Betting on Consciousness: Ancient Question Meets Ancient Game
What's consciousness? Perhaps, a new study suggests, it's what you're willing to bet on.
Photo by Adrian Sampson, Creative Commons license.
Consciousness -- the awareness of perception, sensation or thought -- presents one of neuroscience's most slippery problems. How do we become aware of something? When can we be said to be aware of something? Being tired and being conscious of being tired are two different things; how does one become the other?
Philosophers, having debated these heady questions for centuries, have recently been joined by neuroscientists determined to test them with replicable measurements of awareness.
Much of what we do goes on outside the pale of consciousness -- whether we adjust our body posture or decide to marry someone, we often have no idea why or how we do the things we do
clipped from: blog.sciam.com