A simple (simplistic) graphic interpretation of the model for core consciousness proposed by Antonio Damasio in "The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness" (Harcourt, 1999)

1. Damasio’s Model of Core Consciousness An interpretation of the model proposed in The Feeling of What Happens (Damasio 1999) Pierre de Vries, April 2010 Version 3, 28 April 2010

2. Brain Body Divide the world into the brain, and everything else The non-brain can be divided into self and non-self, one of the most basic cognitive distinctions Outsideworld

3. Brain The body (e.g. position of limbs, state of the viscera, hormone levels) is mapped is neural structures A representationof body state The body and its state Body The body is represented as a neural map in the brain Outsideworld

4. Brain Objects can be in any of the categories: states in the brain (e.g. anger), the body observed, or things in the world (e.g. a face, a snake).Just like body state, objects are also mapped A representation of the object A representationof body state Some object The body and its state Body Likewise, a map is created for any object the brain attends to Outsideworld

5. Brain Brain processing triggerschanges in body state A representation of the object A representationof body state Some object The body and its state Body The object, directly and/or through brain processing of its map, triggers changes in the body Outsideworld Direct change in body state

6. Brain Brain processing triggerschanges in body state A representation of the object A changed representationof body state Some object The body and its state Body These changes alter the body map Outsideworld Direct change in body state

7. A representation of the co-occurrence of the object and resulting changes in the body Brain Brain processing triggerschanges in body state A representation of the object A changed representationof body state Some object The body and its state Body The correlation of object and body state generates core consciousness Outsideworld Direct change in body state