For generations philosophers have debated the idea of consciousness. Over the years, there have been many different ideas regarding what exactly it is, how to measure it, and what it might mean.
Some people would argue that as far as we know, only humans are truly conscious. Others would say that most (or even all) animals have a level of consciousness. Still others would say it really doesn’t matter from a practical perspective.
The fact is, however, that consciousness is one of those things that is important to people and it is also very difficult to really nail down.
You, reading this article, are conscious, but what if you are sleeping?
What if you are put into a medically induced coma?
What about in the moments after death?
On the other end of that spectrum, when did you become conscious? As anyone who has ever held an infant will attest, it is hard to argue that they are not at all conscious, but it is also hard to argue that they are conscious at the same level as an adult.
In recent years, philosophers and scientists have been looking at consciousness not as a binary question where something can either be fully conscious or entirely without consciousness, but more on a spectrum.
To measure that spectrum, researchers published a paper that identified four specific areas to look at. If a being meets all four key areas, they are clearly conscious. If they meet none of them, they are not. If they only meet some of them, than it would be on some part of the spectrum.
The four key points are:
- Activity in the Default Mode Network – The default node network are areas of the brain that are most active when a person is daydreaming. A 2022 study found that this area of the brain was active at or near birth in humans.
- Attention to Stimuli – Some living things simply respond to external stimuli, like plants. If the being responds to external stimuli by directing their attention to it, that would qualify for this measurement.
- Multisensory Integration – Developed people (and many animals) are very good at taking in information from multiple senses and combining the information in a useful way. This measurement looks at a subjects ability to accomplish this, and those that can meet the requirements for this aspect of consciousness.
- Logical-Global Effect – Finally, this is essentially the ability to detect patterns and notice when they are broken. A basic measurement of this in very young humans is when, even in the third trimester, they are able to respond to an auditory pattern and then when that pattern is unexpectedly broken, it is noticed on brain scan measurements.
While all of that is interesting and insightful, none of it provides any answers as to precisely when humans (or any animals) gain consciousness. If anything, it gives us some valuable ways to start to measure it.
Philosophers and scientists will undoubtedly keep trying to fine tune these points, and possibly add more to them, so that they can try to answer this question that people have been asking throughout history.
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