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

Reply to comment

Madina G.'s picture

dreams and the I-function

I think you bring up a really good point about dreams, Jackie. I do think it is the I-function in that situation that is responsible for what we feel (or rather what we don't feel) when we are asleep. Otherwise, without an active I-function, we would never be able to differentiate between reality and dreams. It is the I-function, in my opinion, that makes us aware of when an event occurred during a dream versus in reality. What I find even more interesting, however is that the I-function is not always in a fully activated mode. That is, when we are asleep, we are not as aware of ourselves as we are, when we are awake (i.e. if someone calls your name when you are asleep it takes sometimes several times repeating before you are aware someone is calling you, whereas when awake it would only take one time). This suggests that when we're asleep, our I-functions are almost in a stand-by mode and can always come back to a fully active state, but I wonder what this means for people in a coma. Because they are unconscious, it is simple to say that they're I-function is removed, but many patients awake from a coma and their basic skills are restored. If someone is asleep and then wakes up, it makes sense that their I-function was just on stand-by, but how do you explain a completely departed I-function and its sudden reappearance in an individual?

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
1 + 13 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.