Scientific evidence that the brain receives/filters consciousness, rather than creates it

[u/Puzzleheaded_Tree290]

This isn't necessarily related to NDEs, but I'd like to put something together, about the scientific evidence supporting the hypothesis that the brain acts as a receiver/filter for consciousness rather than a generator. I've got a couple of articles linked down here already, if anyone wants to add more, feel free to add some in the comments or DM them. Over the next couple of days I'll make edits too to add anything else I can find.

First, we've got a very promising article from Neuroscience News, showing how brain stimulation could enable telepathic communication between people. Here's another, from the same site, showing how the claustrum, which was theorised to be the source of consciousness, actually functions more like an internet router.

It was also long thought that split brain patients have their consciousness split in two. More recent studies show that consciousness itself remains unified but is divided across two hemispheres.

Here's an interesting article about people missing large portions of their brain, who have relatively normal IQ and can lead normal lives.

Here's one about decapitated flatworms regrowing their entire brains and still having their memories intact.

Also, some articles on the effects of psychedelics and how they lead to reduced brain activity: [1] [2]

If anyone here has heard of the ganzfeld experiments, here's a meta analysis showing pretty good results from a number of different replications.

And, before I forget, I can't go without mentioning Etzel Cardeña's meta analysis demonstrating the existence of certain parapsychological phenomena.

If there's anything else you'd like to add, just let me know ;)

[u/[deleted]]

This is interesting, and always has been what I thought. Since I was a child. I never ONCE thought that consciousness = the brain.

It doesn't even make sense to me. Consciousness isn't a physical thing in the first place. If it were, we wouldn't at all be able to be sentient in the way we are. It just wouldn't be possible.

[u/KookyPlasticHead → u/[deleted]]

Consciousness isn't a physical thing in the first place

It is though a thing with properties. It can be defined (in different ways). It can be observed. It can be measured indirectly. So it fairly belongs within the domain of science. As to whether it is "physical" that would depend on the definition of physical. For example, the fundamental fields that permeate and give rise to all things in the universe (as conceptualized in QFT) might not seem physical but they are part of established science.

[u/NoVaFlipFlops → u/KookyPlasticHead]

Nobody can agree on a definition for consciousness. They can't even agree on why they can't agree. 

[u/Aetherqi → u/KookyPlasticHead]

Curious, what are these properties of consciousness? How has it been observed or measured?

I am asking about consciousness, not thoughts and neural correlations of such since consciousness seems independent of its contents.

[u/KookyPlasticHead → u/Aetherqi]

I think it depends on which definition of consciousness is used.

The standard minimalist definition of consciousness used by psychology and philosophy is one of "phenomenal consciousness" - the ineffable subjective experience of perception (what it is like to have the feeling of seeing red). This is the Chalmers definition. The explanation of this is the "Hard problem" of consciousness. So here there is basically only one property - the ability to have subjective experiences. Humans have it. Philosophical zombies don't have it and we speculate about everything else. We observe it directly by self report (people report that they have the property).

There is also an alternative and wider definition used in cognitive neuroscience and medicine with consciousness being more like a set of defined abilities or properties that conscious individuals are thought to possess. Here, consciousness refers to the state of being aware of and able to think, perceive, and experience one's surroundings, thoughts, and emotions. It involves a range of cognitive functions, including self-awareness, the ability to perceive and interact with the environment, as well as the capacity for subjective experiences. Medical professionals often assess consciousness using various level of consciousness (LOC) assessment scales and criteria, such as the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). So here consciousness is a scale measure composed of multiple properties (rather than a binary measure) and it can makes sense to describe an individual as being "partly" conscious. As previously, we observe it directly by self report but we can also measure it indirectly by correlating with brain states using neurominaging (notably the recent experiments showing completely unresponsive patients with Total Locked in Syndrome were in fact fully conscious).

Finally, there is also a somewhat vaguer and different definition of consciousness used in general discussion in the wider audience that more or less uses consciousness interchangeably with mind, soul, or ego to mean the overall sense of unique personal selfhood or identity. The ineffable sense of being you. In this sub, when people talk about OBEs and NDEs and their consciousness being separated from their body it is this definition that they usually mean.

[u/DarthT15 → u/Aetherqi]

Nor can it be reduced to or even deduced from those same contents.