Principles Of Neuroscience Lecture 34 The Problem Of Consciousness

Question 0

What are the neural correlates of consciousness?

Why is this not good enough?

Answer 0

Eg. Fear has a specific area in the brain responsible for this emotion: the amygdala

However, there is no area in the brain that we can point to and say that it is the generator of conscosmess

Question 1

What is consciousness?

Answer 1

The experience of ourselves and the universe

Question 2

Describe Descartes’ theory of consciousness

Answer 2

Dualism: there is material stuff, that acts like a machine to form function. Totally separate from this, there is immaterial stuff that produces consciousness

Question 3

What did David Calmers say about the problem of consciousness?

Answer 3

That the problem of consciousness is the Hard Problem; which is hard, not complex, because there is nothing else like consciousness

The easy problem is all the organic stuff that is going on in the brain

We cannot solve the problem of consciousness by continuing with the easy problem

Question 4

Describe what John Searle said about consciousness

Answer 4

Chinese room thought experiment

There is a person in a room who receives Chinese characters on a piece of paper. He does not speak the language, but has all the tools he needs to translate the words. These are then submitted. Is this understanding? No, it is simply a mechanical process

There is a difference between mechanical and algorythmical process and undemanding and consciousness

Question 5

What is HAL9000?
What did it exhibit?

Is this possible?

Answer 5

This was a computer in a movie by Stanley Kubrick

It was so intelligent that eventually, it decided to kill all the humans on the space ship

It exhibited emotions and decision making ; consciousness

Descartes, Serle and Chalmers would say that this is not possible because there is something else required to generate consciousness

Question 6

What does Daniel Dennett say about consciousness?

Answer 6

He says that it is our intuition to think that consciousness is unique and mysterious, when really, it is explicable in the terms of physiology and biology

There is no hard problem; just and easy problem

Question 7

What are some historical views on “Life”?

Answer 7

Vitalism

Question 8

What is vitalism?

Answer 8

Vitalism is the idea that there is a difference in living and non living things; a non-physical, irreducible element that separates the two things

Question 9

What are the non-physical elements that are responsible for life in the view of vitalism?

Answer 9

Élan vitale (spark of life)
Metabolism
Soul
Emergent properties

Question 10

Describe the relevance of ‘crazy ideas’ to the problem of consciousness

Answer 10

In the past, when something wasn’t understood, we came up with crazy ideas to explain it.

Eg. Tiny human in the spermatazoa

This could be what is happening with consciousness

Question 11

Why can’t we solve the problem of consciousness?

3

Answer 11

1. Current work will eventually prevail, but much more work needs to be done
2. Current methods will eventually prevail, but we need some currently undiscovered principle
3. Current methods are not sufficient, we need some revolution of thought

Question 12

Describe how protein structure is an analogy for why we can’t solve the problem of consciousness

Answer 12

We are missing some undiscovered principle

The function of proteins is only evident once we have secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure. The primary structure (the sequence of the amino acids) is not sufficient to give structure

Question 13

What is meant by a period of complacency?
What were some past ones?

Why are we possible in one now?

Answer 13

Period of complacency is when we need a revolutionary discovery before we can progress

Relativity, radioactivity

Our problem of consciousness is possibly our current problem that needs a revolutionary idea

Question 14

What does William Jones say about emotion and instinct?

Answer 14

He said that every object that excites an instinct excites an emotion

Question 15

What is Denton’s view on consciousness?

Answer 15

Hs view is that the primordial emotions are the beginning of consciousness

Question 16

What are primordial emotions?

Answer 16

Desire for sex
Desire for sleep
Thwarting visceral function

Question 17

Describe how the emotion of pain is a homeostatic mechanism

Answer 17

Pain is an emotion elicited when we are doing something that is disrupting homeostasis

When we feel this emotion, we are unlikely to do the thing again

Question 18

Describe how consciousness is a homeostatic mechanism

Answer 18

Consciousness is a homeostatic mechanism, in that when we have an emotional response to something, our behaviour will be affected and we are better adapted to our environment

Question 19

Where does regulation of primordial emotions occur?

Answer 19

In the basement

Hypothalamus and brain stem

Question 20

What is special about homeostasis in primates?

Answer 20

We have direct input from the spinal cord into the insula cortex

Question 21

What does Craig say about consciousness?

Answer 21

Craig says that:

a sense of physiological condition; how one feels, involves posterior insula and right anterior insula.