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- Dictionaryconsciousness/ˈkɒnʃəsnəs/
noun
- 1. the state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings: "she failed to regain consciousness and died two days later" Similar Opposite
- 2. a person's awareness or perception of something: "her acute consciousness of Luke's presence" Similar
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Learn the various meanings and uses of the word consciousness, from the quality of being aware of oneself or something else, to the upper level of mental life. See synonyms, examples, word history, and related articles.
Consciousness is the state of being awake, aware, and understanding something. Learn more about the meaning, usage, and examples of consciousness in English and American dictionaries.
Consciousness is a complex and controversial concept that refers to awareness of internal and external existence. Learn about its etymology, philosophical and scientific approaches, and various aspects and theories of consciousness.
Consciousness is the subjective experience of being, but it is also a mystery that science is trying to unravel. Learn about the brain regions, neural correlates and theories of consciousness, and how they relate to perception, self and reality.
- Overview
- Early views
- The behaviourist view
- Neurophysiological mechanisms
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consciousness, a psychological condition defined by the English philosopher John Locke as “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind.”
(Read Yuval Noah Harari’s Britannica essay on “Nonconscious Man.”)
In the early 19th century the concept was variously considered. Some philosophers regarded it as a kind of substance, or “mental stuff,” quite different from the material substance of the physical world. Others thought of it as an attribute characterized by sensation and voluntary movement, which separated animals and men from lower forms of life and also described the difference between the normal waking state of animals and men and their condition when asleep, in a coma, or under anesthesia (the latter condition was described as unconsciousness). Other descriptions included an analysis of consciousness as a form of relationship or act of the mind toward objects in nature, and a view that consciousness was a continuous field or stream of essentially mental “sense data,” roughly similar to the “ideas” of earlier empirical philosophers.
The method employed by most early writers in observing consciousness was introspection—looking within one’s own mind to discover the laws of its operation. The limitations of the method became apparent when it was found that because of differing preconceptions, trained observers in the laboratory often could not agree on fundamental observations.
The failure of introspection to reveal consistent laws led to the rejection of all mental states as proper subjects of scientific study. In behaviourist psychology, derived primarily from work of the American psychologist John B. Watson in the early 1900s, the concept of consciousness was irrelevant to the objective investigation of human behaviour...
That consciousness depends on the function of the brain has been known from ancient times. Although detailed understanding of the neural mechanisms of consciousness has not been achieved, correlations between states of consciousness and functions of the brain are possible. Levels of consciousness in terms of levels of alertness or responsiveness are correlated with patterns of electrical activity of the brain (brain waves) recorded by an electroencephalograph. During wide-awake consciousness the pattern of brain waves consists of rapid irregular waves of low amplitude or voltage. In contrast, during sleep, when consciousness can be said to be minimal, the brain waves are much slower and of greater amplitude, often coming in periodic bursts of slow waxing and waning amplitude.
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Both behavioral levels of consciousness and the correlated patterns of electrical activity are related to the function of a part of the brainstem called the reticular formation. Electrical stimulation of the ascending reticular systems arouses a sleeping cat to alert consciousness and simultaneously activates its brain waves to the waking pattern.
Consciousness is the perception of what passes in a man's own mind, according to John Locke. Learn about the early views, the behaviourist approach, the neurophysiological mechanisms and the levels of consciousness from Britannica.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Consciousness is the state of being aware of one's own existence, thoughts, feelings, and surroundings. It can also refer to the mental activity of which a person is aware, or the mind or the mental faculties.
Learn the meaning of consciousness as a state of understanding, realizing, or being awake, and see how it is used in sentences. Find out the synonyms, collocations, and translations of consciousness in different languages.
