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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awareness | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awareness | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T11:04:15.557513+00:00 | kb-cron |
Living systems are cognitive systems, and living as a process is a process of cognition. This statement is valid for all organisms, with or without a nervous system. This theory contributes a perspective that cognition is a process present at organic levels that people do not usually consider to be aware. Given the possible relationship between awareness and cognition, and consciousness, this theory contributes an interesting perspective in the philosophical and scientific dialogue of awareness and living systems theory.
== Communications and information systems == In cooperative settings, awareness is a term used to denote "knowledge created through the interaction of an agent and its environment — in simple terms 'knowing what is going on'". In this setting, awareness is meant to convey how individuals monitor and perceive the information surrounding their colleagues and the environment they are in. This information is incredibly useful and critical to the performance and success of collaborations. Awareness can be further defined by breaking it down into a set of characteristics:
Knowledge about the state of some environment Environments are continually changing, therefore awareness knowledge must be constantly maintained Individuals interact with the environment, and maintenance of awareness is accomplished through this interaction. Generally part of some other activity, making it a secondary goal to the primary goal of the activity. Different categories of awareness have been suggested based on the type of information being obtained or maintained:
Informal awareness – the sense of who's around and what are they up to; information you might know from being collocated with an individual Social awareness – the information you maintain about a social or conversational context. This is a subtle awareness maintained through non-verbal cues, such as eye contact, facial express, etc. Group-structural awareness – the knowledge of others roles, responsibilities, and status in a group. It is an understanding of group dynamics and the relationship another individual has to the group. Workspace awareness – awareness with a focus on the workspace's influence and mediation of awareness information, particularly the location, activity, and changes of elements within the workspace. These categories are not mutually exclusive, as there can be significant overlap in what a particular type of awareness might be considered. Rather, these categories serve to help understand what knowledge might be conveyed by a particular type of awareness or how that knowledge might be conveyed. Workspace awareness is of particular interest to the CSCW community, due to the transition of workspaces from physical to virtual environments. While the type of awareness above refers to knowledge a person might need in a particular situation, context awareness and location awareness refer to information a computer system might need in a particular situation. These concepts of large importance especially for AAA (authentication, authorization, accounting) applications. The term of location awareness still is gaining momentum with the growth of ubiquitous computing. First defined by networked work positions (network location awareness), it has been extended to mobile phones and other mobile communicable entities. The term covers a common interest in whereabouts of remote entities, especially individuals and their cohesion in operation. The term of context awareness is a superset including the concept of location awareness. It extends the awareness to context features of an operational target as well as to the context of an operational area.
== Covert awareness ==
Covert awareness is the knowledge of something without knowing it. The word covert means not openly shown, engaged in, or avowed. Some patients with specific brain damage are, for example, unable to tell if a pencil is horizontal or vertical. Patients who are clinically in a vegetative state (showing no awareness of their surroundings) are found to have no awareness, yet they are able to sometimes detect covert awareness with neural imaging (fMRI). The presence of awareness is clinically measured by the ability to follow commands either verbally or behaviorally. Awareness was detected by asking participants to imagine hitting a tennis ball and to imagine walking from room to room in their house while in the scanner. Using this technique, a patient who fulfilled all of the clinical criteria for the vegetative state was shown to be covertly aware and able to willfully respond to commands by looking at their brain activity.
== Awareness versus attention == Some scientists have proposed that awareness is closely related and in some ways synonymous with attention, while others have argued that they are different. There is evidence to demonstrate that awareness and attention have distinct neural correlates, though the majority of research analyses the attention, awareness, and perception of only visual stimuli.
== See also == The dictionary definition of presence of mind at Wiktionary
Awareness ribbon – Symbol intended to show support or bring attention to a cause Choiceless awareness – Concept in philosophy, psychology and spirituality Consciousness raising – Activism which use awareness campaigns Ethics – Philosophical study of morality Illusion of explanatory depth – Form of cognitive bias Indefinite monism List of awareness ribbons – Ribbon colors worn to signal issue awareness Mental Health Awareness Month – American observation in May since 1949 Mental Illness Awareness Week – Awareness week in the United States Philosophy of mind – Branch of philosophy Public awareness of climate change Public awareness of science – Aspect of education and communication Situation awareness – Adequate perception of environmental elements and external events Suicide awareness – Effort to raise awareness of suicidal behaviors Value (ethics and social sciences) – Personal value, basis for ethical actionPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
== References ==
== External links ==
Media related to Awareness at Wikimedia Commons LaBar KS, Disterhoft JF (1998). "Conditioning, awareness, and the hippocampus". Hippocampus. 8 (6): 620–6. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-1063(1998)8:6<620::AID-HIPO4>3.0.CO;2-6. PMID 9882019. S2CID 11974202. Cornell University: Recent findings in the awareness of brain damaged people.