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A quantum approach to visual consciousness.

Nancy J. Woolf1, Stuart R. Hameroff

  • 1Dept of Psychology and Laboratory of Chemical Neuroanatomy, University of California, 90095-1563, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|October 31, 2001
PubMed
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Quantum computation in brain microtubules may explain visual consciousness. This model proposes quantum states survive in neurons and encompass the whole brain in brief epochs.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Quantum Physics
  • Consciousness Studies

Background:

  • The Penrose-Hameroff 'Orch OR' model proposes quantum computation in neuronal microtubules as a basis for consciousness.
  • Significant challenges include maintaining quantum coherence in the warm, wet brain and achieving brain-wide quantum effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present a physiological model for visual consciousness that reconciles quantum computation within the brain.
  • To address how quantum states might survive and scale within neuronal structures.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical modeling of quantum processes within microtubules.
  • Integration of quantum computation principles with neurophysiology.
  • Development of a model for epochal consciousness occurring at approximately 40 Hz.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • A proposed physiological mechanism for sustaining quantum coherence in the brain.
  • A framework for how quantum computations could scale to encompass the entire brain.
  • A model where visual consciousness unfolds in discrete, several-hundred-millisecond epochs.

Conclusions:

  • The proposed model offers a potential resolution to the challenges of quantum consciousness in the brain.
  • It suggests that visual consciousness arises from orchestrated, brain-wide quantum computations occurring in rapid sequences.