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A bit further up in the forum there was discussion about meditation and it's effects on the body and possibly on corrilary discharge signals. In my abnormal class, we are currently talking about how meditation and just being "mindful" of your surroundings can not only improve your mental health, but your immune system as well. I wasn't so much thinking of the meditation as a way for your I-function to better "conduct" corollary discharge signals, but for corollary discharge signals to be in sync. Here are my thoughts: if through meditation and mindfullness you become more aware of your experiences, emotions, and senses, perhaps the I-function is now just more in sync with the sensory corollary signals it was receiving? That is, the I-function now experiences these experiences just as the sub-conscious systems do and therefore the two signals agree. I was thinking that this could be beneficial b/c of the whole motion sickness idea where you feel ill when what you perceive and what you sense are different. Maybe the immune system workds better with meditation because what the sensory system experiences is actually in tune with what the I-function perceives. I realize how much of a stretch this is, but does anyone else have any ideas about why this may happen?

Also, I just wanted to agree with everyone that our definition of the I-function should be delineated much better. For example, earlier in the forum someone had mentioned theory of mind, which is the ability to represent others' thoughts. However, the I-function seems to me more focused on representing one's own thoughts. Now, from everything I've ever heard, non-human animal do not have theory of mind. However, I don't know about their ability to represent their own thoughts. So, if the I-function necessarily includes theory of mind, animals may not have an I-function, but if it is not necessarily in the definition, we cannot make this conclusion. A good constructive definition is needed to settle this matter and many other possible ones.