  This paper argues that self-awareness is a learned behavior that emerges in
organisms whose brains have a sufficiently integrated, complex ability for
associative learning and memory. Continual sensory input of information related
to the organism causes the organism's brain to learn the physical
characteristics of the organism, in the sense that neural pathways are produced
that are reinforced by, and therefore recognize, various features associated
with the organism. This results in the formation of a set of associations that
may be termed an organismal self-image, which provides a mechanistic basis for
the emergence of various behaviors that are associated with self-awareness,
such as self-recognition. In humans, self-awareness includes additional
behaviors such as recognition of self-awareness, the concept of I, and various
existential and religious questions. This paper shows how associative memory
and learning, combined with an organismal self-image and, in the case of
humans, language, leads to the emergence of these various behaviors. This paper
also discusses various tautologies that invariably emerge when discussing
self-awareness, that ultimately prevent an unambiguous resolution to the
various existential issues that arise. We continue with various speculations on
manipulating self-awareness, and discuss how concepts from set and logic may
provide a highly useful set of tools in computational neuroscience for
understanding the emergence of higher cognitive functions in complex organisms.
The existence of other types of awareness, and the role of mirror neurons in
the emergence of self-awareness, are also briefly discussed.
