9. Quantum Theory of Consciousness

Stuart R. Hameroff, Nancy J. Woolf

Yan Jiang, Ravi Prakash

As the quantum models of consciousness are becoming more and more prominent for theoretical models of consciousness, more dimensions of consciousness are being discovered. At the same time, the need to pin-point the element of consciousness is becoming more and more important. Parallal to these researches, several cognitive models of consciousness have also been propounded. With more and more results of cognitive studies, we are coming to know that like consciousness, attention is also a basic function of human psychology and both are very intricately related to each other, some- times even overlapping with each other. Perhaps this has been the reason either the cognitive functions of attention have been completely over-looked or have been mistakenly used synonymously with consciousness in the theories of the latter. This is especially true for QM theories of consciousness. Because of not taking attention into account, some of the most basic assumptions of QM models of consciousness have been erroneous. In this article, we review the literature of basic theories of QM and at the same time, we will see that several important roles of attention in these theories are missing. This is because in most of the theories, attention has either been completely ignored or has been confused with consciousness, where as both are two distinct cognitive functions. In this preliminary exploration, we will try to address three basic issues on QM in relation to consciousness: 1)The measurement problem 2) The quantum reduction or wave function collapse and 3) The free choice of consciousness. We propose that future models of consciousness should take into account the vitality of understanding attention.

David L. Wilson

Jerome R. Busemeyer, Meijuan Lu

Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanics has for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousness has for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theories hypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between the neurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness. Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive science concerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantum theory to human judgment and decision-making behaviour. What do all these theories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness have more to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and conscious experiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently ‘scaled up’ to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generate more complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressing fundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic with respect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problem of connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition to the other two topics.

Gangsha Zhi, Rulin Xiu

Both consciousness and quantum phenomenon are subjective and indeterministic. In this paper, we propose consciousness is a quantum phenomenon. A quantum theory of consciousness (QTOC) is presented based on a new interpretation of quantum physics. We show that this QTOC can address the mind and body problem, the hard problem of consciousness. It also provides a physics foundation and mathematical formulation to study consciousness and neural network. We demonstrate how to apply it to develop and extend various models of consciousness. We show the predictions from this theory about the existence of a universal quantum vibrational field and the large-scale, nearly instantaneous synchrony of brainwaves among different parts of brain, body, people, and objects. The correlation between Schumann Resonances and some brainwaves is explained. Recent progress in quantum information theory, especially regarding quantum entanglement and quantum error correction code, is applied to study memory and shed new light in neuroscience.

Henry Pierce Stapp