Many sophisticated essays and books have been written about the topic of consciousness. My own contributions date back some twenty-five years in an essay entitled 'Problems concerning the structure of consciousness' (Pribram 1976), and five years before that in delineating the difference between brain processes that are coordinate with awareness and those that are coordinate with habitual behavior (Pribram 1971a). I have been intrigued by what has been written since and take this occasion to reassess a few of the major (...) issues that have arisen. (shrink)

In the context of this publication on blindsight, I want to address further the brain processes critically responsible for organizing our conscious experience. As in a previous related publication , I am restricting myself to brain and conscious experience, not the fuller topic of ‘consciousness’ as this might be determined by genetic and environmental factors, nor as it is defined in Eastern traditions and in esoteric Western religion and philosophy. For my thoughts on this broader topic the reader is referred (...) to a recent publication prepared for the centennial celebration of Norbert Wiener's birth. That paper is entitled: ‘What is Mind that the Brain May Order It? (shrink)

This volume is the result of the third Appalachian Conference on Behavioral Neurodynamics which focused on the problem of scale in conscious experience.

The result of the second Appalachian conference on neurodynamics, this volume focuses on the problem of "order," its origins, evolution, and future.

The revolution in science inaugurated by quantum physics has made us aware of the role of observation in the construction of data. Eugene Wigner remarked that in quantum physics we no longer have observables (invariants), only observations. Tongue in cheek, I asked him whether that meant that quantum physics is really psychology, expecting a gruff reply to my sassiness. Instead, Wigner beamed understanding and replied "Yes, yes, that's exactly correct." David Bohm pointed out that were we to look at the (...) cosmos without the lenses of our telescopes we would see a hologram. I extend Bohm's insight to the lens in the optics of the eye. The receptor processes of the ear and skin work in a similar fashion. Without these lenses and lenslike operations all of our perceptions would be entangled as in a hologram. Furthermore, the retina absorbs quanta of radiation so that quantum physics uses the very perceptions that become formed by it. In turn, higher-order brain systems send signals to the sensory receptors so that what we perceive is often as much a result of earlier rather than just immediate experience. This influence from inside out becomes especially relevant to our interpretation of how we experience the contents and bounds of cosmology that come to us by way of radiation. (shrink)

This book results from a group meeting held at the Institute for Scientific Exchange in Torino, Italy. The central aim was for scientists to think together in new ways with those in the humanities inspired by quantum theory and especially quantum brain theory. These fields of inquiry have suffered conceptual estrangement but now are ripe for rapprochement, if academic parochialism is put aside. A prevalent theme of the book is a moving away from individual elements and individual actors acting upon (...) each other, toward a coordinate hermeneutic dynamics that manifests as a coherent totality. Among the topics covered are image in photography and in neuroscience; language; time; brain and mathematics; quantum brain dynamics and quantum communication.". (shrink)

Ramachandran and Hubbard's superb article on 'Synaesthesia: A window into perception, thought and language' fills a gap in our understanding of a phenomenon that many of my students have asked me to fill. Up to now I have failed to have a satisfactory answer. It really does no good to say that somewhere in the brain or brain stem 'representations' must be able to get together. The evidence presented that cortical connectivity is involved provides an entree into the process that (...) raises important issues. (shrink)

Ervin Laszlo's Science and the Akashic Field claims that there is a shift in Zeitgeist that allows us to view a field that entails coherence among residents of the universe, residents that hitherto have seemed far apart both in space and time. I agree with this claim but suggest that we need to clear up several ambiguities that have hindered understanding and therefore acceptance. Basic to clarification are an understanding of waves, spectra, and the formulations of quantum physics.

Neurophysiological evidence consonant with F&L's lambda model is reviewed and results of additional experiments are presented. The evidence shows that there are neurons in the motor cortex that respond to selective band widths of passive sinusoidal movements; the additional data show how, with movement, directionally sensitive population vectors can be shown to emerge from the data.

Having seen the development of Shepard's program at close hand, I have been inspired by the sophistication of his results. However, his program deals with only half of what is needed: Shepard's research tells what the perception/cognitive process is about, it does not tell how that process is implemented. True, Shepard has recourse to the “how” of process in evolution, but that is not the “how” of everyday implementation. For that we need to know the brain processes with which we (...) can implement Shepard's insights. [Shepard]. (shrink)