Narrow Results

We begin with premises about natural science, its fundamental protocols and its limitations. With those in mind, we construct alternative descriptive models of consciousness, each comprising a synthesis of recent literature in cognitive science. Presuming that consciousness arose through natural selection, we eliminate the subset of alternatives that lack selectable physical phenotypes, leaving the subset with limited free will (mostly in the form of free won't). We argue that membership in this subset implies a two-way exchange of energy between the conscious mental realm and the physical realm of the brain. We propose an analogy between the mental and physical phases of energy and the phases (e.g., gas/liquid) of matter, and a possible realization in the form of a generic resonator. As candidate undergirdings of such a system, we propose astroglial-pyramidal cell and electromagnetic-field models. Finally, we consider the problem of identification of the presence of consciousness in other beings or in machines.

This paper explores the implications of a recently published theory that relates the experience of qualia to the attractor activity in networks of pyramidal cells in the cerebral cortex. The paper builds on this theory, and aims to link activity in different networks to the nature of the qualia experienced. Some basic links between network activity and qualia experiences are initially presented, showing the importance of learning, and the paper then proceeds to relate these mechanisms to the qualia experienced during sensory perception. The paper argues that attractor behavior in networks of layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons could underpin the vivid sensory qualia of perception, and attractor behavior in networks of layer 5A pyramidal neurons could have a role in the more understanding kind of perceptual qualia. Communication between these networks is explored to suggest their involvement in putting incoming sensory information into the context of all prior experience, and the understanding that could result.