Consciousness: Definition, Examples, & Theory

By Kelsey Schultz, Ph.D. Candidate
​Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
The fact that a mass of nervous tissue can wonder about its own experience of wondering is a spectacular feat of evolution. Keep reading for more about the wonders of consciousness.
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Imagine an embrace from your best friend, a sunny day spent with your dog, dancing to your favorite song, or the moment you first felt the permanence of loss. All of these are examples of conscious experience. Consciousness is a phenomenon that we are all intimately familiar with yet, as a whole, we’ve yet to determine a satisfactory, comprehensive definition of it.
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Our lack of comprehension regarding the nature of consciousness, where it comes from, and why it exists is not a reflection of a lack of effort. Humans have rigorously interrogated the nature of consciousness for millennia and in recent years, consciousness has become a popular topic of scientific inquiry. Let’s take a brief look at the current state of our understanding of consciousness.
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What Is Consciousness? (A Definition)

The term ‘consciousness’ has eluded a precise definition for thousands of years. Summary definitions of consciousness fall short when it comes to capturing the dimensionality of the term. We might use the word ‘consciousness’ to describe perceptual awareness (I am conscious of the person in front of me), the nature of being awake and alert (when under anesthesia one loses consciousness), or self-awareness and intentionality (a heavily intoxicated person might not be conscious of their actions). Many scientists and philosophers would argue that ‘consciousness’ is better understood as the subjective human experience; the “I” you’re referring to when you say, “I love you”;and the experience of being you.

Consciousness Examples

In addition to the different facets of consciousness - like perception, self-reflection, etc.- there are different states of consciousness in which some or all of these facets operate in a unique way. Some examples of different states of consciousness include:
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  • Sleeping
  • Dreaming
  • Hallucinations
  • Hypnosis
  • Meditation
  • Transcendent spiritual experiences

Is Consciousness a Brain Process?

The relationship between consciousness and brain processes, though shrouded in mystery, is well-documented. It’s unclear how or why the brain (which is essentially a fistful of electrified meat) would give rise to the depth and complexity of the human experience, but we have ample compelling evidence to support the conclusion that the two are indeed functionally linked.

One simple example of the functional relationship between brain processes and consciousness is the effect of anesthesia on consciousness. Anesthesiologists can turn consciousness off and on by altering your brain chemistry with specific chemical compounds.

Hallucinogens are another straightforward example of the relationship between brain chemistry and consciousness. Hallucinogenic drugs such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) or LSD (sometimes referred to as ‘acid’) create an altered state of consciousness by changing the way in which different parts of the brain communicate with each other.

The brain basis of consciousness is also supported by a vast body of scientific research which we will touch on a little later on.

Consciousness Theory

Consciousness has been a popular topic of inquiry for scientists and philosophers in recent years and several promising theories of consciousness have emerged. These include integrated information theory, higher-order theory, recurrent processing theory, and global workspace theory. It is important to note that these are not necessarily competing theories. The validity of one does not imply the inaccuracy of the others. Rather, each of these theories can be thought of as a different approach to understanding consciousness with different overarching goals (Seth & Bayne, 2022).

Integrated information theory
Integrated information theory is a sort of mathematical approach to describing consciousness. This theory proposes that consciousness is basically a form of information that arises from the physical and functional integration of elements within a system. The focus of integrated information theory is to identify the physical attributes that are necessary for a system to be conscious.

Higher-order theories
Higher-order theories of consciousness focus on understanding why some contents of the mind are conscious while others are not. Higher-order theories posit that mental states become conscious when they are the target of specific forms of meta-representations. 

Meta-representations are basically the capacity of the mind to generate a representation that is built from lower-level representations. For example, imagine looking at a Magnolia tree. The higher-order representation of a Magnolia tree (the tree as it exists in your conscious experience) is the amalgamation of lower-order representations like color, size, shape, smell, context, and any memories or pre-conceptions you might have about magnolia trees. 

Re-entry and predictive processing theory
The basis of re-entry and predictive processing theory is that conscious mental states are grounded in predictions about the causes of sensory information. Although it may not be apparent, reality is actually a noisy barrage of sense data that has to be filtered and interpreted by the brain. This theory postulates that consciousness emerged as a means to help us filter and unify noisy sense data in a way that allows us to adaptively interact with our environment. You might summarize re-entry and predictive processing theory as ‘consciousness is your brain's best guess about reality.’

For a great overview of this theory, check out this video:

Video: What Is Consciousness?

Global workspace theories​
Global workspace theories focus on what is referred to as conscious access. Conscious access refers to the perceptions and mental states that are available to awareness. As mentioned before, at any given point in time we are being bombarded by sensory information, only a fraction of which can actually make it into our conscious awareness. For example, most of the time we are not conscious of the sensation of our clothes on our skin because there are typically more important features of our reality to which we need to dedicate our limited attentional capacity. Thus, the sensation of clothing essentially gets booted from the “global workspace” of the mind in favor of more relevant information. Global workspace theory would suggest that when we focus on this sensation - when we bring it into conscious awareness - we are “broadcasting” it to the global workspace where it can then be used to inform our thoughts or behavior.

Consciousness Levels

Levels of consciousness, as they are studied scientifically, are based on behavior and brain activity. There are four basic levels of consciousness that range from a complete absence of consciousness to the alert wakefulness that you are likely experiencing now. These include coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state, and alert wakefulness (Frith, 2019).
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  • Coma: People in a comatose state are unresponsive to stimuli and completely lack conscious awareness.
  • Vegetative state: People in a vegetative state are non-responsive to stimuli, but their brain activity shows they go through a typical sleep/wake cycle.
  • Minimally conscious: People in a minimally conscious state are somewhat responsive to stimuli and are sometimes able to respond to simple commands (like “lift your right hand”).
  • Alert wakefulness: This is essentially the opposite of a coma and is probably the sort of conscious level you are most familiar with.

The term ‘conscious level’ suggests that conscious states are ordered along a single dimension. However, researchers suggest that this conceptualization is an oversimplification and that conscious states are better understood as regions within a multidimensional space rather than tiers in a hierarchy. This multidimensional conceptualization of consciousness allows room for other conscious states like dream states or hallucinations (Seth & Bayne, 2022).

Consciousness Studies

Consciousness research has flourished in recent years and the evidence supporting a brain basis of consciousness is abundant. It would be impossible to really do justice to the breadth and depth of consciousness research without dedicating my life to it, so I’ve selected just a couple of studies to give you a taste of what consciousness research is like.

Conscious study example 1​
One example of consciousness research is a study that revealed that loss of consciousness is associated with brain activity that is briefer and more localized than the brain activity of conscious people (Ferrarelli et al., 2010). The researchers examined brain activity using two methodologies: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) - a non-invasive method for activating brain cells in a particular region - and Electroencephalography (EEG), a tool used to observe electrical activity in the brain. 

Their experimental design is a little like dropping a stone in water and measuring how far the ripples travel. They would perturb a small section of the brain and watch how far the activity traveled. Using this design, they found that when brain cells are stimulated with TMS during wakefulness, the electrical activity spreads to multiple different regions of the brain and lasts for at least 0.3 seconds. When their participants lost consciousness after administration of anesthesia, the electrical activity generated by TMS stayed within the region that was stimulated and lasted less than 0.15 seconds.

Conscious study example 2
Another example is a study that explored brain processes underlying conscious awareness as compared to unconscious or non-conscious processes. You likely have had the experience of performing actions without even thinking about them. Learning to carry out complex motor sequences without conscious awareness of the activity is called procedural learning. Learning to walk is an example of procedural learning. Over time, walking becomes something that we know how to do without giving it really any thought. 

Conversely, learning that is accompanied by conscious awareness is called declarative learning. Willingham and colleagues (2002) evaluated brain activity while participants performed a task that elicited either procedural learning or declarative learning using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which allows you to see brain activity associated with a particular task. They found that declarative learning was associated with brain activity that was more widespread than procedural learning. That is, the conscious processes recruited a greater proportion of the brain than the non-conscious process.

Consciousness of Self

Consciousness of self is sometimes referred to as self-referential processing (SRP), or more colloquially as self-consciousness. SRP refers to both consciousness of our mind and of our body and includes how you feel about yourself, how you feel in your body, and your first-person experience (what it is like to be you).

​Many psychological disorders are related to aberrant SRP. For example, social anxiety disorder appears to involve pathologically taking an observer perspective rather than a first-person perspective. In other words, it involves evaluating yourself and your behavior from the perspective of other people more often than you evaluate yourself from your own perspective. Body dysmorphia and eating disorders are also examples of disordered SRP that involves an inaccurate perception of one's bodily self (Frewen et al., 2020).

Consciousness in Psychology

When it comes to psychology, some consideration of consciousness is essential. Conscious experience is, of course, at the center of all desired therapeutic outcomes. That is, the target of therapy is typically to improve the quality of someone’s subjective experience. Consciousness is also an important topic in psychology because it can facilitate understanding disorders of consciousness that patients may present with in therapy. For example, body dysmorphia and depression may be thought of as disorders of the conscious perception of the self. Other disorders of consciousness, like psychosis, are also sure to be encountered in psychological practice.

Consciousness Meditation

For many, meditation is a tool to achieve a state of pure consciousness. In other words, a conscious experience that is not clouded by internal dialogue and self-judgments. To discuss meditation requires that we break down the complex concept of self-consciousness into different pieces. Namely, self-consciousness as it applies to our identity and self-consciousness as it applies to our experience of existence. Meditation stifles the former to leave more room for the latter (Fasching, 2008).

The volitional alteration of a conscious state that meditation brings about offers a unique opportunity to study the brain bases of various states of consciousness. For example, recent research has demonstrated that different types of meditation are associated with unique patterns of brain activity (Lehmann et al., 2001). 

Consciousness Quotes

Here are a few quotes that may help you think about consciousness in different ways.

  • “How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe-inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up of atoms that were forged in the hearts of countless, far-flung stars billions of years ago. These particles drifted for eons and light-years until gravity and change brought them together here, now. These atoms now form a conglomerate-your brain-that can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder. With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, is the greatest mystery of all.” – V.S. Ramachandran
 
  • “How is it that anything so remarkable as a state of consciousness comes about as a result of irritating nervous tissue is just as unaccountable as the appearance of Djin when Aladdin rubbed his lamp.” – Thomas Huxley
 
  • “You say that you are just a body, but inside of you is something greater than the Universe” – Al-Shafi’i

Articles Related to Consciousness

​Want to learn more? Check out these articles:​​​

Books Related to Consciousness​

If you’d like to keep learning more, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

Final Thoughts on Consciousness

Though the true nature of consciousness remains elusive, its relevance for our lives is apparent. After all, what would life be like without it?
 
Years of philosophy and scientific inquiry have taught us a great deal about many aspects of consciousness like perception, intention, self-awareness, and, to some extent, subjective experience. The majority of the neuroscientific research done on the topic focuses on the role of the cerebral cortex (the outermost portion of the brain) in consciousness. Although cortex is surely an important player in some aspects of consciousness, there is certainly much more to the picture. If you want to learn more about the role of different parts of the brain in consciousness, check out this video by the Royal Institute featuring neuroscientist, Mark Solms:

Video: The Source of Consciousness

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