Conscious Sensations Possibly Derive from Qualities of Space External to the Universe
by David D. Olmsted (Copyright - 2006) Added to site September 3, 2006
Abstract - The source of conscious sensations
(qualia) in the brain has long been a mystery. Why should the activation of certain
neurons produce the sensations of color, sound, touch, and various feelings? Conscious
sensations are not predicted or needed by any theory of physics and are not affected
directly by any energy outside of the neurons that produce them. Consequently they
cannot be a part of our universe but instead must be an inherent property of some
other space just like matter itself is an inherent property of our universe’s space
as shown by the Theory of General Relativity. Communication across universal boundaries
may be accomplished by modulating the various qualities of matter not related to
mass and energy such as charge. This theory makes the prediction that the folding
of certain proteins unique to the conscious sensation producing areas is responsible
for the changes in conscious sensations. Finally evolution would not have developed
these proteins unless species beneficial information was flowing into the brain
as well.
Introduction
Theories about conscious sensation also called qualia are almost as numerous as
grains of sand but they fall into two main groups.
One group is the classic dual view of existence into the physical world and the
spirit world in which conscious sensations are a part of the spirit world. Yet no
possible cause and effect mechanism in terms of information processing is ever presented
with these theories. How does the spirit world interact with the physical?
The other group holds that nothing exists outside of our own universe. Somehow conscious
sensations “emerge” magically from the workings of neural assemblies in the same
way air pressure emerges from the action of individual air molecules. Yet properties
that emerge can be derived using statistical methods. No one has shown how conscious
sensations can emerge from physical phenomena.
This paper presents a new third approach.
The Properties of Conscious Sensations
Consciousness sensations (qualia) as discussed in this paper are not the same as
consciousness which is usually a term associated with perception. As one looks steadily
at a scene its various components are only slowly perceived, that is, enter into
consciousness. Yet the colors at the pixel level have always been there. Those colors
represent conscious sensations.
Conscious sensations include the various sensory modes of smell, vision, touch,
hearing, and taste which arise in the primary sensory cortices and the feelings
of pleasure, fear, pain, joy, etc. which originate in the limbic system. Another
class of often overlooked conscious sensations is the internal orientation feelings
such as that of motion. Move one’s eyes back and forth and the scene is interpreted
as stationary yet keep ones eyes fixed and move the head instead and a motion sensation
is added.
Conscious sensations also exhibit the phenomena of spatial displacement away from
the brain where they are generated. A touch or pin prick on the body produces a
sensation localized not in the brain where the sensation is generated but localized
out on the body. Amputees often report phantom limb pain, a pain which seems to
originate in the now nonexistent limb (see Sacks, 1987). Internal touch sensations
involving the heart, stomach, and intestines also exhibit spatial displacement as
do taste and smell. This is in contrast to the far field senses of vision and audition
whose conscious sensations are localized within the brain where their conscious
sensations are generated. The main point here is that conscious sensations are spatially
defined and capable of displacement away from the source of generation and that
any theory of conscious sensations must be able to explain that.
Another characteristic of conscious sensations are the mixing of certain pure forms
(dimensions) of sensation to produce new differing sensations. Color is the classic
example for the retina has neural cells sensitive to only to red, green, and blue
yet from just these three all the other colors are produced. This mixing is also
exhibited by olfaction and audition. These mixing rules are called the metric of
the space. For a 2-dimensional space the metric (mixing rule) givingthe distance
to some point in terms of the coordinates is the familiar x2 + y2
= (distance)2. Conscious sensations have varying degrees of intensity
as exemplified by the differing intensities found in touch or pain, the loudness
of sound or the saturation of color.
Electrical stimulation studies of the human limbic system (the hypothalamus and
its connected structures such as the septum and the amygdala) produce a variety
of conscious sensations as reported by Robert Heath (1964). All these affects lasted
from a few minutes to an hour after the stimulation ceased. He reports that electrical
stimulation of the septum caused patients to report pleasurable feelings and often
brought up sexual thoughts. For example, one patient on the verge of tears was describing
his father’s near fatal illness but within 15 seconds of having the septum stimulated
he ended this conversation and broke out in a broad grin as he discussed plans
to date and seduce a girl friend. When asked why he had changed the conversation
so abruptly, he replied that the plans concerning the girl suddenly game to him. Only rarely did electrical stimulation
of this region produce sexual arousal. Relief from the pain of cancer was consistently
obtained by stimulation of the septum as the patients relaxed in comfort and pleasure.
Another region called the mesencephalic tegmentum located tailward of the hypothalamus
in the midbrain also produced happy feelings but this time without the sexual thoughts
when its lateral (side) regions were stimulated. Interestingly six severely deteriorated
schizophrenic patients did not report any pleasurable feelings. When the rostal
(faceward) hypothalamus was stimulated patients complained of abdominal discomfort,
feelings of warmth, fullness in the head, and a pounding heart. Stimulation of the
midline tegmental region in contrast to its lateral sites produced intense rage
or fear or both. Stimulation of the midline of the hypothalamus produced feelings
of mild discomfort to extreme pain. Stimulation of the hippocampus produced feelings
of anxiety.
Visual conscious sensations in general are created in a region of the cortex called
V2 (Koch – 2004) although color conscious sensations may be generated further downstream.
This is a second stage of visual processing. The visual neural signals are created
in the retina, then they pass through the V1 cortical region at the back of the
head and finally on to V2. It has long been known that a strong shock to the back
of the head produces flashes of light called phosphenes. Yet the conclusion that
conscious sensations are produced further upstream comes from the observation that
V1 is not activated during dreaming and that image located in the blind spot in
the retina is filled in by a higher brain center which interpolates the visual features
around it. The blind spot is the place where the optic nerve leaves the retina so
no light detectors exist there.
Higher level motion perception interpolation
occurs in the middle temporal area (MT) of the brain. A patient known as L.M. had
this region destroyed due to a vascular disorder. This is how she is described her
“stroboscopic” world (Zihl, et at – 1983 as reprinted in Koch – 2004, page 140):
“She had difficulty, for example, in pouring tea or coffee into a cup because the
fluid appeared to be frozen, like a glacier. In addition, she could not stop pouring
at the right time since she was unable to perceive the movement in the cup (or the
pot) when the fluid rose. Furthermore, the patient also complained of difficulties
in following a dialog because she could not see the movements of the face and, especially,
of the mouth of the speaker. In a room where more than two other people were walking
she felt insecure and unwell, and usually left the room immediately, because ‘people
were suddenly here and or there but I have not seen them moving.’ The patient experienced
the same problem but to an even more marked extent in crowded streets or places,
which she therefore avoided as much as possible. She could not cross the street
because of her inability to judge the speed of a car, but she could identify the
car itself without difficulty. ‘When I’m looking at the car first, it seems far
away. But then, when I want to cross the road, suddenly the car is near.’ She gradually
learned to ‘estimate’ the distance of moving vehicles by means of the sound becoming
louder.”
The above is not a lack of conscious sensation but of perception. She saw normal
colors and shapes and even flickering lights but her brain could not extrapolate
motion.
A lack of visual conscious sensation does occur in blind sight patients (Weiskrantz
1997) who have a destroyed primary visual cortex (V1) yet still have a working visual
pathway through the superior colliculus (tectum in non-mammalian brains). They can
still successfully make simple visual discriminations when they are forced to make
the choices. They never report that they are "seeing" and believe they are simply
guessing.
When the primary visual cortex is destroyed in Macaque monkeys they seem quite normal
showing that even in monkeys the cortical pathways are not so dominating as they
are in primates. Yet an ingenious experiment by Cowey and Stoerig (1995) showed
there was a difference. A monkey had its V1 destroyed on one side of its brain and
was trained to touch a light on a computer screen and touch a button indicating
when the screen was empty or blank. When the light was in the normal non-destroyed
visual field the monkey was able to point at it yet when it was in the destroyed
V1 field they always pressed the button indicating they could not “see” the light
even though other monkeys when forced to point to a light could do so just like
humans with blind sight.
Producing all these conscious sensations involve neuron activation. Not one instance
of non-neural modulation of consciousness has ever been reported. Electromagnetic
fields and waves do not affect consciousness directly. Gravity and the various
cosmic rays have no effect on human sensory consciousness either in orbit or deep
underground. Consequently, no matter how unlikely and with no other alternatives
one must conclude that sensory consciousness exists outside of the universe of matter,
outside of the realm of mass and energy.
The Universe Does Not Represent All
That Exists
Matter is an inherent property of space. The two are inseparable. When one examines
the equations of general relativity one sees that if matter goes to 0 then space
goes to 0. Einstein himself said it this way (1961, page 155):
“On the basis of the general theory of relativity, on the other hand, space as opposed
to what fills space, which is dependent on the coordinates, has no separate existence...
If we imagine the gravitational field,
..., to be removed, there does not remain a space of type ds2 = dx12
+ dx22 + dx32 - dx42, but absolutely nothing
(italics original), and also no topological space.”
In an equivalent way if matter goes to zero in the Schrodinger quantum mechanical
wave equation then the potential probability it defines also goes to 0. The potential
probability is responsible for guiding
matter through the universe. (for a
non-technical introduction to the view that quantum mechanics has a matter guidance
purpose see Feynman, 1985). An example of the idea that matter is confined by quantum
mechanical network pathways at subatomic distances is found in the atom. Here the
mystery is why the negatively charged electrons are not pulled into the positively
charged nucleus when no repulsive force exists to keep them away. If they were orbiting
the nucleus like the moon obits the earth they would be radiating away electromagnetic
energy like all accelerated charges and eventually spiral into the nucleus. Associating
a quantum mechanical wave function with the electron within the potential energy
well produced by the attraction of the nucleus produces various shaped shell pathways
around the nucleus in which the electron resides. Some are shaped like spheres while
others are shaped like dumbbells.
So matter (mass and energy) create space and in turn are confined by it. With the
creation of the universe by the Big Bang space grew and expanded. But what did it
expand into? It has to be some higher dimensional space, an eternal space acting
as a substrate for all other similarly created universes. Yet being a space it must
have inherent qualities of its own just as matter is an inherent quality of our
universe’s space. These qualities could give rise to our conscious sensations since
we exist not only in our universe’s three dimensional space but also in the higher
dimensions of substrate space as well.
Our universe’s space is analogous to a two dimensional piece of paper existing in
our three dimensional space with the paper confining its two dimensional objects
(drawings) in the same way the space of the universe confines all matter (For an
idea what life would be like on such a two dimensional confinement space see the
classic novella Flatland by Abbot, 1983).
Matter itself cannot cross the boundaries of the universe yet matter has many properties
not related to mass and energy that exist simply to add complexity to the universe’s
self organization. The most common of these is the electric charge in both is positive
and negative forms. Possibly electric charge could flow across the boundary between
spaces in a conserved circular fashion. That is, as much charge flows out as flows
in leaving the total amount of charge in an electron or proton unchanged. This does
not seem to violate any laws of physics.
Of course this charge flow would need targets of some sort in substrate space in
order to complete the circle. These targets would be bound to the brain and would
be as much a part of everyone as their arms and legs. This substrate space structure
could explain the conscious sensation offset describe earlier.
The various types of conscious sensations could then be due to different resonant
frequencies (like water flowing through a rough pipe) that the charge flow sets
up between its protein and target. Different rates of flow through different types
of folded proteins could set up different resonant frequencies and thus alter its
core conscious sensation according to some metric. Different proteins could even
feed into the same target for even more variability such as color definition.
The Purpose of Conscious Sensations
Evolution could never have tapped into these conscious sensation producing charge
flows unless they provided some benefit for the propagation of the species. This
means some kind of information must be transferred back to the brain perhaps simply
amplifying neural activation or in the extreme case actually activating the neuron.
This would suggest the folding protein would be associated with a neural receptor.
Since conscious sensations do not originate in the higher level “intelligence” producing
areas of the brain it is not likely to be involved in aiding intelligence. Instead
they originate at the primary sensory level and primary motivation / emotion level.
This suggests that information flowing into the brain is more involved in inspiration
and perceptual biasing.
The origin of this information could be other humans who under certain limited conditions
could subconsciously communicate with certain other individuals via their substrate
space structures. Another possibility is that the origin is some divine source or
intelligence (God).
By affecting expectations, conscious sensation based inspiration could be responsible
or perhaps bias the mysterious placebo effect (for a review see Turner, 1994). Its
mechanism at present remains unknown yet it requires a belief and an understanding
of what is suppose to happen. For the most part healing effects are ascribed to
it but harmful effects can be produced as well such as headaches and all the harmful
effects of voodoo.
Possible Sources of Evidence for this Theory in Future Research
The confirmation of information reception from substrate space into the brain requires
that neural proteins (perhaps a neural cell receptor protein) be found in some neuronal
chemical pathway capable of triggering (or biasing the triggering) of individual
neurons when their shape (conformation) is changed. One way to find candidates for
such proteins would be to chemically compare a brain region correlated with conscious
sensation with that of other regions not so correlated. Any proteins not in common
would be candidates for the trans-space information modulating proteins. This might
be done with cadavers or with tissue removed during brain surgery.
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