Sep 08 2009
Personal Space and Consciousness
Every normal individual has a sense of personal space. You bump into an associate in a parking lot and strike up a conversation. If that person stands too far away (say, five feet nose-to-nose), you would perceive it on some level and perhaps feel/think that’s odd. Were the person to stand too close (one foot) you would likely feel/think that’s weird.
New research out of Caltech claims to have pinpointed the region of the brain responsible for this class of perception. And they may well have.
The article: Caltech neuroscientists find brain region responsible for our sense of personal space.
For 20 “normal” subjects they discovered that the average preferred personal space distance was roughly two feet. For one special-case, brain-damaged individual, the distance was half that. About a foot. And so it was concluded (hypothesized?) that the brain area in question (the amygdala) is responsible for everyone’s sense of personal space.
Should the title writer have added a crucial qualifier — that the neuroscientists found the likely brain region? While they studied 20 normal subjects, they had only one special case. Fortunately, there is other, supporting data.
Previous studies of humans never had revealed an association between the amygdala and personal space. From their knowledge of the literature, however, the researchers knew that monkeys with amygdala lesions preferred to stay in closer proximity to other monkeys and humans than did healthy monkeys.
I think it is very likely the Caltech team found/confirmed the area of the brain responsible — at least in part — for our sense of personal space. Interesting.
The above finding got me thinking about consciousness. Some people believe that consciousness is now and forever will be a mystery — that the “seat” of it will never be uncovered. Yet is it possible that what we call consciousness is an aggregate of elements? Is it not possible that one by one we may come to understand the elements that comprise our senses of awareness?
Maybe. Likely?
