Conscious information can have a dominant influence on responses. We tell others about our experiences, write about our experiences, and think about our experiences, so consciousness must contribute to the generation of these behaviors (for example, Blackmore, 2004; Gomes, 2005).

Conscious thought offers insights about the past and future, socially shared information, and cultural rules. Without it, the complex forms of social and cultural coordination that define human life would not be possible.

Consciousness is pervasively bound up with intelligent perception and conceptual thought: it is not mere sensation or “raw feel.” Having thus understood consciousness, we can better recognize how, for many of us, it possesses such deep intrinsic value that life without it would be little or no better than death.

The conscious mind contains all of the thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment. This is the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about rationally.

Location, location, location Since at least the nineteenth century, scientists have known that the cerebral cortex is important for consciousness. Fresh evidence has highlighted a posterior-cortical ‘hot zone’ that is responsible for sensory experiences.

Consciousness is not a process in the brain but a kind of behavior that, of course, is controlled by the brain like any other behavior. Human consciousness emerges on the interface between three components of animal behavior: communication, play, and the use of tools.

Consciousness refers to your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environments. Essentially, your consciousness is your awareness of yourself and the world around you. This awareness is subjective and unique to you.

syncope, or the loss of consciousness due to lack of blood flow to the brain. neurologic syncope, or the loss of consciousness caused by a seizure, stroke, or transient ischemic attack (TIA) dehydration.

Technically sleep starts in the brain areas that produce SWS. Scientists now have concrete evidence that two groups of cells—the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus in the hypothalamus and the parafacial zone in the brain stem—are involved in prompting SWS. When these cells switch on, it triggers a loss of consciousness.

Losing it. You may never lose your mind, but there’s a good chance that you will have, or already have had, a mental-health issue at some point in your life. Anxiety, depression, attention deficit disorder, post-traumatic stress, psychosis, schizophrenia, are all common.

A drop in blood flow to the brain causes fainting. The most common causes of fainting are usually not signs of a more serious illness. In these cases, you faint because of: The vasovagal reflex, which causes the heart rate to slow and the blood vessels to widen, or dilate.

The following symptoms may occur after a person has been unconscious:

• Amnesia for (not remembering) events before, during, and even after the period of unconsciousness.
• Confusion.
• Drowsiness.
• Headache.
• Inability to speak or move parts of the body (stroke symptoms)
• Lightheadedness.

The state of complete unconsciousness with no eye opening is called coma. The state of complete unconsciousness with some eye opening and periods of wakefulness and sleep is called the vegetative state. As people recover from severe brain injury, they usually pass through various phases of recovery.

A vegetative state is when a person is awake but showing no signs of awareness. On recovery from the coma state, VS/UWS is characterised by the return of arousal without signs of awareness. In contrast, a coma is a state that lacks both awareness and wakefulness.

Vasovagal syncope (vay-zoh-VAY-gul SING-kuh-pee) occurs when you faint because your body overreacts to certain triggers, such as the sight of blood or extreme emotional distress. It may also be called neurocardiogenic syncope. The vasovagal syncope trigger causes your heart rate and blood pressure to drop suddenly.