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Some Implications of the Problem of “Consciousness and the Brain”

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This article discusses three questions associated with studies of consciousness: the possible mechanisms whereby subjective experiences arise; the encoding of mental operations in electroencephalogram (EEG) rhythms; and the problem of understanding, which is important for creating artificial intelligence. 1) According to information synthesis theory, subjective experience arises as a result of the return of nerve spikes to the sites of the original projections, followed by comparison and synthesis of sensory information with representations extracted from memory and arriving at the motivation centers. This theory is based on results obtained from studies of the mechanisms of perception and thought. The synthesis centers underlying perceptions are located in the projection areas, while those underlying thought are located in the associative cortex. 2) Performance of mental actions involves consistent rearrangements of cortical rhythms. The rhythmic patterns which arise are highly specific for particular types of thinking. This was used as the basis to construct a technique for the highly accurate recognition of mental operations using EEG patterns. This was achieved using an artificial neural network. 3) It is widely accepted that computers, unlike living brains, can calculate but not understand. A hypothesis is presented whereby the subjective sense of understanding arises when particular information corresponds to a particular need which is evaluated in a signed (+/–) coordinate system. Such a correspondence terminates computations by the brain when there is a sufficient level of probability that the need is satisfied.

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  1. Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 5a Butlerov St., 117865, Moscow, Russia

    A. M. Ivanitskii & G. A. Ivanitskii

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  1. A. M. Ivanitskii
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  2. G. A. Ivanitskii
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Correspondence to G. A. Ivanitskii.

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Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 95, No. 10, pp. 1108–1119, October, 2009. Original article submitted July 20, 2009.

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Ivanitskii, A.M., Ivanitskii, G.A. Some Implications of the Problem of “Consciousness and the Brain”. Neurosci Behav Physi 41, 83–90 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-010-9383-4

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