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Like Jackie, the first thing I thought of when Reeves' name was mentioned was our capacity to dream. How does I-function come into play when we are running in our sleep, yet laying still in bed. Also, there are individual differences (some people twitch in their sleep, some people sleep walk, some experience sleep paralysis as noted above) so how can any of this be accounted for? Dreaming states have always particularly interested me, so while I don't really have answers, I have many questions. I am tempted to say that perhaps the neocortex has something to do with dreaming or perhaps I-function awareness, since REM activity (I don't think) has not been studied much in animals other than humans.

I also liked Jean's (jchung01) mention of evolution. We haven't had a similar ancestor with reptiles or amphibians for millions of generations, so I'm not sure this is a question that can be answered with "Well, we have this ability and they don't so that's must be attributed to the neocortex". Although the warm-blooded argument intrigued me, I don't think the function of the neocortex can be so easily surmised.