Letters to the Editor

Letters posted here are associated with the following article:
A penny for your deepest thoughts
Is it possible to be too aware of our own consciousness? A psychologist and a philosopher teamed up to document inner experience.
By Gary Wolf [2008-01-11]
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  • to bogi666 and to robob

    Of course consciousness can be measured. There is an infinite mystery in consciousness, but is not about the consciousness in general. Consciousness is just another mechanism of the mind.

    We can measure historical changes in differentiation of consciousness, say by looking at the number of different words in historical texts - 8 to 9 thousands in the Bible, 30,000 in Shakspeare, about 1,000,000 in contemporary English.

    We can study number of phrases, etc., we can study standard usages by book writers and by "everage person," but I did not see the results. I think it would be interesting to study "cognitive concepts" vs "verbal concepts," I suspect that usually we talk without being fully conscious about what it refers to in the "real world."

    Are we conscious about our emotions? Some people are, and use them to the ir advantage, other people are not, and "get emotional" unconsciously, that is without conscious understanding of what is their purpose and where is their advantage. Some are "so emotional" that they cannot restrain themselves and felt compelled to act on their emotions. This is an indication that they are not conscious of their emotions, but are slaves to them.

    Mechanisms of emotions are simpler than mechanisms of conceptual thinking. Unconscious emotions (even those when one are "highly emotional") unify us with animal kingdom. Conscious emotions are uniquely human. Being "highly emotional" and at the same time fully in control is uniquely human. Music helps us differentiate our emotions and make them more conscious. This the evolutionary significance of music.

    Usually woman are better at conscious emotions than man, not always. This is why usually a woman can influence a man and compell him doing things her way. Almost never man can change a woman. But it is a statistical "average" it does not apply to every individual situation.

    We can study consciousness in the lab, we can look at fMRI brain images, while subjects performing various tests, and reports conscious experiences.

    I know about vaguer consciousness of my cat from a simple experiment. He loves sitting on my shoulder and he will do it for hours (if I let him). And he will do it as I walk around the house. But as soon as I step out of the house, he will immediately jump off - I am not the same man for him inside and outside the house, his consciousness does not completely differentiate me from the surroundings (his consciousness is vague). You are right, probably during catching a mouse he is more conscious about distances, possible mouse maneuvers, etc.

    Dr. Leonid Perlovsky

    Harvard University

    -- Perlovsky
    [Read Perlovsky's other letters]
    Sunday, January 13, 2008 11:12 AM

  • Dr. Perlovsky

    Thank you for your feed back. I have to ask is it possible to measure the moments between thoughts with brain scan and MRI'S? What if consciousness resides when their is no brain activity, which I think measures conscious activity going on in the brain. Consciousness resides in the mind and the mind exists throughout the body not exclusively in the brain. For instance the purpose of meditation is to get beyond thoughts of the brain to nothingness or those moments between thoughts. Some may refer to this as superconciousness.Can the moments between thoughts be measured with CAT scan and MRI'S or is it the thoughts being measured with brain scans and so forth?

    -- bogi666
    [Read bogi666's other letters]
    Sunday, January 13, 2008 01:23 PM

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