Physical Foundations of Consciousness: Brain Organisation: The Role of Synapses
Charles Ross, Shirley Redpath
arXiv Preprint Archive July 13, 2009 preprint
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Neuroplasticity Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Q-bio.nc Sleep-wake cycles Quantitative biology |
| Key points | Proposes that variable tension across synapses, due to changing synaptic cleft widths, is the neural correlate of consciousness. |
Abstract
We have analysed the many facets of Consciousness into two distinct categories. First: the organisational state of the neural networks at any one time, which determines whether a person is conscious - awake, or unconscious - asleep. Second: the processes that underlie the traffic of electrical signals across these networks that accounts for all the experiences of conscious awareness. This paper addresses the former; namely, how the state of the billions of neural networks and the trillions of additional axons, dendrites and synapses varies over the daily cycle - what physically changes when we go to sleep - what happens when we wake up. We submit that the widths of synaptic clefts are not fixed, but are variable, and that this variable tension across the synapses is the neural correlate of consciousness.
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