How does one know who they are? Consciousness in interpreted in various aspects. In BBC’s documentary The Secret You, Marcus du Sautoy, the narrator, focused his attention on consciousness research. Marcus met with several psychologists and neurologists to learn about their research and participated in demonstrations in an attempt to explain this complex scientific wonder.
Marcus first wanted to explore when we first become aware of ourselves. He delved into answering this question by examining and analyzing the Mirror Self Recognition test at the University of Portsmouth. This demonstration tested a 16 and 22-month-old child by placing them in front of a mirror, and noting whether or not the children could recognize themselves. The results concluded that the 16-month-old child could not recognize herself, but the 22 month old could. Based on the MSRT and similar repeated studies, it was seen that such self-awareness develops around the ages 18-24 months. The…show more content… After he was finished, the researcher informed Marcus that the part of his brain that was conscious of which button he pressed lit up allowing the researcher to know what button Marcus would press six seconds prior to Marcus actually pressing it. This was reasoned because brain activity emerges before one makes up their mind. The evidence provided was strong and surprising. It is difficult to dispute evidence that is proven in scans. When researchers can offer concrete evidence whilst the test is being conducted it makes the results far more reliable. Because researchers, neurologists, and others have proven that the brain plays an intricate role in consciousness, this test simply supports the claims. Brain scans are fairly reliable ways prove claims and provide evidence. Overall, this was a strong test that was adequately supported by its