Consciousness Viewed in the Framework of Brain Phase Space Dynamics,\n Criticality, and the Renormalization Group

Consciousness can be understood as a collective achievement of the brain's complex neural dynamics, amenable to study through phase space dynamics and criticality. The author reviews current theoretical conceptualizations in neuroscience, identifying flawed notions that may impede viewing consciousness as a physical phenomenon. Drawing on physics concepts like phase space transitions and the Renormalization Group, which explain how new collective behaviors emerge across scales in complex systems, the proposal argues that the subjectivity of consciousness is the epistemic interpretation of a level of reality originating in phase transitions of the brain-body-environment system.

Study at a glance

Abstract

To set the stage for viewing Consciousness in terms of brain phase space\ndynamics and criticality, I will first review currently prominent theoretical\nconceptualizations and, where appropriate, identify ill-advised and flawed\nnotions in Theoretical Neuroscience that may impede viewing Consciousness as a\nphenomenon in Physics. I will furthermore introduce relevant facts that tend\nnot to receive adequate attention in much of the current Consciousness\ndiscourse. As a new approach to conceptualizing Consciousness, I propose\nconsidering it as a collective achievement of the brain' s complex neural\ndynamics that is amenable to study in the framework of state space dynamics and\ncriticality. In Physics, concepts of phase space transitions and the\nRenormalization Group are powerful tools for interpreting phenomena involving\nmany scales of length and time in complex systems. The significance of these\nconcepts lies in their accounting for the emergence of different levels of new\ncollective behaviors in complex systems, each level with its distinct ontology,\norganization and laws, as a new pattern of reality. The presumption of this\nproposal is that the subjectivity of Consciousness is the epistemic\ninterpretation of a level of reality that originates in phase transitions of\nthe brain-body-environment system.\n