text:
Johnjoe McFadden
Synchronous Firing and Its
Influence on the Brain's
Electromagnetic Field
Evidence for an Electromagnetic
Field Theory of Consciousness
Abstract:The human brain consists of approximately 100 billion electrically
active neurones that generate an endogenous electromagnetic (em) field,whose
role in neuronal computing has not been fully examined.The source,magnitude
and likely influence of the brain's endogenous em field are here considered.An
estimate of the strength and magnitude of the brain's emfield is gained fromtheo-
retical considerations,brain scanning and microelectrode data.An estimate of the
likely influence of the brain's em field is gained from theoretical principles and
considerations of the experimental effects of external em fields on neurone firing
both in vitro and in vivo.Synchronous firing of distributed neurones phase-locks
induced emfield fluctuations to increase their magnitude and influence.Synchro
nous firing has previously been demonstrated to correlate with awareness and per
ception,indicating that perturbations to the brain's em field also correlate with
awareness.The brain's emfield represents an integrated electromagnetic field rep
resentation of distributed neuronal information and has dynamics that closely map
to those expected for a correlate of consciousness.I propose that the brain's em
information field is the physical substrate of conscious awareness —the cemi field
—and make a number of predictions that followfromthis proposal.Experimental
evidence pertinent to these predictions is examined and shown to be entirely con
sistent with the cemi field theory.This theory provides solutions to many of the
intractable problems of consciousness —such as the binding problem—and pro
vides new insights into the role of consciousness,the meaning of free will and the
nature of qualia.It thus places consciousness within a secure physical framework
and provides a route towards constructing an artificial consciousness.
Journal of Consciousness Studies,9,No.4,2002,pp.23–50
Correspondence:Johnjoe McFadden,School of Biomedical and Life Sciences,University of
Surrey,Guildford,Surrey,GU2 5XH,UK.Email:firstname.lastname@example.com
The binding problem of consciousness — how our conscious mind integrates
information distributed amongst billions of spatially separated neurones to gen
erate the unity of conscious experience —is one of the fundamental questions in
the study of mind.One possible solution was put forward by Karl Popper (Popper
et al.,1993) who suggested that consciousness was a manifestation of some kind
of overarching force field in the brain that could integrate the diverse information
held in distributed neurones.The idea was further developed and extended by
Lindahl and Århem (1994) and by Libet (1994;1996).However,these authors
considered that the conscious mind could not be a manifestation of any known
formof physical field and its nature remained mysterious.
Yet it has been known for more than a century that the brain generates its own
electromagnetic (em) field,a fact that is widely utilised in brain scanning tech
niques.Electrical coupling via electromagnetic field effects have been suspected
of playing a role in a number of neurological phenomena,particularly the genera
tion of synchronous waveforms in neural assemblies and in epilepsy (Gluckman
et al.,1996;Jefferys,1995).However,the influence and nature of field effects on
the phenomenon of mind has not been fully considered.
Recently,synchronous firing of neurones has received considerable attention
as a possible route towards conceptual binding stimuli (Eckhorn et al.,1988;
1993;Eckhorn,1994;Engel et al.,1991a,b;Fries et al.,1997;Gray et al.,1989;
Kreiter and Singer,1996).For instance,Wolf Singer and colleagues demon-
strated that neurones in the monkey brain that responded to two independent
images of a bar on a screen fired asynchronously when the bars were moving in
different directions but fired synchronously when the same bars moved together
(Kreiter and Singer,1996).It appeared that the monkeys registered each bar as a
single pattern of neuronal firing but their awareness that the bars represent two
aspects of the same object,was encoded by synchrony of firing.In another exper
iment that examined interocular rivalry in awake strabismic cats,it was discov
ered that neurones that responded to the attended image fired in synchrony,
whereas the same neurones fired randomly when awareness was lost (Fries et al.,
1997).In each of these experiments,awareness correlated,not with a pattern of
neuronal firing,but with synchrony of firing.Singer,Eckhorn and others have
suggested that these 40–80 Hertz synchronous oscillations link distant neurones
involved in registering different aspects (colour,shape,movement,etc.) of the
same visual perceptions and thereby bind together features of a sensory stimulus
(Eckhorn et al.,1988;Singer,1998).However,if synchronicity is involved in
perceptual binding,it is unclear how the brain uses or even detects synchrony.
I here consider the nature and magnitude of the brain's endogenous em field
and consider its influence in modulating neuronal activity.I show that the brain
generates a dynamic and information-rich emfield that influences neurone firing
through electrical field coupling and its dynamics has many of the characteristics
expected for a correlate consciousness.I also show that synchronous firing of
neurones 'phase-locks' em field effects and thereby increases the level of
24 J.McFADDEN
electrical coupling between the brain's em field and neurones,providing an
explanation for the observed correlation between awareness and synchronous
firing (Singer,1999).This detailed argument supports my earlier proposal
(McFadden,2000) that the brain's electromagnetic field is the seat of conscious
ness.Susan Pockett has independently proposed a similar hypothesis (Pockett,
2000).The proposal that the physical manifestation of consciousness is an elec
tromagnetic field that exhibits wave mechanical dynamics has profound implica
tions for our understanding of the phenomenon of consciousness and the nature
of free will.
Model and Results
My argument considers first the origin of the brain's electromagnetic field and its
magnitude.I next consider the nature of the interaction between the brain's
endogenous emfield and neuronal computation.I then go on to propose that the
brain's emfield is the physical 'seat of consciousness' and make predictions that
follow from that proposal.Lastly I examine the evidence pertaining to those
A.The source and magnitude of the brain's em field
First,in this section I will demonstrate that the brain generates a highly struc-
tured and dynamic extracellular electric field.
1.Theoretical considerations
The brain's endogenous emfield is a product of the induced fields fromneurone
firing and also the fields generated by the movement of ions into and out of cells
and within extracellular spaces.For simplicity,I will consider only the former
source.Vigmond (Vigmond et al.,1997) modelled the electrical activity of
pyramidal cells and demonstrated that neurone firing induced a peak of
intracellular potential in receiver cells that ranged from a few microvolts to 0.8
mV,decaying with approximately the inverse of distance between the cells.
The electrical field at any point in the brain will be a superposition of the
induced fields fromall of the neurones in the vicinity (superimposed on the fields
generated by ion movement) and will depend on their firing frequency,geometry
and the dielectric properties of tissue.For neurones that are arranged randomly,
their induced fields will tend to sum to zero;but the laminar organisation of
structures such as the neocortex and hippocampus,with parallel arrays of
neurones,will tend to amplify local fields.Although it is not feasible to calculate
the local field strength at any point in the brain without precise knowledge of all
the structures,estimates of its magnitude can be gained experimentally.
2.Experimental evidence
Electroencephalography (EEG) has been used for more than a century to mea
sure electrical activity in the brain fromchanges in the field potential recorded at
the surface of the scalp.Field strength fluctuations in the range of tens of
microvolts (Cooper et al.,1980;Haggard and Eimer,1999) are routinely
measured in healthy human subjects but may be raised to many hundred of
microvolts in pathological conditions,such as epileptic seizures (Niedermeyer,
The field measured at the scalp during EEGare likely to be both distorted and
attenuated by their passage through brain tissue,cerebrospinal fluid,the skull
and skin.Direct measurement of local field potentials within human brain tissue
has however been possible in patients who,for therapeutic reasons,have had
EEG recordings obtained from subdural,cortical or in depth electrodes
implanted into their cerebral cortex.Extracellular potentials with peak intensi
ties of several hundred microvolts up to about one millivolt across the recording
electrodes are routinely obtained (Niedermeyer,2001;Quesney and
Niedermeyer,1998).Measurements made on human neocortical slices excised
from epileptic patients similarly record large field gradients (Kohling et al.,
1998).EEGelectrodes are usually 40 mmapart and therefore do not provide spa
tially detailed information on the structure of the underlying fields,but studies
with subdural and depth microelectrodes indicate that the brain's em field has
detailed spatial structure in the millimetre and sub-millimetre domain and
detailed temporal structure in the sub-second domain,over a range of frequen-
cies (Bullock et al.,1995a,b;Bullock and McClune,1989).It is not possible to
calculate the electrical sources of recorded EEGwaves frompotentials measured
at the scalp,as the problem(known as the inverse problem) has no unique solu-
tion (many alternative arrangements of electrical sources may generate the same
potentials measured at the scalp).Nevertheless,a striking feature of EEG is the
differences in electrical activity fromelectrode to electrode,even when less than
1 mm apart (Speckmann and Elger,1998),indicating that the brain generates a
highly structured and dynamic extracellular electric field.
Direct measurement of local field potentials is also possible in some experi
mental and therapeutic situations.Local field potentials have been measured in
the neocortex of experimental animals with implanted electrodes and demon
strate extracellular field gradients of up to about 20 V/m (Amzica and Steriade,
2000;Engel,1998;Gray,1994;Jefferys,1995).Recordings fromdifferent corti
cal layers demonstrate potential fluctuations and phase reversals for sites sepa
rated by just a few hundred micrometers (Speckmann and Elger,1998).
Measurements made on hippocampus brain slices maintained in vitro record
field potentials as high as 50–100 V/m,particularly during seizure activity
(Green and Petsche,1961;Jefferys,1981;Swann et al.,1986).It should be
pointed out that these experiments have utilised electrodes spaced in the milli
metre domain and thereby are likely to under-estimate field potentials in the
sub-millimetre domain.
Another source of information on changes within the brain's em field is
obtained from measurements of evoked potentials (event-related potentials).
Sensory evoked potentials are detected when a sensory stimulation reaches the
brain and evokes a characteristic sequence of waves in the EEG.Motor evoked
26 J.McFADDEN
potentials are similarly recorded during induced motor activity.Evoked poten
tials have very lowamplitudes (up to a fewtens of microvolts,as measured on the
scalp) that are normally drowned by the ordinary EEG rhythms (Chalupa et al.,
1976;De Giorgio et al.,1993;Kaufman et al.,1981;Kyuhou and Okada,1993;
Linseman and Corrigall,1982).However,their signal can be detected by averag
ing the EEGpatterns obtained after a large number of identical stimuli.Although
weak,the existence of evoked potentials demonstrates that both sensory stimuli
and motor activity are associated with temporally organized perturbations to the
brain's em field.Walter Freeman's classic experiments (Freeman,1991;Free
man and Schneider,1982) measuring EEG activity within the olfactory bulb of
rabbits and cats demonstrated bursts of EEGactivity in response to sensory stim
uli with average amplitude of about 100 microvolts across recording electrodes
that were spaced at 0.5 mm and thereby corresponding to field gradients of 0.2
V/m.Interestingly,in these experiments information concerning the identity of a
particular odour was not carried by the temporal shape of any particular EEG
wave but by the spatial pattern of EEG amplitude (the contour plot) across the
entire surface of the olfactory bulb.
The human (and animal) brain therefore contains a highly structured (in time
and space) endogenous extracellular emfield,with a magnitude of up to several
tens of volts per metre.Although these extracellular fields are relatively weak,at
the lowfrequencies characteristic of brain waves,cell membranes are much more
resistive than either the cytoplasm or extracellular fluid.Consequently,within
brain tissue,most of the potential drop occurs across cell membranes.In general,
transmembrane fields are approximately 3,000 times the field in the surrounding
tissue (Valberg et al.,1997) but may be even higher in elongated cells orientated
along the field.Consequently,endogenous emfields of tens of volts per metre are
capable of generating fields of several tens of thousands of volts per metre,trans-
lating to up to several millivolts,across the 5 nmneuronal cell membrane.
The form and amplitude of these fields will be continually sculpted in
response to changes in brain activity.I next consider the likely influence of mod
ulations to these endogenous fields.
B.Influence of the brain's endogenous em field on nerve firing
In this section I will examine the influence of the brain's electromagnetic field on
the probability of neurone firing.
1.Theoretical considerations
Endogenous electrical fields may influence the brain in a number of ways.The
field may induce electrophoretic redistribution of charged ions both
intracellularly and extracellularly and thereby directly modulate neuronal physi
ology.Additionally,various structures in the brain are sensitive to electromag
netic fields.Neurotransmission through gap junctions may be voltage dependent
and thereby sensitive to local fields (Draguhn et al.,1998;Jefferys,1995).How
ever,the role of gap junctions in information processing in the human brain is
presently unclear.The best-characterized sensor of the brain's electromagnetic
field are the voltage-gated ion channels in neuronal membranes,which have a
well-defined role in information processing in the brain.
The potential drop fromresting to firing in a typical neurone is of the order to
tens of millivolts across the cell membrane,corresponding to field strengths of
about 6 x 10
V/m,far greater than the endogenous fields.However,potential
changes of less than one millivolt across the membrane are capable of modulat
ing neuronal firing (Schmitt et al.,1976).Moreover,for neurones poised close to
the firing potential,the opening of just a single ion channel may be sufficient to
trigger firing (Århemand Johansson,1996),indicating that very tiny changes in
membrane potential —smaller than those associated with the endogenous em
field — may influence firing.Several studies have demonstrated that
extracellular fields play a role in recruitment and synchronisation of neuronal
activity (Jefferys,1981;Mann-Metzer and Yarom,2000).Computer simulations
of neurone firing patterns similarly indicate a role for extracellular fields (Bawin
et al.,1986;Richardson et al.,1984;Traub et al.,1985).
Nevertheless,for any induced field to have a significant effect,its strength
would be expected to be greater than the spontaneous randomfields generated by
thermal noise in the neuronal membrane.The size of voltage fluctuations in the
membrane due to thermal noise has been estimated (Valberg et al.,1997) to be
2,600 V/mfor the frequency range 1–100 Hz (encompassing the frequency range
typical of the mammalian brain waves),which translates to 13 µVacross a 5 nm
cell membrane.It should be noted that this value is well belowthe several milli-
volt transmembrane signal that is expected to be generated by the brain's endoge-
nous extracellular emfields (above).
The excitability of 'receiver' neurones (neurones that are influenced by the em
field) will depend on many factors.Neurones with membrane poised close to fir-
ing will be most sensitive to field effects;whereas neurones whose membranes
are close to resting potential will be relatively insensitive to field effects.The
geometry of neurones with respect to the field will also greatly influence their
sensitivity.Neurones orientated along isopotentials (lines of equal electrical
potential) will not 'see' the field at all;whereas neurones that are bent relative to
isopotential lines will be most sensitive to the field (Abdeen and Stuchly,1994;
Rattay,1999).In some cases the induced voltage may be depolarising and
thereby push the neurone towards firing,whereas in other cases the induced
transmembrane voltage may be hyperpolarising and desensitise the neurone.
Self-synapsing neurones that formnearly closed loops may be highly sensitive to
em field effects;and myelination of nerve fibres will increase their electrical
excitability (Rattay,1998).Finally,gap junctions connecting chains of cells
focus the potential drop on the terminal (not electrotonically-coupled) cell mem
brane in the chain and thereby increases sensitivity of the entire cell ensemble to
applied fields (Cooper,1984).
To examine the influence that the firing of a single neurone will have on its
neighbours,I estimate the volume (the field volume) wherein the induced field
generated by neurone firing could modulate firing of 'receiver' neurones by
28 J.McFADDEN
generating an induced membrane potential greater than the thermal noise level.
Using Vigmond's model,a peak intracellular voltage of 2,600 V/m (thermal
noise level) is induced in receiving cells that are located within a radius of 73–77
µmfromthe source cell (Edward J.Vigmond,Department of Biomedical Engi
neering,Tulane University,personal communication).Unfortunately,the result
ing induced transmembrane voltage (TMV) cannot be calculated directly from
the induced intracellular voltage,since the voltage drop will be distributed
unevenly throughout the cell,depolarising some parts of the membrane and
hyperpolarizing other regions.Nevertheless,in Vigmond's model,peak TMV's
are almost an order of magnitude higher than intracellular potentials;therefore a
distance of 73–77µmis likely to be an underestimate of the field volume.
Considering only those cells in the plane of the source cell embedded in the
human cerebral cortex (about 10
),approximately 200 neighbour
ing cells will be within the field volume.The firing of a single neurone is thereby
potentially capable of modulating the firing pattern of many neighbouring
neurones through field effects.The strength of this 'field coupling' will depend
on numerous factors including the cell geometry and electrical excitability.How-
ever,a major factor that will influence the strength of field coupling in the brain
will be the synchronicity of nerve firing.
The superposition principle states that for overlapping fields,the total emfield
strength at any point is an algebraic sum of the component fields acting at that
point.Like all wave phenomena,field modulations due to nerve firing will dem-
onstrate constructive or destructive interference depending on the relative phase
of the component fields.Temporally randomnerve firing will generally generate
incoherent field modulations leading to destructive interference and zero net
field.In contrast,synchronous nerve firing will phase-lock the field modulations
to generate a coherent field of magnitude that is the vector sum (the geometric
sum—taking into account the direction of the field) of its components.
Synchronous nerve firing has been demonstrated in animal models and in
humans.The number of cells involved in synchronous firing is thought to vary
widely but in EEG,synchronisation of cortical beta and gamma rhythms can be
detected between pairs of electrodes at inter-electrode distances of 40 mm,indi
cating that synchronisation may involve very many spatially-distributed
neurones (Bullock et al.,1995b;Lopes da Silva,1998).So,whereas a single
neurone may influence several hundred neighbouring neurones through field
effects,synchronous (but not asynchronous) firing of clusters of neurones will
generate perturbations of the brain's emfield that will influence many millions of
distributed neurones.
2.Experimental evidence
There is considerable evidence that neurones do indeed communicate through
the em field (known as field coupling).Ephaptic nerve transmission describes
the phenomenon whereby neurone firing is modulated by the firing of adjacent
neurones and has been demonstrated in vitro when neurones are brought into
very close proximity under conditions that exclude synaptic transmission.
Ephaptic transmission has been implicated in a number of pathological condi
tions such as tinnitus and peripheral neuropathy and is strongly suspected to be
involved in the synchronisation of neurone firing that is seen in 'field bursts'
within hippocampal slices maintained in vitro (Buzsaki et al.,1992),and in epi
leptic seizures (Bawin et al.,1986;Jefferys,1981;Konnerth et al.,1986;Rich
ardson et al.,1984;Snow and Dudek,1984).
The role of the brain's endogenous emfield in normal informational process
ing has not been fully considered.In humans,the strongest evidence for the sen
sitivity of the brain to relatively weak em fields comes from the therapeutic use
of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).In TMS,a current passing through a
coil placed on the scalp of subjects is used to generate a time-varying magnetic
field that penetrates the skull and induces an electrical field in neuronal tissue.
The precise mechanism by which TMS modulates brain activity is currently
unclear but is generally assumed to be through electrical induction of local cur
rents in brain tissue that modulate nerve firing patterns.TMS has been shown to
generate a range of cognitive disturbances in subjects including:modification of
reaction time,induction of phosphenes,suppression of visual perception,speech
arrest,disturbances of eye movements and mood changes (Hallett,2000).Even
single TMS pulses have been shown to induce spreading changes to the brain's
electrical activity,that can be detected by EEG or MEG and persists for many
milliseconds after stimulation (Ilmoniemi et al.,1997;1999),once again indicat-
ing that neuronal firing patterns have been modulated.The field induced in corti-
cal tissue by TMS cannot be measured directly but may be estimated from
modelling studies.The evoked field depends critically on the instrumentation,
particularly the coil geometry and strength and frequency of the stimulating
magnetic field.In one study where stimulation utilized a set of four coils,the
induced electrical field was estimated to be in the range of 50–130 V/m(Epstein
et al.,1990).Another modelling study with a figure of eight coil estimated fields
of 20–150 V/m(Ruohonen et al.,2000).TMS voltages are thereby in the range of
tens of volts per metre,values that are typical for the endogenous fields gener
ated during normal and pathological brain activity (see above).Therefore,since
TMS induced modulations of the brain's em field affect brain function and
behaviour,it follows that the brain's endogenous field must similarly influence
neuronal computation.
The issue of the sensitivity of the human brain to weaker voltage fluctuations
is entangled with the powerline/mobile phone controversy,which,despite many
studies,remains contradictory and unresolved.However,there is very solid in
vitro evidence for very weak em fields modulating neuronal function.Fields as
weak as 10–20 V/m have been shown to modulate neurone-firing patterns of
Purkinje and stellate cells in the isolated turtle cerebellum in vitro (Chan and
Nicholson,1986) or the guinea-pig hippocampus (Jefferys,1981).Electric field
suppression of epileptiform activity in rat hippocampal slices has been demon
strated for fields as lowas 5–10 V/m(Gluckman et al.,1996) and modulation of
hippocampal rhythmic slow activity in rats has been demonstrated in vivo by
30 J.McFADDEN
weak extremely-low-frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (16.0 Hz;28.9 T) associ
ated with induced electrical fields of only 0.1 mV/m (Jenrow et al.,1998).A
mollusc neurone has been shown to be capable of responding to earth-strength
(about 45 T) magnetic fields (Lohmann et al.,1991),associated with induced
electrical fields of just 0.26 mV/m.
The finding that fields that are weaker than electrical noise caused by thermal
fluctuations are still capable of modulating neurone firing could be accounted for
by a number of possible mechanisms.Stochastic resonance,whereby optimized
randomnoise enhances the detection of weak signals in a noisy environment,has
been proposed to be involved in neuronal signalling (Douglass et al.,1993).Sig
nal averaging by clusters of neurones may increase sensitivity of neurones to
detect fields as weak as 0.1–100 mV/m(Astumian et al.,1995;1997;Weaver et
al.,1998;1999).Finally,magnetically sensitive chemical reactions may be the
sensors of weak field fluctuations (Weaver et al.,2000).
By whatever mechanism,it is clear that very weak em field fluctuations are
capable of modulating neurone-firing patterns.These exogenous fields are
weaker than the perturbations in the brain's endogenous emfield that are induced
during normal neuronal activity.The conclusion is inescapable:the brain's
endogenous em field must influence neuronal information processing in the
C.The cemi field theory of consciousness
The brain's emfield is as much a part of it's activity as neuronal firing.Efforts to
understand human consciousness have focussed on the informational processing
performed by neurone firing and synaptic transmission,yet the brain's em field
holds precisely the same information as neurone firing patterns and may be
involved in transmission and processing of that information.The equivalence of
matter and energy,apparent in Einstein's famous equation,implies that there is
no a priori reason why consciousness should be associated with the matter of
neurones rather than the em field activity within and between neurones.How
ever,whereas information in neurones is digital,discrete and spatially localized,
information in emfields is analogue,integrated and distributed.I note that these
latter characteristics are those usually ascribed to the phenomenon of conscious
ness and are the properties of consciousness that are most difficult to account for
in neural identity models of consciousness.I have earlier proposed (McFadden,
2000) that the seat of consciousness is the brain's emfield and a similar proposal
has recently been put forward by Susan Pockett (2000).I therefore examine the
proposition that the brain's emfield is consciousness and that information held in
distributed neurones is integrated into a single conscious emfield:the cemi field.
The cemi field theory makes a number of testable predictions:
(1) Stimuli that reach conscious awareness will be associated with em field
modulations that are strong enough to directly influence the firing of motor
(2) Stimuli that do not reach conscious awareness will not be associated with em
field modulations that affect motor neurone firing.
(3) The cemi field theory claims that consciousness represents a streamof infor
mation passing through the brain's em field.Increased complexity of con
scious thinking should therefore correlate with increased complexity of the
brain's emfield.
(4) Agents that disrupt the interaction between the brain's emfield and neurones
will induce unconsciousness.
(5) Arousal and alertness will correlate with conditions in which emfield fluctu
ations are most likely to influence neurone firing;conversely,low arousal
and unconsciousness will correlate with conditions when emfields are least
likely to influence neurone firing.
(6) The brain's em field should be relatively insulated to perturbation from
exogenous emfields encountered in normal environments.
(7) The evolution of consciousness in animals should correlate with an increas
ing level of electrical coupling between the brain's endogenous emfield and
(receiver) neurone firing.
(8) Consciousness should demonstrate field-level dynamics.
D.Experimental evidence for cemi field predictions
Prediction 1.Sensory or motor information that is transmitted just by neurone
firing will tend to scale arithmetically:the greater the stimulus or response,the
more neurones are likely to be involved.However,because the em field is a
wave-mechanical phenomenon the magnitude of its modulations will be propor-
tional only to the number of those neurones that fire synchronously.The cemi
field theory therefore predicts that conscious awareness will not correlate with
neurone firing per se but with the synchrony of neurone firing.
As outlined in the Introduction,numerous studies have indeed indicated that
whereas neurone-firing patterns alone do not correlate with awareness,their
level of synchrony does.Studies using multiple microelectrodes implanted in the
brain of experimental animals have demonstrated that that clusters of neurones in
their visual cortex fire in synchrony when animals perceive visual stimuli
(Eckhorn et al.,1988;1993;Eckhorn,1994;Engel et al.,1991a,b;Fries et al.,
1997;Gray et al.,1989;Kreiter and Singer,1996).Disruption of synchronous
firing by treatment with picrotoxin has been shown to reduce the ability of
insects to discriminate between similar scents (Stopfer et al.,1997),indicating
that,at least in these animals,synchrony is not just an epiphenomenon,but plays
a role in information processing.There is also indirect evidence that synchronous
firing also correlates with awareness and attention in man.EEG (Miltner et al.,
1999;Rodriguez et al.,1999) and MEG(Srinivasan et al.,1999) studies indicate
that synchronous firing in different regions of the human cortex correlates with
awareness and attention.The existence of evoked potentials provides additional
evidence for synchronous firing being involved in perception of stimuli and pur
poseful action,since although they are weak,they are much stronger than signals
32 J.McFADDEN
that would be generated fromthe firing of single neurones and must be due to the
synchronized firing of many neurones.Indeed,Fourier analysis on EEG seg
ments recorded immediately after auditory stimuli demonstrated that stimuli do
not change the amplitude of EEG,but instead shift their phase,to phase-lock the
signal and generate the observed evoked potential (Sayers et al.,1974).As out
lined above,Walter Freeman's studies of rabbit olfaction (Freeman,1991) dem
onstrated that sensory information is encoded within the spatial pattern of EEG
activity and thereby the shape of the underlying emfield.Interestingly,in Free
man's studies the emfield contour maps were shown to correlate,not only with
the identity of a particular odour,but with its meaning to the animal.When ani
mals were trained to associate the odour with a particular reinforcement then the
shape of the contour map would be altered.It therefore appears fromthese stud
ies that modulations of the emfield correlate with perception and meaning,rather
than stimulus alone.All of these findings demonstrate that awareness and atten
tion in man and animals,and thereby consciousness (at least in man),is associ
ated with modulations to the brain's em field generated by synchronisation of
neuronal firing patterns.
Prediction 2.Examining the second prediction,there is abundant evidence that
the loss of awareness of repeated stimuli during habituation is associated with a
reduction in amplitude of either EEG or MEG evoked potential signals (Coull,
1998;Hirano et al.,1996) and thereby the synchronous neurone firing patterns
that generate those signals.Loss of awareness therefore correlates with reduced
disturbance to the brain's emfield (Anninos et al.,1987;Hulstijn,1978;Leaton
and Jordan,1978;Rockstroh et al.,1987).Indeed,a marked decline of EEGvolt-
age is a key indicator of the onset of the preterminal state (Niedermeyer,1998b).
The cemi theory also predicts that em fields generated by neuronal activity in
'unconscious' areas of the brain —such as the retina or brain stem—or during
preconscious information processing (as occurs in some areas of the visual cor
tex) should not impact on motor neurones.I know of no evidence regarding this
prediction but it is testable.The theory also predicts that we would become con
scious of this (previously unconscious) neuronal activity if conditions were mod
ified to allowthe induced fields to impact on motor neurones.Again I knowof no
direct evidence to confirmor deny this prediction but it is interesting to note that
tinnitus is associated with ephatic nerve transmission (Eggermont,1990) indicat
ing that,in this condition,perception of what is normally unconscious neuronal
activity is associated with field-level input into nerves.
Prediction 3.Analysis of the fractal dimension of EEG signal during various
cognitive states has shown that dynamic complexity is increased during creative
thinking but decreased during coma or deep sleep and raised during REMdream
ing (Molle et al.,1996),supporting the prediction that complexity in the brain's
em field correlates with complexity in conscious thinking.Interestingly,the
dynamic complexity of EEG is markedly affected (can be raised or lowered
depending on the type of music and the musical sophistication of subjects) by lis
tening to music,(Birbaumer et al.,1996),indicating perhaps the route by which
music may influence the complexity of our conscious thought processes.Note
however that widespread neuronal synchrony —such as experienced during an
epileptic seizure — is likely to be pathological (with regard to our conscious
state),since it contains very little information.
Prediction 4.Examining the third prediction,there is evidence that anaesthetics
that decrease awareness of stimuli disrupt synchronous firing (Southan and
Wann,1989;Whittington et al.,1998) and thereby reduce the influence of the em
field on neurone firing.The onset of unconsciousness due to a variety of agents
e.g.asphyxia or anaesthesia is associated with a reduction of amplitude of EEG
signals (McPherson,1998),indicating that loss of consciousness is associated
with disruption to neuronal synchronization (Speckmann and Elger,1998) and
consequent weak endogenous emfields.As mentioned above,disruption of syn
chronous firing in insects by treatment with picrotoxin reduces their ability to
discriminate between scents.
Prediction 5.The cemi field theory predicts that the increased levels of arousal
(increasing conscious control of actions) should be associated with strong cou-
pling between the brain's em field and neurones.There are two principle routes
towards varying electrical coupling in the brain:modulating the amplitude of
field disturbances,or shifting neuronal transmembrane potential to adjust elec-
trical excitability.Local field amplitudes will be a product not only of the degree
of synchronicity of neurone firing,but also the activity of glial cells that contrib-
ute (positively and negatively) to extracellular fields through their ability to take
up potassiumions (Amzica and Steriade,2000;De Giorgio et al.,1993).In man,
the amplitude of EEG-measured evoked potentials are depressed during deep
sleep (Wesensten and Badia,1988) and coma (De Giorgio et al.,1993;
Wesensten and Badia,1988) and increased during arousal and selective attention
(Coull,1998;De Giorgio et al.,1993;Naatanen,1975).The amplitude of the
P300 component of auditory evoked potentials is found to be inversely propor
tional to stimulus probability (i.e.P300 is elicited by unexpected stimuli or the
absence of an expected stimulus) (Coull,1998).Increased amplitude of visually-
evoked potentials is also associated with short reactions times in monkeys
(Chalupa et al.,1976;De Giorgio et al.,1993).The level of spatial coherence of
EEGpatterns —which is a reflection of the coherence of the underlying endoge
nous em fields —is also found to correlate with attention and awareness.For
instance,in a recent study,the level of EEG spatial coherence was found to be
related to the level of creativity needed to solve a problem (Jausovec and
Jausovec,2000).Spatial coherence was also found to increase during transcen
dental meditation (Travis and Wallace,1999).Conversely,loss of EEG spatial
coherence was found to correlate with increasing cognitive impairment in HIV
patients (Fletcher et al.,1997).
There is limited evidence that neuronal electrical excitability may be modu
lated by agents that impact on consciousness.The opiate agonist morphine
increases electrical excitability and field potentials in hippocampal slices,
34 J.McFADDEN
whereas the opiate antagonist,nalaxone,is known to hyperpolarize neurones and
thereby depress their electrical excitability (North and Tonini,1977).
Prediction 6.The high conductivity of the cerebral fluid and fluid within the
brain ventricles creates an effective 'Faraday cage' that insulates the brain from
most natural exogenous electric fields.A constant external electric field will
thereby induce almost no field at all in the brain (Adair,1991).Alternating cur
rents fromtechnological devices (power lines,mobile phones,etc.) will generate
an alternating induced field,but its magnitude will be very weak.For example,a
60 Hz electrical field of 1000 V/m(typical of a powerline) will generate a tissue
field of only 40 µV/m inside the head (Adair,1991),clearly much weaker than
either the endogenous emfield or the field caused by thermal noise in cell mem
branes.Magnetic fields do penetrate tissue much more readily than electric fields
but most naturally encountered magnetic fields,and also those experienced dur
ing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) scanning,are static (changing only the
direction of moving charges) and are thereby unlikely to have physiological
effects.Changing magnetic fields will penetrate the skull and induce electric cur-
rents in the brain.However,there is abundant evidence (from,e.g.,TMS studies
as outlined above) that these do modify brain activity.Indeed,repetitive TMS is
subject to strict safety guidelines to prevent inducing seizures in normal subjects
(Hallett,2000) through field effects.
Prediction 7.It is generally agreed that although lower animals may possess
some rudiments of consciousness (perhaps 'awareness'),the involvement of
conscious minds in decision making ('free will') is limited to animals with more
complex nervous systems,such as the higher primates;and only in man has con-
sciousness come to play a major role in modifying behaviour.The cemi theory
predicts that conscious brains,such as man's,should demonstrate a greater
degree of electrical coupling,than unconscious (or less conscious) brains,such
as a reptile's.Though I know of no data relevant to this prediction,it is clearly
amenable to experimental testing.
Prediction 8.The last prediction of the cemi theory —that consciousness should
demonstrate field-level dynamics —is perhaps the most interesting,but also the
most difficult to approach experimentally.In principle it should be possible to
distinguish a wave-mechanical (emfield) model of consciousness froma digital
(neuronal) model.Although neurones and the fields generated by neurones hold
the same information,the form of that information is not equivalent.For
instance,although a complete description of neurone firing patterns would com
pletely specify the associated field,the reverse is not true:a particular configura
tion of the brain's em field could not be used to 'reverse engineer' the neurone
firing patterns that generated that field.This is because any complex wave may
be 'decomposed' into a superposition of many different component waves:a par
ticular field configuration (state of consciousness) may be the product of many
distinct neurone-firing patterns.The cemi field theory thereby predicts that if
distinct neurone firing patterns generate the same net field then,at the level of
conscious experience,those firing patterns should be indistinguishable.In prin
ciple at least,this issue could be resolved experimentally.
Additional wave mechanical properties of em fields (e.g speed of light trans
mission and field-level processing of information,interference effects) may also
be experimentally distinguishable from neuronal transmission.'Interference
effects' have been noted in studies of attention in animals (Barinaga,1998),but it
is generally assumed that the interference occurs at the level of synaptic modula
tion of nerve firing.Experiments could be designed to investigate whether
wave-mechanical interference is a factor in conscious awareness.Field level
informational processing may also endowconsciousness with properties that are
absent,or more complicated to emulate,in a digital system.For instance,
wave-mechanical dynamics may allow Fourier-type (harmonic analysis) of
information held in the conscious field,providing a possible mechanismfor the
ability of some individuals to hear pure tones in complex sound waves.
MacLennan (1999) has recently argued that many mind processes may usefully
be described as field-level computations.
Many cognitive scientists have accepted T.H.Huxley's view that we are con-
scious automata (Huxley,1874),with consciousness playing no more role in our
lives than that of a 'steamwhistle which accompanies the work of a locomotive
[but which] is without influence upon its machinery' (i.e that consciousness is an
epiphenomenona of neuronal computation).However,WilliamJames countered
that 'Taking a purely naturalistic view of the matter,it seems reasonable to sup-
pose that,unless consciousness served some useful purpose,it would not have
been superadded to life' (quoted in:Richards,1987,p.433).More recently.Pop-
per and Eccles argued that the mind,including consciousness,should be consid
ered to be analogous to a bodily organ and that is 'the product of evolution by
natural selection' (Popper and Eccles,1977,p.72).Similarly,I would echo
Dobzhansky's assertion that 'In Biology nothing makes sense except in the light
of evolution' and therefore,in common with other biological structures,con
sciousness exists today because it provided some advantage to our ancestors that
was harnessed by natural selection.
Neurones in a complex brain display a range of excitability and in the busy
brain of our ancestral animals there would have been many neurones poised close
to their threshold potential with voltage-gated ion channels sensitive to small
changes in the surrounding em field.No less than electrochemical interactions,
those field interactions would have been subject to natural selection.Wherever
field effects provided a selective advantage to the host,natural selection would
have acted to enhance neurone sensitivity (e.g.by maintaining neurones close to
firing potential,increasing myelination or orientating neurones in the field).Pos
sible advantages of field-level processing are:(i) ability to instantly integrate
information from very many neurones and identify the most significant signals
that are phase-locked by their response to a common stimulus;(ii) capability to
36 J.McFADDEN
induce long-termpotentiation and thereby learning in neural networks connected
by Hebbian synapses (see below);(iii) rapid (at speed of light) parallel transmis
sion of information with minimal energy loss or heat generation;(iv) field-level
information processing such as the ability to perform Fourier transforms and
wavelet transforms,linear superpositions or Laplacians.Note that information
technology already exploits the advantages of em information transmission in
optical fibre communication.Efforts to design optical computers through,for
instance,the use of Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser arrays (VCSEL) to
interconnect circuit boards and thereby exploit field-level information transfer
and processing is also ongoing (Miller,1997).MacLennan (1999) has recently
argued that many mind processes may usefully be described as field-level com
putations.Conversely,wherever field influences were detrimental to the host
(e.g.providing an em field 'feed-back' or 'cross-talk' that interfered with
neuronal-level informational processing),natural selection would have acted to
decrease that sensitivity (e.g.by maintaining neurones at membrane voltages
close to resting).Therefore,with just the information that the brain's em field
influences informational processing (as I have shown it must) and thereby con-
tributes (positively and negatively) to host survival,the theory of natural selec-
tion predicts that over millions of years a complex brain will evolve into an em
field-sensitive systemand a parallel emfield-insensitive system.I propose these
systems correspond to our conscious and unconscious minds.
I have shown here that synchronous firing amplifies em field effects by
phase-locking emfield modulations generated by distributed neurones.Modula-
tions of the brain's em field are thereby correlates of awareness and attention
and,by implication,consciousness.There are two possible interpretations.First,
in what might be called the weak interpretation,the brain's emfield is considered
to be either an epiphenomenon of consciousness (reflecting its underlying
dynamics but the real action taking place elsewhere),or a necessary,but not suf
ficient,condition for consciousness.For instance,the emfield might be a portal
or conduit for neural influences to reach consciousness.
However,in what might be termed the strong interpretation of the correlation
between modulations of the brain's em field and consciousness,the brain's em
field is proposed to be the substrate of consciousness.In this view synchronous
firing correlates with consciousness because it is the most efficient means of
transmitting neuronal level information to the conscious mind.
Conscious electromagnetic information field (cemi field) theory:Digital infor
mation within neurones is pooled and integrated to form an electromagnetic
information field in the brain.Consciousness is the component of the brain's
electromagnetic information field that is transmitted to motor neurones and is
thereby capable of communicating its state to the outside world.
This cemi field theory expands and further explores the cem field theory
outlined in my book QuantumEvolution (McFadden,2000) but the role of infor
mation is highlighted in the current cemi field theory.The theory also has much
in common with Susan Pockett's electromagnetic theory of consciousness
(Pockett,2000),but differs in increased emphasis on the informational aspect of
the field and in identifying consciousness with only that component of the
brain's em field that is capable of downloading its information to motor
neurones.I also provide in this paper a more detailed discussion of the implica
tions of a field theory for the phenomenal aspects of consciousness.
That complex information can be encoded in electromagnetic fields is of
course familiar:electromagnetic waves are routinely used to transmit informa
tion that is decoded by television or radio receivers.I propose here that our
thoughts are similarly electromagnetic representations of neuronal information
in the brain,and that information is in turn decoded by neurones to generate what
we experience as purposeful actions or free will.This circular exchange of infor
mation between the neurones and the surrounding em field provides the
'self-referring loop' that many cognitive scientists have argued to be an essential
feature of consciousness.
Although synchronous firing may promote the transfer of information from
neurones to the brain's em field,it is important to note that synchrony and the
magnitude of consequent em field perturbations may not always correlate with
consciousness.The key issue is not synchrony (or emfield magnitude) per se but
the informational transfer via synchronous firing.An excessive degree of syn-
chrony — as occurs for instance during epileptic seizures — may influence
neurone firing (e.g.inducing fits) but will decrease the informational content of
the cemi field and thereby interfere with any information processing required for
conscious thinking.Similarly,although regular EEG oscillations represent high
amplitude perturbations to the brain's emfield,they contain very little informa-
tion and may thereby correlate negatively with attention and awareness.The
informational content of the cemi field is likely to be at a maximum whenever
multiple clusters of relatively small number of synchronised neurones generate
the electromagnetic fluctuations.Thus,the dynamic complexity of EEG signal,
rather than its amplitude,may be a better correlate of conscious thinking,as has
been found in some studies (Molle et al.,1996).
This strong interpretation of the correlation between consciousness and em
field perturbations in the brain —the cemi theory —is favoured here because it
provides solutions to many of the most intractable problems of consciousness,
which will now be discussed.
1.The difference between conscious and unconscious information processing
The cemi theory provides a realistic physical model that accounts for the subjec
tive difference between conscious and unconscious mental processing.Although
many theories of consciousness propose that conscious neural processes differ
from unconscious ones in being in some way 'higher level' (see,e.g.,Searle,
1992),it is not clear how these higher level conscious activities differ from the
lower level unconscious one.The example of driving along a familiar route has
been explored by many authors.Whilst driving home from work our conscious
minds may be busy reviewing the events of the day whilst at the same time,we
38 J.McFADDEN
are watching traffic,changing gear,following the road but are unaware of any of
these operations.Yet if we encounter a hazardous situation —such as a child in
the road —we instantly become aware of the child,the road,the motor opera-
tions of driving,and thereafter slow down to drive more carefully under con-
scious control.Our conscious mind seems to 'take over' the control of our body
in these situations.It is unclear howin a neural identity model of consciousness,
the neural circuits involved in directing the motor coordination responsible for
driving the car consciously are 'higher' than those that perform essentially the
same task without awareness.However,in the cemi field theory,the neural cir-
cuits involved in conscious and unconscious actions are proposed to differ in
their sensitivity to the brain's emfield.During unconscious driving,the sensory
and motor activity responsible for the driving the car would have been performed
by neurones with membrane potentials far from the critical threshold for firing
(either positively or negatively) and thereby insensitive to the brain's em field.
When newor unusual stimuli reach the brain (presence of child on road) the con-
sequent synchronous firing of neurones involved in processing that newinforma-
tion would transmit the information to the brain's em field,allowing it to reach
our conscious awareness.This additional sensory input may shift the membrane
potential of some of the neurones involved to near the firing threshold and
thereby make the whole neuronal pathway sensitive to augmentation by the
brain's emfield.Our conscious mind —the cemi field —does indeed take over.
In the cemi field theory,our conscious 'will' is our experience of this influence
of the cemi field —our conscious minds —on motor neurones.It is our subjec-
tive experience that we are only forced to make 'conscious decisions' whenever
our unconscious mind is unable to 'make up its mind' as to what to do next.It is
precisely in these situations (e.g.driving in a hazardous situation) when we
would expect motor neurones to be poised close to their firing potential and sen-
sitive to the relatively weak influence of the brain's emfield and thereby recep-
tive to its informational content.
The divergence of the brain into an em field-insensitive system (our uncon-
scious mind) and an em field-sensitive system (consciousness) accounts for
why much of the brain's emfield activity is not conscious.Although all neurones
generate emfields,natural selection has optimised the neurone firing capability
and information-processing activity of only that fraction of the brain's em field
that has contributed positively to host survival.Those em fields that have not
contributed to host survival would have been invisible to natural selection and
thereby remained unstructured and unlikely to influence motor neurone firing
patterns.Such (unconnected) emfields are incapable of transmitting information
to the outside world and thereby represent unconscious brain em activity.Simi-
larly,not all phases of brain emmodulations will be conscious.For instance,con-
sciousness will be associated with only the later phases of evoked responses
(+250 msec),when em field disturbances have reached sufficient amplitude to
influence neurone firing.Once again,the key to consciousness is not the pres-
ence of em fields,but their ability to transmit information to motor neurones.
This influence is,I propose,the role that natural selection has harnessed in the
evolution of human consciousness —a field-level information processing sys
temthat drives our 'free will'.Curiously,WilliamJames' description of the role
of consciousness a century ago fits exactly with this model (as summarized and
quoted in Richards,1987,p.431):'The delicately balanced cortex of these ani
mals has,in James's terms,a "hair-trigger":the slightest jar or accident could set
it firing erratically....Yet,"if consciousness can load the dice,can exert a con
stant pressure in the right direction,can feel what nerve processes are leading to
the goal,can reinforce and strengthen these &at the same time inhibit those that
threaten to lead astray,why,consciousness will be of invaluable service".' This
aspect of the cemi theory also makes a simple and testable prediction —that con
scious and unconscious actions differ in their sensitivity to the brain's emfield.
The cemi field theory also provides a natural explanation for how,in the words
of Bernard J.Baars (1993),'a serial,integrated and very limited stream of con
sciousness emerge from a nervous system that is mostly unconscious,distrib
uted,parallel and of enormous capacity'.First,although,as described above,the
brain's emfield represents a wave-mechanical representation of the entire infor
mational content of the brain,only a small proportion of this field information
(the cemi field) can be transmitted to the outside world through motor neurones.
The range of potential difference across neural membranes spans more than 150
mV but neurones are only sensitive to their local field potential if their mem-
branes are poised close to the firing threshold.Consequently,most neurones are
insensitive to the brain's emfield and most neural pathways operate without field
effects.Only the information represented by neurones that fire in synchrony is
likely to generate sufficiently large perturbations of the brain's emfield to influ-
ence nerve firing in a few sensitive neurones and thereby modulate behaviour.
This reportable 'stream of consciousness' represents only a trickle of informa-
tion fromthe brain's eminformation field to the outside world and is therefore of
only very limited capacity compared to the underlying neural activity.
Similarly,the cemi field theory accounts for why consciousness appears to be
a 'serial' systemmounted on a parallel unconscious system.It is well established
that many unconscious actions (e.g.driving a car whilst whistling a familiar
tune) may be performed in parallel without interference whereas tasks requiring
conscious attention suffer from the dual-task problem whereby multiple tasks
suffer mutual interference (in the above driving example,one would generally
cease whistling after spotting a child on the road).It should first be noted that
although consciousness is serial in the sense that multiple conscious tasks must
be performed sequentially,each task might be quite complex requiring the
co-ordinated (parallel) operation of many neural pathways that are likely to be
guided by information processing distributed throughout the entire cemi field.
Consciousness per se is therefore not incompatible with the operation of parallel
neural pathways;it appears rather that it is the goal-directed influence of con
sciousness on those pathways that is subject to the kind of interference that is
characteristic for serial systems.Unlike digital (neural) addition,summation of
two fields is never simple but generates a linear superposition that depends on the
phase relationships between the individual waves involved.Interference is
40 J.McFADDEN
therefore inevitable for multiple conscious tasks where each task is 'fined tuned'
through the influence of the cemi field.
2.The role of consciousness in memory
It is well established that conscious awareness or attention appears to a prerequi
site to laying down long-term memories and for learning complex tasks
(although unconscious or subliminal learning may be possible for some tasks),
but the mechanismremains obscure.However,in the cemi field theory,memory
and learning are inevitable consequences of conscious attention.As described
above,the influence of the cemi field in the brain (consciousness) may provide a
fine control over motor tasks —a small push or pull on the probability of neurone
firing.However,if the target neurones for em augmentation are connected by
Hebbian synapses then the influence of the brain's emfield will tend to become
hard-wired into either increased (long-term potentiation,LTP) or decreased
(long-term depression,LTD) neural connectivity.After repeated augmentation
by the brain's emfield,conscious motor actions will become increasingly inde-
pendent of em field influences.The motor activity will be 'learned' and may
thereafter be performed unconsciously,without the em influence on the neural
networks involved.Similarly,in the absence of any motor output,the cemi field
may be involved in strengthening synapses to 'hard-wire' neurones and thereby
lay down long-termmemories.
Although I knowof no data that clearly demonstrates a role for emfield input
into natural learning and memory,Aronsson and Liljenströmhave recently dem-
onstrated (Aronsson and Liljenstrom,2001) that non-synaptic neuronal interac-
tions (that includes both emfields and gap junctions) may enhance learning in a
simulated neural network.Also,modulation of both LTP and LTD by em fields
has been demonstrated in vitro for rat hippocampal slices (Bawin et al.,1984).
Additionally,the strongest data for significant biological effects of non-ionising
emradiation has been in measurements of long-termpotentiation (Stewart,2000;
Wang et al.,1996) and it is perhaps significant that one of the fewwell-controlled
studies of the effects of microwave radiation on cognitive function in man con
cluded that there was a small but significant effect on learning (Preece et al.,
1999) with a reduction in reaction times for repeated tests in subjects exposed to
the radiation.The proposed role of the cemi field in learning and memory is con
sistent with these observations and clearly amenable to further experimental
3.The nature of free will
In the cemi field theory,the phenomenon we call 'free will' is our subjective
experience of the influence of the cemi field on motor neurones.This influence
contrasts with our unconscious (or unwilled) actions that lack that influence.
However,the influence of the cemi field is entirely causal:every fluctuation in
the local cemi field capable of modulating the firing of a particular target motor
neurone will have been generated by changing patterns of electrical activity
within the underlying neurones responsible for inducing that field.In this view,
our will —the cemi field influence on neuronal firing —is not 'free' in the sense
of being an action without a physical cause.It is entirely deterministic (although
it is possible to speculate that quantum-level fluctuations of the field may some
times influence neurone firing and thereby provide a non-deterministic compo
nent to our will,such an influence would not correspond to any kind of 'free will'
in the traditional sense of that term).Therefore,whereas in agreement with most
modern cognitive theory,the cemi theory views conscious will as a deterministic
influence on our actions,in contrast to most cognitive theories it does at least
provide a physically active role for 'will' in driving our conscious actions.In the
cemi field theory,we are not simply automatons that happen to be aware of our
actions.Our awareness (the global cemi field) plays a causal role in determining
our conscious actions.
4.The nature of qualia
As Chalmers has emphasized (Chalmers,1995b),the 'hard problem of con-
sciousness' is to understand why a particular organisation of matter in the brain
should give rise to the phenomenal aspect (qualia) of consciousness or aware-
ness.In the standard psycho-physical identity theory,consciousness is solely a
property of functional organization of the brain and could in principle be realized
in any physical system with the same functional organisation.In this view,an
electronic brain having the same functional organisation of the brain would be
conscious.But as Block pointed out (Block,1991),the functional organization of
neurones in the brain involved in smelling a rose could equally well be imple-
mented within the population of China,but it is absurd to conclude that such a
systemwould possess 'any mental states at all —especially whether it has what
philosophers have variously called "qualitative states," "rawfeels," or "immedi
ate phenomenological qualities".' This so-called 'Absent Qualia' problem has
been further explored by Chalmers (1995a) in his 'Fading Qualia' scenario in
which neurones in the brain are gradually replaced by silicon chips.Chalmers
argues that if Absent Qualia are possible for an entirely electronic system that
performs the same functions as neurones in the brain then a gradual loss of
awareness — Fading Qualia — must pertain to a system in which biological
neurones are gradually replaced with electronic devices.The implausibility of
Fading Qualia leads Chalmers to conclude that neither Fading Qualia nor Absent
Qualia are indeed possible and therefore support the version of psycho-physical
identity theory he terms 'nonreductive functionalism'.
To consider the nature of qualia within the cemi field theory,it is first useful to
clarify what is meant by 'awareness'.Chalmers (1995b) has proposed a 'double-
aspect' theory of information in which information has two aspects,a physical
and a phenomenal aspect.In the cemi field theory information in the brain is rep
resented both within the distributed matter of neurones and also within the uni
fied electromagnetic field of the brain.As with any field,all components of the
brain's em field are causally related,therefore the information in the cemi field
42 J.McFADDEN
has the same level of unity as information held by a single photon or a single elec
tron (say,orbiting an atomic nucleus) in quantum field theory;each may be
described as a single field.In contrast,the information encoded by (classical)
matter within neurones is not unified and in quantum mechanics would be
described by independent wave functions.It is therefore only within the cemi
field of the brain that information is physically unified (see also argument below
concerning the binding problem) in a way that corresponds to the unity of aware
ness.I therefore propose that awareness corresponds to information held within
the brain's em field.To put it another way,awareness is what it is like (Nagel,
1974) to integrate complex information into a physically unified field.In this
view,awareness will be a property of any system in which information is inte
grated into an information field that is complex enough to encode representations
of real objects in the outside world (such as a face).Awareness in this sense has
much in common with what Ned Block terms 'phenomenal consciousness'
However,awareness per se,without any causal influence on the world,cannot
have any scientific meaning since it cannot be the cause of any observable
effects.In the cemi field theory,consciousness —the cemi field —is distinct
from mere awareness in having a causal influence on the world by virtue of its
ability to 'download' its informational content into motor neurones.It therefore
corresponds quite closely to what Ned Block terms (Block,1995) 'access con-
sciousness'.How far animals or inanimate informational systems are conscious
will depend on whether they possess complex information fields that are capable
of having a causal influence on the world.This may well be amenable to experi-
mental testing.
Since,in the cemi field theory,a conscious being is aware of the information
contained within the cemi field,qualia —the subjective feel of particular mind
states — must correspond to particular configurations of the cemi field.The
qualia for the colour red will thereby correspond to the em field perturbations
that are generated whenever our neurones are responding to red light in our
visual field.However,since at the level of the brain's emfield,sensory informa
tion may be combined with neuronal information acquired through learning,the
ensuing field modulations would be expected to correlate not with the sensory
stimuli alone,but with the meaning of particular stimuli.This was indeed what
Freeman discovered in his classic experiments on rabbit olfaction (Freeman,
The integration of information into higher level perceptions within the cemi
field is,I would argue,central to consciousness.Aface is far more than a collec
tion of features and,in a conscious mind,is perceived and handled —at the field
level —as an integrated whole rather than a collection of parts.Nearly all qualia
—the sound of C minor,the meaning of the number seven,the image of a trian
gle,the concept of a motor car,the feeling of anger,etc.—are similarly complex
and their existence as conscious states is conditional upon our ability to integrate
parallel information streams to forma model that is both complex and physically
unified within the cemi field.
Fading Qualia are therefore possible in the cemi field theory.If neurones were
to be gradually replaced by mechanical devices that perform the same neural-
level information processing but do not generate any field-level integration of
that information,then qualia would indeed fade as information is gradually lost
fromthe cemi field.It follows that absent qualia are also possible in a system—a
robot —in which the neural-level processing has been completely replaced by
mechanical devices that exclude a field-level representation of that information.
However,in contrast to Chalmers (1995a) I would argue that such a robot would
not behave the same as a conscious person because it would lack the influence of
the cemi field upon motor output —it's brain would not be functionally equiva
lent to a human brain.All of the robot's actions would be unconscious —it would
be an automaton without a conscious 'will' (as defined above).Since it is our
conscious actions that make us characteristically human,such a robot,I would
argue,would be clearly distinguishable froma person.
The cemi theory does however predict that artificial consciousness could be
realized within a systemin which an integrated information field was capable of
driving motor actions.Arobotic brain could therefore be constructed that is func-
tionally equivalent to a human brain that would experience subjective qualia,if it
incorporated a cemi field.It will however have a very different informational
processing architecture than current electronic computers that are constructed to
minimise field effects.
Similarly,the cemi field theory predicts an absence of qualia for the popula-
tion of China (as in Ned Block's argument) if it were persuaded to simulate the
functional organisation of the brain.In fact it can be argued that China's popula-
tion already simulate that organisation.Each Chinese person exchanges informa-
tion with many hundreds or thousands of other Chinese via vibrations in air
(speech) together with messages encoded on paper,electronically and visually.
The entire population of China is therefore engaged in processing huge amounts
of information concerning the 'body' of China and its environment,that is func
tionally similar (if not equivalent) to that performed within a human brain.Yet
there is of course no evidence of any 'higher-level consciousness' for the popula
tion of China and it would be preposterous to propose that there are any qualia
associated with the entire Chinese nation.In the cemi field theory the absence of
qualia is entirely explained because the information that is being exchanged
within the Chinese population is discrete and scattered amongst the many carri
ers of information.There is no higher-level field representation where informa
tion is integrated to generate awareness.
5.The binding problem
As Valerie Hardcastle (1994) put it,'given what we know about the segregated
nature of the brain and the relative absence of multi-modal association areas in
the cortex,how [do] conscious percepts become unified into single perceptual
units?' Considering,as an example,the experience of a visualizing a complex
scene.Information from the retina is processed by independent groups of
44 J.McFADDEN
neurones in the retina and visual cortex specialised to detect,colour,orientation,
movement,texture,shape,etc.These groups of neurones are located in distinct
areas of the cortex so that the information describing each itemis smeared over a
large area of the visual cortex.As described above,there is considerable evi
dence that the neurones that recognize aspects of a single object that is the subject
of selective attention,such as an apple,fire synchronously.At a neuronal level,
the information representing the apple will therefore be represented as a particu
lar pattern,or assembly,of (synchronous) neurone firing.The problem is to
understand how the (simultaneous firing) of a cluster of physically separated
neurones could give rise to the single unified sensation of seeing an apple.John
Searle (1980) noted that neuronal-level information could be realized by 'a
sequence of water pipes,or a set of wind-machines' and questioned whether the
unity of perception could be maintained within a system connected by water or
airflow.If not,what is special about electrochemical fluctuation travelling at 100
metres per second between neurones that is able to maintain that unity?
To illustrate the problem,consider two entirely independent neural networks
(either biological or artificial):the first is able to recognize green objects,and the
second is able to identify round objects.If an apple is presented to both networks
then,in a neural identity theory of consciousness,each network would (if suffi-
ciently complex) experience their own particular qualia for roundness or green-
ness.But nowwe add a wire (or neurone) that connects the two networks so that
the combined assembly is able to recognize objects that are both round and green.
A neural identity theory would then predict that the enlarged network should
experience qualia in which roundness and greenness are somehow bound
together in a way analogous to our own conscious perception of an apple.Yet the
only additional input that either network would have received is a single binary
digit travelling down the connecting wire from the adjacent network.Neither
'roundness' nor 'greenness' could be fully described by a single binary digit.To
account for the existence of unified qualia that includes the information coming
from both networks,the neural identity theory must propose some overarching
reality that connects and unifies the two networks.But no such overarching real
ity exists —at least at the level of matter.Each network is composed of discrete
lumps of matter (atoms and molecules) that are isolated within each network
(except for their emfield interactions).The vast majority of the matter within one
network cannot possibly be even 'aware' (possess information) of the existence
of the other network.
But in the human brain,there is an overarching reality that connects neural net
works:the brain's electromagnetic field.At the field level,and in contrast to the
neuronal level,all aspects of the information representing the apple (colour,
shape,texture etc.) are physically linked to generate a single physically unified
and coherent modulation of cemi field that represents conscious perception.
At the neuronal level,information in the brain is scattered both in space and
time;but at the level of the em field information is physically unified with zero
time between all the components of that information.The cemi field thereby cor
responds to our subjective experience of being aware of all items in our
conscious minds at the same instant of time — there appears to be zero time
between all of the contents of consciousness.The cemi field therefore provides a
natural solution to the binding problemof consciousness.
The cemi field theory is compatible with many contemporary theories of con
sciousness.The cemi field can be considered to be a global workspace (Baars,
1988) that distributes information to the huge number of parallel unconscious
neural processors that form the rest of the brain.Similarly,the brain's em field
may be considered to be the substrate for Dennett's multiple drafts model
(Dennett,1991) since its informational content will be continually updated by
neuronal input until a field configuration is reached that is capable of generating
'output' that is downloaded as motor actions or the laying down of memories.
The theory also has much in common with quantum models of consciousness
(Penrose,1995) since both propose a field-level description of consciousness.
However in contrast to quantumconsciousness models that must propose a phys
ically unrealistic level of quantumcoherence between neurones or microtubules
within neurones,the cemi field theory has no such requirement.The
wave-mechanical properties of the cemi field are entirely consistent with con-
ventional physics and our current knowledge of neurophysiology.
The cemi field theory therefore provides an elegant solution to many of the
most intractable problems of consciousness and places consciousness within a
secure physical framework that is amenable to experimental testing.The pro-
posed interaction between the cemi field and neuronal pathways restores to the
mind a measure of dualism,but it is a dualismrooted in the real physical distinc-
tion between matter and energy,rather than the metaphysical (Cartesian) distinc-
tion between matter and soul.Although the cemi field will is deterministic,it
does at least retain a crucial role for our conscious minds in directing purposeful
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50 J.McFADDEN
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Monday, January 16, 2012
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subset: commoncrawl