Primary consciousness is a term the American biologist Gerald Edelman coined to describe the ability, found in humans and some animals, to integrate observed events with memory to create an awareness of the present and immediate past of the world around them.
For example, primary consciousness includes a person's experience of the blueness of the ocean, a bird's song, and the feeling of pain.
[2] One prominent theory for the neurophysiological basis of primary consciousness was proposed by Gerald Edelman.
The theory asserts that the connection of these two systems during evolution helped animals learn adaptive behaviors.
This memory is then linked to the organism's current perception, which results in an awareness of the present, or primary consciousness.
In other words, Edelman posits that primary consciousness arises from the correlation of conceptual memory to a set of ongoing perceptual categorizations—a "remembered present".
[1] Other scientists have argued against Edelman's theory, instead suggesting that primary consciousness might have emerged with the basic vegetative systems of the brain.
This is based on neurological data showing the thalamic, hippocampal, orbitofrontal, insula, and midbrain sites are the key to consciousness of thirst.
[4] Evidence of this lies in the fact that studies show that systematically disabling parts of the cortex in animals does not remove consciousness.
[4] Still, these scientists concede that higher order consciousness does involve the cortex and complex communication between different areas of the brain.
[5] It is important to note that subjective measures are always indirect and can be vulnerable to many biases (e.g., reluctance to report uncertain experiences).
For example, individual differences in risk aversion may lead to variations in wagering performance even with the same underlying conscious phenomenology.
Second, they may not even measure consciousness at all because many behavioral proxies, such as forced-choice decision accuracy, are capable of being learned unconsciously.
Since it is 40 Hz power that has been correlated with waking consciousness in previous studies, it can be suggested that enough 40 Hz power has been added to the non-lucid dreaming brain to support the increase in subjective awareness that permits lucidity but not enough to cause full awakening.
[2] In one study, 10 adult males underwent positron emission tomography scans in three different scenarios:[12] The data suggest that the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex as well as the anterior wall of the third ventricle, are major elements of a circuit including thalamic, hippocampal, orbitofrontal, insula, and midbrain sites that are needed for the generation of consciousness of thirst.