Awareness 491696 225611725 2008-07-14T15:32:34Z Sardanaphalus 427947 updating link using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] {{Redirect|Aware}} In [[biological psychology]], '''awareness''' comprises a human's or an animal's [[sense|perception]] and [[cognitive]] reaction to a condition or event. Awareness does not necessarily imply [[understanding]], just an ability to be conscious of, feel or perceive. ==Concept== Awareness is a relative [[concept]]. An [[animal]] may be partially aware, may be [[subconscious]]ly aware, or may be acutely aware of an event. Awareness may be focused on an internal state, such as a visceral feeling, or on external events by way of sensory perception. Awareness provides the raw material from which animals develop [[qualia]], or [[Subjectivity|subjective]] [[idea]]s about their [[experience]]. Also used to distinguish sensory perception is the word "awarement." "Awarement" is the established form of awareness. Once one has accomplished their sense of awareness they have come to terms with awarement. ==Self-awareness== Popular ideas about [[consciousness]] suggest the phenomenon describes a condition of being aware of one's awareness or, [[self-awareness]]. Efforts to describe consciousness in [[neurology|neurological]] terms have focused on describing networks in the [[brain]] that develop awareness of the [[qualia]] developed by other networks. ==Neuroscience== Neural systems that regulate [[attention]] serve to attenuate awareness among complex animals whose [[central nervous system|central]] and [[peripheral nervous system]] provides more information than [[cognition|cognitive]] areas of the brain can assimilate. Within an attenuated system of orgies, a [[mind]] might be aware of much more than is being contemplated in a focused [[extended consciousness]]. ===Basic Awareness=== Basic awareness of one's internal and external world depends on the [[brain stem]]. Bjorn Merker <ref>http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070915/bob9.asp Consciousness in the Raw, Science News Online, September 2007</ref>, an independent neuroscientist in Segeltorp, Sweden, argues that the brain stem supports an elementary form of conscious thought in kids with [[hydranencephaly]]. "Higher" forms of awareness including [[self-awareness]] require cortical contributions, but "primary consciousness" or "basic awareness" as an ability to integrate sensations from the environment with one's immediate goals and feelings in order to guide behavior, springs from the brain stem which human beings share with most of the [[vertebrates]]. Psychologist [[Carroll Izard]] emphasizes that this form of primary [[consciousness]] consists of capacity to generate emotions and an awareness of one's surroundings, but not an ability to talk about what one has experienced. In the same way, people can become conscious of a feeling that they can't label or describe, a phenomenon that's especially common in pre-verbal infants. Due to this discovery medical definitions of [[brain death]] as a lack of [[cortical]] activity face a serious challenge. ====Basic Interests==== Down the brain stem lie interconnected regions that regulate the direction of [[eye gaze]] and organize decisions about what to do next, such as reaching for a piece of food or pursuing a potential mate. ==Living Systems View== Outside of [[neuroscience]] biologists, [[Humberto Maturana]] and [[Francisco Varela]] contributed their [[Santiago theory of cognition]] in which they wrote:<blockquote>Living systems are cognitive systems, and living as a process is a process of cognition. This statement is valid for all organisms, with or without a nervous system.<ref>Capra, Fritjof. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/37800841&referer=brief_results The Web of Life: A new Scientific Understanding of Living Systems.</ref> </blockquote> This theory contributes a perspective that cognition is a process present at organic levels that we don't usually consider to be aware. Given the possible relationship between awareness and [[cognition]], and [[consciousness]], this theory contributes an interesting perspective in the [[philosophical]] and [[scientific]] dialogue of awareness and [[living systems theory]]. ==Other uses== Awareness is also a concept used in [[CSCW]]. Its definition has not yet reached a consensus in the scientific community. Awareness forms a basic concept of the theory and practice of [[Gestalt therapy]]. In general, "awareness" may also refer to public or common knowledge or understanding about a social, scientific, or political issue, and hence many movements try to foster "awareness" of a given subject. Examples include [[AIDS]] awareness and [[Multicultural]] awareness. ==References== {{reflist}} {{Unreferenced|date=January 2007}} ==See also== * [[Yoga Nidra]] * [[Indefinite monism]] * [[Feldenkrais method]] * [[Philosophy of mind]] ==External links== {{Wiktionarypar|awareness}} *[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9882019&dopt=Citation National Library of Medicine] Conditioning, awareness, and the hippocampus. *[http://www.euroscience.ee/human_awareness.html Euroscience Conference]: Presentation on Human Awareness and Behaviour In A Changing World. *[http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/05/3.3.05/brain_damage_aware.html Cornell University]: Recent findings in the awareness of brain damaged people. {{Philosophy topics}} [[Category:Cognitive science]] [[Category:Systems psychology]] [[Category:Virtues]] [[Category:Unsolved problems in neuroscience]] [[de:Awareness]] [[he:מודעות]] [[it:Consapevolezza]] [[ja:アウェアネス]] [[fi:Tajunta]]