The interaction between implicit and explicit awareness in anosognosia: emergent awareness.

The dissociation between implicit and explicit forms of awareness has been described in various neurological diseases. The way in which these forms of awareness integrate in order to permit the necessary unitary experience of self remains unclear. Here, the hypothesis that a form of emergent awareness (i.e., the emergence of a verbal acknowledgment of deficits as a consequence of attempting to act) may represent a link between implicit and explicit components is proposed for discussion.