Mirror-induced origination process of human self-consciousness—restructuring consciousness-based cognitive theory
Frontiers in Psychology June 24, 2026 Xiaodong Luo
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...