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Behavioral Optometry BOAF
Volume1 Number1 2012
we make a conscious effort to do well in our stud- ies; we become politically conscious; and we talk of doing many things unconsciously. But con- sciousness is best described as the faculty that enables us to be aware of our own thought proc- esses. There seems to be a huge gulf between the world „out there“ and each of our worlds „in there“, and no physical measurement can capture the in- ner feelings of a personal experience. Conscious- ness can feel like a theatre in which we each watch our own private show.
When I ask my patients who referred them to my office, they very often say they come in free will, always think by myself, free will, aha, nice, I know the term, but what does it mean? We each feel as if we make conscious choices to act in par- ticular ways. In reality, however, no no experience, including free will, is essentially anything more than brain activity. We certainly think about an action before carrying it out, but then tend to assume that it was the conscious thought that caused the ac- tion. In fact, both the intention to act and the ac- tion itself may result from earlier brain activity.
So who am I?
Humans have a powerful sense of self. When we look in the mirror, we see unique, conscious individuals, each with our own opinions, beliefs, and experiences. We feel as though there is an inner „self“ that inhabits and controls the body. Yet there is no explanation for how this self receives information from the brain, nor how it exerts con- trol over it. We are not born with a sense of self. Babies show a degree of self-interest by crying if they are cold or hungry, but they do not recognize that other people have points of view, beliefs, or desires. In fact, it is not until their second year that babies start moving towards self-awareness. One of the first steps is acquiring the ability to follow another person‘s gaze. Until about the age of 1, when an adult points at something, a baby will simply look at the adult‘s finger. Between 18 months and 2 years, children start to refer to „me“ and „you“, and by the age of 3 they can talk about their own preferences and those of others. How-
ever 3-year olds may thrust their heads under pil- lows and shout „I‘m hiding“ because they still do not understand that others cannot see exactly what they see. By about 4, children grasp that oth- ers may have different beliefs from their own and, by age 5, most have a fully developed sense of self. However, there are some people who do not fully develop a sense of self. Those affected by autism, for example, can recognize themselves and their own intentions, yet find it hard to apply the idea of „self“ to others. As a result are unable to relate well to other people. A quick reaction from the environment to this situation is saying, please pay attention.
Before we use information, we need to focus our attention on it, which involves several brain areas locking in a circuit. Children have short at- tention spans because their brains are not yet fully developed. The ability to shift attention is as im- portant as the ability to focus. Without it a person would be unreceptive to new sensory input and so unable to adapt quickly to new situations. Some people find it easy to monitor what is going on across their whole sensory field and are able to switch attention rapidly between different events. Others are not so quick to notice new information. Some have the inability to attend. In a rare condi- tion called "neglect", a person fails to attend to one entire side of their world, often the left side. Affected people might shave only the right side of the face or eat just from the right side of a plate. While they are not actually blind to objects on the left, the attention circuit is not activated on this side, like living with very small visual fields, and making them effectively blind. Without the ability of having the focus of attention, learning would be difficult and memory short.
The world offers the brain much more informa- tion than it needs. One of the first steps is to filter this information in a way that enables the brain to process it. As a result we tend to perceive a whole thing before its intricate details. For example, we see a face as unit instead of looking at it's individ- ual features. Because our brains are adept at fo-
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