Awareness: What It Is, What It Does

176 Pages·1995·2.47 MB·English

by  Chris Nunn

Awareness
Awareness: What it is, What it does is an accessible up-to-date summary
of scientific thinking about the nature of consciousness. Relevant, basic
facts about the brain and the physical world are described including what
is understood about time in these contexts. Chris Nunn then examines in
detail various theories of consciousness highlighting their strengths and
weaknesses and comparing quantum and neural theories. Some implica-
tions of these new ideas, particularly those with consequences for
medicine and psychiatry, are also discussed.
The study of awareness is currently a fast developing and controversial
area. This book sets out in a manner intended to be easily read many of
the most exciting theoretical and experimental advances. It will be of
interest to a wide range of academics, professionals and students.
Chris Nunn is a former Consultant Psychiatrist, based in Southampton.
He combined his role providing services for local communities with
extensive research interests in mind/body relationships and awareness.
This page intentionally left blank.
Awareness
What it is, What it does
Chris Nunn
London and New York
First published 1996
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1996 Chris Nunn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-43545-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-74369-5 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-13226-6 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-13227-4 (pbk)
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
1 The boundaries of awareness 6
The neural substrate 7
Anatomy 9
Electrical activity 11
Chemistry 13
Information processing 14
Exotica 16
The unconscious 18
Sleep 18
Hysterical and related phenomena 19
Psychosis 21
Regional energy use 23
Neurological abnormalities 24
Conclusions 27
2 Time and awareness 31
Minimum perceptual duration 32
EEG temporal codings 34
Evoked potentials 36
The libet experiments 37
Conclusions 41
3 The nature of matter 44
Complex numbers 45
Collapse of the wave function 46
How real is the wave function? 50
vi AWARENESS
Non-locality 52
Bose-Einstein condensates 53
Time in quantum theory 54
Conclusions 56
4 Various theories 59
Traditional dualism 60
The mainstream 61
Penrose 66
Quantum consciousness? 68
Marshall 69
Brain quantum objects and the qualia problem 73
Conclusions 76
5 On the track of awareness 81
EEG coherence studies 83
The Southampton experiments 85
‘Psi’ experiments 90
Conclusions 92
6 Free will, free won’t and other topics 95
Attention 99
Sleep, dreams and hallucinations 1 00
Understanding 1 02
Beauty 1 04
Conclusions 1 07
7 The functions of awareness 1 09
Biological perspectives 1 09
What might awareness do for the brain? 1 12
The ‘quantum society’ revisited 1 15
What does the brain do for awareness? 1 17
Conclusions 1 19
8 Medicine and the PM paradigm 1 21
Psychosomatic medicine 1 22
Are there any psychic illnesses? 1 25
Archetypes 1 31
Cures for the psyche? 1 33
Treatment settings 1 39
Conclusions 1 44
9 Towards a science of the soul? 1 47
CONTENTS vii
Glossary 1 53
Name index 1 60
Subject index 1 63
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to all the writers mentioned in this book, but would like to
single out Roger Penrose whose Emperor’s New Mind, published in 1989,
first brought to my attention many of the ideas discussed here. Reading
him was better than changing into something comfortable after a day wear-
ing shoes that pinched and a collar that was too tight, but felt similar.
I also owe much to the ‘consciousness group’ here in Southampton. Its
leading lights are Chris Clarke, a mathematician who is now dean of the
faculty, and Doug Newman, professor of physics. Chris has done his best
to educate me in the use of the many rather esoteric concepts needed to
get to grips with awareness. My failings are my fault, not his. Doug has
followed his own valuable line of thought concerning neural nets and the
role of self-models in generating consciousness. His book on this is due
out soon. It is of great interest, and the fact that I do not agree with all of
it has helped me to overcome natural laziness and sort out my own ideas.
He has also been so kind as to review sections of my manuscript with
appropriate scepticism.
Others who have provided most helpful criticisms of the manuscript are
my son Miles and my colleague Brian Barraclough. Many thanks to them,
too. A particularly beneficent influence has been that of Ian Marshall,
both through the work that he has published with Danah Zohar, his wife,
and especially in the course of an always stimulating and often enlighten-
ing correspondence.
That I have had the time to write is thanks to the support of my wife,
Ruth, and the skill of my surgeon Frank McGinn.
It’s a pity that there is no more appropriate pronoun to use than ‘my’ in
relation to other people. This should not be taken to imply possession of
any sort but is simply a means of referring to those who, from the good-
ness of their hearts, have taken an interest in me or in this book.
The author would like to thank the following for permission to repro-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
duce short extracts: J.W. Brown from ‘Psychology of Time Awareness’,
Brain and Cognition (1990:14, 144–64), courtesy of Academic Press,
Florida; F.Crick and C.Koch from The Problem of Consciousness’
(1992), courtesy of Scientific American, New York;D. W.DeMott from
Toposcopic Studies of Learning (1970), courtesy of Charles C.Thomas,
Publisher, Springfield, Illinois; G.Dougary from ‘Between the Lines’,
Times Magazine (5 March 1994); T.Honderich from Mindwaves (edited
by Blakemore and Greenfield) (1987), courtesy of Basil Blackwell,
Oxford; A.J. Marcel from ‘Conscious and Unconscious Perception’, Cog-
nitive Psychology (1983:15, 238–300), courtesy of Academic Press,
Florida; J.S.Nicolis and I.Tsuda from ‘Chaotic Dynamics of Information
Processing’, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology (1985:47(3), 343–65), with
the kind permission of Elsevier Science Ltd, Oxford; M.O’Donnell from
‘Anecdotal Evidence: Persecuted by Counsellors’, Healthcare Manage-
ment (1994); R. Penrose, from The Emperor’s New Mind (1989) by per-
mission of Oxford University Press.
Every effort has been made to contact owners of copyright material
which is reproduced in this book. In the event of a copyright query please
contact the publishers.