ABSTRACT
According to Antonio Damasio, when the self meets the mind people experience consciousness. He describes the mind as a flow of images and a conscious mind as one containing a self. The self introduces a mental subjective perspective. People become fully conscious when the self comes to mind. The frontal cortex comprises forty per cent of the neocortex and is engaged in the following functions: planning, organising, problem solving, memory, impulse control, decision making, selective attention, and controlling emotions. The neuroplasticity of the brain is such that, in the first eighteen months, infants have synaptic development of Wernicke's area to such an extent that they can fully comprehend any languages they hear consistently. The chapter discusses the work of Damasio in his book, Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, illustrating the mental maps in the brain. The role of asymmetry in the human brain is also discussed, along with its embryological development.
