Table Of ContentTHE IDEA OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Synapses and the Mind
Max R. Bennett
Institute for Biomedical Research
University of Sydney
Australia
Illustrations by
Gillian Bennett
Boca Raton London New York
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THE IDEA OF CONSCIOUSNESS
CONTENTS
Introduction ix
Chapter 1 An Introduction to Consciousness and the Brain 1
1.1 Erwin Schrodinger’s What is Life? 1
12 The problem of consciousness approached through vision 4
13 The origin of holistic experiences in consciousness 8
1.4 The loss of specific elements of consciousness through
disease and stroke 9
13 Neuronal growth factors for the regeneration of nerve
connections 12
1.6 The restoration of memory processes by neural transplants
into the brain 19
1.7 The idea of consciousness 25
1.8 References 26
Chapter 2 Syntax, Semantics and Qualia in Consciousness 29
2.1 The idea of brain and mind: Descartes and Kant 29
22 The neuronal basis of syntax: Allan Turing and David Marr 31
23 The neuronal basis of semantics: Wittgenstein and Searle 35
2.4 The neuronal basis of qualia: Edelman and Dennett 39
23 References 44
Chapter 3 The Holistic Nature of Consciousness 45
3.1 Neuronal groups and 40 Hz oscillations of neuronal
activity 45
32 Neuronal groups participate in the solution of the binding
problem in the visual cortex 50
v
33 The dynamic coupling of neuronal groups 53
3.4 Paying attention 57
33 Consciousness as a global map of neuronal groups 64
3.6 References 65
Chapter 4 The Consciousness of Muscular Effort and
Movement 67
4.1 The simplest nervous system 67
42 Humphrey’s concept of the evolution of the sentient loop 71
43 The modification of sensory signals before they reach
consciousness 73
4.4 Collateral effects can be used to generate sensations 75
43 The consciousness of time 79
4.6 Brain activity in the absence of behavior 83
4.7 The evolution of the collateral effect 83
4.8 Consciousness as a consequence of the sentient loop 86
4.9 References 87
4.10 Further reading 87
Chapter 5 The Distortion of Consciousness 88
5.1 Introduction 88
52 Imaging brain functions related to consciousness 91
53 Problems with interpreting brain images related to
consciousness 93
5.4 Brain images during the distortions of consciousness that
accompany schizophrenia 98
53 The dopaminergic hypothesis for the distortions of
consciousness that accompany schizophrenia 100
5.6 Dopamine receptor molecules and the alleviation of the
distortions of consciousness 105
5.7 The site of the lesion in the schizophrenic brain and the
distortion of consciousness 111
5.8 What does schizophrenia reveal about the origins of
consciousness? 112
5.9 References 114
Chapter6 The Evolution of Consciousness 116
6.1 Introduction 116
6.2 Evolution of the brain 117
6.3 The site of visual consciousness in the primate brain:
blindsight 120
vi
6.4 At what point during evolution of the brain do synchronized
40 Hz oscillations first appear in the telencephalon? 129
65 At what point during evolution of the brain do PET and fMRI
studies indicate psychophysical parallels with Homo sapiens? 131
6.6 Is there visual consciousness in amphibia? 132
6.7 Evolution of the emotional centers of the brain 139
6.8 References 142
Chapter7 Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics 144
7.1 Quantum mechanics 144
12 Bohr’s interpretation of Schrodinger’s wave equation 146
73 Bohm’s interpretation of Schrodinger’s wave equation 151
7.4 Gell-Mann and Zurek’s interpretation of Schrodinger’s
wave equation 152
15 The concept of non-local reality in quantum mechanics 153
7.6 Ideas concerning the operation of non-local reality in the
brain: the origins of consciousness? 155
7.7 References 160
An Epilogue: Blade Runner or Einstein? 162
Source of Illustrations 167
Index 171
vii
INTRODUCTION
The present work is an attempt to answer the question: to what extent has
neuroscience explained consciousness? It is therefore concerned with describ-
ing the events that occur in the brain during conscious experience. These events
involve the activation of particular neurons as a consequence of the input of
synaptic connections from other neurons. The phenomena that arise due to the
interplay of these synaptic connections is then of central interest in this book. It
is how the mind, or at least the contents of the mind, arise from the workings of
synaptic connections that is to be explored, hence the subtitle Synapses and the
Mind. Various experimental approaches to the problem are described, and sum-
marized in Chapter 1, so as to give the reader an indication of the range of
research on this subject.
The problem of consciousness is a major issue of contemporary philosophy
and science. One view, that adopted by the philosopher Daniel Dennett, suggests
that we now have Consciousness Explained by assuming an equivalence be-
tween mental and brain states, an idea that has been popular since it was
suggested by Herbert Feigl in the 1950s. On the other hand, the philosopher
Thomas Nagel comments that:
people are now told at an early age that all matter is really energy. But
despite the fact that they know what ‘is’ means, most of them never form
a conception of what makes this claim true, because they lack the theo-
retical background.
At the present time the status of physicalism is similar to that which the
hypothesis that matter is energy would have had if uttered by a pre-
Socratic philosopher. We do not have the beginnings of a conception of
how it might be true. In order to understand the hypothesis that a mental
event is a physical event, we require more than an understanding of the
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