Difficulties with the Electromagnetic Field Theory of Consciousness: An Update

Pockett, Susan

doi:10.14704/nq.2007.5.3.136

Cited by 27 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The second difficulty is that, although electromagnetic fields can certainly cause neural firing, the same mathematical calculations that show the need for ECoG reveal that the spatial patterns proposed as being conscious become unidentifiable such a short distance away from their source that they are ill-suited to causing behaviour by activating neurons in other areas of the brain. This difficulty is rendered unimportant by an accumulation of empirical evidence that consciousness is actually not causal for behaviour (Pockett, 2002[184]).…”

Section: Contributions Of Quantum Physics To Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, on the down side of the ledger for the theory, we have still not managed to describe a single empirical example of a spatial electromagnetic pattern that co-varies with a particular kind of human conscious experience. The only overt advance in that direction over the past seven years has been to determine the methodology that will very likely be necessary for making such measurements (Pockett, 2007[185]; Randall, 2011[190]).…”

Section: Contributions Of Quantum Physics To Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards an integrative theory of consciousness: Part 2 (An anthology of various other models)

Sousa¹

2013

Mens Sana Monogr

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The study of consciousness has today moved beyond neurobiology and cognitive models. In the past few years, there has been a surge of research into various newer areas. The present article looks at the non-neurobiological and non-cognitive theories regarding this complex phenomenon, especially ones that self-psychology, self-theory, artificial intelligence, quantum physics, visual cognitive science and philosophy have to offer. Self-psychology has proposed the need to understand the self and its development, and the ramifications of the self for morality and empathy, which will help us understand consciousness better. There have been inroads made from the fields of computer science, machine technology and artificial intelligence, including robotics, into understanding the consciousness of these machines and their implications for human consciousness. These areas are explored. Visual cortex and emotional theories along with their implications are discussed. The phylogeny and evolution of the phenomenon of consciousness is also highlighted, with theories on the emergence of consciousness in fetal and neonatal life. Quantum physics and its insights into the mind, along with the implications of consciousness and physics and their interface are debated. The role of neurophilosophy to understand human consciousness, the functions of such a concept, embodiment, the dark side of consciousness, future research needs and limitations of a scientific theory of consciousness complete the review. The importance and salient features of each theory are discussed along with certain pitfalls, if present. A need for the integration of various theories to understand consciousness from a holistic perspective is stressed.

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Section: Contributions Of Quantum Physics To Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contributions Of Quantum Physics To Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an integrative theory of consciousness: Part 2 (An anthology of various other models)

Sousa¹

2013

Mens Sana Monogr

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“…Thus the idea of consciousness as a non-physical field does effectively rescue the notion of an incompatibilist free will. For myself, as already remarked I baulk at dualism, so my own suggestion is that consciousness may be a particular kind of spatiotemporal pattern in the electromagnetic field generated by the active brains (Pockett, 2000(Pockett, , 2002. In this hypothesis, consciousness is still part of the physical world, which means that it still obeys the deterministic laws governing the physical world, which means that, again, there is actually no incompatibility between determinism and ''incompatibilist'' free will.…”

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confidence: 97%

The concept of free will: philosophy, neuroscience and the law

Pockett

2007

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Various philosophical definitions of free will are first considered. The compatibilist definition, which says simply that acts are freely willed if they are not subject to constraints, is identified as much used in the legal system and essentially impervious to scientific investigation. A middle-ground "incompatibilist" definition, which requires that freely willed acts be consciously initiated, is shown to be relevant to the idea of mens rea and in the author's view not actually incompatible in principle with a fully scientific worldview. Only the strong libertarian definition, which requires that freely willed acts have no physical antecedents whatsoever, makes the existence of free will very hard to swallow scientifically. However, with regard to the middle-ground "incompatibilist" definition, three different lines of scientific experimental evidence are then described, which suggest that, in fact, consciousness is not the real cause of much of what is generally considered as voluntary behavior. Many voluntary actions are initiated preconsciously, with consciousness kept informed only after the neural events leading to the act have begun. It is suggested that a reasonable way of integrating these experimental findings with the idea that persons do have a somewhat more than compatibilist version of free will is to acknowledge explicitly that a person is a mixture of conscious and unconscious components. In this scenario, the mind in mens rea would have to be judged guilty if it contained either conscious or unconscious intentions to perform the guilty act.

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“…Even though electromagnetic field models have been proposed to explain consciousness (see [124] and the references therein), these models are largely based on emperical observation and lack precise mathematical formulations. A mathematical framework for fostering precision, completeness, and self-consistency in understanding the anesthetic cascade in the human brain using system thermodynamics and electromagnetic field theories are the subject of current research by the authors.…”

Section: An Electromagnetic Field Theory Of Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Brain Networks: Spiking Neuron Models, Multistability, Synchronization, Thermodynamics, Maximum Entropy Production, and Anesthetic Cascade Mechanisms

Haddad

Hui

Bailey

2014

Entropy

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Advances in neuroscience have been closely linked to mathematical modeling beginning with the integrate-and-fire model of Lapicque and proceeding through the modeling of the action potential by Hodgkin and Huxley to the current era. The fundamental building block of the central nervous system, the neuron, may be thought of as a dynamic element that is "excitable", and can generate a pulse or spike whenever the electrochemical potential across the cell membrane of the neuron exceeds a threshold. A key application of nonlinear dynamical systems theory to the neurosciences is to study phenomena of the central nervous system that exhibit nearly discontinuous transitions between macroscopic states. A very challenging and clinically important problem exhibiting this phenomenon is the induction of general anesthesia. In any specific patient, the transition from consciousness to unconsciousness as the concentration of anesthetic drugs increases is very sharp, resembling a thermodynamic phase transition. This paper focuses on multistability theory for continuous and discontinuous dynamical systems having a set of multiple isolated equilibria and/or a continuum of equilibria. Multistability is the property whereby the solutions of a dynamical system can alternate between two or more mutually exclusive Lyapunov stable and convergent equilibrium states under asymptotically slowly changing inputs or system parameters. In this paper, we extend the theory of multistability to continuous, discontinuous, and stochastic nonlinear dynamical systems. In particular, Lyapunov-based tests for Entropy 2014, 16 3940 multistability and synchronization of dynamical systems with continuously differentiable and absolutely continuous flows are established. The results are then applied to excitatory and inhibitory biological neuronal networks to explain the underlying mechanism of action for anesthesia and consciousness from a multistable dynamical system perspective, thereby providing a theoretical foundation for general anesthesia using the network properties of the brain. Finally, we present some key emergent properties from the fields of thermodynamics and electromagnetic field theory to qualitatively explain the underlying neuronal mechanisms of action for anesthesia and consciousness.

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Difficulties with the Electromagnetic Field Theory of Consciousness: An Update

Cited by 27 publications

References 7 publications

Towards an integrative theory of consciousness: Part 2 (An anthology of various other models)

Towards an integrative theory of consciousness: Part 2 (An anthology of various other models)

The concept of free will: philosophy, neuroscience and the law

Human Brain Networks: Spiking Neuron Models, Multistability, Synchronization, Thermodynamics, Maximum Entropy Production, and Anesthetic Cascade Mechanisms

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