A new research method proposes to analyze changes in behavior and jumps in learning to study consciousness, using sudden increases in learning - "eureka moments" - to identify conscious thought processes and study brain mechanisms during these periods
A new research method proposes to analyze changes in behavior and jumps in learning to study consciousness, using sudden increases in learning - "eureka moments" - to identify conscious thought processes and study brain mechanisms during these periods.
Researchers have long studied how consciousness is formed in the brain. Professor Akram Dara from the University of Rohr-Buchum in Germany, suggests defining stages of consciousness through behavioral observations and learning curves, using sudden insights to identify times of conscious processing. Consciousness changes depending on the task, and studying these stages can reveal brain mechanisms through imaging.
Different levels of consciousness
Consciousness is not an all or nothing process. "There are different levels of consciousness, depending for example on whether we are sleeping or writing an email," says Akram Dera of the Center for Mental Health Research and Treatment in Bochum, who is also a member of the Sorbonne University in Paris. "At the top end of this ranking, we find conscious cognitive information processing required to treat a complex problem."
The "eureka" phase as a time stamp
In order to investigate the neurobiological correlates of these processes using scientific methods, an experimental task must be presented to a person or an animal that can only be solved by processing conscious cognitive information - it is important that there is no predetermined solution. "In the long history of cognitive-behavioral psychology, many such tasks have been developed," says Dre. "However, the main difficulty is that a person or animal may not use conscious cognitive information processing for the entire processing time."
Prof. Akram Dera suggests using learning curves to reduce the stages of conscious information processing in terms of their timing. In these curves, performance on a specific task is shown over time. "Learning performance often does not improve continuously, but in leaps or stages," explains Dre. This discontinuous learning after insight can be used as a timestamp. "Conscious cognitive information processing must have taken place at this point and probably also in the seconds leading up to it," says the psychologist. "With this knowledge, we can use imaging or electrophysiology methods to observe the brain during conscious cognitive information processing by comparing the periods before the sudden increase in learning with earlier or later time points during task processing." In this way, the researchers will be able to find out which mechanisms the brain used in which area to process conscious information.
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