In conditions with reduced ability to react to or to perceive external stimuli the cognitive disturbance of consciousness cannot fully be explored. Obviously, disturbance of elementary reactions related to alertness and disturbance of intellectual performance overlap. Altered states of consciousness, sometimes called non-ordinary states, include various mental states in which the mind can be aware but is not in its usual wakeful condition, such as during. intellectual reactions to cognitive stimuli-these indicate the impairment of cognitive contents in non-hypnoid unconsciousness. Altered states can be either deliberately stimulated or may occur randomly and without warning. elementary reactions to sensory stimuli-these are impaired in hypnoid unconsciousness, 2. Altered states of consciousness (ASC), also known as a non-ordinary state of being, occurs when we temporarily access a state of mind that isn’t usually available to us. Impaired consciousness in the neurological practice is classified based on tests for conscious behavior and by analyzing the following responses: 1. The hippocampus has a key role in regulating memory, learning, emotion and motivation. Recent evidence indicates that these phylogenetically ancient structures play an important role in the processes of acquiring, storing and retrieving information. The paleocerebrum, limbic system and their connections have been considered to be the center of emotions, feelings, attention, motivation and autonomic functions. "Higher functions" of human mental ability have been ascribed to the prefrontal and parietal association cortices. Quick Medical Diagnosis & Treatment Pediatrics Hay, Jr WW, Levin MJ, Deterding RR, Abzug MJ. Clinical observations suggest that the lesions of specific structures of the brain may lead to specific malfunction of consciousness, therefore, consciousness must be the product of neural activity. Alertness is a prerequisite of awareness. Awareness denotes the spiritual process of perception and analysis of stimuli from the inner and external world. Disturbance or loss of consciousness in the Hungarian medical language indicates decreased alertness or arousability rather than the impairment of the complex mental ability.
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A person may enter an altered state of consciousness through such things as sensory deprivation or overload, neurochemical imbalance, fever, or trauma. The meaning of consciousness is different in various languages, but it invariably includes, the conscious person is capable to learn, retrieve and use information. A n altered state of consciousness is a brain state wherein one loses the sense of identity with ones body or with ones normal sense perceptions. consciousness can also be defined as continuous awareness of the external and internal environment, of the past and the present. The notion of consciousness in the English scientific literature denotes a global ability to consciously perform elementary and intellectual tasks, to reason, plan, judge and retrieve information as well as the awareness of these functions belonging to the self, that is, being self-aware.