Core consciousness
Encyclopedia
In António Damásio
's theory of consciousness
, core consciousness describes a hypothesized level of awareness
facilitated by neural
structures of most animals that allows them to be aware of and react to their environment. In Damásio's theory, core consciousness occurs when the brain’s representation devices generate a representation of the relationship between the organism (the self) and an environmental stimulus. The process preceding core consciousness is protoself
, the one following it is extended consciousness
.
Thus 'a sense of being..is what Damasio describes as core consciousness' - what Gerald Manley Hopkins memorably described as 'my self-being, my consciousness and feeling of myself, that taste of myself...which is more distinctive than the taste of ale or alum...and is incommunicable by any means to another'.
Damasio developed the concept in his (1999) book, The Feeling of What Happens, out of his earlier formulation in Descartes' Error (1994) of the importance of what he called ' background feeling...the feeling of life itself, the sense of being' - something without which, he considered, 'the very core of your representation of self would be broken'.
Where 'the emergent self that Stern describes is conceptualised by Damasio as the "proto-self"...[Stern]'s core self is the product of core consciousness'.
arises from structures in the medial or central areas of the brain
, including perhaps the superior colliculus
, the thalamus
and the cingulate cortex
.
Antonio Damasio
Antonio Damasio is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, where he heads USC's Brain and Creativity Institute and Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute. Prior to taking up his posts at USC, in 2005, Damasio was M.W...
's theory of consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
, core consciousness describes a hypothesized level of awareness
Awareness
Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of...
facilitated by neural
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
structures of most animals that allows them to be aware of and react to their environment. In Damásio's theory, core consciousness occurs when the brain’s representation devices generate a representation of the relationship between the organism (the self) and an environmental stimulus. The process preceding core consciousness is protoself
Protoself
In António Damásio's theory of consciousness, the protoself or proto-self describes a basic level of awareness biologically available to the nervous system of animals. In Damásio's theory, the protoself is the first of the three processes leading to human consciousness...
, the one following it is extended consciousness
Extended consciousness
In biological psychology, extended consciousness is an animal's autobiographical self-perception.Extended consciousness is said to arise in the brain of animals with substantial capacity for memory and reason. It does not necessarily require language...
.
The hierarchy of consciousness
'As Damasio argues throughout his work, consciousness is far from monolithic', but rather exists in a hierarchy of stages, each building upon (and dependent on) its predecessor(s). Core consciousness forms the middle element in this sequence. 'The essence of core consciousness is "the very thought of you - the very feeling of you - as one individual being involved in the process of knowing of your existence and of the existence of others"'.Thus 'a sense of being..is what Damasio describes as core consciousness' - what Gerald Manley Hopkins memorably described as 'my self-being, my consciousness and feeling of myself, that taste of myself...which is more distinctive than the taste of ale or alum...and is incommunicable by any means to another'.
Damasio developed the concept in his (1999) book, The Feeling of What Happens, out of his earlier formulation in Descartes' Error (1994) of the importance of what he called ' background feeling...the feeling of life itself, the sense of being' - something without which, he considered, 'the very core of your representation of self would be broken'.
Daniel Stern
Daniel Stern's 'phases of the development of the sense of self map neatly into Damasio's (1999) neuropsychological descriptions: the "proto-self" (first-order neural maps), core consciousness (second-order neural maps), and extended consciousness (involving third-order neural maps).Where 'the emergent self that Stern describes is conceptualised by Damasio as the "proto-self"...[Stern]'s core self is the product of core consciousness'.
Physical origins
Damásio theorized that a core self-perception in the human brainHuman brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
arises from structures in the medial or central areas of the brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
, including perhaps the superior colliculus
Superior colliculus
The optic tectum or simply tectum is a paired structure that forms a major component of the vertebrate midbrain. In mammals this structure is more commonly called the superior colliculus , but, even in mammals, the adjective tectal is commonly used. The tectum is a layered structure, with a...
, the thalamus
Thalamus
The thalamus is a midline paired symmetrical structure within the brains of vertebrates, including humans. It is situated between the cerebral cortex and midbrain, both in terms of location and neurological connections...
and the cingulate cortex
Cingulate cortex
The cingulate cortex is a part of the brain situated in the medial aspect of the cortex. It includes the cortex of the cingulate gyrus, which lies immediately above the corpus callosum, and the continuation of this in the cingulate sulcus...
.
See also
- ProprioceptionProprioceptionProprioception , from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception, is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement...
- Stern's tripartite self