RE: A Conscious Universe
February 5, 2015 at 8:51 pm
(This post was last modified: February 5, 2015 at 8:53 pm by bennyboy.)
(February 5, 2015 at 8:14 pm)ChadWooters Wrote:No doubt, but that's not the question. What is the unifying mechanism? What causes all that complexity to be coordinated into a singular experience?(February 5, 2015 at 7:06 pm)bennyboy Wrote: I have a question about this. Why is it that multiple (VERY multiple) processes manifest as single experiences (like for example the taste of chocolate)?Because the experience is also highly complex: high- and long- notes, texture, nostalgia, pleasure, etc.
(February 5, 2015 at 7:39 pm)Surgenator Wrote:Right, that's what I'm getting at. It seems to me each brain area has a separate task. So does each area have an "output" that is sent to a coordinating unit? And if not, why would redness in part A, apple-taste in part B, and "crunch sound" in part C be experienced as a single experience, rather than having 3 homunculi, each doing its own specialized task? What is the principle, or mechanism, of unity?(February 5, 2015 at 7:06 pm)bennyboy Wrote: I have a question about this. Why is it that multiple (VERY multiple) processes manifest as single experiences (like for example the taste of chocolate)?
Short answer: I don't know.
Longer answer: I'm making the assumption that brain states are mental states which isn't a big assumption. We can view brain activity via fMRI and deduce (on order of magnitude) how many neurons are involved when having a single expericence or thought. The high number of neurons involved is likely due to the difficulty of the task when working with limited processing speed. There also can be some redundancy built in that might be correlated to the intensity of the experience.