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Updated: Sep 30, 2026

Assessment and Communication for People with Disorders of Consciousness
Published on: August 1, 2017
Re-representing consciousness: dissociations between experience and meta-consciousness
1518 Learning Research and Development Center, 3939 O'Hara Street, University of Pittsburgh, 15260, Pittsburgh PA, USA
Abstract:
A distinction is drawn between non-conscious (unexperienced), conscious (experienced), and meta-conscious (re-represented) mental processes. There is evidence for two types of dissociations between consciousness and meta-consciousness, the latter being defined as the intermittent explicit re-representation of the contents of consciousness. Temporal dissociations occur when an individual, who previously lacked meta-consciousness about the contents of consciousness, directs meta-consciousness towards those contents; for example, catching one's mind wandering during reading. Once meta-consciousness is triggered, translation dissociations can occur if the re-representation process misrepresents the original experience, such as when one verbally reflects on non-verbal experiences or takes stock of subtle or ambiguous experiences.
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