Brain patterns of Self-awareness

Abstract

What is the nature of self awareness? The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) indicates that there are two modes of self-awareness: awareness with and awareness without content. The distinction is evident among the list of six definitions of selfawareness. The first five involve the process of experience: (1) interpersonal cognitive relations, (2) remembering on a first-hand basis one’s past actions or experiences, (3) awareness of any object; (4) immediate awareness of one’s mental processes, and (5) the totality of mental experiences that constitute our conscious being. Consistent with most chapters in this book, self-awareness thus refers to the content of conscious experience. The sixth definition in the OED offers a broader sense of self-awareness: (6) the general mode of awareness that is distinct from the content that makes up the stream of consciousness.