What is consciousness? And Where is it located?
We tend to treat our consciousness as a mystery, perhaps even as a supernatural quality of being human. Something that might even be divine, connecting us to a higher power. But could the source of consciousness really just all be contained in the neurons, synapses and other connections within our brain?
New research seems to point us to one of these directions.
What is it that makes it so mystical for us. What is consciousness?
No one knows for sure, but scientists seem to agree that consciousness has to involve the integration of activity from several brain networks, allowing us to perceive our surroundings.
It integrates all our sensory inputs – sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste as one single unifying experience rather than isolated sensory perceptions.
It connects us to our present, memories of our past…and to our emotions into a single ego-centric perception. All these things shape our perception of who we are, and what we believe to be the world around us.
Even if we don’t know what it is, can we at least find out WHERE it is? Just days before he died in July 2004, Francis Crick, who co-discovered the structure of DNA, was working on a paper that suggested that our consciousness needs some kind of conductor to put all external stimuli and internal perceptions together
He hypothesized that this conductor would need to rapidly integrate information from different parts of the brain and put them into a whole. For example, if you are sitting outside and you smell a neighbor’s barbeque, you might instantly be able to imagine the kind of food he is cooking. You may remember its name, its texture and its taste instantly. And you may even recall any past experiences, memories and emotions associated with the smell of that barbecue. All these things happen instantly.
Crick suggested that the claustrum – a thin, sheet-like structure that lies hidden deep inside the brain – is perfectly suited for this job. Well, 10 years later, in a 2014 study, scientists at George Washington University in Washington, DC were trying to manage a patient’s epileptic seizures.
After trying many different treatments unsuccessfully, they tried a long shot. They put a probe near this woman’s claustrum. When they stimulated it, the woman’s consciousness seemed to completely turn off.
She stopped reading and stared blankly into space, she didn’t respond to auditory or visual commands and her breathing slowed.
This was not like being in a coma or going to sleep. She just simply stared into space, with seemingly no perception of the world around her. Almost as if a switch had been turned off.
As soon as the stimulation stopped, she immediately regained consciousness but had no memory of the event. The claustrum may be like the light switch in your house. It can turn consciousness on or off by the flick of a switch.
If consciousness can be controlled by a physical object in the brain, this is compelling evidence that our consciousness does not exist outside of the brain, but rather within it.
And not only within it, but also located in a very specific spot in the brain. This seems to indicate that our consciousness is not some kind of spooky spirit or force that resides in a realm independent of the brain cells that make it up.
Unless further experiments prove otherwise, this evidence seems to indicate that, perhaps our consciousness can be understood. It is a manifestation of all our thoughts, sensory inputs, emotions and experiences compiled together with the help of an orchestra conductor called the claustrum.
This realization of consciousness being something physical, however does not make it any less special. It is still remarkable. It just means that it is probably worldly, and not other-worldly.
Citation: PDF of original research study on claustrum stimulation is located here:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=C0E6A60D80B5859C97D44060349DA8C2?doi=10.1.1.461.6936&rep=rep1&type=pdf
