scholarly journals Apical amplification—a cellular mechanism of conscious perception?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomáš Marvan ◽  
Michal Polák ◽  
Talis Bachmann ◽  
William A Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Cellular Mechanism ◽  
Conscious Perception ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Transmission Of Information ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Apical Dendrites ◽  
Integrated Information Theory

Abstract We present a theoretical view of the cellular foundations for network-level processes involved in producing our conscious experience. Inputs to apical synapses in layer 1 of a large subset of neocortical cells are summed at an integration zone near the top of their apical trunk. These inputs come from diverse sources and provide a context within which the transmission of information abstracted from sensory input to their basal and perisomatic synapses can be amplified when relevant. We argue that apical amplification enables conscious perceptual experience and makes it more flexible, and thus more adaptive, by being sensitive to context. Apical amplification provides a possible mechanism for recurrent processing theory that avoids strong loops. It makes the broadcasting hypothesized by global neuronal workspace theories feasible while preserving the distinct contributions of the individual cells receiving the broadcast. It also provides mechanisms that contribute to the holistic aspects of integrated information theory. As apical amplification is highly dependent on cholinergic, aminergic, and other neuromodulators, it relates the specific contents of conscious experience to global mental states and to fluctuations in arousal when awake. We conclude that apical dendrites provide a cellular mechanism for the context-sensitive selective amplification that is a cardinal prerequisite of conscious perception.

scholarly journals Apical Amplification – A Cellular Mechanism of Conscious Perception?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Marvan ◽  
Michal Polák ◽  
Talis Bachmann ◽  
William A. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Experience ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Cellular Mechanism ◽  
Conscious Perception ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Recurrent Processing ◽  
Theoretical View ◽  
Integrated Information Theory

We present a theoretical view of the cellular foundations fornetwork-level processes involved in producing our conscious experience.Inputs to apical synapses in layer 1 of a large subset of neocortical cellsare summed at an integration zone near the top of their apical trunk. Theseinputs come from diverse sources, and provide a context within which thetransmission of information abstracted from sensory input to their basal andperisomatic synapses can be amplified when relevant. We argue that apicalamplification (AA) enables conscious perceptual experience and makes it moreflexible, and thus more adaptive, by being sensitive to context. AA providesa possible mechanism for recurrent processing theory that avoids strongloops. It makes the broadcasting hypothesized by global neuronal workspacetheories feasible while preserving the distinct contributions of theindividual cells receiving the broadcast. It also provides mechanisms thatcontribute to the holistic aspects of integrated information theory. As AAis highly dependent on cholinergic, aminergic, and other neuromodulators, itrelates the specific contents of conscious experience to global mental statesand to fluctuations in arousal when awake. We conclude that apical dendritesprovide a cellular mechanism for the context-sensitive selectiveamplification that is a cardinal prerequisite of conscious perception.

scholarly journals Using playful methods to understand children’s digital literacies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pekka Mertala
Keyword(s):  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Digital Literacies ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Meaningful Research

This chapter is the final for Section 3 and in many ways stands as an example of how many of the individual elements presented thus far in the book, can come together in a holistic way. This chapter demonstrates how we can adopt play, make it unique to the project and the children and still arrive at meaningful research data. This chapter describes a research project wherein 3- to 6-year-old Finnish children’s digital literacies were studied and supported via playful methods. The key theses this chapter advocates are:-The use of playful methods in early childhood education (ECE) research is one way to acknowledge and respect the characteristics of the research context.-The ambiguity of play should be acknowledged when planning, conducting, and evaluating playful research projects.-Studying and supporting children’s digital literacies do not always require digital devices.The chapter is structured as follows. First, a reflective discussion on the ambiguity of play and the use of playful methods as a context-sensitive research approach is presented. Then, an overview of the research project and its objectives are provided. In the end, three concrete examples of how the children’s digital literacy was studied and supported using playful methods are given.

scholarly journals Representational ‘touch’ and modulatory ‘retouch’—two necessary neurobiological processes in thalamocortical interaction for conscious experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Talis Bachmann
Keyword(s):  
Pyramidal Neurons ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Conscious Perception ◽  
Dendritic Integration ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Historical Origins

Abstract Theories of consciousness using neurobiological data or being influenced by these data have been focused either on states of consciousness or contents of consciousness. These theories have occasionally used evidence from psychophysical phenomena where conscious experience is a dependent experimental variable. However, systematic catalog of many such relevant phenomena has not been offered in terms of these theories. In the perceptual retouch theory of thalamocortical interaction, recently developed to become a blend with the dendritic integration theory, consciousness states and contents of consciousness are explained by the same mechanism. This general-purpose mechanism has modulation of the cortical layer-5 pyramidal neurons that represent contents of consciousness as its core. As a surplus, many experimental psychophysical phenomena of conscious perception can be explained by the workings of this mechanism. Historical origins and current views inherent in this theory are presented and reviewed.

scholarly journals The Temporally-Integrated Causality Landscape: Reconciling Neuroscientific Theories With the Phenomenology of Consciousness

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse J. Winters
Keyword(s):  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Phenomenal Consciousness ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Neural Correlate ◽  
Resonance Theory ◽  
Thalamocortical System ◽  
Integrated Information Theory ◽  
Neural Correlate Of Consciousness

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of neuroscientific theories of consciousness. These include theories which explicitly point to EM fields, notably Operational Architectonics and, more recently, the General Resonance Theory. In phenomenological terms, human consciousness is a unified composition of contents. These contents are specific and meaningful, and they exist from a subjective point of view. Human conscious experience is temporally continuous, limited in content, and coherent. Based upon those phenomenal observations, pre-existing theories of consciousness, and a large body of experimental evidence, I derived the Temporally-Integrated Causality Landscape (TICL). In brief, the TICL proposes that the neural correlate of consciousness is a structure of temporally integrated causality occurring over a large portion of the thalamocortical system. This structure is composed of a large, integrated set of neuronal elements (the System), which contains some subsystems, defined as having a higher level of temporally-integrated causality than the System as a whole. Each Subsystem exists from the point of view of the System, in the form of meaningful content. In this article, I review the TICL and consider the importance of EM forces as a mechanism of neural causality. I compare the fundamentals of TICL to those of several other neuroscientific theories. Using five major characteristics of phenomenal consciousness as a standard, I compare the basic tenets of Integrated Information Theory, Global Neuronal Workspace, General Resonance Theory, Operational Architectonics, and the Temporo-spatial Theory of Consciousness with the framework of the TICL. While the literature concerned with these theories tends to focus on different lines of evidence, there are fundamental areas of agreement. This means that, in time, it may be possible for many of them to converge upon the truth. In this analysis, I conclude that a primary distinction which divides these theories is the feature of spatial and temporal nesting. Interestingly, this distinction does not separate along the fault line between theories explicitly concerned with EM fields and those which are not. I believe that reconciliation is possible, at least in principle, among those theories that recognize the following: just as the contents of consciousness are distinctions within consciousness, the neural correlates of conscious content should be distinguishable from but fall within the spatial and temporal boundaries of the full neural correlates of consciousness.

Psychological Determinants of Personaliti Bullying in the Sociometric Dimension

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
International Partnership ◽  
Psychological Determinants ◽  
Exchange Program ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Individual ◽  
High Degree

The article considers the main problems that arise when conflicts of interest between people in the sociometric dimension. The need for their comprehensive study will help to eliminate the negative consequences and use positive solutions to these conflicts for the development of the individual, his integration into society. The urgency of the work lies in the search for rational approaches to the origin and prevention of psychological bullying in the sociometric dimension as a consequence of the conflict of personality in agreement with its characterological education, psychological attitudes and beliefs. that is why the problem of bullying deserves in-depth study. The aim of the article is to study the influence of bullying on the uncertainty of adolescents in the sociometric dimension. The work is based on the provisions of prevention and reduction of external discrimination, isolation, humiliation and harassment, which will serve as factors to prevent personal uncertainty in the future. Bullying undermines the victim's self-confidence, destroys health, self-esteem and human dignity. There is a bullying structure, which is a social system that includes the offender, the victim and observers. Methods of measuring the manifestations of psychological bullying are determined, the corresponding set of methods of psychodiagnostics is presented and tested. Empirical data show that with insufficient and excessive mobilization of the individual there are with a high degree of probability such mental states that disturb the adaptive balance. Thus, with insufficient mobilization in a difficult life situation, it is likely to appear apathy and reduce energy expenditure. On the other hand, in a situation of excessive mobilization there is a state of high voltage against the background of excessive energy consumption. The results of this study are important in establishing international cooperation in the study of programs and projects in the context of transforming the human health system in accordance with international partnership standards and implementing a cultural exchange program for education and culture between countries.

Coming to Understand the Social and Physical Worlds

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydney Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Theory Change ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Load Force ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Underlying Processes ◽  
Adaptation Task

Children’s conceptual development has been described as a process of“theory change.” Specifically, children begin with an idea and then iteratively update that idea by combining existing and new information, making and testing predictions and then revising their idea based on new data again. Similar processes have been postulated to account for adaptive phenomenon in perceptual psychology and motor control. The similarities between the two processes suggest that performance on tasks that measure conceptual and sensory‐motor “theory change”respectively may be related. The goal of the present study is to determine whether children’s development in a complex conceptual domain, theory of mind, is associated with children’s performance in a load force adaptation paradigm. Theory of mind is broadly defined as the ability to understand how mental states, such as beliefs and desires, motivate ourown and other people’s actions. In contrast, load force adaptation is the ability to gradually adjust the amount of force exerted on an object in order to smoothly lift it up, as experience with the weight of the object is gained. To explore the mechanisms underlying these two processes, children between the ages of 3.5 and 4.5 years participate in a load force adaptation task and a battery of theory of mind tasks. We predict that since the underlying processes appear to be theoretically similar, the individual differences in the ability to adapt load force and in theory of mind ability will be positively correlated.   

The Angler in the Environment: Social, Economic, Biological, and Ethical Dimensions

2011 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Ethical Challenge ◽  
Recreational Fishing ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Catch And Release ◽  
Individual Fish ◽  
Recreational Angling ◽  
The Individual

<i>Abstract</i>.—Ever since fishing was called recreational fishing, a cruelty charge has hovered around somewhere in the background. In recent times, however, it has made it to the fore substantiated by anthropomorphic reasoning and fuelled by high-visibility papers claiming that fish can feel pain and suffer. Because some segments of the public perceive the infliction of these mental states to fish as abhorrent and not outweighing the costs imposed on the individual fish by appropriate benefits to the human, recreational fishing is coming under attack on moral grounds. Other challenges have also emerged that do not center on the issue of whether fish are sentient or not. In this paper, we describe five of the most prevalent moral challenges to recreational angling, two of which—animal welfare and wilderness-centered perspectives—can offer a constructive outlook by calling upon improved treatment of individual fish (animal welfare) and generally more sustainable management (wilderness perspective). In contrast, if one subscribes to animal liberation or animal rights philosophies, the outlook for recreational fishing is generally negative: it has to stop. A final challenge is associated with the motivations of anglers. The moral argument there is that the activity is carried out largely for angler pleasure rather than as a means of securing survival. The outlook of this ethical challenge sometimes leans towards only accepting one form of recreational fishing: catching, killing, and eating. Voluntary catch-and-release fishing and practices such as tournament fishing with a strict total catch-and-release policy would then not be ethically permissible. In this paper, we highlight the origin and background of each of the five ethical challenges and explain their implications for recreational fishing.

The Unity of the Rational Mind

2021 ◽  
pp. 123-142
Author(s):  
Eric Marcus
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Metaphysical Necessity ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Rational Mind ◽  
The Individual

I argue that inference is a self-conscious act. The account appeals to the ‘being-in-mind-together’ of beliefs. Beliefs that are in mind together are subject to rationally grounded metaphysical necessity. Because one believes p, one can’t or must believe q. But what ultimately explains this sort of necessity? If it is impossible to hold a pair of mental states in mind at once and the impossibility has its source in our understanding of the necessary falsehood of a conjunction, then the subject has knowledge not just of the individual states they’re in but also of their combination. What, then, is the relation between the unity of our beliefs and consciousness of this unity? My answer: the unity of the rational mind consists in the subject’s consciousness of that unity.

Natural Acquaintance

Acquaintance ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 49-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Acquaintance Relation

Notwithstanding its phenomenological appeal, physicalists have tended to shun the notion that we are ‘acquainted’ with our mental states in consciousness, due to the fact that the acquaintance relation seems mysterious, irreducible, and consequently unnatural. I propose a model of conscious experience based on the idea of ‘mental quotation’, and argue that this captures what we want from acquaintance but without any threat to naturalism. More generally the chapter embodies a complaint that reductionists seem unable to look past the representation relation to do the implementing of consciousness, and a call for theorists to investigate other relations to model our connection to our conscious states, like the constitution/part-whole relationship. This mundane relation has what it takes to give us natural acquaintance with our conscious-mental states.

Dimensions of Individuality: Recent French Works on the Renaissance

1996 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-123
Author(s):  
Zachary Sayre Schiffman
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Conscious Perception ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual

In his famous “essay” of almost 150 years ago, Jacob Burckhardt articulated the single most fruitful idea about the Renaissance — that it was epitomized by “the discovery of the individual.” This discovery was double-sided: Man became a geistiges Individuum and recognized himself as such; and, as a consequence of this recognition, he also came to perceive die Fülle des Individuellen in the world around him. In other words, with the self-conscious perception of one's own uniqueness came the perception of the world as being full of unique entities.This discovery was for Burckhardt not an unalloyed blessing. His auf sich selbst gestellten Persönlichkeit (so liberally translated as “free personality“) is the individual stripped bare of all traditional defenses, standing naked before the world, with only his own wits to rely on — hardly a comforting prospect.

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