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Consciousness, a psychological concept, defined as early as 1690 (by the English philosopher John Locke) as “the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind.”
Early views. In the early 19th century the concept was variously considered—as a kind of substance or “mental stuff,” quite different from the material substance of the physical world; or as an attribute characterized by sensation and voluntary movement, which separated animals and men from lower forms of life and also described the difference between the normal waking state of animals and men and their condition when asleep, in a coma, or under anesthesia (the latter condition was described as unconsciousness). Other descriptions included an analysis of consciousness as a form of relationship or act of the mind toward objects in nature, and a view that consciousness was a continuous field or stream of essentially mental “sense data,” roughly similar to the “ideas” of earlier empirical philosophers.
The method employed by most early writers in observing consciousness was introspection
—looking within one’s own mind to discover the laws of its operation. The limitations of the method became apparent when it was found that trained observers in the laboratory often could not agree on fundamental observations.
The behaviourist view. In behaviourist psychology, derived primarily from work of the U.S. psychologist J.B. Watson in the early 1 900s, consciousness is a concept referring in a general way to behaviour characterized by alert awareness and responsiveness as contrasted with the lack of awareness and relative unresponsiveness of deep sleep or anesthetic coma. Between these extremes are varying degrees or levels of consciousness.
J’Jeurophysiological mechanisms. That consciousness depends on the function of the brain has been known from ancient times.
Although detailed understanding of the neural mechanisms of consciousness has not been achieved, correlations between states of consciousness and functions of the brain are posLevels of consciousness in terms of levels of alertness or responsiveness are correlated with characteristic patterns of electrical activity of the brain (brain waves) recorded by a device called the electroencephalograph. During wide-awake consciousness the pattern of brain waves consists of rapid irregular waves of low amplitude or voltage. In contrast, during sleep, when consciousness can be said to be minimal, the brain waves are much slower and of greater amplitude, often coming in periodic bursts of slow waxing and waning amplitude.
Both behavioral levels of consciousness and the correlated patterns of electrical activity are related to the function of a part of the brainstem called the reticular formation. Electrical stimulation of the ascending reticular systems arouses a sleeping cat to alert consciousness and simultaneously activates its brain waves to the waking pattern.
It was once supposed that the neurophysiological mechanisms subserving consciousness and the higher mental processes must reside in the cortex. It is more likely, however, that the cortex serves the more specialized functions of integrating patterns of sensory experience and organizing motor patterns and that the ascending reticular system represents the neural structures most critically related to consciousness.
Still, the brainstem reticular formation should not be called the seat of consciousness. It represents an integrative focus, functioning through its widespread interconnections with the cortex and other regions of the brain.
