Your conscious experiences are constantly shifting and changing. For example, in one moment you may be focused on reading this article. Your consciousness may then shift to the memory of a conversation you had earlier with a co-worker. Next, you might notice how uncomfortable your chair is, or maybe you are mentally planning dinner.
Types of Consciousness
The various states of consciousness include:
Dreams Hallucinations Hypnosis Meditation Sleep States induced by psychoactive drugs
The two normal states of awareness are consciousness and unconsciousness. Altered levels of consciousness also can occur, which may be caused by medical or mental conditions that impair or change awareness. Altered types of consciousness include:
ComaConfusionDeliriumDisorientationLethargyStupor
Doctors and healthcare professionals use various assessments to measure and assess levels of consciousness. They use scores on these assessments to guide diagnosis and treatment decisions.
Functions of Consciousness
Consciousness has several biological and social purposes. For example, it allows us to process information, choose our actions, set priorities, learn and adapt to new information, make decisions, and more. Consciousness is an essential state in philosophy, spirituality, and religion. All of these require self-awareness, which is impossible without consciousness.
Changes in Consciousness
Understanding different levels of consciousness can help healthcare professionals spot signs that someone might be experiencing a problem. Some of these changes occur naturally; others are the result of factors such as drugs or brain damage. Changes to consciousness also can cause changes to perception, thinking, understanding, and interpretations of the world. For example, sudden changes in consciousness might be a sign of:
AneurysmBrain infectionsBrain tumor or injuryDementia or Alzheimer’s diseaseDrug useEpilepsyHeart diseaseHeatstrokeLack of oxygen to the brainLow blood sugarPoisoningShockStroke
History of Consciousness
For thousands of years, the study of human consciousness was largely the work of philosophers. The French philosopher Rene Descartes introduced the concept of mind-body dualism or the idea that while the mind and body are separate, they do interact. Talking to your doctor right away can ensure that you get immediate treatment before problems get worse. Once psychology was established as a discipline separate from philosophy and biology, the study of the conscious experience became one of the first topics studied by early psychologists. Structuralists used a process known as introspection to analyze and report conscious sensations, thoughts, and experiences. Trained observers would carefully inspect the contents of their own minds. Obviously, this was a very subjective process, but it helped inspire further research on the scientific study of consciousness. The American psychologist William James compared consciousness to a stream—unbroken and continuous despite constant shifts and changes. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud focused on understanding the importance of the unconscious and conscious mind. While the focus of much of the research in psychology shifted to purely observable behaviors during the first half of the 20th century, research on human consciousness has grown tremendously since the 1950s.
Theories of Consciousness
One of the problems with the study of consciousness is the lack of a universally accepted operational definition. Descartes proposed the idea of cogito ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”), suggested that the very act of thinking demonstrates the reality of one’s existence and consciousness. While today, consciousness is generally defined as an awareness of yourself and the world, there are still debates about the different aspects of this awareness. Research on consciousness has focused on understanding the neuroscience behind our conscious experiences. Scientists have even utilized brain-scanning technology to seek out specific neurons that might be linked to different conscious events. Modern researchers have proposed two major theories of consciousness: integrated information theory and global workspace theory.
Integrated Information Theory
This approach looks at consciousness by learning more about the physical processes that underlie our conscious experiences. The theory attempts to create a measure of the integrated information that forms consciousness. The quality of an organism’s consciousness is represented by the level of integration. This theory tends to focus on whether something is conscious and to what degree it is conscious.
Global Workspace Theory
This theory suggests that we have a memory bank from which the brain draws information to form the experience of conscious awareness. While integrated information theory focuses more on identifying whether an organism is conscious, the global workspace theory offers a much broader approach to understanding how consciousness works.
A Word From Verywell
While consciousness has intrigued philosophers and scientists for thousands of years, experts clearly have a long way to go in our understanding of the concept. Researchers continue to explore the different bases of consciousness including the physical, social, cultural, and psychological influences that contribute to our conscious awareness.
