THE MIND IS I (oneself): –

Mapping the brain of course has not been an easy task. A dense tapestry threaded by archipelagoes (group of islands) of nerve cells, the brain consists of billions of neurons and trillions of synapses. It is the most complex object on the planet. The heart pumps blood, the lungs ingest oxygen, the stomach absorbs nutrients, but the functions of the brain are manifold. It monitors the body’s basic processes, coordinates physical movement, perceives, thinks, acts and feels. It is an executive branch of government that ceaselessly plans, reacts and interacts with the organic world around it.

But if you define consciousness as mental content – the information con- tained in the thoughts that is reportable by the person, and which they can reflect on and talk about it, in that sense the consciousness is a valid subject of scientific study.

Consciousness (Self Awareness): –

There are many levels, from basic perception of the environment to the higher consciousness, which is the capacity for self-awareness. Sense of identity is probably a mixture – a nested hierarchy – of coordinated functions arising out of several areas of the brain. But the right hemisphere is the dominant source of the self. Some scientists believe that the right hemisphere is not simply dom- inant in the formation of the self-awareness, but it is essential. There are def- inite neural correlates of higher order consciousness that, if you mark them out, the person is no longer conscious, no longer capable of self-awareness. Just tenth of an inch beneath the furrowed ridges of gray matter that covers the right front side of the brain, is a layer of tangled cell tissue that makes us uniquely human. There may be other similarly minuscule areas of the brain that contribute to consciousness, but the right prefrontal cortex – located just above the right eye – is the primary source of self awareness.