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Subcortical regions and the self

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2007

Georg Northoff
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Neurophilosophy, Department of Psychiatry, Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany. [email protected]://www.med.uni-magdeburg.de/fme/znh/kpsy/northoff/

Abstract

Merker argues that subcortical regions are sufficient for the constitution of consciousness as “immediate, unreflective experience” as distinguished from self-consciousness. My point here is that Merker neglects the differentiation between pre-reflective self-awareness and reflective self-consciousness. Pre-reflective self-awareness allows us to immediately and unreflectively experience our self, which functionally may be mediated by what I call self-related processing in subcortical regions.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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