Experiments show that the indication of consciousness has a relation to a global synchronized active state of a high-level brain structur...
Experiments show that the indication of consciousness has a relation to a global synchronized active state of a high-level brain structure. Is it the cause or effect of consciousness? Global synchronized activation is the indication, correlation, or foundation of consciousness? And why need to be global? Why need to be synchronized? Why need to be activation? What is consciousness, and how is it generated? What are the answers to these questions?
What is consciousness?
Recognizing that things exist.
What is recognition?
Subjectively known.
What is exists?
What exists, it is there without the subjectivity.
Consciousness is a self-contradiction?!
Why consciousness exists?
It must have evolutionary advantages. If consciousness has evolutionary advantages, then it must be created by evolution.
What are the advantages of having consciousness?
Consciousness
- enhances, sometimes required for learning
- required for lasting thoughts
- support algorithmic, sequential thinking
- supports social interactions
- required for language to transfer thoughts
Consciousness makes the organism more adaptable.
Consciousness is exclusive. What can we deduct from this fact?
Consciousness must be a global process of the brain. (It is possible to have more than one consciousness for split-brain cases, but evolutionary more advantages of having only one consciousness.)
What does the global brain process mean?
The global brain process is an integrative function of many parts of the brain. (Double consciousness in split-brain cases supports the integrative function theory.)
Global or integrative is the main essence of consciousness?
The essence of consciousness is not that it is global because it is possible to have more than one consciousness. Evolution made it global to rule out multiple consciousnesses. The integrative function must be the essence of the consciousness, yet, exclusivity makes it more advantageous, can work the best if it is exclusive.
What is behind the integrative process?
There must be a global brain network, possibly a dedicated network of the neurons (It called shadow network in earlier thoughts).
What this brain network, which is global because of evolution, is doing?
It connects the different parts of the brain. Integration means that this global neuronal network can be stimulated by the connected parts, it can stimulate them back, and it has its own active state.
Consciousness is based on evolution. What can we deduct from this fact?
Its forming process must be gradual, an evolutionary step-by-step development.
What brain structure did evolution make consciousness?
Consciousness must be evolved from simple, sensorimotor (unconscious) brain structures.
What are the evolutionary steps of differentiation of the sensorimotor brain structures, which lead to consciousness? How the sensorimotor brain structures evolve to create conscious brain structures?
The evolutionary steps of differentiation leading to consciousness are:
- unconditional sensorimotor neural pathways (evolutionary adaptation to the environment)
- conditional sensorimotor neural pathways (personal adaptation to the environment by learning and memory)
- neural interconnections between sensorimotor pathways (associations between the learned connections)
- neural connections between interconnections (thoughts)
- neural connection loops from neural interconnections (thinking)
- global network from neural interconnections (appearance of the global neural activity, consciousness)
What is the mechanism of consciousness?
Activation of the global network by stimulating from outside or inside neural activity activate memory, create thoughts, and it stimulates back to the sensory and motoric structures by its own activity. The activity of the global network creates activity in the connected structures.
What is conscious learning?
Consciousness preserves the activity of the stimulated memories and sensorimotor pathways, make them available for processes for a longer period. It enhances the effectiveness of learning making more information available.
Memory and consciousness are connected (the connection provides medical tests for consciousness).
What is conscious vigilance?
It is the active state of the global neural network. When it is active, it is capable to activate the connected peripheral pathways and channel through activation between them or make loop feedback to the active pathways. The activity of the global neural network lowers the activation threshold levels of the connected sensory and motoric circuitry making them more sensitive to stimuli.
Why an algorithmic, step-by-step process is the form of thinking with consciousness?
The global neural network transfers activity of the connected circuitry to other parts of connected circuits activates them and transfers the generated activity again. It is a gradual, step-by-step process.
How the global neural network activity can cause a feeling of existence? How can it cause a feeling of me?
The global neural network activity is a feedback mechanism. The global neural network is an inside structure without direct outside connections. However, when it is active, it plays the role of peripheral stimuli by activating sensory and motoric pathways and activates the current-activity related memories. Its activity creates activity whirls and feedbacks, and as its activity reverberates, it creates thoughts. It creates the experience, the feeling that something independent exists inside in me, creates the feeling of the subjective existence (the global neural network activates my feeling, my memories, so it is subjective), causes the experience of consciousness.
How will appear in consciousness?
The will and consciousness are related. The brain activity of consciousness creates the will. The will was discussed in earlier thoughts. If we can understand and explain consciousness in a deductive way, then the will must be understood and explained similarly. The will as an independent phenomenon, as a free choice, as a spirit over the matter does not need to exist. The will is the integration effect of consciousness, the emergent property of the active global neural network. The will is actually the presence of me, the presence of my past and present, my subjective existence. The will is my actual subjective experiences modified by my earlier memories. My will is the state of my brain, my preconditioned earlier experiences of cause and effects applied to the actual active situation. It is subjective, built on my memories. This is why unique and hence looks free. However, the will is built on determined processes. It appears undetermined because of the complex and unique background of the past and present behind it. Consciousness, the activity of the global neural network works in a uniquely complex environment, connects, summarizes, and creates equilibrium from all the corresponding actual and segmented activations and preconditions. The equilibrium appears as a unique brain state, its result is a unique, yet dynamic sum of all the underlying states. This sum is the emergent property of the active global neural network, the consciousness. As an emergent peak, it gives feedback to the corresponding circuitry and modifying their activity, even creates new activations. Because this emergence is correlated with conscious brain activity, it determines the consciousness and even can affect our unconscious behavior. This emergent sum appears as a driving force of the subjectivity, appears as a unique goal of the behavior, appears as the (free) will.
What is the relation between attention (focusing) and consciousness?
When we are conscious, we can focus on a part of the actually active sensorimotor pathways. To be in the focus means that the main, activity determining stimuli of the global neuronal network comes from the given sensorimotor pathway activity and feedbacks to it. Focusing means that the activity of the highlighted pathway rules the consciousness, sources, and dominantly affects, supplies the main contribution, determines the activity of the global neural network. The emphasis can be spontaneous, or a will generated, precondition-based process. If attention happens spontaneously, the causing sensorimotor pathway must have an elevated activity for able to be the source of the determining activity of the global neural network. If the emphasis is a will-based, it depends on the preconditioned settings of the conscious activity. Precondition means that the contribution of the given activity is pre-conditionally emphasized in the activity of the global neural network. The will-based focusing works on the way that the emerged peak activity of the global neural network creates a positive feedback to the need-to-be-highlighted sensorimotor pathway. The will based focusing requires precondition.
How does consciousness function?
Let's start from the unconscious state, like deep sleep. The global neural network is inactive, but the brain is active. Much of the brain activity is unconscious, direct sensorimotor activity. Then wake up stimulus appears. It can come from inside, like the circadian cycle activation of the awareness center ending the sleep, or it can come from outside in the form of strong stimulus, which can activate the awareness center or directly the global neural network. The global neural network suddenly becomes active and receives inputs from the active, connected circuitry, transfer activity to other connected circuits, and provides loop-back feedbacks. Consciousness arises. A dynamic peak of activity emerges in the complex system based on a strong specific input or based on a precondition. Attention appears. The whole system is dynamic. New inputs enter into the global neural network, and new activations appear created by the network own activity. Other, active inputs lose entry into the global neural network by falling out from the attention. Consciousness makes its job by dynamically integrating the activity of the connected pathways. Then, the activity level of the global neural network starts to diminish. It can be caused by the inhibition of the awareness center by an inside (circadian style or drug-related) inhibition, or by getting fewer inputs from the connected circuitry, which cannot be compensated by the awareness center activity. Consciousness is still present but integrates less and less inputs until the global neural network activity loses its activity and suddenly fades off. Consciousness ends until it wakes up again.
How the brain actually processes consciousness? What is the concrete underlying mechanism of the neurons to create consciousness?
Until this, the brain activity, which creates consciousness was described from a global-system view, without focusing the direct neural functions. How the complex network of functioning neurons creates consciousness? We can understand consciousness, how it functions, but without the concrete working mechanism of neural activity creating consciousness, its mystery remains. We already know how a neuron functions, we can model it precisely. How to connect the two distant level, neural activity, and consciousness? Consciousness must be the direct result of the simple, well-understood neural activity, which is connected together to create a complex system. To clear the mystery and to find the bottom-up mechanism of consciousness, an earlier discussed model of the brain, the resonance model is suggested as the working mechanism for connecting the two levels (and might everything between them). The resonance model simply uses the basic working method of the neuron and applies it to the complex system of the connected network of neurons. Using the resonance model, applying and examining it as how would it function on a dedicated global neural network, it could be seen that it can implement the functions of consciousness discussed before. The resonance mechanism built only on the basic working method of a neuron and extends the neuron's functions to a complex network of neurons without any necessity of other prerequisites or requirements, except the pre-build structure of neurons made by the gradual process of evolution. The dynamic process of resonance of the connected and connecting firing neurons is able to create the functions of consciousness discussed before. The simple cooperating mechanism of the neurons, the resonance can lead to complex patterns of activity of the brain, which can be seen on the EEG too. The resonance model can provide a work method, which can lead to the functions of consciousness. Consciousness, the functions of the brain creating consciousness can be the result of the resonance of the synchronously firing neurons, as also, the resonance model can fulfill the global working mechanism of the brain.
No comments