Knowledge Tree
brain states
Also known as: mind/brain states, brain-mind states, brain state
Facts (45)
Sources
Quantum Approaches to Consciousness plato.stanford.edu Nov 30, 2004 8 facts
claimJohn Eccles proposed that the fundamentally indeterministic nature of individual quantum state collapses in the brain provides an entry point for mental causation, allowing mental powers to influence brain states.
claimFriedrich Beck and John Eccles' approach to consciousness focuses primarily on brain states and brain dynamics, with the exception of John Eccles' specific ideas regarding mental causation.
referenceE. Pessa and G. Vitiello authored 'Quantum noise, entanglement and chaos in the quantum field theory of mind/brain states', published in Mind and Matter in 2003.
claimGiuseppe Vitiello's accounts suggest an inclination toward a dual-aspect approach regarding the relationship between brain states and mental states.
claimMax Velmans noted in 2002 that the causal efficacy of mental states upon brain states, often referred to as 'downward causation', has attracted growing interest.
referenceRicciardi and Umezawa (1967) proposed using the formalism of quantum field theory to describe brain states, specifically focusing on memory as inequivalent representations of vacuum states in many-particle systems.
referenceThe quantum field theory approach to brain states, originally proposed by Ricciardi and Umezawa, has been refined by researchers including Stuart et al. (1978, 1979) and Jibu and Yasue (1995), with recent progress incorporating effects of dissipation, chaos, and quantum noise by Vitiello (1995) and Pessa and Vitiello (2003).
claimThe Freeman and Vitiello model views brain states as classical states.
Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness cambridge.org Dec 20, 2023 8 facts
claimPhysicalists, including Smart (1959), Hill (1991), Block and Stalnaker (1999), McLaughlin (2001), and Melnyk (2003), argue that the best explanation for mind-brain supervenience is that conscious states are constituted by the brain states they supervene on.
claimIn overdetermination dualism, physical behavior is caused by both a conscious state and a brain state, where each cause is sufficient on its own to produce the effect.
perspectiveCritics argue that if agency is defined as collapsing brain states without influencing the outcome, the role of consciousness is limited to a passive 'rolling of the dice' where outcomes are random.
claimIf brain states decohere and become entangled with the external environment, it would result in superposed macrostates involving both the brain and the environment, requiring them to collapse together.
claimBrain scanning techniques such as PET and fMRI have revealed detailed correlations between specific conscious states and brain states, such as the correlation between seeing red and activity in the visual cortex, or anxiety and an overactive amygdala.
claimC.D. Broad and Frank Jackson argued that conscious states could evolve as by-products of useful brain states, even if those conscious states themselves are inert.
claimPhysicalism is supported by the observation that conscious states depend entirely on brain states, as indicated by neuroscience.
claimSubjective idealism explains mind-brain correlations by regarding brain states as perceptions of one subject (a person observing someone else's brain) and conscious states as the perceptions or other conscious states of another subject (the person whose brain is being observed).
Quantum Approaches to Consciousness plato.stanford.edu Nov 30, 2004 6 facts
formulaThe minimal framework for studying reduction, supervenience, or emergence relations between material brain states [ma] and mental states [me] is represented by the relation [ma] ↔ [me].
claimFreeman and Vitiello (2006, 2008, 2010) studied neurobiologically relevant observables such as electric and magnetic field amplitudes and neurotransmitter concentration to describe brain states.
claimVitiello (1995), Pessa and Vitiello (2003), and Vitiello (2012) advanced the quantum field theory approach to brain states by incorporating effects of dissipation, chaos, fractals, and quantum noise.
referenceSabbadini and Vitiello explored entanglement and phase-mediated correlations in quantum field theory as applied to brain-mind states in their 2019 paper published in Applied Sciences.
claimThe concept of 'downward causation,' referring to the causal efficacy of mental states upon brain states, has gained increased research interest as cited by Velmans (2002) and Ellis et al. (2011).
referenceVitiello (2001, 2002) provides nontechnical accounts of the quantum field theory approach to brain states.
Resolving the evolutionary paradox of consciousness link.springer.com Apr 1, 2024 4 facts
perspectiveConstitutive panpsychism has an advantage over physicalism because it suggests an organism is directly acquainted with its brain state via a phenomenal constitutive relation.
perspectivePhysicalists posit that being aware of a conscious experience is equivalent to being aware of one's own physical brain state.
claimThe physicalist assertion that awareness of a conscious experience is awareness of a brain state clashes with common intuition, as individuals generally lack understanding of the neural transmissions occurring in their brains during an experience.
claimUnder a physicalist framework that equates sensations to brain states, sensational associative learning implies that learned associations occur between external stimuli, such as bodily harm, and specific brain states.
Dualism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Winter 2016 Edition) plato.stanford.edu Aug 19, 2003 3 facts
perspectiveThe author argues that Frank Jackson's analogy of evolutionary by-products fails for mental states because the laws of physics governing brain states do not explain why those brain states produce conscious experiences.
claimFrank Jackson (1982) argues that mental states are evolutionary by-products of brain states, using the analogy that the heaviness of a polar bear's coat is a side effect of the coat's warmth-providing function.
perspectiveProperty dualism regarding the mind is defended by those who argue that the qualitative nature of consciousness is a genuinely emergent phenomenon rather than merely a way of categorizing brain states or behavior.
Consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 ... plato.stanford.edu Jun 18, 2004 3 facts
claimWhile brain states are not literally Bose-Einstein condensates, researchers have argued that brains are likely capable of exhibiting similar coherence (Marshall and Zohar 1990).
referenceP. M. Churchland authored 'Reduction, qualia, and direct introspection of brain states' in 1985.
claimAccording to identity theory, if having a qualitative conscious experience of phenomenal red is identical to being in a brain state with specific neurophysiological properties, then experiential properties are considered a straightforwardly physical reality.
Quantum Approaches to Consciousness plato.stanford.edu Nov 30, 2004 2 facts
claimAtmanspacher and beim Graben (2007) proposed the concept of 'downward constraints' to describe how mental states impose constraints on brain states, as an alternative to the concept of synchronic downward causation.
claimMind-brain correlations are synchronic rather than diachronic, meaning mental states are not causally conditioned by brain states, nor are brain states causally conditioned by mental states.
The Conscious Mind - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 2 facts
claimReductive accounts of consciousness fail because they cannot explain why specific brain states are accompanied by conscious experience.
perspectiveDavid Chalmers believes that an adequate theory of consciousness requires solving both the hard and easy problems, meaning science must discover not only brain states associated with conscious experience but also why and how those brain states are accompanied by experience.
Theories and Methods of Consciousness biomedres.us Jan 29, 2024 1 fact
claimT. Sikkens, C. A. Bosman, and U. Olcese argued in 2019 that top-down modulation plays a critical role in shaping sensory processing across different brain states, with implications for understanding consciousness.
Dualism, Physicalism, and Philosophy of Mind - Capturing Christianity capturingchristianity.com Dec 11, 2019 1 fact
claimNeuroscience has revealed increasingly sophisticated correlations between human brain states and mental states.
Moving Forward on the Problem of Consciousness - David Chalmers consc.net 1 fact
claimDavid Chalmers suggests that just as Newton's theory of gravitation explains why an apple falls by invoking a fundamental force rather than just correlating drop heights and times, a theory of consciousness should explain why brain states produce conscious states by invoking fundamental laws.
Panpsychism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2025 Edition) plato.stanford.edu May 23, 2001 1 fact
claimRussellian monism posits that conscious states are the intrinsic nature of brain states, which implies that the causal actions of brain states and conscious states are identical.
Classification Schemes of Altered States of Consciousness - ORBi orbi.uliege.be 1 fact
referenceWerner, G. (2009) published 'Consciousness related neural events viewed as brain state space transitions' in Cognitive Neurodynamics, which models consciousness as transitions between brain states.
Panpsychism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu Jul 18, 2017 1 fact
claimRussellian monism attempts to avoid the problems of dualism and physicalism by suggesting that conscious states are the intrinsic nature of brain states, meaning the causal action of brain states and conscious states are the same.
The function(s) of consciousness: an evolutionary perspective frontiersin.org Nov 25, 2024 1 fact
claimNeurocircuits, referred to as SCs or DMCs, are causally responsible for selecting one phenomenal sensation or brain state over another.
Quantum Theory of Consciousness - Scirp.org. scirp.org 1 fact
claimIn the 1960s, Luigi M. Ricciardi and Hiroomi Umezawa suggested using the formalism of quantum field theory to describe brain states, with a specific emphasis on memory.
Hard problem of consciousness - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 1 fact
claimJoseph Levine disputes that conscious states are reducible to neuronal or brain states, arguing that the bridges between conscious states and physical states are contingent rather than necessary.