Philosophers and scholars have been debating for millennia the enigmatic nature and origin of the human consciousness, but for a Cambridge scientist, consciousness – the state of being aware – is an emergent property of a special area beneath the cerebral cortex called “lizard brain.”
Neocortex and subcortex
In his review of multiple stimulation studies, animal experiments, and neurological case reports, neuroscientist Peter Coppola of the University of Cambridge argues that consciousness may not be a unique human trait at all, stating that basic forms of conscious thinking can be observed just from the oldest parts of the brain.
The outermost part of the human brain, called the neocortex, is believed to be responsible for running some of the most complex tasks, like memory, thinking, learning, reasoning, and problem-solving.
The sub-cortex or “lizard brain”, meanwhile, supervises the basic impulses, namely, hunger, thirst, pain, pleasure, and fear.
According to Coppola, the subcortex, despite being one of the oldest regions of the brain, has not evolved in the last 500 million years.
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A challenge to current theories
While most of the theories of consciousness pinpoint the neocortex as the most crucial piece to developing awareness, Coppola said in his published article that the subcortex may be playing a larger part in brain activity, particularly in consciousness.
Drawing his conclusion from rare cases of patients who have most or all of their neocortex removed, Coppola said that these patients still retained their awareness, showing that scientists may have undervalued the subcortex as a potential explanation for the mystery of human consciousness.
“According to medical textbooks, these people should be in a permanent vegetative state,” Coppola told The Conversation.
“However, there are reports that these people can feel upset, play, recognise people or show enjoyment of music. This suggests that they are having some sort of conscious experience,” he added.
Consciousness among animals
Coppola also mentioned that the paradigm shift regarding how consciousness is formed through the subcortex could alter how society views animal rights.
“Across mammals – from rats to cats to monkeys – surgically removing the neocortex leaves them still capable of an astonishing number of things,” said Coppola.
He noted that these animals showed abilities to play, groom their bodies, and even parent their young.
“In fact, consciousness might be more common than we realised,” Coppola added.
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‘I think, therefore, I am’
Consciousness is believed to be one, if not the most, important evolutionary advantage of humans compared to other animals on Earth.
The state of awareness of themselves and their surroundings is the bedrock from which civilizations would emerge, making humans the unchallenged rulers on the planet.
However, the notion that human consciousness can be reduced to the right alignment of brain parts took root from reductive physicalism, the view that everything – our bodies and the world around us – is made up of matter, and only matter.
Scientists, who rely on empirical and observable data to explain the world, naturally hold reductive physicalism as the sole solution that will unlock the puzzle of human consciousness.
This view, however, clashes with other philosophical disciplines that offer a different perspective on the subject.
One such example is French philosopher René Descartes’ principle of dualism, which inferred that there is a non-physical property called the mind, which also functions separately from the physical brain.
Descartes summarized his idea in the infamous phrase “Cogito ergo sum,” which translates to “I think, therefore, I am.”
He said that the fact here can doubt the existence of his body, but not his mind – that gives him the ability to doubt – proves that there are two different parts in human consciousness.
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Hazel Camba 
Shameeka Voyiya 
Newsjustnews writers