Figure 1.

Environmental (dis)connection and consciousness. Bubble clouds represent subjective experience [i.e., (un)consciousness]. (A) Connected consciousness during wakefulness: the boy’s subjective experience is strongly influenced by the surrounding environment. (B) Connected consciousness during dreaming: the subjective experience of the sleeping boy is partially influenced by the surrounding environment (the boy is dreaming of eating pizza) and, at the same time, sounds from the surrounding environment (in this case the cat’s sound) are incorporated into his experience. (C) Disconnected consciousness during dreaming: the boy’s subjective experience is not influenced by the surrounding environment (the boy is only dreaming about eating pizza, no environmental stimuli are incorporated into the ongoing experience). (D) Unconsciousness: the boy is devoid of any experience, whether originating internally or externally. Created with BioRender.com.