Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Home › The brain as interconnected boxes: autonomy, distributed signals, and an "I-function" ›

Reply to comment

Simone Shane's picture

I mentioned metacognition

Submitted by Simone Shane on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 12:32am.

I mentioned metacognition before, and I think it really gets to a lot of what eambash is talking about in terms of studying ones own inner states and reflecting on self-identity. I would like to guess that all of that is found in the neocortex, but from everything I've ever learned, only humans have metacognition. Thus, if other mamals also have a neocortex but no metacognition, metacognition could indeed be located anywhere. However, eambash also talks about how much white matter there is and I think the size of the neo cortext. Maybe humans have crossed the threshold size and have thus acquired metacognition. Since metacognition is the awareness of oneself, could the "lower" version found in non-human mamals be just general consciousness? That is, the ability to consciously think?

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
8 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2

Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.

Narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate but by a desire to exchange. (Roland Barthes, S/Z)

What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio