People have come a long way in their understanding of the physical world around them, but they still know practically nothing about how they think, why they feel or how their own attitudes and beliefs influence their perception and hence their reality. Scientists insist that nowadays we have a crisis of consciousness. The greenhouse effect, pollution, toxic waster, the energy crisis, the nuclear threat, the economic crisis, the food crisis and a lot of other crises that the population faces are the symptoms of a deep psychological crisis, which in its root is the crisis of human consciousness. That’s why the scientific study of human consciousness is necessary for our better understanding of who we are. According to psychologists, human consciousness is the state of being aware of oneself and one’s surroundings, without troubles from illness, sleep, drugs, or hypnotism. This awareness is of one’s own beliefs, feelings, and mental events.
Specific theories of consciousness include higher-order theories, representationalist theories, cognitive theories, neural theories, quantum theories, non-physical theories and offer detailed estimations of consciousness’s nature, features and role. Let’s take for example A Two-Worlds Model for Consciousness proposed by Ralph Abraham. He thinks that our universe consists of two worlds co-existing side by side. The phenomena of psi and subtle energies suppose that human consciousness transcends the measures of normal physical laws. Abraham explains these phenomena only by the existence of a separate from our ordinary step-time world slope-time world. This slop-time world has different laws of time and space than our world. So scientist investigates how human consciousness can transcend the laws of our step-time world and enter the world of slop-time. Slope-time is characterized by an extended-now moment, in which the present moment extends itself into the past and the future. Human consciousness can change the past and know the future in slop-time. It is so because the past and the future are connected with each other and the present moment only extends into them.
Speaking about models of consciousness we can’t but mention the 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness. Let’s imagine the human mind consisting of 8 so-called mini-brains. Every next circuit is more important and developed than the previous one. Psychologist Timothy Leary worked on this model. He says that it is connected with the development of brain functions. The first four mini-brains are located in the left lobe of the cerebrum. They are responsible for surviving of different organisms on earth. These four circuits can be represented as Physical, Emotional, Conceptual and Social phenomena. They are not dominant for humans but are the basis for the other four mini-brains. These other four circuits correspond with Sensory, Psychic, Mythic and Spiritual phenomena. They are very important for the further development and evolution of every human being. The last four circuits form a person with individual perception of the surrounding world, own thoughts and ideas, a person with unique consciousness.
A lot of scientists, writers and theoreticians point out many theories and spheres that show the connection between language and thought. Linguists formulate the idea that the structure of one person’s mother tongue can affect the way the other person’s mind realize the world. For example, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis cleared out the Chinese experience difficulty with presumable problems. It was noticed the lack of subjunctive mood in their language. They also agreed with another assumption, that it is much easier to remember the definite colour if in mother language we have the similar word of that colour.
Dyslexia is usually understood as a developmental disorder, which can cause learning difficulty in one or more of the areas of reading, writing, and numeracy. Some people can have difficulties with handwriting because of literacy problems. On the contrary, normal people, write very slowly and the uneven form of the letters leads to poor handwriting. Motor skills disorder, connected with dyslexia, is studied as utter mover difficulties. These troubles become apparent in slowness, bad coordination and awkwardness. Most critiques underline the necessity of one of the major divisions of the vertebrate brain, situated in man above the medulla oblongata and beneath the cerebrum, whose function is the coordination of voluntary movements and maintenance of bodily equilibrium. So the cerebellum and inner ear influence the motor abilities and progress in reading.
References
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Humphreys, N. (1992). A History of the Mind. London: Chatto and Windus.
Leiber J. (1991). An Invitation to Cognitive Science. Cambridge MA.
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Wegner D. (2002). The Illusion of Conscious Will. Cambridge MA.
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Winograd T. (1972). Understanding Natural Language. N.Y.
Wright C., Smith B.C. (1998). Knowing our Own Minds. Oxford.