I watched part of the video BBC Horizon: The Secret You, where a man tests scientific experiments on himself. The part I watched was about a brain activity test that showed the differences in consciousness verses unconsciousness. He had something on his head that looked like a shower cap that recorded his brain activity. The question was, "What does the difference in consciousness between waking and sleeping tell us about our sense of self?" When we are awake and one part of the brain is activated, that starts many other responses throughout the brain. But when we are asleep, or unconscious, only the part of the brain that was stimulated is activated.
Here is a screen shot of the awake and asleep brain and the amount of brain activity. They show how the activity around a waking state brain is all around, the in a sleep state, just focused around the area.
I thought the findings were interesting. I thought when we were unconscious, more parts of the brain would still be activated from a stimulation. But as they explained it in the video, it is like the channels have shut down for the night.
ok, not sure how to make the pictures work!!!
I'm curious as to whether or not the knowledge of what he was being tested on changed how his brain reacted. I mean, this test would be hard to do on any human because you wouldn't be able to put this weird looking thing on their head and not have them question it. Has this research also been done with animals, a little more impartial subject?
Also- try saving the photos on your computer as a .jpg file type then inserting them. I'm not sure if it will make a difference but it'd be worth a try.
That sounded like an intriguing video. I am curious as to what the brain looks like during dreams. Or what it looks like for someone in a medically-induced coma.