EVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND QUALIA

概要

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On the basis of a triune brain model relating human behavior to three basic evolutionary formations of the brain: reflexive (reptilian), emotive (mammalian) and rational (human), an evolutionary origin of consciousness and qualia eliciting consciousness is sought in two groups of neurons, sameness neurons and newness neurons, discovered in frog's visual system, classifying external objects into what is known (familiar) and unknown (unfamiliar). For human, enhanced consciousness of a patient was observed during aura when the threat of unknown was converted to an affective feeling of familiarity. Considering similar experiences by scientists a proposal is here made to classify the qualia by the evolutionary significance of elicited responses.
2011-06-01