The origins of the brain's endogenous electromagnetic field and its relationship to provision of consciousness.
C G Hales
Journal of Integrative Neuroscience June 1, 2014 DOI: 10.1142/s0219635214400056 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Maxwell's equations Compartmental model Consciousness Electromagnetic field Pyramidal neuron |
| Key points | Proposes that coherent transmembrane ion channel currents during action potentials produce structured electromagnetic fields that can influence neighboring neurons at millimeter scales, offering a biophysical mechanism for consciousness-related EM phenomena. |
Abstract
As a potential source of consciousness, the brain's endogenous electromagnetic (EM) field has much to commend it. Difficulties connecting EM phenomena and consciousness have been exacerbated by the lack of a specific conclusive biophysically realistic mechanism originating the EM field, its form and dynamics. This work explores a potential mechanism: the spatial and temporal coherent action of transmembrane ion channel currents which simultaneously produce electric and magnetic fields that dominate all other field sources. Ion channels, as tiny current filaments, express, at a distance, the electric and magnetic fields akin to those of a short (transmembrane) copper wire. Following assembly of appropriate formalisms from EM field theory, the paper computationally explores the scalar electric potential produced by the current filaments responsible for an action potential (AP) in a realistic hippocampus CA1 pyramidal neuron. It reveals that AP signaling can impress a highly structured, focused and directed "sweeping-lighthouse beam" that "illuminates" neighbors at mm scales. Ion channel currents thereby provide a possible explanation for both EEG/MEG origins and recently confirmed functional EM coupling effects. Finally, a physically plausible EM field decomposition is posited. It reveals objective and subjective perspectives intrinsic to the membrane-centric field dynamics. Perceptual "fields" can be seen to operate as the collective action of virtual EM-boson composites (called qualeons) visible only by "being" the fields, yet objectively appear as the familiar EM field activity. This explains the problematic evidence presentation and offers a physically plausible route to a solution to the "hard problem".
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Citations in the library
Cited by 13
- The Slowest Shared Resonance: A Review of Electromagnetic Field Oscillations Between Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems Frontiers in Human Neuroscience February 16, 2022
- Fields or firings? Comparing the spike code and the electromagnetic field hypothesis Frontiers in Psychology July 20, 2023
- Neural Circuits, Microtubule Processing, Brain's Electromagnetic Field-Components of Self-Awareness. Brain Sciences July 25, 2021
- Electromagnetic-field theories of qualia: can they improve upon standard neuroscience? Frontiers in Psychology June 1, 2023
- Qualia and Phenomenal Consciousness Arise From the Information Structure of an Electromagnetic Field in the Brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2022
and 8 more in the library
Cites 14
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- Integrated Information in Discrete Dynamical Systems: Motivation and Theoretical Framework PLoS Computational Biology June 12, 2008
- Quantum computation in brain microtubules? The Penrose–Hameroff ‘Orch OR‘ model of consciousness Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences August 15, 1998
- The ‘correlates’ in neural correlates of consciousness Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews June 5, 2011
and 9 more in the library