Generally, it is thought that self-consciousness is generated based on consciousness and is a part of consciousness. It is also thought that consciousness is genrated prior to self-consciousness and self-consciousness is a psychological phenomenon attached to consciousness. However, self-consciousness also presents in dreams (without consciousness) and does not have an implicational relationship with consciousness. That is, self-consciousness has a quite different generating mechanism from that of consciousness.

 It may be thought that it would be better to take up consciousness prior to self-consciousness for easier understanding. However, because self-consciousness has a broader function than consciousness, it is naturally easy to grasp the true character of consciousness when the outline of self-consciousness is distinct. The basic function of consciousness is the understanding and judgement of various phenomena. How does consciousness perform this function? In order to precisely understand the mechanism of the function of consciousness, the function of self-consciousness, which prepares and organizes issues for consciousness, should first be made distinct. In other words, what kinds of questions and displeasures does self-consciousness present to consciousness and how does self-consciousness make consciousness take note? Moreover, how does self-consciousness perform the method that consciousness has noted? Self-consciousness plays the role of displaying concrete content and its process before and after the work of consciousness.

 Similar and repetitive neural transmissions are constantly caused in vivo. Then, within a series of psychological phenomena, of "concentration, intuition, and insight," from the multidirectional standpoint consciousness and self-consciousness almost simultaneously collaborate. In other words, when we are busily working, we do not realize that consciousness is now working or that self-consciousness is now working. When we are absorbed in our work and become tired, we may then think about consciousness. Furthermore, when we feel uncomfortable while speaking, we may think about self-consciousness. Therefore, it can be said that even consciousness is unconscious when we are absorbed in something.

                                       The true character of consciousness

 The simplest example is given as follows: An animal finds food and eats. Suppose there are two kinds of food; a (a', a'', ・・) and b (b', b'', ・・). Foods of the a line are nutritious, while foods of the b line are toxic. There is no problem when an animal can continue to eat foods of the a line. Because an animal finds food in nature, it naturally can happen that it eats foods of the b line by mistake; as this leads to death, an animal should avoid foods of the b line. Consciousness is generated as the function of understanding and judging the contents of the foods of the a and b lines. In other words, consciousness is a function indispensable for the maintenance of life. When consciousness works, certain preconditions are required as follows: First, hunger (i.e., displeasure) serves as the motive system, and second, both pleasure when an animal eats foods of the a line, which is the reward system, and displeasure when an animal eats foods of the b line, which is the aversion system, are needed. If there are only foods of the a line in nature,  an animal need not choose among foods, and hence consciousness is not required. An animal can gain its ends only through a competent perception system and a competent motor system. However, when foods that an animal should not eat appear, the situation becomes complicated. When an animal tries to eat foods of the b line, consciousness puts a hold on eating. Let us express this situation as neural transmissions: First, there are double neural transmissions, the path of "trying to eat foods of the a line" and  the path of "trying to eat foods of the b line." Second, both paths stimulate conscious neurons. Because consciousness has a feedback mechanism characterized by retrograde convergence, for foods of the a line, the reward neuron stimulates conscious neurons before eating, while for foods of the b line, the aversion neuron stimulates conscious neurons. Consciousness then reaches the conclusion, "This is OK" or "This is bad." We may summarize this function of consciousness as follows: Consciousness indicates "the function that sorts stimuli brought into being from stimuli brought into not-being due to forming detours by conscious neurons and vectorizes stimuli brought into being." Vectorizing stimuli brought into being (belonging to the a line and involved in the reward system in the above example) leads to "the generative model." It can be said that the emotional control system (the functional network of neural transmissions in the emotional brain) is also part of the generative model. Incidentally, regarding the concepts of "nested structure" and "recursion," they are closely interrelated. A "nested structure" has been already formed and is present in preconsciousness. "Recursion" means that consciousness makes recursion work due to use of a nested structure. 

                                       The true character of consciousness

 Regarding the study of consciousness, before considering the aim and function of consciousness, it is important to understand, taking a phenomenological approach as much as possible, how consciousness is. Soon after awakening, nobody acts or speaks (without reason). Individuals first begin to observe and grasp their conscious situation when they wake up.

 An individual usually wakes up refreshed except woken up by some displeasure, and he/she begins to act to dissolve his/her upwelling desire. When making a series of actions in rapid succession, one's consciousness tires and one feels sleepy. In other words, as the simplest conscious experience, an individual repeatedly feels refreshed and sleepy without interruption. There are other conscious experiences that can be shared―being bored, surprised, and so on. When an individual has no issues to dissolve, he/she has reduced interest and becomes bored. Moreover, when an individual comes upon an unexpected situation, even a trifling one, he/she is surprised, "What a surprise!" Being bored and surprised are not experiences belong to the perception system, the thinking system, or the emotion system, but are phenomena that consciousness itself experiences.

 Even if an individual is awake, he/she does not feel sleepy and is bored without issues to deal with. However, even without such stimuli as those from doing something, some individuals do not become bored and can enjoy spending time. It is a delightful thing to think and create something. In other words, when an individual is absorbed in such works, his/her consciousness has an intimate relationship with preconsciousness. The knowledge and techniques for work that have already been gained are stored in preconsciousness and an individual can advance his/her work using them. When an individual comes upon an unexpected situation, even if the stimulus from the outside world (or unconsciousness) is slight and weak, he/she is quite surprised. It is important that an individual is surprised by a trifle in certain circumstances. Generally an individual is not greatly surprised, because as the feedback mechanism of consciousness works, a slight stimulus is predicted and its response is prepared beforehand. However, not all situations are predicted, and surprise then arises. Surprise does not belong to affect (emotion), and some affect is sometimes induced after surprise.

 One dictionary provides, the following example sentence for surprise: "Astonishment deprives me of my power of speech." This is because "a refractory period" is caused in a conscious neuron. Some stimuli from unconsciousness (including the outside world―environments and body) and information from the preconscious network, which consciousness always relies on (to deal with these stimuli), collide at a conscious neuron, leading to a refractory period, during which neural transmissions stop for a while. There are many conscious experiences similar to this situation. For example, consider an individual worried by a mathematics problem. The moment that he/she solves it, a flash appears, "Eureka!" Intuition is generated in this moment. Moreover, in the moment of the flash, both the problem and the solution have (temporarily) disappeared from consciousness. (It can be said that the moment when a flash appears indicates "a refractory period.") Although intuition is also a conscious experience, an individual is not usually greatly surprised under the function of prediction. After that, when the solution is put into concrete shape, self-consciousness recreates (brings into being) the whole going back along the process of intuition (supported by consciousness). 

                                        The true character of consciousness

 1. Two kinds of double neural transmissions

 There are two kinds of double neural transmissions that develop with the intervention of consciousness. One double path is "preconsciousness⇔unconsciousness" and "preconsciousness⇔consciousness⇔unconsciousness." Another double path is "preconsciousness a⇔preconsciousness b" and "preconsciousness a⇔consciousness⇔preconsciousness b."

 The former indicates the path formed only by self-consciousness and the path formed by the tangle of consciousness and self-consciousness. Consciousness differentiates converging stimuli―input stimuli from unconsciousness and input stimuli from preconsciousness.

 The latter indicates the path formed only by self-consciousness belonging to preconsciousness and the path formed by the tangle of self-consciousness belonging to consciousness and self-consciousness belonging to preconsciousness. Consciousness differentiates converging stimuli―input stimuli from preconsciousness a and input stimuli from preconsciousness b.

 2. The significance of double neural transmissions

 Through double neural transmissions (i.e., the formation of detours by conscious neurons), not only consciousness but also a whole brain centered on preconsciousness have evolved. Here, I try to infer its process in―five stages.

 In the first stage, there are neural transmissions with monotonous and reciprocating movement: Input stimuli from unconsciousness into consciousness and output stimuli from consciousness into unconsciousness.

 In the second stage, (some of) the input stimuli from unconsciousness into consciousness are memorized, and other paths are formed distinct from conventional ones: Output stimuli from consciousness into preconsciousness.

 In the third stage, both input stimuli from unconsciousness into consciousness and input stimuli, which include memories, from preconsciousness into consciousness are simultaneously generated and converge or collide in the conscious area.

 In the fourth stage, consciousness dispatches neural transmissions, which converge and sometimes collide intensely, to preconsciousness (through eliminating some stimuli by bringing into not-being, and vectorizing other stimuli by bringing into being).

 In the fifth stage, neural transmissions develop, forming a net-shape in preconsciousness where learning becomes possible. When some input stimuli are passed from unconsciousness into consciousness, they are called to preconsciousness through vectorization by consciousness as an opportunity and dealt with. Of course, this task is based on the role of consciousness, which constantly monitors and revises neural transmissions in preconsciousness. Thus, neurons in preconsciousness become able to closely cooperate with one another. In other words, neural transmissions are prepared in a state where thry are available at any time in response to consciousness, and more rational neural transmissions are created through detours of consciousness (which are interposed in cooperation between preconsciousness). (It can be said that behaviors with memories indicate the output system via preconsciousness and those without memories indicate the output system via unconsciousness.)

                                        The true character of consciousness

 The function of consciousness is understanding and judgement. Understanding originates in differentiation by conscious neurons, and judgement originates in vectorization by conscious neurons. Here, the function of consciousness is summarized again from a different prospective.

 1. Understanding and judgement

 The first function is the understanding of the perception system, thinking system, and emotion system. The states and contents of neural transmissions within the functional network of neural transmissions in the brain can be understood with reference to various phenomena.

 The second function is the understanding of the displeasure-defense system and the judgement of the situation. The displeasure-defense system is subjective experience that originates in the animal brain and indicates the generation of an abnormal mind for humans. However, it judges whether a certain situation is danger or not to life (surpassing normality or abnormality in the mind).

 The third function is the understanding of curiosity caused by the pursuit of pleasure. Curiosity itself completely originates in the displeasure-regulation system (preconsciousness). Curiosity supports variety of motives and allows a meta-function to develop through learning.

 The fourth function is the understanding of the displeasure-regulation system and value judgements. The displeasure-regulation system is subjective experience unique to the human brain, and it indicates the generation of normal mind for humans. Moreover, the importance of various existents is judged based on value judgements.

 2. Differentiation and vectorization

 Consciousness forms retrograde convergence by the use of a feedback mechanism for various stimuli (centered on a range of displeasure from trifling problems of daily life to once-in-a-lifetime events that determine life). Through this function, prediction (caused by each stimulus) becomes possible. Consciousness chooses prediction.

 There are three choices for choosing prediction.

 The first choice is the displeasure-defense system. This is the nature of the animal mind, which has the main theme of "fight or flight."

 The second choice is the pursuit of pleasure. Its representative characteristic of mind is curiosity, which presents an infinite variety.

 The third choice is the displeasure-regulation system. This is the nature of mind unique to humans, which has a main theme on conflict.

 After choosing a stimulus through one of these ways, consciousness vectorizes it and performs judgement. In other words, consciousness urges preconsciousness to form a new route of neural transmission or to use an existing route of neural transmission.

 Regarding the routes of neural transmissions in this case, there are three choices. 

 The first is to form a neural transmission where the displeasing factor intruding into the conscious area and the defensive factor are connected. This sometimes causes pathological personality traits and symptom formation.

 The second is to form a nonselective neural transmission through a concern and curiosity toward various questions and issues. Based on a learned meta-function, procedures for various neural transmissions are formed and specific ways of handling theme are obtained.

 The third is to form selective neural transmissions in order to dissolve displeasure. This case sometimes becomes serious. The functional network of neural transmissions in the emotional brain (the emotional control system), which comprises 14 emotional factors, functions according to various circumstances, and not only judgements of the situation but also value judgements are performed.

                                         The true character of consciousness