Mirror-induced origination process of human self-consciousness—restructuring consciousness-based cognitive theory

Self-consciousness originated in an animal ancestor when repeated exposure to its own mirror image triggered illusory transformations and discontinuous leaps in the brain's conscious reaction, eventually leading to mental self-consciousness. The Mirror-Induced Leap of Consciousness (MLC) model formalizes this eight-stage evolutionary process. Consciousness is defined as the brain's reaction to a percept's attribute, formalized as C = R(a(p)). The principle of percept drift explains how repetitive mirror stimulation drives conscious change, supported by the rubber hand illusion experiment. The framework integrates behavioral experiments, logical reasoning, and mathematical modeling to address the generation, transformation, and definition of consciousness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Where did “we” come from? How did our self-consciousness come to be? This great mystery has puzzled scientists for centuries. Applying representative cognitive behavioral experiments, this study proposes the Mirror-Induced Origination Hypothesis and further conducts a thought experiment to demonstrate that the brain’s conscious reaction was induced in humans’ animal ancestor to undergo illusory transformation and continuous, leap-like changes under repetitive stimulation of the ancestor’s mirror image, before transforming into mental self-consciousness (MSC). A formalized eight-stage model of conscious change—the Mirror-Induced Leap of Consciousness (MLC)—is constructed to offer a natural evolutionary account for the origin of self-consciousness and the emergence of intelligent life. The study defines consciousness as the brain’s reaction to the attribute of a percept, and elucidates that the evolutionary mechanism of self-consciousness lies in the interaction between the brain’s subjectivity and the attributes of percepts, which drives changes in conscious level and state—a mechanism that can be expressed in the form of the Consciousness Cognitive Relational Function: C = R(a(p)) . The principle of percept drift is proposed to explain how repetitive mirror stimulation triggers this mechanism, and this principle is empirically supported by the rubber hand illusion (RHI) experiment. Furthermore, this study clarifies the brain’s fundamental cognitive processes underlying individual human behavior—namely sensation, perception, percept, and consciousness—and their interrelating mechanisms, offering a new paradigm for addressing the “hard problem” of consciousness in its generation, transformation, and formal definition. A comprehensive cognitive theoretical framework centered on consciousness is constructed from an evolutionary perspective, integrating key hypotheses, experimental reconstruction, logical reasoning, empirical evidence, core mechanisms and principles, modeling, and mathematization, thereby facilitating a unified understanding of cognitive science across behavioral, cognitive, and neural levels.