We know that the human neocortex has a tremendous capacity to store information at some 1.6 x 10^14 bits—or 2 ^(1.6 x 10^14) possibilities (Tehovnik, Hasanbegović, Chen 2024). What is unclear is where this information is specifically stored and in what form since the foregoing estimate is based on all the neurons and synapses in the human neocortex. We have speculated that the temporal and orbital cortices store objects from images of faces, to sounds of words, to the touch of a fresh breeze, and to the smells and tastes of one’s favorite coffee or tea (Tehovnik, Hasanbegović, Chen 2024).
A recent study conducted by Shan et al. (2022) that used EEG recordings from the entire neocortex suggests that during unconscious versus conscious states (as established using a continuous-flash suppression paradigm) the orbital and temporal cortices mediate consciousness (see Fig. 1). An important question remains, however: how do the remaining association areas of the neocortex that mediates spatial processing such as the retrosplenial, lateral intraparietal, supplementary frontal, and prefrontal cortices contribute to the conscious process? In the experiments of Shen et al. (2022), the behavior examined was the presentation of visual objects (that were stationary) followed by a keypress to signal detection, which activated both V1 and motor cortex. If the behavior had emphasized spatial vision (e.g., a rotating three-dimensional sphere that activated neurons in the middle superior temporal cortex, MST, see Fig. 2) would now the area declared to be ‘conscious’ shift toward the parietal and medial frontal cortices?
Figure 1: The main point of this figure is to show that consciousness was attributed to the temporal and orbital cortices and not to the parietal and medial frontal cortices. Note that an object detection paradigm was used on subjects as EEG recordings were made from a total of 662 sites over the left neocortex of seven subjects for the probe, object stimuli presented in the right visual field. For further details see Shan et al. (2022).
Figure 2: When the dots are in motion ‘apparently’ a sphere appears.
very likely you are right
have a look at
Preprint Electrodynamic Coherence as a Physical Basis for Emergence o...
Interesting perspective. I believe you will find the following article intriguing and with food for thought. With a premise of were consciousness probably resides, by analyzing one of the archetypical forms of phenomenal (raw) consciousness "pain perception".Article Might pain be experienced in the brainstem rather than in th...
Dear Mark Baron,
Here is a question for you: blindsight is such that the contrast threshold gets elevated so that visual stimuli need to be of contrast greater than 95%, that is, in the absence of V1/neocortex (with an intact V1/neocortex, the threshold for detection can be as low as 1-2% contrast). Does the same happen for pain following neocortical damage? I understand that there is a type of blindsight experienced by subjects once the somatosensory cortex is removed bilaterally, per com Jeff Yau 2020) Is this true or are the other senses (including pain) under more subcortical control as compared to vision?
Dear Mark,
To give you a sense of what is motivating our thinking, the abstract of a book that we are writing is found below (our book will include the interoceptive senses as well, which will include body pain caused by cancer and chemo-drugs, for example):
"
Perhaps, it is no accident that the organ that contains most of the neurons in the human brain, the cerebellum (Herculano-Houzel 2009), is specifically designed to move the body beyond a ‘planted’ location—thereby giving body movement a high priority, a priority that has been shaped by 500 million years of evolution (Cisek 2019). The way in which the cerebellum communicates with the neocortex, the putative center of consciousness and learning (Hebb 1968), is starting to be worked out with tremendous rapidity (e.g., Hasanbegović 2023). Just how Pelé, Kasparov, and Einstein performed their magic, seemingly without any conscious effort, has remained a problem to solve. We would suggest that the motor experiences encountered in one’s lifetime and often begun as a child are ultimately stored in the cerebellum such that a sensory context summons a specific response to be generated reflexively and at the shortest latency (Miles and Lisberger 1981; Lisberger 1984; Huang 2008; Tehovnik et al. 2021) which is the hallmark of behavioral efficiency; this permits the neocortex to be free to learn new things by way of consciousness and the utilization of the senses (Hebb 1968), while efference-copy representations stored in the cerebellum (as created by previous learning) are tweaked periodically via sensory feedback through cortical and subcortical channels (Froudarakis et al. 2019; Hebb 1949; Schiller and Tehovnik 2015; Tehovnik and Chen 2015; Tehovnik et al. 2021). Significantly, the neocortex becomes active well in advance of one’s conscious awareness to move, once one is overtrained on a behavior (Libet 1985; also see Soon et al. 2008). The source of this neocortical discharge comes from the cerebellum (Ikeda et al. 1994), and signifies the culmination of years of laser-focused effort by individuals like Pelé, Kasparov, and Einstein, all of whom began their path to excellence years before being discovered. The purpose of this discourse is to deduce the neural code of automatic behavior and consciousness using information theory (Shannon 1948), which should be of interest to those working on artificial intelligence, robotics, and the philosophy of mind including linguistics as studied by Noam Chomsky (1965).
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Title: Automaticity, Consciousness, and the Transfer of Information, by Tehovnik, Hasanbegovic', and Chen. Expected completion date: Dec 2024.
Mark,
I am now reading your article. The first thing that comes to mind is that when electrical stimulation is delivered to neocortex the sensations evoked regress to some mean/average. For example, when we stimulate area V1 in monkeys (or if its done in humans) the contrast sensation of the phosphene is about 10% and not much more (Schiller et al. 2011). And we can experience contrast of much greater magnitude. So if this is true for vision, it likely also applies to somato-sensation such that pain signal an extreme state that are rarely evoked, as your article suggests. Also pain (a high-threshold somato-sensation) is something experienced by even the amoeba, which means it is a very primitive sense without which no organism can survive. Ants, for example, do everything before being subjected to a foot 'crush' by a human.
Ed
Mark,
I believe what distinguishes the neocortex from the rest of the brain is that it enhances an organisms sensory acuity: e.g., V1 allows for fine stereovision as fine as 2 minutes of visual angle, the temporal lobes allow for fine face recognition (you should be able to distinguish two almost identical Israeli faces), and Wernicke's and Broca's areas allow for language produced at the most advance level with goal-directed practice. Now if the entire neocortex is removed in humans, the foregoing abilities are abolished, but the subject can still experience pain. Maybe thinking of pain as a separate sensation has its limits. All animals with a telencephalon have some form of consciousness, since they have fine sensation bundled with a capacity for memory.
Ed
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