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Assessment and Communication for People with Disorders of Consciousness
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Functions of consciousness.

Bruce Bridgeman1

  • 1a Dept. of Psychology , University of California , Santa Cruz , CA , USA.

Cognitive Neuroscience
|October 31, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Consciousness likely evolved to enable internal plans, overriding environmental cues. This function may rely on working memory mechanisms, as suggested by priming studies.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Evolutionary Psychology
  • Philosophy of Mind

Background:

  • Evolutionary theory suggests complex traits, like consciousness, must have a function to persist.
  • Consciousness is typically studied through memory recall, hinting at its underlying mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the evolutionary function of consciousness.
  • To investigate the role of consciousness in overriding environmental priming.
  • To propose working memory as a potential mechanism for consciousness.

Main Methods:

  • Review of evolutionary theory regarding trait persistence.
  • Analysis of word priming studies investigating conscious awareness.
  • Theoretical integration of consciousness, working memory, and behavioral control.

Main Results:

  • Consciousness appears to facilitate internally driven behavior over environmentally primed responses.
  • Awareness of a prime allows for its intentional avoidance, supporting a regulatory function.
  • Working memory is proposed as a potential neural substrate for conscious processing.

Conclusions:

  • Consciousness serves an adaptive function by enabling goal-directed behavior.
  • The ability to inhibit primed responses suggests consciousness supports executive control.
  • Working memory may be integral to the experience and function of consciousness.