I don't have an axe to grind one way or another on this subject, but I did see an interesting experiment done about 15 years ago.
There is a common optical illusion that looks like black and white cowhide. If you look at just the right way - you see a bearded face (looks like Jesus). When people are tested on this, the percentage of people who see the face is fairly consistent - 15%. The other 85% only see the cow hide pattern.
They tested several thousand people in Australia, and got the same 15% result.
Then the optical illusion was printed on milk cartons in Denmark for a month with instructions on how to see the face.
The researchers then went back to Australia and tested several thousand different people. This time the face recognition was up to 40%.
The researchers were trying to prove that there is a "universal consciousness" that humans tap into. They say that more people in Australia could see the face because of what happened in Denmark -proving to them that the Australians somehow "picked up" what the Danes were taught.
These proponents say this Universal Consciousness is the reason that humans seem to pick up and learn things all over the world at the same time and its the reason we are so adaptable to new ideas.
They say that thinking that all our consciousness does not take place in our brains - but "somewhere else". They say a perfect example is a primitive seeing and hearing a radio for the first time. The primitive would have trouble grasping that the music was not originating from inside the radio - but the radio was only picking up the sound. They say that when we are looking at the human brain, we are making the same assumption.
Please don't flame me on this - I'm not saying I buy any of this, I'm only relaying what some researchers believe.
No flames from me. But, of course, there's zero evidence for the existence of Universal Consciousness.