Antonio Damasio's Theory of Core Consciousness - Essay Example

Critical review of Antonio Damasio's theory of "core" consciousness Antonio Damasio is known for his works on psychology though in an unconventional manner he tries to interpret the idea of consciousness into a theoretical science. The main intension of Damasio's theory is to venture into the neuro-physiological analysis of memory, emotions and consciousness. Damasio's theory of convergence zones is the framework from which his theory of core consciousness is derived. Thus it is essential to understand his theory of convergence zones. Damasio's theory of convergence zones states that "when an image enters the brain via the visual cortex, it is channelled through "convergence zones" in the brain until it is identified. Each convergence zone handles a category of objects (faces, animals, trees, etc): a convergence zone does not store permanent memories of words and concepts but helps reconstructing them. Once the image has been identified, an acoustical pattern corresponding to the image is constructed by another area of the brain. Finally an articulatory pattern is constructed so that the word that the image represents can be spoken. There are about twenty known categories that the brain uses to organize knowledge: fruits/vegetables, plants, animals, body parts, colours, numbers, letters, nouns, verbs, proper names, faces, facial expressions, emotions, sounds." (Damasio, 1999). Damasio is the firm believer of the theory that the reasoning area of the brain and the area of the brain responsible for generating emotions virtually overlap each other. As a result and thus he derives the hypothesis that emotion and reason cooperate. He believes that this is the neural, or better to state physical evidence in favour of his theory. Damasio also implies that this is the proof of the brain-body communication that is so much essential for the survival of a species. In his current neurobiological work 'The Feeling of What Happens: Body, Emotion and the Making of Consciousness' Damasio states that evolution developed two different levels of consciousness. One is 'core consciousnesses and the other 'extended consciences'. "Core consciousness is what we share with some nonhuman animals - a simple biological phenomenon, the scope of which is the Here and Now. This basic, integrated representation of one moment and one place is independent of language, reasoning and memory" (Metzinger, 1999). Damasio states this as a organism builds up its memory of its biography, or in other words, a flow chart of its core self each part of this memory bank induces and enhances the core consciousness by becoming a portal of each function submitted in the autobiography of its mind. This core consciousness also enables this organism to draw reference and induce conclusion from this autobiographical memory bank. In accordance to the ability of the organism the autobiographical memory bank stores data for an extended period of time for usage in times of need. The need can be the ability to define itself processing the collective data available or to interact with outsiders in favourable and inauspicious circumstances. The autobiographical memory bank creates a mental map where the self image of that organism is stored. But the perimeter of this core consciousness ends here. After that the domain of extended consciousness begins. Thus it is obvious to state that "active scratchpad" of mental life (Baars, 1988) is absent in this regard. It could be termed that the domain of core consciousness is specified on the usage where there is nothing called tomorrow. Core consciousness only deals with the immediate present and 'now'. It has no functionality in the hyperspace of time. It should be noted that core consciousness does not overlap the idea of space either. In other words core consciousness is not worried about what happens outside the perimeter of its own existence it is only aware of the area where it is present physically. For core consciousness, everything is 'here' as in the context of time- 'now'. Damasio states that at this point we human beings share our consciousness with all and other consciousness animals. Waterworth and Waterworth note this as, (Waterworth & Waterworth, 2001): "if we react as if the external world is only imaginary we will not survive long (think of this the next time you cross a busy street). And if we think that what we are merely imagining is actually happening, we may omit to carry out basic activities on which our survival depends. We are suggesting that presence is the feeling that evolution has given us to make this vital distinction." (p. 2) In this context we can sub-divide the idea core consciousness into three major parts- the proto self, the core self and the autobiographical self. (Dolan, 1999) there proto self can be described as a map that stores the physical state of the organism. It is neutral in nature and collects the pattern in a coherent mode and this is done in moment by moment format. On the other hand the core self: tends to act an ephemeral unit which alternatively collects all its data from any interaction with foreign objects other than the organism. This information is generated continuously and stored and it is one of the most important parts of an organism's survival strategy. On the contrary, the autobiographical self acts a systematic record storage device where it accumulates the information that the organism tends to acquire about itself. This is the place where the organism builds up its self projection. Core consciousness along with core self apply themselves in mapping the body state and thereby enabling the organism with a tool for survival. "The appearance of the sense of presence allows the nervous system to solve a key problem for its survival: how to differentiate between internal and external states."( Waterworth & Waterworth, 2003). The evolutionary goal of the core consciousness is to predict and analyse the external world a it goes on incurring information of itself and the world around it. The sensorial input not only predicts the outcome but also maps a characteristic guide for the organism. Llins suggested that lamprey can be used in this matter (Llins, 2001). According to the latest studies on neurobiology the steps can be ascertained as follows (pp. 23-24): The comparison of the sensory referred properties of the external world with a separate internal sensory-motor representation of those properties; The transformation/utilization of this pre-motor solution into finely timed and executed movements. R. L. Gregory adds, "As perception depends on rich knowledge from the past stored in the brain, there must be a problem in identifying the present moment from past memories, and also from anticipations running into the future. The present is signalled by real time stimuli from the senses; but as perceptions are 90% or more stored knowledge, the present moment needs to be identified for behaviour to be appropriate to what is happening out there now." (p. 1694) It is widely believed that emotions are the fallout of reactions that experiences with the outside world. As core consciousness is immaculately associated with emotions in a wider sense, it should be granted that core consciousness linked with fear is the most well restored data and is never erased. (Scaruffi, 1999) This is relevant because this same conclusion is correlated to emotion. "The prefrontal cortex, amygdala and right cerebral cortex form a system for reasoning that gives rise to emotions and feelings. The prefrontal cortex and the amygdala process a visual stimulus by comparing it with previous experience and generate a response that is transmitted both to the body and to the back of the brain." (Scaruffi, 1999b) It is but a sublime relevance that these conclusions could only lead us to think of core consciousness, as pointed out by Antonio Damasio, in a new and different dimension. Antonio Damasio's conceptual distinctions between proto presence, core presence, and extended presence (Riva, 2003) tend to yield parameters that are at the same time obvious and logical conclusion. The idea of brain mapping and core consciousness is essential for a biological organism to survive in terms of biological perspective at it constantly checks the probable fallouts analyzing the data stored in its memory bank and believing on this background a organism's mental life is formed and maintained though out its life span. In this scenario it is the job of the core consciousness to constantly monitor the inner and outer environment of an organism. The key word for survival is to know precisely the circumstances where it exists at any given moment. The relation between the inner self and the external universe is the one condition that should be well understood and exercised in order to live and survive and replicate but this entire procedure is functioned sub consciously and core consciousness is the key player this operation. These apparently automatic and unconscious activities are never noticed if not otherwise the balance of the organism goes wildly wrong somewhere. It should be noted that identifying this instability of balance in an organism is recognize immediately by core consciousness. Damasio also adds a couple of more components to his model. One is autobiographical memory and the other is dispositions. By the term autobiographical memory he narrates an aspect that stores the most important data of the biographies of the organism. By using the term disposition Damasio indicates at a recording system that remains dormant until otherwise needed to be excavated by outward activities. "We receive sensory signals from our eyes, ears, nose and sense of touch that are mapped by the proto self. Some microseconds later, this activity is monitored by the core self and becomes the content of core consciousness. A few microseconds more are required for the activation of extended consciousness. Some milliseconds later, it adds dispositional records of that place (or similar places) coming from autobiographical memory". (Slater. 2003) Damasio defines this autobiographical self to be placed at the third level of core consciousness. "The possibility of defining internal goals and tracking their achievement is the element that allows the final shift in the evolution of the self: from meaning-as-comprehensibility to meaning-as-significance. Meaning-as-comprehensibility refers to the extent to which the event fits with our view of the world (for example, as just, controllable, and nonrandom) whereas meaning-as-significance refers to the value or worth of the event for us" (Janoff-Bulman & Frantz, 1997) It is evident that from extended to core consciousness the conceptual interpretations are of the brain mapping system is abstract in nature and mostly it can be narrated as being 'slow' in nature (in a relative sense) while in the conditions of interacting with the real world around the organism it must be fast enough to react to different stimuli, else would parish completely. Thus the natural interactivity must be rapid and true to its instincts based on the long drawn usage of storage system and data analysis because "information must be displayed in concrete forms that can be accepted by core consciousness as realistic. Proto presence has the most demanding technological requirements, and is the last of the three layers to be addressed through media. It function at the level of pro-preconception, spatial and internal monitoring, which may reflect the primal role of these processes in the evolution of consciousness" (Sheets-Johnstone, 1998). But it is widely believed that the model of the layer of presence with its different strata is far from perfect and is not integrated properly. Firstly the proto presence or spatial presence may be completely absent in conditions where the organism might have an extremely high amount of vividness or proto presence. The same is also true when the organism displays a phenomenal amount of engagement or in other word- extended presence. Secondly, there could be numerous situations where the extended consciousness or engagement in other words, could be comfortably present without the interference or involvement of the other layers. Similarly, there could be occasions like deep thought where extended consciousness or engagement is completely out of the contentions of the inner self simply because proto or in other words spatial and core presence or vividness takes up the mind or thought process in a complete sense. Lastly, there are also chances that, like the situation of a deep thought, "with particularly uninteresting content of the VR but no dominating personal worries (low engagement) may tend to produce frequent "breaks in presence" (a change or spreading of position on the locus dimension)." (Slater, 2002) The magic of core consciousness is that once a information is received by the organism through the mechanism of core consciousness it is deemed to be embedded in the organism's data storage unit as long as it lives. The only variable of this perception would be a situation where this embedded data fails to interact or communicate with the integrated area of the layer other than its own. Content entering core consciousness will remain there for as long as it can be integrated with the content of the other layers. If by any chance or coincidence a competing data or content enters the organism's data archive or the storage area ii either or both the layers of consciousness the locus would be completely changed and there is this possibility always prevailing to corrupt or inactivate the existing content or data. "The probability and duration of such changes depend on extended consciousness; attention is likely to be captured by whatever is most relevant to the goals of the extended self, whether this is a stimulus from the real world or a mental event such as a sudden thought. Even the occurrence of a new vivid stimulus, such as a loud sound (attracting core presence), or a break in bodily continuity such as a cable obstructing movement in a VR (attracting proto presence) will only have temporary effects. Once extended consciousness has judged the event as no longer relevant, the self will revert to the previous content of core consciousness" (Spagnolli & Gamberini, 2002). Thus it is an absolute necessity to formulate a model that would enable proper and continuous interaction and exchange of interpretations among the different layers. This is a vital phenomenon that would increase the perception of the world around the organism in an utmost manner. There real world around the organism and the virtual world within it are vulnerable in terms of existence if not otherwise acted on a proper scale. Therefore it is so important to organise a set up that would maximise the output of perception of the initial two worlds and provide the organism a better and far more probable chance of survival and this is only possible by the dint of proper interaction among the layers of consciousness where core consciousness is acting as a prime beneficiary and connoisseur at the same time. It is but obvious that this perception of demodulation and re modelling the initialisations would be very demanding indeed in a technical meaning of the word but it is absolutely necessary to the configuration to alter, change and reconstruct immersion when and wherever it is feasible. Potential changes must be induced or in other words the scope of potential changes must be incorporated when ever there is a possibility of doing such act. The integration of proto or spatial and core or sensory presence is essential "to integrate extended presence, the events and entities experienced in the virtual environment must have significance for the participant. One promising approach is to design a role for the participant as a performer in a drama" (Nath, 2001). As Dennett mentioned in the book Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind (1978) there is an important difference between existence and point of view it is also important to view the work of Antanio Damasio as a specific point of view and not the ultimate proof of existence. The main function of the word presence is used by the organism to basically separate itself from the external world and when required it is used in a form that would help it interact with the external existence. The events of activities and conclusions are analysed this way by separating itself or in other words detaching itself as an individual from the world. The existence of core consciousness is a unitary feeling and thus it is a prime important factor for survival. In fact, this could be termed as the single most important factor for existence in the real world. It has been widely suggested that the 'contributions to the intensity of this feeling can come from three layers of the self, and we refer to these as proto presence, core presence and extended presence.' To quote Riva, "appropriate form is needed for high presence, but reality judgement is not only a matter of form. We are more likely to attend to and assess information that has significance for us. At the same time, our model allows presence to be differentiated from emotional or intellectual engagement and, because of that, from consciousness in general."(Riva, 2003) . References Damasio, A. (1999). The Feeling of What Happens: Body, Emotion and the Making of Consciousness. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace and Co, Inc. Metzinger, T. (1999). The hint half guessed. Scientific American, 11, 184-189. Baars, B. J. (1988). A cognitive theory of consciousness. New York: Cambridge University Press Waterworth, J. A., & Waterworth, E. L. (2001). Focus, Locus, and Sensus: The three dimensions of virtual experience. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Dolan, R. J. (1999). Feeling the neurobiological self. Nature, 401, 847-848. Waterworth, J. A., & Waterworth, E. L. (2003). The meaning of presence. Presence-Connect, 3 (3), February. Llins, R. R. (2001). I of the vortex: From Neurons to Self. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Gregory, R. L. (1998). Brainy mind. British Medical Journal, 317, 1693-1695. Scaruffi, Piero, (1999). Antonio Damasio: DESCARTES' ERROR G.P. Putnam's Sons Scaruffi, Piero, (1999b). Antonio Damasio: DESCARTES' ERROR G.P. Putnam's Sons. Pg.34-35 Riva, G & Waterworth, J A (2003).Presence and the Self: a cognitive neuroscience approach. Presence-Connect Slater, M. (2003). A Note on Presence Terminology. Presence-Connect, 3, (3), January. Janoff-Bulman, R., & Frantz, C. M. (1997). The impact of trauma on meaning: From meaningless world to meaningful life. Sheets-Johnstone, M. (1998). Consciousness: A Natural History. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 5 (3) 260-294. Slater, M. (2002). Presence and the sixth sense. Presence: Teleoperators, and Virtual Environments, 11(4), 435-439 Spagnolli, A., & Gamberini, L. (2002, 9-11 October). Immersion/Emersion: Presence in hybrid environments. Paper presented at the Presence 2002: Fifth Annual International Workshop, Porto, Portugal. Nath, S, (2001). Emotion Based Narratives: A New Approach to Creating Story Experiences in Immersive Virtual Environments. MA Thesis, Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, London, UK. Dennett, D. C. (1978). Brainstorms - Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Riva, G and Waterworth, J A (2003).Presence and the Self: a cognitive neuroscience approach. Presence-Connect Read More