Neuroscientists are using anesthesia to study consciousness in a way that seems related to higher order theories of consciousness. The conclusion so far: "consciousness emerges from the integration of information across large networks in the brain":
Over the past few years, other EEG studies have supported the idea that anesthesia doesn't simply shut the brain down but, rather, interferes with its internal communication. Mashour's research, for instance, has shown that feedback between the front and back of the brain is interrupted during general anesthesia, leading to a disconnect between different brain networks. That feedback is thought to be important for consciousness.
..."What we find is that the anesthetized brain is still very reactive to stimuli," he says; both EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), an indirect method of measuring brain activity, show response to light and sounds. But somehow that sensory information is never processed and integrated into the type of activity necessary for conscious awareness.
-- Wes
Thanks for the link Wes.
New Scientist had this article towards the end of 2011
Banishing consciousness: the mystery of anaesthesia
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228402.300-banishing-consciousness-the-mystery-of-anaesthesia.html?full=true
nice — thanks
http://forum-network.org/lecture/revealing-brain-through-states-unconsciousness-general-anesthesia-sleep-coma
So, Wes, does it stand to reason that a sleep-state in which dreaming is occurring is very different from an anesthetized state in that the sleep-state relies on internal communication in order to have one’s consciousness observe/create the dreaming?
I wonder about the way anesthesia would be different if we were able to trigger the naturally occurring paralysis and sensory impairment functions without affecting consciousness in the current way …
Thanks you very much. Philosophers of consciousness have not much discussed anesthesia and clearly they should. Think of it: for a finite period of time “you don’t exist”. But later you come into existence again and you are still precisely you — your personality, ambitions, intellect are exactly the same. It’s very much the way CD music no longer exists as soon as you unplug the CD player but it can be immediately reincarnated once you plug the CD player up again, provided the CD has not been damaged.
The great unknown in consciousness is how objectively identifiable activity in the brain can produce qualia perceived by one and only one individual: the “owner” of the brain. Then we have to ask — if qualia are real — and they seem real to me — what do they consist of? Atoms, electrons, photons, dark energy, or something else? It seems clear that consciousness requires this higher level integration of activities in the brain. We are getting closer to a “physical” explanation and that can’t be bad.