User:David Ullmann 1994/sandbox

Non Locality and the Brain

Neuroscientists typically relate cognitive processes to local mechanisms in the brain. However, research now indicates that aspects of consciousness and memory do operate within spatially distinct mechanisms . Quantum brian theory has suggested that a quantum level, beneath the neural networks, facilitate a rapid processing of information in a global workspace and a dynamic core that create a unity of consciousness. Others have countered that a form of holonomic functioning in which the standard laws of space do not apply, accounts for consciousness. In this vision, the brain operates instantaneously within a “whole” of neurological information. Neuroscientists compare this to broadcasting waves, where any channel can be obtained at any location. In essence, each part or trace of information is distributed throughout the whole and each part contains the whole . This differs from the former theory, because global workspaces and a dynamic core, assume that local mechanisms form our consciousness. Whereas the latter discards the notion that consciousness spawns from spatially distinct processes.

Nano-level Web

A pervasive filamentous web acts as a second communication system and can processes signals without synaptic delays because the web does not respect glial or neuronal boundaries and can pass through membrane proteins . Self-sustaining waves called soliton, induced by ATP hydrolysis energy release, act as quasi particles and travel through the web. The soliton is a local manifestation of a whole or particle. This system interacts with dendritic webs, a topological syncytia, formed by cytoplasmic continuity between cells in the gap junctions, where microtubules process quantum information. In short, a faster communication underlies many aspects of cognition and is not subject to normal neuronal restraints.

Consciousness

Some think that consciousness is the recovery of memory traces triggered by repetition of sensory input signals into the vacuum state. However, Dissipative Quantum Brain Dynamics insists that consciousness is a between-two state in which the two dual modes of an individual’s environment and the brain system match . This is a product of the brain trading energy with the environment and balancing its internal order with the order of the environment. This coordination involves the interaction of memory and sensory inputs from the outside world. The match this produces is what we know as consciousness.

Memory

Quantum Brain dynamics insists that memory is total. Neuroscientists have long observed that individuals with damage to a particular region of the brain do not lose entire traces of memory but may experience loss in the ability to retrieve certain modalities of information like visual or auditory . Pribram depicts this as two different structures of memory a deep and surface one. The deep structure is non-local and contains all memories and thus does not lose information when a particular region of the brain is damaged. The surface structure is a retrieval mechanism for these memories that consists of local neural circuits. Regions of the brain experimentally proven to correlate with certain behavioral and memory functions like Brodmann's area are not "file cabinets" for memories but rather the mechanisms necessary to bring relational processes into the psychical world of time-space . When someone gains a memory, this is added to a lump sum of all previous memories that take the form of a wave superposition . The mechanics of memory go as such: inputs trigger dipole movements in a minimally-energized froth of quanta. All these vectors face the same direction because the energy level is so low and thus they move in harmony and the normal symmetry of vectors moving in all directions is broken and since, as a basic law of physics, symmetry must be conserved and thus the broken symmetry in the vacuum state must be preserved. Thus their transformations are irreversible. This superposition of memory, however, is diluted over time by random quantum tunneling .

Application to Charles Bonet Syndrome

Charles Bonet Syndrome patients experience two vastly different worlds within one consciousness. They see the world that psychologically normal people perceive. But also a a simplified world riddles with hallucinations. The patient can differentiate these two worlds easily. Since, dynamic core and global workspace theories insist that a distinct area of the brain is responsible for consciousness, the only way a patient would perceive two worlds is if this dynamic core and global workspace were split. But such does not explain how different content can be perceived within one single consciousness since these theories assume that each dynamic core or global workspace creates a single coherent reality . However, holographic interpretations of memory or Dissipative Quantum Brain Dynamics insists that different contents of consciousness are not mutually exclusive but simply co-occurances . The environment and sensory inputs match to form a single consciousness at any given moment, and since this process is not confined to any distinct location, may produce conflicting contents when the brain pathology goes awry and the neural mechanisms responsible for interacting with the quantum layer retrieve inconsistent memory traces.

Application to Disjunctive Agnosia

The primary symptom of Disjunctive Agnosia is a inconsistency of sensory information within a unified consciousness. They may see one thing, but hear something entirely incompatible with that image. Since, dynamic core and global workspace theories insist that a distinct area of the brain is responsible for consciousness, the only way a patient would perceive two worlds is if this dynamic core and global workspace were split. But such does not explain how the inconsistency of modalities can be perceived within one single consciousness since these theories assume that each dynamic core or global workspace creates a single consistent reality . However, holographic interpretations of memory or Dissipative Quantum Brain Dynamics insists that different contents of consciousness are not mutually exclusive but simply co-occurances . The environment and sensory inputs match to form a single consciousness at any given moment, and since this process is not confined to any distinct location, may produce conflicting contents when the brain pathology goes awry. Thus the patient can hear and see conflicting sounds and sights within a unified consciousness

Application to Schizophrenia

Schizophrenics often report experiencing thoughts that do not seem to originate from themselves, as if the idea was inserted exogenously. The individual feels no control over certain thoughts existing within their consciousness. Dynamic core and global workspace theories would tell that this is a case of split dynamic cores or global workspaces. Thus the consciousness would necessarily be split. But such does not describe the experience of schizophrenics because these "inserted" thoughts are perceived within a single consciousness . Holographic interpretations of memory or Dissipative Quantum Brain Dynamics would say that consciousness does not originate from a location but rather is a between-two matching of a given set of sensory inputs and an individual's memories. Thus disparate content can overlap because the mechanism responsible for consciousness is not a single local structure that works to create a coherent grasp of reality .

G.G. Globus; C.P. O’Carroll, "Nonlocal neurology: Beyond localization to holonomy," Irvine, April 1, 2010

Pribram, Karl; Meade Shelli, "Conscious awareness: processing in the synaptodendritic web", Radford, 1999