Source monitoring as an explanation for the illusion of “self as subject”.

Abstract

One's experience of self as a "subject of consciousness" or an observer who is conscious of sensory objects, and simultaneously conscious of itself, is an illusory experience that results from the physical and subjective aspects of source monitoring. Physically, one's nervous system monitors whether the innervation of one's sensations is peripheral or central in origin, so long as such source monitoring is not diminished by sleep, hypnosis, dissociation, psychosis, or subliminal innervation. Subjectively, the neural monitoring of sensations with a peripheral source is paralleled by the tacit knowledge that one is perceiving, whereas the neural monitoring of self-generated sensations with a central source is paralleled by the tacit knowledge that one is imaging. Most importantly, the meta-awareness that one is perceiving sensations or that one is imaging sensations gives rise to the generic experience that one is "having" sensations-that is, to the illusory experience of a "self as subject" which has, not is, its sensations. This source-monitoring explanation for the illusion of an "observing self" is initially introduced in the context of historic approaches to the problem of self and, then, is fully described and discussed in the context of empirical research.

Consciousness, the unconscious, and the self.

“…If consciousness entails self-reference, then the next question is: What is the self? Much ink has been spilled over this question, such as the distinction between self-as-object and self-as-subject (Allport, 1961;Mead, 1934); whether the selfas-subject is an illusion (Kunzendorf, 1988(Kunzendorf, , 2015Kunzendorf, 2022) whether an individual has a core self as opposed to a multiplicity of selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986); and even whether the self can be understood using current scientific methodologies (Klein, 2012). From a cognitive point of view, however, we can simply define the self as one's mental representation of oneself-recording a person's fund of knowledge concerning him-or herself (for comprehensive overviews and relevant references, see Kihlstrom, 1993bKihlstrom, , 2012aKihlstrom & Cantor, 1984;Kihlstrom & Cunningham, 1991;Kihlstrom et al, 1988Kihlstrom et al, , 1997.…”

Is Consciousness a Mystery? A Simplified Approach to Pinpoint the Basic Nature of Consciousness

“…A specific answer to the question of how self-consciousness might evolve has been offered by Kunzendorf's "Theory of Source Monitoring" (1987;2020). Although Kunzendorf's experimental data are in line with his theory, they can -on principle -not finally prove it.…”

“…Although Kunzendorf's experimental data are in line with his theory, they can -on principle -not finally prove it. Kunzendorf argues "while physically monitoring either the peripheral or central source of sensations, the brain's monitoring mechanism is subjectively paralleled by the generic knowledge that all monitored sensations should be treated as ‚belonging to oneself' -and by the resulting illusion of a ‚self' as subject having these sensations" (Kunzendorf, 2020). This sophisticated concept deserves a more detailed discussion.…”

“…[* The term "peripheral" has not been specified but is probably meant by Kunzendorf (2020) to comprise both, the body and its environment] Furthermore, in Kunzendorf's theory, the brain's "source monitoring mechanism" has to distinguish between two sources that both yield, to a considerable degree, arbitrary contents of sensations which can hardly serve as a reliable basis of "self". This is true both, for the environment with its permanently changing stimuli, and for the brain with its great variety of uncontrollable factors like dreaming-or psychotic states.…”

“…Finally, Kunzendorf (2020) postulates a "subject having these sensations". By contrast, the present theory holds that a subject ("self") can only be assumed based on an ongoing, comparative processing of internal versus external stimuli, an aspect not addressed by Kunzendorf's theory.…”