Emergence and Submergence: on MindBrain mutual determination

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Emergence and Submergence on Mind/Brain mutual
determination
Eugenio Rodriguez Ph.D. Universidad Catolica de
Chile Max-Planck for Brain Research
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Overview

• Consciousness as a case for the study of
  mind/brain mutual determination

• Three features of consciouss experience
  (Sentience, Agency, Self)

• Two clases of putative Neural Correlates of
  Consciousness
• a) neurons b) dynamics

• Large Scale Neural Synchrony is a good
  dynamic candidate.
• a) implies coordination
  b) is pervasive

• Possible involvement of Neural Synchrony in
  Sentience
• A simple model for conscious cognition
• Evidence

• Possible involvement of Neural Synchrony in
  Agency
• Problems of conscious agency
• Evidence

• Submergence, how an emergent state could affect
  its components
• Eigenmodes of a violin
• Submergence must be flexible

• Can Neural Synchrony do the job? Possibly
  yes!
• Meditation increases Neural Synchrony
• Neural Synchrony can flexibly affect neurons
• Neural Synchrony is easily turn ON and OFF

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Brain/consciousness relation as a case of
mind/brain mutual determination
What consciousness is, we know not and how it
is that anything so remarkable as a state of
consciousness comes about as the result of
irritating nervous tissue, is just as
unaccountable as the appearance of the Djin when
Aladin rubbed his lamp in the story T.H.
Huxley 1866
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Brain/consciousness relation as a case of
mind/brain mutual determination
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Three features of consciouss experience
We feel that we can experience sensations
(Sentience)
We feel that we can use such sensations to freely
decide our future actions (Agency)
We feel that sensations are experienced by a
Self and decisions are decided by a Self
(Experience of Self)
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Two clases of putative Neural Correlates of
Consciousness
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Large Scale Neural Synchrony is a good dynamic
candidate. a) implies
coordination b) is pervasive
Neural synchrony implies neural coordination
Rodriguez 2008
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Large Scale Neural Synchrony is a good dynamic
candidate. a) implies
coordination b) is pervasive
Varela, Lachaux, Rodriguez Martinerie 2001
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Possible involvement of Neural Synchrony in
Sentience A simple model for conscious cognition
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Possible involvement of Neural Synchrony in
Sentience A simple model for conscious cognition
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Possible involvement of Neural Synchrony in
Sentience Evidence
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This suggest that Consciousness would
emerge from Large Scale Coordination of
Neural activity
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Neural activity would cause consciousness
but, Can consciousness cause neural activity ?
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Possible involvement of Neural Synchrony in
Agency Problems of conscious agency
Our sense of being a conscious agent who does
things comes at a cost of being technically wrong
all the time. Wegner D.
The Illusion of free will (2002)
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Possible involvement of Neural Synchrony in
Agency Problems of conscious agency
Conscious agency is an illusion of control
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Possible involvement of Neural Synchrony in
Agency Evidence
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The stimulus
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Behavior
5,5 rpm
7,6 rpm
Voluntary control ? Spontaneous control
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Phase synchrony in Delta and Theta bands
Vol - Esp
100

• Theta oscillations
• Cognitive effort (Halgren, 1991 Sauseng et al.,
  2004 Vernon et al., 2003).
• Working memory (Kahana et al., 1999 Tesche y
  Karu, 2000)
• WM specific for internal representations (Petsche
  et al., 1997 von Stein Sarthein, 2000).

Frecuencias
50
0
-1500
-1000
-500
0
Tiempo
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Submergence, how an emergent state could affect
its components A musical example 5 viola
Eigenmode
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vny95KF6u6Zsfeature
related
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Submergence, how an emergent state could affect
its components Submergence must be flexible
Flexible submergence Flexible submergence
requieres that a system endowed with both
emergent and submergent properties, must be able
to use them to either stabilize or destabilize
its global states.
Flexible sugmergence is important because it
would endow conscious mental states with causal
powers on ist underlying brain activity !
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Can Neural Synchrony do the job? Meditation
increases Neural Synchrony
Lutz et al. 2004
Voluntary stabilization of a conscious state
durably modulates the neural activity.
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Can Neural Synchrony do the job? Neural
Synchrony can affect neurons in a flexible manner.
Huerta Lisman 1995
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Can Neural Synchrony do the job? Neural
Synchrony can be easily turn ON and OFF
Diaz et al. 2007
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Summary
The Mind-Brain interaction can be studied in the
particular case of Consciousness-Brain
interaction.
Neural synchrony can be considered an index of
emergent autoorganization and used to propose a
model for conscious perception.
Long-range neural synchrony correlates with
conscious perception. (Sentience)
Long-range neural synchrony in the theta range
correlates with causally effective conscious
control of a perceptual state. (Agency)
The concept of submergence is proposed as the
capacity of an emergent state to modify its
underlying components. Flexible submergence is
proposed as necessary for conscious cognition.
Long-range neural synchrony is proposed to
display the required features to support
flexible submergence.(mind-gtbrain causality,
flexible modulation of brain activity, easy
ON/OFF switch.)