Introducing Noise Can Lift Sub-Threshold Signals Above the Threshold to Generate Perception: A New Perspective on Consciousness

Abstract

The pursuit of a comprehensive understanding of human consciousness, which includes the subjective experience of perception, is a long-standing endeavor. A multitude of disciplines have sought to elucidate and define consciousness, with a particular emphasis on its etiology. What is the cause of consciousness? One particularly eye-opening idea is that humans attempt to identify the source of consciousness by leveraging their own consciousness, as if something is attempting to elucidate itself. Strikingly, the results of brain-imaging experiments indicate that the brain processes a considerable amount of information outside conscious awareness of the organism in question. Perhaps, the vast majority of decision making, thinking, and planning processes originate from non-conscious brain processes. Nevertheless, consciousness is a fascinating phenomenon, and its intrinsic nature is both intriguing and challenging to ascertain. In the end, it is not necessarily given that consciousness, in particular the phenomenon of perception as the subjective experience it is, is a tangible function or process in the first place. This is why it must be acknowledged that this theoretical paper is not in a position to offer a definitive solution. However, it does present an interesting new concept that may at least assist future research and potential investigations in achieving a greater degree of elucidation. The concept is founded upon a physical (mathematical) phenomenon known as stochastic resonance. Without delving into the specifics, it is relatively straightforward to grasp one of its implications, which is employed here to introduce a novel direction regarding the potential for non-conscious information within the human brain to become conscious through the introduction of noise. It is noteworthy that this phenomenon can be visualized through a relatively simple approach that is provided in the frame of this paper. It is demonstrated that a completely white image is transformed into an image depicting clearly recognizable content by the introduction of noise. Similarly, information in the human brain that is processed below the threshold of consciousness could become conscious within a neural network by the introduction of noise. Thereby, the noise (neurophysiological energy) could originate from one or more of the well-known activating neural networks, with their nuclei being located in the brainstem and their axons connecting to various cortical regions. Even though stochastic resonance has already been introduced to neuroscience, the innovative nature of this paper is a formal introduction of this concept within the framework of consciousness, including higher-order perception phenomena. As such, it may assist in exploring novel avenues in the search for the origins of consciousness and perception in particular.