Science Quickly What is consciousness, really?
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Jan 21, 2026 
Allison Parshall, an associate editor at Scientific American specializing in cognitive science, dives deep into the perplexing world of consciousness. She explores the difference between wakefulness and actual experience, dissecting how dreaming and anesthesia reflect various states of awareness. Parshall unpacks Integrated Information Theory, questioning if AI could ever achieve consciousness. She also discusses animal sentience and the evolving understanding of minds in mammals, fish, and beyond, revealing just how elusive and fascinating consciousness truly is!
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Consciousness Is A Unified First-Person Mystery
- Consciousness refers both to wakefulness and a first-person subjective perspective that unifies experience.
- Scientists struggle to explain how unified subjective experience emerges from physical brain matter.
Trying To Test Consciousness During Surgery
- Allison Parshall recounts trying to test her own consciousness during an appendectomy but doctors didn't know the test.
- She used three dimensions—wakefulness, internal awareness, connectedness—to compare dreaming and anesthesia.
Dreaming Versus Anesthesia
- Dreaming lacks wakefulness and connectedness but retains internal awareness, making it a distinct altered state.
- Under anesthesia ideally none of the three dimensions remain, though connectedness can sometimes persist.