Alzheimer's and Consciousness: How Much Subjectivity Is Objective?
Vladan Bajic, Natasa Misic, Ivana Stankovic, Bozidarka Zaric, George Perry
Neuroscience insights July 20, 2021 DOI: 10.1177/26331055211033869 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Microtubules Alzheimer disease Consciousness Subjectivity Objectivity Self-awareness Dynamicity |
| Key points | Proposes that Alzheimer disease involves a progressive shift in the awareness of subjective versus objective representations of reality, with patients moving toward a more internally oriented perception as symptoms increase. The authors suggest this framework may help identify very early signs of memory and self-awareness impairment, which they contend originate in microtubules. |
Abstract
Does Alzheimer Disease show a decline in cognitive functions that relate to the awareness of external reality? In this paper, we will propose a perspective that patients with increasing symptoms of AD show a change in the awareness of subjective versus objective representative axis of reality thus consequently move to a more internal like perception of reality. This paradigm shift suggests that new insights into the dynamicity of the conscious representation of reality in the AD brain may give us new clues to the very early signs of memory and self-awareness impairment that originates from, in our view the microtubules. Dialog between Adso and William, in Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Third Day: Vespers. "But how does it happen," I said with admiration, "that you were able to solve the mystery of the library looking at it from the outside, and you were unable to solve it when you were inside?" "Thus, God knows the world, because He conceived it in His mind, as if it was from the outside, before it was created, and we do not know its rule, because we live inside it, having found it already made."