Joseph Strout <jstrout at ucsd.edu> wrote:
>> Penrose speculated that the process is quantum mechanical and as such
>> it is not computable. Francis Crick theorized that the process is
>> electrophysiological. Both failed to provide the details how these
>> processes are carried out.
>That's funny, I thought we had this pretty well figured out. Changes in
>the membrane potential in one cell causes an influx of calcium through
>voltage-sensitive channels. These bind to proteins in the synapse,
>resulting in the release of vescicles which contain neurotransmitter
>(e.g., glutamate). This diffuses across the synaptic cleft and binds to
>proteins in the postsynaptic cell, causing them to open channels,
>admitting ions which change the postsynaptic cell's membrane potential.
>(Of course, there are many other means of communication, but this is
>probably most typical.) At which point are we lacking enough detail for
>you? [Actually, you could get quite a bit more detail by looking up
>"synaptic transmission" in any good neuroscience textbook.]
All these processes you described are at the molecular level. The
processes that I was describing are at the most fundamental
level--like what initiate the processes at the molecular level in the
first place? It is true that I am not familar with the processes at
the molecular level but I didn't think that I need to to explain the
effect of my theory on the initiation of the consciousness process.
>Then is your theory not falsified by the easily measurable and quite
>reliable delays which occur at all levels of cognitive processing?
>Simple reaction-time studies controlled for muscle response time, for
>example. Or better yet, the activity (measured by EEG or fMRI) in
>various areas of cortex evokes by a stimulus -- measured in hundreds of
>milliseconds after the stimulus. Much slower, in fact, than the speed of
>light.
Again, I should clarify that the processes that I was describing refer
to those that are carry out at the most fundamental level and that
these processes initiate the processes at the molecular level.
>,------------------------------------------------------------------.
>| Joseph J. Strout Department of Neuroscience, UCSD |
>|jstrout at ucsd.eduhttp://sdcc3.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/ |
>`------------------------------------------------------------------'
