disorder. In addicts, cognitive processes intended to curb drug-seeking wage a constant battle against subcortical urges to take more drug that often ends in relapse following repeated assaults. Nevertheless, we suggest that in nonpathological contexts, "wanting" and "liking" interact with major cognitive processes to guide goal-directed actions. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Mental workload as a key factor in clinical decision making.

PubMed

Byrne, Aidan

2013-08-01

The decision making process is central to the practice of a clinician and has traditionally been described in terms of the hypothetico-deductive model. More recently, models adapted from cognitive psychology, such as the dual process and script theories have proved useful in explaining patterns of practice not consistent with purely cognitive based practice. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of mental workload as a key determinant of the type of cognitive processing used by clinicians. Published research appears to be consistent with 'schemata' based cognition as the principle mode of working for those engaged in complex tasks under time pressure. Although conscious processing of factual data is also used, it may be the primary mode of cognition only in situations where time pressure is not a factor. Further research on the decision making process should be based on outcomes which are not dependant on conscious recall of past actions or events and include a measure of mental workload. This further appears to support the concept of the patient, within the clinical environment, as the most effective learning resource.

Neuroscientific and neuroanthropological perspectives in music therapy research and practice with patients with disorders of consciousness.

PubMed

Vogl, Julia; Heine, Astrid M; Steinhoff, Nikolaus; Weiss, Konrad; Tucek, Gerhard

2015-01-01

A growing understanding of music therapy with patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) has developed from observing behavioral changes and using these to gain new ways of experiencing this research environment and setting. Neuroscience provides further insight into the effects of music therapy; however, various studies with similar protocols show different results. The neuroanthropological approach is informed by anthropological and philosophical frameworks. It puts emphasis on a research with and not just on human beings concerning the subject/object question within a research process. It examines relational aspects and outcomes in the context of working in an interdisciplinary team. This allows a broader view of music therapy in a reflective process and leads to a careful interpretation of behavioral reactions and imaging results. This article discusses the importance of the neuroanthropological perspective on our way of obtaining knowledge and its influence on therapeutic practice. It is important to consider how knowledge is generated as it influences the results. Data from two cases will be presented to illustrate the neuroanthropological approach by comparing quantitative PET data with qualitative results of video analyses.

Neuroscientific and neuroanthropological perspectives in music therapy research and practice with patients with disorders of consciousness

PubMed Central

Vogl, Julia; Heine, Astrid M.; Steinhoff, Nikolaus; Weiss, Konrad; Tucek, Gerhard

2015-01-01

A growing understanding of music therapy with patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) has developed from observing behavioral changes and using these to gain new ways of experiencing this research environment and setting. Neuroscience provides further insight into the effects of music therapy; however, various studies with similar protocols show different results. The neuroanthropological approach is informed by anthropological and philosophical frameworks. It puts emphasis on a research with and not just on human beings concerning the subject/object question within a research process. It examines relational aspects and outcomes in the context of working in an interdisciplinary team. This allows a broader view of music therapy in a reflective process and leads to a careful interpretation of behavioral reactions and imaging results. This article discusses the importance of the neuroanthropological perspective on our way of obtaining knowledge and its influence on therapeutic practice. It is important to consider how knowledge is generated as it influences the results. Data from two cases will be presented to illustrate the neuroanthropological approach by comparing quantitative PET data with qualitative results of video analyses. PMID:26300720

ViSA: a neurodynamic model for visuo-spatial working memory, attentional blink, and conscious access.

PubMed

Simione, Luca; Raffone, Antonino; Wolters, Gezinus; Salmas, Paola; Nakatani, Chie; Belardinelli, Marta Olivetti; van Leeuwen, Cees

2012-10-01

Two separate lines of study have clarified the role of selectivity in conscious access to visual information. Both involve presenting multiple targets and distracters: one simultaneously in a spatially distributed fashion, the other sequentially at a single location. To understand their findings in a unified framework, we propose a neurodynamic model for Visual Selection and Awareness (ViSA). ViSA supports the view that neural representations for conscious access and visuo-spatial working memory are globally distributed and are based on recurrent interactions between perceptual and access control processors. Its flexible global workspace mechanisms enable a unitary account of a broad range of effects: It accounts for the limited storage capacity of visuo-spatial working memory, attentional cueing, and efficient selection with multi-object displays, as well as for the attentional blink and associated sparing and masking effects. In particular, the speed of consolidation for storage in visuo-spatial working memory in ViSA is not fixed but depends adaptively on the input and recurrent signaling. Slowing down of consolidation due to weak bottom-up and recurrent input as a result of brief presentation and masking leads to the attentional blink. Thus, ViSA goes beyond earlier 2-stage and neuronal global workspace accounts of conscious processing limitations. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Association of Race Consciousness With the Patient–Physician Relationship, Medication Adherence, and Blood Pressure in Urban Primary Care Patients

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND Race consciousness (the frequency with which one thinks about his or her own race) is a measure that may be useful in assessing whether racial discrimination negatively impacts blood pressure (BP). However, the relation between race consciousness and BP has yet to be empirically tested, especially within the context of the patient–physician relationship and medication adherence. METHODS Race-stratified generalized estimating equations were used to assess the relationship of race consciousness on BP, measures of the patient–physician relationship, and self-reported medication adherence, controlling for patients being nested within physicians and for patient age and sex. RESULTS The mean age of the patients was 61.3 years, 62% were black, and 65% were women. Black patients were more likely to ever think about race than were white patients (49% vs. 21%; P < 0.001). Race-conscious blacks had significantly higher diastolic BP (79.4 vs. 74.5mm Hg; P = 0.004) and somewhat higher systolic BP (138.8 vs. 134.7mm Hg; P = 0.13) than blacks who were not race conscious. Race-conscious whites were more likely to perceive respect from their physician (57.1% vs. 25.8%; P = 0.01) but had lower medication adherence (62.4% vs. 82.9%; P = 0.05) than whites who were not race-conscious. CONCLUSIONS Among blacks, race consciousness was associated with higher diastolic BP. In contrast, among whites, there was no association between race consciousness and BP, but race consciousness was associated with poor ratings of adherence, despite more favorable ratings of the patient–physician relationship. Future work should explore disparities in race consciousness and its impact on health and health-care disparities. PMID:23864583

Early visual responses predict conscious face perception within and between subjects during binocular rivalry

PubMed Central

Sandberg, Kristian; Bahrami, Bahador; Kanai, Ryota; Barnes, Gareth Robert; Overgaard, Morten; Rees, Geraint

2014-01-01

Previous studies indicate that conscious face perception may be related to neural activity in a large time window around 170-800ms after stimulus presentation, yet in the majority of these studies changes in conscious experience are confounded with changes in physical stimulation. Using multivariate classification on MEG data recorded when participants reported changes in conscious perception evoked by binocular rivalry between a face and a grating, we showed that only MEG signals in the 120-320ms time range, peaking at the M170 around 180ms and the P2m at around 260ms, reliably predicted conscious experience. Conscious perception could not only be decoded significantly better than chance from the sensors that showed the largest average difference, as previous studies suggest, but also from patterns of activity across groups of occipital sensors that individually were unable to predict perception better than chance. Additionally, source space analyses showed that sources in the early and late visual system predicted conscious perception more accurately than frontal and parietal sites, although conscious perception could also be decoded there. Finally, the patterns of neural activity associated with conscious face perception generalized from one participant to another around the times of maximum prediction accuracy. Our work thus demonstrates that the neural correlates of particular conscious contents (here, faces) are highly consistent in time and space within individuals and that these correlates are shared to some extent between individuals. PMID:23281780

Consciousness in SLA: A Modular Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Truscott, John

2015-01-01

Understanding the place of consciousness in second language acquisition (SLA) is crucial for an understanding of how acquisition occurs. Considerable work has been done on this topic, but nearly all of it assumes a highly non-modular view, according to which language and its development is "nothing special". As this assumption runs…

Symposium: Governing Boards--Raising Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Academic Questions, 2007

2007-01-01

"What Works in Higher Education Reform: A Report from the Front," the twelfth annual national conference of the National Association of Scholars, took place November 17-19, 2006, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One panel, "Governing Boards: Raising Consciousness," examined the role governing boards do and can play in raising awareness on campus and…

Inner Alienation: Diasporic Consciousness in Kamila Shamsie's "Salt and Saffron"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riaz, Humaira; Babaee, Ruzbeh

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the "diasporic consciousness" of the fictional characters, incorporated in selected work of Pakistani expatriate writer Kamila Shamsie through the portrayal of cross-cultural differences. This study attempts to unravel the inner-alienation that sustains through specific discourses and events…

Impact of Emotion on Consciousness: Positive Stimuli Enhance Conscious Reportability

PubMed Central

Rømer Thomsen, Kristine; Lou, Hans C.; Joensson, Morten; Hyam, Jonathan A.; Holland, Peter; Parsons, Christine E.; Young, Katherine S.; Møller, Arne; Stein, Alan; Green, Alex L.; Kringelbach, Morten L.; Aziz, Tipu Z.

2011-01-01

Emotion and reward have been proposed to be closely linked to conscious experience, but empirical data are lacking. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a central role in the hedonic dimension of conscious experience; thus potentially a key region in interactions between emotion and consciousness. Here we tested the impact of emotion on conscious experience, and directly investigated the role of the ACC. We used a masked paradigm that measures conscious reportability in terms of subjective confidence and objective accuracy in identifying the briefly presented stimulus in a forced-choice test. By manipulating the emotional valence (positive, neutral, negative) and the presentation time (16 ms, 32 ms, 80 ms) we measured the impact of these variables on conscious and subliminal (i.e. below threshold) processing. First, we tested normal participants using face and word stimuli. Results showed that participants were more confident and accurate when consciously seeing happy versus sad/neutral faces and words. When stimuli were presented subliminally, we found no effect of emotion. To investigate the neural basis of this impact of emotion, we recorded local field potentials (LFPs) directly in the ACC in a chronic pain patient. Behavioural findings were replicated: the patient was more confident and accurate when (consciously) seeing happy versus sad faces, while no effect was seen in subliminal trials. Mirroring behavioural findings, we found significant differences in the LFPs after around 500 ms (lasting 30 ms) in conscious trials between happy and sad faces, while no effect was found in subliminal trials. We thus demonstrate a striking impact of emotion on conscious experience, with positive emotional stimuli enhancing conscious reportability. In line with previous studies, the data indicate a key role of the ACC, but goes beyond earlier work by providing the first direct evidence of interaction between emotion and conscious experience in the human ACC. PMID:21494569

Mobilizing collective identity to reduce HIV risk among sex workers in Sonagachi, India: The boundaries, consciousness, negotiation framework

PubMed Central

Ghose, Toorjo; Swendeman, Dallas; George, Sheba; Chowdhury, Debasish

2010-01-01

The significantly low rate of HIV infection and high rate of condom use among sex workers in Kolkata, India is partially attributable to a community-led structural intervention called the Sonagachi Project which mobilizes sex workers to engage in HIV education, formation of community-based organizations and advocacy around sex work issues. This research examines how Sonagachi Project participants mobilize collective identity and the manner in which collective identity influences condom use. Using purposive sampling methods, 46 Sonagachi Project participants were selected in 2005 for in-depth qualitative interviews. Taylor and Whittier’s (Taylor, V & Whittier, N (1992). Collective identities in social movement communities: lesbian feminist mobilization. In A. Morris & C. Mueller (Eds.) Frontiers in social movement theory. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press) model of identity-formation through boundaries, consciousness and negotiation was used to interpret results. Subjects mobilized collective identity by (1) building boundaries demarcating in-group sex workers from out-group members, (2) raising consciousness about sex work as legitimate labor and the transformative change that results from program participation, and (3) negotiating identity with out-group members. This research establishes a conceptual link between the boundaries, consciousness and negotiation framework of collective identity mobilization and condom use. Condom use among sex workers is motivated by each element of the boundaries, consciousness and negotiation model: condoms mark boundaries, enunciate the consciousness that sex with clients is legitimate labor, and help negotiate the identity of sex workers in interactions with clients. PMID:18455855

Mobilizing collective identity to reduce HIV risk among sex workers in Sonagachi, India: the boundaries, consciousness, negotiation framework.

PubMed

Ghose, Toorjo; Swendeman, Dallas; George, Sheba; Chowdhury, Debasish

2008-07-01

The significantly low rate of HIV infection and high rate of condom use among sex workers in Kolkata, India is partially attributable to a community-led structural intervention called the Sonagachi Project which mobilizes sex workers to engage in HIV education, formation of community-based organizations and advocacy around sex work issues. This research examines how Sonagachi Project participants mobilize collective identity and the manner in which collective identity influences condom use. Using purposive sampling methods, 46 Sonagachi Project participants were selected in 2005 for in-depth qualitative interviews. Taylor and Whittier's (Taylor, V & Whittier, N (1992). Collective identities in social movement communities: lesbian feminist mobilization. In A. Morris & C. Mueller (Eds.) Frontiers in social movement theory. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press) model of identity-formation through boundaries, consciousness and negotiation was used to interpret results. Subjects mobilized collective identity by (1) building boundaries demarcating in-group sex workers from out-group members, (2) raising consciousness about sex work as legitimate labor and the transformative change that results from program participation, and (3) negotiating identity with out-group members. This research establishes a conceptual link between the boundaries, consciousness and negotiation framework of collective identity mobilization and condom use. Condom use among sex workers is motivated by each element of the boundaries, consciousness and negotiation model: condoms mark boundaries, enunciate the consciousness that sex with clients is legitimate labor, and help negotiate the identity of sex workers in interactions with clients.

Human development VIII: a theory of "deep" quantum chemistry and cell consciousness: quantum chemistry controls genes and biochemistry to give cells and higher organisms consciousness and complex behavior.

PubMed

Ventegodt, Søren; Hermansen, Tyge Dahl; Flensborg-Madsen, Trine; Nielsen, Maj Lyck; Merrick, Joav

2006-11-14

Deep quantum chemistry is a theory of deeply structured quantum fields carrying the biological information of the cell, making it able to remember, intend, represent the inner and outer world for comparison, understand what it "sees", and make choices on its structure, form, behavior and division. We suggest that deep quantum chemistry gives the cell consciousness and all the qualities and abilities related to consciousness. We use geometric symbolism, which is a pre-mathematical and philosophical approach to problems that cannot yet be handled mathematically. Using Occam's razor we have started with the simplest model that works; we presume this to be a many-dimensional, spiral fractal. We suggest that all the electrons of the large biological molecules' orbitals make one huge "cell-orbital", which is structured according to the spiral fractal nature of quantum fields. Consciousness of single cells, multi cellular structures as e.g. organs, multi-cellular organisms and multi-individual colonies (like ants) and human societies can thus be explained by deep quantum chemistry. When biochemical activity is strictly controlled by the quantum-mechanical super-orbital of the cell, this orbital can deliver energetic quanta as biological information, distributed through many fractal levels of the cell to guide form and behavior of an individual single or a multi-cellular organism. The top level of information is the consciousness of the cell or organism, which controls all the biochemical processes. By this speculative work inspired by Penrose and Hameroff we hope to inspire other researchers to formulate more strict and mathematically correct hypothesis on the complex and coherence nature of matter, life and consciousness.

Human Development VIII: A Theory of “Deep” Quantum Chemistry and Cell Consciousness: Quantum Chemistry Controls Genes and Biochemistry to Give Cells and Higher Organisms Consciousness and Complex Behavior

PubMed Central

Ventegodt, Søren; Hermansen, Tyge Dahl; Flensborg-Madsen, Trine; Nielsen, Maj Lyck; Merrick, Joav

2006-01-01

Deep quantum chemistry is a theory of deeply structured quantum fields carrying the biological information of the cell, making it able to remember, intend, represent the inner and outer world for comparison, understand what it “sees”, and make choices on its structure, form, behavior and division. We suggest that deep quantum chemistry gives the cell consciousness and all the qualities and abilities related to consciousness. We use geometric symbolism, which is a pre-mathematical and philosophical approach to problems that cannot yet be handled mathematically. Using Occams razor we have started with the simplest model that works; we presume this to be a many-dimensional, spiral fractal. We suggest that all the electrons of the large biological molecules orbitals make one huge “cell-orbital”, which is structured according to the spiral fractal nature of quantum fields. Consciousness of single cells, multi cellular structures as e.g. organs, multi-cellular organisms and multi-individual colonies (like ants) and human societies can thus be explained by deep quantum chemistry. When biochemical activity is strictly controlled by the quantum-mechanical super-orbital of the cell, this orbital can deliver energetic quanta as biological information, distributed through many fractal levels of the cell to guide form and behavior of an individual single or a multi-cellular organism. The top level of information is the consciousness of the cell or organism, which controls all the biochemical processes. By this speculative work inspired by Penrose and Hameroff we hope to inspire other researchers to formulate more strict and mathematically correct hypothesis on the complex and coherence nature of matter, life and consciousness. PMID:17115084

Functional neuroimaging applications for assessment and rehabilitation planning in patients with disorders of consciousness.

PubMed

Giacino, Joseph T; Hirsch, Joy; Schiff, Nicholas; Laureys, Steven

2006-12-01

To describe the theoretic framework, design, and potential clinical applications of functional neuroimaging protocols in patients with disorders of consciousness. Recent published literature and authors' own work. Studies using functional neuroimaging techniques to investigate cognitive processing in patients diagnosed with vegetative and minimally conscious state. Not applicable. Positron-emission tomography activation studies suggest that the vegetative state represents a global disconnection syndrome in which higher order association cortices are functionally disconnected from primary cortical areas. In contrast, patterns of activation in functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of patients in the minimally conscious state show preservation of large-scale cortical networks associated with language and visual processing. Novel applications of functional neuroimaging in patients with disorders of consciousness may aid in differential diagnosis, prognostic assessment and identification of pathophysiologic mechanisms. Improvements in patient characterization may, in turn, provide new opportunities for restoration of function through interventional neuromodulation.

The Astrocentric Hypothesis: proposed role of astrocytes in consciousness and memory formation.

PubMed

Robertson, James M

2002-01-01

Consciousness is self-awareness. This process is closely associated with attention and working memory, a special form of short-term memory, which is vital when solving explicit task. Edelman has equated consciousness as the "remembered present" to highlight the importance of this form of memory (G.M. Edelman, Bright Air, Brilliant Fire, Basic Books, New York, 1992). The majority of other memories are recollections of past events that are encoded, stored, and brought back into consciousness if appropriate for solving new problems. Encoding prior experiences into memories is based on the salience of each event (A.R. Damasio, Descartes' Error, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1994; G.M. Edelman, Bright Air, Brilliant Fire, Basic Books, New York, 1992). It is proposed that protoplasmic astrocytes bind attended sensory information into consciousness and store encoded memories. This conclusion is supported by research conducted by gliobiologist over the past 15 years. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.

[Effectiveness of physical activity intervention at workplace].

PubMed

Malińska, Marzena

2017-03-24

A physical activity is a key factor contributing to the improvement and maintenance of one's general health. Although this issue is by no means limited to the workplace, it is precisely the work environment that can provide the basis for keeping and reinforcing more health-conscious attitudes and lifestyles, including programs promoting a physical activity. The paper presents an analysis of the literature on the effectiveness of physical activity intervention at the workplace. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the physical activity programs on musculoskeletal disorders, absenteeism, work ability, physical capacity and body weight of the participants. Given a marginal extent of programs of this kind in Poland, the authors' intention was to show the benefits resulting from implementation of and participation in such initiatives. Med Pr 2017;68(2):277-301. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

From multisensory integration in peripersonal space to bodily self-consciousness: from statistical regularities to statistical inference.

PubMed

Noel, Jean-Paul; Blanke, Olaf; Serino, Andrea

2018-06-06

Integrating information across sensory systems is a critical step toward building a cohesive representation of the environment and one's body, and as illustrated by numerous illusions, scaffolds subjective experience of the world and self. In the last years, classic principles of multisensory integration elucidated in the subcortex have been translated into the language of statistical inference understood by the neocortical mantle. Most importantly, a mechanistic systems-level description of multisensory computations via probabilistic population coding and divisive normalization is actively being put forward. In parallel, by describing and understanding bodily illusions, researchers have suggested multisensory integration of bodily inputs within the peripersonal space as a key mechanism in bodily self-consciousness. Importantly, certain aspects of bodily self-consciousness, although still very much a minority, have been recently casted under the light of modern computational understandings of multisensory integration. In doing so, we argue, the field of bodily self-consciousness may borrow mechanistic descriptions regarding the neural implementation of inference computations outlined by the multisensory field. This computational approach, leveraged on the understanding of multisensory processes generally, promises to advance scientific comprehension regarding one of the most mysterious questions puzzling humankind, that is, how our brain creates the experience of a self in interaction with the environment. © 2018 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of New York Academy of Sciences.

Inhalation Conscious Sedation with Nitrous Oxide and Oxygen as Alternative to General Anesthesia in Precooperative, Fearful, and Disabled Pediatric Dental Patients: A Large Survey on 688 Working Sessions.

PubMed

Galeotti, Angela; Garret Bernardin, Annelyse; D'Antò, Vincenzo; Ferrazzano, Gianmaria Fabrizio; Gentile, Tina; Viarani, Valeria; Cassabgi, Giorgio; Cantile, Tiziana

2016-01-01

Aim . To evaluate the effectiveness and the tolerability of the nitrous oxide sedation for dental treatment on a large pediatric sample constituting precooperative, fearful, and disabled patients. Methods . 472 noncooperating patients (aged 4 to 17) were treated under conscious sedation. The following data were calculated: average age; gender distribution; success/failure; adverse effects; number of treatments; kind of dental procedure undertaken; number of dental procedures for each working session; number of working sessions for each patient; differences between males and females and between healthy and disabled patients in relation to success; success in relation to age; and level of cooperation using Venham score. Results . 688 conscious sedations were carried out. The success was 86.3%. Adverse effects occurred in 2.5%. 1317 dental procedures were performed. In relation to the success, there was a statistically significant difference between healthy and disabled patients. Sex and age were not significant factors for the success. Venham score was higher at the first contact with the dentist than during the treatment. Conclusions . Inhalation conscious sedation represented an effective and safe method to obtain cooperation, even in very young patients, and it could reduce the number of pediatric patients referred to hospitals for general anesthesia.

Inhalation Conscious Sedation with Nitrous Oxide and Oxygen as Alternative to General Anesthesia in Precooperative, Fearful, and Disabled Pediatric Dental Patients: A Large Survey on 688 Working Sessions

PubMed Central

Galeotti, Angela; Garret Bernardin, Annelyse; D'Antò, Vincenzo; Viarani, Valeria; Cassabgi, Giorgio

2016-01-01

Aim. To evaluate the effectiveness and the tolerability of the nitrous oxide sedation for dental treatment on a large pediatric sample constituting precooperative, fearful, and disabled patients. Methods. 472 noncooperating patients (aged 4 to 17) were treated under conscious sedation. The following data were calculated: average age; gender distribution; success/failure; adverse effects; number of treatments; kind of dental procedure undertaken; number of dental procedures for each working session; number of working sessions for each patient; differences between males and females and between healthy and disabled patients in relation to success; success in relation to age; and level of cooperation using Venham score. Results. 688 conscious sedations were carried out. The success was 86.3%. Adverse effects occurred in 2.5%. 1317 dental procedures were performed. In relation to the success, there was a statistically significant difference between healthy and disabled patients. Sex and age were not significant factors for the success. Venham score was higher at the first contact with the dentist than during the treatment. Conclusions. Inhalation conscious sedation represented an effective and safe method to obtain cooperation, even in very young patients, and it could reduce the number of pediatric patients referred to hospitals for general anesthesia. PMID:27747238

"How Does Your Garden Grow?" Teaching Preschool Children about the Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Witt, Susan D.; Kimple, Katherine P.

2008-01-01

Raising consciousness about the environment and learning ways to care for our planet are important for all citizens of the world. Young children are particularly receptive to learning new concepts; thus the preschool years are an ideal time to teach lessons about the environment. It is often the case that the information learned when children are…

Preservice Teachers' Perception Levels Concerning Consumer Environmental Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dikmenli, Yurdal

2017-01-01

People who strive to prevent harm to the environment while utilizing it and to maintain a livable environment is related to educational and cultural values. If we want the next generation to live in an environment as undisturbed as we live in now, environmentally friendly products should be consumed and waste should be prevented. Thus, raising an…

The size-weight illusion induced through human echolocation.

PubMed

Buckingham, Gavin; Milne, Jennifer L; Byrne, Caitlin M; Goodale, Melvyn A

2015-02-01

Certain blind individuals have learned to interpret the echoes of self-generated sounds to perceive the structure of objects in their environment. The current work examined how far the influence of this unique form of sensory substitution extends by testing whether echolocation-induced representations of object size could influence weight perception. A small group of echolocation experts made tongue clicks or finger snaps toward cubes of varying sizes and weights before lifting them. These echolocators experienced a robust size-weight illusion. This experiment provides the first demonstration of a sensory substitution technique whereby the substituted sense influences the conscious perception through an intact sense. © The Author(s) 2014.

Over-focused? The relation between patients' inclination for conscious control and single- and dual-task motor performance after stroke.

PubMed

Denneman, R P M; Kal, E C; Houdijk, H; Kamp, J van der

2018-05-01

Many stroke patients are inclined to consciously control their movements. This is thought to negatively affect patients' motor performance, as it disrupts movement automaticity. However, it has also been argued that conscious control may sometimes benefit motor performance, depending on the task or patientś motor or cognitive capacity. To assess whether stroke patients' inclination for conscious control is associated with motor performance, and explore whether the putative association differs as a function of task (single- vs dual) or patientś motor and cognitive capacity. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analysis were used to assess associations between patients' disposition to conscious control (i.e., Conscious Motor Processing subscale of Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale; MSRS-CMP) and single-task (Timed-up-and-go test; TuG) and motor dual-task costs (TuG while tone counting; motor DTC%). We determined whether these associations were influenced by patients' walking speed (i.e., 10-m-walk test) and cognitive capacity (i.e., working memory, attention, executive function). Seventy-eight clinical stroke patients (<6 months post-stroke) participated. Patients' conscious control inclination was not associated with single-task TuG performance. However, patients with a strong inclination for conscious control showed higher motor DTC%. These associations were irrespective of patients' motor and cognitive abilities. Patients' disposition for conscious control was not associated with single task motor performance, but was associated with higher motor dual task costs, regardless of patients' motor or cognitive abilities. Therapists should be aware that patients' conscious control inclination can influence their dual-task performance while moving. Longitudinal studies are required to test whether reducing patients' disposition for conscious control would improve dual-tasking post-stroke. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unconscious Reward Cues Increase Invested Effort, but Do Not Change Speed-Accuracy Tradeoffs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bijleveld, Erik; Custers, Ruud; Aarts, Henk

2010-01-01

While both conscious and unconscious reward cues enhance effort to work on a task, previous research also suggests that conscious rewards may additionally affect speed-accuracy tradeoffs. Based on this idea, two experiments explored whether reward cues that are presented above (supraliminal) or below (subliminal) the threshold of conscious…

Structuring Contexts: Pathways toward Un-Obstructing Race-Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berchini, Christina

2016-01-01

This research is situated in second-wave White Teacher Identity studies and investigates the ways context structures a high school English teacher's white identity, practices, and race-consciousness. Working with detailed data and vignettes from a single case study, the author highlights the teaching of a unit on the Holocaust. Using the required…

On consciousness, resting state fMRI, and neurodynamics

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background During the last years, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain has been introduced as a new tool to measure consciousness, both in a clinical setting and in a basic neurocognitive research. Moreover, advanced mathematical methods and theories have arrived the field of fMRI (e.g. computational neuroimaging), and functional and structural brain connectivity can now be assessed non-invasively. Results The present work deals with a pluralistic approach to "consciousness'', where we connect theory and tools from three quite different disciplines: (1) philosophy of mind (emergentism and global workspace theory), (2) functional neuroimaging acquisitions, and (3) theory of deterministic and statistical neurodynamics – in particular the Wilson-Cowan model and stochastic resonance. Conclusions Based on recent experimental and theoretical work, we believe that the study of large-scale neuronal processes (activity fluctuations, state transitions) that goes on in the living human brain while examined with functional MRI during "resting state", can deepen our understanding of graded consciousness in a clinical setting, and clarify the concept of "consiousness" in neurocognitive and neurophilosophy research. PMID:20522270

Raising consciousness about the nuclear threat through music

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ungerleider, J.H.

1987-01-01

This dissertation examines the use of music, in particular topical collaborative group song writing, as a tool for raising consciousness about the threat of nuclear war. Consciousness raising is one way to overcome the phenomenon of denial and to increase discussion and social action in response to the nuclear threat. This dissertation measures the impact of a group song writing workshop on developing critical problem-solving in adult groups; it reviews how music is applied in psychological research and clinical work, has been used historically as a tool in social-change movements in America, and is used in the contemporary field ofmore » peace education. The perspectives of several theorists who discuss the potential of music to contribute to social change are presented. It is concluded that consciousness about the nuclear threat - in terms of naming and analyzing - can be raised by working with music's potential for developing affective, expressive, and collaborative capabilities in individuals and groups. Potential applications of the group song writing workshop are in schools, with peace organizations, music groups, and in relation to other social issues.« less

Sheaf theoretic formulation for consciousness and qualia and relationship to the idealism of non-dual philosophies.

PubMed

Kafatos, Menas C; Kato, Goro C

2017-12-01

Questions about the nature of reality, whether Consciousness is the fundamental reality in the universe, and what is Consciousness itself, have no answer in systems that assume an external reality independent of Consciousness. Ultimately, the ontological foundation of such systems is the absolute division of subject and object. We advocate instead what we consider to be an approach that is in agreement with the foundation of quantum reality, which is based on Rāmānuja's version of Vedanta philosophy and non-dual Kashmir Śaivism. Quantum mechanics opened the door to consciousness, but it cannot account for consciousness. However, the quantum measurement problem implies that we cannot remove subjective experience from the practice of science. It is then appropriate to seek mathematical formalisms for the workings of consciousness that don't rely on specific interpretations of quantum mechanics. Temporal topos provides such a framework. In the theory of temporal topos, which we outline here, the difference between a subject and an object involves the direction of a morphism in a category. We also note that in the dual category, the direction of the morphism is in the opposite direction compared with the original direction of the original category. The resulting formalism provides powerful ways to address consciousness and qualia, beyond attempts to account for consciousness through physical theories. We also discuss the implications of the mathematics presented here for the convergence of science and non-dualist philosophies, as an emerging science of Consciousness, that may bring out the underlying unity of physics, life and mind. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Dreaming and the brain: from phenomenology to neurophysiology

PubMed Central

Nir, Yuval; Tononi, Giulio

2009-01-01

Dreams are a most remarkable experiment in psychology and neuroscience, conducted every night in every sleeping person. They show that our brain, disconnected from the environment, can generate by itself an entire world of conscious experiences. Content analysis and developmental studies have furthered our understanding of dream phenomenology. In parallel, brain lesion studies, functional imaging, and neurophysiology have advanced our knowledge of the neural basis of dreaming. It is now possible to start integrating these two strands of research in order to address some fundamental questions that dreams pose for cognitive neuroscience: how conscious experiences in sleep relate to underlying brain activity; why the dreamer is largely disconnected from the environment; and whether dreaming is more closely related to mental imagery or to perception. PMID:20079677

Dreaming and the brain: from phenomenology to neurophysiology.

PubMed

Nir, Yuval; Tononi, Giulio

2010-02-01

Dreams are a remarkable experiment in psychology and neuroscience, conducted every night in every sleeping person. They show that the human brain, disconnected from the environment, can generate an entire world of conscious experiences by itself. Content analysis and developmental studies have promoted understanding of dream phenomenology. In parallel, brain lesion studies, functional imaging and neurophysiology have advanced current knowledge of the neural basis of dreaming. It is now possible to start integrating these two strands of research to address fundamental questions that dreams pose for cognitive neuroscience: how conscious experiences in sleep relate to underlying brain activity; why the dreamer is largely disconnected from the environment; and whether dreaming is more closely related to mental imagery or to perception. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Unity of consciousness.

PubMed

Hill, Christopher S

2018-05-29

Although there is much talk in various literatures of streams of consciousness, and most of us have an intuitive understanding of such talk, we are far from having a full grasp of what it is that unifies streams of consciousness, binding together the individual experiences that serve as their constituents. In recent years, discussion of this topic has been principally concerned with synchronic unity of consciousness-the form of unity that is exhibited by momentary states of consciousness, or in other words, by time slices or temporal segments of streams. There are two main questions about synchronic unity. First, what is its scope? Are the simultaneous experiences of a single subject necessarily unified? Generally but not necessarily unified? Sometimes unified? And second, what is the nature of synchronic unity? Is it a fundamental phenomenon, and if not, what are the more basic phenomena that constitute it? This essay reviews recent work on these questions, and provides reasons for preferring some answers to others. This article is categorized under: Philosophy > Consciousness Philosophy > Foundations of Cognitive Science Philosophy > Metaphysics. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

To what extent do neurobiological sleep-waking processes support psychoanalysis?

PubMed

Gottesmann, Claude

2010-01-01

Sigmund Freud's thesis was that there is a censorship during waking that prevents memory of events, drives, wishes, and feelings from entering the consciousness because they would induce anxiety due to their emotional or ethical unacceptability. During dreaming, because the efficiency of censorship is decreased, latent thought contents can, after dream-work involving condensation and displacement, enter the dreamer's consciousness under the figurative form of manifest content. The quasi-closed dogma of psychoanalytic theory as related to unconscious processes is beginning to find neurobiological confirmation during waking. Indeed, there are active processes that suppress (repress) unwanted memories from entering consciousness. In contrast, it is more difficult to find neurobiological evidence supporting an organized dream-work that would induce meaningful symbolic content, since dream mentation most often only shows psychotic-like activities. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Case Report: young woman with reduced state of consciousness - rescue team stumble across curious cause].

PubMed

Czaplik, Michael; Brokmann, Jörg; Rossaint, Rolf

2010-01-01

Causes for reduced states of consciousness are diverse; it is often impossible to directly reveal the underlying agents. The following case report describes a young healthy patient who showed a temporary unconsciousness that first appeared seemingly without reason. Accidentally we hit a very uncommon cause for the prevailing carbon monoxide intoxication and were able to prevent further impairment of health status of both patient and environment. (c) Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart New York.

Synthetic consciousness: the distributed adaptive control perspective

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Understanding the nature of consciousness is one of the grand outstanding scientific challenges. The fundamental methodological problem is how phenomenal first person experience can be accounted for in a third person verifiable form, while the conceptual challenge is to both define its function and physical realization. The distributed adaptive control theory of consciousness (DACtoc) proposes answers to these three challenges. The methodological challenge is answered relative to the hard problem and DACtoc proposes that it can be addressed using a convergent synthetic methodology using the analysis of synthetic biologically grounded agents, or quale parsing. DACtoc hypothesizes that consciousness in both its primary and secondary forms serves the ability to deal with the hidden states of the world and emerged during the Cambrian period, affording stable multi-agent environments to emerge. The process of consciousness is an autonomous virtualization memory, which serializes and unifies the parallel and subconscious simulations of the hidden states of the world that are largely due to other agents and the self with the objective to extract norms. These norms are in turn projected as value onto the parallel simulation and control systems that are driving action. This functional hypothesis is mapped onto the brainstem, midbrain and the thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical systems and analysed with respect to our understanding of deficits of consciousness. Subsequently, some of the implications and predictions of DACtoc are outlined, in particular, the prediction that normative bootstrapping of conscious agents is predicated on an intentionality prior. In the view advanced here, human consciousness constitutes the ultimate evolutionary transition by allowing agents to become autonomous with respect to their evolutionary priors leading to a post-biological Anthropocene. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The major synthetic evolutionary transitions’. PMID:27431526

Synthetic consciousness: the distributed adaptive control perspective.

PubMed

Verschure, Paul F M J

2016-08-19

Understanding the nature of consciousness is one of the grand outstanding scientific challenges. The fundamental methodological problem is how phenomenal first person experience can be accounted for in a third person verifiable form, while the conceptual challenge is to both define its function and physical realization. The distributed adaptive control theory of consciousness (DACtoc) proposes answers to these three challenges. The methodological challenge is answered relative to the hard problem and DACtoc proposes that it can be addressed using a convergent synthetic methodology using the analysis of synthetic biologically grounded agents, or quale parsing. DACtoc hypothesizes that consciousness in both its primary and secondary forms serves the ability to deal with the hidden states of the world and emerged during the Cambrian period, affording stable multi-agent environments to emerge. The process of consciousness is an autonomous virtualization memory, which serializes and unifies the parallel and subconscious simulations of the hidden states of the world that are largely due to other agents and the self with the objective to extract norms. These norms are in turn projected as value onto the parallel simulation and control systems that are driving action. This functional hypothesis is mapped onto the brainstem, midbrain and the thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical systems and analysed with respect to our understanding of deficits of consciousness. Subsequently, some of the implications and predictions of DACtoc are outlined, in particular, the prediction that normative bootstrapping of conscious agents is predicated on an intentionality prior. In the view advanced here, human consciousness constitutes the ultimate evolutionary transition by allowing agents to become autonomous with respect to their evolutionary priors leading to a post-biological Anthropocene.This article is part of the themed issue 'The major synthetic evolutionary transitions'. © 2016 The Author(s).

Role Modeling and Regional Health Care Intensity: U.S. Medical Student Attitudes Toward and Experiences With Cost-Conscious Care.

PubMed

Leep Hunderfund, Andrea N; Dyrbye, Liselotte N; Starr, Stephanie R; Mandrekar, Jay; Naessens, James M; Tilburt, Jon C; George, Paul; Baxley, Elizabeth G; Gonzalo, Jed D; Moriates, Christopher; Goold, Susan D; Carney, Patricia A; Miller, Bonnie M; Grethlein, Sara J; Fancher, Tonya L; Reed, Darcy A

2017-05-01

To examine medical student attitudes toward cost-conscious care and whether regional health care intensity is associated with reported exposure to physician role-modeling behaviors related to cost-conscious care. Students at 10 U.S. medical schools were surveyed in 2015. Thirty-five items assessed attitudes toward, perceived barriers to and consequences of, and observed physician role-modeling behaviors related to cost-conscious care (using scales for cost-conscious and potentially wasteful behaviors; Cronbach alphas of 0.82 and 0.81, respectively). Regional health care intensity was measured using Dartmouth Atlas End-of-Life Chronic Illness Care data: ratio of physician visits per decedent compared with the U.S. average, ratio of specialty to primary care physician visits per decedent, and hospital care intensity index. Of 5,992 students invited, 3,395 (57%) responded. Ninety percent (2,640/2,932) agreed physicians have a responsibility to contain costs. However, 48% (1,1416/2,960) thought ordering a test is easier than explaining why it is unnecessary, and 58% (1,685/2,928) agreed ordering fewer tests will increase the risk of malpractice litigation. In adjusted linear regression analyses, students in higher-health-care-intensity regions reported observing significantly fewer cost-conscious role-modeling behaviors: For each one-unit increase in the three health care intensity measures, scores on the 21-point cost-conscious role-modeling scale decreased by 4.4 (SE 0.7), 3.2 (0.6), and 3.9 (0.6) points, respectively (all P < .001). Medical students endorse barriers to cost-conscious care and encounter conflicting role-modeling behaviors, which are related to regional health care intensity. Enhancing role modeling in the learning environment may help prepare future physicians to address health care costs.

Artificial consciousness, artificial emotions, and autonomous robots.

PubMed

Cardon, Alain

2006-12-01

Nowadays for robots, the notion of behavior is reduced to a simple factual concept at the level of the movements. On another hand, consciousness is a very cultural concept, founding the main property of human beings, according to themselves. We propose to develop a computable transposition of the consciousness concepts into artificial brains, able to express emotions and consciousness facts. The production of such artificial brains allows the intentional and really adaptive behavior for the autonomous robots. Such a system managing the robot's behavior will be made of two parts: the first one computes and generates, in a constructivist manner, a representation for the robot moving in its environment, and using symbols and concepts. The other part achieves the representation of the previous one using morphologies in a dynamic geometrical way. The robot's body will be seen for itself as the morphologic apprehension of its material substrata. The model goes strictly by the notion of massive multi-agent's organizations with a morphologic control.

Time, Memory, and Consciousness a View from the Brain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markowitsch, Hans J.

2005-10-01

Memory can be defined as mental time traveling. Seen in this way, memory provides the glue which combines different time episodes and leads to a coherent view of one's own person. The importance of time becomes apparent in a neuroscientific comparison of animals and human beings. All kinds of animals have biorhythms -- times when they sleep, prefer or avoid sex, or move to warmer places. Mammalian brains have a number of time sensitive structures damage to which alters a subject's behavior to his or her environment. For human beings, damage to certain brain regions may alter the sense of time and consciousness of time in quite different ways. Furthermore, brain damage, drugs, or psychiatric disturbances may lead to an impaired perception of time, sometimes leading to major positive or negative accelerations in time perception. An impaired time perception alters consciousness and awareness of oneself. A proper synchronized action of time perception, brain activation, memory processing, and autonoetic (self-aware) consciousness provides the bases of an integrated personality.

Training Physicians to Provide High-Value, Cost-Conscious Care: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Stammen, Lorette A; Stalmeijer, Renée E; Paternotte, Emma; Oudkerk Pool, Andrea; Driessen, Erik W; Scheele, Fedde; Stassen, Laurents P S

2015-12-08

Increasing health care expenditures are taxing the sustainability of the health care system. Physicians should be prepared to deliver high-value, cost-conscious care. To understand the circumstances in which the delivery of high-value, cost-conscious care is learned, with a goal of informing development of effective educational interventions. PubMed, EMBASE, ERIC, and Cochrane databases were searched from inception until September 5, 2015, to identify learners and cost-related topics. Studies were included on the basis of topic relevance, implementation of intervention, evaluation of intervention, educational components in intervention, and appropriate target group. There was no restriction on study design. Data extraction was guided by a merged and modified version of a Best Evidence in Medical Education abstraction form and a Cochrane data coding sheet. Articles were analyzed using the realist review method, a narrative review technique that focuses on understanding the underlying mechanisms in interventions. Recurrent patterns were identified in the data through thematic analyses. Resulting themes were discussed within the research team until consensus was reached. Main outcomes were factors that promote education in delivering high-value, cost-conscious care. The initial search identified 2650 articles; 79 met the inclusion criteria, of which 14 were randomized clinical trials. The majority of the studies were conducted in North America (78.5%) using a pre-post interventional design (58.2%; at least 1619 participants); they focused on practicing physicians (36.7%; at least 3448 participants), resident physicians (6.3%; n = 516), and medical students (15.2%; n = 275). Among the 14 randomized clinical trials, 12 addressed knowledge transmission, 7 reflective practice, and 1 supportive environment; 10 (71%) concluded that the intervention was effective. The data analysis suggested that 3 factors aid successful learning: (1) effective transmission of knowledge, related, for example, to general health economics and prices of health services, to scientific evidence regarding guidelines and the benefits and harms of health care, and to patient preferences and personal values (67 articles); (2) facilitation of reflective practice, such as providing feedback or asking reflective questions regarding decisions related to laboratory ordering or prescribing to give trainees insight into their past and current behavior (56 articles); and (3) creation of a supportive environment in which the organization of the health care system, the presence of role models of delivering high-value, cost-conscious care, and a culture of high-value, cost-conscious care reinforce the desired training goals (27 articles). Research on educating physicians to deliver high-value, cost-conscious care suggests that learning by practicing physicians, resident physicians, and medical students is promoted by combining specific knowledge transmission, reflective practice, and a supportive environment. These factors should be considered when educational interventions are being developed.

Women Consciousness Exploration in Jane Austen and Her Works

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

He, Xiaojun; Liao, Lina

2015-01-01

Jane Austen is one of the greatest realistic novelists in English literature of the 19th century. Austen is contrary to consciousness of man centrism and traditional values of masculine writers before her time. All her 6 novels are concerned with love and marriage; they truthfully reflect women life of her age, reveals her feminine consciousness…

Culture Consciousness among Hmong Immigrant Leaders: Beyond the Dichotomy of Cultural Essentialism and Cultural Hybridity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ngo, Bic

2013-01-01

This article illustrates the culture consciousness of Hmong immigrant community leaders as they made sense of the educational experiences of Hmong American children and families. It draws on the work of scholars who have theorized "critical" essentialism to suggest that Hmong leaders are critically aware of the role and import of…

ViSA: A Neurodynamic Model for Visuo-Spatial Working Memory, Attentional Blink, and Conscious Access

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simione, Luca; Raffone, Antonino; Wolters, Gezinus; Salmas, Paola; Nakatani, Chie; Belardinelli, Marta Olivetti; van Leeuwen, Cees

2012-01-01

Two separate lines of study have clarified the role of selectivity in conscious access to visual information. Both involve presenting multiple targets and distracters: one "simultaneously" in a spatially distributed fashion, the other "sequentially" at a single location. To understand their findings in a unified framework, we propose a…

Adaptive Reward Pursuit: How Effort Requirements Affect Unconscious Reward Responses and Conscious Reward Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bijleveld, Erik; Custers, Ruud; Aarts, Henk

2012-01-01

When in pursuit of rewards, humans weigh the value of potential rewards against the amount of effort that is required to attain them. Although previous research has generally conceptualized this process as a deliberate calculation, recent work suggests that rudimentary mechanisms--operating without conscious intervention--play an important role as…

Cost-consciousness among Swiss doctors: a cross-sectional survey.

PubMed

Bovier, Patrick A; Martin, Diane P; Perneger, Thomas V

2005-11-10

Knowing what influences physicians attitudes toward health care costs is an important matter, because most health care expenditures are the results of doctors' decisions. Many decisions regarding medical tests and treatments are influenced by factors other than the expected benefit to the patient, including the doctor's demographic characteristics and concerns about cost and income. Doctors (n = 1184) in Geneva, Switzerland, answered questions about their cost-consciousness, practice patterns (medical specialty, public.vs. private sector, number of patients per week, time spent with a new patient), work satisfaction, and stress from uncertainty. General linear models were used to identify independent risk factors of higher cost-consciousness. Most doctors agreed that trying to contain costs was their responsibility ("agree" or "totally agree": 90%) and that they should take a more prominent role in limiting the use of unnecessary tests (92%); most disagreed that doctors are too busy to worry about costs (69%) and that the cost of health care is only important if the patient has to pay for it out-of-pocket (88%). In multivariate analyses, cost-consciousness was higher among doctors in the public sector, those who saw fewer patients per week, who were most tolerant of uncertainty, and who were most satisfied with their work. Thus even in a setting with very high health care expenditures, doctors' stated cost-consciousness appeared to be generally high, even though it was not uniformly distributed among them.

Establishing the Environment: Setting a Supportive Climate.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Kristina M.

Supportive classroom environments can enhance students' learning about their own diversity as well as that of others. Discussing basic diversity variables such as gender, age, and race can raise awareness and conscious decision making about how students use and view communication in their everyday lives. A graduate student instructor enhances her…

Towards environmentally sustainable human behaviour: targeting non-conscious and conscious processes for effective and acceptable policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marteau, Theresa M.

2017-05-01

Meeting climate change targets to limit global warming to 2°C requires rapid and large reductions in demand for products that most contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These include production of bulk materials (e.g. steel and cement), energy supply (e.g. fossil fuels) and animal source foods (particularly ruminants and their products). Effective strategies to meet these targets require transformative changes in supply as well as demand, involving changes in economic, political and legal systems at local, national and international levels, building on evidence from many disciplines. This paper outlines contributions from behavioural science in reducing demand. Grounded in dual-process models of human behaviour (involving non-conscious and conscious processes) this paper considers first why interventions aimed at changing population values towards the environment are usually insufficient or unnecessary for reducing demand although they may be important in increasing public acceptability of policies that could reduce demand. It then outlines two sets of evidence from behavioural science towards effective systems-based strategies, to identify interventions likely to be effective at: (i) reducing demand for products that contribute most to GHG emissions, mainly targeting non-conscious processes and (ii) increasing public acceptability for policy changes to enable these interventions, targeting conscious processes. This article is part of the themed issue 'Material demand reduction'.

Towards environmentally sustainable human behaviour: targeting non-conscious and conscious processes for effective and acceptable policies.

PubMed

Marteau, Theresa M

2017-06-13

Meeting climate change targets to limit global warming to 2°C requires rapid and large reductions in demand for products that most contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These include production of bulk materials (e.g. steel and cement), energy supply (e.g. fossil fuels) and animal source foods (particularly ruminants and their products). Effective strategies to meet these targets require transformative changes in supply as well as demand, involving changes in economic, political and legal systems at local, national and international levels, building on evidence from many disciplines. This paper outlines contributions from behavioural science in reducing demand. Grounded in dual-process models of human behaviour (involving non-conscious and conscious processes) this paper considers first why interventions aimed at changing population values towards the environment are usually insufficient or unnecessary for reducing demand although they may be important in increasing public acceptability of policies that could reduce demand. It then outlines two sets of evidence from behavioural science towards effective systems-based strategies, to identify interventions likely to be effective at: (i) reducing demand for products that contribute most to GHG emissions, mainly targeting non-conscious processes and (ii) increasing public acceptability for policy changes to enable these interventions, targeting conscious processes.This article is part of the themed issue 'Material demand reduction'. © 2017 The Authors.

Towards environmentally sustainable human behaviour: targeting non-conscious and conscious processes for effective and acceptable policies

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Meeting climate change targets to limit global warming to 2°C requires rapid and large reductions in demand for products that most contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These include production of bulk materials (e.g. steel and cement), energy supply (e.g. fossil fuels) and animal source foods (particularly ruminants and their products). Effective strategies to meet these targets require transformative changes in supply as well as demand, involving changes in economic, political and legal systems at local, national and international levels, building on evidence from many disciplines. This paper outlines contributions from behavioural science in reducing demand. Grounded in dual-process models of human behaviour (involving non-conscious and conscious processes) this paper considers first why interventions aimed at changing population values towards the environment are usually insufficient or unnecessary for reducing demand although they may be important in increasing public acceptability of policies that could reduce demand. It then outlines two sets of evidence from behavioural science towards effective systems-based strategies, to identify interventions likely to be effective at: (i) reducing demand for products that contribute most to GHG emissions, mainly targeting non-conscious processes and (ii) increasing public acceptability for policy changes to enable these interventions, targeting conscious processes. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Material demand reduction’. PMID:28461435

Need for uniqueness as a mediator of the relationship between face consciousness and status consumption in China.

PubMed

Sun, Gong; Chen, Jun; Li, Jie

2017-10-01

Strong economic development in China has led to a surge in status consumption as a means of gaining face. In Eastern culture, people interpret uniqueness as status distinction rather than separateness or deviance. This type of uniqueness can be used to meet others' expectations and gain social approval. Thus its relationship with face consciousness and status consumption is to be expected. This study investigates 2 hypotheses: (a) Face consciousness has a positive effect on status consumption and (b) Consumer need for uniqueness mediates the relationship between face consciousness and status consumption. Two-hundred and forty-six working respondents in eastern China completed a survey. Regression analysis of the results supported both hypotheses. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

The role of health consciousness in predicting attention to health warning messages.

PubMed

Kaskutas, L A; Greenfield, T K

1997-01-01

Guided by information processing theory and the health belief model, this paper considers the relationship between health consciousness among the general population and attention to environmental health warnings about alcohol consumption. Mechanisms of exposure to three dominant types of impersonal alcohol-related health messages in the environment are explored. Cross-sectional survey using telephone interview data. A representative nationwide sample of adults was interviewed in 1993 (n = 1026), with a response rate of 63%. Key variables include exposure to warning labels on alcoholic beverages, to point-of-sale posters, and to advertisements in the media, as well as respondents' alcohol consumption, health problems (indicative of salience of health warnings), and level of health consciousness assessed by items tapping concern with nutrition and seeking information on health topics. In the total sample, over a third had seen a warning label or poster and almost all had seen an advertisement about the risks associated with alcohol consumption in 1993. Survey respondents scored very high on five individual items that make up the health consciousness scale introduced here, with 69% endorsing all items. The scale demonstrated good internal reliability (alpha = .70) and was significantly correlated (p < .01) with not enjoying getting drunk and with usually reading product warning labels, suggesting construct validity. Yet the hypothesized strong relationships between health consciousness and attention to health warnings about drinking were not observed; nor was salience of messages a predictor of recall. Importantly, high proportions of underage drinkers and young adults at elevated risk for drinking problems are reached by container warning label messages. Mechanisms of exposure recall vary based on message source, with "container label recall" associated with heavier drinking, younger age, and purchasing patterns; "poster recall" associated with purchasing and health consciousness; and "advertisement recall" associated with heavy consumption and younger age. These results are contrary to predictions from skeptics of broad-based informational interventions, who argue that only the already-health conscious are attentive to health warnings about the risks of alcohol consumption. These data suggest that the label is reaching intended target audiences, especially younger people, males, and heavier alcohol consumers. Future research in predicting attention to impersonal health warnings in the environment should continue to improve the assessment of constructs such as salience and health consciousness, and should further test the applicability of available theoretical models. Subsequent research should also consider additional measures to tap mechanisms of exposure to impersonal health messages to enable a better understanding of the population that is not being reached by such public health interventions.

Intuitive Intelligence, Self-regulation, and Lifting Consciousness

PubMed Central

Zayas, Maria

2014-01-01

This article explores the role of the heart in emotional experience, as well as how learning to shift the rhythms of the heart into a more coherent state makes it possible to establish a new inner baseline reference that allows access to our heart’s intuitive capacities and deeper wisdom. The nature and types of intuition and the connection between intuition and compassionate action are discussed. It is suggested that increased effectiveness in self-regulatory capacity and the resultant reorganization of memories sustained in the neural architecture facilitates a stable and integrated experience of self in relationship to others and to the environment, otherwise known as consciousness. The implications of meeting the increasingly complex demands of life with greater love, compassion, and kindness, thereby lifting consciousness, are considered. PMID:24808982

Using group consciousness theories to understand political activism: case studies of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Ingo Hasselbach.

PubMed

Duncan, Lauren E

2010-12-01

I describe and integrate several theories of group consciousness and collective action, along with 3 case studies of political activists. I have 2 goals: (1) to use the theories to help us understand something puzzling about each life and (2) to use the cases to complicate and expand the theories. Barack Obama's case raises the question of how someone with a politicized Black identity evolved into a politician working for all oppressed people and complicates racial identity development theory. Hillary Clinton's case raises the question of how a middle-class White girl raised in a conservative family became a prominent Democratic Party politician and complicates group consciousness theories by demonstrating the importance of generation and personality. Ingo Hasselbach's (a former German neo-Nazi leader) case illustrates relative deprivation theory and raises the question of whether theories developed to explain subordinate group consciousness can be applied to movements of dominant group consciousness. © 2010 The Author. Journal of Personality © 2010, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Socialization and Selection Effects in the Association between Weight Conscious Peer Groups and Thin-Ideal Internalization: A Co-Twin Control Study

PubMed Central

Burt, S. Alexandra; O’Connor, Shannon; Thompson, J. Kevin; Klump, Kelly L.

2016-01-01

Affiliation with weight conscious peer groups is theorized to increase thin-ideal internalization through socialization processes. However, selection effects could contribute if genetic and/or environmental predispositions lead to affiliation with weight conscious peers. Co-twin control methodology was used to examine socialization and selection effects in 614 female twins (ages 8–15) from the Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR). Thin-ideal internalization and peer group characteristics were assessed via self-report questionnaires. Results suggested the presence of both socialization and selection effects. In terms of socialization, twins who reported increased exposure to weight conscious peers relative to their co-twins had elevated thin-ideal internalization scores, regardless of zygosity. However, associations between weight conscious peers and thin-ideal internationalization within twin pairs were attenuated, suggesting that genetic and shared environmental selection effects also contribute. Findings significantly extend previous work by confirming the presence of socialization processes and highlighting selection processes to be examined in future longitudinal research. PMID:26859605

Complete unconscious control: Using (in)action primes to demonstrate completely unconscious activation of inhibitory control mechanisms

PubMed Central

Hepler, Justin; Albarracin, Dolores

2018-01-01

Although robust evidence indicates that action initiation can occur unconsciously and unintentionally, the literature on action inhibition suggests that inhibition requires both conscious thought and intentionality. In prior research demonstrating automatic inhibition in response to unconsciously processed stimuli, the unconscious stimuli had previously been consciously associated with an inhibitory response within the context of the experiment, and participants had consciously formed a goal to activate inhibition processes when presented with the stimuli (because task instructions required participants to engage in inhibition when the stimuli occurred). Therefore, prior work suggests that some amount of conscious thought and intentionality are required for inhibitory control. In the present research, we recorded event-related potentials during two go/no-go experiments in which participants were subliminally primed with general action/inaction concepts that had never been consciously associated with task-specific responses. We provide the first demonstration that inhibitory control processes can be modulated completely unconsciously and unintentionally. PMID:23747649

The Merit of Synesthesia for Consciousness Research

PubMed Central

van Leeuwen, Tessa M.; Singer, Wolf; Nikolić, Danko

2015-01-01

Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which additional perceptual experiences are elicited by sensory stimuli or cognitive concepts. Synesthetes possess a unique type of phenomenal experiences not directly triggered by sensory stimulation. Therefore, for better understanding of consciousness it is relevant to identify the mental and physiological processes that subserve synesthetic experience. In the present work we suggest several reasons why synesthesia has merit for research on consciousness. We first review the research on the dynamic and rapidly growing field of the studies of synesthesia. We particularly draw attention to the role of semantics in synesthesia, which is important for establishing synesthetic associations in the brain. We then propose that the interplay between semantics and sensory input in synesthesia can be helpful for the study of the neural correlates of consciousness, especially when making use of ambiguous stimuli for inducing synesthesia. Finally, synesthesia-related alterations of brain networks and functional connectivity can be of merit for the study of consciousness. PMID:26696921

What Should Be the Roles of Conscious States and Brain States in Theories of Mental Activity?**

PubMed Central

Dulany, Donelson E.

2011-01-01

Answers to the title’s question have been influenced by a history in which an early science of consciousness was rejected by behaviourists on the argument that this entails commitment to ontological dualism and “free will” in the sense of indeterminism. This is, however, a confusion of theoretical assertions with metaphysical assertions. Nevertheless, a legacy within computational and information-processing views of mind rejects or de-emphasises a role for consciousness. This paper sketches a mentalistic metatheory in which conscious states are the sole carriers of symbolic representations, and thus have a central role in the explanation of mental activity and action-while specifying determinism and materialism as useful working assumptions. A mentalistic theory of causal learning, experimentally examined with phenomenal reports, is followed by examination of these questions: Are there common roles for phenomenal reports and brain imaging? Is there defensible evidence for unconscious brain states carrying symbolic representations? Are there interesting dissociations within consciousness? PMID:21694964

Pupillary responses reveal infants' discrimination of facial emotions independent of conscious perception.

PubMed

Jessen, Sarah; Altvater-Mackensen, Nicole; Grossmann, Tobias

2016-05-01

Sensitive responding to others' emotions is essential during social interactions among humans. There is evidence for the existence of subcortically mediated emotion discrimination processes that occur independent of conscious perception in adults. However, only recently work has begun to examine the development of automatic emotion processing systems during infancy. In particular, it is unclear whether emotional expressions impact infants' autonomic nervous system regardless of conscious perception. We examined this question by measuring pupillary responses while subliminally and supraliminally presenting 7-month-old infants with happy and fearful faces. Our results show greater pupil dilation, indexing enhanced autonomic arousal, in response to happy compared to fearful faces regardless of conscious perception. Our findings suggest that, early in ontogeny, emotion discrimination occurs independent of conscious perception and is associated with differential autonomic responses. This provides evidence for the view that automatic emotion processing systems are an early-developing building block of human social functioning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Handedness and the fringe of consciousness: strong handers ruminate while mixed handers self-reflect.

PubMed

Niebauer, Christopher Lee

2004-12-01

Previous research found that mixed handers (i.e., those that are more ambidextrous) were more likely than strong handers to update their beliefs (Niebauer, Aselage, & Schutte, 2002). It was assumed that this was due to greater degrees of communication between the two cerebral hemispheres in mixed handers. Niebauer and Garvey (2004) made connections between this model of updating beliefs and metacognitive processing. The current work proposes that variations in interhemispheric interaction (as measured by degree of handedness) contribute to differences in consciousness, specifically when consciousness is used in rumination versus the metacognitive task of self-reflection. Using the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (Trapnell & Campbell, 1999), predictions were supported such that strong handedness was associated with self-rumination; whereas, mixed handedness was associated with increased self-reflection p values<.01, (N=255). James's (1890) concept of the "fringe of consciousness" is used to make connections between metacognition, updating beliefs, and self-reflection. Several studies are reviewed suggesting that mixed handers experience fringe consciousness to a greater degree than strong handers.

Ideological Paradigms and Their Impact on Environmental Problems Solutions in Coal Mining Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zolotukhin, Vladimir; Zolotukhina, Natalia; Yazevich, Maria; Rodionov, Alexey; Kozyreva, Marina

2017-11-01

The work presents the analysis of the influence of the ideological paradigms of technology in solving environmental problems in the conditions of modernization of production, where a significant role is given to the protection and preservation of the natural environment and the protection of the rights of a citizen to a favourable environment. The attention is focused on the fact that in a civilized society, the needs of the individual and society are formed within the right social and cultural fields. The main importance of the regulation of everyday reality allotted to the phenomenon of law as a certain ideological paradigm. Stressed that at different stages in the coexistence of ideology and power detected General forms and principles of their influence on social practices, and on consciousness. The article substantiates the position that any interaction of subjects of economic activities leads to the existence of "constructive tension".

Earth applications of closed ecological systems: Relevance to the development of sustainability in our global biosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, M.; Allen, J.; Ailing, A.; Dempster, W. F.; Silverstone, S.

The parallels between the challenges facing bioregenerative life support in artificial closed ecological systems and those in our global biosphere are striking. At the scale of the current global technosphere and expanding human population, it is increasingly obvious that the biosphere can no longer safely buffer and absorb technogenic and anthropogenic pollutants. The loss of biodiversity, reliance on non-renewable natural resources, and conversion of once wild ecosystems for human use with attendant desertification/soil erosion, has led to a shift of consciousness and the widespread call for sustainability of human activities. For researchers working on bioregenerative life support in closed systems, the small volumes and faster cycling times than in the Earth's biosphere make it starkly clear that systems must be designed to ensure renewal of water and atmosphere, nutrient recycling, production of healthy food, and safe environmental methods of maintaining technical systems. The development of technical systems that can be fully integrated and supportive of living systems is a harbinger of new perspectives as well as technologies in the global environment. In addition, closed system bioregenerative life support offers opportunities for public education and consciousness changing of how to live with our global biosphere.

Thalamic stimulation to improve level of consciousness after seizures: evaluation of electrophysiology and behavior.

PubMed

Gummadavelli, Abhijeet; Motelow, Joshua E; Smith, Nicholas; Zhan, Qiong; Schiff, Nicholas D; Blumenfeld, Hal

2015-01-01

Understanding the neural mechanisms that support human consciousness is an important frontier in neuroscience and medicine. We previously developed a rodent model of temporal lobe seizures that recapitulates the human electroencephalography (EEG) signature of ictal and postictal neocortical slow waves associated with behavioral impairments in level of consciousness. The mechanism of slow-wave production in epilepsy may involve suppression of the subcortical arousal systems including the brainstem and intralaminar thalamic nuclei. We hypothesized that intralaminar thalamic stimulation may lead to electrophysiologic and functional rescue from postictal slow waves and behavioral arrest. We electrically stimulated the central lateral thalamic nucleus (a member of the intralaminar nuclei) under anesthesia and after electrically induced hippocampal seizures in anesthetized and in awake-behaving animal model preparations. We demonstrated a proof-of-principle restoration of electrophysiologic and behavioral measures of consciousness by stimulating the intralaminar thalamic nuclei after seizures. We measured decreased cortical slow waves and increased desynchronization and multiunit activity in the cortex with thalamic stimulation following seizures. Functionally, thalamic stimulation produced resumption of exploratory behaviors in the postictal state. Targeting of nodes in the neural circuitry of consciousness has important medical implications. Impaired consciousness with epilepsy has dangerous consequences including decreased school/work performance, social stigmatization, and impaired airway protection. These data suggest a novel therapeutic approach for restoring consciousness after seizures. If paired with responsive neurostimulation, this may allow rapid implementation to improve level of consciousness in patients with epilepsy. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2014 International League Against Epilepsy.

Cognitive algorithms: dynamic logic, working of the mind, evolution of consciousness and cultures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perlovsky, Leonid I.

2007-04-01

The paper discusses evolution of consciousness driven by the knowledge instinct, a fundamental mechanism of the mind which determines its higher cognitive functions. Dynamic logic mathematically describes the knowledge instinct. It overcomes past mathematical difficulties encountered in modeling intelligence and relates it to mechanisms of concepts, emotions, instincts, consciousness and unconscious. The two main aspects of the knowledge instinct are differentiation and synthesis. Differentiation is driven by dynamic logic and proceeds from vague and unconscious states to more crisp and conscious states, from less knowledge to more knowledge at each hierarchical level of the mind. Synthesis is driven by dynamic logic operating in a hierarchical organization of the mind; it strives to achieve unity and meaning of knowledge: every concept finds its deeper and more general meaning at a higher level. These mechanisms are in complex relationship of symbiosis and opposition, which leads to complex dynamics of evolution of consciousness and cultures. Modeling this dynamics in a population leads to predictions for the evolution of consciousness, and cultures. Cultural predictive models can be compared to experimental data and used for improvement of human conditions. We discuss existing evidence and future research directions.

Designing High Fidelity Simulation to Maximize Student Registered Nursing Decision-Making Ability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deckers, Cathleen

2011-01-01

The current healthcare environment is a complex system of patients, procedures, and equipment that strives to deliver safe and effective medical care. High fidelity simulation provides healthcare educators with a tool to create safety conscious practitioners utilizing an environment that replicates practice without risk to patients. Using HFS…

Promoting the use of personally relevant stimuli for investigating patients with disorders of consciousness

PubMed Central

Perrin, Fabien; Castro, Maïté; Tillmann, Barbara; Luauté, Jacques

2015-01-01

Sensory stimuli are used to evaluate and to restore cognitive functions and consciousness in patients with a disorder of consciousness (DOC) following a severe brain injury. Although sophisticated protocols can help assessing higher order cognitive functions and awareness, one major drawback is their lack of sensitivity. The aim of the present review is to show that stimulus selection is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the state of patients with disorders of consciousness as it determines the levels of processing that the patient can have with stimulation from his/her environment. The probability to observe a behavioral response or a cerebral response is increased when her/his personal history and/or her/his personal preferences are taken into account. We show that personally relevant stimuli (i.e., with emotional, autobiographical, or self-related characteristics) are associated with clearer signs of perception than are irrelevant stimuli in patients with DOC. Among personally relevant stimuli, music appears to be a promising clinical tool as it boosts perception and cognition in patients with DOC and could also serve as a prognostic tool. We suggest that the effect of music on cerebral processes in patients might reflect the music’s capacity to act both on the external and internal neural networks supporting consciousness. PMID:26284020

Cephalopod consciousness: behavioural evidence.

PubMed

Mather, Jennifer A

2008-03-01

Behavioural evidence suggests that cephalopod molluscs may have a form of primary consciousness. First, the linkage of brain to behaviour seen in lateralization, sleep and through a developmental context is similar to that of mammals and birds. Second, cephalopods, especially octopuses, are heavily dependent on learning in response to both visual and tactile cues, and may have domain generality and form simple concepts. Third, these animals are aware of their position, both within themselves and in larger space, including having a working memory of foraging areas in the recent past. Thus if using a 'global workspace' which evaluates memory input and focuses attention is the criterion, cephalopods appear to have primary consciousness.

Designing Campus Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaiser, Leland R.

1975-01-01

Outer space, inner space and existential space are discussed as they interact with consciousness to produce experiences that impede or facilitate growth. Speech presented at 57th Annual NASPA Conference, San Francisco, March 30, 1975. (Author)

Diversification of U.S. medical schools via affirmative action implementation

PubMed Central

Lakhan, Shaheen Emmanuel

2003-01-01

Background The diversification of medical school student and faculty bodies via race-conscious affirmative action policy is a societal and legal option for the U.S. Supreme Court has recently ruled its use constitutional. This paper investigates the implications of affirmative action, particularly race-conscious compared to race-blind admissions policy; explains how alternative programs are generally impractical; and provides a brief review of the history and legality of affirmative action in the United States. Discussion Selection based solely on academic qualifications such as GPA and MCAT scores does not achieve racial and ethnic diversity in medical school, nor does it adequately predict success as practicing physicians. However, race-conscious preference yields greater practice in underserved and often minority populations, furthers our biomedical research progression, augments health care for minority patients, and fosters an exceptional medical school environment where students are better able to serve an increasingly multicultural society. Summary The implementation of race-conscious affirmative action results in diversity in medicine. Such diversity has shown increased medical practice in underserved areas, thereby providing better health care for the American people. PMID:13678423

Sleep, consciousness and the spontaneous and evoked electrical activity of the brain. Is there a cortical integrating mechanism?

PubMed

Evans, B M

2003-02-01

The physiological mechanisms that underlie consciousness and unconsciousness are the sleep/wake mechanisms. Deep sleep is a state of physiological reversible unconsciousness. The change from that state to wakefulness is mediated by the reticular activating mechanism. The reverse change from wakefulness to sleep is also an active process effected by an arousal inhibitory mechanism based on a partial blockade of the thalamus and upper brain stem, associated with thalamic sleep spindles and also with cortical sub-delta activity (<1 Hz). The deactivation of the thalamus has been demonstrated both electrically and by positron emission tomography during deep sleep. Normally, wakefulness is associated with instant awareness (defined as the ability to integrate all sensory information from the external environment and the internal environment of the body). Awareness may be a function of the thalamo-cortical network in the cerebral hemispheres, which forms the final path of the sleep/wake mechanism. Anatomical and physiological studies suggest that there may be a double thalamo-cortical network; one relating to cortical and thalamic areas with specific functions and the other global, involving all cortical areas and so-called 'non-specific' thalamic nuclei. The global system might function as a cortical integrating mechanism permitting the spread of information between the specific cortical areas and thus underlying awareness. The global system may also be responsible for much of the spontaneous and evoked electrical activity of the brain. The cognitive change between sleep and wakefulness is accompanied by changes in the autonomic system, the cerebral blood flow and cerebral metabolism. Awareness is an essential component of total consciousness (defined as continuous awareness of the external and internal environment, both past and present, together with the emotions arising from it). In addition to awareness, full consciousness requires short-term and explicit memory and intact emotional responses.

[Functional pathophysiology of consciousness].

PubMed

Jellinger, Kurt A

2009-01-01

Consciousness (Latin conscientia "moral conscience"), according to the English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) [103], is the awareness of all that occurs in the mind of a person, whereas the American philosopher John Searle (2000) defined it as "inner qualitative, subjective states and processes of awareness". In modern science it is defined as a continuous state of full awareness of the Self and one's relationship to the external and internal environment, describing the degree of wakefulness in which an organism recognizes stimuli. This widely discussed biological term for complex neuronal processes that allow an individuum to recognize itself and its environment and to act accordingly, has been and still is the subject of much research in philosophy and natural/neuroscience. Its definition is often used for awareness and recognition, too. While the Egyptians in the papyrus Edwin Smith already recognized the brain as the seat of consciousness, René Descartes (1644 [36]) believed its special structure should be "a small gland in the middle", but the anatomical structures and physiological processes involved in consciousness were elucidated only in the middle of the 20th century. Neuronal substrates include several functional networks that are hierarchically organized and cooperate functionally. The lowest level is the mesencephalic formatio reticularis and its projections to the thalamus that were identified als ascending reticular system (ARAS) by the classical experiments of Moruzzi and Magoun, whereas later analyses of patients with impaired consciousness provided further insights. The mesencephalic ARAS as motor of the function of higher structures projects 1. via the reticular thalamus diffusely to the cortex, 2. via hypothalamus to the basal forebrain and limbic system, and 3. to the medial raphe of the brainstem and locus coeruleus and their diffuse cortical projections. The reticular system is stimulated directly and indirectly via numerous collaterals from important somatic and sensory pathways and acts as a control system of neuronal activities of the cerebral cortex. The principal function of the ARAS is to focus our alertness on specific stimuli or internal processes, which run via complex neuronal cell groups and numerous neurotransmitters that influence various aspects of consciousness and wakefulness. Stimulation of the ARAS produces an arousal reaction as the electric correlate of consciousness; its destruction causes coma and related states. The highest level are cortical (prefrontal and association) networks for recognition, motor activity, longterm memory and attention, the left hemisphere being considered as the dominant one. Different levels of consciousness are distinguished: 1. hyperalertness, 2. alertness (normal state of wakefulness), 3. somnolence or lethargy, 4. obtundation with tendency to fall asleep, 5. stupor, 6. coma and its subtypes, like akinetic mutism, apallic syndrome or persistent vegative state, locked-in syndrome, delirium, and catatonia. They are caused by damages in various functional levels of the brain, by psychogenic factors or experimentally, and are accompanied by characteristic neurological and psychiatric disorders. The relevant morphological lesions can be detected by electrophysiological and imaging studies. The bases of functional anatomy and pathophysiology of consciousness, its cognitive aspects and its major disorders, their causes and functional substrates with reference to sleep and both spontaneous and iatrogenic disorders of consciousness are critically summarized.

Institutionalised isolation: tuberculosis nursing at Westwood Sanatorium, Queensland, Australia 1919-55.

PubMed

Kirby, Stephanie; Madsen, Wendy

2009-06-01

From the mid nineteenth to mid twentieth century sanatoria loomed large in the popular consciousness as the space for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). A review of the historiography of sanatoria at the beginning of this paper shows that the nursing contribution to the care of TB patients is at best ignored and at worst attracts negative comment. Added to this TB nursing was not viewed as prestigious by contemporaries, leading to problems attracting recruits. Using a case study approach based on surviving archival material, this paper sets out to provide a glimpse of the work of TB nurses in a rural sanatorium at Westwood, Queensland, Australia. For the nurses geographical isolation was compounded by professional stagnation, which created a working environment influenced by friction and discord among the staff. It reveals how despite this, nurses coped with working in hostile conditions, to make the long stay of their patients, separated from their families and familiar life style more bearable.

Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Applying the dual-memory system model to investigate expert teachers' observational skills in natural ecological learning environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stolpe, Karin; Björklund, Lars

2012-01-01

This study aims to investigate two expert ecology teachers' ability to attend to essential details in a complex environment during a field excursion, as well as how they teach this ability to their students. In applying a cognitive dual-memory system model for learning, we also suggest a rationale for their behaviour. The model implies two separate memory systems: the implicit, non-conscious, non-declarative system and the explicit, conscious, declarative system. This model provided the starting point for the research design. However, it was revised from the empirical findings supported by new theoretical insights. The teachers were video and audio recorded during their excursion and interviewed in a stimulated recall setting afterwards. The data were qualitatively analysed using the dual-memory system model. The results show that the teachers used holistic pattern recognition in their own identification of natural objects. However, teachers' main strategy to teach this ability is to give the students explicit rules or specific characteristics. According to the dual-memory system model the holistic pattern recognition is processed in the implicit memory system as a non-conscious match with earlier experienced situations. We suggest that this implicit pattern matching serves as an explanation for teachers' ecological and teaching observational skills. Another function of the implicit memory system is its ability to control automatic behaviour and non-conscious decision-making. The teachers offer the students firsthand sensory experiences which provide a prerequisite for the formation of implicit memories that provides a foundation for expertise.

Instructor Presence Helps Bridge the Gap between Online and On-Campus Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennette, Lynne N.; Redd, Bibia R.

2015-01-01

In every course, instructors expect students to learn; therefore, we attempt to be present for learners, and provide enriched learning environments which nurture this learning. However, in online courses developing such environments can be more difficult (or, at the very least, may come less naturally and require more conscious effort on the part…

Exploring the Relationships between White Racial Consciousness, Feminist Identity Development and Family Environment for White Undergraduate Women

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolff, Kara E.; Munley, Patrick H.

2012-01-01

A sample of 394 White undergraduate females completed a demographic questionnaire and three assessment measures: the Oklahoma Racial Attitudes Scale-Revised (ORAS-R) (Vandiver & Leach, 2005), the Feminist Identity Composite (FIC) (Fischer et. al., 2000) and the Family Environment Scale-Real Form (FES-R) (Moos & Moos, 1974, 1994, 2002). Four…

Ethical and Clinical Considerations at the Intersection of Functional Neuroimaging and Disorders of Consciousness.

PubMed

Byram, Adrian C; Lee, Grace; Owen, Adrian M; Ribary, Urs; Stoessl, A Jon; Townson, Andrea; Illes, Judy

2016-10-01

Recent neuroimaging research on disorders of consciousness provides direct evidence of covert consciousness otherwise not detected clinically in a subset of severely brain-injured patients. These findings have motivated strategic development of binary communication paradigms, from which researchers interpret voluntary modulations in brain activity to glean information about patients' residual cognitive functions and emotions. The discovery of such responsiveness raises ethical and legal issues concerning the exercise of autonomy and capacity for decisionmaking on matters such as healthcare, involvement in research, and end of life. These advances have generated demands for access to the technology against a complex background of continued scientific advancement, questions about just allocation of healthcare resources, and unresolved legal issues. Interviews with professionals whose work is relevant to patients with disorders of consciousness reveal priorities concerning further basic research, legal and policy issues, and clinical considerations.

Understanding of anesthesia – Why consciousness is essential for life and not based on genes

PubMed Central

Baluška, František; Yokawa, Ken; Mancuso, Stefano; Baverstock, Keith

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Anesthesia and consciousness represent 2 mysteries not only for biology but also for physics and philosophy. Although anesthesia was introduced to medicine more than 160 y ago, our understanding of how it works still remains a mystery. The most prevalent view is that the human brain and its neurons are necessary to impose the effects of anesthetics. However, the fact is that all life can be anesthesized. Numerous theories have been generated trying to explain the major impact of anesthetics on our human-specific consciousness; switching it off so rapidly, but no single theory resolves this enduring mystery. The speed of anesthetic actions precludes any direct involvement of genes. Lipid bilayers, cellular membranes, and critical proteins emerge as the most probable primary targets of anesthetics. Recent findings suggest, rather surprisingly, that physical forces underlie both the anesthetic actions on living organisms as well as on consciousness in general. PMID:28042377

Ralph Cudworth and the theological origins of consciousness.

PubMed

Carter, Benjamin

2010-01-01

The English Neoplatonic philosopher Ralph Cudworth introduced the term "consciousness" into the English philosophical lexicon. Cudworth uses the term to define the form and structure of cognitive acts, including acts of freewill. In this article I highlight the important role of theological disputes over the place and extent of human freewill within an overarching system of providence. Cudworth's intellectual development can be understood in the main as an increasingly detailed and nuanced reaction to the strict voluntarist Calvinism that is typified in the thought of his near contemporary William Perkins. At the heart of Cudworth's rejection of Calvinism is the dilemma over whether God is understood primarily in terms of will or justice. In this fleshing-out of the power of consciousness Cudworth moves from an instrumental account of the working of the human mind towards an account of human consciousness that is intrinsic to his definition of human agency.

Understanding of anesthesia - Why consciousness is essential for life and not based on genes.

PubMed

Baluška, František; Yokawa, Ken; Mancuso, Stefano; Baverstock, Keith

2016-01-01

Anesthesia and consciousness represent 2 mysteries not only for biology but also for physics and philosophy. Although anesthesia was introduced to medicine more than 160 y ago, our understanding of how it works still remains a mystery. The most prevalent view is that the human brain and its neurons are necessary to impose the effects of anesthetics. However, the fact is that all life can be anesthesized. Numerous theories have been generated trying to explain the major impact of anesthetics on our human-specific consciousness; switching it off so rapidly, but no single theory resolves this enduring mystery. The speed of anesthetic actions precludes any direct involvement of genes. Lipid bilayers, cellular membranes, and critical proteins emerge as the most probable primary targets of anesthetics. Recent findings suggest, rather surprisingly, that physical forces underlie both the anesthetic actions on living organisms as well as on consciousness in general.

Conscious visual memory with minimal attention.

PubMed

Pinto, Yair; Vandenbroucke, Annelinde R; Otten, Marte; Sligte, Ilja G; Seth, Anil K; Lamme, Victor A F

2017-02-01

Is conscious visual perception limited to the locations that a person attends? The remarkable phenomenon of change blindness, which shows that people miss nearly all unattended changes in a visual scene, suggests the answer is yes. However, change blindness is found after visual interference (a mask or a new scene), so that subjects have to rely on working memory (WM), which has limited capacity, to detect the change. Before such interference, however, a much larger capacity store, called fragile memory (FM), which is easily overwritten by newly presented visual information, is present. Whether these different stores depend equally on spatial attention is central to the debate on the role of attention in conscious vision. In 2 experiments, we found that minimizing spatial attention almost entirely erases visual WM, as expected. Critically, FM remains largely intact. Moreover, minimally attended FM responses yield accurate metacognition, suggesting that conscious memory persists with limited spatial attention. Together, our findings help resolve the fundamental issue of how attention affects perception: Both visual consciousness and memory can be supported by only minimal attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Environment-Conscious Ceramics (Ecoceramics) Technology Received 2001 R&D 100 Award

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Mrityunjay

2002-01-01

Since the dawn of human civilization, there has been a delicate balance between the use of resources as human frontiers expanded and the need to have a minimum influence on the ecosystem. The first 200 years of the industrial revolution essentially solved the problem of production. However, the massive production of goods also generated tremendous amounts of byproducts and wastes. In the new millennium, to sustain a healthy life in harmony with nature, it will be extremely important for us to develop various materials, products, and processes that minimize any harmful influence on the environment. Environment-conscious ceramics (ecoceramics) are a new class of materials that can be fabricated with renewable resources (wood) and wood waste material (wood sawdust). Wood is a "lignocellulosic" material formed by the photosynthetic reaction within the needles or leaves of trees. The photosynthesis process uses sunlight to take carbon dioxide from air and convert it into oxygen and organic materials. Wood has been known to be one of the best and most intricate engineering materials created by nature and known to mankind. In addition, natural woods of various types are available throughout the world. On the other hand, wood sawdusts are generated in abundant quantities by sawmills. Environment-conscious ceramic materials, fabricated via the pyrolysis and infiltration of natural wood-derived preforms, have tailorable properties with numerous potential applications. The experimental studies conducted to date on the development of materials based on biologically derived structures indicate that these materials behave like ceramic materials manufactured by conventional approaches. These structures have been shown to be quite useful in producing porous or dense materials having various microstructures and compositions.

Philosophical foundations of artificial consciousness.

PubMed

Chrisley, Ron

2008-10-01

Consciousness is often thought to be that aspect of mind that is least amenable to being understood or replicated by artificial intelligence (AI). The first-personal, subjective, what-it-is-like-to-be-something nature of consciousness is thought to be untouchable by the computations, algorithms, processing and functions of AI method. Since AI is the most promising avenue toward artificial consciousness (AC), the conclusion many draw is that AC is even more doomed than AI supposedly is. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the soundness of this inference. The results are achieved by means of conceptual analysis and argumentation. It is shown that pessimism concerning the theoretical possibility of artificial consciousness is unfounded, based as it is on misunderstandings of AI, and a lack of awareness of the possible roles AI might play in accounting for or reproducing consciousness. This is done by making some foundational distinctions relevant to AC, and using them to show that some common reasons given for AC scepticism do not touch some of the (usually neglected) possibilities for AC, such as prosthetic, discriminative, practically necessary, and lagom (necessary-but-not-sufficient) AC. Along the way three strands of the author's work in AC--interactive empiricism, synthetic phenomenology, and ontologically conservative heterophenomenology--are used to illustrate and motivate the distinctions and the defences of AC they make possible.

Guidance for commissioning NHS England dental conscious sedation services: a framework tool.

PubMed

Howlett, Paul

2014-01-01

Conscious sedation is an integral part of modern day dental care and should be delivered through a high quality, effective and evidence-based approach. Commissioning of NHS dental services in England is currently under review by NHS England and the National Dental Commissioning Group. This group has identified the management of vulnerable people including anxious patients, as one of its priorities. The Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry (SAAD) believes this provides an opportunity to influence the commissioning of NHS conscious sedation services. With this aim in mind,"Guidance for Commissioning NHS England Dental Conscious Sedation Services: A Framework Tool" was developed. This guidance proposes a common approach to the organisation of NHS dental conscious sedation services in England, advocating the provision of Tier 1 and Tier 2 services in all regions. Its ethos is a"hub and spoke" model of service delivery with patient assessment delivered by experienced and well trained dental sedationists at its core. In line with the recent Francis Report fundamental standards for all aspects of dental conscious sedation practice are outlined, supported by a robust and predictable quality assurance process. This work has been shared with key stakeholders in NHS England including the Chief Dental Officer and the Head of Primary Care Commissioning.

Group work is political work: a feminist perspective of interpersonal group psychotherapy.

PubMed

Bender, A; Ewashen, C

2000-01-01

When practicing as group leaders, mental health nurses often incorporate Irvin Yalom's (1995, 1998) concepts of social microcosm and here-and-now. This article examines these concepts from a feminist perspective and offers an approach to group psychotherapy that processes gender issues and fosters collective consciousness-raising. A feminist perspective in group therapy challenges us to view the social microcosm as a reenactment of sociopolitical contexts and the here-and-now as a medium for developing personal and social responsibility. Therapy is not only about individual and interpersonal change in group members, but is an opportunity for healthy social change. Therapy becomes political work, raising the social consciousness of each participant as well as the group as a whole.

Working Memory and Consciousness: The Current State of Play

PubMed Central

Persuh, Marjan; LaRock, Eric; Berger, Jacob

2018-01-01

Working memory (WM), an important posit in cognitive science, allows one to temporarily store and manipulate information in the service of ongoing tasks. WM has been traditionally classified as an explicit memory system—that is, as operating on and maintaining only consciously perceived information. Recently, however, several studies have questioned this assumption, purporting to provide evidence for unconscious WM. In this article, we focus on visual working memory (VWM) and critically examine these studies as well as studies of unconscious perception that seem to provide indirect evidence for unconscious WM. Our analysis indicates that current evidence does not support an unconscious WM store, though we offer independent reasons to think that WM may operate on unconsciously perceived information. PMID:29551967

Listening to Students & Answering the Call: One Woman's Writing, Responding, and Reflecting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sikorski-Julier, April Zosia

2012-01-01

This study is my attempt to consciously reflect on what is at hand in one student's work. I set out to learn about how students react to responses they receive. As I read portfolios at the end of the semester, Sapphrikah chose me through her amazing ability to consciously reflect and grow as a writer, activist, and womyn. By examining…

Body-conscious Shakespeare: sensory disturbances in troubled characters.

PubMed

Heaton, Kenneth W

2011-12-01

It is widely accepted that Shakespeare was unique in the range of his insights into the human mind, but the way his characters reveal their mental states through bodily sensations has not been systematically explored. The author has searched for these phenomena in the 42 major works of Shakespeare and in 46 genre-matched works by his contemporaries, and in this paper the author focuses on sensory changes other than those involving vision, taste, the heart and the alimentary tract (all considered in other papers). Vertigo is experienced by five distressed Shakespearean characters, all men, but not at all by the other writers' characters. Breathlessness, probably representing hyperventilation, occurs eleven times in Shakespeare's works but only twice in the other writers' works. Fatigue, expressing grief, is articulated by several Shakespearean characters including Hamlet. It features less often in the others' works. Deafness at a time of high emotion is mentioned by Shakespeare several times but usually by a character 'turning a deaf ear', consciously or unconsciously. To the other writers, ears show emotion only by burning or itching. Blunting of touch and pain and their opposites of hypersensitivity to touch and pain are all to be found in Shakespeare's works when a character is distressed or excited, but not so with his contemporaries' works. Faint feelings and cold feelings are also more common in the works of Shakespeare. Overall, therefore, Shakespeare was exceptional in his use of sensory disturbances to express emotional upset. This may be a conscious literary device or a sign of exceptional awareness of bodily sensations.

Student Naturalists Reflecting through Writing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carey, Jamie P.

1999-01-01

Discusses the personal science journal as an educational tool able to provide teachers with a means of assessment, and students with an opportunity to synthesize the awareness of being ecologically conscious with knowledge of the environment. (WRM)

Is Your Gut Conscious? Is an Extraterrestrial?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vos Post, Jonathan

2011-10-01

This paper speculates on questions intending to be taken scientifically rather than metaphysically: "Can the human gut (enteric nervous system) be conscious?"; "Can your immune system think?"; "Could consciousness be coded in DNA?"; "What do we mean when asserting that an Extraterrestrial is Thinking, or is Conscious? We explore through reference to theory, experiment, and computational models by Christof Koch (Caltech), Barbara Wold (Caltech), and Stuart Kauffman (University of Calgary, Tampere University of Technology, Santa Fe Institute). We use a tentative new definition of thinking, designed to be applicable for humans, cetecea, corvids, artificial intelligences, and extraterrestrial intelligences of any substrate (i.e. Life as We Do Not Know It): "Thinking is the occurrence, transformation, and storage in a mind or brain (or simulation thereof) of information-bearing structures (representations) of one kind or another, such as thoughts, concept, percepts, ideas, impressions, notions, rules, schemas, images, phantasms, or subpersonal representations." We use the framework for Consciousness developed by Francis Crick and Christof Koch. We try to describe scientific goals, but discuss Philosophy sufficient to avoid naïve philosophical category errors (thus are careful not to conflate thought, consciousness, and language) Penrose, Hameroff, and Kauffman speculate (differently) that CNS consciousness is a macroscopic quantum phenomenon. Might intestinal, immune system, or genetic regulatory network dynamics exhibit emergent cooperative quantum effects? The speculations are in the context of Evolution by Natural Selection, presumed to operate throughout the Cosmos, and recent work in the foundations of Computational Biology and Quantum Mechanics.

TRANSFORMATION FACTORS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND ACTION IN IIDA CITY RESIDENTS - ATTEITION TO ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirai, Nobuo; Higuchi, Kazukiyo; Tokai, Akihiro

Iida City in Nagano Prefecture is a town with an advanced environmental strategy including citizenry participation in the town's environment plan, a network of EMS (Environmental Management system) businesses, and a citizens' solar power system. In this study, a questionnaire of Iida residents was carried out to determine their environmental consciousness, and the effect on their actions. It also examined the influence of current environmental measures on the residents, and the relation between the level of social capital and residents' environmental considerations. The results indicate that the environmental consideration level of the senior citizen group is higher than that of the entire Japan in Iida City, and environmental measures has improved the residents' environmental consciousness. And it is thought the environmental consideration level of the senior citizen group is related to the level of social capital.

Toward a new cosmic consciousness: Psychoeducational aspects of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De la Torre, Gabriel G.

2014-02-01

This study presents a new approach to the concept of cosmic consciousness integrated in current neuroscience knowledge and discusses implications for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. It also examines different aspects related to consciousness and how it may play a key role in the understanding of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and life in the Universe and its implications. Subjects (n=116) were college students from Spain, the United States, and Italy. Subjects responded to a questionnaire comprising five different sections: (A) religious beliefs, (B) environment and general opinion, (C) astronomy, (D) contact, and (E) attention and perception. The results showed the importance of several modular aspects that affect Space awareness in humans. Preliminary results are discussed with regard to current neuroscience, factor analysis, and possible implications for the understanding of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The roles of education, new search strategies, and possible contact scenarios are also discussed.

Conscious and unconscious context-specific cognitive control

PubMed Central

Schouppe, Nathalie; de Ferrerre, Evelien; Van Opstal, Filip; Braem, Senne; Notebaert, Wim

2014-01-01

A key feature of the human cognitive system is its ability to deal with an ever-changing environment. One prototypical example is the observation that we adjust our information processing depending on the conflict-likelihood of a context (context-specific proportion congruency effect, CSPC, Crump etal., 2006). Recently, empirical studies started to question the role of consciousness in these strategic adaptation processes (for reviews, see Desender and Van den Bussche, 2012; Kunde etal., 2012). However, these studies have not yielded unequivocal results (e.g., Kunde, 2003; Heinemann etal., 2009; Van Gaal etal., 2010a; Desender etal., 2013; Reuss etal., 2014). In the present study, we aim at replicating the experiment of Heinemann etal. (2009) in which the proportion of congruent and incongruent trials between different contexts was varied in a masked priming task. Their results showed a reduction of the congruency effect for the context with more incongruent trials. However, this CSPC effect was only observed when the prime–target conflict was conscious, rather than unconscious, suggesting that context-specific control operates within the boundaries of awareness. Our replication attempt however contrasts these findings. In the first experiment we found no evidence for a CSPC effect in reaction times (RTs), neither in the conscious nor in the unconscious condition. The error rate analysis did show a CSPC effect, albeit not one modulated by consciousness. In the second experiment we found an overall CSPC effect in RTs, independent of consciousness. The error rates did not display a CSPC pattern. These mixed results seem to nuance the findings of Heinemann etal. (2009) and highlight the need for replication studies in psychology research. PMID:24926275

Generalized memory associativity in a network model for the neuroses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wedemann, Roseli S.; Donangelo, Raul; de Carvalho, Luís A. V.

2009-03-01

We review concepts introduced in earlier work, where a neural network mechanism describes some mental processes in neurotic pathology and psychoanalytic working-through, as associative memory functioning, according to the findings of Freud. We developed a complex network model, where modules corresponding to sensorial and symbolic memories interact, representing unconscious and conscious mental processes. The model illustrates Freud's idea that consciousness is related to symbolic and linguistic memory activity in the brain. We have introduced a generalization of the Boltzmann machine to model memory associativity. Model behavior is illustrated with simulations and some of its properties are analyzed with methods from statistical mechanics.

Understanding the decision-making environment for people in minimally conscious state.

PubMed

Yelden, Kudret; Sargent, Sarah; Samanta, Jo

2017-04-11

Patients in minimally conscious state (MCS) show minimal, fluctuating but definitive signs of awareness of themselves and their environments. They may exhibit behaviours ranging from the ability to track objects or people with their eyes, to the making of simple choices which requires the ability to recognise objects and follow simple commands. While patients with MCS have higher chances of further recovery than people in vegetative states, this is not guaranteed and their prognosis is fundamentally uncertain. Therefore, patients with MCS need regular input from healthcare professionals to monitor their progress (or non-progress) and to address their needs for rehabilitation, for the provision of an appropriate environment and equipment. These requirements form a backdrop to the potentially huge variety of ethical-legal dilemmas that may be faced by their families, caregivers and ultimately, the courts. This paper analyses the decision-making environment for people with MCS using data obtained through four focus groups which included the input of 29 senior decision makers in the area. The results of the focus group study are presented and further explored with attention on recurrent and strong themes such as lack of expertise, resource issues, and the influence of families and friends of people with MCS.

Negative, but not positive emotional images modulate the startle response independent of conscious awareness.

PubMed

Reagh, Zachariah M; Knight, David C

2013-08-01

The emotional response to a threat is influenced by the valence of other stimuli in the environment. This emotional modulation of the threat-elicited response occurs even when negative valence stimuli are not consciously perceived. Relatively little prior research has investigated whether nonconsciously perceived positive valence stimuli modify the response to a threat, and the work that has been completed is in need of additional rigorous testing of stimulus and valence perception. The current study presented images of negative, neutral, and positive valence (1,000 ms and 17 ms durations), followed by a mask. A startle probe (100 dB whitenoise) was presented during 33% of each trial type while eyeblink electromyography (EMG) and skin conductance response (SCR) were measured. During the study, participants rated the emotional content of each image to assess valence perception. Participants accurately classified the valence of 1,000 ms images, but not 17 ms images. Further, participants performed at chance levels on an independent postexperimental forced-choice perception task using 17 ms masked images, indicating they were unable to perceive the valence and content of these images. Greater EMG and SCR were elicited by the startle probe during perceived and unperceived negative images compared to perceived and unperceived positive and neutral images. In addition, perceived, but not unperceived positive images diminished startle responses. The current findings suggest that images of negative valence potentiate the startle response in the absence of conscious stimulus perception. However, the attenuation of the startle response by positive images appears to require perception of the emotional valence of an image. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Controlling health costs: physician responses to patient expectations for medical care.

PubMed

Sabbatini, Amber K; Tilburt, Jon C; Campbell, Eric G; Sheeler, Robert D; Egginton, Jason S; Goold, Susan D

2014-09-01

Physicians have dual responsibilities to make medical decisions that serve their patients' best interests but also utilize health care resources wisely. Their ability to practice cost-consciously is particularly challenged when faced with patient expectations or requests for medical services that may be unnecessary. To understand how physicians consider health care resources and the strategies they use to exercise cost-consciousness in response to patient expectations and requests for medical care. Exploratory, qualitative focus groups of practicing physicians were conducted. Participants were encouraged to discuss their perceptions of resource constraints, and experiences with redundant, unnecessary and marginally beneficial services, and were asked about patient requests or expectations for particular services. Sixty-two physicians representing a variety of specialties and practice types participated in nine focus groups in Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota in 2012 MEASUREMENTS: Iterative thematic content analysis of focus group transcripts Physicians reported making trade-offs between a variety of financial and nonfinancial resources, considering not only the relative cost of medical decisions and alternative services, but the time and convenience of patients, their own time constraints, as well as the logistics of maintaining a successful practice. They described strategies and techniques to educate patients, build trust, or substitute less costly alternatives when appropriate, often adapting their management to the individual patient and clinical environment. Physicians often make nuanced trade-offs in clinical practice aimed at efficient resource use within a complex flow of clinical work and patient expectations. Understanding the challenges faced by physicians and the strategies they use to exercise cost-consciousness provides insight into policy measures that will address physician's roles in health care resource use.

Soul Work: Call, Movement, and Response

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashby, Sjon F.

2013-01-01

English teachers encourage writing that opens college students to transformative learning through soul work as John Dirkx describes and develops the concept of soul work in his theory of transformative learning. This soul work involves the conscious attempt to bring to the surface myths, images, and metaphors from the unconscious through…

An Invitation to the Dance: From Dragons to Wolves.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berube', Barney

1992-01-01

Multicultural education occurs in environments that consciously recognize the existence of racism, celebrate all cultures, infuse diversity in the curriculum, make it a continuous spiraling process, encourage critical thinking, and seek reform and change. (SK)

Energy consciousness in the design of lighting for people

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Halldane, J.F.

1975-01-01

A comprehensive overview of energy and power distribution in the environment is presented as it relates to lighting. The objectives are to develop a consciousness of the effects of light and vision in order to utilize them more effectively. Notes are made of the physical effects of radiant power on living things and materials including thermal absorption, reflection, transmission, refraction, spectral conversion, interference, diffraction, polarization, phototropy, luminescence, photochemical changes, and photoelectric effects. Environmental issues are stressed. The evaluation process in design is briefly discussed. Reference is made to the goal, parameter, synthesis, and criterion specification as a checklist for evaluation.more » Particular concern is raised for the occupants who experience the constructed environment, since their interests do not appear to be sufficiently represented in the present day design process. Meaningfulness of measurement is emphasized and some anomalies illustrated. (auth)« less

Reactive Processing of Environment Conscious, Biomorphic Ceramics: A Novel and Eco-friendly Route to Advanced Ceramic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, M.

2002-01-01

Environment-conscious, biomorphic ceramics (Ecoceramics) are a new class of materials that can be produced with renewable resources (wood) and wood wastes (wood sawdust). These materials have tailorable properties with numerous potential applications. Silicon carbide-based ecoceramics have been fabricated by the infiltration of wood-derived carbonaceous preforms with oxide and silicon based materials. The wood-derived carbonaceous preforms have been shown to be quite useful in producing porous or dense materials with different microstructures and compositions. The microstructure and mechanical properties (flexural strength, fracture toughness, elastic modulus, and compressive strength) of a wide variety of Sic-based ecoceramics have been measured. Ecoceramics have tailorable properties and behave like ceramic materials manufactured by conventional approaches. In this presentation the fabrication approach, microstructure, and thermomechanical properties of a wide variety of Sic-based Ecoceramics will be reported.

Twins less frequent than expected among male births in risk averse populations.

PubMed

Karasek, Deborah; Goodman, Julia; Gemmill, Alison; Falconi, April; Hartig, Terry; Magganas, Aristotle; Catalano, Ralph

2015-06-01

Male twin gestations exhibit higher incidence of fetal morbidity and mortality than singleton gestations. From an evolutionary perspective, the relatively high rates of infant and child mortality among male twins born into threatening environments reduce the fitness of these gestations, making them more vulnerable to fetal loss. Women do not perceive choosing to spontaneously abort gestations although the outcome may result from estimates, made without awareness, of the risks of continuing a pregnancy. Here, we examine whether the non-conscious decisional biology of gestation can be linked to conscious risk aversion. We test this speculation by measuring the association between household surveys in Sweden that gauge financial risk aversion in the population and the frequency of twins among live male births. We used time-series regression methods to estimate our suspected associations and Box-Jenkins modeling to ensure that autocorrelation did not confound the estimation or reduce its efficiency. We found, consistent with theory, that financial risk aversion in the population correlates inversely with the odds of a twin among Swedish males born two months later. The odds of a twin among males fell by approximately 3.5% two months after unexpectedly great risk aversion in the population. This work implies that shocks that affect population risk aversion carry implications for fetal loss in vulnerable twin pregnancies.

Earth applications of closed ecological systems: relevance to the development of sustainability in our global biosphere.

PubMed

Nelson, M; Allen, J; Alling, A; Dempster, W F; Silverstone, S

2003-01-01

The parallels between the challenges facing bioregenerative life support in artificial closed ecological systems and those in our global biosphere are striking. At the scale of the current global technosphere and expanding human population, it is increasingly obvious that the biosphere can no longer safely buffer and absorb technogenic and anthropogenic pollutants. The loss of biodiversity, reliance on non-renewable natural resources, and conversion of once wild ecosystems for human use with attendant desertification/soil erosion, has led to a shift of consciousness and the widespread call for sustainability of human activities. For researchers working on bioregenerative life support in closed systems, the small volumes and faster cycling times than in the Earth's biosphere make it starkly clear that systems must be designed to ensure renewal of water and atmosphere, nutrient recycling, production of healthy food, and safe environmental methods of maintaining technical systems. The development of technical systems that can be fully integrated and supportive of living systems is a harbinger of new perspectives as well as technologies in the global environment. In addition, closed system bioregenerative life support offers opportunities for public education and consciousness changing of how to live with our global biosphere. c2003 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

A new neural framework for visuospatial processing.

PubMed

Kravitz, Dwight J; Saleem, Kadharbatcha S; Baker, Chris I; Mishkin, Mortimer

2011-04-01

The division of cortical visual processing into distinct dorsal and ventral streams is a key framework that has guided visual neuroscience. The characterization of the ventral stream as a 'What' pathway is relatively uncontroversial, but the nature of dorsal stream processing is less clear. Originally proposed as mediating spatial perception ('Where'), more recent accounts suggest it primarily serves non-conscious visually guided action ('How'). Here, we identify three pathways emerging from the dorsal stream that consist of projections to the prefrontal and premotor cortices, and a major projection to the medial temporal lobe that courses both directly and indirectly through the posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortices. These three pathways support both conscious and non-conscious visuospatial processing, including spatial working memory, visually guided action and navigation, respectively.

Kafka, Borges, and the creation of consciousness, Part I: Kafka--dark ironies of the "gift" of consciousness.

PubMed

Ogden, Thomas H

2009-04-01

The ways in which Franz Kafka and Jorge Luis Borges struggled with the creation of consciousness in their lives and in their literary works are explored in this two-part essay. In Part I, the author juxtaposes a biographical sketch of Kafka with a close reading of his story "A Hunger Artist" (1924), in which a character (whose personality holds much in common with that of Kafka) spends his life in a quasi-delusional state starving himself in public performances. The hunger artist's self-awareness (of having lived a life devoid of the experience of love and mutual recognition) is achieved in the context of an interpersonal experience in which he has, in fact, found/created "the food [he] liked," that is, an experience of loving and being loved, of seeing and being seen, of being aware of and alive to his own imminent death. This fragile, paradoxical state of consciousness is sustained for only a moment before it is attacked, but not entirely destroyed.

A survey of environmental and occupational work practices in the automotive refinishing industry of a developing country: Sonora, Mexico.

PubMed

Velázquez, Luis; Bello, Dhimiter; Munguia, Nora; Zavala, Andrea; Marin, Amina; Moure-Eraso, Rafael

2008-01-01

The automotive repair and refinishing industry has been studied intensively in industrialized countries, in part due to use of hazardous chemicals such as isocyanates and solvents, but little is known about industry practices in the developing world. The main objective of this paper was to investigate environmental and occupational work practices of this industry in a developing region, Sonora, Mexico. An integrated survey approach maximizes the opportunity for identifying risks as well as reducing risks. This investigation included detailed workplace visits to 41 body shops and 6 paint suppliers, as well as a survey of shop owners and 24 workers. Information was collected on work practices, level of technology in the shops, use of personal protective equipment, consumption and handling of hazardous chemicals and waste, hazard communication, and environmental consciousness. Most shops had little capital, outdated technology for exposure control, poor working conditions, high potential for exposure to hazardous chemicals, and little awareness of environmental and occupational health and safety. We concluded that work practices in the Sonoran auto refinishing industry are unsustainable and may pose a health risk to workers and the environment.

Decreased electrophysiological activity represents the conscious state of emptiness in meditation

PubMed Central

Hinterberger, Thilo; Schmidt, Stephanie; Kamei, Tsutomu; Walach, Harald

2014-01-01

Many neuroscientific theories explain consciousness with higher order information processing corresponding to an activation of specific brain areas and processes. In contrast, most forms of meditation ask for a down-regulation of certain mental processing activities while remaining fully conscious. To identify the physiological properties of conscious states with decreased mental and cognitive processing, the electrical brain activity (64 channels of EEG) of 50 participants of various meditation proficiencies was measured during distinct and idiosyncratic meditative tasks. The tasks comprised a wakeful “thoughtless emptiness (TE),” a “focused attention,” and an “open monitoring” task asking for mindful presence in the moment and in the environment without attachment to distracting thoughts. Our analysis mainly focused on 30 highly experienced meditators with at least 5 years and 1000 h of meditation experience. Spectral EEG power comparisons of the TE state with the resting state or other forms of meditation showed decreased activities in specific frequency bands. In contrast to a focused attention task the TE task showed significant central and parietal gamma decreases (p < 0.05). Compared to open monitoring TE expressed decreased alpha and beta amplitudes, mainly in parietal areas (p < 0.01). TE presented significantly less delta (p < 0.001) and theta (p < 0.05) waves than a wakeful closed eyes resting condition. A group of participants with none or little meditation practice did not present those differences significantly. Our findings indicate that a conscious state of TE reached by experienced meditators is characterized by reduced high-frequency brain processing with simultaneous reduction of the low frequencies. This suggests that such a state of meditative conscious awareness might be different from higher cognitive and mentally focused states but also from states of sleep and drowsiness. PMID:24596562

Urban Outdoor Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daugs, Donald R.

1978-01-01

Suggests that survival consciousness has made it imperative that all people have a knowledge of basic biology and ecological relationships. Shows how the urban teacher can utilize the school grounds and buildings to help students gain such basic understanding of the natural environment. (Author/RK)

Bibliography on Growth and Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Boulder, CO.

This bibliography presents materials concerning growth and education. Articles and reports are presented in alphabetical order for each of the following categories: growth and equilibrium, energy, environment and health, resources and land, population, business and economics, education, curriculum, communication, consciousness and reality, ethics…

Regional entropy of functional imaging signals varies differently in sensory and cognitive systems during propofol-modulated loss and return of behavioral responsiveness.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaolin; Lauer, Kathryn K; Ward, B Douglas; Roberts, Christopher J; Liu, Suyan; Gollapudy, Suneeta; Rohloff, Robert; Gross, William; Xu, Zhan; Chen, Shanshan; Wang, Lubin; Yang, Zheng; Li, Shi-Jiang; Binder, Jeffrey R; Hudetz, Anthony G

2018-05-08

The level and richness of consciousness depend on information integration in the brain. Altered interregional functional interactions may indicate disrupted information integration during anesthetic-induced unconsciousness. How anesthetics modulate the amount of information in various brain regions has received less attention. Here, we propose a novel approach to quantify regional information content in the brain by the entropy of the principal components of regional blood oxygen-dependent imaging signals during graded propofol sedation. Fifteen healthy individuals underwent resting-state scans in wakeful baseline, light sedation (conscious), deep sedation (unconscious), and recovery (conscious). Light sedation characterized by lethargic behavioral responses was associated with global reduction of entropy in the brain. Deep sedation with completely suppressed overt responsiveness was associated with further reductions of entropy in sensory (primary and higher sensory plus orbital prefrontal cortices) but not high-order cognitive (dorsal and medial prefrontal, cingulate, parietotemporal cortices and hippocampal areas) systems. Upon recovery of responsiveness, entropy was restored in the sensory but not in high-order cognitive systems. These findings provide novel evidence for a reduction of information content of the brain as a potential systems-level mechanism of reduced consciousness during propofol anesthesia. The differential changes of entropy in the sensory and high-order cognitive systems associated with losing and regaining overt responsiveness are consistent with the notion of "disconnected consciousness", in which a complete sensory-motor disconnection from the environment occurs with preserved internal mentation.

Longitudinal Changes in Functioning and Disability in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness: The Importance of Environmental Factors

PubMed Central

Willems, Michelle; Sattin, Davide; Vingerhoets, Ad J.J.M.; Leonardi, Matilde

2015-01-01

Disorders of consciousness are neurological conditions associated with low levels of functioning which pose a serious challenge to public health systems. The current study aimed to examine longitudinal changes in functioning in patients with disorders of consciousness and to identify associated biopsychosocial factors using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. An Italian sample of 248 patients was assessed longitudinally. Differences in relative variability (an index of change that controls for baseline levels) between acute and chronic patients and predictors of relative variability in “Activities & Participation” were examined. Results showed that there were subgroups of patients whose functioning improved over time. The number of problems in “Activities & Participation” decreased in acute patients over time, whereas in chronic patients, an increase was found. The significant difference in relative variability for the environmental factor “support and relationships” reflects the increase in facilitators in acute patients, whereas the number of facilitators in chronic patients remained unchanged over time. Age at event, time from event, and relative variability in “Environmental Factors” were significant predictors of relative variability in “Activities & Participation”. It is of clinical relevance that patients with disorders of consciousness are kept in a supportive and facilitative environment, in order to prevent a decline in their functioning. Moreover, caregivers should receive tailored support in order to enhance and facilitate appropriate care of patients with disorders of consciousness. PMID:25837348

Soul Work: A Phenomenological Study of College English Professors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashby, Sjon F.

2011-01-01

English teachers can encourage writing that opens college students to transformative learning through what John Dirkx called soul work. This soul work involves the conscious attempt to bring to the surface myths, images, and metaphors from the unconscious through imaginative writing and thinking processes. Participants in this study engaged in…

A diagnostic illusory? The case of distinguishing between "vegetative" and "minimally conscious" states.

PubMed

Nettleton, Sarah; Kitzinger, Jenny; Kitzinger, Celia

2014-09-01

Throughout affluent societies there are growing numbers of people who survive severe brain injuries only to be left with long-term chronic disorders of consciousness. This patient group who exist betwixt and between life and death are variously diagnosed as in 'comatose', 'vegetative', and, more recently, 'minimally conscious' states. Drawing on a nascent body of sociological work in this field and developments in the sociology of diagnosis in concert with Bauman's thesis of 'ambivalence' and Turner's work on 'liminality', this article proposes a concept we label as diagnostic illusory in order to capture the ambiguities, nuanced complexities and tensions that the biomedical imperative to name and classify these patients give rise to. Our concept emerged through a reading of debates within medical journals alongside an analysis of qualitative data generated by way of a study of accounts of those close to patients: primarily relatives (N = 51); neurologists (N = 4); lawyers (N = 2); and others (N = 5) involved in their health care in the UK. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Attention, working memory, and phenomenal experience of WM content: memory levels determined by different types of top-down modulation.

PubMed

Jacob, Jane; Jacobs, Christianne; Silvanto, Juha

2015-01-01

What is the role of top-down attentional modulation in consciously accessing working memory (WM) content? In influential WM models, information can exist in different states, determined by allocation of attention; placing the original memory representation in the center of focused attention gives rise to conscious access. Here we discuss various lines of evidence indicating that such attentional modulation is not sufficient for memory content to be phenomenally experienced. We propose that, in addition to attentional modulation of the memory representation, another type of top-down modulation is required: suppression of all incoming visual information, via inhibition of early visual cortex. In this view, there are three distinct memory levels, as a function of the top-down control associated with them: (1) Nonattended, nonconscious associated with no attentional modulation; (2) attended, phenomenally nonconscious memory, associated with attentional enhancement of the actual memory trace; (3) attended, phenomenally conscious memory content, associated with enhancement of the memory trace and top-down suppression of all incoming visual input.

Using health primes to reduce unhealthy snack purchases among overweight consumers in a grocery store.

PubMed

Papies, E K; Potjes, I; Keesman, M; Schwinghammer, S; van Koningsbruggen, G M

2014-04-01

Healthy-eating intentions of overweight individuals are often thwarted by the presence of attractive food temptations in grocery stores and the home environment. To support healthy-eating intentions, we tested the effectiveness of a simple health prime to reduce the purchases of energy-dense snack foods in a grocery store among overweight individuals. This field experiment had a 2 (condition: health prime vs control) × 2 (weight status: overweight vs normal weight) between-participants design. Customers of a grocery store were handed a recipe flyer that either contained a health and diet prime, or not. Participants' weight and height, as well as their attention to and awareness of the prime during shopping, were assessed by means of a questionnaire. The purchase of unhealthy snack foods was assessed by means of the receipt. Results showed that the health prime reduced snack purchases compared with the control condition among overweight and obese participants. When primed, overweight and obese participants bought almost 75% fewer snacks than when not primed. Additional analyses showed that although the prime worked only when customers paid initial attention to the flyer that contained the health prime, no conscious awareness of the prime during grocery shopping was necessary for these effects. These findings suggest that health priming can lead to healthier grocery shopping among overweight consumers, without relying on conscious awareness during shopping. This makes priming a highly viable intervention tool to facilitate healthy food choices. Such tools are especially relevant in the setting of grocery shopping, given that they have direct effects on eating in the home environment and thus for longer-term weight management.

Using health primes to reduce unhealthy snack purchases among overweight consumers in a grocery store

PubMed Central

Papies, E K; Potjes, I; Keesman, M; Schwinghammer, S; van Koningsbruggen, G M

2014-01-01

Objective: Healthy-eating intentions of overweight individuals are often thwarted by the presence of attractive food temptations in grocery stores and the home environment. To support healthy-eating intentions, we tested the effectiveness of a simple health prime to reduce the purchases of energy-dense snack foods in a grocery store among overweight individuals. Design: This field experiment had a 2 (condition: health prime vs control) × 2 (weight status: overweight vs normal weight) between-participants design. Method: Customers of a grocery store were handed a recipe flyer that either contained a health and diet prime, or not. Participants' weight and height, as well as their attention to and awareness of the prime during shopping, were assessed by means of a questionnaire. The purchase of unhealthy snack foods was assessed by means of the receipt. Results: Results showed that the health prime reduced snack purchases compared with the control condition among overweight and obese participants. When primed, overweight and obese participants bought almost 75% fewer snacks than when not primed. Additional analyses showed that although the prime worked only when customers paid initial attention to the flyer that contained the health prime, no conscious awareness of the prime during grocery shopping was necessary for these effects. Conclusion: These findings suggest that health priming can lead to healthier grocery shopping among overweight consumers, without relying on conscious awareness during shopping. This makes priming a highly viable intervention tool to facilitate healthy food choices. Such tools are especially relevant in the setting of grocery shopping, given that they have direct effects on eating in the home environment and thus for longer-term weight management. PMID:23887063

Burnout in healthcare workers managing chronic patients with disorders of consciousness.

PubMed

Gosseries, O; Demertzi, A; Ledoux, D; Bruno, M-A; Vanhaudenhuyse, A; Thibaut, A; Laureys, S; Schnakers, C

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the presence of burnout among professional caregivers managing patients with severe brain injury recovering from coma and working in neurorehabilitation centres or nursing homes. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was sent to 40 centres involved in the Belgian federal network for the care of vegetative and minimally conscious patients. The following demographic data were also collected: age, gender, profession, expertise in the field, amount of time spent with patients and working place. Out of 1068 questionnaires sent, 568 were collected (53% response rate). Forty-five were excluded due to missing data. From the 523 healthcare workers, 18% (n = 93) presented a burnout, 33% (n = 171) showed emotional exhaustion and 36% (n = 186) had a depersonalization. Profession (i.e. nurse/nursing assistants), working place (i.e. nursing home) and the amount of time spent with patients were associated with burnout. The logistic regression showed that profession was nevertheless the strongest variable linked to burnout. According to this study, a significant percentage of professional caregivers and particularly nurses taking care of patients in a vegetative state and in a minimally conscious state suffered from burnout. Prevention of burnout symptoms among caregivers is crucial and is expected to promote more efficient medical care of these challenging patients.

The Role of Work Habits in the Motivation of Food Safety Behaviors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hinsz, Verlin B.; Nickell, Gary S.; Park, Ernest S.

2007-01-01

The authors considered work habits within an integrated framework of motivated behavior. A distinction made between automatic and controlled action led to 2 measures of work habits: a habit strength measure reflecting the 4 characteristics of automaticity and a measure of work routines under conscious control. Workers at a turkey processing plant…

Interactive Videodisc at California State University, Fullerton.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reisman, S.

In January 1987, California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), began to explore the potential of interactive videodisk (IVD) technology on its campus. The challenge of introducing an individualized instructional technology into a cost conscious and conventional teaching environment was formidable, considering the traditional orientation of…

Institutional Nitrogen Footprint: A Case Study at Oregon State University

EPA Science Inventory

Many institutions of higher education are measuring and consciously managing their impact on the environment, using metrics of energy use, recycling, alternative transportation or local foods. While the carbon footprint is a more widely known metric of sustainability, the nitrog...

What dentists need to know about CADM: complementary and alternative dentistry and medicine.

PubMed

Tobey, H S

1996-01-01

This article is written for dentists and paraprofessionals working with dentists, to provide a better understanding of the current and increasing acceptable modality of Complementary and Alternative Dentistry and Medicine. What dentists need to know about hypnosis, or mind-body imagery, a method and technique used in alternative dentistry, is explained in detail. Conscious behavior, also termed rational or normal consciousness, and subconscious behavior, also referred to as the altered state of consciousness, will be detailed. Once recognizing the role of this subconscious state, the main focus of this article is to describe what this state is, the characteristics that belong to this scientific practical phenomenon, and the key to how to induce this state, simply, readily and easily in eighty percent of dental patients.

A new neural framework for visuospatial processing

PubMed Central

Kravitz, Dwight J.; Saleem, Kadharbatcha S.; Baker, Chris I.; Mishkin, Mortimer

2012-01-01

The division of cortical visual processing into distinct dorsal and ventral streams is a key framework that has guided visual neuroscience. The characterization of the ventral stream as a ‘What’ pathway is relatively uncontroversial, but the nature of dorsal stream processing is less clear. Originally proposed as mediating spatial perception (‘Where’), more recent accounts suggest it primarily serves non-conscious visually guided action (‘How’). Here, we identify three pathways emerging from the dorsal stream that consist of projections to the prefrontal and premotor cortices, and a major projection to the medial temporal lobe that courses both directly and indirectly through the posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortices. These three pathways support both conscious and non-conscious visuospatial processing, including spatial working memory, visually guided action and navigation, respectively. PMID:21415848

Environmental and sustainability ethics in supply chain management.

PubMed

Beamon, Benita M

2005-04-01

Environmentally Conscious Supply Chain Management (ECSCM refers to the control exerted over all immediate and eventual environmental effects of products and processes associated with converting raw materials into final products. While much work has been done in this area, the focus has traditionally been on either: product recovery (recycling, remanufacturing, or re-use) or the product design function only (e.g., design for environment). Environmental considerations in manufacturing are often viewed as separate from traditional, value-added considerations. However, the case can be made that professional engineers have an ethical responsibility to consider the immediate and eventual environmental impacts of products and processes that they design and/or manage. This paper describes ECSCM as a component of engineering ethics, and highlights the major issues associated with ethical decision-making in supply chain management.

The Selfish Goal

PubMed Central

Bargh, John A.; Green, Michelle; Fitzsimons, Gráinne

2008-01-01

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that consciously intended goal pursuits have unintended consequences for social judgment and behavior. From evolutionary theory (Dawkins 1976/2006) and empirical evidence of a nonconscious mode of goal pursuit (Bargh, 2005) we derive the hypothesis that most human goal pursuits are open-ended in nature: Once active, goals will operate on goal-relevant content in the environment, even if that content is not the intended focus of the conscious goal. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that goals to evaluate a job applicant for either a waiter or crime reporter position also shape impressions of incidental bystanders in the situation, such that the bystander is later liked or disliked not on his own merits, but on how well his behavior matches the criteria consciously applied in evaluating the job applicant. Experiment 3 finds that a goal to help a specific target person spills over to influence actions toward incidental bystanders, but only while active. Implications of these findings for goal pursuit in everyday life are discussed. PMID:19081795

Triggers of self-conscious emotions in the sexually transmitted infection testing process

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Self-conscious emotions (shame, guilt and embarrassment) are part of many individuals' experiences of seeking STI testing. These emotions can have negative impacts on individuals' interpretations of the STI testing process, their willingness to seek treatment and their willingness to inform sexual partners in light of positive STI diagnoses. Because of these impacts, researchers have called for more work to be completed on the connections between shame, guilt, embarrassment and STI testing. We examine the specific events in the STI testing process that trigger self-conscious emotions in young adults who seek STI testing; and to understand what it is about these events that triggers these emotions. Semi-structured interviews with 30 adults (21 women, 9 men) in the Republic of Ireland. Findings Seven specific triggers of self-conscious emotions were identified. These were: having unprotected sex, associated with the initial reason for seeking STI testing; talking to partners and peers about the intention to seek STI testing; the experience of accessing STI testing facilities and sitting in clinic waiting rooms; negative interactions with healthcare professionals; receiving a positive diagnosis of an STI; having to notify sexual partners in light of a positive STI diagnosis; and accessing healthcare settings for treatment for an STI. Self-conscious emotions were triggered in each case by a perceived threat to respondents' social identities. Conclusion There are multiple triggers of self-conscious emotions in the STI testing process, ranging from the initial decision to seek testing, right through to the experience of accessing treatment. The role of self-conscious emotions needs to be considered in each component of service design from health promotion approaches, through facility layout to the training of all professionals involved in the STI testing process. PMID:20716339

Long-lasting effects of performance-contingent unconscious and conscious reward incentives during cued task-switching.

PubMed

Capa, Rémi L; Bouquet, Cédric A; Dreher, Jean-Claude; Dufour, André

2013-01-01

Motivation is often thought to interact consciously with executive control, although recent studies have indicated that motivation can also be unconscious. To date, however, the effects of unconscious motivation on high-order executive control functions have not been explored. Only a few studies using subliminal stimuli (i.e., those not related to motivation, such as an arrow to prime a response) have reported short-lived effects on high-order executive control functions. Here, building on research on unconscious motivation, in which a behavior of perseverance is induced to attain a goal, we hypothesized that subliminal motivation can have long-lasting effects on executive control processes. We investigated the impact of unconscious/conscious monetary reward incentives on evoked potentials and neural activity dynamics during cued task-switching performance. Participants performed long runs of task-switching. At the beginning of each run, a reward (50 cents or 1 cent) was displayed, either subliminally or supraliminally. Participants earned the reward contingent upon their correct responses to each trial of the run. A higher percentage of runs was achieved with higher (conscious and unconscious) than lower rewards, indicating that unconscious high rewards have long-lasting behavioral effects. Event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that unconscious and conscious rewards influenced preparatory effort in task preparation, as suggested by a greater fronto-central contingent negative variation (CNV) starting at cue-onset. However, a greater parietal P3 associated with better reaction times (RTs) was observed only under conditions of conscious high reward, suggesting a larger amount of working memory invested during task performance. Together, these results indicate that unconscious and conscious motivations are similar at early stages of task-switching preparation but differ during task performance. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

49 CFR 225.5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... work, restricted work, job transfer, medical treatment, or loss of consciousness. Suicide data means data regarding the death of an individual due to the individual's commission of suicide as determined... individual's attempted commission of suicide as determined by a public police office or other public...

49 CFR 225.5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... work, restricted work, job transfer, medical treatment, or loss of consciousness. Suicide data means data regarding the death of an individual due to the individual's commission of suicide as determined... individual's attempted commission of suicide as determined by a public police office or other public...

49 CFR 225.5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... work, restricted work, job transfer, medical treatment, or loss of consciousness. Suicide data means data regarding the death of an individual due to the individual's commission of suicide as determined... individual's attempted commission of suicide as determined by a public police office or other public...

49 CFR 225.5 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... work, restricted work, job transfer, medical treatment, or loss of consciousness. Suicide data means data regarding the death of an individual due to the individual's commission of suicide as determined... individual's attempted commission of suicide as determined by a public police office or other public...

Eco-Transactional Influences on Sociopolitical Youth Development Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Ira E.

2017-01-01

An emerging and growing body of research has clearly established the importance of youth building sociopolitical consciousness in order to be more democratically engaged citizens. An overwhelming amount of sociopolitical youth development work occurs outside of school. Much of the research on this work has focused on youth outcomes, and we know…

Course Differentiation in the High School: The Perspective of Working Class Females.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaskell, Jane

Working-class high school girls choose courses for a variety of reasons, both consciously and subconsciously, and use conventional attitudes to justify their choices to themselves and others, according to working-class girls who volunteered to be interviewed during their free periods in Vancouver (British Columbia) high schools. The girls cited…

Activity Systems and Moral Reasoning: An Intervention Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wardi, Eva; Helkama, Klaus

2015-01-01

Seventeen social educator students were taught to analyze their work activity by means of a Vygotsky-inspired method, drawing on Engeström's notion of an activity system. The method aimed at increasing the consciousness of the students of the structure of work activity system. The participants wrote two accounts of their field-work practice…

Understanding health constraints among rural-to-urban migrants in China.

PubMed

Li, Yan

2013-11-01

The main purpose of this article is to examine the understanding and experience of health and health care among rural-to-urban migrants in China, and to explain the impact of the internal factors of migrants themselves and the external factors of their social environment. Understanding the perceptions and consciousness of health issues among migrants is crucial to prevention, intervention, and other health-related measures for the migrant population in China, but this has rarely been explored in studies. On the basis of a case study of a migrant community in Beijing, I explore the migrants' understandings of health and health care and analyze factors in the social environment, including exclusion from the social system and the possibility of health participation, exclusion from social relation networks, obstructed channels of health maintenance, and exclusion of crowd psychology, which impact heavily on their health understanding and health behavior. I argue that the internal and the external factors are linked together closely and interact as reciprocal causation. However, the migrants should not be seen as primarily responsible, because their poor understanding of health mainly results from the socioeconomic environment in which they live and work.

Why Not Consider Erdkinder?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gebhardt-Seele, Peter

1996-01-01

Claims that Montessori's educational theory for 12- to 18- year olds, Erdkinder, should be considered as an educational alternative. Erdkinder, or "earth child," refers to observing children and, accordingly, creating a suitable environment. The task for education at this age is the creation of the socially conscious individual. Claims…

[Is pastoral care psychotherapy?].

PubMed

Mettnitzer, A

1999-01-01

Whilst pastoral work is aimed at the consciousness of men, the duty of the psychotherapist is to turn the subconscious into the conscious. After clarifying the situation in his inner world the patient should be able to take free decisions. The psychotherapist is not responsible for the decision made by the person, which means that the conscious area is the responsibility of the individual. The psychotherapist must not manipulate the conscious parts just as the clergy must not manipulate the subconscious. So whilst there is a difference in both areas that must be maintained, that difference is less than the two have in common. The common aim or goal is: 1. The basis of both areas is a 'Socratic optimism' rooted in the fact that pastoral work and psychotherapy want the person to discover his or her own truth which cannot be told to him or her. However, it can be found by the person with assistance. 2. Both are characterised by a pragmatic individualism that says that it is worth listening to a single person for days, weeks, months or years until it is ascertained what the soul suffers from. 3. Both are convinced that the truth of a person cannot be described in moral categories. Social and ethical standards don't help but they may reflect the symptoms and the distress of the person. 4. Taking into consideration the dimension of the subconscious in pastoral duty as well, human decisions and activity can be understood much better.

Paradox in AI - AI 2.0: The Way to Machine Consciousness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palensky, Peter; Bruckner, Dietmar; Tmej, Anna; Deutsch, Tobias

Artificial Intelligence, the big promise of the last millennium, has apparently made its way into our daily lives. Cell phones with speech control, evolutionary computing in data mining or power grids, optimized via neural network, show its applicability in industrial environments. The original expectation of true intelligence and thinking machines lies still ahead of us. Researchers are, however, optimistic as never before. This paper tries to compare the views, challenges and approaches of several disciplines: engineering, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy. It gives a short introduction to Psychoanalysis, discusses the term consciousness, social implications of intelligent machines, related theories, and expectations and shall serve as a starting point for first attempts of combining these diverse thoughts.

Kafka, Borges, and the creation of consciousness, Part II: Borges--a life of letters encompassing everything and nothing.

PubMed

Ogden, Thomas H

2009-04-01

The ways in which Kafka and Borges struggled with the creation of consciousness in their lives and in their literary works are explored in this two-part essay. In Part II, a biographical sketch of Jorge Luis Borges is juxtaposed with a close reading of one of his fictions, "The Library of Babel" (1941a). In this story, the universe is an infinite Library, a psychological/literary space comprised of books that contain everything that has ever been or ever will be written. By the end of the story, Borges becomes a character in his own fiction. This development was paralleled in Borges's "real life" as he invented a persona named "Borges," a literary creation that allowed Borges to become a character in a story that was his life. The essay concludes with a comparison of the ways in which Borges and Kafka each used writing as a way of creating his own distinctive form of consciousness, and, in so doing, contributed to the creation of twentieth-century consciousness.

Discerning measures of conscious brain processes associated with superior early motor performance: Capacity, coactivation, and character.

PubMed

van Duijn, Tina; Buszard, Tim; Hoskens, Merel C J; Masters, Rich S W

2017-01-01

This study explored the relationship between working memory (WM) capacity, corticocortical communication (EEG coherence), and propensity for conscious control of movement during the performance of a complex far-aiming task. We were specifically interested in the role of these variables in predicting motor performance by novices. Forty-eight participants completed (a) an assessment of WM capacity (an adapted Rotation Span task), (b) a questionnaire that assessed the propensity to consciously control movement (the Movement Specific Reinvestment Scale), and (c) a hockey push-pass task. The hockey push-pass task was performed in a single task (movement only) condition and a combined task (movement plus decision) condition. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to examine brain activity during the single task. WM capacity best predicted single task performance. WM capacity in combination with T8-Fz coherence (between the visuospatial and motor regions of the brain) best predicted combined task performance. We discuss the implied roles of visuospatial information processing capacity, neural coactivation, and propensity for conscious processing during performance of complex motor tasks. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Conscious/Unconscious Dissociation Induction: Increasing Hypnotic Performance With "Resistant" Clients.

PubMed

Lankton, Stephen

2016-10-01

Milton H. Erickson promoted several approaches to psychotherapy using hypnosis. In the last decades of his life, his work moved away from the use of redundant suggestion and a predominance of direct suggestion in favor of indirect suggestion. In addition, he frequently employed a type of storytelling (that has come to be called therapeutic metaphor) to indirectly convey learning. Another change that occurred during the last decade was his definition of the cause of a symptom. However, there were two important areas of his work that he did not change during his career. These two components of his work he did not change were his definition of a cure and the importance of a naturalistic induction. This article concerns his naturalistic approach to hypnotic induction and especially his use of conscious/unconscious dissociation in the induction process and how indirect suggestion and therapeutic binds can be used to facilitate that type of induction and a cure.

The Effect of a Learning Environment Using an Electronic Health Record (EHR) on Undergraduate Nursing Students' Behaviorial Intention to Use an EHR

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foley, Shawn

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a learning environment using an Electronic Health Record (EHR) on undergraduate nursing students' behavioral intention (BI) to use an EHR. BI is defined by Davis (1989) in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the degree to which a person has formulated conscious plans to perform or not…

Don't wait to incubate: immediate versus delayed incubation in divergent thinking.

PubMed

Gilhooly, Kenneth J; Georgiou, George J; Garrison, Jane; Reston, Jon D; Sirota, Miroslav

2012-08-01

Previous evidence for the effectiveness of immediate incubation in divergent creative tasks has been weak, because earlier studies exhibited a range of methodological problems. This issue is theoretically important, as a demonstration of the effects of immediate incubation would strengthen the case for the involvement of unconscious work in incubation effects. For the present experiment, we used a creative divergent-thinking task (alternative uses) in which separate experimental groups had incubation periods that were either delayed or immediate and that consisted of either spatial or verbal tasks. Control groups were tested without incubation periods, and we carried out checks for intermittent conscious work on the target task during the incubation periods. The results showed significant incubation effects that were stronger for immediate than for delayed incubation. Performance was not different between the verbal and spatial incubation conditions, and we found no evidence for intermittent conscious working during the incubation periods. These results support a role for unconscious work in creative divergent thinking, particularly in the case of immediate incubation.

A Kappa Opioid Model of Atypical Altered Consciousness and Psychosis: U50488, DOI, AC90179 Effects on Prepulse Inhibition and Locomotion in Mice.

PubMed

Ruderman, Michael A; Powell, Susan B; Geyer, Mark A

2009-07-01

Sensorimortor gating and locomotion are behaviors that reflect pre-attentive sensory filtering and higher order, top-down, sensory processing, respectively. These processes are thought to affect either the perception of novelty in an environment (filtering) or cognition (higher order processing), salient features of models of altered states of consciousness (ASC). Drugs with highly selective receptor affinities that produce ASC can help to establish neural correlates, pathways, and mechanisms underlying ASC. Furthermore, screening for substances that selectively reverse drug-induced sensory processing departures is valuable for development of experimental antipsychotics. This study investigated the anomalous opioid sub-type, the kappa opioid (KA) system, within the two ASC models. Significant interaction and reversal effects between KA and the serotonin/2A (5-HT2A) system - the serotonin sub-type associated with classical psychedelics - were observed in three BPM measures. These measures showed that KA activation-induced effects could be reversed by 5-HT2A deactivation. These results suggest that KA could function as an atypical antipsychotic medications and/or as a screening tool for new antipsychotic medicines. The experimental work for this study comprised dose-response and reversal experiments with drugs that activate and deactivate kappa opioid and serotonin systems in the two behavioral models for the first time in mice.

A journey of critical consciousness: an educational strategy for health care leaders.

PubMed

Getzlaf, Beverley A; Osborne, Margaret

2010-01-01

Healthcare leaders who develop a critical perspective of the relationship between culture and health; value respect for differences, inclusiveness, equity, and social justice; and use their power to enact these values in their spheres of influence, both professionally and personally, are better able to improve care for a diversity of clients. Graduate students can be assisted to develop such a critical perspective through a course designed as a journey of critical consciousness. We describe this journey that takes students through phases of awareness, reflection, and action in which they come to understand the concepts of critical theory and discourse analysis and begin to use these to create changes in their work settings in the direction of equity and social justice. We suggest broader implications for programs and invite readers to begin their own journeys of critical consciousness.

Artifacts of Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bean, Robert

2007-01-01

In this research, the author focuses on the contemporary culture of obsolescence. The topic has a specific relevance to recent transformations in photographic education as well as the emerging research environment in art production. Language and technology, cognition and consciousness and the sense of experience that is constituted by subjects and…

A Model of Nursing Interim Care.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thienhaus, Ole J.; Greschel, Jean

In an increasingly cost-conscious health care environment, average length of hospital stay has decreased. Although psychiatric inpatient treatment is largely exempt from the constraints of the Medicare diagnosis related groups (DRG's), length of stay for geropsychiatric hospital services has decreased also. A trend toward higher rates of early…

The Role of Predictor Courses and Teams on Individual Student Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker-Eveleth, Lori Jo; O'Neill, Michele; Sisodiya, Sanjay R.

2014-01-01

Research suggests that diverse environments enhance conscious modes of thought, resulting in greater intellectual engagement and active thinking. Ordinal and multinomial logistic regression results indicate that accounting courses and business law classes are useful predictors of subsequent performance. Odds ratio estimates indicate that students…

Colorado Outward Bound School Rafting Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Al

River rafting trips at the Colorado Outward Bound School (COBS) present participants with an opportunity for developing self-confidence, self-awareness, and concern for others through challenging and adventuresome group effort, combined with a program of instruction in rafting skills, safety consciousness, and awareness of the natural environment.…

How (un) ethical are you?

PubMed

Banaji, Mahzarin R; Bazerman, Max H; Chugh, Dolly

2003-12-01

Answer true or false: "I am an ethical manager." If you answered "true," here's an Uncomfortable fact: You're probably wrong. Most of us believe we can objectively size up a job candidate or a venture deal and reach a fair and rational conclusion that's in our, and our organization's, best interests. But more than two decades of psychological research indicates that most of us harbor unconscious biases that are often at odds with our consciously held beliefs. The flawed judgments arising from these biases are ethically problematic and undermine managers' fundamental work--to recruit and retain superior talent, boost individual and team performance, and collaborate effectively with partners. This article explores four related sources of unintentional unethical decision making. If you're surprised that a female colleague has poor people skills, you are displaying implicit bias--judging according to unconscious stereotypes rather than merit. Companies that give bonuses to employees who recommend their friends for open positions are encouraging ingroup bias--favoring people in their own circles. If you think you're better than the average worker in your company (and who doesn't?), you may be displaying the common tendency to overclaim credit. And although many conflicts of interest are overt, many more are subtle. Who knows, for instance, whether the promise of quick and certain payment figures into an attorney's recommendation to settle a winnable case rather than go to trial? How can you counter these biases if they're unconscious? Traditional ethics training is not enough. But by gathering better data, ridding the work environment of stereotypical cues, and broadening your mind-set when you make decisions, you can go a long way toward bringing your unconscious biases to light and submitting them to your conscious will.

Developing critical consciousness or justifying the system? A qualitative analysis of attributions for poverty and wealth among low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women

PubMed Central

Godfrey, Erin B.; Wolf, Sharon

2015-01-01

Objectives Economic inequality is a growing concern in the United States and globally. The current study uses qualitative techniques to (1) explore the attributions low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women make for poverty and wealth in the U.S., and (2) clarify important links between attributions, critical consciousness development and system justification theory. Methods In-depth interview transcripts from 19 low-income immigrant Dominican and Mexican and native African-American mothers in a large Northeastern city were analyzed using open coding techniques. Interview topics included perceptions of current economic inequality and mobility and experiences of daily economic hardships. Results Almost all respondents attributed economic inequality to individual factors (character flaws, lack of hard work). Structural explanations for poverty and wealth were expressed by less than half the sample and almost always paired with individual explanations. Moreover, individual attributions included system-justifying beliefs such as the belief in meritocracy and equality of opportunity and structural attributions represented varying levels of critical consciousness. Conclusions Our analysis sheds new light on how and why individuals simultaneously hold individual and structural attributions and highlights key links between system justification and critical consciousness. It shows that critical consciousness and system justification do not represent opposite stances along a single underlying continuum, but are distinct belief systems and motivations. It also suggests that the motive to justify the system is a key psychological process impeding the development of critical consciousness. Implications for scholarship and intervention are discussed. PMID:25915116

Developing critical consciousness or justifying the system? A qualitative analysis of attributions for poverty and wealth among low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women.

PubMed

Godfrey, Erin B; Wolf, Sharon

2016-01-01

Economic inequality is a growing concern in the United States and globally. The current study uses qualitative techniques to (a) explore the attributions low-income racial/ethnic minority and immigrant women make for poverty and wealth in the U.S., and (b) clarify important links between attributions, critical consciousness development, and system justification theory. In-depth interview transcripts from 19 low-income immigrant Dominican and Mexican and native African American mothers in a large Northeastern city were analyzed using open coding techniques. Interview topics included perceptions of current economic inequality and mobility and experiences of daily economic hardships. Almost all respondents attributed economic inequality to individual factors (character flaws, lack of hard work). Structural explanations for poverty and wealth were expressed by fewer than half the sample and almost always paired with individual explanations. Moreover, individual attributions included system-justifying beliefs such as the belief in meritocracy and equality of opportunity and structural attributions represented varying levels of critical consciousness. Our analysis sheds new light on how and why individuals simultaneously hold individual and structural attributions and highlights key links between system justification and critical consciousness. It shows that critical consciousness and system justification do not represent opposite stances along a single underlying continuum, but are distinct belief systems and motivations. It also suggests that the motive to justify the system is a key psychological process impeding the development of critical consciousness. Implications for scholarship and intervention are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The Impact of Quantum Theoretical Models of Consciousness on the Study of Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andris, James F.

This paper abstracts and discusses the approaches of five educational theorists who have used quantum theory as a model for educational phenomena, sets forth and uses metatheoretical criteria to evaluate the work of these theorists, and states guidelines for further work in this domain. The paper abstracts and discusses the works of the following…

A Commentary on Education and Sustainable Development Goals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sterling, Stephen

2016-01-01

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are viewed in the context of Johan Rockström's work on planetary boundaries at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. This work sets a double challenge to educational policy and practice: to embrace and help achieve the Goals, but also to work towards a deeper change in consciousness which can reconcile people…

Valbenazine

MedlinePlus

... It works by changing the activity of certain natural substances in the brain. ... treatment: feeling faint fainting or loss of consciousness fast or ... the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting ...

Science as Myth in Physical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirk, David

Scientization is a process that refers to the mythologies that are generated around the practices of working scientists. This paper discusses how science works on popular consciousness and how particular occupational groups use science to legitimatize their discipline, specifically in physical education. Two examples are presented to illustrate…

Working-Class Newspapers in the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bekken, Jon

The workers' movement has long recognized the importance of the press and other cultural institutions in developing and sustaining class consciousness and the movement itself. Hundreds of workers' newspapers were established throughout the United States by labor unions, working-class political organizations, and sympathetic editors. These papers,…

Understanding and Self-Organization.

PubMed

Newton, Natika W

2017-01-01

How do we manage to understand a completely novel state of affairs, such as the sudden effects of an unexpected earthquake, or the arrival of a total stranger instead of the sister we were waiting for? In each case, for a moment we might be stunned, but we are able quite quickly to fit these events into our overall framework for understanding the world. However, terrified and despairing we feel, we know what earthquakes are and this event fits that schema; in the case of the stranger we know that this kind of thing happens, and that we must ask the stranger "Who are you, and where is my sister?" This paper asks about the mechanisms by which we rapidly achieve an understanding of our world, both the unexpected changes we may experience, and the ongoing comfortable familiarity we normally have with our surroundings. We attempt a solution by means of examining fundamental questions: What is it to understand something?What sorts of things do we try to understand?Is there a conscious EXPERIENCE of understanding?Does understanding involve conscious mental images?What is self-organization? I will argue that these questions revolve around the need of a living organism to take action, and that understanding anything involves knowing how we might act relative to that thing in our environment. The experience of understanding is a feeling that the action affordances of a situation are clear and available. Action (as opposed to reaction) includes imagery, particularly motor imagery, which can be used in the guidance of action. Understanding requires a conscious process involving motor imagery of action affordances, and action can be understood only in self-organizational terms. I explain how self-organization can ground the kinds of action affordance experience needed for conscious understanding. The paper concludes that our day-to-day understanding of our environment is the result of a self-organizing process.

Situated phenomenology and biological systems: Eastern and Western synthesis.

PubMed

Schroeder, Marcin J; Vallverdú, Jordi

2015-12-01

Phenomenology was born with the mission to give foundations for science of experience and to open consciousness to scientific study. The influence of phenomenology initiated in the works of Husserl and continued in a wide range of works of others was immense, but mainly within the confines of philosophy and the humanities. The actual attempts to develop a scientific discipline of the study of consciousness and to carry out research on cognition and consciousness were always based on the methods of traditional science in which elimination of the subjective has been always a primary tenet. Thus, focus was mainly on neurological correlates of conscious phenomena. The present paper is an attempt to initiate an extension and revision of phenomenological methodology with the use of philosophical and scientific experience and knowledge accumulated in a century of inquiry and research in relevant disciplines. The question which disciplines are relevant is crucial and our answer is innovative. The range of disciplines involved here is from information science and studies of computation, up to cultural psychology and the studies of philosophical traditions of the East. Concepts related to information and computation studies provide a general conceptual framework free from the limitations of particular languages and of linguistic analysis. This conceptual framework is extending the original perspective of phenomenology to issues of modern technology and science. Cultural psychology gives us tools to root out what in phenomenology was considered universal for humanity, but was a result of European ethnocentrism. Most important here is the contrast between individualistic and collectivistic cultural determinants of consciousness. Finally, philosophical tradition of the East gives alternatives in seeking solutions for fundamental problems. This general outline of the research methodology is illustrated by an example of its use when phenomenology is studied within the conceptual framework of information. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Human Performance Technology and Knowledge Management: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massey, Anne P.; Montoya-Weiss, Mitzi M.; O'Driscoll, Tony M.

2005-01-01

As organizations respond to competitive environments and strive to enhance performance, knowledge management (KM) has increasingly become a strategic activity. A KM strategy entails consciously helping people share and put knowledge into action. A key challenge is how to develop and implement KM solutions that provide performance support to…

Who Is My Neighbour? Unleashing Our Postcolonial Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Christine

2016-01-01

It is all too easy to be discouraged, indeed, outraged, by the continuing state of socio-economic inequality and the fragility of "the neighbourhood" (our world) in a deteriorating, conflict-ridden environment. As educators, we struggle with the perceived lack of educational quality, relevance, and ethics of policy and practice.…

Values, Ethics and Teacher Education: A Perspective from Pakistan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zia, Rukhsana

2007-01-01

Values and ethics are automatically incorporated into any teaching/learning environment or endeavour, whether or not they are consciously stated objectives. The focus on "quality of education" has sharpened as people have become concerned about a perceived rise in materialism as standards of living have improved; materialistic ambitions…

What do nurses and therapists think about the positioning of stroke patients?

PubMed

Rowat, A M

2001-06-01

At present, there are a number of different positioning strategies for stroke patients, but these are mainly based on clinical experience rather than research. Prior to developing a study to evaluate the effect of positioning on outcome after stroke, it was important to establish if nurses in our hospital had given much thought to the positioning of stroke patients. This study aimed to explore whether nurses working on the stroke unit at a Scottish teaching hospital held different views on the positioning of conscious and unconscious stroke patients to nurses working on other wards with stroke patients and therapists. Questionnaires on various aspects of patient positioning were sent to 150 nurses and 25 therapists working in five specialities where stroke patients are cared for in a large teaching hospital. Overall, the majority of nurses and therapists (74%) believed that the best position for conscious stroke patients was sitting in a chair. Also, 80% of them believed that the best position for unconscious stroke patients was lying on the nonparetic side. There was less of a consensus between nurses and therapists working in the five specialities as to whether it was appropriate for conscious or unconscious stroke patients to lie on their paretic side, lie supine or sit propped-up in bed in either a 30 or 70 degrees angle. The lack of consensus between nurses working in the five specialities is probably because at present there is little research to guide nursing practices for the positioning of stroke patients. Therefore, research to confirm which positions improves or hinders outcome after stroke is essential. Indeed, positioning is a simple inexpensive strategy, which could have a substantial public health impact, as stroke is so common.

Pedagogy of the Alienated: Can Freirian Teaching Reach Working-Class Students?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Jonathan

2008-01-01

This article considers the possibilities for fostering critical consciousness (awareness and understanding of oppression) among American working-class students in the face of their often severe educational alienation. After noting the failure of existing critical pedagogical literature to address this problem adequately, it establishes the…

Working Memory Is (Almost) Perfectly Predicted by "g"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colom, Roberto; Rebollo, Irene; Palacios, Antonio; Juan-Espinosa, Manuel; Kyllonen, Patrick C.

2004-01-01

This article analyzes if working memory (WM) is especially important to understand "g." WM comprises the functions of focusing attention, conscious rehearsal, and transformation and mental manipulation of information, while "g" reflects the component variance that is common to all tests of ability. The centrality of WM in individual differences in…

The Power of Positive Mentors: Variables Associated with Women's Interest in Social Work Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

York, Reginald O.; And Others

1988-01-01

Some of the strategies for overcoming obstacles to gender parity in organizations include consciousness-raising, mentoring, informal support, training, and role modeling. Evidence to support the use of these strategies based upon the past experiences of female graduate social work students was explored. (Author/MLW)

The Conscious Communicator: Making Communication Work in the Work Place.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brennan, John

This book is aimed at those persons interested in understanding and improving communication in professional relationships. Part one reflects on the nature of communication in an attempt to provide guidelines for better communication. Part two offers a number of models for evaluating individual and organizational behaviors, plotting career…

Exploring the Relationship between Beginning Science Teachers' Practices, Institutional Constraints, and Adult Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilcox, Jesse Lee

This year-long study explored how ten teachers--five first year, five second year--acclimated to their new school environment after leaving a master's level university science teacher preparation program known for being highly effective. Furthermore, this study sought to explore if a relationship existed between teachers' understanding and implementation of research-based science teaching practices, the barriers to enacting these practices--known as institutional constraints, and the constructive-developmental theory which explores meaning-making systems known as orders of consciousness. As a naturalistic inquiry mixed methods study, data were collected using both qualitative (e.g., semi-structured interviews, field notes) as well as quantitative methods (e.g., observation protocols, subject/object protocol). These data sources were used to construct participant summaries and a cross-case analysis. The findings from provide evidence that teachers' orders of consciousness might help to explain why understanding research-based science teaching practices are maintained by some new teachers and not others. Additionally, this study found the orders of consciousness of teachers relates to the perceptions of institutional constraints as well as how a teacher chooses to navigate those constraints. Finally, the extent to which teachers implement research-based science teaching practices is related to orders of consciousness. While many studies have focused on what meaning teachers make, this study highlights the importance of considering how teachers make meaning.

Meditational spiritual intercession and recovery from disease in palliative care: a literature review.

PubMed

Agarwal, Siddharth; Kumar, Vijai; Agarwal, Sapna; Brugnoli, Maria Paola; Agarwal, Ansh

2018-01-01

Human body is a biological, open system and maintains itself in the changing environment. Disease state is cured by many medicinal systems for healing. Esoteric healing (through introspective hypnosis, meditation and spiritual intercession) is the system where its believers regard Supreme Being as Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient. Such persons take ill health as a boon and pray through meditation that He may by His Mercy grant health or if God wishes otherwise, they happily accept it so that they keep moving ahead on their spiritual path. This study is a review of literature, where results clearly point towards better psychological and spiritual healing in patients who believe in esoteric cures. Modern science in terms of cognitive psychology or neurophysiology has begun to emphasize the role of consciousness but, that is confined only to the physical world. It is only with the advent of Param Purush Puran Dhani Soami Ji Maharaj (200 years ago) that in the religion of Saints, the ultimate consciousness or the Super Consciousness of the highest order has been revealed.

Music in disorders of consciousness.

PubMed

Rollnik, Jens D; Altenmüller, Eckart

2014-01-01

This review presents an overview of the use of music therapy in neurological early rehabilitation of patients with coma and other disorders of consciousness (DOC) such as unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) or minimally conscious state (MCS). There is evidence that patients suffering from UWS show emotional processing of auditory information, such as listening to speech. Thus, it seems reasonable to believe that music listening-as part of an enriched environment setting-may be of therapeutic value in these patients. There is, however, a considerable lack of evidence. The authors strongly encourage further studies to evaluate the efficacy of music listening in patients with DOC in neurological early rehabilitation. These studies should consider a precise clinical definition and homogeneity of the patient cohort with respect to the quality (coma vs. UWS vs. MCS), duration (rather weeks to months than days) and cause (traumatic vs. non-traumatic) of DOC, a standardized intervention protocol, valid clinical outcome parameters over a longer observation period (weeks to months), monitoring of neurophysiological and vegetative parameters and, if available, neuroimaging to confirm diagnosis and to demonstrate responses and functional changes in the patients' brains.

Inverse Bayesian inference as a key of consciousness featuring a macroscopic quantum logical structure.

PubMed

Gunji, Yukio-Pegio; Shinohara, Shuji; Haruna, Taichi; Basios, Vasileios

2017-02-01

To overcome the dualism between mind and matter and to implement consciousness in science, a physical entity has to be embedded with a measurement process. Although quantum mechanics have been regarded as a candidate for implementing consciousness, nature at its macroscopic level is inconsistent with quantum mechanics. We propose a measurement-oriented inference system comprising Bayesian and inverse Bayesian inferences. While Bayesian inference contracts probability space, the newly defined inverse one relaxes the space. These two inferences allow an agent to make a decision corresponding to an immediate change in their environment. They generate a particular pattern of joint probability for data and hypotheses, comprising multiple diagonal and noisy matrices. This is expressed as a nondistributive orthomodular lattice equivalent to quantum logic. We also show that an orthomodular lattice can reveal information generated by inverse syllogism as well as the solutions to the frame and symbol-grounding problems. Our model is the first to connect macroscopic cognitive processes with the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics with no additional assumptions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Music in disorders of consciousness

PubMed Central

Rollnik, Jens D.; Altenmüller, Eckart

2014-01-01

This review presents an overview of the use of music therapy in neurological early rehabilitation of patients with coma and other disorders of consciousness (DOC) such as unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) or minimally conscious state (MCS). There is evidence that patients suffering from UWS show emotional processing of auditory information, such as listening to speech. Thus, it seems reasonable to believe that music listening—as part of an enriched environment setting—may be of therapeutic value in these patients. There is, however, a considerable lack of evidence. The authors strongly encourage further studies to evaluate the efficacy of music listening in patients with DOC in neurological early rehabilitation. These studies should consider a precise clinical definition and homogeneity of the patient cohort with respect to the quality (coma vs. UWS vs. MCS), duration (rather weeks to months than days) and cause (traumatic vs. non-traumatic) of DOC, a standardized intervention protocol, valid clinical outcome parameters over a longer observation period (weeks to months), monitoring of neurophysiological and vegetative parameters and, if available, neuroimaging to confirm diagnosis and to demonstrate responses and functional changes in the patients' brains. PMID:25071434

A Case for Thinking Without Consciousness.

PubMed

Dijksterhuis, Ap; Strick, Madelijn

2016-01-01

People can engage in prolonged thought processes, such as when they are facing an important decision or when they are working on a scientific discovery. Such thought processes can take months or even years. We argue that while people engage in such thinking, they make progress not only when they consciously think but also sometimes when they are consciously thinking about something else-that is, while they think unconsciously. We review the literature on unconscious thought (UT) processes and conclude that there is indeed quite some evidence for UT. Conceptualized as a form of unconscious goal pursuit, UT is likely to be especially fruitful for thought processes that are complex, important, or interesting to the thinker. In addition, we discuss other characteristics of the UT process. We end with proposing Type 3 processes, in addition to Type 1 and Type 2 (or Systems 1 and 2) processes, to accommodate prolonged thought processes in models on thought. © The Author(s) 2015.

Conscious sedation for awake craniotomy in intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging operating theater

PubMed Central

Takrouri, Mohamad Said Maani; Shubbak, Firas A.; Al Hajjaj, Aisha; Maestro, Rolando F. Del; Soualmi, Lahbib; Alkhodair, Mashael H.; Alduraiby, Abrar M.; Ghanem, Najeeb

2010-01-01

This case report describes the first case in intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging operating theater (iMRI OT) (BrainSuite®) of awake craniotomy for frontal lobe glioma excision in a 24-year-old man undergoing eloquent cortex language mapping intraoperatively. As he was very motivated to take pictures of him while being operated upon, the authors adapted conscious sedation technique with variable depth according to Ramsey's scale, in order to revert to awake state to perform the intended neurosurgical procedure. The patient tolerated the situation satisfactorily and was cooperative till the finish, without any event. We elicit in this report the special environment of iMRI OT for lengthy operation in pinned fixed patient having craniotomy. PMID:25885085

Framework for a New Political Praxis: "Respeto, Dignidad y Conocimiento"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guajardo, Francisco; Guajardo, Miguel; Oliver, John; Keawe, Lia O'Neill M. A.

2012-01-01

This article uses story as a process to highlight the work in a South Texas community that focuses on the education of youth and the development of community. The work is guided by a new consciousness of place, community engagement, and identity formation. The work is local, but breaking the isolation of youth, families, and ideas has been part of…

Global workspace dynamics: cortical "binding and propagation" enables conscious contents.

PubMed

Baars, Bernard J; Franklin, Stan; Ramsoy, Thomas Zoega

2013-01-01

A global workspace (GW) is a functional hub of binding and propagation in a population of loosely coupled signaling elements. In computational applications, GW architectures recruit many distributed, specialized agents to cooperate in resolving focal ambiguities. In the brain, conscious experiences may reflect a GW function. For animals, the natural world is full of unpredictable dangers and opportunities, suggesting a general adaptive pressure for brains to resolve focal ambiguities quickly and accurately. GW theory aims to understand the differences between conscious and unconscious brain events. In humans and related species the cortico-thalamic (C-T) core is believed to underlie conscious aspects of perception, thinking, learning, feelings of knowing (FOK), felt emotions, visual imagery, working memory, and executive control. Alternative theoretical perspectives are also discussed. The C-T core has many anatomical hubs, but conscious percepts are unitary and internally consistent at any given moment. Over time, conscious contents constitute a very large, open set. This suggests that a brain-based GW capacity cannot be localized in a single anatomical hub. Rather, it should be sought in a functional hub - a dynamic capacity for binding and propagation of neural signals over multiple task-related networks, a kind of neuronal cloud computing. In this view, conscious contents can arise in any region of the C-T core when multiple input streams settle on a winner-take-all equilibrium. The resulting conscious gestalt may ignite an any-to-many broadcast, lasting ∼100-200 ms, and trigger widespread adaptation in previously established networks. To account for the great range of conscious contents over time, the theory suggests an open repertoire of binding coalitions that can broadcast via theta/gamma or alpha/gamma phase coupling, like radio channels competing for a narrow frequency band. Conscious moments are thought to hold only 1-4 unrelated items; this small focal capacity may be the biological price to pay for global access. Visuotopic maps in cortex specialize in features like color, retinal size, motion, object identity, and egocentric/allocentric framing, so that a binding coalition for the sight of a rolling billiard ball in nearby space may resonate among activity maps of LGN, V1-V4, MT, IT, as well as the dorsal stream. Spatiotopic activity maps can bind into coherent gestalts using adaptive resonance (reentry). Single neurons can join a dominant coalition by phase tuning to regional oscillations in the 4-12 Hz range. Sensory percepts may bind and broadcast from posterior cortex, while non-sensory FOKs may involve prefrontal and frontotemporal areas. The anatomy and physiology of the hippocampal complex suggest a GW architecture as well. In the intact brain the hippocampal complex may support conscious event organization as well as episodic memory storage.

Global Workspace Dynamics: Cortical “Binding and Propagation” Enables Conscious Contents

PubMed Central

Baars, Bernard J.; Franklin, Stan; Ramsoy, Thomas Zoega

2013-01-01

A global workspace (GW) is a functional hub of binding and propagation in a population of loosely coupled signaling elements. In computational applications, GW architectures recruit many distributed, specialized agents to cooperate in resolving focal ambiguities. In the brain, conscious experiences may reflect a GW function. For animals, the natural world is full of unpredictable dangers and opportunities, suggesting a general adaptive pressure for brains to resolve focal ambiguities quickly and accurately. GW theory aims to understand the differences between conscious and unconscious brain events. In humans and related species the cortico-thalamic (C-T) core is believed to underlie conscious aspects of perception, thinking, learning, feelings of knowing (FOK), felt emotions, visual imagery, working memory, and executive control. Alternative theoretical perspectives are also discussed. The C-T core has many anatomical hubs, but conscious percepts are unitary and internally consistent at any given moment. Over time, conscious contents constitute a very large, open set. This suggests that a brain-based GW capacity cannot be localized in a single anatomical hub. Rather, it should be sought in a functional hub – a dynamic capacity for binding and propagation of neural signals over multiple task-related networks, a kind of neuronal cloud computing. In this view, conscious contents can arise in any region of the C-T core when multiple input streams settle on a winner-take-all equilibrium. The resulting conscious gestalt may ignite an any-to-many broadcast, lasting ∼100–200 ms, and trigger widespread adaptation in previously established networks. To account for the great range of conscious contents over time, the theory suggests an open repertoire of binding1 coalitions that can broadcast via theta/gamma or alpha/gamma phase coupling, like radio channels competing for a narrow frequency band. Conscious moments are thought to hold only 1–4 unrelated items; this small focal capacity may be the biological price to pay for global access. Visuotopic maps in cortex specialize in features like color, retinal size, motion, object identity, and egocentric/allocentric framing, so that a binding coalition for the sight of a rolling billiard ball in nearby space may resonate among activity maps of LGN, V1-V4, MT, IT, as well as the dorsal stream. Spatiotopic activity maps can bind into coherent gestalts using adaptive resonance (reentry). Single neurons can join a dominant coalition by phase tuning to regional oscillations in the 4–12 Hz range. Sensory percepts may bind and broadcast from posterior cortex, while non-sensory FOKs may involve prefrontal and frontotemporal areas. The anatomy and physiology of the hippocampal complex suggest a GW architecture as well. In the intact brain the hippocampal complex may support conscious event organization as well as episodic memory storage. PMID:23974723

Resting-state Network-specific Breakdown of Functional Connectivity during Ketamine Alteration of Consciousness in Volunteers.

PubMed

Bonhomme, Vincent; Vanhaudenhuyse, Audrey; Demertzi, Athena; Bruno, Marie-Aurélie; Jaquet, Oceane; Bahri, Mohamed Ali; Plenevaux, Alain; Boly, Melanie; Boveroux, Pierre; Soddu, Andrea; Brichant, Jean François; Maquet, Pierre; Laureys, Steven

2016-11-01

Consciousness-altering anesthetic agents disturb connectivity between brain regions composing the resting-state consciousness networks (RSNs). The default mode network (DMn), executive control network, salience network (SALn), auditory network, sensorimotor network (SMn), and visual network sustain mentation. Ketamine modifies consciousness differently from other agents, producing psychedelic dreaming and no apparent interaction with the environment. The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore ketamine-induced changes in RSNs connectivity. Fourteen healthy volunteers received stepwise intravenous infusions of ketamine up to loss of responsiveness. Because of agitation, data from six subjects were excluded from analysis. RSNs connectivity was compared between absence of ketamine (wake state [W1]), light ketamine sedation, and ketamine-induced unresponsiveness (deep sedation [S2]). Increasing the depth of ketamine sedation from W1 to S2 altered DMn and SALn connectivity and suppressed the anticorrelated activity between DMn and other brain regions. During S2, DMn connectivity, particularly between the medial prefrontal cortex and the remaining network (effect size β [95% CI]: W1 = 0.20 [0.18 to 0.22]; S2 = 0.07 [0.04 to 0.09]), and DMn anticorrelated activity (e.g., right sensory cortex: W1 = -0.07 [-0.09 to -0.04]; S2 = 0.04 [0.01 to 0.06]) were broken down. SALn connectivity was nonuniformly suppressed (e.g., left parietal operculum: W1 = 0.08 [0.06 to 0.09]; S2 = 0.05 [0.02 to 0.07]). Executive control networks, auditory network, SMn, and visual network were minimally affected. Ketamine induces specific changes in connectivity within and between RSNs. Breakdown of frontoparietal DMn connectivity and DMn anticorrelation and sensory and SMn connectivity preservation are common to ketamine and propofol-induced alterations of consciousness.

Mapping the functional connectome traits of levels of consciousness.

PubMed

Amico, Enrico; Marinazzo, Daniele; Di Perri, Carol; Heine, Lizette; Annen, Jitka; Martial, Charlotte; Dzemidzic, Mario; Kirsch, Murielle; Bonhomme, Vincent; Laureys, Steven; Goñi, Joaquín

2017-03-01

Examining task-free functional connectivity (FC) in the human brain offers insights on how spontaneous integration and segregation of information relate to human cognition, and how this organization may be altered in different conditions, and neurological disorders. This is particularly relevant for patients in disorders of consciousness (DOC) following severe acquired brain damage and coma, one of the most devastating conditions in modern medical care. We present a novel data-driven methodology, connICA, which implements Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for the extraction of robust independent FC patterns (FC-traits) from a set of individual functional connectomes, without imposing any a priori data stratification into groups. We here apply connICA to investigate associations between network traits derived from task-free FC and cognitive/clinical features that define levels of consciousness. Three main independent FC-traits were identified and linked to consciousness-related clinical features. The first one represents the functional configuration of a "resting" human brain, and it is associated to a sedative (sevoflurane), the overall effect of the pathology and the level of arousal. The second FC-trait reflects the disconnection of the visual and sensory-motor connectivity patterns. It also relates to the time since the insult and to the ability of communicating with the external environment. The third FC-trait isolates the connectivity pattern encompassing the fronto-parietal and the default-mode network areas as well as the interaction between left and right hemispheres, which are also associated to the awareness of the self and its surroundings. Each FC-trait represents a distinct functional process with a role in the degradation of conscious states of functional brain networks, shedding further light on the functional sub-circuits that get disrupted in severe brain-damage. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Consumer consciousness on meat and the environment - Exploring differences.

PubMed

Pohjolainen, Pasi; Tapio, Petri; Vinnari, Markus; Jokinen, Pekka; Räsänen, Pekka

2016-06-01

Global environmental challenges require changes in both the production and the consumption of goods. In this paper we analyse how consumers perceive the high environmental burden of meat. We analysed consumer environmental consciousness, including problem awareness and a support to action dimensions, latter including perceived self-efficacy as well as solutions to problems. The solutions were positioned on a continuum from increasing the efficiency of production to discussing sufficiency levels in consumption practices (techno-optimism, local meat, organic meat and meat reduction, respectively). We used a statistically representative survey sample (n = 1890) from the population of Finland and cluster analysis to explore differences among consumers. The analysis revealed that most Finns seem to be rather unsure of the study topic. At the same time they tend to have a comparably high level of self-efficacy (55 per cent of respondents) and endorsement of particularly local meat solution type (55%), followed by organic meat (35%), meat reduction (25%) and techno-optimism (15%), though the neutral stand was the most common one across the data. We also identified six consumer groups that reveal not only a high number of Highly unsure consumers (40%), but also some Rather conscious (20%) and a relatively small number of Highly conscious (8%). In addition, there were also easily observable groups of Careless conscious (14%), Rather unsure (9%) and Resistant (8%). The results highlight the need for a multitude of political actions to guide meat consumption, as there are groups that may benefit from practical tools for making dietary changes as well as groups in need for more comprehensive selection of measures, including environmental information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Children and Art: Uncovering Cultural Practices and Perspectives through Works of Art in World Language Performance Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eddy, Jennifer

2007-01-01

Maxine Greene states that the aesthetic experience is "brought into being by encounters with works of art" and "a conscious participation in a work, a going-out energy, an ability to notice what is there to be noticed". One of the goals of the aesthetic educational process is to engage teachers in a work of art, linking it and other human…

Between-Subject Variability in the Breaking Continuous Flash Suppression Paradigm: Potential Causes, Consequences, and Solutions

PubMed Central

Gayet, Surya; Stein, Timo

2017-01-01

A recent focus in the field of consciousness research involves investigating the propensity of initially non-conscious visual information to gain access to consciousness. A critical tool for measuring conscious access is the so-called breaking continuous flash suppression paradigm (b-CFS). In this paradigm, a high contrast dynamic pattern is presented to one eye, thereby temporarily suppressing a target stimulus that is presented to the other eye. The time it takes for observers to report (e.g., the location of) the initially suppressed stimulus provides a measure of conscious access. Typical observations in b-CFS studies include the finding that upright faces are released from suppression faster than inverted faces, and the finding that stimuli that match the current content of visual working memory are released from suppression faster than mismatching stimuli. Interestingly, the extent to which observers exhibit these effects varies extensively (in the range of hundreds of milliseconds). By re-analyzing existing datasets and a new dataset we establish that the difference in RTs between conditions in b-CFS tasks (i.e., the effect of interest) is highly correlated with participants' overall suppression durations, and with their trial-to-trial variability in RTs. We advocate the usage of a simple latency- normalization method, which (1) removes the between-subject variability in suppression duration from the effect of interest, while (2) providing distributions of RT differences that are better suited for parametric testing. We next compare this latency-normalization method to two other transformations that are widely applied on within-subject RT data (z-transformations and log-transformations). Finally, we tentatively discuss how trial-to-trial variability and overall suppression duration might relate to prolonged phases of shallow suppression that are more prone to modulations of conscious access. PMID:28396645

When unconscious rewards boost cognitive task performance inefficiently: the role of consciousness in integrating value and attainability information

PubMed Central

Zedelius, Claire M.; Veling, Harm; Aarts, Henk

2012-01-01

Research has shown that high vs. low value rewards improve cognitive task performance independent of whether they are perceived consciously or unconsciously. However, efficient performance in response to high value rewards also depends on whether or not rewards are attainable. This raises the question of whether unconscious reward processing enables people to take into account such attainability information. Building on a theoretical framework according to which conscious reward processing is required to enable higher level cognitive processing, the present research tested the hypothesis that conscious but not unconscious reward processing enables integration of reward value with attainability information. In two behavioral experiments, participants were exposed to mask high and low value coins serving as rewards on a working memory (WM) task. The likelihood for conscious processing was manipulated by presenting the coins relatively briefly (17 ms) or long and clearly visible (300 ms). Crucially, rewards were expected to be attainable or unattainable. Requirements to integrate reward value with attainability information varied across experiments. Results showed that when integration of value and attainability was required (Experiment 1), long reward presentation led to efficient performance, i.e., selectively improved performance for high value attainable rewards. In contrast, in the short presentation condition, performance was increased for high value rewards even when these were unattainable. This difference between the effects of long and short presentation time disappeared when integration of value and attainability information was not required (Experiment 2). Together these findings suggest that unconsciously processed reward information is not integrated with attainability expectancies, causing inefficient effort investment. These findings are discussed in terms of a unique role of consciousness in efficient allocation of effort to cognitive control processes. PMID:22848198

The Neuroendocrine System and Stress, Emotions, Thoughts and Feelings**

PubMed Central

Vaillant, George E.

2011-01-01

The philosophy of mind is intimately connected with the philosophy of action. Therefore, concepts like free will, motivation, emotions (especially positive emotions), and also the ethical issues related to these concepts are of abiding interest. However, the concepts of consciousness and free will are usually discussed solely in linguistic, ideational and cognitive (i.e. “left brain”) terms. Admittedly, consciousness requires language and the left-brain, but the aphasic right brain is equally conscious; however, what it “hears” are more likely to be music and emotions. Joy can be as conscious as the conscious motivation produced by the left-brain reading a sign that says, “Danger mines!!” However, look in the index of a Western textbook of psychology, psychiatry or philosophy for positive emotions located in the limbic system. Notice how discussion of positive spiritual/emotional issues in consciousness and motivation are scrupulously ignored. For example, the popular notions of “love” being either Eros (raw, amoral instinct) or agape (noble, non-specific valuing of all other people) miss the motivational forest for the trees. Neither Eros (hypothalamic) nor agape (cortical) has a fraction of the power to relieve stress as attachment (limbic love), yet until the 1950s attachment was neither appreciated nor discussed by academic minds. This paper will point out that the prosocial, “spiritual” positive emotions like hope, faith, forgiveness, joy, compassion and gratitude are extremely important in the relief of stress and in regulation of the neuroendocrine system, protecting us against stress. The experimental work reviewed by Antonio Damasio and Barbara Fredrickson, and the clinical example of Alcoholics Anonymous, will be used to illustrate these points. PMID:21694965

Self-organized dynamical complexity in human wakefulness and sleep: different critical brain-activity feedback for conscious and unconscious states.

PubMed

Allegrini, Paolo; Paradisi, Paolo; Menicucci, Danilo; Laurino, Marco; Piarulli, Andrea; Gemignani, Angelo

2015-09-01

Criticality reportedly describes brain dynamics. The main critical feature is the presence of scale-free neural avalanches, whose auto-organization is determined by a critical branching ratio of neural-excitation spreading. Other features, directly associated to second-order phase transitions, are: (i) scale-free-network topology of functional connectivity, stemming from suprathreshold pairwise correlations, superimposable, in waking brain activity, with that of ferromagnets at Curie temperature; (ii) temporal long-range memory associated to renewal intermittency driven by abrupt fluctuations in the order parameters, detectable in human brain via spatially distributed phase or amplitude changes in EEG activity. Herein we study intermittent events, extracted from 29 night EEG recordings, including presleep wakefulness and all phases of sleep, where different levels of mentation and consciousness are present. We show that while critical avalanching is unchanged, at least qualitatively, intermittency and functional connectivity, present during conscious phases (wakefulness and REM sleep), break down during both shallow and deep non-REM sleep. We provide a theory for fragmentation-induced intermittency breakdown and suggest that the main difference between conscious and unconscious states resides in the backwards causation, namely on the constraints that the emerging properties at large scale induce to the lower scales. In particular, while in conscious states this backwards causation induces a critical slowing down, preserving spatiotemporal correlations, in dreamless sleep we see a self-organized maintenance of moduli working in parallel. Critical avalanches are still present, and establish transient auto-organization, whose enhanced fluctuations are able to trigger sleep-protecting mechanisms that reinstate parallel activity. The plausible role of critical avalanches in dreamless sleep is to provide a rapid recovery of consciousness, if stimuli are highly arousing.

Self-organized dynamical complexity in human wakefulness and sleep: Different critical brain-activity feedback for conscious and unconscious states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allegrini, Paolo; Paradisi, Paolo; Menicucci, Danilo; Laurino, Marco; Piarulli, Andrea; Gemignani, Angelo

2015-09-01

Criticality reportedly describes brain dynamics. The main critical feature is the presence of scale-free neural avalanches, whose auto-organization is determined by a critical branching ratio of neural-excitation spreading. Other features, directly associated to second-order phase transitions, are: (i) scale-free-network topology of functional connectivity, stemming from suprathreshold pairwise correlations, superimposable, in waking brain activity, with that of ferromagnets at Curie temperature; (ii) temporal long-range memory associated to renewal intermittency driven by abrupt fluctuations in the order parameters, detectable in human brain via spatially distributed phase or amplitude changes in EEG activity. Herein we study intermittent events, extracted from 29 night EEG recordings, including presleep wakefulness and all phases of sleep, where different levels of mentation and consciousness are present. We show that while critical avalanching is unchanged, at least qualitatively, intermittency and functional connectivity, present during conscious phases (wakefulness and REM sleep), break down during both shallow and deep non-REM sleep. We provide a theory for fragmentation-induced intermittency breakdown and suggest that the main difference between conscious and unconscious states resides in the backwards causation, namely on the constraints that the emerging properties at large scale induce to the lower scales. In particular, while in conscious states this backwards causation induces a critical slowing down, preserving spatiotemporal correlations, in dreamless sleep we see a self-organized maintenance of moduli working in parallel. Critical avalanches are still present, and establish transient auto-organization, whose enhanced fluctuations are able to trigger sleep-protecting mechanisms that reinstate parallel activity. The plausible role of critical avalanches in dreamless sleep is to provide a rapid recovery of consciousness, if stimuli are highly arousing.

Clinical Response to tDCS Depends on Residual Brain Metabolism and Grey Matter Integrity in Patients With Minimally Conscious State.

PubMed

Thibaut, Aurore; Di Perri, Carol; Chatelle, Camille; Bruno, Marie-Aurélie; Bahri, Mohamed Ali; Wannez, Sarah; Piarulli, Andrea; Bernard, Claire; Martial, Charlotte; Heine, Lizette; Hustinx, Roland; Laureys, Steven

2015-01-01

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was recently shown to promote recovery of voluntary signs of consciousness in some patients in minimally conscious state (MCS). However, it remains unclear why clinical improvement is only observed in a subgroup of patients. In this retrospective study, we investigated the relationship between tDCS responsiveness and neuroimaging data from MCS patients. Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and clinical electroencephalography (EEG) were acquired in 21 sub-acute and chronic MCS patients (8 tDCS responders) who subsequently (<48 h) received left dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPF) tDCS in a double-blind randomized cross-over trial. The behavioral data have been published elsewhere (Thibaut et al., Neurology, 2014). Grey matter atrophy was observed in non-responders as compared with responders in the left DLPF cortex, the medial-prefrontal cortex, the cingulate cortex, the hippocampi, part of the rolandic regions, and the left thalamus. FDG-PET showed hypometabolism in non-responders as compared with responders in the left DLPF cortex, the medial-prefrontal cortex, the precuneus, and the thalamus. EEG did not show any difference between the two groups. Our findings suggest that the transient increase of signs of consciousness following left DLPF tDCS in patients in MCS require grey matter preservation and residual metabolic activity in cortical and subcortical brain areas known to be involved in attention and working memory. These results further underline the critical role of long-range cortico-thalamic connections in consciousness recovery, providing important information for guidelines on the use of tDCS in disorders of consciousness. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of U.S. Navy Diver Training on Physiological Parameters, Time of Useful Consciousness and Cognitive Performance During Periods of Normobaric Hypoxia

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

from the pulse oximeter were integrated, digitized, and displayed graphically in real time in LabView (National Instruments) and logged at 20 Hz...Peripheral oxygenation monitoring: Fg-SpO2 levels were measured using a pulse oximeter placed on the left index finger (ROBD-2; Series 6202, Environics...Tolland, CT). Heart rate monitoring: HR was measured using a pulse oximeter placed on the left index finger (ROBD-2; Series 6202, Environics

Effects of U.S. Navy Diver Training on Physiological Parameters, Time of Useful Consciousness, and Cognitive Performance During Periods of Normobaric Hypoxia

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

from the pulse oximeter were integrated, digitized, and displayed graphically in real time in LabView (National Instruments) and logged at 20 Hz...Peripheral oxygenation monitoring: Fg-SpO2 levels were measured using a pulse oximeter placed on the left index finger (ROBD-2; Series 6202, Environics...Tolland, CT). Heart rate monitoring: HR was measured using a pulse oximeter placed on the left index finger (ROBD-2; Series 6202, Environics

Life cycle design and design management strategies in fashion apparel manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tutia, R.; Mendes, FD; Ventura, A.

2017-10-01

The generation of solid textile waste in the process of development and clothing production is an error that causes serious damages to the environment and must be minimized. The greatest volume of textile residues is generated by the department of cut, such as textiles parings and snips that are not used in the productive process. (MILAN et al, 2007). One way to conceive new products environmently conscious is turned to the adoption of a methodology based on Life Cycle Design (LCD) and Design Management.

Stakeholder Analysis To Shape the Enterprise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCaughin, Keith; Derosa, Joseph

An enterprise is a complex adaptive social system that should maximize stakeholder, not shareholder, value — value to employees, customers, shareholders and others. We expand upon Russell Ackoff s direction to distribute value among stakeholders, to propose a schema of rules that guide the interactions among autonomous agents in the transactional environment of an enterprise. We define an enterprise as an organization and its transactional environment interacting with and adapting to each other. Enterprise behavior can only be understood in the context of this transactional environment where everything depends on everything else and interactions cannot be controlled, but can be influenced if they are guided by an understanding of the internal rules of the autonomous agents. The schema has four complementary rules (control, autonomy, return and value) derived from the work of Russell Ackoff and Michael Porter. The basic rules are applied in combination to eight stakeholder types derived from Richard Hopeman and Raymond McLeod (Leaders, Competitors, Customers, Public, Workers, Collaborators, Suppliers and Regulators). An enterprise can use this schema and rules in a process of stakeholder analysis to develop and continually refine strategies to encourage behaviors that benefit the enterprise and discourage behaviors that harm the enterprise. These strategies are implemented in a relationship management program in support of enterprise strategic management to consciously and explicitly shape the environment to reduce risks and increase opportunities for success.

Contemplative Neuroscience as an Approach to Volitional Consciousness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Evan

This chapter presents a methodological approach to volitional consciousness for cognitive neuroscience based on studying the voluntary self-generation and self-regulation of mental states in meditation. Called contemplative neuroscience, this approach views attention, awareness, and emotion regulation as flexible and trainable skills, and works with experimental participants who have undergone training in contemplative practices designed to hone these skills. Drawing from research on the dynamical neural correlates of contemplative mental states and theories of large-scale neural coordination dynamics, I argue for the importance of global system causation in brain activity and present an "interventionist" approach to intentional causation.

Man and SuperNature. Lecture 12, September 27, 1946

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montessori, Maria

2015-01-01

"Man and SuperNature" is a lyrical chapter in the 1946 London course following the emergence of Cosmic Education in Kodaikanal, India. Montessori contrasts the adaptation required of animals for their survival to conscious human adaptation. Animals exist and adapt to nature, but man can alter nature and change the environment.…

The Esther Madriz Diversity Scholars: A Case Study of Critical Consciousness Development within a Living-Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sears, Stephanie D.; Tu, Dawn Lee

2017-01-01

Living-Learning Communities (LLCs) develop and strengthen students' persistence by providing a greater sense of community, opportunities for co-curricular activities, and socially engaging and academically supportive peer environments (Shapiro & Levine, 1999). While researchers have affirmed the rationale, impact, and efficacy of LLCs, very…

Creativity in Gifted Education: Contributions from Vygotsky and Piaget

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stoltz, Tania; Piske, Fernanda Hellen Ribeiro; de Fátima Quintal de Freitas, Maria; D'Aroz, Marlene Schüssler; Machado, Járci Maria

2015-01-01

This research aims to highlight the importance of developing creativity in the school environment by promoting quality education to gifted students, with contributions from Vygotsky and Piaget. For Vygotsky creativity is inherent in the human condition, and it is the most important activity because it is the expression of consciousness, thought…

The Concept of Situation and the Microgenesis of the Conscious Purpose in Cultural Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clara M.

2013-01-01

The importance of the specific environment for understanding the microgenesis of psychological processes is well documented. It can be argued, however, that the theoretical framework of cultural psychology which is usually referred to as cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) underconceptualizes this aspect, thereby hampering its ability to…

Best-Practice Model for Technology Enhanced Learning in the Creative Arts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Power, Jess; Kannara, Vidya

2016-01-01

This paper presents a best-practice model for the redesign of virtual learning environments (VLEs) within creative arts to augment blended learning. In considering a blended learning best-practice model, three factors should be considered: the conscious and active human intervention, good learning design and pedagogical input, and the sensitive…

Teachers' Perspectives on Contributions of a Prairie Restoration Project to Elementary Students' Environmental Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shume, Teresa

2016-01-01

Place-based environmental education draws on childhood experiences in nature that foster place-conscious connections to the local bioregion, and intentionally cultivate children's relationships with nature on a trajectory toward increased environmental literacy. Even though opportunities for children to bond with the local natural environment are…

Elementary Preservice Teachers as Warm Demanders in an African American School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hambacher, Elyse; Acosta, Melanie M.; Bondy, Elizabeth; Ross, Dorene D.

2016-01-01

The literature related to warm demanding describes teachers who balance care and authority to create a learning environment that supports a culture of achievement for African American students. Embedded in this stance is sociopolitical consciousness that explicitly links teachers' care and authority with a larger social justice agenda. Drawing on…

Moving towards Raising Consciousness: An Inquiry into How Preservice Teachers Envision Classroom Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaLonde, Courtney C.

2017-01-01

Effective classroom management is critical in the creation of learning environments that foster academic success for all students. Preservice teachers must develop an awareness and understanding of all aspects of classroom management and their relation to the two main classroom management approaches: the discipline based approach and the…

Cultivating Lived-Body Consciousness: Enhancing Cognition and Emotion through Outdoor Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thorburn, Malcolm; Marshall, Aaron

2014-01-01

Through using school-based outdoor learning as the research context, the paper analyses the connections between bodily experiences and the embodied mind. Recent theorizing in outdoor learning, in reflecting phenomenology and Deweyian influences, has teased out how the relationships between the self, others and nature (environment) can be extended…

Many worlds in perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Päs, Heinrich

2017-08-01

A minimal approach to the measurement problem and the quantum-to-classical transition assumes a universally valid quantum formalism, i.e. unitary time evolution governed by a Schrödinger-type equation. As had been pointed out long ago, in this view the measurement process can be described by decoherence which results in a ”Many-Worlds” or ”Many-Minds” scenario according to Everett and Zeh. A silent assumption for decoherence to proceed is however, that there exists incomplete information about the environment our object system gets entangled with in the measurement process. This paper addresses the question where this information is traced out and - by adopting recent approaches to model consciousness in neuroscience - argues that a rigorous interpretation results in a perspectival notion of the quantum-to-classical transition. The information that is or is not available in the consciousness of the observer is crucial for the definition of the environment (i.e. the unknown degrees of freedom in the remainder of the Universe). As such the Many-Worlds-Interpretation, while being difficult or impossible to probe in physics, may become testable in psychology.

Neural Correlates of Auditory Perceptual Awareness and Release from Informational Masking Recorded Directly from Human Cortex: A Case Study.

PubMed

Dykstra, Andrew R; Halgren, Eric; Gutschalk, Alexander; Eskandar, Emad N; Cash, Sydney S

2016-01-01

In complex acoustic environments, even salient supra-threshold sounds sometimes go unperceived, a phenomenon known as informational masking. The neural basis of informational masking (and its release) has not been well-characterized, particularly outside auditory cortex. We combined electrocorticography in a neurosurgical patient undergoing invasive epilepsy monitoring with trial-by-trial perceptual reports of isochronous target-tone streams embedded in random multi-tone maskers. Awareness of such masker-embedded target streams was associated with a focal negativity between 100 and 200 ms and high-gamma activity (HGA) between 50 and 250 ms (both in auditory cortex on the posterolateral superior temporal gyrus) as well as a broad P3b-like potential (between ~300 and 600 ms) with generators in ventrolateral frontal and lateral temporal cortex. Unperceived target tones elicited drastically reduced versions of such responses, if at all. While it remains unclear whether these responses reflect conscious perception, itself, as opposed to pre- or post-perceptual processing, the results suggest that conscious perception of target sounds in complex listening environments may engage diverse neural mechanisms in distributed brain areas.

Final Progress Report: Internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dunham, Ryan Q.

2012-08-10

Originally I was tasked fluidized bed modeling, however, I changed projects. While still working with ANSYS Fluent, I performed a study of particle tracks in glove boxes. This is useful from a Health-Physics perspective, dealing respirable particles that can be hazardous to the human body. I iteratively tested different amounts of turbulent particles in a steady-state flow. The goal of this testing was to discover how Fluent handles built-in Rosin-Rammler distributions for particle injections. I worked on the health physics flow problems and distribution analysis under the direction of two mentors, Bruce Letellier and Dave Decroix. I set up andmore » ran particle injection calculations using Fluent. I tried different combinations of input parameters to produce sets of 500,000, 1 million, and 1.5 million particles to determine what a good test case would be for future experiments. I performed a variety of tasks in my work as an Undergraduate Student Intern at LANL this summer, and learned how to use a powerful CFD application in addition to expanding my skills in MATLAB. I enjoyed my work at LANL and hope to be able to use the experience here to further my career in the future working in a security-conscious environment. My mentors provided guidance and help with all of my projects and I am grateful for the opportunity to work at Los Alamos National Laboratory.« less

Learning through Work: How Can a Narrative Approach to Evaluation Build Students' Capacity for Resilience?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mate, Susan; Ryan, Maureen

2015-01-01

Some professionals have a conscious purpose-driven "professional identity" and others forge an identity over time and through various work experiences. This research draws on the narratives professionals at different life and career stages shared about their professional development. The findings highlight the importance attributed to…

Counselling Sexual-Violence Survivors: The Evolution of Female Counsellors' Critical Political Consciousness and the Effects on Their Intimate Relationships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garrity, Mary Kate

2011-01-01

This social constructivist/constructionist research explores changes in female therapists' intimate relationships after they began working with survivors of female sexual violence. Discourse analysis found that working with survivors shifted participants' initially naive understanding of female sexual violence, as they developed a critical…

Mixing Careers and Child Rearing. Background Paper No. 31.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodgers, Charles S.; Rodgers, Francene S.

The issue of combining careers and child rearing has come into public consciousness because so many more women with children now work. This means that there are many more families where both parents work. Women are voicing a growing sense of disillusionment regarding earnings, occupational segregation, child care difficulties, and performing two…

Technology, Consciousness, and the Transitional Symbolic Self: Implications for Social Work Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liechty, Daniel

2012-01-01

A growing body of literature is focused on hypertechnology in curriculum and culture. This article contributes to that literature. Taking the perspective of social work education that human reality emerges from the interaction of biological, psychological, and socio-cultural forces, the reader is invited to consider the possibility that in this…

Marx and Education: Working with the Revolutionary Educator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banfield, Grant

2015-01-01

This paper positions education as productive work, i.e. radical labour. It argues that education is a deliberate and conscious process directed to the building of human capacities to labour for socialist transformation. In drawing on the intellectual resources left by Marx the objective of education is the production of the "revolutionary…

Letters and American Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kevis, David E.

The work itself should help a person who is going to teach reading and writing. Practical suggestions are offered in the final two chapters, while the opening three give intellectual perspectives. A theme binds the work of letting the consciousness of writing as a visual system be increased and of breaking the spell by which letter phonetics can…

Internationalization of Higher Education: A Case Study on College Music Teachers' Intercultural Expertise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lasonen, Johanna

2010-01-01

School and work organizations are operating in an increasingly global world. Meeting different people and groups is part of daily learning situations. The diversity of student and work communities can change from putting up with difference into conscious learning from dissimilarity in interaction. Intercultural education emphasizes the personal…

Transpersonal Social Work: A Theory for the 1990s.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowley, Au-Deane S.

1993-01-01

Notes that transpersonal psychology contains growing body of literature and theory related to spiritual dimension of human nature and higher states of consciousness. Sees this approach as especially relevant for social work practitioners who are combating social ills of 1990s that manifest as violence, addiction, and spiritual malaise. (Author/NB)

Theorizing and Measuring Working Memory in First and Second Language Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wen, Zhisheng

2014-01-01

Working memory (WM) generally refers to the human ability to temporarily maintain and manipulate a limited amount of information in immediate consciousness when carrying out complex cognitive tasks such as problem-solving and language comprehension. Though much controversy has surrounded the WM concept since its inception by Baddeley & Hitch…

Merging with the path not taken: Wilhelm Wundt's work as a precursor to the embedded-processes approach to memory, attention, and consciousness.

PubMed

Cowan, Nelson; Rachev, Nikolay R

2018-06-04

Early research on memory was dominated by two researchers forging different paths: Hermann Ebbinghaus, interested in principles of learning and recall, and Wilhelm Wundt, founder of the first formal laboratory of experimental psychology, who was interested in empirical evidence to interpret conscious experience. Whereas the work of Ebbinghaus is a much-heralded precursor of modern research on long-term memory, the work of Wundt appears to be a mostly-forgotten precursor to research on working memory. We show how his scientific perspective is germane to more recent investigations, with emphasis on the embedded-processes approaches of Nelson Cowan and Klaus Oberauer, and how it is in contrast with most other recent theoretical approaches. This investigation is important because the embedded-process theorists, apparently like most modern researchers, have recognized few of Wundt's specific contributions. We explore commonalities between the approaches and suggest that an appreciation of these commonalities might enrich the field going forward. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Subliminal food images compromise superior working memory performance in women with restricting anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Brooks, Samantha J; O'Daly, Owen G; Uher, Rudolf; Schiöth, Helgi B; Treasure, Janet; Campbell, Iain C

2012-06-01

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is dysregulated in women with restricting anorexia nervosa (RAN). It is not known whether appetitive non-conscious stimuli bias cognitive responses in those with RAN. Thirteen women with RAN and 20 healthy controls (HC) completed a dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) working memory task and an anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) conflict task, while masked subliminal food, aversive and neutral images were presented. During the DLPFC task, accuracy was higher in the RAN compared to the HC group, but superior performance was compromised when subliminal food stimuli were presented: errors positively correlated with self-reported trait anxiety in the RAN group. These effects were not observed in the ACC task. Appetitive activation is intact and anxiogenic in women with RAN, and non-consciously interacts with working memory processes associated with the DLPFC. This interaction mechanism may underlie cognitive inhibition of appetitive processes that are anxiety inducing, in people with AN. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

MMN and novelty P3 in coma and other altered states of consciousness: a review.

PubMed

Morlet, Dominique; Fischer, Catherine

2014-07-01

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the assessment of patients in altered states of consciousness. There is a need for accurate and early prediction of awakening and recovery from coma. Neurophysiological assessment of coma was once restricted to brainstem auditory and primary cortex somatosensory evoked potentials elicited in the 30 ms range, which have both shown good predictive value for poor coma outcome only. In this paper, we review how passive auditory oddball paradigms including deviant and novel sounds have proved their efficiency in assessing brain function at a higher level, without requiring the patient's active involvement, thus providing an enhanced tool for the prediction of coma outcome. The presence of an MMN in response to deviant stimuli highlights preserved automatic sensory memory processes. Recorded during coma, MMN has shown high specificity as a predictor of recovery of consciousness. The presence of a novelty P3 in response to the subject's own first name presented as a novel (rare) stimulus has shown a good correlation with coma awakening. There is now a growing interest in the search for markers of consciousness, if there are any, in unresponsive patients (chronic vegetative or minimally conscious states). We discuss the different ERP patterns observed in these patients. The presence of novelty P3, including parietal components and possibly followed by a late parietal positivity, raises the possibility that some awareness processes are at work in these unresponsive patients.

MMN and Novelty P3 in Coma and Other Altered States of Consciousness: A Review

PubMed Central

Morlet, Dominique; Fischer, Catherine

2014-01-01

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the assessment of patients in altered states of consciousness. There is a need for accurate and early prediction of awakening and recovery from coma. Neurophysiological assessment of coma was once restricted to brainstem auditory and primary cortex somatosensory evoked potentials elicited in the thirty millisecond range, which have both shown good predictive value for poor coma outcome only. In this paper, we review how passive auditory oddball paradigms including deviant and novel sounds have proved their efficiency in assessing brain function at a higher level, without requiring the patient’s active involvement, thus providing an enhanced tool for the prediction of coma outcome. The presence of an MMN in response to deviant stimuli highlights preserved automatic sensory memory processes. Recorded during coma, MMN has shown high specificity as a predictor of recovery of consciousness. The presence of a novelty P3 in response to the subject’s own first name presented as a novel (rare) stimulus has shown a good correlation with coma awakening. There is now a growing interest in the search for markers of consciousness, if there are any, in unresponsive patients (chronic vegetative or minimally conscious states). We discuss the different ERP patterns observed in these patients. The presence of novelty P3, including parietal components and possibly followed by a late parietal positivity, raises the possibility that some awareness processes are at work in these unresponsive patients. PMID:24281786

The "Hard Problem" and the Quantum Physicists. Part 2: Modern Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, C. U. M.

2009-01-01

This is the second part of a review of the work of quantum physicists on the "hard part" of the problem of mind. After an introduction which sets the scene and a brief review of contemporary work on the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) the work of four prominent modern investigators is examined: J.C. Eccles/Friedrich Beck; Henry Stapp;…

Please respond ASAP: workplace telepressure and employee recovery.

PubMed

Barber, Larissa K; Santuzzi, Alecia M

2015-04-01

Organizations rely heavily on asynchronous message-based technologies (e.g., e-mail) for the purposes of work-related communications. These technologies are primary means of knowledge transfer and building social networks. As a by-product, workers might feel varying levels of preoccupations with and urges for responding quickly to messages from clients, coworkers, or supervisors--an experience we label as workplace telepressure. This experience can lead to fast response times and thus faster decisions and other outcomes initially. However, research from the stress and recovery literature suggests that the defining features of workplace telepressure interfere with needed work recovery time and stress-related outcomes. The present set of studies defined and validated a new scale to measure telepressure. Study 1 tested an initial pool of items and found some support for a single-factor structure after problematic items were removed. As expected, public self-consciousness, techno-overload, and response expectations were moderately associated with telepressure in Study 1. Study 2 demonstrated that workplace telepressure was distinct from other personal (job involvement, affective commitment) and work environment (general and ICT work demands) factors and also predicted burnout (physical and cognitive), absenteeism, sleep quality, and e-mail responding beyond those factors. Implications for future research and workplace practices are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

From Emotions to Consciousness – A Neuro-Phenomenal and Neuro-Relational Approach

PubMed Central

Northoff, Georg

2012-01-01

The James–Lange theory considers emotional feelings as perceptions of physiological body changes. This approach has recently resurfaced and modified in both neuroscientific and philosophical concepts of embodiment of emotional feelings. In addition to the body, the role of the environment in emotional feeling needs to be considered. I here claim that the environment has not merely an indirect and instrumental, i.e., modulatory role on emotional feelings via the body and its sensorimotor and vegetative functions. Instead, the environment may have a direct and non-instrumental, i.e., constitutional role in emotional feelings. This implies that the environment itself is constitutive of emotional feeling rather than the bodily representation of the environment. I call this the relational concept of emotional feeling. The present paper discusses recent data from neuroimaging that investigate emotions in relation to interoceptive processing and the brain’s intrinsic activity. These data show the intrinsic linkage of interoceptive stimulus processing to both exteroceptive stimuli and the brain’s intrinsic activity. This is possible only if the differences between intrinsic activity and intero- and exteroceptive stimuli is encoded into neural activity. Such relational coding makes possible the assignment of subjective and affective features to the otherwise objective and non-affective stimulus. I therefore consider emotions to be intrinsically affective and subjective as it is manifest in emotional feelings. The relational approach thus goes together with what may be described as neuro-phenomenal approach. Such neuro-phenomenal approach does not only inform emotions and emotional feeling but is also highly relevant to better understand the neuronal mechanisms underlying consciousness in general. PMID:22969736

[Childrearing environment and fertility in contemporary Japan (author's transl)].

PubMed

Horosima, K

1981-04-01

This study focused on the decrease in the marital fertility rate and attempted to clarify some traits in childrearing behavior which are responsible for the low fertility. Regarding the increase in difficulties in childrearing, the author pointed out the necessity and possibility of fertility study from the viewpoint of childrearing. The author proposed to regard childbearing behavior as a part of childrearing behavior and to explain childbearing behavior by childrearing environment which surrounds the couple's childrearing behavior and childrearing consciousness. Childrearing environment is composed of family formation in the household, labor force status of the mother, housing conditions, nursery facilities, and physical environment in the community; these components are all closely allied. Data obtained from 2375 mothers with preschool children were studied. There were great differences in the degree of mother's participation in the labor foce but there was a large ratio of mothers who did not live with their parents and who wanted to work outside the home if nursery facilities could be affored. Clearly the desire of women of reproductive age to work is very strong and the differences in the labor force participation rate are the result of insufficient socialized child care. The authors found a stratum of women who were strongly orientated towards working but who had chosen to live with the parents as a solution to their child care problem. We could only find small differences in fertility by family formation in the household and by work history of mother when observed. However, when the 2 were combined, there were relatively large differences (1.94-2.65 after 10 years of marriage) which has rarely been observed in social analyses of fertility thus far. The lowest fertility by work history was observed among women who had worked since before their marriages, and the largest differences in fertility between 2 family formation types was found among these women (1.94:2.24). This difference in fertility can be supposed to reflect the difference in child care conditions by family formation in household. As to the reasons for limiting births, differences were not found between these 2 family formation types. Working mothers who relied upon their parents for child care expressed relatively greater anxiety about their child's development status than those mothers in nuclear families where child care was supplied by the nursery schools. It is likely that the trend of working mothers will not diminish, and we must thus anticipate the limit of the mechanism of maintaining the fertility by child care supplied by cohabiting parents. Physical environment in the community was found to be a factor in limiting childbirth and the effect was most conspicuous among women who had continued to work in the nuclear family.

Scientific creativity: a review.

PubMed

Boxenbaum, H

1991-01-01

Aside from possession of the relevant knowledge, skills, and intelligence, what seems to characterize the creative scientist is his imagination, originality, and ingenuity in combining existing knowledge into a new and unified scheme. This creativity frequently emerges from an aesthetic, poetic sense of freedom derived from work, an uninhibited playful activity of exploring a medium for its own sake. We speculate thus: With a preference for irregularities and disorder, the creative scientist temporarily takes leave of his senses, permitting expression of unconfigurated forces of his irrational unconscious. This amounts to a kind of internal "wagering," in which the scientist pits himself against uncertain circumstances, a situation in which his individual effort can be the deciding factor. When working on a difficult problem, there frequently occurs a "creative worrying" in which the problem is consciously and unconsciously carried around while doing other tasks. This period is attended by frustrations, tensions, and false inspirations. Dream and reality are wedded in a largely unconscious process of undefined emotional turmoil. When a uniquely gratifying association is realized, the unconscious deposits its collection of insights into the fringe consciousness, whereupon the full consciousness seizes on it and releases it as a flash of insight. Because the creative scientist possesses a strong and exacting self-concept, he can organize, integrate, and even exploit the conflict within himself. By compensating in fantasy for what is missing in reality, creativeness can be an expressive outlet ameliorating the universal, annoying split between a man's inner unconscious world and his outer conscious world. Although there is a divergence of opinion as to whether creativity can be taught, there is agreement that it can be fostered. However, parents, teachers, and institutions must display considerably more flexibility and tolerance towards individually minded persons who behave in seemingly nonconformist ways.

Subliminal (latent) processing of pain and its evolution to conscious awareness

PubMed Central

Borsook, David; Youssef, Andrew M.; Barakat, Nadia; Sieberg, Christine B.; Elman, Igor

2018-01-01

By unconscious or covert processing of pain we refer to nascent interactions that affect the eventual deliverance of pain awareness. Thus, internal processes (viz., repeated nociceptive events, inflammatory kindling, re-organization of brain networks, genetic) or external processes (viz., environment, socioeconomic levels, modulation of epigenetic status) contribute to enhancing or inhibiting the presentation of pain awareness. Here we put forward the notion that for many patients, ongoing sub-conscious changes in brain function are significant players in the eventual manifestation of chronic pain. In this review, we provide clinical examples of nascent or what we term pre-pain processes and the neurobiological mechanisms of how these changes may contribute to pain, but also potential opportunities to define the process for early therapeutic interventions. PMID:29476771

Subliminal (latent) processing of pain and its evolution to conscious awareness.

PubMed

Borsook, David; Youssef, Andrew M; Barakat, Nadia; Sieberg, Christine B; Elman, Igor

2018-05-01

By unconscious or covert processing of pain we refer to nascent interactions that affect the eventual deliverance of pain awareness. Thus, internal processes (viz., repeated nociceptive events, inflammatory kindling, reorganization of brain networks, genetic) or external processes (viz., environment, socioeconomic levels, modulation of epigenetic status) contribute to enhancing or inhibiting the presentation of pain awareness. Here we put forward the notion that for many patients, ongoing sub-conscious changes in brain function are significant players in the eventual manifestation of chronic pain. In this review, we provide clinical examples of nascent or what we term pre-pain processes and the neurobiological mechanisms of how these changes may contribute to pain, but also potential opportunities to define the process for early therapeutic interventions. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

An approach to the design of operations systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chafin, Roy L.; Curran, Patrick S.

1993-01-01

The MultiMission Control Team (MMCT) consists of mission controllers which provides Real-Time operations support for the Mars Observer project. The Real-Time Operations task is to insure the integrity of the ground data system, to insure that the configuration is correct to support the mission, and to monitor the spacecraft for the Spacecraft Team. Operations systems are typically developed by adapting operations systems from previous projects. Problems tend to be solved empirically when they are either anticipated or observed in testing. This development method has worked in the past when time was available for extensive Ops testing. In the present NASA budget environment, a more cost conscious design approach has become necessary. Cost is a concern because operations is an ongoing, continuous activity. Reducing costs entails reducing staff. Reducing staffing levels potentially increases the risk of mission failure. Therefore, keeping track of the risk level is necessary.

Reassessment of the NRC`s program for protecting allegers against retaliation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1994-01-01

On July 6, 1993, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s (NRC`s) Executive Director for Operations established a review team to reassess the NRC`s program for protecting allegers against retaliation. The team evaluated the current system, and solicited comments from various NRC offices, other Federal agencies, licensees, former allegers, and the public. This report is subject to agency review. The report summarizes current processes and gives an overview of current problems. It discusses: (1) ways in which licensees can promote a quality-conscious work environment, in which all employees feel free to raise concerns without fear of retaliation; (2) ways to improve the NRC`smore » overall handling of allegations; (3) the NRC`s involvement in the Department of Labor process; (4) related NRC enforcement practices; and (5) methods other than investigation and enforcement that may be useful in treating allegations of potential or actual discrimination. Recommendations are given in each area.« less

Modelling the dynamics of crime and punishment. Comment on "Statistical physics of crime: A review" by M.R. D'Orsogna and M. Perc

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abou Chakra, Maria; Hilbe, Christian

2015-03-01

The causes and consequences of crime have fascinated humans for centuries. What makes people break the law, and how does crime affect societies? To approach such questions, it may seem most natural to take the viewpoint of sociology or psychology. However, starting with the pioneering work of Nobel prize laureate Gary S. Becker [1], it has been increasingly emphasized that crime does not need to be the result of insane minds. Instead, committing a crime may be quite rational, given the right circumstances. Whether we are willing to break the law depends on the environment and on the incentives at stake: What are the chances of being caught after committing a certain felony? And how severe is the punishment? From the perspective of economics, crime can often be understood as a result of conscious decisions, as an equilibrium in a strategic game.

Nociception, pain, consciousness, and society: A plea for constrained use of pain-related terminologies.

PubMed

Apkarian, A Vania

2018-06-08

This focus article addresses the issue of the proper use of terminology in pain research. A review and some revisions on the definitions of pain and nociception, in relation to consciousness is presented. From a behavioral viewpoint, it is argued that pain is a conscious assessment of the failure of the organism to protect the body from injury (actual or potential); while continuously-ongoing sub/pre-conscious nociceptive processes protect the body from injuries. Thus, pain perception/behavior requires a subjective ability to evaluate the environment and form coordinated responses. Yet, too often our literature conflates the two concepts, resulting in a confusion that impacts on society. The issue is especially topical as the US Senate has been voting a bill called: Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The title of the bill itself does not make sense, if we adhere to the strict definitions commonly accepted in our field. Thus, this article concludes with a plea to properly constrain the narrative with which we describe our research, and minimize potential abuse of the science of pain for political interests. Perspective The focus article goes over the classic definitions of pain and nociception; incorporates novel concepts recently advances as to their functional differentiation; and is a plea for our research and clinical society to adhere to the proper use of these terms to minimize misinterpretation by society at large. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Awareness Is Necessary for Extracting Patterns in Working Memory but Not for Directing Spatial Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsieh, Po-Jang; Colas, Jaron T.

2012-01-01

The contents of working memory (WM) have predominantly been viewed as necessarily conscious. However, recent findings suggest otherwise. Here we investigate whether visual WM can represent subliminal stimuli, such that the positions of an invisible moving object can be extrapolated or learned about in terms of their task-relevant predictive power.…

Enhancing Capacity for Social Justice Work within the Academy: Building Critical Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ratkovic, Snezana; Tilley, Susan; Teeuwsen, Phil

2010-01-01

In this article, we explore our experience of carving out space within an academic program where we were able to engage in learning and teaching that enhanced our capacity to understand foundational literature in the Socio/Cultural Field of Study and work towards our social justice goals. The doctoral course described provided the conditions…

Syntactic Deviations in the Novel "The Sound and the Fury"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alirezazadeh, Pooria; Talebinezhad, Mohammad Reza

2014-01-01

This article looks at William Faulkner's work "The Sound and the Fury." The goals are to investigate different types of syntactic deviations in the novel, and how these deviations helped the writer to create a literary work in the field of modernist literature and stream of consciousness. To this end, the theoretical framework for…

Literature and Public Discourse in Times of Global Unrest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindblom, Kenneth

2003-01-01

Notes English teachers already do communal, even global, work whether or not they are conscious of doing so. Examines both positive and negative consequences of that work and suggests ways of understanding it most effectively. Presents ideas on the theme of this issue, "Talking Literature." Shares a brief essay by Wail S. Hassan in which…

Whiteliness and Institutional Racism: Hiding behind (Un)Conscious Bias

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tate, Shirley Anne; Page, Damien

2018-01-01

'Unconscious bias happens by our brains making incredibly quick judgements and assessments without us realising. Biases are influenced by background, cultural environment and experiences and we may not be aware of these views and opinions, or of their full impact and implications. This article opposes this point of view by arguing that bias is not…

Multicultural Education as an Emotional Situation: Practice Encountering the Unexpected in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shim, Jenna Min

2014-01-01

Juxtaposing the concepts of screen memory, counter-transference and the holding environment within psychoanalytic theory, this essay explores the author's emotional experience, who begins the exploration by asking several questions. What happens to a teacher's emotional world and her consciousness in the process of trying to shift…

Visual Art Education: Between Spatial Sustainable Development and the Image of Architecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tomšic Cerkez, Beatriz Gabriela

2013-01-01

If we consider the role of education and its implications in the formation of a critical and conscious user of architecture, it is obvious that the development of educational strategies related to the sustainable development of our common space and environment becomes fundamental. Among the objectives of art education, we should consider our…

Health Effects of Environmental Pollution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.

This booklet notes that for a long time the American people were willing to pay any price for progress. Now may refuse to accept an environment that menaces their health and lowers their enjoyment of life. They are embracing a new environmental consciousness, a broader vision of reality, a more profound sense of their place in nature. Among the…

Classroom Motivational Environment Influences on Emotional and Cognitive Dimensions of Student Interest in Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carmichael, Colin; Callingham, Rosemary; Watt, Helen M. G.

2017-01-01

Interest has long been regarded as an important motivational construct in the learning of mathematics. It has been contended that the development of interest is directed by two control systems: an emotional and a cognitive. Under the former, students are attracted to activities that are enjoyable, whereas under the latter they consciously engage…

Environmental Education for the 21st Century: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Patricia J., Ed.

This volume is the result of a week-long conference at Lehman College during Earth Week on environmental consciousness. Its scope and range provide an overview of the state of the art in the environmental curriculum in the humanities, social sciences, business, and journalism as well as perspectives on creating a green academic environment through…

Moving toward Socially and Environmentally Responsible Management Education--A Case Study of Mumbai

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goyal, Ela; Gupta, Mahendra

2014-01-01

Educational institutions have a vital role to play shaping the future of our environment. Education provides opportunities for students to become environmentally conscious citizens besides being educated. In this study, an attempt has been made to study the perception of management students and teachers in the city of Mumbai, India, to determine…

The Preliminary and Subsequent Stages to Integrating Pedagogical Innovation: The Crux of the Matter for the Innovator

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walder, Anne Mai

2014-01-01

Within the extremely competitive environment of higher education, professors make a conscious decision to engage in pedagogical innovation projects. Through this qualitative research, I revisit the experience of thirty-two innovators who gravitate between risks and uncertainty, particularly as they teach at a university where research prevails…

Sleep mechanisms: Sleep deprivation and detection of changing levels of consciousness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dement, W. C.; Barchas, J. D.

1972-01-01

An attempt was made to obtain information relevant to assessing the need to sleep and make up for lost sleep. Physiological and behavioral parameters were used as measuring parameters. Sleep deprivation in a restricted environment, derivation of data relevant to determining sleepiness from EEG, and the development of the Sanford Sleepiness Scale were discussed.

Making every word count for nonresponsive patients.

PubMed

Naci, Lorina; Owen, Adrian M

2013-10-01

Despite the apparent absence of external signs of consciousness, a significant small proportion of patients with disorders of consciousness can respond to commands by willfully modulating their brain activity, even respond to yes or no questions, by performing mental imagery tasks. However, little is known about the mental life of such responsive patients, for example, with regard to whether they can have coherent thoughts or selectively maintain attention to specific events in their environment. The ability to selectively pay attention would provide evidence of a patient's preserved cognition and a method for brain-based communication, thus far untested with functional magnetic resonance imaging in this patient group. To test whether selective auditory attention can be used to detect conscious awareness and communicate with behaviorally nonresponsive patients. Case study performed in 3 patients with severe brain injury, 2 diagnosed as being in a minimally conscious state and 1 as being in a vegetative state. The patients constituted a convenience sample. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired as the patients were asked to selectively attend to auditory stimuli, thereby conveying their ability to follow commands and communicate. All patients demonstrated command following according to instructions. Two patients (1 in a minimally conscious state and 1 in a vegetative state) were also able to guide their attention to repeatedly communicate correct answers to binary (yes or no) questions. To our knowledge, we show for the first time with functional magnetic resonance imaging that behaviorally nonresponsive patients can use selective auditory attention to convey their ability to follow commands and communicate. One patient in a minimally conscious state was able to use attention to establish functional communication in the scanner, despite his inability to produce any communication responses in repeated bedside examinations. More important, 1 patient, who had been in a vegetative state for 12 years before the scanning and subsequent to it, was able to use attention to correctly communicate answers to several binary questions. The technique may be useful in establishing basic communication with patients who appear unresponsive to bedside examinations and cannot respond with existing neuroimaging methods.

Liberating minds: Consciousness-raising as a bridge between feminism and psychology in 1970s Canada.

PubMed

Ruck, Nora

2015-08-01

This article examines the interrelations between psychology and feminism in the work of feminist psychologists and radical feminists in Toronto in the early 1970s. For Canadian feminist psychology as well as for second-wave activism, Toronto was a particular hotspot. It was the academic home of some of the first Canadian feminist psychologists, and was the site of a lively scene of feminists working in established women's organizations along with younger socialist and radical feminists. This article analyzes the interrelations of academic feminist psychology and feminist activism by focusing on consciousness-raising, a practice that promised to bridge tensions between the personal and the political, psychological and social liberation, everyday knowledge and institutionalized knowledge production, theory and practice, as well as the women's movement and other spheres of women's lives. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Overcoming fixation with repeated memory suppression.

PubMed

Angello, Genna; Storm, Benjamin C; Smith, Steven M

2015-01-01

Fixation (blocks to memories or ideas) can be alleviated not only by encouraging productive work towards a solution, but, as the present experiments show, by reducing counterproductive work. Two experiments examined relief from fixation in a word-fragment completion task. Blockers, orthographically similar negative primes (e.g., ANALOGY), blocked solutions to word fragments (e.g., A_L_ _GY) in both experiments. After priming, but before the fragment completion test, participants repeatedly suppressed half of the blockers using the Think/No-Think paradigm, which results in memory inhibition. Inhibiting blockers did not alleviate fixation in Experiment 1 when conscious recollection of negative primes was not encouraged on the fragment completion test. In Experiment 2, however, when participants were encouraged to remember negative primes at fragment completion, relief from fixation was observed. Repeated suppression may nullify fixation effects, and promote creative thinking, particularly when fixation is caused by conscious recollection of counterproductive information.

A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness.

PubMed

O'Regan, J K; Noë, A

2001-10-01

Many current neurophysiological, psychophysical, and psychological approaches to vision rest on the idea that when we see, the brain produces an internal representation of the world. The activation of this internal representation is assumed to give rise to the experience of seeing. The problem with this kind of approach is that it leaves unexplained how the existence of such a detailed internal representation might produce visual consciousness. An alternative proposal is made here. We propose that seeing is a way of acting. It is a particular way of exploring the environment. Activity in internal representations does not generate the experience of seeing. The outside world serves as its own, external, representation. The experience of seeing occurs when the organism masters what we call the governing laws of sensorimotor contingency. The advantage of this approach is that it provides a natural and principled way of accounting for visual consciousness, and for the differences in the perceived quality of sensory experience in the different sensory modalities. Several lines of empirical evidence are brought forward in support of the theory, in particular: evidence from experiments in sensorimotor adaptation, visual "filling in," visual stability despite eye movements, change blindness, sensory substitution, and color perception.

Personality traits and individual differences predict threat-induced changes in postural control.

PubMed

Zaback, Martin; Cleworth, Taylor W; Carpenter, Mark G; Adkin, Allan L

2015-04-01

This study explored whether specific personality traits and individual differences could predict changes in postural control when presented with a height-induced postural threat. Eighty-two healthy young adults completed questionnaires to assess trait anxiety, trait movement reinvestment (conscious motor processing, movement self-consciousness), physical risk-taking, and previous experience with height-related activities. Tests of static (quiet standing) and anticipatory (rise to toes) postural control were completed under low and high postural threat conditions. Personality traits and individual differences significantly predicted height-induced changes in static, but not anticipatory postural control. Individuals less prone to taking physical risks were more likely to lean further away from the platform edge and sway at higher frequencies and smaller amplitudes. Individuals more prone to conscious motor processing were more likely to lean further away from the platform edge and sway at larger amplitudes. Individuals more self-conscious about their movement appearance were more likely to sway at smaller amplitudes. Evidence is also provided that relationships between physical risk-taking and changes in static postural control are mediated through changes in fear of falling and physiological arousal. Results from this study may have indirect implications for balance assessment and treatment; however, further work exploring these factors in patient populations is necessary. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Strange Fire: an exploration of psycho-spiritual development aided by Jungian analysis and Vedanta.

PubMed

Sagar, David; West, Marcus

2016-11-01

This paper explores the process of psychological and spiritual development through a series of active imaginations arising from the author's 'psycho-spiritual quest', a process of transformation in which the individual progressively frees themselves from the ego's identifications and may be afforded a vision of the 'self as consciousness', as described by Vedanta. The author describes how this quest was facilitated by the disciplines of Transcendental Meditation, Jungian analysis and Vedanta, and how these three disciplines can work together to foster psycho-spiritual development. The paper aims to de-mystify the actual experiences that can accompany these practices. The records of these active imaginations, tracing some key stages in this process, are then presented, with a commentary by Marcus West, linking them to Jung's concepts of ego and Self and recent understandings of consciousness and ego development. There is a discussion of Jung's conceptualizations of the ego and the Self and his rejection of the Vedantic understanding of the Self as consciousness. These views are then explored and a reconciliation is suggested through the understanding of the process of disidentification where the difference between Jung's view of the Self and that of Vedanta is understood to be due to the extent of disidentification from the contents of consciousness. © 2016, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

Affect Consciousness in children with internalizing problems: Assessment of affect integration.

PubMed

Taarvig, Eva; Solbakken, Ole André; Grova, Bjørg; Monsen, Jon T

2015-10-01

Affect integration was operationalized through the Affect Consciousness (AC) construct as degrees of awareness, tolerance, nonverbal expression and conceptual expression of 11 affects. These aspects are assessed through a semi-structured Affect Consciousness Interview (ACI) and separate rating scales (Affect Consciousness Scales (ACSs)) developed for use in research and clinical work with adults with psychopathological disorders. Age-adjusted changes were made in the interview and rating system. This study explored the applicability of the adjusted ACI to a sample of 11-year-old children with internalizing problems through examining inter-rater reliability of the adjusted ACI, along with relationships between the AC aspects and aspects of mental health as symptoms of depression, symptoms of anxiety, social competence, besides general intelligence. Satisfactory inter-rater reliability was found, as well as consistent relationships between the AC aspects and the various aspects of mental health, a finding which coincides with previous research. The finding indicates that the attainment of the capacity to deal adaptively with affect is probably an important contributor to the development of adequate social competence and maybe in the prevention of psychopathology in children. The results indicate that the adjusted ACI and rating scales are useful tools in treatment planning with children at least from the age of 11 years. © The Author(s) 2014.

Preference segmentation of health care services: the old-fashioneds, value conscious, affluents and professional want-it-alls.

PubMed

Woodside, A G; Nielsen, R L; Walters, F; Muller, G D

1988-06-01

The results of a national segmentation study are reported. The findings extend the empirical work of Finn and Lamb and the benefit-seeking conjectures by Kotler and Clarke that consumers with preferences toward specific hospitals can be segmented into a few distinct groups. The groups described in the findings are identified as the value conscious, the affluents, the old-fashioneds, and the professional want-it-alls. Each segment has a unique demographic profile. The substantial importance of doctors' recommendations in influencing hospital choice is supported for all four consumer segments. Suggestions for additional research and hospital marketing strategies are provided.

Modelling microtubules in the brain as n-qudit quantum Hopfield network and beyond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pyari Srivastava, Dayal; Sahni, Vishal; Saran Satsangi, Prem

2016-01-01

The scientific approach to understand the nature of consciousness revolves around the study of the human brain. Neurobiological studies that compare the nervous system of different species have accorded the highest place to humans on account of various factors that include a highly developed cortical area comprising of approximately 100 billion neurons, that are intrinsically connected to form a highly complex network. Quantum theories of consciousness are based on mathematical abstraction and the Penrose-Hameroff Orch-OR theory is one of the most promising ones. Inspired by the Penrose-Hameroff Orch-OR theory, Behrman et al. have simulated a quantum Hopfield neural network with the structure of a microtubule. They have used an extremely simplified model of the tubulin dimers with each dimer represented simply as a qubit, a single quantum two-state system. The extension of this model to n-dimensional quantum states or n-qudits presented in this work holds considerable promise for even higher mathematical abstraction in modelling consciousness systems.

The threshold for conscious report: Signal loss and response bias in visual and frontal cortex.

PubMed

van Vugt, Bram; Dagnino, Bruno; Vartak, Devavrat; Safaai, Houman; Panzeri, Stefano; Dehaene, Stanislas; Roelfsema, Pieter R

2018-05-04

Why are some visual stimuli consciously detected, whereas others remain subliminal? We investigated the fate of weak visual stimuli in the visual and frontal cortex of awake monkeys trained to report stimulus presence. Reported stimuli were associated with strong sustained activity in the frontal cortex, and frontal activity was weaker and quickly decayed for unreported stimuli. Information about weak stimuli could be lost at successive stages en route from the visual to the frontal cortex, and these propagation failures were confirmed through microstimulation of area V1. Fluctuations in response bias and sensitivity during perception of identical stimuli were traced back to prestimulus brain-state markers. A model in which stimuli become consciously reportable when they elicit a nonlinear ignition process in higher cortical areas explained our results. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

The Royal Road to Time: How Understanding of the Evolution of Time in the Brain Addresses Memory, Dreaming, Flow, and Other Psychological Phenomena.

PubMed

Hancock, Peter A

2015-01-01

It has been claimed that dreams are the royal road to the unconscious mind. The present work argues that dreams and associated brain states such as memory, attention, flow, and perhaps even consciousness itself arise from diverse conflicts over control of time in the brain. Dreams are the brain's offline efforts to distill projections of the future, while memory represents the vestiges of the past successes and survived failures of those and other conscious projections. Memory thus acts to inform and improve the prediction of possible future states through the use of conscious prospects (planning) and unconscious prospective memory (dreams). When successful, these prospects result in states of flow for conscious planning and déjà vu for its unconscious comparator. In consequence, and contrary to normal expectation, memory is overwhelmingly oriented to deal with the future. Consciousness is the comparable process operating in the present moment. Thus past, present, and future are homeomorphic with the parts of memory (episodic and autobiographical) that recall a personal past, consciousness, and the differing dimensions of prospective memory to plan for future circumstances, respectively. Dreaming (i.e., unconscious prospective memory), has the luxury to run multiple "what if" simulations of many possible futures, essentially offline. I explicate these propositions and their relations to allied constructs such as déjà vu and flow. More generally, I propose that what appear to us as a range of normal psychological experiences are actually manifestations of an ongoing pathological battle for control within the brain. The landscape of this conflict is time. I suggest that there are at least 3 general systems bidding for this control, and in the process of evolution, each system has individually conferred a sequentially increasing survival advantage, but only at the expense of a still incomplete functional integration. Through juxtaposition of these respective brain systems, I endeavor to resolve some fundamental paradoxes and conundrums expressed in the basic psychological and behavioral processes of sleep, consciousness, and memory. The implication of this conceptual framework for the overall conception of time is then briefly adumbrated.

Problematising public and private work spaces: midwives' work in hospitals and in homes.

PubMed

Bourgeault, Ivy Lynn; Sutherns, Rebecca; Macdonald, Margaret; Luce, Jacquelyne

2012-10-01

as the boundaries between public and private spaces become increasingly fluid, interest is growing in exploring how those spaces are used as work environments, how professionals both construct and convey themselves in those spaces, and how the lines dividing spaces traditionally along public and private lines are blurred. This paper draws on literature from critical geography, organisational studies, and feminist sociology to interpret the work experiences of midwives in Ontario, Canada who provide maternity care both in hospitals and in clients' homes. qualitative design involving in-depth semi-structured interviews content coded thematically. Ontario, Canada. community midwives who practice at home and in hospital. the accounts of practicing midwives illustrate the ways in which hospital and home work spaces are sites of both compromise and resistance. With the intention of making birthing women feel more `at home', midwives describe how they attempt to recreate the woman's home in the hospital. Similarly, midwives also reorient women's homes to a certain degree into a more standardised work space for home birth attendance. Many midwives also described how they like `guests' in both settings. there seems to be a conscious or unconscious convergence of midwifery work spaces to accommodate Ontario midwives' unique model of practice. we link these findings of midwives' place of work on their experiences as workers to professional work experiences in both public and private spaces and offer suggestions for further exploration of the concept of professionals as guests in their places of work. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Representation, Arts and Media in Education and Community.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medway, Peter

1999-01-01

Presents three justifications of the arts and arts education: the arguments of (1) individual consciousness; (2) societal self-awareness; and (3) cultural presence. Claims young people need wide experience as both makers and consumers of cultural works. (NH)

Homing in on consciousness: Why is a dream conscious?

PubMed

Porte, Helene Sophrin

2016-01-01

Morsella et al. argue convincingly that consciousness is for adaptive voluntary action. What, then, is consciousness in a dream for? Two prior questions present themselves. In a dream, how do contents get into the conscious field? What are the properties of consciousness in a dream?

The cycle of caring.

PubMed

Simons, Marj

2004-01-01

This article discusses areas where nurse leaders may make conscious and deliberate efforts to impact the organization's culture for caring. Leaders must first care for caregivers and have a commitment to their well-being. It is essential that we develop and engage in programs and activities that help staff with their personal struggles and propel them forward on the journey to being their best selves. We must seek to give them the skills and competencies necessary to work in a caring environment. Nurse leaders must facilitate the development and implementation of programs that foster a caring and compassionate culture. The author shares 2 programs that nourish the soul during difficult times for patients and their loved ones in the hospital setting-End-of-Life program and Massage Therapy program. Just as we care for those within our walls, we must also plan and deliver programs that promote health and well-being of our community. Such programs are an integral part of fulfilling our organization's mission of caring for the community. New and proven technologies advance our profession and contribute in invaluable ways to a healing environment; however, it is critical that we retain the art of caring, fundamental from the past and that helped to shape the profession of nursing.

I control therefore I do: judgments of agency influence action selection.

PubMed

Karsh, N; Eitam, B

2015-05-01

Our sense of being agents, that is of willingly controlling both our own bodies and the external environment is ubiquitous if thin. Empirical and theoretical work on this 'sense of agency' has documented motivational, cognitive and neural influences on implicit (out of awareness) and explicit (conscious) judgments of agency. For example, fluency of action selection processes has been recently shown to affect judgments of one's degree of control over an external event. However, it is an open question whether and how such judgments of agency act as input to other processes. In this study we demonstrate that the opposite relationship between action selection and judgment of agency also exists. Specifically, we show that manipulating one's objective control over the environment influences both the speed and the frequency of performing an action associated with that control. This pattern bears a striking resemblance to the effect that tangible rewards have on action selection and suggests that positive control feedback is rewarding to the organism, consequently affecting action selection. If further corroborated this 'reward from control' may explain everyday addictions such as prolonged engagement in arcade games and pathological behaviors, such as stereotypy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Embodying Critical Feminism in Community Psychology: Unraveling the Fabric of Gender and Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angelique, Holly

2012-01-01

In this article, I offer a critical feminist theoretical reflection on my lived experiences as a working-class White woman as a challenge to some of the dominant narratives in academia. In particular, I describe my development of feminist and class-consciousness as an "organic intellectual." I discuss changes to my working-class identity and the…

Supporting the Development of Undergraduates' Experimental Design Skills and Investigating their Perceptions of Project Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacKenzie, Jane; Ruxton, Graeme

2006-01-01

Project work represents a significant component of most Bioscience degrees. Conscious that students are not necessarily given adequate preparation for their final year project, we have investigated two core elements in the 3rd year of a 4-year Honours programme. One element, an investigative project on aspects of insect biology, has run for…

How Do We See What We See? Pedagogical Lacunae and Their Pitfalls in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rich, Jennifer A.

2010-01-01

In the context of the home culture, culturally relevant pedagogy aims to make young people "reflect hard on their choices about work and politics, and encourage them to become sensitive to issues of inequality and suffering, and social justice." That is, this pedagogy works to instill a critical consciousness in the students, one where they can…

Conceptualisation of clinical facts in the analytic process.

PubMed

Riesenberg-Malcolm, R

1994-12-01

In this paper the author discusses what she understands to be a clinical fact, stressing that it takes place within the analytic situation between patient and analyst. It is in the process of conceptualising the fact that the analyst comes to define it. In order to conceptualise, the analyst must have a frame of reference, a theoretical basis through which he perceives his patient's communications and is able to give meaning to them. In analytic work, the analyst uses his theory in mainly two ways. When working with his patient it operates mostly unconsciously, but interspersed by quick more conscious thinking. When away from the patient, theory needs to come to the front of the analyst's mind, consciously used by him. A clinical case is used to illustrate these two aspects of theoretical work. In the material presented, aspects of a first session are tentatively conceptualised. Then material from the same patient some years later is described, the method of working and the way of understanding is discussed and thus the process of conceptualising can be illustrated. The theme of hope has been singled out as a linking point between the earlier and later pieces of material.

Florence Nightingale: a 19th-century mystic.

PubMed

Dossey, Barbara M

2010-03-01

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) received a clear and profoundly moving Call to serve God at the age of 16. Through a lifetime of hard work and discipline, she became a practicing mystic in the Western tradition, thereby becoming an instrument of God's love, which was the primarily source of her great energy and the fabled "Nightingale power." To understand the life and work of this legendary healer, who forever changed human consciousness, the role of women, and nursing and public health systems in the middle of the 19th century, it is necessary to understand her motivation and inspiration. This article will discuss her life and work in the context of her mystical practice and to show the parallels between her life and the lives of three recognized women mystics. In her epic Crimean war mission (1854-1856) of leading and directing women nurses in the army hospital at Scutari, Turkey, Florence Nightingale burst into world consciousness as a spiritual beacon of hope and compassion for all who suffered. Her historic breakthrough achievement--pioneering the modern administrative role of nurse superintendent with measurable outcomes supported by irrefutable data--in the face of incredible adversity was merely the cornerstone of her life work.

Objectification in Virtual Romantic Contexts: Perceived Discrepancies between Self and Partner Ideals Differentially affect Body Consciousness in Women and Men

PubMed Central

Overstreet, Nicole M.; Quinn, Diane M.; Marsh, Kerry L.

2015-01-01

The current study examined whether exposure to sexually objectifying images in a potential romantic partner's virtual apartment affects discrepancies between people's perception of their own appearance (i.e., self-perceptions) and their perception of the body ideal that is considered desirable to a romantic partner (i.e., partner-ideals). Participants were 114 heterosexual undergraduate students (57 women and 57 men) from a northeastern U.S. university. The study used a 2 (Participant Gender) x 2 (Virtual Environment: Sexualized vs. Non-Sexualized) between-subjects design. We predicted that women exposed to sexually objectifying images in a virtual environment would report greater discrepancies between their self-perceptions and partner-ideals than men, which in turn would contribute to women's body consciousness. Findings support this hypothesis and show that perceived discrepancies account for the relationship between exposure to sexually objectifying images and body consciousness for women but not men. We also found gender asymmetries in objectification responses when each component of perceived discrepancies, i.e., self-perceptions versus perceptions of a romantic partner's body ideal, were examined separately. For men, exposure to muscular sexualized images was significantly associated with their self-perceptions but not their perceptions of the body size that is considered desirable to a romantic partner. For women, exposure to thin sexualized images was significantly associated with their perceptions that a romantic partner preferred a woman with a smaller body size. However, exposure to these images did not affect women's self-perceptions. Implications for gender asymmetries in objectification responses and perceived discrepancies that include a romantic partner's perceptions are discussed. PMID:26594085

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Patients with Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness: Combined Behavioral and Event-Related Potential Evidence.

PubMed

Zhang, Ye; Song, Weiqun; Du, Jubao; Huo, Su; Shan, Guixiang; Li, Ran

2017-01-01

The electrophysiological evidence supporting the therapeutic efficacy of multiple transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) sessions on consciousness improvement in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness (DOCs) has not been firmly established. To assess the effects of repeated tDCS in patients with prolonged DOCs by Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) score and event-related potential (ERP). Using a sham-controlled randomized double-blind design, 26 patients were randomly assigned to either a real [five vegetative state (VS) and eight minimally conscious state (MCS) patients] or sham (six VS and seven MCS patients) stimulation group. The patients in the real stimulation group underwent 20 anodal tDCS sessions of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) over 10 consecutive working days. The CRS-R score and P300 amplitude and latency in a hierarchical cognitive assessment were recorded to evaluate the consciousness level before tDCS and immediately after the 20 sessions. The intra-group CRS-R analysis revealed a clinically significant improvement in the MCS patients in the real stimulation group. The inter-group CRS-R analysis showed a significant difference in CRS-R between VS and MCS patients at baseline in both the real and sham stimulation groups. The intra-group ERP analysis revealed a significant increase in P300 amplitude after tDCS in the MCS patients in the real stimulation group, but no significant differences in P300 latency. For the inter-group ERP analysis, we observed significant differences regarding the presence of P300 at baseline between the VS and MCS patients in both groups. The repeated anodal tDCS of the left DLPFC could produce clinically significant improvements in MCS patients. The observed tDCS-related consciousness improvements might be related to improvements in attention resource allocation (reflected by the P300 amplitude). The findings support the use of tDCS in clinical practice and ERP might serve as an efficient electrophysiological assessment tool in patients with DOCs.

Human single neuron activity precedes emergence of conscious perception.

PubMed

Gelbard-Sagiv, Hagar; Mudrik, Liad; Hill, Michael R; Koch, Christof; Fried, Itzhak

2018-05-25

Identifying the neuronal basis of spontaneous changes in conscious experience in the absence of changes in the external environment is a major challenge. Binocular rivalry, in which two stationary monocular images lead to continuously changing perception, provides a unique opportunity to address this issue. We studied the activity of human single neurons in the medial temporal and frontal lobes while patients were engaged in binocular rivalry. Here we report that internal changes in the content of perception are signaled by very early (~-2000 ms) nonselective medial frontal activity, followed by selective activity of medial temporal lobe neurons that precedes the perceptual change by ~1000 ms. Such early activations are not found for externally driven perceptual changes. These results suggest that a medial fronto-temporal network may be involved in the preconscious internal generation of perceptual transitions.

Minimally conscious state or cortically mediated state?

PubMed

Naccache, Lionel

2018-04-01

Durable impairments of consciousness are currently classified in three main neurological categories: comatose state, vegetative state (also recently coined unresponsive wakefulness syndrome) and minimally conscious state. While the introduction of minimally conscious state, in 2002, was a major progress to help clinicians recognize complex non-reflexive behaviours in the absence of functional communication, it raises several problems. The most important issue related to minimally conscious state lies in its criteria: while behavioural definition of minimally conscious state lacks any direct evidence of patient's conscious content or conscious state, it includes the adjective 'conscious'. I discuss this major problem in this review and propose a novel interpretation of minimally conscious state: its criteria do not inform us about the potential residual consciousness of patients, but they do inform us with certainty about the presence of a cortically mediated state. Based on this constructive criticism review, I suggest three proposals aiming at improving the way we describe the subjective and cognitive state of non-communicating patients. In particular, I present a tentative new classification of impairments of consciousness that combines behavioural evidence with functional brain imaging data, in order to probe directly and univocally residual conscious processes.

Awareness of demands and unfairness and the importance of connectedness and security: Teenage girls' lived experiences of their everyday lives.

PubMed

Einberg, Eva-Lena; Lidell, Evy; Clausson, Eva K

2015-01-01

In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated that stress and mental health problems have increased among adolescents and especially among girls, although little is still known concerning what girls experience in their everyday lives. The aim of this study was to describe the phenomenon of teenage girls' everyday lives, as experienced by the girls themselves. A phenomenological approach of reflective lifeworld research was used, and the findings are based on eight qualitative interviews with girls aged 13-16 years. The essence of teenage girls' everyday lives as experienced by the girls themselves can be described as consciousness regarding demands and unfairness and regarding the importance of connectedness and security. The girls are aware of the demands of appearance and success, and they are conscious of the gender differences in school and in the media that affect them. The girls are also conscious about the meaning of connectedness with friends and family, as well as the importance of the security of their confidence in friends and feeling safe where they stay. If teenage girls feel connected and secure, protective factors in the form of manageability and meaningfulness can act as a counterweight to the demands and unfairness of everyday life. For professionals who work with teenage girls, the results from this study can be important in their work to support these girls.

Awareness of demands and unfairness and the importance of connectedness and security: Teenage girls’ lived experiences of their everyday lives

PubMed Central

Einberg, Eva-Lena; Lidell, Evy; Clausson, Eva K.

2015-01-01

In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated that stress and mental health problems have increased among adolescents and especially among girls, although little is still known concerning what girls experience in their everyday lives. The aim of this study was to describe the phenomenon of teenage girls’ everyday lives, as experienced by the girls themselves. A phenomenological approach of reflective lifeworld research was used, and the findings are based on eight qualitative interviews with girls aged 13–16 years. The essence of teenage girls’ everyday lives as experienced by the girls themselves can be described as consciousness regarding demands and unfairness and regarding the importance of connectedness and security. The girls are aware of the demands of appearance and success, and they are conscious of the gender differences in school and in the media that affect them. The girls are also conscious about the meaning of connectedness with friends and family, as well as the importance of the security of their confidence in friends and feeling safe where they stay. If teenage girls feel connected and secure, protective factors in the form of manageability and meaningfulness can act as a counterweight to the demands and unfairness of everyday life. For professionals who work with teenage girls, the results from this study can be important in their work to support these girls. PMID:26084273

Healing Through States of Consciousness: Animal Sacrifice and Christian Prayer Among the Kachin in Southwest China.

PubMed

Zhang, Wenyi

2016-01-01

Healing rituals can be understood in terms of configurations of two states of consciousness-a culturally elaborated everyday waking consciousness, and an enhanced and culturally elaborated state of consciousness. Two healing rituals performed by the ethnic Kachin in Southwest China differentiate these two states of consciousness in their theories of life and death. The first ritual, animal sacrifice, employs the ordinary consciousness, including will and expectation, of participants through the enhanced state of consciousness of the ritual officiant. The second, Christian prayer, utilizes the enhanced consciousness of Christian Congregation to achieve psychic transformation. These two rituals maneuver different configurations of the two states of consciousness in achieving healing efficacy.

Against the View that Consciousness and Attention are Fully Dissociable

PubMed Central

Marchetti, Giorgio

2012-01-01

In this paper, I will try to show that the idea that there can be consciousness without some form of attention, and high-level top-down attention without consciousness, originates from a failure to notice the varieties of forms that top-down attention and consciousness can assume. I will present evidence that: there are various forms of attention and consciousness; not all forms of attention produce the same kind of consciousness; not all forms of consciousness are produced by the same kind of attention; there can be low-level attention (or preliminary attention), whether of an endogenous or exogenous kind, without consciousness; attention cannot be considered the same thing as consciousness. PMID:22363307

Using Critical Race Theory to Analyze How Disney Constructs Diversity: A Construct for the Baccalaureate Human Behavior in the Social Environment Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cappiccie, Amy; Chadha, Janice; Lin, Muh Bi; Snyder, Frank

2012-01-01

Utilizing the basic tenets of critical race theory, the authors draw upon the expertise of multicultural scholars to raise consciousness and facilitate BSW classroom dialogue about microagressions perpetrated in Disney animations. Microaggressions pervade our media partly because they typically operate outside the threshold of the dominant…

Examination the Digital Competence of Teacher Candidates in Terms of Different Variables

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korucu, Agâh Tugrul; Yücel, Ahmet; Gündogdu, Mustafa M.; Gençtürk, Tarik

2015-01-01

It has been essential to make use of technology in education as a result of the improvements in information and communication technology in the 21st century. Teachers, who are the organizers and the developers of learning environments, need to have a high level of consciousness with regard to digital competence. Thus, students can acquire digital…

Art and Environment: An Integrated Study on the Web of Life.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Karen

Art education combined with the sciences can be a leading force in raising the consciousness of students and teachers to the needs of our fragile planet. By teaching environmental aspects to the visual arts curriculum, we will also be teaching that one of the similarities we all share is the need for beauty. The sciences have traditionally carried…

Do Not Bequeath a Shamble. The Child in the Twenty-First Century: Innocent Hostage to Mindless Oppression or Messenger to the World?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDermott, John J.

1995-01-01

This reprint of a 1980 article argues that there is a unique global consciousness inherent in the "prepared environment" of Maria Montessori's student-centered, nurturing curriculum for young children. Maintains that war and peace, overpopulation, hunger, environmental problems, and other global concerns can be addressed through…

Critical Consciousness and the Christian Conscience: Making the Necessary Connections between Faith-Based Learning and Critical Pedagogy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Heekap; Givens, Ruth

2012-01-01

Critical pedagogy is a by product of postmodernism, which argues that reality is always subjective, and truth is identified through each person's experiences and environment. Can critical pedagogy be applied to faith-based education? The authors claim that it can. First, the theories and practices of critical pedagogy have strengthened faith-based…

Social Studies Pre-Service Teachers' Views on the EU Membership Process: A Multidimensional Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gençtürk, Ebru

2015-01-01

One of the general purposes of Social Studies is to integrate individuals with the social life by providing accurate knowledge and skills about their environment and society. As well as the role of Social Studies in raising consciousness on EU relations, Social Studies teachers' views about EU membership and the sources of these views are…

The Effect of Linguistic Proficiency, Age of Second Language Acquisition, and Length of Exposure to a New Cultural Environment on Bilinguals' Divergent Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kharkhurin, Anatoliy V.

2008-01-01

The study argues that, in addition to advantages in conscious attention-demanding processing, bilinguals may also exhibit enhanced unconscious divergent thinking. To investigate this issue, the performance of Russian-English bilingual immigrants and English monolingual native speakers was compared on the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults, which…

They Schools: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy under Siege

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Royal, Camika; Gibson, Simone

2017-01-01

Background/Context: Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP ) represents educators who work toward academic excellence, cultural competence, and sociopolitical awareness (Ladson-Billings, 2014). Although some profess to embrace CRP , many educators neglect sociopolitical consciousness (T. Howard, 2003; Simmons et al., 2013; Young, 2010).…

The measurement of consciousness: a framework for the scientific study of consciousness

PubMed Central

Gamez, David

2014-01-01

Scientists studying consciousness are attempting to identify correlations between measurements of consciousness and the physical world. Consciousness can only be measured through first-person reports, which raises problems about the accuracy of first-person reports, the possibility of non-reportable consciousness and the causal closure of the physical world. Many of these issues could be resolved by assuming that consciousness is entirely physical or functional. However, this would sacrifice the theory-neutrality that is a key attraction of a correlates-based approach to the study of consciousness. This paper puts forward a different solution that uses a framework of definitions and assumptions to explain how consciousness can be measured. This addresses the problems associated with first-person reports and avoids the issues with the causal closure of the physical world. This framework is compatible with most of the current theories of consciousness and it leads to a distinction between two types of correlates of consciousness. PMID:25071677

Colour Perception in Ancient World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nesterov, D. I.; Fedorova, M. Yu

2017-11-01

How did the human thought form the surrounding color information into the persistent semantic images of a mythological, pseudoscientific and religious nature? The concepts associated with colour perception are suggested. The existence of colour environment does not depend on the human consciousness. The colour culture formation is directly related to the level of the human consciousness development and the possibility to influence the worldview and culture. The colour perception of a person goes through the stages similar to the development of colour vision in a child. Like any development, the colour consciousness has undergone stages of growth and decline, evolution and stagnation. The way of life and difficult conditions for existence made their own adjustments to the development of the human perception of the surrounding world. Wars have been both a powerful engine of progress in all spheres of life and a great destructive force demolishing the already created and preserved heritage. The surrounding world has always been interesting for humans, evoked images and fantasies in the consciousness of ancient people. Unusual and inexplicable natural phenomena spawned numerous legends and myths which was reflected in the ancient art and architecture and, accordingly, in a certain manifestation of colour in the human society. The colour perception of the ancient man, his pragmatic, utilitarian attitude to colour is considered as well as the influence of dependence on external conditions of existence and their reflection in the colour culture of antiquity. “Natural Science” conducts research in the field of the colour nature and their authorial interpretation of the Hellenic period. Several authorial concepts of the ancient world have been considered.

Psychophysiology of dissociated consciousness.

PubMed

Bob, Petr

2014-01-01

Recent study of consciousness provides an evidence that there is a limit of consciousness, which presents a barrier between conscious and unconscious processes. This barrier likely is specifically manifested as a disturbance of neural mechanisms of consciousness that through distributed brain processing, attentional mechanisms and memory processes enable to constitute integrative conscious experience. According to recent findings a level of conscious integration may change during certain conditions related to experimental cognitive manipulations, hypnosis, or stressful experiences that can lead to dissociation of consciousness. In psychopathological research the term dissociation was proposed by Pierre Janet for explanation of processes related to splitting of consciousness due to traumatic events or during hypnosis. According to several recent findings dissociation of consciousness likely is related to deficits in global distribution of information and may lead to heightened levels of "neural complexity" that reflects brain integration or differentiation based on numbers of independent neural processes in the brain that may be specifically related to various mental disorders.

Making sense of self-conscious emotion: linking theory of mind and emotion in children with autism.

PubMed

Heerey, Erin A; Keltner, Dacher; Capps, Lisa M

2003-12-01

Self-conscious emotions such as embarrassment and shame are associated with 2 aspects of theory of mind (ToM): (a) the ability to understand that behavior has social consequences in the eyes of others and (b) an understanding of social norms violations. The present study aimed to link ToM with the recognition of self-conscious emotion. Children with and without autism identified facial expressions conscious of self-conscious and non-self-conscious emotions from photographs. ToM was also measured. Children with autism performed more poorly than comparison children at identifying self-conscious emotions, though they did not differ in the recognition of non-self-conscious emotions. When ToM ability was statistically controlled, group differences in the recognition of self-conscious emotion disappeared. Discussion focused on the links between ToM and self-conscious emotion.

Genomic instantiation of consciousness in neurons through a biophoton field theory.

PubMed

Cacha, Lleuvelyn A; Poznanski, Roman R

2014-06-01

A theoretical framework is developed based on the premise that brains evolved into sufficiently complex adaptive systems capable of instantiating genomic consciousness through self-awareness and complex interactions that recognize qualitatively the controlling factors of biological processes. Furthermore, our hypothesis assumes that the collective interactions in neurons yield macroergic effects, which can produce sufficiently strong electric energy fields for electronic excitations to take place on the surface of endogenous structures via alpha-helical integral proteins as electro-solitons. Specifically the process of radiative relaxation of the electro-solitons allows for the transfer of energy via interactions with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules to induce conformational changes in DNA molecules producing an ultra weak non-thermal spontaneous emission of coherent biophotons through a quantum effect. The instantiation of coherent biophotons confined in spaces of DNA molecules guides the biophoton field to be instantaneously conducted along the axonal and neuronal arbors and in-between neurons and throughout the cerebral cortex (cortico-thalamic system) and subcortical areas (e.g., midbrain and hindbrain). Thus providing an informational character of the electric coherence of the brain - referred to as quantum coherence. The biophoton field is realized as a conscious field upon the re-absorption of biophotons by exciplex states of DNA molecules. Such quantum phenomenon brings about self-awareness and enables objectivity to have access to subjectivity in the unconscious. As such, subjective experiences can be recalled to consciousness as subjective conscious experiences or qualia through co-operative interactions between exciplex states of DNA molecules and biophotons leading to metabolic activity and energy transfer across proteins as a result of protein-ligand binding during protein-protein communication. The biophoton field as a conscious field is attributable to the resultant effect of specifying qualia from the metabolic energy field that is transported in macromolecular proteins throughout specific networks of neurons that are constantly transforming into more stable associable representations as molecular solitons. The metastability of subjective experiences based on resonant dynamics occurs when bottom-up patterns of neocortical excitatory activity are matched with top-down expectations as adaptive dynamic pressures. These dynamics of on-going activity patterns influenced by the environment and selected as the preferred subjective experience in terms of a functional field through functional interactions and biological laws are realized as subjectivity and actualized through functional integration as qualia. It is concluded that interactionism and not information processing is the key in understanding how consciousness bridges the explanatory gap between subjective experiences and their neural correlates in the transcendental brain.

Quantum information, oscillations and the psyche

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, F.; Carminati, F.; Galli Carminati, G.

2010-05-01

In this paper, taking the theory of quantum information as a model, we consider the human unconscious, pre-consciousness and consciousness as sets of quantum bits (qubits). We view how there can be communication between these various qubit sets. In doing this we are inspired by the theory of nuclear magnetic resonance. In this way we build a model of handling a mental qubit with the help of pulses of a mental field. Starting with an elementary interaction between two qubits we build two-qubit quantum logic gates that allow information to be transferred from one qubit to the other. In this manner we build a quantum process that permits consciousness to "read" the unconscious and vice versa. The elementary interaction, e.g. between a pre-consciousness qubit and a consciousness one, allows us to predict the time evolution of the pre-consciousness + consciousness system in which pre-consciousness and consciousness are quantum entangled. This time evolution exhibits Rabi oscillations that we name mental Rabi oscillations. This time evolution shows how for example the unconscious can influence consciousness. In a process like mourning the influence of the unconscious on consciousness, as the influence of consciousness on the unconscious, are in agreement with what is observed in psychiatry.

Visual working memory for global, object, and part-based information.

PubMed

Patterson, Michael D; Bly, Benjamin Martin; Porcelli, Anthony J; Rypma, Bart

2007-06-01

We investigated visual working memory for novel objects and parts of novel objects. After a delay period, participants showed strikingly more accurate performance recognizing a single whole object than the parts of that object. This bias to remember whole objects, rather than parts, persisted even when the division between parts was clearly defined and the parts were disconnected from each other so that, in order to remember the single whole object, the participants needed to mentally combine the parts. In addition, the bias was confirmed when the parts were divided by color. These experiments indicated that holistic perceptual-grouping biases are automatically used to organize storage in visual working memory. In addition, our results suggested that the bias was impervious to top-down consciously directed control, because when task demands were manipulated through instruction and catch trials, the participants still recognized whole objects more quickly and more accurately than their parts. This bias persisted even when the whole objects were novel and the parts were familiar. We propose that visual working memory representations depend primarily on the global configural properties of whole objects, rather than part-based representations, even when the parts themselves can be clearly perceived as individual objects. This global configural bias beneficially reduces memory load on a capacity-limited system operating in a complex visual environment, because fewer distinct items must be remembered.

General and specific consciousness: a first-order representationalist approach

PubMed Central

Mehta, Neil; Mashour, George A.

2013-01-01

It is widely acknowledged that a complete theory of consciousness should explain general consciousness (what makes a state conscious at all) and specific consciousness (what gives a conscious state its particular phenomenal quality). We defend first-order representationalism, which argues that consciousness consists of sensory representations directly available to the subject for action selection, belief formation, planning, etc. We provide a neuroscientific framework for this primarily philosophical theory, according to which neural correlates of general consciousness include prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and non-specific thalamic nuclei, while neural correlates of specific consciousness include sensory cortex and specific thalamic nuclei. We suggest that recent data support first-order representationalism over biological theory, higher-order representationalism, recurrent processing theory, information integration theory, and global workspace theory. PMID:23882231

Consciousness, information integration, and the brain.

PubMed

Tononi, Giulio

2005-01-01

Clinical observations have established that certain parts of the brain are essential for consciousness whereas other parts are not. For example, different areas of the cerebral cortex contribute different modalities and submodalities of consciousness, whereas the cerebellum does not, despite having even more neurons. It is also well established that consciousness depends on the way the brain functions. For example, consciousness is much reduced during slow wave sleep and generalized seizures, even though the levels of neural activity are comparable or higher than in wakefulness. To understand why this is so, empirical observations on the neural correlates of consciousness need to be complemented by a principled theoretical approach. Otherwise, it is unlikely that we could ever establish to what extent consciousness is present in neurological conditions such as akinetic mutism, psychomotor seizures, or sleepwalking, and to what extent it is present in newborn babies and animals. A principled approach is provided by the information integration theory of consciousness. This theory claims that consciousness corresponds to a system's capacity to integrate information, and proposes a way to measure such capacity. The information integration theory can account for several neurobiological observations concerning consciousness, including: (i) the association of consciousness with certain neural systems rather than with others; (ii) the fact that neural processes underlying consciousness can influence or be influenced by neural processes that remain unconscious; (iii) the reduction of consciousness during dreamless sleep and generalized seizures; and (iv) the time requirements on neural interactions that support consciousness.

The Linux operating system: An introduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bokhari, Shahid H.

1995-01-01

Linux is a Unix-like operating system for Intel 386/486/Pentium based IBM-PCs and compatibles. The kernel of this operating system was written from scratch by Linus Torvalds and, although copyrighted by the author, may be freely distributed. A world-wide group has collaborated in developing Linux on the Internet. Linux can run the powerful set of compilers and programming tools of the Free Software Foundation, and XFree86, a port of the X Window System from MIT. Most capabilities associated with high performance workstations, such as networking, shared file systems, electronic mail, TeX, LaTeX, etc. are freely available for Linux. It can thus transform cheap IBM-PC compatible machines into Unix workstations with considerable capabilities. The author explains how Linux may be obtained, installed and networked. He also describes some interesting applications for Linux that are freely available. The enormous consumer market for IBM-PC compatible machines continually drives down prices of CPU chips, memory, hard disks, CDROMs, etc. Linux can convert such machines into powerful workstations that can be used for teaching, research and software development. For professionals who use Unix based workstations at work, Linux permits virtually identical working environments on their personal home machines. For cost conscious educational institutions Linux can create world-class computing environments from cheap, easily maintained, PC clones. Finally, for university students, it provides an essentially cost-free path away from DOS into the world of Unix and X Windows.

Heightened Consciousness, Cultural Revolution, and Curriculum Theory. The Proceedings of the Rochester Conference (Rochester, New York, May 3-5, 1973).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinar, William, Ed.

This book brings together the latest thinking of some of the scholars who are at work reconceptualizing the meaning of the field of curriculum. William Pinar explores a phenomenological approach to the main theme of the book, drawing heavily on psychoanalytic theory. Robert Starratt discusses futurological work in the context of curriculum theory…

What Affective Neuroscience Means for Science Of Consciousness

PubMed Central

Almada, Leonardo Ferreira; Pereira, Alfredo; Carrara-Augustenborg, Claudia

2013-01-01

The field of affective neuroscience has emerged from the efforts of Jaak Panksepp in the 1990s and reinforced by the work of, among others, Joseph LeDoux in the 2000s. It is based on the ideas that affective processes are supported by brain structures that appeared earlier in the phylogenetic scale (as the periaqueductal gray area), they run in parallel with cognitive processes, and can influence behaviour independently of cognitive judgements. This kind of approach contrasts with the hegemonic concept of conscious processing in cognitive neurosciences, which is based on the identification of brain circuits responsible for the processing of (cognitive) representations. Within cognitive neurosciences, the frontal lobes are assigned the role of coordinators in maintaining affective states and their emotional expressions under cognitive control. An intermediary view is the Damasio-Bechara Somatic Marker model, which puts cognition under partial somatic-affective control. We present here our efforts to make a synthesis of these views, by proposing the existence of two interacting brain circuits; the first one in charge of cognitive processes and the second mediating feelings about cognitive contents. The coupling of the two circuits promotes an endogenous feedback that supports conscious processes. Within this framework, we present the defence that detailed study of both affective and cognitive processes, their interactions, as well of their respective brain networks, is necessary for a science of consciousness. PMID:23678246

Consciousness across Sleep and Wake: Discontinuity and Continuity of Memory Experiences As a Reflection of Consolidation Processes

PubMed Central

Horton, Caroline L.

2017-01-01

The continuity hypothesis (1) posits that there is continuity, of some form, between waking and dreaming mentation. A recent body of work has provided convincing evidence for different aspects of continuity, for instance that some salient experiences from waking life seem to feature in dreams over others, with a particular role for emotional arousal as accompanying these experiences, both during waking and while asleep. However, discontinuities have been somewhat dismissed as being either a product of activation-synthesis, an error within the consciousness binding process during sleep, a methodological anomaly, or simply as yet unexplained. This paper presents an overview of discontinuity within dreaming and waking cognition, arguing that disruptions of consciousness are as common a feature of waking cognition as of dreaming cognition, and that processes of sleep-dependent memory consolidation of autobiographical experiences can in part account for some of the discontinuities of sleeping cognition in a functional way. By drawing upon evidence of the incorporation, fragmentation, and reorganization of memories within dreams, this paper proposes a model of discontinuity whereby the fragmentation of autobiographical and episodic memories during sleep, as part of the consolidation process, render salient aspects of those memories subsequently available for retrieval in isolation from their contextual features. As such discontinuity of consciousness in sleep is functional and normal. PMID:28936183

Schumpeter's picture of economic and political institutions in the light of a cognitive approach to human behavior.

PubMed

Egidi, Massimo

2017-01-01

Schumpeter's theory of democracy can be read through the lens of the cognitive approach to rationality. Schumpeter himself constructed his theory on the basis of his (neglected) conception of conscious rationality , which considers the process of thinking as composed of conscious/deliberate and unconscious/automatic components. The prevalence of the deliberate over the automatic component can occur in different degrees; as a consequence, individuals exhibit different levels of conscious rationality. Schumpeter makes clear that an essential attribute of democracy is its being a system of government capable of working notwithstanding a low degree of conscious rationality among its citizens. Given this condition, the process of political communication and persuasion can lead to two very different outcomes: a fair social construction of the democratic institutions, in which the struggle for the vote is achieved through a critical debate among leaders and citizens; and an unfair construction, based on the prevalence of emotive forces of persuasion over rationality and on cheating of the leaders at the expense of their citizens. Schumpeter suggests that the main element that fosters a fair construction is the effectiveness of competition, which can advance the rational elements in the political debate and the self-determination of the citizens' will: a slow process that - he warns - may be effective only in the long run, and does not preserve democracy from the risk of decline.

[What is impaired consciousness? Revisiting impaired consciousness as psychiatric concept].

PubMed

Kanemoto, Kousuke

2004-01-01

For decades, psychiatrists have considered that concepts of impaired consciousness in the study of psychiatry were inconsistent with those applied in the field of neurology, in which the usefulness of the concept of consciousness has long been seriously doubted. Gloor concluded that the concept of consciousness does not further the understanding of seizure mechanisms or brain function, which is the current representative opinion of most epileptologists. Loss of consciousness tends to be reduced to aggregates of individual impairments of higher cognitive functions, and the concept of consciousness is preferably avoided by neurologists by assigning various behavioral disturbances during disturbed consciousness to particular neuropsychological centers. In contrast, psychiatrists, especially those in Europe, are more likely to include phenomena involving problems related to phenomenological intentionality in impaired consciousness. For the present study, we first divided consciousness into vigilance and recursive consciousness, and then attempted to determine what kind of impaired consciousness would be an ideal candidate to represent pure disturbance of recursive consciousness. Then, 4 patients, 1 each with pure amnestic states followed immediately by complex partial seizures, an akinetic mutistic state caused by absence status, and mental diplopia as a manifestation of postictal psychosis, as well as a patient with Alzheimer's disease who gracefully performed Japanese tea ceremony, were studied. Based on our findings, we concluded that impaired consciousness as a generic term in general medicine does not indicate any unitary entity corresponding to some well-demarcated physiological function or constitute a base from which recursive consciousness emerges as a superstructure. From that, we stressed that a pure form of impairment of recursive consciousness could occur without the impaired consciousness named generically in general medicine. Second, following observation of an additional 3 cases, descriptions of naissance of the first word (taken from the autobiography of Helen Keller), visual object agnosia, and chronic schizophrenia with schizophasia were discussed to examine the relationship between impairments of recursive consciousness and semantic generation dysfunction. Attempts to bridge semantic generation and recursive consciousness, performed by psychopathologists such as Bin Kimura and Hiroyuki Koide, were also briefly discussed. In light of these case presentations and related discussions, we re-examined traditional theories of impaired consciousness, including Mayer-Gross's Gestalt theory, later replaced by Conrad and Henri Ey's theory related to intentionality. Furthermore, we attempted to link Denett's theory of consciousness to those traditional theories as well as to our own postulations, and neuropsychological data such as those of implicit memory and blindsight. Finally, the significance of Freud's unconsciousness in the framework of neuroscience was discussed.

Lyrical Diversification: The Music Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambdin, Laura

English instructors working towards diversifying the curriculum, increasing multicultural discussions in the classroom, and encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to awakening consciousness can learn much from their students' interest in popular music. MTV and VH1 have special significance for students and can be easily incorporated into a…

Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC): Reliability and Validity of a Measure to Assess Awareness in Patients with Disorders of Consciousness.

PubMed

Magee, Wendy L; Siegert, Richard J; Taylor, Steve M; Daveson, Barbara A; Lenton-Smith, Gemma

2016-01-01

Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness (PDOC) describes a population where a consciousness disorder has persisted for at least four weeks post injury but is still under investigation. Complex motor, sensory, communication, and cognitive impairments cause challenges with diagnosis, assessment, and intervention planning. Developing sensitive, reliable, and valid measures is a central concern. The auditory modality is the most sensitive for identifying awareness; however, the current standardized behavioral measures fail to provide adequate screening and measurement of auditory responsiveness. The Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC) is a recently standardized measure for assessment with PDOC; however, psychometric values for two of its subscales require examination. To determine the measurement characteristics and properties of the MATADOC subscales two and three. In a convenience sample of 21participants with PDOC, a prospective repeated measures study examined inter-rater reliability (IRR) and test-retest reliability (TRR) for both subscales and internal consistency of subscale two. Overall, the items from the MATADOC subscales two and three demonstrated good agreement across and within assessors, with some variability on two identified items. The MATADOC is a standardized measure for assessment of auditory responsiveness in PDOC. Psychometric limitations for the two identified items may have resulted from variations in music therapist clinical experience and training, leading to variations in the administration and interpretation of PDOC patient responses to these two MATADOC assessment items. Although its psychometric properties could be improved, the MATADOC's clinimetric properties make it a valuable assessment to guide clinical work for patients with PDOC. © the American Music Therapy Association 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Consciousness, Psychology, and Education: A Speculative Essay.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1980

This monograph explores implications of the psychology of consciousness for education. The psychology of consciousness encompasses the relationships among behavior, experience, and states of consciousness. It is interpreted to include different states of consciousness, paranormal phenomena, mystical experiences, dreams, psychic healing, and other…

Good work - how is it recognised by the nurse?

PubMed

Christiansen, Bjørg

2008-06-01

The aim of this paper is to shed light on how nurses describe situations that reflect achievement and provide confirmation that they have done good work. Nurses' recognition of good work does not seem to have been the object of direct investigation, but is indirectly reflected in studies focusing on nurses' perceptions on work environments and the multifaceted nature of nursing. However, acknowledging high-quality performance in professional nurses can facilitate nurses in maintaining and strengthening the goals and values of the profession. This in turn can help nurses shoulder the multifaceted responsibilities they have to patients and next of kin. This paper is part of the Professional Learning in a Changing Society project, Institute of Educational Research, University of Oslo, funded by the Research Council of Norway. The project involves four professional groups. This paper, however, focuses on a group of 10 nurses, nine of whom work in hospitals and one in an outpatient clinic. A qualitative approach was chosen to gain insight into how nurses, as well as the other professional groups in the project, engage in processes of knowledge production and quality assurance work. Data presented in this paper derive from semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted during spring 2005 and focuses on the recognition of good work. The following themes were identified as essential in confirming that one did good work: securing fundamental needs of patients and next of kin; managing the flow of responsibilities; positive feedback. CONCLUSIONS. Good work seems to be related to specific situations and a sense of achievement by the respondents. Recognition of good work is not only rewarding and enjoyable; it may also serve as a source of consciousness raising for professional and ethical guidelines in the work place.

Conscious motor processing and movement self-consciousness: two dimensions of personality that influence laparoscopic training.

PubMed

Malhotra, Neha; Poolton, Jamie M; Wilson, Mark R; Fan, Joe K M; Masters, Rich S W

2014-01-01

Identifying personality factors that account for individual differences in surgical training and performance has practical implications for surgical education. Movement-specific reinvestment is a potentially relevant personality factor that has a moderating effect on laparoscopic performance under time pressure. Movement-specific reinvestment has 2 dimensions, which represent an individual's propensity to consciously control movements (conscious motor processing) or to consciously monitor their 'style' of movement (movement self-consciousness). This study aimed at investigating the moderating effects of the 2 dimensions of movement-specific reinvestment in the learning and updating (cross-handed technique) of laparoscopic skills. Medical students completed the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale, a psychometric assessment tool that evaluates the conscious motor processing and movement self-consciousness dimensions of movement-specific reinvestment. They were then trained to a criterion level of proficiency on a fundamental laparoscopic skills task and were tested on a novel cross-handed technique. Completion times were recorded for early-learning, late-learning, and cross-handed trials. Propensity for movement self-consciousness but not conscious motor processing was a significant predictor of task completion times both early (p = 0.036) and late (p = 0.002) in learning, but completion times during the cross-handed trials were predicted by the propensity for conscious motor processing (p = 0.04) rather than movement self-consciousness (p = 0.21). Higher propensity for movement self-consciousness is associated with slower performance times on novel and well-practiced laparoscopic tasks. For complex surgical techniques, however, conscious motor processing plays a more influential role in performance than movement self-consciousness. The findings imply that these 2 dimensions of movement-specific reinvestment have a differential influence in the learning and updating of laparoscopic skills. Copyright © 2014 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Conceptual short term memory in perception and thought.

PubMed

Potter, Mary C

2012-01-01

Conceptual short term memory (CSTM) is a theoretical construct that provides one answer to the question of how perceptual and conceptual processes are related. CSTM is a mental buffer and processor in which current perceptual stimuli and their associated concepts from long term memory (LTM) are represented briefly, allowing meaningful patterns or structures to be identified (Potter, 1993, 1999, 2009). CSTM is different from and complementary to other proposed forms of working memory: it is engaged extremely rapidly, has a large but ill-defined capacity, is largely unconscious, and is the basis for the unreflective understanding that is characteristic of everyday experience. The key idea behind CSTM is that most cognitive processing occurs without review or rehearsal of material in standard working memory and with little or no conscious reasoning. When one perceives a meaningful stimulus such as a word, picture, or object, it is rapidly identified at a conceptual level and in turn activates associated information from LTM. New links among concurrently active concepts are formed in CSTM, shaped by parsing mechanisms of language or grouping principles in scene perception and by higher-level knowledge and current goals. The resulting structure represents the gist of a picture or the meaning of a sentence, and it is this structure that we are conscious of and that can be maintained in standard working memory and consolidated into LTM. Momentarily activated information that is not incorporated into such structures either never becomes conscious or is rapidly forgotten. This whole cycle - identification of perceptual stimuli, memory recruitment, structuring, consolidation in LTM, and forgetting of non-structured material - may occur in less than 1 s when viewing a pictured scene or reading a sentence. The evidence for such a process is reviewed and its implications for the relation of perception and cognition are discussed.

Enhanced control of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex neurophysiology with real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) neurofeedback training and working memory practice.

PubMed

Sherwood, Matthew S; Kane, Jessica H; Weisend, Michael P; Parker, Jason G

2016-01-01

Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) neurofeedback can be used to train localized, conscious regulation of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals. As a therapeutic technique, rt-fMRI neurofeedback reduces the symptoms of a variety of neurologic disorders. To date, few studies have investigated the use of self-regulation training using rt-fMRI neurofeedback to enhance cognitive performance. This work investigates the utility of rt-fMRI neurofeedback as a tool to enhance human cognition by training healthy individuals to consciously control activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). A cohort of 18 healthy participants in the experimental group underwent rt-fMRI neurofeedback from the left DLPFC in five training sessions across two weeks while 7 participants in the control group underwent similar training outside the MRI and without rt-fMRI neurofeedback. Working memory (WM) performance was evaluated on two testing days separated by the five rt-fMRI neurofeedback sessions using two computerized tests. We investigated the ability to control the BOLD signal across training sessions and WM performance across the two testing days. The group with rt-fMRI neurofeedback demonstrated a significant increase in the ability to self-regulate the BOLD signal in the left DLPFC across sessions. WM performance showed differential improvement between testing days one and two across the groups with the highest increases observed in the rt-fMRI neurofeedback group. These results provide evidence that individuals can quickly gain the ability to consciously control the left DLPFC, and this training results in improvements of WM performance beyond that of training alone. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unconscious biases in task choices depend on conscious expectations.

PubMed

González-García, Carlos; Tudela, Pío; Ruz, María

2015-12-01

Recent studies highlight the influence of non-conscious information on task-set selection. However, it has not yet been tested whether this influence depends on conscious settings, as some theoretical models propose. In a series of three experiments, we explored whether non-conscious abstract cues could bias choices between a semantic and a perceptual task. In Experiment 1, we observed a non-conscious influence on task-set selection even when perceptual priming and cue-target compound confounds did not apply. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that, under restrictive conditions of visibility, cues only biased task selection when the conscious task-setting mindset led participants to search for information during the time period of the cue. However, this conscious strategy did not modulate the effect found when a subjective measure of consciousness was used. Altogether, our results show that the configuration of the conscious mindset determines the potential bias of non-conscious information on task-set selection. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Theories of Impaired Consciousness in Epilepsy

PubMed Central

Yu, Lissa; Blumenfeld, Hal

2015-01-01

Although the precise mechanisms for control of consciousness are not fully understood, emerging data show that conscious information processing depends on the activation of certain networks in the brain and that the impairment of consciousness is related to abnormal activity in these systems. Epilepsy can lead to transient impairment of consciousness, providing a window into the mechanisms necessary for normal consciousness. Thus, despite differences in behavioral manifestations, cause, and electrophysiology, generalized tonic–clonic, absence, and partial seizures engage similar anatomical structures and pathways. We review prior concepts of impaired consciousness in epilepsy, focusing especially on temporal lobe complex partial seizures, which are a common and debilitating form of epileptic unconsciousness. We discuss a “network inhibition hypothesis” in which focal temporal lobe seizure activity disrupts normal cortical–subcortical interactions, leading to depressed neocortical function and impaired consciousness. This review of the major prior theories of impaired consciousness in epilepsy allows us to put more recent data into context and to reach a better understanding of the mechanisms important for normal consciousness. PMID:19351355

Environmental Consciousness and Education Relationship: Determination of How Environment-Based Concepts Are Placed in Turkish Science Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozmen, Haluk; Karamustafaoglu, Orhan

2006-01-01

Turkey has a central educational system in which all of the programs are designed by the Ministry of National Education and distributed to the implementing institutions. As a part of this system, the textbooks written by different writers need to be approved by the commission called Talim Terbiye Kurulu, and these approved books are chosen as…

Towards An Integrative Theory Of Consciousness: Part 1 (Neurobiological And Cognitive Models)

PubMed Central

De Sousa, Avinash

2013-01-01

The study of consciousness is poised today at interesting crossroads. There has been a surge of research into various neurobiological underpinnings of consciousness in the past decade. The present article looks at the theories regarding this complex phenomenon, especially the ones that neurobiology, cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology have to offer. We will first discuss the origin and etymology of word consciousness and its usage. Neurobiological correlates of consciousness are discussed with structures like the ascending reticular activating system, the amygdala, the cerebellum, the thalamus, the frontoparietal circuits, the prefrontal cortex and the precuneus. The cellular and microlevel theories of consciousness and cerebral activity at the neuronal level contributing to consciousness are highlighted, along with the various theories posited in this area. The role of neuronal assemblies and circuits along with firing patterns and their ramifications for the understanding of consciousness are discussed. A section on the role of anaesthesia and its links to consciousness is presented, along with details of split-brain studies in consciousness and altered states of awareness, including the vegetative states. The article finally discusses the progress cognitive psychology has made in identifying and theorising various perspectives of consciousness, perceptual awareness and conscious processing. Both recent and past researches are highlighted. The importance and salient features of each theory are discussed along with the pitfalls, if present. A need for integration of various theories to understand consciousness from a holistic perspective is stressed, to enable one to reach a theory that explains the ultimate neurobiology of consciousness. PMID:23678241

Development of Techniques for Separating Waterproof Layer from XLPE Cable Sheath by Hot Water Heating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okazaki, Masato; Nakade, Masahiko; Okashita, Minoru; Tanimoto, Mihoko

Waterproof layer is used to prevent penetration of water which is one of the factors of dielectric breakdown in XLPE cables more than 66kV class. A XLPE cable sheath with waterproof layer is done landfill disposal as industrial waste because separation of waterproof layer is difficult for technology and cost. However, around 20 years passes after waterproof layer was introduced, and social consciousness for environment changes during these 20 years, and responsibility of company for environment of a society grows bigger. We report the result that examined techniques for separating waterproof layer.

The green campus movement: Bringing pollution prevention programs to a college near you

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arenstein, W.A.

1999-07-01

Two year community/technical colleges find themselves both the educators and communicators assessing and teaching the environmental mandates of business, government (local, state and federal), and industry. It is evident that many educational institutions are not always environmentally conscious (green) and may not always be in compliance with state and federal environmental laws and regulations. It is very difficult to educate students (both full time and continuing education) in programs designed to protect the environment when few campuses implement pollution prevention activities on site. With this in mind, it is imperative that the college campuses practice what is preached. One waymore » to accomplish this is to make college campuses green campuses, which may be defined as: An educational institution that has implemented environmentally beneficial programs and practices. This includes both pollution prevention activities to minimize the environmental impact of campus programs and administrative operations and the inclusion of environmental instructional materials in relevant courses. The PETE (Partnership for Environmental Technology Education) organization is currently working on grants from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy to promote green campus activities at colleges around the country. This paper will detail the green campus activities being undertaken at colleges across the nation, especially PETE's Green Campus Initiative program. It will discuss the problems faced in the development, marketing, implementation, and evaluation of green campus pollution prevention and energy efficiency programs. Making a campus green can entail changes to many aspects of campus life, including looking at how an institution deals with such issues as: Waste Curriculum; Water Quality/Use; Building Design; Pest Control/Use of Agricultural Chemicals; Consciousness/Environmental Concern; Air Quality: Outdoor/Indoor; Energy Consumption; Investments; Transportation; Maintenance/Operations; Food Services; Landscaping; Procurement Policies/Contractors; and Endowment Investments/Donors. As microcosms of society, the nation's college campuses have incredible potential for making positive impacts on the environment and the economy. By instituting even simple, common-sense conservation practices--like recycling, using native plants when landscaping, running atmospherically safe transportation systems, creating fertilizer from kitchen food waste, selling surplus property and maintaining university vehicles with re-refined motor oil--colleges and universities are making major strides toward improving both the environment and their financial conditions.« less

The Optimization of In-Memory Space Partitioning Trees for Cache Utilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeo, Myung Ho; Min, Young Soo; Bok, Kyoung Soo; Yoo, Jae Soo

In this paper, a novel cache conscious indexing technique based on space partitioning trees is proposed. Many researchers investigated efficient cache conscious indexing techniques which improve retrieval performance of in-memory database management system recently. However, most studies considered data partitioning and targeted fast information retrieval. Existing data partitioning-based index structures significantly degrade performance due to the redundant accesses of overlapped spaces. Specially, R-tree-based index structures suffer from the propagation of MBR (Minimum Bounding Rectangle) information by updating data frequently. In this paper, we propose an in-memory space partitioning index structure for optimal cache utilization. The proposed index structure is compared with the existing index structures in terms of update performance, insertion performance and cache-utilization rate in a variety of environments. The results demonstrate that the proposed index structure offers better performance than existing index structures.

Fashion design solutions for environmentally conscious consumers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, M.; Chen, Y.; Curteza, A.; Thomassey, S.; Perwuelz, A.; Zeng, X.

2017-10-01

This paper intends to give an overview of the design solutions in fashion for environmentally conscious consumers, presenting green and ethical practices in contemporary clothing design. The results introduce the concept of slow fashion and discuss available fashion design solutions, giving most prominent examples of sustainable products and brands, these contain one or more design features. By this, the discussion extracts the main contemporary ideas. The presented examples of current offers are all envisioning less impact on the environment and society. Sustainable design solutions use more environmentally friendly materials such as organic cotton, incorporate circular design or design for recycling, e.g., replacing button closures with alternative closing possibilities or leather labels with printed versions, or ensure long product life through durability, among other methods. There are differing designs due to creators’ individuality. This overview can be beneficial for the future development of new solutions for more environmentally friendly fashion.

The unconscious regulation of emotion: nonconscious reappraisal goals modulate emotional reactivity.

PubMed

Williams, Lawrence E; Bargh, John A; Nocera, Christopher C; Gray, Jeremy R

2009-12-01

People often encounter difficulty when making conscious attempts to regulate their emotions. We propose that nonconscious self-regulatory processes may be of help in these difficult circumstances because nonconscious processes are not subject to the same set of limitations as are conscious processes. Two experiments examined the effects of nonconsciously operating goals on people's emotion regulatory success. In Experiment 1, participants engaged in an anxiety-eliciting task. Participants who had a reappraisal emotion control goal primed and operating nonconsciously achieved the same decrease in physiological reactivity as those explicitly instructed to reappraise. In Experiment 2, the effect of nonconscious reappraisal priming on physiological reactivity was shown to be most pronounced for those who do not habitually use reappraisal strategies. The findings highlight the potential importance of nonconscious goals for facilitating emotional control in complex real-world environments and have implications for contemporary models of emotion regulation.

Seeing and identifying with a virtual body decreases pain perception.

PubMed

Hänsel, Alexander; Lenggenhager, Bigna; von Känel, Roland; Curatolo, Michele; Blanke, Olaf

2011-09-01

Pain and the conscious mind (or the self) are experienced in our body. Both are intimately linked to the subjective quality of conscious experience. Here, we used virtual reality technology and visuo-tactile conflicts in healthy subjects to test whether experimentally induced changes of bodily self-consciousness (self-location; self-identification) lead to changes in pain perception. We found that visuo-tactile stroking of a virtual body but not of a control object led to increased pressure pain thresholds and self-location. This increase was not modulated by the synchrony of stroking as predicted based on earlier work. This differed for self-identification where we found as predicted that synchrony of stroking increased self-identification with the virtual body (but not a control object), and positively correlated with an increase in pain thresholds. We discuss the functional mechanisms of self-identification, self-location, and the visual perception of human bodies with respect to pain perception. Copyright © 2011 European Federation of International Association for the Study of Pain Chapters. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Autonoetic consciousness: Reconsidering the role of episodic memory in future-oriented self-projection.

PubMed

Klein, Stanley B

2016-01-01

Following the seminal work of Ingvar (1985. "Memory for the future": An essay on the temporal organization of conscious awareness. Human Neurobiology, 4, 127-136), Suddendorf (1994. The discovery of the fourth dimension: Mental time travel and human evolution. Master's thesis. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand), and Tulving (1985. Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology/PsychologieCanadienne, 26, 1-12), exploration of the ability to anticipate and prepare for future contingencies that cannot be known with certainty has grown into a thriving research enterprise. A fundamental tenet of this line of inquiry is that future-oriented mental time travel, in most of its presentations, is underwritten by a property or an extension of episodic recollection. However, a careful conceptual analysis of exactly how episodic memory functions in this capacity has yet to be undertaken. In this paper I conduct such an analysis. Based on conceptual, phenomenological, and empirical considerations, I conclude that the autonoetic component of episodic memory, not episodic memory per se, is the causally determinative factor enabling an individual to project him or herself into a personal future.

Marxism and Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daley, Patrick J.; Soloski, John

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had little to say specifically about communication and language, but their works hint at the direction their critique of communication might have taken. Language and consciousness are conditioned by specific means of production and sociopolitical circumstances and are therefore ideological. The domain of ideology…

Environmentally Conscious Campus Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bacher, Lawrence C.

2008-01-01

Colleges and universities have widely responded to the expectation that they should work toward, operate under, and live by principles of sustainability. Eighty-nine of the 260-plus institutions of higher learning in New England (34 percent) have signed the "American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment" to guide their…

El Renacer de Maestras Bilingues: Actualizing Cultural Efficaciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia, Claudia Trevino

2016-01-01

This study focused attention on three constructs as they relate to bilingual education teachers' (BETs) dispositions working with culturally and linguistically diverse students (CLDS). The three constructs are sociocultural consciousness, affirming advocacy, and culturally responsive teaching. The quantitative data was collected via a Likert-based…

Coherence across consciousness levels: Symmetric visual displays spare working memory resources.

PubMed

Dumitru, Magda L

2015-12-15

Two studies demonstrate that the need for coherence could nudge individuals to use structural similarities between binary visual displays and two concurrent cognitive tasks to unduly solve the latter in similar fashion. In an overt truth-judgement task, participants decided whether symmetric colourful displays matched conjunction or disjunction descriptions (e.g., "the black and/or the orange"). In the simultaneous covert categorisation task, they decided whether a colour name (e.g., "black") described a two-colour object or half of a single-colour object. Two response patterns emerged as follows. Participants either acknowledged or rejected matches between disjunction descriptions and two visual stimuli and, similarly, either acknowledged or rejected matches between single colour names and two-colour objects or between single colour names and half of single-colour objects. These findings confirm the coherence hypothesis, highlight the role of coherence in preserving working-memory resources, and demonstrate an interaction between high-level and low-level consciousness. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Why the Brain Knows More than We Do: Non-Conscious Representations and Their Role in the Construction of Conscious Experience

PubMed Central

Dresp-Langley, Birgitta

2011-01-01

Scientific studies have shown that non-conscious stimuli and representations influence information processing during conscious experience. In the light of such evidence, questions about potential functional links between non-conscious brain representations and conscious experience arise. This article discusses neural model capable of explaining how statistical learning mechanisms in dedicated resonant circuits could generate specific temporal activity traces of non-conscious representations in the brain. How reentrant signaling, top-down matching, and statistical coincidence of such activity traces may lead to the progressive consolidation of temporal patterns that constitute the neural signatures of conscious experience in networks extending across large distances beyond functionally specialized brain regions is then explained. PMID:24962683

What is a reflex? A guide for understanding disorders of consciousness.

PubMed

Fischer, David B; Truog, Robert D

2015-08-11

Uncertainty in diagnosing disorders of consciousness, and specifically in determining whether consciousness has been lost or retained, poses challenging scientific and ethical questions. Recent neuroimaging-based tests for consciousness have cast doubt on the reliability of behavioral criteria in assessing states of consciousness and generate new questions about the assumptions used in formulating coherent diagnostic criteria. The reflex, a foundational diagnostic tool, offers unique insight into these disorders; behaviors produced by unconscious patients are thought to be purely reflexive, whereas those produced by conscious patients can be volitional. Further investigation, however, reveals that reflexes cannot be reliably distinguished from conscious behaviors on the basis of any generalizable empirical characteristics. Ambiguity between reflexive and conscious behaviors undermines the capacity of the reflex to distinguish between disorders of consciousness and has implications for how these disorders should be conceptualized in future diagnostic criteria. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

Intrathecal baclofen: effects on spasticity, pain, and consciousness in disorders of consciousness and locked-in syndrome.

PubMed

Pistoia, Francesca; Sacco, Simona; Sarà, Marco; Franceschini, Marco; Carolei, Antonio

2015-01-01

Disorders of consciousness (DOCs) include coma, vegetative state (VS), and minimally conscious state (MCS). Coma is characterized by impaired wakefulness and consciousness, while VS and MCS are defined by lacking or discontinuous consciousness despite recovered wakefulness. Conversely, locked-in syndrome (LIS) is characterized by quadriplegia and lower cranial nerve paralysis with preserved consciousness. Intrathecal baclofen (ITB) is a useful treatment to improve spasticity both in patients with DOCs and LIS. Moreover, it supports the recovery of consciousness in some patients with VS or MCS. The precise mechanism underlying this recovery has not yet been elucidated. It has been hypothesized that ITB may act by reducing the overload of dysfunctional sensory stimuli reaching the injured brain or by stabilizing the imbalanced circadian rhythms. Although the current indication of ITB is the management of severe spasticity, its potential use in speeding the recovery of consciousness merits further investigation.

A neuropsychoanalytical approach to the hard problem of consciousness.

PubMed

Solms, Mark

2014-06-01

A neuropsychoanalytical approach to the hard problem of consciousness revolves around the distinction between the subject of consciousness and objects of consciousness. In contrast to the mainstream of cognitive science, neuropsychoanalysis prioritizes the subject. The subject of consciousness is the indispensable page upon which consciousness of objects is inscribed. This has implications for our conception of the mental. The subjective being of consciousness is not registered in the classical exteroceptive modalities; it is not merely a cognitive representation, not only a memory trace. Rather, the exteroceptive modalities are registered in the subjective being. Cognitive representations are mental solids embedded within subjectivity, the tangible and visible (etc) properties of which are projected onto reality. It is important to recognize that mental solids (e.g., the body-as-object) are no more real than the subjective being they are inscribed in (the body-as-subject). Moreover, pure subjectivity is not without content or quality. This aspect of consciousness is conventionally described quantitatively as the level of consciousness, or wakefulness. But it feels like something to be awake. The primary modality of this aspect of consciousness is affect. Affect supplies the subjectivity that underpins all consciousness. Some implications of this approach are discussed here, in broad brush strokes.

Why and How. The Future of the Central Questions of Consciousness

PubMed Central

Havlík, Marek; Kozáková, Eva; Horáček, Jiří

2017-01-01

In this review, we deal with two central questions of consciousness how and why, and we outline their possible future development. The question how refers to the empirical endeavor to reveal the neural correlates and mechanisms that form consciousness. On the other hand, the question why generally refers to the “hard problem” of consciousness, which claims that empirical science will always fail to provide a satisfactory answer to the question why is there conscious experience at all. Unfortunately, the hard problem of consciousness will probably never completely disappear because it will always have its most committed supporters. However, there is a good chance that its weight and importance will be highly reduced by empirically tackling consciousness in the near future. We expect that future empirical endeavor of consciousness will be based on a unifying brain theory and will answer the question as to what is the function of conscious experience, which will in turn replace the implications of the hard problem. The candidate of such a unifying brain theory is predictive coding, which will have to explain both perceptual consciousness and conscious mind-wandering in order to become the truly unifying theory of brain functioning. PMID:29075226

The Presence of Consciousness in Absence Seizures

PubMed Central

Bayne, Tim

2011-01-01

This paper examines three respects in which the study of epileptic absence seizures promises to inform our understanding of consciousness. Firstly, it has the potential to bear on debates concerning the behavioural and cognitive functions associated with consciousness. Secondly, it has the potential to illuminate the relationship between background states (or ‘levels’) of consciousness and the contents of consciousness. Thirdly, it has the potential to bear on our understanding of the unity of consciousness. PMID:21447898

There Are Conscious and Unconscious Agendas in the Brain and Both Are Important—Our Will Can Be Conscious as Well as Unconscious

PubMed Central

Deecke, Lüder

2012-01-01

I have been asked to write a few words on consciousness in this editorial issue. My thoughts on consciousness will focus on the relation between consciousness and will. Consciousness is not an epiphenomenon as some people believe—it is not a psychological construct either. Consciousness is a brain function. With deeper thought it is even more than that—a brain state. Writing this, I am in a conscious state, I hope at least. In every day philosophy, a close connection of consciousness with will is ventured, and is expressed in the term “conscious free will”. However, this does not mean that our will is totally determined and not free, be it conscious or unconscious. Total determinists postulate total freedom from nature in order to speak of free will. Absolute freedom from nature is an a priori impossibility; there is no way to escape from nature. However, we have relative freedom, graded freedom, freedom in degrees, enabling us to make responsible decisions and be captains of our own destiny. We are not totally determined. We can upregulate our degrees of freedom by self-management or we can downregulate them by self-mismanagement. In the present communication consciousness and the unconscious are discussed in their various aspects and interactions. PMID:24961200

Freedom of Movement: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Physical Mobility and the Undocumented Spatial Consciousness of DACA Beneficiaries in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guarneros, Nancy

2017-01-01

It is estimated that about 1.8 million undocumented young adults are eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). With DACA, undocumented young adults can work legally in the U.S. with a two-year work authorization subject to renewal and are considered low priority for deportation. In addition, with an external application (advanced…

The quantitative measurement of consciousness during epileptic seizures.

PubMed

Nani, Andrea; Cavanna, Andrea E

2014-01-01

The assessment of consciousness is a fundamental element in the classification of epileptic seizures. It is, therefore, of great importance for clinical practice to develop instruments that enable an accurate and reliable measurement of the alteration of consciousness during seizures. Over the last few years, three psychometric scales have been specifically proposed to measure ictal consciousness: the Ictal Consciousness Inventory (ICI), the Consciousness Seizure Scale (CSS), and the Responsiveness in Epilepsy Scale--versions I and II (RES-I and RES-II). The ICI is a self-report psychometric instrument which retrospectively assesses ictal consciousness along the dimensions of the level/arousal and contents/awareness. The CSS has been used by clinicians to quantify the impairment of consciousness in order to establish correlations with the brain mechanisms underlying alterations of consciousness during temporal lobe seizures. The most recently developed observer-rated instrument is the RES-I, which has been used to assess responsiveness during epileptic seizures in patients undergoing video-EEG. The implementation of standardized psychometric tools for the assessment of ictal consciousness can complement clinical observations and contribute to improve accuracy in seizure classification. © 2013.

Equity Conscious Instruction in Problem-based Multilingual Science Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, Elizabeth

This dissertation examines the instructional and relational moves implemented by an equity-conscious teacher in service of supporting discursive participation among her English Learners specifically in a problem-based science classroom. The research included also examines the evolution of discursive participation among English Learners as well as the nature of collaboration among English Learners and their English Fluent peers. Initial findings suggest that there were productive, unproductive, and problematic responses to the teacher's caring approach. Students saw the teacher as approachable and accessible which resulted in students seeking the teacher out, which in turn meant that the teacher was able to scaffold instruction for her students. Students recognized and appreciated teacher strategies, but did not generally take up or adopt her instructional supports when working with their peers. English Fluent students shielded English Learners from more rigorous participation in an effort to prevent them from feeling uncomfortable. Furthermore, English Learners and their English Fluent peers defined "help" in the context of group work differently. The implications for this work include further addressing the ways in which teachers support and scaffold science instruction, thinking more critically about the ways in which teachers are explicit in modeling instructional strategies, and working with students to better understand the implications of differences in the ways that they define help and collaborate.

Natural Evolution and Human Consciousness

PubMed Central

Holmgren, Jan

2014-01-01

A visual conscious experience is my empirical basis. All that we know comes to us through conscious experiences. Thanks to natural evolution, we have nearly direct perception, and can largely trust the information we attain. There is full integration, with no gaps, of organisms in the continuous world. Human conscious experiences, on the other hand, are discrete. Consciousness has certain limits for its resolution. This is illustrated by the so-called light-cone, with consequences for foundations in physics. Traditional universals are replaced by feels and distributions. Conscious experiences can be ordered within a framework of conceptual spaces. Triple Aspect Monism (TAM) can represent the dynamics of conscious systems. However, to fully represent the creative power of human consciousness, an all-inclusive view is suggested: Multi Aspect Monism (MAM). PMID:24891802

Self-consciousness, friendship quality, and adolescent internalizing problems

PubMed Central

Bowker, Julie C.; Rubin, Kenneth H.

2013-01-01

The correlates between public and private self-consciousness and internalizing difficulties were examined during early adolescence. Friendship quality was assessed as a possible moderator of the relation between self-consciousness and maladjustment. One hundred and thirty-seven young adolescents (N = 87 girls; M age = 13.98 years) reported on their self-consciousness, internalizing problems, and the quality of their best friendship. Results indicated stronger associations between private self-consciousness and internalizing correlates than between public self-consciousness and internalizing problems, suggesting that private self-consciousness may be a stronger risk factor during adolescence. Contrary to expectations, evidence revealed that positive friendship quality may exacerbate some difficulties associated with self-consciousness. Results pertaining to friendship quality add to the growing literature on the ways in which friendships can contribute to adjustment difficulties. PMID:19998530

From the Phenomenology to the Mechanisms of Consciousness: Integrated Information Theory 3.0

PubMed Central

Tononi, Giulio

2014-01-01

This paper presents Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness 3.0, which incorporates several advances over previous formulations. IIT starts from phenomenological axioms: information says that each experience is specific – it is what it is by how it differs from alternative experiences; integration says that it is unified – irreducible to non-interdependent components; exclusion says that it has unique borders and a particular spatio-temporal grain. These axioms are formalized into postulates that prescribe how physical mechanisms, such as neurons or logic gates, must be configured to generate experience (phenomenology). The postulates are used to define intrinsic information as “differences that make a difference” within a system, and integrated information as information specified by a whole that cannot be reduced to that specified by its parts. By applying the postulates both at the level of individual mechanisms and at the level of systems of mechanisms, IIT arrives at an identity: an experience is a maximally irreducible conceptual structure (MICS, a constellation of concepts in qualia space), and the set of elements that generates it constitutes a complex. According to IIT, a MICS specifies the quality of an experience and integrated information ΦMax its quantity. From the theory follow several results, including: a system of mechanisms may condense into a major complex and non-overlapping minor complexes; the concepts that specify the quality of an experience are always about the complex itself and relate only indirectly to the external environment; anatomical connectivity influences complexes and associated MICS; a complex can generate a MICS even if its elements are inactive; simple systems can be minimally conscious; complicated systems can be unconscious; there can be true “zombies” – unconscious feed-forward systems that are functionally equivalent to conscious complexes. PMID:24811198

Disconnecting Consciousness: Is There a Common Anesthetic End Point?

PubMed

Hudetz, Anthony G; Mashour, George A

2016-11-01

A quest for a systems-level neuroscientific basis of anesthetic-induced loss and return of consciousness has been in the forefront of research for the past 2 decades. Recent advances toward the discovery of underlying mechanisms have been achieved using experimental electrophysiology, multichannel electroencephalography, magnetoencephalography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. By the careful dosing of various volatile and IV anesthetic agents to the level of behavioral unresponsiveness, both specific and common changes in functional and effective connectivity across large-scale brain networks have been discovered and interpreted in the context of how the synthesis of neural information might be affected during anesthesia. The results of most investigations to date converge toward the conclusion that a common neural correlate of anesthetic-induced unresponsiveness is a consistent depression or functional disconnection of lateral frontoparietal networks, which are thought to be critical for consciousness of the environment. A reduction in the repertoire of brain states may contribute to the anesthetic disruption of large-scale information integration leading to unconsciousness. In future investigations, a systematic delineation of connectivity changes with multiple anesthetics using the same experimental design, and the same analytical method will be desirable. The critical neural events that account for the transition between responsive and unresponsive states should be assessed at similar anesthetic doses just below and above the loss or return of responsiveness. There will also be a need to identify a robust, sensitive, and reliable measure of information transfer. Ultimately, finding a behavior-independent measure of subjective experience that can track covert cognition in unresponsive subjects and a delineation of causal factors versus correlated events will be essential to understand the neuronal basis of human consciousness and unconsciousness.

Disconnecting Consciousness: Is There a Common Anesthetic End-Point?

PubMed Central

Hudetz, Anthony G.; Mashour, George A.

2016-01-01

A quest for a systems-level neuroscientific basis of anesthetic-induced loss and return of consciousness has been in the forefront of research of the last two decades. Recent advances toward the discovery of underlying mechanisms have been achieved using experimental electrophysiology, multichannel electroencephalography, magnetoencephalography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. By the careful dosing of various volatile and IV anesthetic agents to the level of behavioral unresponsiveness, both specific and common changes in functional and effective connectivity across large-scale brain networks have been discovered and interpreted in the context of how the synthesis of neural information might be affected during anesthesia. The results of most investigations to date converge toward the conclusion that a common neural correlate of anesthetic-induced unresponsiveness is a consistent depression or functional disconnection of lateral frontoparietal networks, which are thought to be critical for consciousness of the environment. A reduction in the repertoire of brain states may contribute to the anesthetic disruption of large-scale information integration leading to unconsciousness. In future investigations, a systematic delineation of connectivity changes with multiple anesthetics using the same experimental design and the same analytical method will be desirable. The critical neural events that account for the transition between responsive and unresponsive states should be assessed at similar anesthetic doses just below and above the loss or return of responsiveness. There will also be a need to identify a robust, sensitive, and reliable measure of information transfer. Ultimately, finding a behavior-independent measure of subjective experience that can track covert cognition in unresponsive subjects and a delineation of causal factors vs. correlated events will be essential to understand the neuronal basis of human consciousness and unconsciousness. PMID:27331780

Family-friendliness in business as a key issue for the future.

PubMed

Stutzer, Erich

2012-01-01

These days family-friendliness is a key issue for the future of businesses. Investments in a family conscious personnel policy are considered as forward-looking decisions in companies. This happens against the background of a sustainable personnel policy in times of a decrease in the number of employable persons, an increasing shortage of skilled workers and an ageing workforce. Family-friendly working conditions are becoming a key factor in the competition for staff. When choosing an employer, family-friendliness has become a crucial topic. Employment participation and skills of women, especially of mothers, have greatly increased. To facilitate the realisation of their wish to return to paid employment, however, measures to reconcile work and family are required. Family-conscious measures have been proven to lead to higher employee productivity. Job satisfaction and motivation of employees and accumulation of human capital increase, absenteeism declines, the return of investment rises. Fields of activity for family-friendly measures in companies range from working arrangements, parental leave and re-entry programmes and various child care offers to services for families. In connection with the demographic development the demand for a better reconciliation of work and elder care should in future become ever more important, just as the upkeep of the occupational skills and working capacity of an ageing workforce. Family-friendliness has to become an integral part of corporate culture.

Relations between female students' personality traits and reported handicaps to rhythmic gymnastics performance.

PubMed

Ferrand, Claude; Champely, Stephane; Brunel, Philippe C

2005-04-01

The present study evaluated the relative contributions of Self-esteem, Trait anxiety, and Public Self-consciousness to self-handicapping on a sex-typed task, within a specific academic sport context. Prior to the competitive examination used to recruit French Physical Education Teachers, female sport students (N = 74) were asked to list and rate on a 7-point scale handicaps which could be disruptive to their Rhythmic Gymnastics performance. Self-esteem did not account for significant variance in any category of handicaps. Trait Anxiety was negatively related to handicaps related to Rhythmic Gymnastics and to Social and Work Commitments. Public Self-consciousness was significantly related to endorsement of Friends and Family Commitments handicaps. These results were discussed in relation to the literature.

Teachers' Dispositions and Beliefs about Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vázquez-Montilla, Elia; Just, Megan; Triscari, Robert

2014-01-01

Teachers' beliefs towards their students' cultural backgrounds and languages affect all aspects of learning. Critical consciousness of attitudes and beliefs about the increasing culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) student population is necessary for aligning individual beliefs with effective teaching practices. Rethinking how to work with…

How We Get Somewhere Religiously: Religious Education and Deconversion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagle, James Michael

2017-01-01

Engaging the work of Robert Kegan, Mary C. Boys, and John Caputo, this article explores whether disaffiliation, or more accurately deconversion, might be one possible outcome of successful religious education forming a mature religious consciousness for postmodernity's changing religious landscape. Through a presentation of deconversion literature…

Gymnastics in the Elementary School: What Works.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butler, Lawrence F.

1996-01-01

Steps that physical educators can take to ensure that their gymnastics programs are top notch include asking local experts for help, focusing on student learning and assessment, using solid lead-ups and progressions, emphasizing safety, using teaching situations, providing feedback, managing the class effectively, being budget conscious, and…

How do eggs pan out?

PubMed

Clark, N

1998-07-01

Once upon a time, eggs were considered a "breakfast of champions." Just about every active, hard-working person enjoyed them fried, scrambled, poached, or even raw in eggnog and protein drinks. Then, Americans became cholesterol-conscious and began to substitute bagels, cereal, and other high-carbohydrate, low-cholesterol breakfast foods.

Fotonovela. Technical Note No. 13.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barriga, Patricio; Villacis, Rodrigo

This report contains a description of a program that sought to develop the fotonovela as an instrument for increasing literacy and consciousness awareness in Ecuador. Following a general introduction to the work of the Nonformal Education Project, the creator of this program, the report presents information about the antecedents and…

On the Spiritual Element in Arts Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abbs, Peter

1995-01-01

Attempts a redefinition of spirituality and an incorporation of this into art education. Argues that symbolic and spiritual consciousness plays a crucial role in the works of artists as disparate as William Blake and Frida Kahlo. Criticizes the preeminence of scientific theory as a modern belief system. (MJP)

Changing the Academic Subject

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McWilliam, Erica

2004-01-01

The article examines the ways in which rationalities of risk currently work to produce the academic as a self-managing worker within the 'post-welfare' university as a risk-conscious organization. It explores how risk minimization as audit (individual, departmental, organizational), engages all individuals within the university in doing particular…

Social Consciousness, Education and Transformative Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pavlidis, Periklis

2015-01-01

This paper examines two aspects of social consciousness: consciousness in the sense of knowledge of the objective reality and consciousness in the sense of awareness of oneself as a subject in his/her social ties with other persons-subjects. In the light of such an approach to consciousness in this essay we discuss the importance of education and…

Astrosociology and Science Fiction: a Synergy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caroti, Simone

2010-01-01

Both astrosociology and science fiction have claimed outer space as their preferred turf. Astrosociology did so in order to study the impact of space on human societies, and to develop a set of protocols that earthbound governments can utilize to prepare us for the next phase of humanity's adventure outside our home planet. Science fiction, on the other hand, found in outer space a fitting environment for dramatizing in a work of fiction the potential outcomes attending the kind of decision astrosociology is trying to foster in actuality. This paper explores the relationship between the two fields, and examines ways in which science fiction can contribute to the creation of an astrosociological consciousness. Particular attention will be given to the most relevant commonality that the two fields share: both astrosociology and science fiction are earthbound disciplines, areas of inquiry created by those who never left earth for those who never left earth. They can potentially function as partners in the endeavor of educating the bulk of humanity on the subject of space flight and space colonization.

Use of agents to implement an integrated computing environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hale, Mark A.; Craig, James I.

1995-01-01

Integrated Product and Process Development (IPPD) embodies the simultaneous application to both system and quality engineering methods throughout an iterative design process. The use of IPPD results in the time-conscious, cost-saving development of engineering systems. To implement IPPD, a Decision-Based Design perspective is encapsulated in an approach that focuses on the role of the human designer in product development. The approach has two parts and is outlined in this paper. First, an architecture, called DREAMS, is being developed that facilitates design from a decision-based perspective. Second, a supporting computing infrastructure, called IMAGE, is being designed. Agents are used to implement the overall infrastructure on the computer. Successful agent utilization requires that they be made of three components: the resource, the model, and the wrap. Current work is focused on the development of generalized agent schemes and associated demonstration projects. When in place, the technology independent computing infrastructure will aid the designer in systematically generating knowledge used to facilitate decision-making.

Oscillatory Correlates of Visual Consciousness

PubMed Central

Gallotto, Stefano; Sack, Alexander T.; Schuhmann, Teresa; de Graaf, Tom A.

2017-01-01

Conscious experiences are linked to activity in our brain: the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). Empirical research on these NCCs covers a wide range of brain activity signals, measures, and methodologies. In this paper, we focus on spontaneous brain oscillations; rhythmic fluctuations of neuronal (population) activity which can be characterized by a range of parameters, such as frequency, amplitude (power), and phase. We provide an overview of oscillatory measures that appear to correlate with conscious perception. We also discuss how increasingly sophisticated techniques allow us to study the causal role of oscillatory activity in conscious perception (i.e., ‘entrainment’). This review of oscillatory correlates of consciousness suggests that, for example, activity in the alpha-band (7–13 Hz) may index, or even causally support, conscious perception. But such results also showcase an increasingly acknowledged difficulty in NCC research; the challenge of separating neural activity necessary for conscious experience to arise (prerequisites) from neural activity underlying the conscious experience itself (substrates) or its results (consequences). PMID:28736543

Intrinsic Functional Connectivity Patterns Predict Consciousness Level and Recovery Outcome in Acquired Brain Injury

PubMed Central

Wu, Xuehai; Zou, Qihong; Hu, Jin; Tang, Weijun; Mao, Ying; Gao, Liang; Zhu, Jianhong; Jin, Yi; Wu, Xin; Lu, Lu; Zhang, Yaojun; Zhang, Yao; Dai, Zhengjia; Gao, Jia-Hong; Weng, Xuchu; Northoff, Georg; Giacino, Joseph T.; He, Yong

2015-01-01

For accurate diagnosis and prognostic prediction of acquired brain injury (ABI), it is crucial to understand the neurobiological mechanisms underlying loss of consciousness. However, there is no consensus on which regions and networks act as biomarkers for consciousness level and recovery outcome in ABI. Using resting-state fMRI, we assessed intrinsic functional connectivity strength (FCS) of whole-brain networks in a large sample of 99 ABI patients with varying degrees of consciousness loss (including fully preserved consciousness state, minimally conscious state, unresponsive wakefulness syndrome/vegetative state, and coma) and 34 healthy control subjects. Consciousness level was evaluated using the Glasgow Coma Scale and Coma Recovery Scale-Revised on the day of fMRI scanning; recovery outcome was assessed using the Glasgow Outcome Scale 3 months after the fMRI scanning. One-way ANOVA of FCS, Spearman correlation analyses between FCS and the consciousness level and recovery outcome, and FCS-based multivariate pattern analysis were performed. We found decreased FCS with loss of consciousness primarily distributed in the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PCU), medial prefrontal cortex, and lateral parietal cortex. The FCS values of these regions were significantly correlated with consciousness level and recovery outcome. Multivariate support vector machine discrimination analysis revealed that the FCS patterns predicted whether patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome/vegetative state and coma would regain consciousness with an accuracy of 81.25%, and the most discriminative region was the PCC/PCU. These findings suggest that intrinsic functional connectivity patterns of the human posteromedial cortex could serve as a potential indicator for consciousness level and recovery outcome in individuals with ABI. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Varying degrees of consciousness loss and recovery are commonly observed in acquired brain injury patients, yet the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain elusive. Using a large sample of patients with varying degrees of consciousness loss, we demonstrate that intrinsic functional connectivity strength in many brain regions, especially in the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, significantly correlated with consciousness level and recovery outcome. We further demonstrate that the functional connectivity pattern of these regions can predict patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome/vegetative state and coma would regain consciousness with an accuracy of 81.25%. Our study thus provides potentially important biomarkers of acquired brain injury in clinical diagnosis, prediction of recovery outcome, and decision making for treatment strategies for patients with severe loss of consciousness. PMID:26377477

Impaired Consciousness in Epilepsy

PubMed Central

Blumenfeld, Hal

2013-01-01

Consciousness is essential to normal human life. In epileptic seizures consciousness is often transiently lost making it impossible for the individual to experience or respond. This has huge consequences for safety, productivity, emotional health and quality of life. To prevent impaired consciousness in epilepsy it is necessary to understand the mechanisms leading to brain dysfunction during seizures. Normally the “consciousness system”—a specialized set of cortical-subcortical structures—maintains alertness, attention and awareness. Recent advances in neuroimaging, electrophysiology and prospective behavioral testing have shed new light on how epileptic seizures disrupt the consciousness system. Diverse seizure types including absence, generalized tonic-clonic and complex partial seizures converge on the same set of anatomical structures through different mechanisms to disrupt consciousness. Understanding these mechanisms may lead to improved treatment strategies to prevent impaired consciousness and improve quality of life in people with epilepsy. PMID:22898735

[Self-consciousness, consciousness of the other and dementias].

PubMed

Gil, Roger

2007-06-01

Studies of self-consciousness in dementia concern essentially anosognosia or the loss of insight. However, Self-consciousness is multifaceted: it includes awareness of the body, perceptions, one's own history, identity, and one's own projects. Self-consciousness is linked to consciousness of others i.e. to social cognition supported by identification of others, but also by comprehension of facial expression of emotions, comprehension and expression of emotional prosody, pragmatic abilities, ability to infer other's people's mental states, thoughts, and feelings (theory of mind and empathy), knowledge of social norms and rules, social reasoning. The subtypes of dementias (and namely Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia) affect heterogeneously the different aspects of the self-and other-consciousness. Further studies are needed for a better knowledge of the complex relationship between Self-consciousness, social cognition, decision making and neuropsychiatric symptoms and behavioral disturbances occurring in demented patients.

The regulatory function of self-conscious emotion: insights from patients with orbitofrontal damage.

PubMed

Beer, Jennifer S; Heerey, Erin A; Keltner, Dacher; Scabini, Donatella; Knight, Robert T

2003-10-01

Although once considered disruptive, self-conscious emotions are now theorized to be fundamentally involved in the regulation of social behavior. The present study examined the social regulation function of self-conscious emotions by comparing healthy participants with a neuropsychological population--patients with orbitofrontal lesions--characterized by selective regulatory deficits. Orbitofrontal patients and healthy controls participated in a series of tasks designed to assess their social regulation and self-conscious emotions. Another task assessed the ability to infer others' emotional states, an appraisal process involved in self-conscious emotion. Consistent with the theory that self-conscious emotions are important for regulating social behavior, the findings show that deficient behavioral regulation is associated with inappropriate self-conscious emotions that reinforce maladaptive behavior. Additionally, deficient behavioral regulation is associated with impairments in interpreting the self-conscious emotions of others.

Theory of mind and Darwin's legacy.

PubMed

Searle, John

2013-06-18

We do not have an adequate theory of consciousness. Both dualism and materialism are mistaken because they deny consciousness is part of the physical world. False claims include (i) behaviorism, (ii) computationalism, (iii) epiphenomenalism, (iv) the readiness potential, (v) subjectivity, and (vi) materialism. Ontological subjectivity does not preclude epistemic objectivity. Observer relative phenomena are created by consciousness, but consciousness is not itself observer relative. Consciousness consists of feeling, sentience, or awareness with (i) qualitativeness, (ii) ontological subjectivity, (iii) unified conscious field, (iv) intentionality, and (v) intentional causation. All conscious states are caused by lower level neurobiological processes in the brain, and they are realized in the brain as higher level features. Efforts to get a detailed scientific account of how brain processes cause consciousness are disappointing. The Darwinian revolution gave us a new form of explanation; two levels were substituted: a causal level, where we specify the mechanism by which the phenotype functions, and a functional level, where we specify the selectional advantage that the phenotype provides. Sociobiology attempted to explain general features of human society, ethics, etc. It failed. For the incest taboo, it confuses inhibition with prohibition. It did not explain the moral force of the taboo. To explain the function of consciousness we cannot ask, "What would be subtracted if we subtracted consciousness but left everything else the same?" We cannot leave everything else the same because consciousness is necessary for higher functions of human and animal life. The unified conscious field gives the organism vastly increased power.

Theory of mind and Darwin’s legacy

PubMed Central

Searle, John

2013-01-01

We do not have an adequate theory of consciousness. Both dualism and materialism are mistaken because they deny consciousness is part of the physical world. False claims include (i) behaviorism, (ii) computationalism, (iii) epiphenomenalism, (iv) the readiness potential, (v) subjectivity, and (vi) materialism. Ontological subjectivity does not preclude epistemic objectivity. Observer relative phenomena are created by consciousness, but consciousness is not itself observer relative. Consciousness consists of feeling, sentience, or awareness with (i) qualitativeness, (ii) ontological subjectivity, (iii) unified conscious field, (iv) intentionality, and (v) intentional causation. All conscious states are caused by lower level neurobiological processes in the brain, and they are realized in the brain as higher level features. Efforts to get a detailed scientific account of how brain processes cause consciousness are disappointing. The Darwinian revolution gave us a new form of explanation; two levels were substituted: a causal level, where we specify the mechanism by which the phenotype functions, and a functional level, where we specify the selectional advantage that the phenotype provides. Sociobiology attempted to explain general features of human society, ethics, etc. It failed. For the incest taboo, it confuses inhibition with prohibition. It did not explain the moral force of the taboo. To explain the function of consciousness we cannot ask, “What would be subtracted if we subtracted consciousness but left everything else the same?” We cannot leave everything else the same because consciousness is necessary for higher functions of human and animal life. The unified conscious field gives the organism vastly increased power. PMID:23754416

Creativity and Quantum Physics: a New World View Unifying Current Theories of Creativity and Pointing Toward New Research Methodologies.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCarthy, Kimberly Ann

1990-01-01

Divisions in definitions of creativity have centered primarily on the working definition of discontinuity and the inclusion of intrinsic features such as unconscious processing and intrinsic motivation and reinforcement. These differences generally result from Cohen's two world views underlying theories of creativity: Organismic, oriented toward holism; or mechanistic, oriented toward cause-effect reductionism. The quantum world view is proposed which theoretically and empirically unifies organismic and mechanistic elements of creativity. Based on Goswami's Idealistic Interpretation of quantum physics, the quantum view postulates the mind -brain as consisting of both classical and quantum structures and functions. The quantum domain accesses the transcendent order through coherent superpositions (a state of potentialities), while the classical domain performs the function of measuring apparatus through amplifying and recording the result of the collapse of the pure mental state. A theoretical experiment, based on the 1980 Marcel study of conscious and unconscious word-sense disambiguation, is conducted which compares the predictions of the quantum model with those of the 1975 Posner and Snyder Facilitation and Inhibition model. Each model agrees that while conscious access to information is limited, unconscious access is unlimited. However, each model differently defines the connection between these states: The Posner model postulates a central processing mechanism while the quantum model postulates a self-referential consciousness. Consequently, the two models predict differently. The strength of the quantum model lies in its ability to distinguish between classical and quantum definitions of discontinuity, as well as clarifying the function of consciousness, without added assumptions or ad-hoc analysis: Consciousness is an essential, valid feature of quantum mechanisms independent of the field of cognitive psychology. According to the quantum model, through a cycle of conscious and unconscious processing, various contexts are accessed, specifically, coherent superposition states and the removal of the subject-object dichotomy in unconscious processing. Coupled with a high tolerance for ambiguity, the individual has access not only to an increased quantity of information, but is exposed to this information in the absence of a self-referential or biased context, the result of which is an increase in creative behavior.

A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach to the Future Operational Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-22

structuralism and functionalism.23 Sigmund Freud merged these fields with a mix of science and interpretation. His psychoanalysis principle introduced the...University Press, 2006). 24For an in-depth comparison of various personality theories and Sigmund Freud in particular see Salvatore R. Maddi, Personality...the conscious and unconscious are established at an early age. With the rise of experimental processes, behaviorists pushed Freud out of from primacy

Recovery from Gz-induced Loss of Consciousness: Psychophysiologic Considerations

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-01

hypnagogic hallucinations). REM activity been considered to occur during REM sleep, non-REM during narcoleptic episodes is usually present at the on...is difficult to ascertain whether the sidered adequate for our purposes. Fig. 3 depicts an "dreams" reported were either " hypnagogic " (as the...necessary. Currently, it is difficult to obtain EEG data in the ac- HYPNAGOGIC HYPNOPOMPIC celeration environment. However, current studies are PERIOD

Immediate responses to individual dialogic music therapy in patients in low awareness states.

PubMed

Binzer, Isolde; Schmidt, Hans Ulrich; Timmermann, Tonius; Jochheim, Maret; Bender, Andreas

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyse immediate responses to individual dialogic music therapy (IDMT) of patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) and individuals in a minimally conscious state (MCS) and to develop an assessment tool for IDMT. Seven patients were subjected to three conditions: (1) sounds and stimuli of the daily environment immediately before IDMT, (2) specific improvisational music therapy intended to establish a dialogue with the patient (IDMT) and (3) sounds and stimuli of the daily environment immediately after IDMT. Video recordings were analysed by six independent assessors using 'Music Therapy in a Vegetative or Minimally Conscious State (MUVES)', an assessment tool developed in this study. Diagnosis of UWS or MCS was established using the coma recovery scale-revised (CRS-R). During IDMT, MUVES total score was higher than during the other conditions (mean difference = 3.36; p = 0.02). During IDMT, there was no significant difference in MUVES total score between the UWS and MCS sub-groups (p = 0.29). Mean inter-rater-reliability of MUVES total score was 0.76. IDMT may induce immediate responses in patients in low awareness states, particularly also in patients with UWS. MUVES appears to be an acceptably reliable assessment tool for IDMT.

Science of consciousness and the hard problem

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stapp, H.P.

1996-05-22

Quantum theory is essentially a rationally coherent theory of the interaction of mind and matter, and it allows our conscious thoughts to play a causally efficacious and necessary role in brain dynamics. It therefore provides a natural basis, created by scientists, for the science of consciousness. As an illustration it is explained how the interaction of brain and consciousness can speed up brain processing, and thereby enhance the survival prospects of conscious organisms, as compared to similar organisms that lack consciousness. As a second illustration it is explained how, within the quantum framework, the consciously experienced {open_quotes}I{close_quotes} directs the actionsmore » of a human being. It is concluded that contemporary science already has an adequate framework for incorporating causally efficacious experimential events into the physical universe in a manner that: (1) puts the neural correlates of consciousness into the theory in a well defined way, (2) explains in principle how the effects of consciousness, per se, can enhance the survival prospects of organisms that possess it, (3) allows this survival effect to feed into phylogenetic development, and (4) explains how the consciously experienced {open_quotes}I{close_quotes} can direct human behaviour.« less

The Value and Disvalue of Consciousness.

PubMed

Glannon, Walter

2016-10-01

Consciousness defines us as persons. It allows us to have both pleasurable and painful experiences. I present four neurological conditions in the clinical setting to explore how consciousness can be beneficial or harmful to patients: intraoperative awareness, prolonged disorders of consciousness, locked-in syndrome, and the effects of narcotics and sedation on terminally ill patients. The ethical significance of consciousness for patients in these conditions depends on two factors: the content of one's experience and whether one can report this content to others. I argue that the value or disvalue of phenomenal consciousness, what it is like to be aware, may depend on its relation to access consciousness, the ability to report or communicate the content of awareness. Phenomenal consciousness can have disvalue when one wants or expects to be unconscious. It can also have disvalue in the absence of access consciousness because it can allow the patient to experience pain and suffer. Technology that enabled neurologically compromised patients to reliably communicate their experience and wishes could benefit and prevent harm to them. More generally, the neurological conditions I discuss raise the question of when and in what respects consciousness is preferable to unconsciousness.

Closing in on the constitution of consciousness

PubMed Central

Miller, Steven M.

2014-01-01

The science of consciousness is a nascent and thriving field of research that is founded on identifying the minimally sufficient neural correlates of consciousness. However, I have argued that it is the neural constitution of consciousness that science seeks to understand and that there are no evident strategies for distinguishing the correlates and constitution of (phenomenal) consciousness. Here I review this correlation/constitution distinction problem and challenge the existing foundations of consciousness science. I present the main analyses from a longer paper in press on this issue, focusing on recording, inhibition, stimulation, and combined inhibition/stimulation strategies, including proposal of the Jenga analogy to illustrate why identifying the minimally sufficient neural correlates of consciousness should not be considered the ultimate target of consciousness science. Thereafter I suggest that while combined inhibition and stimulation strategies might identify some constitutive neural activities—indeed minimally sufficient constitutive neural activities—such strategies fail to identify the whole neural constitution of consciousness and thus the correlation/constitution distinction problem is not fully solved. Various clarifications, potential objections and related scientific and philosophical issues are also discussed and I conclude by proposing new foundational claims for consciousness science. PMID:25452738

Consciousness, Cognition and the Cognitive Apparatus in the Vedānta Tradition

PubMed Central

Balasubramanian, R.

2011-01-01

A human being is a complex entity consisting of the Self (also known as Consciousness), mind, senses and the body. The Vedānta tradition holds that the mind, the senses and the body are essentially different from the Self or Consciousness. It is through consciousness that we are able to know the things of the world, making use of the medium of the mind and the senses. Furthermore, the mind, though material, is able to reveal things, borrowing the light from consciousness. From the phenomenological point of view, we have to answer the following questions: how does one know the mind/the mental operations/the cogitations of the mind? Does the mind know itself? Is it possible? There is, again, the problem of the intentionality of consciousness. Is consciousness intentional? According to Vedānta, consciousness by its very nature is not intentional, but it becomes intentional through the mind. The mind or the ego is not part of the consciousness; on the contrary, it is transcendent to consciousness. It is difficult to spell out the relation between consciousness and the mind. How does consciousness, which is totally different from the mind, get related to the mind in such a way that it makes the latter capable of comprehending the things of the world? The Vedānta tradition provides the answer to this question in terms of the knower-known relation. Consciousness is pure light, self-luminous by its very nature, that is, although it reveals other objects, it is not revealed by anything else. When Sartre describes it as nothingness, bereft of even ego, it is to show that it is pure light revealing objects outside it. PMID:21694962

How quantum brain biology can rescue conscious free will

PubMed Central

Hameroff, Stuart

2012-01-01

Conscious “free will” is problematic because (1) brain mechanisms causing consciousness are unknown, (2) measurable brain activity correlating with conscious perception apparently occurs too late for real-time conscious response, consciousness thus being considered “epiphenomenal illusion,” and (3) determinism, i.e., our actions and the world around us seem algorithmic and inevitable. The Penrose–Hameroff theory of “orchestrated objective reduction (Orch OR)” identifies discrete conscious moments with quantum computations in microtubules inside brain neurons, e.g., 40/s in concert with gamma synchrony EEG. Microtubules organize neuronal interiors and regulate synapses. In Orch OR, microtubule quantum computations occur in integration phases in dendrites and cell bodies of integrate-and-fire brain neurons connected and synchronized by gap junctions, allowing entanglement of microtubules among many neurons. Quantum computations in entangled microtubules terminate by Penrose “objective reduction (OR),” a proposal for quantum state reduction and conscious moments linked to fundamental spacetime geometry. Each OR reduction selects microtubule states which can trigger axonal firings, and control behavior. The quantum computations are “orchestrated” by synaptic inputs and memory (thus “Orch OR”). If correct, Orch OR can account for conscious causal agency, resolving problem 1. Regarding problem 2, Orch OR can cause temporal non-locality, sending quantum information backward in classical time, enabling conscious control of behavior. Three lines of evidence for brain backward time effects are presented. Regarding problem 3, Penrose OR (and Orch OR) invokes non-computable influences from information embedded in spacetime geometry, potentially avoiding algorithmic determinism. In summary, Orch OR can account for real-time conscious causal agency, avoiding the need for consciousness to be seen as epiphenomenal illusion. Orch OR can rescue conscious free will. PMID:23091452

Chasing the Rainbow: The Non-conscious Nature of Being.

PubMed

Oakley, David A; Halligan, Peter W

2017-01-01

Despite the compelling subjective experience of executive self-control, we argue that "consciousness" contains no top-down control processes and that "consciousness" involves no executive, causal, or controlling relationship with any of the familiar psychological processes conventionally attributed to it. In our view, psychological processing and psychological products are not under the control of consciousness. In particular, we argue that all "contents of consciousness" are generated by and within non-conscious brain systems in the form of a continuous self-referential personal narrative that is not directed or influenced in any way by the "experience of consciousness." This continuously updated personal narrative arises from selective "internal broadcasting" of outputs from non-conscious executive systems that have access to all forms of cognitive processing, sensory information, and motor control. The personal narrative provides information for storage in autobiographical memory and is underpinned by constructs of self and agency, also created in non-conscious systems. The experience of consciousness is a passive accompaniment to the non-conscious processes of internal broadcasting and the creation of the personal narrative. In this sense, personal awareness is analogous to the rainbow which accompanies physical processes in the atmosphere but exerts no influence over them. Though it is an end-product created by non-conscious executive systems, the personal narrative serves the powerful evolutionary function of enabling individuals to communicate (externally broadcast) the contents of internal broadcasting. This in turn allows recipients to generate potentially adaptive strategies, such as predicting the behavior of others and underlies the development of social and cultural structures, that promote species survival. Consequently, it is the capacity to communicate to others the contents of the personal narrative that confers an evolutionary advantage-not the experience of consciousness (personal awareness) itself.