The key question is what distinguishes conscious representations from non-conscious representations. My answer is that conscious representations can only be representations in relation to a locus of perspectival origin (the core self, I!) within a global volumetric medium. In the retinoid theory of consciousness, this is retinoid space. Moreover, this (retinoid) brain space *must* be innate because organisms have no sensory transducers to detect the space they live in. I might add that contra arguments by some (I have argued this issue with Aaron Sloman), such a coherent volumetric space CANNOT be constructed via learning. Consciousness depends on the evolutionary emergence of a system of brain mechanisms that can provide an innate internal representation of the space a creature lives in, from its own privileged egocentric perspective (e.g., a retinoid system). Activation of this neuronal space alone generates a primitive phenomenal experience of an “empty” world that will subsequently be enriched by the excitatory input of sensory patterns from the non-conscious sensory modalities. (c)

Еще б понять смысл этого высказывания

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Мало того, что оно умеет решать сложнейшие примеры за секунды, воспринимать то, что оно не может воспринимать, так теперь еще и экспериментально показано, что оно способно моментально расшифровать скрытый в этом изображении текст:

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Вчера я был наблюдателем от Миронова на участке 1297 Петроградского района Петербурга. Это школа №77, секретарь комиссии, Запатрина Любовь Арнольдовна, работает в этой школе завхозом, а заместитель председателя комиссии — завуч школы, Пуголовок Лариса Дмитриевна. Телефоны этих милых дам есть тут http://www.school77.spb.ru/information/contact.php, можете позвонить, проверить мои слова, если что. Далее местами будет не совсем нормативная лексика, не удивляйтесь.
продолжение »

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Началась конференция Conscious Online 2012. Конференция в интересном формате — на сайте выкладываются видеозаписи с презентациями (или тексты) докладов, они комментируются другими участниками конференции также либо в виде текстов, либо в формате видео. Оставлять комментарии и задавать вопросы может любой.

Из изюминок программы: Баарс про «Биологическую цену сознания» (The Biological Cost of Consciousness), специальная секция про внимание, устранение «трудной проблемы сознания» и пустота higher-order теорий сознания.   У меня только один вопрос — когда все это смотреть и читать?

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Griffiths et al. (2004) describe a patient who suffered an infarct that left him unable to experience emotion in response to music. The lesion mainly affected the left insula, but extended into the left frontal cortex and amygdala. Speech, which was also initially affected, was recovered after 12 months. However, even though his perception of diverse musical features was normal, 18 months after the stroke the patient was still emotionally unaffected by music, despite the fact that during that time he was able to enjoy other activities. These observations led the authors to suggest that perceptual and emotional components of music processing might rest on functionally and anatomically distinct neural networks, and that the insula is a crucial piece in the neural underpinnings of the emotional response to music.

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Sellal et al. (2003) present a case of an epilepsy patient who underwent left temporal lobe resection, which only spared the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus, and the amygdala. This case is interesting because the surgically removed brain region corresponds roughly to that which typically degenerates in the form of frontotemporal dementia mentioned above. During the first year after surgery the patient became aware that he no longer enjoyed listening to rock music, and that he now preferred Celtic or Corsican polyphonic singing. His taste in literature also shifted, in this case from science fiction to Kafkian-inspired novels. The authors report that the patient also began showing increased preference for realistic paintings, enjoying the small details that previously went unnoticed to him. These changes in aesthetic preference are in contrast with his unchanged preferences for food, fashion or faces.

(c) Cela-Conde, C. J., Agnati, L., Huston, J. P., Mora, F., & Nadal, M. (2011). The neural foundations of aesthetic appreciation. Progress in neurobiology, 94(1), 39-48. Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2011.03.003

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