15
votes
Why do dreams lose clarity quickly over time after we awaken?
Short answer: Because areas of the brain needed for remembering are turned off during dreaming.
Dream Amnesia:
The process of converting perception into a memory construct that can be stored is ...
- 17.9k
13
votes
Accepted
Why do we wake up when we die in our dreams?
When you dream you're in REM sleep (rapid eye movement). REM sleep is only slightly more "deep" than stage 1 of non-REM which means it's not that hard to wake you up in the first place.
Dying in a ...
- 373
12
votes
Is quantum tunneling required for nerve signals to cross the dendritic synaptic barrier?
I don't know what precisely "nerve signals" is supposed to refer to, but neurons exchange information mainly via one pathway: neurotransmitters. And these do not travel the synaptic cleft via quantum ...
- 2,414
10
votes
Accepted
How does masking work?
Apparently your question is on backward masking, which means that the masker follows the stimulus (probe) in time. Backward masking generally occurs at higher levels, typically the cortex. In case of ...
- 19.6k
7
votes
Why do dreams lose clarity quickly over time after we awaken?
State dependent memory could play a role in quickly forgetting dreams after awakening.
See my question here: What is the scientific term for unexpected, spontaneous dream recall? I ask about a ...
- 9,302
7
votes
How does subjective experience arise from matter?
This is partially an aspect of the binding problem.
Sensory information arrives in parallel as a variety of heterogeneous hints, (shapes, colors, motions, smells and sounds) encoded in partly ...
- 5,610
7
votes
Accepted
When can we say that machines are conscious?
Short answer: We don't know.
Long answer: There are a few major lines of thinking on the subject currently.
Cognitive closure: One common argument is that this question is simply not answerable - at ...
- 17.9k
7
votes
Can a sufficiently complex ANN simulate consciousness?
David Chalmers has argued against the thermostat view, suggesting that adaptation to the environment is not sufficient. John Searle also disagrees that the current state of machine learning is capable ...
- 628
7
votes
Does our consciousness die when we go to sleep or fall into a coma?
Q: Does our consciousness die when we go to sleep or fall into a coma?
A: No, neuroscientifically speaking, the consciousness does not die when we are sleeping or are in a coma; it is just in a sleep ...
- 1,795
6
votes
How does subjective experience arise from matter?
what has always puzzled me is the neurobiological basis that gives
rise to the phenomenon that we associate our bodies with ourselves –
i.e., why does my brain think of my physical body as "me" ...
- 512
6
votes
The mind as a state of matter or physical system?
Note: This is not intended to set a verbosity standard for answers, but to give a comprehensive example of what kind of information I am looking in order to further clarify the question. An answer ...
- 6,902
6
votes
What is the relationship between the ego, amygdala and consciousness?
Assuming your question is "Is person's ego a projection of the responses of their amygdala onto the conscious experience?", I think it would translate to "Does the amygdala determines or houses the ...
- 19.6k
5
votes
Bringing dreams to conscious awareness
Just speaking from personal experience, I've never experienced time distortion in my dreams as extremely as you describe. I've experienced moments scattered throughout narratives that would take ...
- 9,274
5
votes
Accepted
Is consciousness a sub product of the brain or is there a duality?
Your question is about the hard problem of consciousness, which is basically the question of how qualia can be explained in a mechanistic way. As alluded to by the name of the problem, it's hard to ...
- 5,814
5
votes
What would explain an intense feeling of being extremely present, for no reason?
Apparently I have a proclivity for long answers, but I thought I'd respond given the viewership on this question.
We can whittle your question down to a more general form: Can my subjective ...
- 4,246
5
votes
Do many people have an "Accompanying Voice" - an equal they converse with?
From a quick search online I see no reason why you distantiate what you describe from auditory hallucinations:
a form of hallucination that involves perceiving sounds without
auditory stimulus.
...
- 3,461
5
votes
Accepted
Is there a name for arguing with other people in one's mind?
I'm not aware of a term specifically for this phenomenon.
Having a conversation in one's head has been termed dialogic inner speech by several researchers. You didn't mention if the people you are ...
- 17.9k
5
votes
Is there a term in psychology for when a tool is perceived as an extension of your body?
Short answer
Possible interesting terms are:
distal attribution (externalization)
body transfer illusion (rubber hand illusion)
embodiment
Background
This is a very interesting, yet difficult ...
- 19.6k
4
votes
Assuming everything has conciousness, can technical hardware have higher level of conciousness than a rock?
There's a philosophical stance called panpsychism that addresses this question. Of course, there is no proof, but the fundamental question is really about humans. Is consciousness an intrinsic ...
- 5,610
4
votes
How are qualia localized in consciousness?
This question has been unanswered for a long time and I will attempt to address the issues posed not one by one, as there are a great many questions, but with an overall working of the sensory nervous ...
- 19.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Relationship between oculometry/pupillometry and disorders of consciousness
I have listed several articles below for your reference:
(Search terms: "oculometry pupillometry disorders of consciousness" in Google Scholar, nothing special):
Grandchamp et al, 2014, DOI: 10.3389/...
- 19.6k
4
votes
How does masking work?
There are different types of masking that may have different mechanisms. Even backward masking may mean:
noise masking - such as when white noise is presented
pattern masking - when target-resembling ...
4
votes
Is the split-brain, dual consciousness experiment from Rhawn Joseph valid?
Short answer
On the basis of a cursory literature review, I conclude that Jospeh's observations were correct, but his conclusions that a callosotomy can result in a dual consciousness were far ...
- 19.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Color and shape arriving together in visual system
It is something of an oversimplification to say that
there are separate visual pathways for both color and shape.
There are many cells, even in V1, which are selective for both colour and shape (...
- 1,083
4
votes
Is hypnosis really concentration/focus?
The answer lies in what is known of the conscious, unconscious and the presconscious parts of the mind, with preconscious is the scientific name for the subconscious, however, for the purposes of this ...
- 11.1k
4
votes
If reality is just hallucination, how come different people see same objects
According to Anil Seth, in this talk, consciousness is an active construction process. In that view, for the subject to have an experience about world, physical ...
- 147
4
votes
Accepted
When does a human baby develop a consciousness?
Q: When does a human baby develop a consciousness? … Consciousness - the ability to sense the world around you in an independent way. You can think for yourself, and make choices that defy your ...
- 1,795
4
votes
Accepted
Does monism imply that computers can have consciousness?
Note: While "The Basic Theory of the Mind" may potentially be well researched and possibly accurate, it is (as far as I know) a self-published discourse by a non-researcher, that is not peer-reviewed. ...
- 17.9k
3
votes
Accepted
Finding consciousness through EEG
I don't know any such group in Italy but there is a group in Liege, Belgium which is called Coma Science Group. It consists of scientists of various disciplines and their main interest is ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible