Consciousness and inward electromagnetic field interactions

MacIver, M Bruce

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.1032339

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…The complexity of experience is usually underestimated by seeking it outside of experience. It is generally assumed that, for consciousness to arise, particularly complex processes occur within or outside the classical canons of neuronal architecture (Tononi and Edelman, 1998;Sarasso et al, 2021;Koculak and Wierzchoń, 2022;MacIver, 2022;Hunt and Jones, 2023), or even physics (Hameroff and Penrose, 2014;Zhi and Xiu, 2023), at the non-conscious level. In contrast, little is said about the complexity of a conscious image that we experience, except for the insights provided by the phenomenological approach (Kanizsa, 1979;Gallagher and Zahavi, 2008;Smith, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hidden structure of consciousness

Forti

2024

Front. Psychol.

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According to Loorits, if we want consciousness to be explained in terms of natural sciences, we should be able to analyze its seemingly non-structural aspects, like qualia, in structural terms. However, the studies conducted over the last three decades do not seem to be able to bridge the explanatory gap between physical phenomena and phenomenal experience. One possible way to bridge the explanatory gap is to seek the structure of consciousness within consciousness itself, through a phenomenal analysis of the qualitative aspects of experience. First, this analysis leads us to identify the explanandum concerning the simplest forms of experience not in qualia but in the unitary set of qualities found in early vision. Second, it leads us to hypothesize that consciousness is also made up of non-apparent parts, and that there exists a hidden structure of consciousness. This structure, corresponding to a simple early visual experience, is constituted by a Hierarchy of Spatial Belongings nested within each other. Each individual Spatial Belonging is formed by a primary content and a primary space. The primary content can be traced in the perceptibility of the contents we can distinguish in the phenomenal field. The primary space is responsible for the perceptibility of the content and is not perceptible in itself. However, the phenomenon I refer to as subtraction of visibility allows us to characterize it as phenomenally negative. The hierarchical relationships between Spatial Belongings can ensure the qualitative nature of components of perceptual organization, such as object, background, and detail. The hidden structure of consciousness presents aspects that are decidedly counterintuitive compared to our idea of phenomenal experience. However, on the one hand, the Hierarchy of Spatial Belongings can explain the qualities of early vision and their appearance as a unitary whole, while on the other hand, it might be more easily explicable in terms of brain organization. In other words, the hidden structure of consciousness can be considered a bridge structure which, placing itself at an intermediate level between experience and physical properties, can contribute to bridging the explanatory gap.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hidden structure of consciousness

Forti

2024

Front. Psychol.

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“…Optimizing the signal then selects one waveform or set of waveforms over other possible solutions to the field equations. Unlike the propagated waves of synaptic activity monitored by conventional recording methods, this is more likely to involve complex and highly heterogeneous local fields generated by the sum total of neuronal activity measured at each point in 3D space ( Jones, 2019 ; MacIver, 2022 ; Ward and Guevara, 2022 ), possibly including resonance effects of various kinds ( Hunt and Schooler, 2019 ), all shaped by the boundary conditions imposed at each point in space by the structure and activity patterns of the neural substrate ( Gómez-Emilsson and Percy, 2023 ). But so far, nothing has been said here about consciousness in relation to such field effects.…”

Section: An Evolutionary Thought Experiment: Escaping the Epiphenomen...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental causation: an evolutionary perspective

Lacalli

2024

Front. Psychol.

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The relationship between consciousness and individual agency is examined from a bottom-up evolutionary perspective, an approach somewhat different from other ways of dealing with the issue, but one relevant to the question of animal consciousness. Two ways are identified that would decouple the two, allowing consciousness of a limited kind to exist without agency: (1) reflex pathways that incorporate conscious sensations as an intrinsic component (InCs), and (2) reflexes that are consciously conditioned and dependent on synaptic plasticity but not memory (CCRs). Whether InCs and CCRs exist as more than hypothetical constructs is not clear, and InCs are in any case limited to theories where consciousness depends directly on EM field-based effects. Consciousness with agency, as we experience it, then belongs in a third category that allows for deliberate choice of alternative actions (DCs), where the key difference between this and CCR-level pathways is that DCs require access to explicit memory systems whereas CCRs do not. CCRs are nevertheless useful from a heuristic standpoint as a conceptual model for how conscious inputs could act to refine routine behaviors while allowing evolution to optimize phenomenal experience (i.e., qualia) in the absence of individual agency, a somewhat counterintuitive result. However, so long as CCRs are not a required precondition for the evolution of memory-dependent DC-level processes, the later could have evolved first. If so, the adaptive benefit of consciousness when it first evolved may be linked as much to the role it plays in encoding memories as to any other function. The possibility that CCRs are more than a theoretical construct, and have played a role in the evolution of consciousness, argues against theories of consciousness focussed exclusively on higher-order functions as the appropriate way to deal with consciousness as it first evolved, as it develops in the early postnatal period of life, or with the conscious experiences of animals other than ourselves. An evolutionary perspective also resolves the problem of free will, that it is best treated as a property of a species rather than the individuals belonging to that species whereas, in contrast, agency is an attribute of individuals.

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“…The brain's approximately 100 billion neurons create a dynamic information field originating in electric currents and EMFs (Mac Iver, 2022). Their electrical activity generates three interconnected potential fields: the local field potentials (LFPs), the vector electric field, and the vector magnetic field (Hales et al, 2014).…”

Section: Electromagnetic Thermodynamic and Mechanical Properties Of N...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As indirect evidence, weak electric and magnetic fields are known to impact brain activity and are used to treat psychiatric conditions (Chail et al, 2018;Di Iorio et al, 2022). MacIver shifted the focus from external EMF and their impact on the brain to the internally generated EMF energy cloud that could strengthen ephaptic connections to neural circuits, enhancing the interaction between various forms of energy within the brain (Mac Iver, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a holographic brain paradigm: a lipid-centric model of brain functioning

Cavaglià,

Deriu,

Tuszynski

2023

Front. Neurosci.

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Due to the stimulation of neuronal membrane dipoles by action potentials, under suitable conditions coherent dipole oscillations can be formed. We argue that these dipole oscillations satisfy the weak Bose-Einstein condensate criteria of the Froehlich model of biological coherence. They can subsequently generate electromagnetic fields (EMFs) propagating in the inter-neuronal space. When neighboring neurons fire synchronously, EMFs can create interference patterns and hence form holographic images containing analog information about the sensory inputs that trigger neuronal activity. The mirror pattern projected by EMFs inside the neuron can encode information in the neuronal cytoskeleton. We outline an experimental verification of our hypothesis and its consequences for anesthesia, neurodegenerative diseases, and psychiatric states.

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Consciousness and inward electromagnetic field interactions

Cited by 5 publications

References 41 publications

The hidden structure of consciousness

The hidden structure of consciousness

Mental causation: an evolutionary perspective

Toward a holographic brain paradigm: a lipid-centric model of brain functioning

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