My proposal of a scientific theory of Sentience - to be called Sentiomics - gives a systemic explanation of this phenomenon. The cold sensation is not a reflex of the physiological state of the body, but part of an adaptive response to a perturbation that deviates the system from homeostatic equilibrium.The adaptive response leads the system, if successful, to another stable region of the state space - returning to homeostatic equilibrium (in the case of elastic systems) or finding another attractor region (in the case of flexible or plastic systems). When successful, the resulting sensation is likely to be pleasurable; when the perturbation remains or the system does not find an adaptive response that works in the context, then an unpleasant sensation is likely to be experienced. In the homeostatic equilibrium region of the state space, no sensation is experienced; for this reason, the effects of games, sex and drugs (among other stimuli) are limited to the temporal duration while the system finds an adaptive response to the stimulus (allostasis) and ceases when it recovers stability. Considering plasticity, the stimulation should be each time stronger than the previous one to reach the same intensity of sensation. With this theory, empirical findings about feelings can be scientifically explained on the basis of the dynamics of allostasis.
The three papers below compose my contributions to a special issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies on Sentience And Consciousness:
Target paper:
Preprint The Role of Sentience in the Theory of Consciousness and Med...
Technical Paper:
Article Explaining Dizziness in a Virtual Reality Roller Coaster Ride
Reply to 12 Commentaries:
Preprint Reply to Commentaries and Future Directions
Why is feeling cold during the rising phase of the fever adaptive? At this stage, if the person feels hot, he/she will try to cool off, impairing the action of the fever, which aims to kill the invading viruses. After the fever passes a certain temperature, further increases are not relevant to kill the viruses, but can be detrimental to the metabolism and to the integrity of biological structures. Above a certain temperature (around 40 degrees centigrade for humans) it is adaptive to cool the body, and for this reason it is customary to put a towel wet in cold water on the forehead and wrists of the person who has a fever.
My (layman) understanding is that a fever is the result of a miscalculation (usually caused by an infection, virus, etc,) within the body's internal temperature regulation mechanism. Specifically, the brain interprets the body's internal temperature as being lower than it actually is. The brain/body thinks it's cold. In effect, the brain raises the internal temperature of the body (causing a fever).
Blaine Tomkins Thanks for your answer, but if it is a miscalculation then it it not adaptive. Besides this issue, it is not clear that fever is caused by the brain. It involves an inflammatory response of the immune system (external to the brain) that helps to fight the viruses.
Alfredo Pereira Junior Not quite. The immune response to foreign substances sends a signal (via pyrogens) to the hypothalamus, but it is the hypothalamus that actually triggers the increase in body temperature (i.e., a fever). It is the structure of the brain that regulates internal body temperature. This "miscalculation" is actually adaptive in the sense it creates a less hospitable environment for foreign invaders.
Blaine Tomkins I should have added that the case is of a viral fever (I did, thanks for showing that my explanation may not apply to other cases). The hypothalamus is part of a larger signaling network operating with the endochrine and immune systems to cope with the virus. "Fever" is a rise in temperature that is connected to endochrine and immune responses to the virus. In this systemic view, there is no sharp distincition between what belongs to the brain and what does not. Therefore, the concept of miscalculation does not apply, because the hypothalamus is participating in the systemic response. In other cases of fever without a virus invasion, there may be a miscalculation.
Alfredo Pereira Junior
Consciousness is not a brain state. All this metabolic activity points to nothing but a brain state. Measuring it in volts, concentration per cubic cm. If homeostasis is not maintained, the results may not allow normal functioning of the organism and death could result. This does not imply that consciousness needs homeostasis only the body's physiology. No body, no consciousness, is a delusional descriptor for the mechanism of consciousness.
R. Poznansky you wrote:
"Consciousness is not a brain state".
Alfredo: I do not claim that consciousness is a brain state. I claim that consciousness is a process involving neural tissues.
Roman again:
"All this metabolic activity points to nothing but a brain state".
Alfredo: Wrong again. Homeostasis and allostasis are not states, but processes. The differences that happen in time during the neural processes determine sentience (the capacity of feeling) and consciousness (the first-person experience of feeling, knowing and acting). Consciousness is not an object in space, but a system of differences (differences of amplitude, frequency, phase) in time. If you do not understand this concept, please do not criticize what you do not understand!
Alfredo Pereira Junior
"Consciousness is not an object in space, but a system of differences (differences of amplitude, frequency, phase) in time"
this makes no sense. Are you saying consciousness is temporal without any spatial extension?
Alfredo Pereira Junior I respectfully disagree. The hypothalamus and adjacent pituitary gland are not simply part of a larger signaling network, they control and regulate the immune response of the endocrine system. Pyrogens deceive the hypothalamus into thinking the body is cooler than it actually is regardless if the cause is a virus or not. The actual fever is caused by the hypothalamus raising the body's internal thermostat. This is not in dispute.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK562334/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-a-fever/
A Nobel on this type of issue
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/discoveries-of-channels-enabling-sensation-garner-nobel-69273
Blaine Tomkins I am not disputing the cause of fever, but que quality (quale) of the coldness sensation. The quale is not generated by a part of the neural system, but by changes of patterns of activity of the whole system.
Alfredo Pereira Junior
The feelings that are "felt" are affective not those that are unconscious and are not felt. This Nobel has absolutely no explanation of the unconscious feelings that we call molecular-embedded microfeels that in reality (medical definition aside) constitute consciousness. The 2021 Nobel in Medicine added to very detailed knowledge on senses of touch and heat. But they could not follow the processing of precise and stable informational structures right up to preconscious experienceability.
Once the higher temperature is set, your body begins working to increase its temperature. You will feel cold because you are now at a lower temperature than your brain thinks you should be so your body will begin to shiver to generate heat and raise your temperature.Sep 5, 2017
https://www.conehealth.com › services
Why Do We Get Chills with a Fever? | Cone Health Medical Group
What are the symptoms of a viral fever? Viral fevers can range in temperature from 99°F to over 103°F (39°C), depending on the underlying virus. If you have a viral fever, you might have some of these general symptoms: chills.Jul 31, 2018
https://www.healthline.com › health
Viral Fever: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Warning
Chills are your body's way of raising its core temperature. Cold temperatures, viruses, infections and other illnesses can bring on chills. When you shiver, your muscles relax and contract. This involuntary movement warms your body.Feb 11, 2021
https://my.clevelandclinic.org › health
Chills: Causes & Treatment - Cleveland Clinic
The term “chills” refers to a feeling of being cold without an apparent cause. You get this feeling when your muscles repeatedly expand and contract and the vessels in your skin constrict. Chills can occur with a fever and cause shivering or shaking. Your body chills can be constant.
https://www.healthline.com › health
Chills: Causes, Treatments, and Complications - Healthline
https://www.everydayhealth.com/cold-and-flu/why-do-we-get-chills-with-a-fever/,kindly check this link.
But even though you feel cold, inside your body is very hot.
...
Other things that can make you feel more comfortable include:
removing excess clothing and bed linen.
having a lukewarm (tepid) bath or sponge down.
drinking lots of cold fluids or sucking ice chips.
opening the window or having a fan in the room.
More items...•Aug 5, 2019
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org › ...
Relieving the symptoms of fever | Coping physically
As soon as your brain shifts its internal thermostat to a higher set point to fight off an infection, the rest of your body goes to work trying to generate extra heat to meet that higher temperature goal. Suddenly, you're technically below your new “ideal” core temperature, so you feel cold.Jul 6, 2020
https://www.everydayhealth.com › ...
Why Do We Get Chills With Fever? | Everyday Health
Even if you have a high temperature, you might actually feel cold and begin to shiver. This is part of the first phase of having a fever. Your immediate reaction may be to huddle up under lots of blankets to feel warm. But even though you feel cold, inside your body is very hot.Aug 5, 2019
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org › ...
Relieving the symptoms of fever | Coping physically
Feeling cold is most often due to actually being in a cold environment. In some cases, such as with infections, you may feel cold despite being quite warm. Other reasons for feeling cold include hypothyroidism, anemia, bacterial or viral infection, and hypothermia.
https://www.healthgrades.com › feel...
Feeling Cold - Symptoms, Causes, Treatments - Healthgrades
Hi Dr Alfredo Pereira Junior . See the following useful link: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/why-do-i-feel-cold-and-shiver-when-i-have-a-fever/amp/
Thanks @Aref Wazwaz, although being too succint the article is compatible with my claims.
Faraed Salman Many thanks for your several answers! I did not see them before, for some reason they did not appear in my feed. There is a conceptual problem in some of them, because I am not asking about the causes of fever, neither about the effects of chills. I am asking about the cause of feeling cold during fever (which, by definition, implies the body being in a higher temperature above the homeostatic equilibrium state). The process that causes fever is purely physiological. The process that causes the coldness conscious sensation is pshychophysiological, because conscious sensations are not purely physiological phenomena - they refer to conscious experiences lived in the first-person perspective. It is interesting to know that these sensations have psychosomatic effects, this claim is compatible with my theoretical approach.
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