CONSCIOUSNESS - CRITERIA AND POSSIBLE MECHANISMS

There are two sorts of criteria of consciousness - objective and subje ctive ones. They are the ability for operating with the knowledge whic h could be addressed to other people in the abstract form and the feel ing of 'ego' as a 'host' of these actions, respectively. These two sig ns of consciousness are provided with the mechanism based on the synth esis in the brain structures of different kinds of information: sensor y information, the data extracted from the memory and the signals from the centers of emotions and motivation. As a result of this synthesis , the sense of 'ego' arises and the message designated for others is d etermined. A significant role in the informational synthesis is played by dynamic cortical structures - foci of interaction. In perception t hey are localized predominantly in the projectional cortex, in thinkin g and in the associative areas. Realization is closely connected with communication and appearance of the interaction foci in the verbal zon es of the left hemisphere. Pavlov (1951), in his program lecture in Ma drid early in the present century, said that he saw the final aim of h is study in the revealing of the mechanism and the inner vital sense o f human consciousness. It is important, that Pavlov placed the words ' mechanism' and 'vital sense' near each other, i.e., he considered that the sense of consciousness would be realized through revealing its me chanism. This insight attracts our attention now, when the problem on consciousness mechanism is in scientific plans and the search for the meaning of life by the end of the twentieth centry, one full of dramat ic events, acquires a special value.