Both share the same mechanisms of information processing, but conscious processing also includes a feeling of the content of the information patterns being processed. Complex logical-mathematical calculations can be made unconsciously by our brains, of even by machines. Also emotional processes can occur unconsciously in our brains and can be (partially) reproduced in robots. What is missing in brain unconscious processing and robots controlled by digital computers is the feeling. Feelings are always conscious to some degree and interfere with the informational content being processed. The integration of information is also the formation of a feeling that attributes a valence to the content of the information. Combined cognitive and affective conscious processes form conscious episodes. The affective dimension of the episode modulates brain cognitive processing, influencing behavior and memory formation. While cognitive processing is mostly carried by neurons communicating by means of action potentials, feelings are instantiated in large, slower ionic waves induced by neuronal dendritic fields, reaching the extra-cellular medium and triggering calcium waves in astrocytes.

According to recent research there are 33 resting state networks in the brain.

http://openscience.cbs.mpg.de/schaefer/#fib1

We don't have names for all of them, let alone an idea of how they work together

all we know about them is that one or two of them have been investigated because they are involved in the external and internal trains of thought.

This suggests to me that since there are so many networks, and so few actually involved in thought, that consciousness is based on connections rather than modulations.

Hello Shen

You might like to have a look at the extensive treatment of this in my paper "Is human information processing conscious?" Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1991, the 40 commentaries that followed and my responses to these. They are all online.

Good luck with it

Max

See

Velmans, M. (1991) Is human information processing conscious? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14(4):651-669 (target article, accompanied by 36 commentaries).

Velmans, M. (1991) Consciousness from a first-person perspective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14(4):702-726. (reply to commentaries)

Velmans, M. (1993) Consciousness, causality and complementarity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16(2), 404-416. (reply to continuing commentaries)

Velmans, M. (1996) Consciousness and the “causal paradox.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 19(3), 537-542. (further reply to continuing commentaries)

To my mind the reading to start with is Panksepp's Affective Neuroscience, then build on it. Though I haven't published on it, my model is that Panksepp is describing the basic set of instincts. Until Panksepp we had no clear definition of the categories of instincts; now we do. These I associate to activations in the hypothalamus. The so-called 'limbic' areas are substrates for what in psychodynamic analysis might be termed after Freud: the preconscious and the unconscious. I view the substrates for the unconscious and preconscious as a network of six brain 'limbic' regions -- they are overlain by six more cortical regions such as ACC dmPFC etc., which correspond to what we might define as 'consciousness'. Here I take McLean's triune brain and differentiate it into a nine-fold brain, 3x3x3 neural substrates for consc, preconsc and unconsc. As I said, Panksepp's instincts are 'unconscious' and their substrate is the hypothalamus. Moving anteriorly in the limbic system, the Amygdala is the primary substrate for what Freud calls the drives. Then in the Parahipp-Basal Ganglia are the areas Jung focuses on for substrate of libido (in his terms). Then the Insula, a preconsciousness node associated with concepts such as festal share, equity, existential anxiety, and so on. Then the Subgenual is the node that negatively manifests in clinical depression, but positively is the node correlating to Jung's 'psychic energy' and mytheme of the 'night-sea journey'. Then most anteriorly we come to the medial PFC (dorsal and ventral) which is the primary neurosubstrate for the concept of 'Self' (Jung) and psychological harm (Langs' retaliatory anxiety).

Hope this, though highly condensed, is useful.

James

I simply want to add a hint to Benjamin Libet's work on "mind time" (time frame of conscious cognitive processes) and is famous experiment on "free will" which elicited a lot of discussion and research. See discussions and links to recent research at: http://www.consciousentities.com/?p=233

At this point in research this question includes still many unknown aspects and depends much oin definbition, e.g. consciousness, which to my kjnowledeger nobody fully uderstands, is experimentally tested as "awareness, e.g. during sleep od seizures a person is Actulally unconscious , not merely unaware. Both sleep and seizures are not ytet fully understodd and modern neuroscience admits that it may still take decades to increase our uynderstandung of the most complex porocesses involved. The computer analogy to the brain ist not satisfactory in this reqpect.

In my theoretical model of the cognitive brain, all sensory/cognitive mechanisms for learning, pattern recognition, imaging, reasoning, decision making, affect, etc., engage in preconscious/unconscious processing *before* their outputs are projected into egocentric retinoid space where they are, only then, subjectively/consciously experienced as *something somewhere* in relation to oneself ( I! ), which is the locus of perspectival origin in the brain's retinoid space. For more about this see "Space, self, and the theater of consciousness", "Where Am I? Redux", and "A Foundation for the Scientific Study of Consciousness"on my RG page. This view of the matter is consistent with experimental findings demonstrating that decisions to act are made many milliseconds before the person is conscious of making the decision.

I view consciousness as a brain-created avatar, a mental being, designed to act on brain's behalf in more explicit and effective ways of executive control. This avatar exists as a unique pattern of nerve impulses in the brain's global work space and shares some of the circuitry that governs unconscious processes.

I write about this and other subjects (learning, decision-making, free will, sleep, and dreaming) in my new book, "Mental Biology, The New Science of How the Brain and Mind Relate," distributed by Random House.

In the culture already has all was discovered in the past.

Dont worry about what was discovered.

Autonomic Neuro System, Epigenetic, not declarative memory and skills is the way.

Conscious is only an inner voice that was building with culture / Genetic / Autonic Neuron Sytems and no declaratice memory (Skill).

One more point of view on consciousness, not mentioned here yet: Consciousness in different languages means ''con science" - common knowledge. “I know, what you feel, you know, what I feel, I know, that you know, what I feel …”. So, consciousness is related to systems of mirror neurons and to the theory of mind.

Now closer to the question: Unconscious information lies out of the focus of attention or under the threshold of sensations. The threshold can ”float” in dependence to different factors, so unconscious processes could interact and became conscious and vice versa. And: conscious modulation of the conscious processes could be the fourth point. :-)

Dear T. Kutsenko, You probably have a good point in regard to etymology, but would you agree that the feeling is more fundamental to consciousness than the common knowledge? Mirror neuron systems can operate without consciousness; at least they can be instantiated in non-conscious machines. The theory of mind (or one of its variants) implies the existence of a degree of consciousness: why should someone care about other people´s mental states if there is no feeling about the other persons?

The above discussion assumes consciousness is a unitary phenomenon when there are in reality multiple states of "consciousness" and "pre-consciousness" that depend on responses to incoming stimuli as well as self-generated thoughts/imagery. These concepts are often conflated with awareness and attention that also vary according to circumstances. Darwinian- like neural competition might underpin what becomes available to "consciousness". Research of the primary visual cortex is beginning to reveal this area is also implicated in consciousness, especially when there is a need to attend to a scene with greater acumen. This highlights the fact brain regions perform multiple functions with earlier areas often recruited by the higher association areas thereby underlining the slippery nature of consciousness and how it is realized in the brain.

Derek: "The above discussion assumes consciousness is a unitary phenomenon when there are in reality multiple states of "consciousness" and "pre-consciousness" that depend on responses to incoming stimuli as well as self-generated thoughts/imagery."

Response to "incoming stimuli" and "self-generated thoughts/imagery" determine the ever-changing *content* of consciousness, not the unitary phenomenon of consciousness itself. One must first be conscious BEFORE one can have perceptual/imagistic/memorial content in one's phenomenal world. One of the problems in understanding consciousness is the ease with which it can be conflated with perceptual and memorial processes.

There is a very good article by David Baffler that inserts feeling in the Theory of Mind (see the final paragraphs): http://thebaffler.com/past/whats_the_point_if_we_cant_have_fun

I agree with Derek Hodgson's comment. While consciousness appears to be unitary in our introspective subjectivity, (a) I do not believe neuroscience supports this, and (b) as a Vajrayana meditation practitioner I have experienced non-unitary states of consciousness. Regarding (a), in the very early brainstem pathways Damasio argues that there is already a 'core consciousness or self'. As Derek suggests, in early sensory cortices such as the visual and S1 neural object maps arise, which would be another factor of consciousness. Then Damasio proposes a factor of core consciousness in sensorimotor awareness associated with the colliculi ("1st level sensory integration with a motor map of body, controls vocalization, primary action readiness intent'). The there is another consciousness factor in the Inferotemporal cortices, such as the L and R EBA yielding egocentric and allocentric perspectives. Then the Thalamus, according to Damasio, activation yields a "2nd level sensory motor integration with emotional responses". Then the Precuneus/Hippocampus adds relational representations of percepts, episodic and autobiographical memory. Then the Cingulate adds ego attention, agency, etc, and is another level of core consciousness (Damasio). Then various cortical regions add so-called modular intelligences and socio-historical consciousness, and finally the R/L TPJ, STS and dlPFC adds what Damasio calls the 'extended consciousness', and with respect to TPJ, this contains various out-of-body dissociative experiences (OBEs). So that's at least nine consciousness factors or levels from posterior to anterior of the brain. Somehow they are all integrated into the so-called 'theater of the mind' or in current embodied cognitive theory a simultaneous internal external 'mind'. Understanding how that integration occurs should be a prime new research area.

James: "Somehow they are all integrated into the so-called 'theater of the mind' or in current embodied cognitive theory a simultaneous internal external 'mind'. Understanding how that integration occurs should be a prime new research area."

For a detailed theoretical model of the neuronal mechanisms and systems that give us the 'theater of the mind', see "Space, self, and the theater of consciousness" and "Overview and Reflections" on my RG page.

I agree with James that there is a multi-part system that builds up our experience of consciousness. I am trying to trace the connections between the inferior parietal lobule and the brainstem in order to understand how consciousness is built up from all the bits and pieces he is discussing in his answer. However, Resting State fMRI has made my problem harder by finding 33 networks in the brain connectome.

It is yet early days to figure out which ones are involved in the transfer of information from the parietal cortex to the brainstem.

The conflict between distributed conscious processsing in the brain and phenomenologically unitary/integrated conscious experiences arises from the "localizationist" framework that identifies specific mental functions with specific brain regions. This is a dead end. The alternative is the network approach, relating consciousness with a brain-large network that includes several regions, forming brain-large dynamic circuits where wave-like activity instantiate conscious contents.

That would work Alfredo, if any of the networks actually created large dynamic circuits that covered the whole brain, but the detected networks each connect only a relatively small part of the brain, and it is only together that the connectome covers the whole brain. Please see the related images:

http://openscience.cbs.mpg.de/schaefer/#fib1

I am afraid that some "Localizationist" framework will be necessary.

Dear Graeme, the neuro-glial network covers the whole brain. The astroglial network, a subsystem of the neuro-glial network, is the "master hub" that allows communication of all local circuits. In this framework, localization of function is not the key to consciousness. The essential parameters are amplitude, frequency and phase modulation. In slow frequencies (Delta rhythm - around 3 Hz) consciousness does not occur. In abnormally high amplitudes, as in epileptic seizures with loss of consciousness, the conditions for conscious activity are abolished; abnormally low amplitudes, as in the case of anesthesia, also abolish consciousness. Too much phase coupling (too much synchrony) or absence of synchrony are conditions that impair conscious processing too. It is interesting to observe how this kind of evidence is often neglected by consciousness theorists.

Alfredo, you obviously don't know how Resting State fMRI works. The 33 networks are according to BOLD not neural activation. If the Glial network didn't require blood quantities to rise when they were active, you might have a point. However the work I quoted did not attempt to separate glial from neural activation. Obviously the glial networks are not whole brain networks, if BOLD activation includes glia.

Rumor has it, that BOLD is caused by signals coming from the Glia.

Dear Alfredo Pereira Junior, feeling, as well as consciousness, is fenomen of psychological level. Neural correlates of feeling are rather basis for neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), while common knowledge is a product of consciousness. Mirror neuron systems, may be, can operate without consciousness, but consciousness hardly do without mirror neuron systems. Very important is communicative nature of consciousness. Inhereted is only ability to consciousness (increased capacity of working memory, vast development of frontal cortex, anterior attentional system, system of mirror neurons etc.).Whether this ability will be realized, depends on social environment of a child. Consciousness can only be formed in the interaction of child with other people. In such interaction mirror neuron systems play key role.

Dear Graeme Smith, of course I know that astrocytes control blood flow, but there is also neuronal control (by releasing nitric oxide). BOLD fmri indirectly measures the final result of conjoint activations, by means of detecting different concentrations of hydrogen in blood. However, this is not the issue. The neural-glial network is not all active all the time. There are many fluctuations in space and time; the active regions alternate in time, but it is a mistake to assume that inhibited circuits are not playing any role in cognitive processing. Differences of activation in the whole network are differences that make differences. The issue is to take the whole state of the network instead of single regions as the brain correspondence of cognitive processes. The network as a whole is defining the cognitive state, and the amplitude, frequency and phase modulated waveforms determine the conscious content. A large part of the unconscius cognitive processing does not become conscious. There is a threshold for consciousness in the network activity.

Dear T. V. Kutsenko, I agree that mirror neurons play an important role in the development of human consciousness, as well as language "modules" (Broca and Wernicke areas) and other parts of our brains. However, we can still be conscious (in the sense of being able to feel what happens with us) after lesions of these parts. More important, animals that do not have these kinds of specializations are (probably) also conscious. When a bird sings for another bird, would you say that he is not feeling her presence?

Alfredo:" Differences of activation in the whole network are differences that make differences. "

Too much alliteration there, (repeating the same word over and over) it makes for hard translation of meaning.

What I hear you saying is that the technique of matching locations is flawed with respect to oscillating fields. I am not sure this is correct, since connected locations will tend to oscillate at the same rate and thus be detectable statistically as being linked.

Dear Alfredo Pereira Junior, concerning animals I agree with you completely (my cat often can predict my behaviour :-)). Animals have some level of consciousness, but human’s consciousness is “of higher level and of other quality”. According to Tulving, we can mentally travel in time in past and in future, while animals – can’t.

xcellent ideas. What work have you done on the interaction of unconscious processes on other unconscious processes? Howard Shevin

i dont understand the initial question. First thing would be to define what is meant by consciousness. m

Dear Alfredo, I have come across a new type of measure fALFF which might relate to the low frequency fluctuations that you mention from glial networks. but even that measure varies with application and location.

Dear Graeme, thanks for the news. Yes, there is spatial modulation of information, but this fact does not imply that some regions are always activated and others are never activated by conscious processes. Depending on the content being processed, different regions may be involved at different times. What is always activated when we are conscious is the "hub" that connects all these regions and respective circuits. As the thalamus and the superior colliculus are at the center of the hub, some important researchers have argued for a thalamic or a collicular approach to the neural correlates of consciousness, but I think that this kind of "localizationist" paradigm is theoretically wrong, it is not the location that matters, but the function that the structure carries.

Well the article I read noted that the areas with fALFF activity were in the outer-rind of the neocortex, while the frontal areas had a reduction in fALFF activity during some functions, this suggests to me that it isn't the whole brain that is involved that there are locational aspects to it.

Whether you call the neo-cortex the hub or not.

Dear Howard Shevrin, I have not done experimental work on the interaction of unconscious processes, but have theorized about the informational nature of these processes. I am aware of recent publications showing that even mathematical calculation can be done unconsciously.

Alfredo: "it is not the location that matters, but the function that the structure carries."

If a structure performs a necessary function, shouldn't we call the *structure* a *mechanism* and try to find out how the mechanism works?

Yes Arnold, but the mechanism can be instantiated in different places of the brain. Do you disagree?

Dear Graeme, a hub is a communication mechanism that provides interactions between all parts of a system, it is not a computationally specialized part like the others. In the brain, the mechanism that is more adequate to operate as a master hub is composed of calcium waves in the astroglial network. There are astrocytes everywhere in the brain and also in somatic (gut, heart) nervous systems. Some parts (e.g. the brain stem) have more astrocytes than others (e.g. the cerebellum), indicating - according to the hypothesis - more or less participation in conscious processes. The active hub is defined by the presence of large waves, which may have different directions depending on the informational content being processed. I believe that fALFF activity is related to to calcium waves, what do you think?

Along a different line, and building on our previous work on heterogeneity of information among agents, my colleagues and I have developed the concept of "dual agent", the combination of two rational agents, a "conscious" and an "unconscious", acting alongside one another. We suppose that, since both agents - to be understood - must be rational, they must only differ in their grid of lecture of the reality. In our setting, the unconscious collects pieces of information about the reality and interpret them before sending them to the conscious. The difference of interpretation between the two agents creates "fluctuations" or "biases", that can be interpreted as "emotions", or mere "thoughts". In this setting, what is usually called "consciousness" is the mere result of these differences of interpretation between a "conscious" and an "unconscious". We have generalized this setup to a set of interacting structures.

Alfredo: "... but the mechanism can be instantiated in different places of the brain. Do you disagree?"

I don't disagree. A single brain mechanism can be distributed over different areas of the brain, or it might be distributed redundantly in different brain areas.

Dear Aileen, in your hypothesis you assume that some agents are conscious and other are unconscious, and then you claim that consciousness is the result of a difference of interpretation between them. If the latter statement is true, then the agents you called "conscious" are also unconscious, or your hypothesis is not logically consistent.

Dear Alfredo, I was of course referring to a general acception of the term "consciousness" which would be, in our setting, the action of "the dual agent", seen as the combination of two actions, the conscious' one, and the unconscious' one.

One individual (the dual agent) composed of two rational agents, a "conscious" and an "unconscious", can analyze his action as composed of two terms: a purely rational behavior, and an (apparently) "irrational" behavior, that arise from the difference of interpretation of the reality by these two rational agents .

This irrational term within the dual agent's (i.e. the "individual") action can take many forms : emotions, thoughts, habits, etc...

Dear Ailenn, in this case I suggest you to call "behavior" the result of the interaction of the conscious nd the unconscious agents. Then you will have something interesting to say about the human condition. Did you read the (highly recommended ) book "Predictaby Irrational" by Dan Ariely? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictably_Irrational

While I appreciate the emphasis on BOLD and glia, I think that these are incidental to information processing. They are not communicative signals. In the nervous system, nerve impulses are the currency of processing. Increased blood flow tells us very little about the impulse signals. I try to expand on this in my new book, Mental Biology (Random House)

Dear Colleagues, I am closely following your discussion. I'm a doctor - an anesthesiologist and issues of conscious and unconscious are always present in my work.

I continue to explore this complex issue and here are some of the fundamental points that I draw and what I was able to prove.

1. Should be clearly distinct concepts: consciousness, memory, intellect, mind, behavior and yet more separating them from the level of organization of mental and sensitive functions and emotion.

2. Consciousness and unconsciousness are two components of the same process. One process is not possible without communication with another process.

3. Conditions of the consciously and unconsciously state of the brain can calculated and rated the level of their external manifestations on a scale.

4. Calculations states of consciousness on a scale and monitoring of changes in consciousness can be carried out with the help of simple method or (and) complex special method.

….

If my reasoning and theses are not run counter to your point of view on issues of conscious and unconsciousness, I'll be ready to continue our interesting discussion.

Sincerely

Prof. Vadim Shanin, MD, PhD

Dear Alfredo, thank you for your comment. Actually, this apparently irrational behavior arising from the "information gap" between conscious and unconscious characterizes actions, but also and predominantly emotions or thoughts. This is why I am uncomfortable with the term behavior. But I agree that the term is ambiguous.

Your suggestion of Dan Ariely's book is a welcomed reminder that I should read it. If I have not done so yet it is that I believe we follow a different approach. To make things clearer, and translate it in our setting, Dan Ariely is explaining what are the biases in the dual agent's action, and what socially or emotionally motivates these biases, while we consider these biases as resulting from the presence of the rational unconscious, and try to deduce from these biases the nature of the unconscious' rationality. Besides our goal is to show that this bias can be reduced. But I concede these are bad excuses.

Dear W.R Klemm, according to the "Neuron Doctrine" and common computational assumptions, mental functions are carried by action potentials. Historically, this conception is based on a tautological reasoning, because McCullough and Pitts based their logical calculus on the presumed function of neurons (binary encoding; neuron firing = 1 and not firing = 0). Digital computers were based on this assumption, and their success led to neuroscientists believing that mental functions in the brain are carried by such binary operations. However, these functions are not adequate to account for affective processes. Feelings look more like waves than a series of binary choices. The calcium wave hypothesis of consciousness (see Pereira Jr. et al, 2013, in my RG page) appeared to fill this gap; astroglial calcium waves have the right spatio-temporal dynamics to be the substrate of feelings.

Dear Vadim, there are no consensual definitions of the terms, but here is my view:

a) Consciousness: we are conscious when we feel what happens with our bodies and the environment; for instance, if a person feels pain during general anesthesia, she is still conscious to some degree; if she does not feel pain and does not experience any other sensation or affective state, she is unconscious. Although the etymology of "consciousness" is related to "having knowledge", I understand that feeling is more basic to conscious experiences than representational knowledge. Feeling give us a "presentational" information, e.g. if I feel pain in my foot I obtain from the experience an information that there is a damage in my body. Representational or symbolic knowledge can occur without consciousness, as the encoding of this sentence in my computer. Therefore, consciousness is a composition of cognition and feeling, having the feeling as the essential ingredient;

b) Memory: storage of information for times longer than a few seconds (working memory) involves unconscious processes (activations of mechanisms of long-term potentiation). An interesting property of memory is that we do not remember events (episodic memory) if these events were not conscious; IOW, we do not form memories of unconscious events. Depending on the emotional weight of the experience, there are more or less chance of memory consolidation;

c) Intellect, in the sense of cognitive processing (including logical-mathematical reasoning and grammatical construction) is mostly an unconscious process, of which only the products (e.g. the sentences that we utter) become conscious. Cognitive processing alone is not necessarily conscious; cognition is conscious when there is a feeling attached to the product;

d) Mental processes are all the processes, conscious or unconscious, that carry information. Information processing requires a source and a receptor, but does not require consciousness. In our bodies, there are many mental/informational unconscious processes, as the workings of the immune system. For this reason, mental activity is not restricted to the nervous systems (CNS, heart and gut systems), but it is extended into several other systems, such as the immune and endocrine systems. Only mental conscious activity depend crucially on the brain, because the brain contains the "master hub" where mental activity is integrated to produce unitary conscious episodes and respective feelings;

e) Behavior can be "covert" (physiological activity) or "overt" (externally observable actions of a biological individual). It results from both unconscious and conscious processes. Covert behavior as in the case of emotional somatic processes can be unconscious, as in the case of silent stress (increase of cortisol levels leading to tissue damage). In the case of reflex behavior induced by an environmental stimulus, the resulting response (action) can be processed by the body without mediation by the CNS. In the case of unconscious informational mediation, several brain mechanisms can be activated and unconsciously produce a result that guides behavior. In the case of voluntary behavior, the feeling attached to the product of unconscious processing modulates synaptic activities, determining the pattern of firing of neurons of the motor cortex that initiate muscle action.

Best Regards,

Alfredo Pereira Jr.

Dear Alfredo!

Excellent! I'm glad I found colleagues who deal with these same problems. I definitely agree with you and definitions that you have brought to consciousness, memory, behavior, etc.

I know that not only the nervous system and mind defines consciousness. In the formation of consciousness plays a big role the endocrine system, the synapses and humoral mediators.

Great! Yes, we speak "the same language" and using main basic positions.

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, may we combine our knowledge and experience and still make a reply to the question: "Where is the connection between the conscious and the unconscious"? - (In terms of psychophysiological). You are ready?

I propose to consider the problem from the new following perspective.

I propose following theses:

1. All the people who live on our Planet, have consciousness.

2. Everyone from the inhabitants of planet Earth has a consciousness.

I think that these points can not cause doubts.

I think that we can stop and has take interim conclusions about what is the consciousness in the terms of function (or category) that a person has:

1. Consciousness - a function (category), which belongs to every living person.

2. Consciousness - is a generic function of people (category), all kinds of people.

3. Consciousness is a function (category), which defines the individuality of each person.

These simple conclusions allow us to raise the question, the answer to this question and we can provide the key to solving the main problem and answer the main question (not a psychological or philosophical aspect), but in terms of psychophysiological, who have been asked many times and the answer to that so still not obtained:

What is human consciousness in terms of neurophysiological and humoral functions?

Here's a new question that I propose to discuss (and later offered his response to it): "Wherewith are all people all alike and wherewith all people differ from each other?"

The first answer - obvious - "Consciousness!"

"YES!"

However, I ask you to find another answer! Maybe you offer some feature (feature category), which may also come as a response to this question?

Best Regards

Vadim Shanin

Dear Vadim, the other answer would be: the genome.

Alfredo

Dear Alfredo!

"Yes! Genome determines genotype and affects the phenotype of the individual. Nevertheless genome is a structural unit of human, which has a morphological rather than functional basis. If we decided to look for the key to the function (functional category) - Consciousness implemented in functional area, the gene can not be accepted as a sufficient condition, and therefore the answer to the question. "

I ask you to think about what the answer is possible yet?

Dear Vadim, I agree that the genome does not have functional capabilities, but some colleagues think it is related to consciousness (for instance Dr. Roman Poznanski of Rockefeller University, editor of the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience - he has a paper on genomic consciousness to appear in the special issue of the Journal on the Hard Problem of Consciousness). Please tell us your answer to the puzzle!

Dear Alfredo!

"Hard problem of consciousness," which raised David Chalmers, and which is discussed in the journal from different angles, in my optimistic opinion can also be solved by answering our question.

The answer that I found about 25 years ago and suggest you: "THIS is symmetry and asymmetry!"

Manifestations of symmetry and asymmetry of anatomical and morphological structures and functional asymmetry component is what the similarities and differences of each other people. And manifestations of the symmetry and the asymmetry can characterize consciousness.

At first glance - it's too simple , even primitive ! But ...

The phenomenon of " symmetry and asymmetry " can also be considered as a manifestation of the philosophical aspect of the basic law of life ( unity and struggle of two opposites , right and left ) .

Phenomena of symmetry and asymmetry can be found in all areas of science and life.

Phenomenon of human consciousness can be calculated, it characterizes the individual profile of functional asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres , is a collection of reflections asymmetries motor, sensory and mental spheres.

Brief additional information to my point :

1. Functional nonequivalence hemispheres (asymmetry functions - functional asymmetry ) installed and known. (Left Brain, Right Brain Sally P. Springer, Georg Deutsch, 1993).

2 . Morphological and functional differences between right and left in the human body , manifested in co-operation and mutual communication between the hemispheres of the brain that determines individually -typological features and reflects the person's consciousness .

3 . Right and left hemisphere are not twins. Two hemispheres of the brain - two "different" body that having many similar functions and structures related to each other but different from one another , for example: - perceive and process information ; - Maintain relations with both internal and external stimuli , perceive the action of chemical , pharmacological agents and alcohol.

4. We "speaking" to the left hemisphere, we "drawing" to the right hemisphere

5. Short-term memory is realized only at the level of interhemispheric interaction in the "conservation" interhemispheric exchange on major commissural pathways.

For almost 30 years I have accumulated a lot of information on this issue. If you are still interested in our discussion, I'm waiting for your comments, opinions and questions.

Sincerely

Vadim Shanin

Dear Vadim, the whole body has symmetry and asymmetry, I am not sure how this universal property of living systems relates to conscious processing.

Dear Alfredo!

You quite rightly pointed out that the entire body has symmetry and asymmetry. I would add further that each body has its the own symmetry and asymmetry. That this is the answer. There is no controversy.

I'll explain more:

1. Formation and development of the body, the nervous system of the brain and other organs occurs under the influence genome and environmental influences.

2. Formation of brain structure, the formation of functional connections and internal organs is not symmetric, that is caused by the internal nature, which is inherent in the genotype. It manifests itself first in the morphology and later phenotype of each person.

3. Human brain and the connections between brain structures (to a greater extent the cortex and cerebral hemispheres) - is the center where produced conscious activity and forms an idea of itself and the surrounding area.

4. The brain and nervous structures (as well as their feeding blood vessels ) are asymmetric in morphological and functional design.

5. Humoral regulators (a humoral factors and hormones) involved in behavioral responses that affect synapses are not completely symmetric points of application of its effect.

6. Motor functions are asymmetric in morphological and functional scheme. There are right-handers and left-handers , as there are " ambidexters ."In literature It described many times and I would not be have inform you about this once again. By the way, this is manifested in the individual characteristics of gait and movements. We can capture this difference ( sometimes not even aware of it) .

7. Sensory impulses (perception ) is carried out through our eyes and ears asymmetrically . Pain, warmth, and is perceived by us not symmetrical.

8. One manifestation of consciousness - comprehensible human speech - one of the most important acts of psychomotor - asymmetric acts and functions is controlled by the left hemisphere.

9. Another manifestation of consciousness - the perception and understanding of speech - psychosensory act, which is a result of asymmetric brain function.

10 . Abilities to the exact sciences (such as mathematics and physics ) or humanitarian fields of knowledge (eg music, art ) are not symmetric in the different parts of the brain .

How it all may be associated with manifestations of consciousness and consciousness?

I affirm and described it in his book that there is a direct connection between consciousness and behaviors ( asymmetrically implemented in persons ). All people represent his consciousness in his activity in motions, sensory and mental spheres ( of course asymmetrically :)

Is it possible to evaluate the consciousness of human by his behavior? Yes! I'm ready to say more, that I have set certain physiological rules that affect the behavior of the person in a state of altered consciousness and clear consciousness. State of clear consciousness and its changes can be predicted and calculated.

If convinced you, and our discussion displays interest for you, we can continue it. Waiting for your questions and opinions?

sincerely

Prof. Vadim Shanin MD, PhD.

Dear Vadim, at first sight it seems to me that your approach does not address the distinction of unconscious and conscious processes, and their relation. Some conscious functions are more related to the activity of one hemisphere, but the same occurs for unconscious functions. Wouold you like to claim that only conscious functions are lateralized? Please clarify.

Alfredo Pereira Jr.

Dear Alfredo!

I am glad that we can continue the conversation. You asked the right question and for the sake of the answer to it you need additional information.

I am willing to share the information, which I has received under the study of this problem. I hope I can find a supporter on the other side of the planet)).

So, the first part:

I think I was able to convince you that using the principles of symmetry - asymmetry we can make "individual portrait" of personality. But it's what gives?

I hope, that it gives us a great deal.

But...How to do it? How to create a quantitative patterns -"Images of the object" as the images of the individual? I suggested to count and calculate as coefficient skewness. If you want we can call it the coefficient "S".

Now:

We can to calculate an "Image of the object" with help and using the coefficients "S":

In this regard:

"Image of the object" will consist of a diverse set of features of factors of symmetry and asymmetry of individuals.

"Image of the object" would represent the set of coefficients "S" which associated with feature and with assigned coefficient, which is calculated as the ratio of asymmetry in a particular area. (S1, S2 ..... Sn).

As a result:

Set of these signs and will reflect the "image of the object asymmetry."

I ask you to note that this "image of the object" will have quantitative characteristics!

I'm not going to dodge from the question that you put, but…

I want to take a short pause, as information under paragraph 1, is very important to understand.

So if my explanation is not entirely clear (English is not my native language) I ask you to ask the necessary questions.

I'll be ready to continue the discussion as soon as you confirm that you understanding me clear, colleague.

I would also like to know your point of view.

So if my explanation is not entirely clear (English is not my native language) I ask you to ask the necessary questions.

I'll be ready to continue the discussion as soon as you confirm that you understanding me clear, colleague.

I would also like to know your point of view.

Sincerely to you

Prof. Vadim Shanin MD, PhD

Dear Vadim, you are clear, but I think this approach is not powerful to account for the consciousness of each individual. Also it seems you are restricted to morphology. Neuroscientsts have developed a better analytical tools to understand brain conscious activity from the EEG register, namely frequency, amplitude and phase modulation. For instance, see: http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/EEG_microstates

Dear Alfredo!

Thanks for the answer, for your understanding my points of view and your accurate statement of their position. I am grateful to you and even mentally applaud you, since you do not get out of the debate and you have the same uncertainty that I had at the very beginning when I checking this original ideas. Therefore I absolutely clear understand yours doubts.

Indeed, everything seems the idea is very simple and not serious, and most importantly, not objectively. But really - it's just a first impression. I am sure that I can continue to convince you.

I as much as possible I still practiced and use this great tool as EEG recording and monitoring. I started using this method in 1988, when I first got the opportunity to work on a computerized system for recording and monitoring EEG with good opportunities - "Brain Surveyor", which was produced in Italy.

Despite all the advantages of the method and objective monitoring of spontaneous bioelectric activity and EEG wave spectrum, this method could not fully reflects the dynamics change of the state of the consciousness. With this method, we can excellent monitor the extreme points of the process: a clear and complete loss of waking consciousness.

But device of EEG, which I used, was be able to objectively and accurately account for the asymmetry of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain and spectrum of brain waves (types of alpha, beta, delta and theta). With his help, I got the raw data, which I now can share with you .

If you're have more interest, I can add that for an objective assessment of asymmetry , in addition to monitoring the EEG , I have used other methods , including the method of evaluation evoked potentials ( visual and acoustic ) , which by me modified by the method of binaural dichotic control of the effects of acoustic signals ( D . Kimura , 1967) and a methods to monitoring and control of the potential of skin.

" Asymmetrical portrait - Image of object" of Each one from by all (112) volunteers possessed of a set of 256 signs, to which by ours programm were calculated asymmetry coefficients . In the initial examination (1990) 112 people (volunteers) participated .

If you do not mind , we then go back to our conversation.

I will to continue convince you that objective control of change of the individual profile asymmetry of a person enables to track precise determination changes from a clear consciousness to full unconsciousness.

But now I think that we came to the following interim conclusions:

1. Principle of "Asymmetry-symmetry" - enables applied him to assess human behavior and can characterize the state of his consciousness.

2. "Asymmetrical portrait" of personality can be represented as a set of coefficients of asymmetry, which reflects an individual profile of asymmetry of this man.

3. Accuracy evaluation of an individual profile symmetry and asymmetry depends on the quantity variables to chosen for the study, which make study with help of symmetry and asymmetry.

4. We can use special equipment to objectively determine individual patterns of the symmetry - asymmetry.

If you do not agree with that and you have doubts, ask me about it? I'm sure, I can will to complete a number of additional information and facts that will convince you of this.

If you agree, then we could go ahead and answer the questions that I think we can make slightly later.

What results were obtained? What conclusions can be made after analysis of the results? What of all this happened? And how it affects the dynamics of consciousness?

Sincerely,

Prof. Vadim Shanin MD, PhD

Dear Vadim, the next step would be to explain the relation between the coefficients and the conscious experience of the individual. An example would be helpful.

Dear Alfredo!

A person at the implementing of the consciousness used the motor sphere, the sensory and the mental activity of the two cerebral hemispheres that are not equal by functional significance. The behavioral response produced by organs that are not equal by physiologically and morphologically (not equal by the structure of muscles, tendons, nerves, sensory, etc. effectors that have structural and asymmetry differences). Such differences can identified by the various devices. They allow to identify the definitive activities of an individual in behavioral acts and reactions.

How to calculate the coefficient?

Step 1. Necessary to choose to measure any couple (pair) of function, which decided to consider (eg - Applause).

Step 2. Evaluation (or) measure this couples (pair). If we had the numeric values, they simply enter the formula. And if not? We introduce common rules for measurements and assign numeric values (ours Example-Applause), if with Applause:

- Right hand (R) top (+2), the left hand (L) from below (+1)

- Left hand (L) top (+2), the right hand (R) from below (+1)

- Right and left hands are positioned opposite each other, R=+1 and L=+1

- Lack of one the hands – R=0 or L =0.

Step 3. Calculation with formula, substituting these values.

K = (R- L) / (R + L), where K - the coefficient of asymmetry, R-right hand, L-left hand.

Step 4. Classify data))).

Wait for your questions)).

Sincerely

Prof. Vadim Shanin, MD, PhD

Dear Vadim, this is a kind of biometric analysis of behavior, not a description or explanation of consciousness.

Dear Alfredo!

Certainly colleague as you rightly noted, it is a biometric analysis of the behavior with positions and principles of asymmetry. This is only part of the answer to the question, and evidence that using this method can to unify the image of a person's behavior that reflects consciousness.

I'm glad you agree with this and I was able to convince you of this.

Now you need to take the next step and prove that the biometric image which is able to describe the behavior of an asymmetrical profile of individual and asymmetry of person is able to reflect not only his individual characteristics, but also able to convey information about changes of consciousness of this person.

In 1999, I completed these studies and published his findings in the article "Dynamics of hemispheric asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres during general anesthesia" in one of Russians Medical Journal.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262343569_________?ev=prf_pub

Later I published a monograph (2004), which was republished in Canada: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262335973_PATTERNS_OF_CONSCIOUSNESS?ev=prf_pub

Unfortunately, they are published in Russian, since I was not able to translate them into English. I have a translation only the introductory part of it in draft form.

Meaning and the main content of these works:

The research involved more than 970 people.

The main group, which had carried out a full range of studies was 112 people. These people were medically necessary to carry out the planned surgery.

The research was conducted:

1) before surgery, when patients were in a state of clear consciousness; 2) during the induction of anesthesia, when the consciousness of patients changed to the full provisions of the unconscious and the emergence of the state of anesthesia;

3) after anesthesia and surgery, when the mind is fully returned and the patient was restored.

Using statistical software for biomedical research (BMDP) all surveyed (112) were classified into groups (Jackknifed classification matrix).

Groups before the anesthesia in the condition of clear consciousness .

1. Group A ( about 9 % of participants) - be set: the initial dominance of the left hemisphere more than 50% , K => 0.66 . ( Classification accuracy of 98.7%)

2 . Group B1 ( about 52 % of participants) - be set: a close operation of the two hemispheres of the brain , in the relative dominance of the left hemisphere , R = 0.33 - 0.66 ( classification accuracy 99.6%)

3 . Group B2 (about 37%) - be set: a close operation of the two hemispheres of the brain, the relative dominance of the right hemisphere , K = 0,1-0,33 ( classification accuracy 89.5%)

4 . Group C ( about 2%) - be set: the initial dominance of the right hemisphere of not more than 10 % K = < 0 ( classification accuracy of 86.8 %) (Important! The group included all patients with mental illness 3 participants).

In other patients, initial dominance of the right hemisphere could not be detected !

Groups after induction of anesthesia in an unconscious state

1. Group A ( about 6 % of participants) - be set: the absence of earlier established dominance of the left hemisphere and the relative dominance of the right hemisphere = K 0.33 ( 94.7 % accuracy of classification )

3 . Group B2 (about 36 %) - be set: a close operation of the two hemispheres of the brain, the relative dominance of the right hemisphere , K = < 0.33 ( classification accuracy 89.8%)

4 . Group C ( about 2%) - no difference in the dominance of the cerebral hemispheres no, K = 0 ( classification accuracy 69.3%)

Key findings:

1. Condition of clear consciousness has about 98% of healthy people thanks varying degrees of dominance of the left cerebral hemisphere in the mosaic of nerve processes.

2. Approximately 2% of people have a dominance of right hemisphere in the mosaic of brain activity, which can not be classified as a state of clear consciousness and should be classified as a form of altered state of consciousness.

3. Changing a clear state of consciousness in humans and the emergence of unconsciousness consciousness are occurs due to the change of the dominant relationship in the brain.

4. Unconsciousness occurs as a result of inversion of the dominant relations of the cerebral hemispheres, when initially dominated hemisphere (left) gives way to the opposite (right) side.

5. Recovery of clear consciousness restores the original picture of dominant relations.

Conclusion:

Implementing a clear state of consciousness and unconsciousness in humans has a single physiological mechanism and carried out with help of brain hemispheres.

Implementation of consciousness is closely connected with the work of the hemispheres of the human brain and the state of their functional asymmetry.

Various forms of consciousness is realized within a distributed system of the brain and with help of its interhemispheric interactions.

Hemispheres of the human brain can changes its dominant position when a modified form and unconscious states of consciousness.

Dear Alfredo!

I must ask you to forgive me for what my English is terrible. The text contains a lot of mistakes that I would not let myself in my native language. But I can assure you that I think and I doing research without an accent and error.

I sincerely hope that the thoughts, which I've with you wanted shared, can you find useful.

Article Динамика функциональной межполушарной асимметрии головного м...

Book PATTERNS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Dear Vadim, I have two criticisms:

a) You wrote: "Unconsciousness occurs as a result of inversion of the dominant relations of the cerebral hemispheres, when initially dominated hemisphere (left) gives way to the opposite (right) side". What is the evidence for this claim? General anesthesia, as you know, depresses activity in both hemispheres. It is not known to invert hemispheric dominance;

b) Any research on consciousness has to rely on reports of the subjects about their conscious states (for instance, what did they feel before, during and after the anesthesia?). We need the reports to compare what people say they feel with patterns of brain activity and behavior. Without the reports, we do not know if the measured brain activity or behavior is unconscious or conscious. The only evidence that the scientific observer has about other prople´s conscious experiences is their reports.

Dear Alfredo!

Thank you for your constructive opinions and criticisms.

Under paragraph 1.

You understood all rightly pointed out the most important and watching.

"Unconsciousness occurs as a result of inversion of the dominant relations of the cerebral hemispheres, when initially dominated hemisphere (left) gives way to the opposite (right) side."

Based on my research, I would argue that this is the main physiological pattern in the brain. I call this pattern - adaptive inversion of dominant cerebral hemispheres. This condition occurs and is recorded when there is a change of conscious and unconscious forms of states of consciousness. Certainly there is an imbalance of the dominant relationship in the cerebral hemispheres and in the event of a complete loss of consciousness, but always has activity the contralateral (right) hemisphere.

Evidence may be, research, which I have conducted and data records of spontaneous bioelectric activity of the brain and brain wave spectrum.

In one of my observations for monitoring EEG I was able to fix the moment when originated the transition is clear consciousness into unconsciousness. Unfortunately, I managed only once to make such a clear record and capture this moment documented. However, similar data from other research I have found. I published the data from the archive with this observation in my profile. You can see them.

Next:

Yes the total anesthesia affects the electrical activity of the brain during anesthesia, but:

1. Register the asymmetrical processes during anesthesia are possible, that reflects an adaptives inversion of dominant relations.

2. In my opinion Existing theory of a total anesthesia does not fully describes the mechanism of change of consciousness during anesthesia.

3. In my opinion Existing notions of consciousness and unconscious condition require further study and research.

According to paragraph 2.

I agree that the main method of assessing human consciousness are the test a various options and keeping records. Recently, there is an opportunity to create new ways of assessing the state of consciousness, based on the use of IT - technologies.

I think that should be complemented by descriptive ways of study of

Consciousness, because are empirical and sometimes subjective surveys, must replace objective methods of mind control, based on the significant amount of personalized biometrics data. Also consider that the principle and methods for evaluating individual profile asymmetry can fully describe the dynamics of human behavior and changes in the state of his consciousness.

All this can open up new opportunities for the development of the science of the brain and mind, and creates the preconditions for progress towards the creation of artificial intelligence systems.

Sincerely

Prof. Vadim Shanin MD, PhD

Dear Vadim:

a) How can you say from the EEG of the anesthesized person if there is an inversion of hemispheric dominance? By means of comparing the power spectrum of each hemisphere? In this case, did you get a statistically significant result?

b) If you do not take into account reports of the conscious person (from the first-person perspective) then you are not studying consciousness properly. You may be doing good work on brain physiology and behavioral analysis, but not consciousness science!

Dear Alfredo!

1. Certainly, in my research has complied with all the rules of proper study of the state of consciousness. First, each of a patients been tested according to accepted procedures, which were amended in line with our purpose and goals. Questionnaire was more than 350 questions and 268 biometrical options. Tests were cover all areas of behavior and sphere of consciousness (motor, sensory, mental) and health status of the patient are taken into account age, sex, physiological data, research data, diagnoses and treatment methods and etc.. Secondly, we conducted monitored the electrical activity of the brain and 18 indicators of the whole period from the moment of full consciousness, to a state of deep anesthesia and recovery from anesthesia. Third, the level control states of consciousness and unconsciousness statement, as well as to restore its level was carried out and was controlled and by three experts (an anesthesiologist, a psychiatrist, neuroscientist). Fourth, the survey was carried out at the patient before anesthesia and after recovery of consciousness with the conduct of a protocol on experienced events (loss of consciousness during anesthesia and surgery). In the study has complied with all the necessary test protocols that govern such research. Of course, the study was conducted with the full notification of the patient with his consent.

2. For a change of consciousness during anesthesia, we used ketamine and benzodiazepines (premedication).

3. You're absolutely right that we studied further spectrum of brain wave frequencies in the range of alpha, beta, theta and delta waves. Now, available archive data in my profile. I found records of the wave spectrum of the same patient, which was recorded spontaneous electrical activity. Can see them.

I hope, that now you can agree with me, colleague, that research meets the standards not only neurophysiology and biometrics, but also can be classified as a study on the state of consciousness and understanding of the mechanism of its changes.

P.S. It was found a few interesting points that relate to memory and sensory perception thresholds. But that's another story.

Kind regards

Prof. Vadim Shanin MD, PhD

Dear Vadim, I have studied ketamine a decade ago (see my paper on this subject archived in RG). I suspect that your findings are closely related to the ways of action of this drug. In a dose-dependent manner, it produces altered states of consciousness before causing the loss of consciousness (general anesthesia). Even with an anesthetic dose the subjects would pass through all the phases (first excitatory and later inhibitory). However, you say that you used inhibitory drugs (benzodiazepines) as pre-treatment; then it is possible that this pre-treatment blocked some of the allucinatory effects of ketamine, but the combination of benzodiazepine inhibition and ketamine excitation before the loss of consciousness is likely to be involved in the generation of your results. Of course, it is necessary to replicate the experiment with other general anesthetics to check if the same inversions of hemispheric dominance happens and if they are *always* correlated with the loss of consciousness. I suspect that the changes of power spectra of the hemispheres in this anesthetic process is because of the combination of benzodiazepines and ketamine!

Dear Alfredo!

I added only one chapter of my monograph, which has kindly translated from Russian into English by Boris Kruger.

I hope, It not doable to answer the question, what is the essence of consciousness?

The true nature, essence and verity of consciousness are beyond my comprehension, as the Universe and God.

But I am firmly convinced that I am had found one way, one of physiological mechanisms changes of consciousness from clear condition of consciousness to unconsciousness and back to waking consciousness.

In my professional works, I am using ketamine (since 1984)). This drug has many faces. I know at least 20 ways to use it when there is no "extra" effects, including hallucinations. By the way, regardless of the method of application, hallucinations allways occur by the people with mental disorders. But, I must say that the "vision" and "Voices" they can "see and hear" without ketamine :)

But all this "poetry", so they say in Russia.

About other methods of changing consciousness during anesthesia and using other means:

My "portfolio" is the scientific study of changes of consciousness during anesthesia consist more than 7000 surveys. I used all available to me and allowed for medical use for anesthesia, an arsenal of medicines (i.v. Phentanyl, NLA anesthesia, barbiturates, ataraxis anestesia, propofol, etc., also inhaled narcotic drugs (halothane, nitrous nitrogen modern inhalation anesthetic agents such as isoflurane, etc.). As I wrote earlier, I have more than 970 full reports of observations and reports on changes in consciousness and state of consciousness in patients. These protocols served as the basis for writing my monograph on the mechanism of change consciousness.

I can assure you that any conditions of "NARCOSIS" (Latin “narcsis”, from Greek “narksis”, a numbing, from “narkoun”, to benumb, from “nark”, numbness) than would be and how its would not have created leads to loss of consciousness, but not by only "doctors, who makes by supervised "unconsciousness" - total anesthesia.

The mechanism of “this” state of consciousness is always one in its neurophysiological basis - an inversion of the dominant relationship when left hemisphere reduces its activity, and the right hemisphere increases its dominance.

I might add, we found that the mechanism of change of consciousness is much more complicated. If you implement this mechanism occurs a cascade of neurophysiological reactions at neuronal synapses and connections, which involve not only the cerebral hemisphere, but midbrain reticular formation of the brain, has a special role in the corpus callosum and other structures. It has been observed that the whole (holistic functioning) brain is capable of a kind of "split" into two distinct structures that have a minimum level of horizontal relations, that has a huge physiological and protective sense.

- «I suspect that the changes of power spectra of the hemispheres in this anesthetic process is because of the combination of benzodiazepines and ketamine!»

- it is right)))

Best wishes

V. Shanin

The previous discussion either takes a localizationist (specific modules/mechanisms) or generalist (the hub that underwrites consciousness) position when both seem to act in concert to determine a particular conscious state.  Perhaps it is the interaction between unconscious processes, as determined by emotional and pre-conscious informational systems, that dovetail with local networks that give rise to conscious experience in “the hub” or theatre of mind.   The nature of a particular conscious experience is therefore determined by which neural nodes or convergence zones are active at any one time in these systems (the functional cluster), what Edelman refers to as “the dynamic core” which is realised through neural competition.   The binding problem can therefore be overcome by the way these systems dynamically interact.  From this perspective the division between consciousness and unconsciousness can be quite blurred as a result of re-entry and feedback mechanisms.

                Another point that may be of interest is why consciousness evolved in the first instance particularly as secondary consciousness, as opposed to primary consciousness, seems to be a preserve of Homo sapiens sapiens., that provided the ability to escape from the tyranny of the present through a release from proximity, which allowed humans to engage in  mental time travel, imagination, defeat deception in social situations, and promoted metacognition etc.

References

Edelman, G.M. and Tonini, G. 2000. Consciousness – How Matter Becomes Imagination. Penguin Books.

Rossano M. J. 2003. Expertise and the evolution of consciousness. Cognition. 89:207–236.

Grinde, B. 2012. The Evolutionary Rationale for Consciousness.  Biological Theory.  DOI 10.1007/s13752-012-0061-3

Conscious something visible surrounding the environment suddenly come to us as an attraction resulting of an energy will bring us the result of our conscious mind. With this it is the awareness responding us to one surrounding sometimes inspiring us to take the desire result.

We have with us certain knowledge which has not come as a resulting force of our mind for which we become the fully aware of our problems thru our conscious mind.

In case of unconsciousness the process of working of our mind is suddenly not available to our intuition ,our introspection,our guiding force for our thought process,our inclination,our motive,our memories & interest .Unconsciousness is automatically comes where with the help of intuition we carry out our action,turning to our consciousness.

This is my personal Opinion 

It seems to me that we first must decide which state, consciousness or unconsciousness, is the default state of brain function. Many neuroscientists seem to believe that the default state is unconsciousness which controls everything all the time, and consciousness just emerges as an inferior state that can only observe and do nothing. I believe the evidence supports the opposite conclusion (see "Mental Biology," published last year by Prometheus and my book this year with Academic Press, "Making a Scientific Case for Conscious Agency and Free Will"). Though consciousness may be the default state, it can't be aware of everything going on in the unconsciousness because it takes enormous neural resources for the brain to operate consciously.