Author: Miranker, Willard

Source: Mind and Matter, Volume 3, Number 2, 2005 , pp. 87-102(16)

Publisher: Imprint Academic

Abstract:

A dualistic approach to consciousness is presented that employs Hebbian synaptic dynamics and the basic notion of measurement in science to bridge the so-called explanatory gap between first-person consciousness and third-person science. Unconscious processing by neural circuitry characterizes (i) the neuron as a measuring instrument and (ii) the neural signal as the quantity to be measured. Hebbian synaptic dynamics, effectuating the storage of information, implements the role of an observer of a measurement outcome. The approach extends physical renormalization techniques, as applied to phase changes, to biology. This leads to the proposal of a ramification process in neural systems (brains) from a primitive form of sensation associated with the Hebbian synapse toward more elaborate experiential forms of consciousness (feelings, qualia) associated with hierarchies of neuronal assemblies. Characterizing sensation as a form of mutual information at the synaptic level motivates a relation between consciousness and phase changes of information.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Computer Science Yale University, New Haven CT, USA

Publication date: 2005-01-01

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• In this Subject: Neurology & Psychiatry ,  Philosophy ,  Neuropsychology
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