Purposes of pleasure and pain? Our conscious experience makes up our lives, often through positive pleasure: I feel the warm sun on my skin, I hear the singing of birds, I enjoy the moment. Yet we ...

Consciousness develops through several forms—basic arousal, general alertness, and reflexive self-awareness. New research has explained why it exists in living beings. This was reported on December 15 ...

This is Part 3 of a five-part series on cognition and consciousness. Part 1 explored what we mean by "cognition." Part 2 examined neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux’s account of mental models. Here we turn ...