How Vast Is Consciousness?
Recent neuroscience recognizes two basic forms of consciousness. It all starts with the divisions we make: "Two broad types of consciousness must be distinguished" based on the neurobiological domain (LeDoux, 2023, 219). Creature consciousness is attributed to all organisms with a nervous system.
The other form of consciousness, associated with more complex nervous systems, is mental state consciousness. It is "the ability to experience the world and one's relationship to it" (LeDoux, 219).
Recently, another category of consciousness has been added: existential consciousness. (Reber, Baluska and Miller, 2024). Here, consciousness is rooted in cellular intelligence as an expression of a living, self-organizing order.
This view of the cellular basis of cognition offers a promising new perspective on the vastness of consciousness in life. Is it necessary to stop seeing the possibility of consciousness as a form of sentience based on the presence of a nervous system? READ MORE...
Instead of the soul, the eyes may actually serve as a window into the mind: A connection may exist between pupil size and certain types of intelligence.
Of course, intelligence comes in many forms. You can acquire knowledge from reading, following the stats on your favorite sports team, or even the street smarts that may be helpful in certain cultural contexts.
Fluid intelligence, meanwhile, isn’t related to culture or learning. It is defined as one’s ability to acquire information from their surroundings on a basic level — how to process it and solve novel problems. This sort of intelligence is largely associated with multitasking and working memory.
These are the kind of smarts that play out instinctively; for example, when multitasking by talking on a cellphone while walking. You need to watch what’s in front of you without tripping, while also carrying your side of a conversation.
“People differ greatly in their ability to maintain attention,” says Randall Engle, a psychologist with the Georgia Institute of Technology who has studied working memory for four decades. “The ability to manage all of that turns out to be hugely important.”
Pupils and the Brain
Most people think that pupil size simply relates to the body’s response to light. This is true, to a degree. When someone shines a flashlight into your eyes, your pupils will constrict or shrink. In the darkness, your pupils typically dilate in an effort to improve eyesight.
Such responses are driven by the parasympathetic system. It essentially keeps your basic nervous system in order and dictates basic tasks like resting, digesting, eating and reproduction, Engle says. But pupil dilation is also related to another area of unconscious nervous system function — the sympathetic nervous system. This area controls the “fight or flight” decision-making process. That’s why your pupils may dilate when you're nervous, angry or afraid — a good reason to wear sunglasses if you play poker. READ MORE
It has been said that “the eyes are the window to the soul,” but new research suggests that they may be a window to the brain as well.
Our pupils respond to more than just the light. They indicate arousal, interest or mental exhaustion. Pupil dilation is even used by the FBI to detect deception. Now work conducted in our laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that baseline pupil size is closely related to individual differences in intelligence. The larger the pupils, the higher the intelligence, as measured by tests of reasoning, attention and memory. In fact, across three studies, we found that the difference in baseline pupil size between people who scored the highest on the cognitive tests and those who scored the lowest was large enough to be detected by the unaided eye.
We first uncovered this surprising relationship while studying differences in the amount of mental effort people used to complete memory tasks. We used pupil dilations as an indicator of effort, a technique psychologist Daniel Kahneman popularized in the 1960s and 1970s. When we discovered a relationship between baseline pupil size and intelligence, we weren’t sure if it was real or what it meant. TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...
Psychologists and other experts have come up with many ways of looking at human intelligence.You’ve probably heard of IQ (intelligence quotient) tests. These assessments are specifically designed to measure aptitude and ability.
But intelligence isn’t all about IQ, and here’s why:
- IQ tests measure specific skills like reasoning, memory, and problem-solving. They can’t capture the broader picture of your capabilities overall.
- IQ tests don’t assess important traits like creativity or emotional skills.
- People from different backgrounds have varying levels of familiarity with test concepts and structure, so low scores may not always represent actual intellectual abilities.
- A 2016 research reviewTrusted Source suggests people with autism often have higher intelligence than standardized IQ tests indicate. This intelligence is simply imbalanced in ways that can negatively affect social interactions and task performance.
Many experts believe a single test can’t give a clear picture of intelligence, in part because there are multiple types of intelligence to consider.
One popular theory, introduced by psychologist and professor Howard Gardner, suggests nine different types of intelligence exist.
Wondering how intelligence shows up for you? Here’s a look at 11 signs of varying types of intelligence. READ MORE
