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The Classic Definition
To be conscious is the ability to be aware of oneself, of what one is doing and of oneself doing it. Being conscious of an external object, state, or fact characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and thought. The upper level of mental life of which the person is aware as contrasted with unconscious processes.
As Short Term Memory
Several cognitive views of consciousness have appeared so far. Some stress the close connection between consciousness and Short- Term Memory (STM), others relate it to the control of action or executive functions. In a typical STM experiment, subjects are given a string of unrelated words, letters, or numbers, and requested to retrieve them shortly afterwards. A great deal is known of the resulting memory patterns, but relatively little attention has been given to the fact that during the retention interval, only the currently rehearsed item is conscious at any single moment. For this reason STM has been closely associated with conscious experience, even though it is not identical to it.
As Immediate Attention Span
By removing the time factor and focusing specifically on the retention interval, a measurement of the subjects Immediate Attention Span (IAS) is obtained. This may gives a better indication of the nature of consciousness. In a typical IAS experiment, subjects are given a string of unrelated words, letters, or numbers, and requested to see how many of them they are able to hold or "contain" in their immediate attention at any single moment. This measures their span of attention as they can only see a limited amount of words, letters or numbers at any single moment.
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© Gardar Gardarsson, 2003. All Rights Reserved.
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