What if consciousness is not an emergent property of the brain? Observational and empirical challenges to materialistic models

Our brains sense the future through a new quantum-like implicit learning mechanism

BACKGROUND

Imagine if our brains could unconsciously predict future events. This study explores this concept, presenting evidence for an inherent 'foreseeing' ability, termed anomalous cognition (AC). We introduce a new experimentally verifiable approach to explain anomalous information anticipation (AIA), a type of AC, based on an innovative, quantum-like model of implicit learning, grounded in Nonlocal Plasticity Theory (NPT).

METHODS

Our research involved 203 participants using methods such as continuous flash suppression, random dot motion, and advanced 3D EEG neuroimaging, along with IBM quantum random event generators for precise measurements across 144 trials. These trials tested contingencies between undetectable sensory stimuli and dot movements, focusing on participants' prediction abilities. The design conditions were strictly experimental, violating fundamental classical learning principles, particularly reflex conditioning. If these principles were immutable, their violation would prevent any systematic behavioral changes, resulting in random responses. This violation was implemented through two quantum physics concepts: the mathematical principle of nonlocality and entanglement.

RESULTS

Despite the sensory stimulus being inaccessible, our results showed a significant prediction between the contingencies and an increase in AIA accuracy, with explained variances between 25 % and 48 %. EEG findings supported this, showing a positive link between brain activity in specific regions and AIA success. Electrochemical activations were detected in the posterior occipital cortex, the intraparietal sulcus, and the medial temporal gyri. AIA hits exceeded the threshold value corresponding to one standard deviation above the expected mean, showing moderate effect sizes in the experimental group (Cohen's d = 0.461). Analyzing the learning curve using the derivation technique, we identified the acceleration point of the wave function, indicating systematic implicit learning. This result showed that from repetition 63 onwards, AIA hits increased significantly.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that, despite violating fundamental classical learning principles, cognitive processes produced changes in participants' responses susceptible to neuromodulation, considering quantum physics principles of nonlocality and entanglement (both present in NPT). We discuss (a) why the priming effect does not explain the significant results; (b) the potential discovery of a new form of quantum-like implicit learning, which could scientifically resolve phenomena associated with anomalous cognitions (e.g., AIA); and (c) future research directions, including potential applications and clinical impact.

A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications

Diverse explanations or theories of consciousness are arrayed on a roughly physicalist-to-nonphysicalist landscape of essences and mechanisms. Categories: Materialism Theories (philosophical, neurobiological, electromagnetic field, computational and informational, homeostatic and affective, embodied and enactive, relational, representational, language, phylogenetic evolution); Non-Reductive Physicalism; Quantum Theories; Integrated Information Theory; Panpsychisms; Monisms; Dualisms; Idealisms; Anomalous and Altered States Theories; Challenge Theories. There are many subcategories, especially for Materialism Theories. Each explanation is self-described by its adherents, critique is minimal and only for clarification, and there is no attempt to adjudicate among theories. The implications of consciousness explanations or theories are assessed with respect to four questions: meaning/purpose/value (if any); AI consciousness; virtual immortality; and survival beyond death. A Landscape of Consciousness, I suggest, offers perspective.

Vitalism and Naturopathy in Psychedelic Medicine

Psychedelic therapy is witnessing a rapid rise in popularity both in clinical research and in the greater culture. Since it involves the use of drugs, psychology, and spirituality, professionals from a variety of backgrounds such as physicians, psychotherapists, chaplains, etc. are increasingly becoming interested or directly involved. In this article, the authors describe why naturopathic doctors, with additional training, are well suited to provide psychedelic therapy. Naturopathy is rooted in the non-materialistic metaphysics of vitalism, which is consistent with the concept of inner healing intelligence, which is widely accepted in the psychedelic therapy community. In addition to the compatible foundational philosophies, naturopaths also possess a wide range of clinical skills including herbalism, pharmacology, and counseling, among others, that can be directly applied to psychedelic therapy and integration.

An evidence-based critical review of the mind-brain identity theory

In the philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and psychology, the causal relationship between phenomenal consciousness, mentation, and brain states has always been a matter of debate. On the one hand, material monism posits consciousness and mind as pure brain epiphenomena. One of its most stringent lines of reasoning relies on a 'loss-of-function lesion premise,' according to which, since brain lesions and neurochemical modifications lead to cognitive impairment and/or altered states of consciousness, there is no reason to doubt the mind-brain identity. On the other hand, dualism or idealism (in one form or another) regard consciousness and mind as something other than the sole product of cerebral activity pointing at the ineffable, undefinable, and seemingly unphysical nature of our subjective qualitative experiences and its related mental dimension. Here, several neuroscientific findings are reviewed that question the idea that posits phenomenal experience as an emergent property of brain activity, and argue that the premise of material monism is based on a logical correlation-causation fallacy. While these (mostly ignored) findings, if considered separately from each other, could, in principle, be recast into a physicalist paradigm, once viewed from an integral perspective, they substantiate equally well an ontology that posits mind and consciousness as a primal phenomenon.

The causal influence of conscious engagement on photonic behavior: A review of the mind-matter interaction

The well-known, quantum physics "double-slit" experiment was the first demonstration of wave-particle duality of light-photons naturally behave like waves, but once they are registered by a conscious observer they switch to behaving like particles. In recent years, a new avenue of research has reported a psychophysical interaction occurring when focused attention was employed in the double-slit experiment. In this context, the act of focusing attention to photons passing through the double-slit appears to collapse their wave function thus causing a shift toward particle-like behavior reflected in a decreased intensity of wave interference. Contrary to the common belief that physical events have a unidirectional, first-order causal effect on cognition, these studies suggest that mental activities are capable of influencing physical systems. The present paper provides an extended review of findings on this psychophysical phenomenon, as well as recommendations for future research.

Quantum aspects of the brain-mind relationship: A hypothesis with supporting evidence

If all aspects of the mind-brain relationship were adequately explained by classical physics, then there would be no need to propose alternatives. But faced with possibly unresolvable puzzles like qualia and free will, other approaches are required. In alignment with a suggestion by Heisenberg in 1958, we propose a model whereby the world consists of two elements: Ontologically real Possibles that do not obey Aristotle's law of the excluded middle, and ontologically real Actuals that do. Based on this view, which bears resemblance to von Neumann's 1955 proposal (von Neumann, 1955), and more recently by Stapp and others (Stapp, 2007; Rosenblum and Kuttner, 2006), measurement that is registered by an observer's mind converts Possibles into Actuals. This quantum-oriented approach raises the intriguing prospect that some aspects of mind may be quantum, and that mind may play an active role in the physical world. A body of empirical evidence supports these possibilities, strengthening our proposal that the mind-brain relationship may be partially quantum.

Neuroanatomy of the Will

Questions regarding the nature and source of consciousness and individual agency to make decisions have enormous practical implications that include human health and wellbeing, social policy, and economics. Ethical issues involving the ability for patients to make conscious, informed choices, such as in cases of dementia or coma, abound, and the health implications of individual choice on public wellbeing are becoming increasingly important as population densities increase. Furthermore, the use of animals for drug testing presents moral dilemmas related to our concepts of consciousness, pain, and consent. While philosophers have long debated aspects of consciousness, the means to scientifically address specific questions regarding regional and cellular functions of the brain are constantly emerging, as are new theories of physical laws and particle interactions which allow for the formation of new hypotheses of the source of consciousness. These emerging capabilities and hypotheses are increasingly able to be subjected to methodological scrutiny by the scientific community. To facilitate open discussion and advances in investigations regarding the nature of consciousness, this Topical Collection is intended to provide a peer-reviewed space to discuss or propose falsifiable hypotheses of consciousness in a full range of systems, using methods across disciplines of biology, physics, computer science, and philosophy of science that can inform such a discussion, while emphasizing the role that our conception of consciousness has on human health, society, and policy.