Ian Morton's blog

I. Introduction

Introduction

Social Neuroscience:
The Search for the Social Brain
Ian Morton, 2007

We concluded the semester with the idea that the I-function, our self-consciousness, is a story-teller, which makes a best attempt to contextualize, temporalize and generally make “sense” of input to the nervous system. With this notion in mind, I was curious if we should therefore assume that language, an innate aspect of “story telling,” is necessary for self-consciousness. Or can we create a “story” of our environment and our place in it without language? In order to approach this question, we should examine the development of both language and self-consciousness. Through examining these developmental processes, can we find and correlative relationship between language and self-consciousness? Even before we analyze the relationship between the two, we must first define what is meant by self-consciousness. There are many concepts of what self-consciousness is, including the “I-function” storyteller, and which concept one believes to be true has implications on the prerequisite of language.

Abstract:

Previously consciousness has been a concept to which only philosophers, and later psychologists, have aspired to describing. However, it is now believed that neuroscience may offer a means for reaching a better understanding of consciousness, including locating a neurological correlate of consciousness (5). The phenomenon known as “blindsight” has given rise to several rounds of research that have produced multiple theories pertaining to visual consciousness, the consequences of which force one to question previous notions of awareness, experience and the mind-body relationship. This paper begins to examine some of the major theories that have emerged from studies of blindsight and discuss their implications on our previous notions of consciousness, including as it relates to Aristotle’s notion of the soul. Within this subject, there are yet to be any truths to conclude. Consequently the goal of this paper is not to innumerate truth, but instead to provoke thought about everyday experiences of consciousness.

What makes us human? Humans possess the capacity for language, empathy, internal dialogue and emotions. However, before we were capable of such characteristics, we first needed to develop consciousness. It is consciousness that establishes our understanding of self and other. Here then, with the emergence of consciousness is the birth of subjectivity within a complex social network. So what then allows us to possess a consciousness? While the neural basis of consciousness remains a mystery, resent research has uncovered two classes of cells that could play major roles in organizing our capacity for social interactions. It seems that spindle neurons and mirror neurons could be responsible for separating us from the rest of the animal kingdom.