Sokolov, Evgenii N. (1920—2008)

The monograph is devoted to one of the most complex and mysterious scientific problems, to the problem of neurobiological nature of consciousness. What is the connection between psychological and neural levels of consciousness? The author proposes to consider consciousness within the spherical model of subjective processes, which unlike other models integrates psychophysical and neural levels of analysis to answer this fundamental question. The experimental researches results acquired by the author and his followers who have proved the propriety of the spherical model are serving as basis for this approach, data about deliberate discrimination of colors, emotions and other categories of stimuli are quoted. The spherical model of consciousness assumes that activity of specific neurons should be responsible for separate acts of consciousness. Functionally specialized “neurons of consciousness” which are forming “neurons fields” or “neuron maps” are serving as such neurons according to the author’s hypothesis. The change of one act of consciousness by another is determined by moving of the excitation’s focus on such type of map resulting in replacing the activity of the “neuron of consciousness” by the activity of another neuron of the same class. A number of consequences for an experimental check-up follows from this hypothesis and it opens the prospect of objective studies of consciousness. The hypothesis of the existence of specialized “neurons of consciousness” leads the author to the conclusion of the existence of the endocellular mechanism of consciousness. The author considers two possible processes in this connection: 1) local coding of signals on the micromodules of separate dendrites; 2) quantum-mechanical coding in cytoskeletal microtubules arising from generation of coherent photons. The radical physical hypothesis about of the quantum processes enable to explain brain’s work and the nature of human consciousness in a new fashion is a basis of the second idea. The book will cause doubtless interest among the wide audience of specialists in the humanities and natural science and senior students interested in problems of psychology and neurobiology of consciousness.

Chapter 2 is devoted to comparative analysis of vector encoding of information at perceptual and semantic levels. With this purpose new concepts are entered and carefully proved: «a memory map», «a map of semantic units», «an excitation vector of memory», «a semantic difference», «a semantic evoked potential». Experimental psychophysiological researches of color and emotion perception are analyzed to illustrate the basic similarity of perceptual and semantic subjective spaces. The neural mechanisms providing the coordination of perceptual and semantic processes are discussed.

The spherical model of visual perception, based on the hypothesis of vector encoding of information by neurons-detectors, is suggested and discussed. The following global features of the model are under special consideration: sphericity, universality, and the connection of its metric parameters (spherical angles, Cartesian coordinates) with subjective and neurophysiological aspects of vision. Theoretical states are illustrated by the data of experimental researches of different forms of visual perception in human and animals – perception of ‘color’, ‘direction of moving’, ‘spatial frequencies’, ‘orientation’.