Skip to main content

Quantum Aspects of Brain Activity and the Role of Consciousness

  • Chapter
How the SELF Controls Its BRAIN
  • 294 Accesses

Abstract

From 1984 onwards I realized that the Margenau story was inadequate. What was needed was a rigorous mathematical treatment that would give precision to the action of mental events on neural events, not just the ill-defined probability field. When I was attached to the Neuroscience Research Program at the Rockefeller University for some months in 1986 and 1987, I organized two mini-symposia in the hope that there could be progress beyond the stage where Margenau left it in The Miracle of Existence. Henry Margenau came to both these informal gatherings in New York. Unfortunately Margenau and Wigner were not well enough to make the progress that I hoped for. John Archibald Wheeler was unable to attend, but he nominated two physicists. I have all the documents of these two most disappointing projects. It was evident that the physicists did not realize that here was a great chance for quantum physicists. One physicist insisted that it could all be done by thermal physics, not quantum physics!

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References to Chapter 9

  • Akert, K., Peper, K., and Sandri, C. (1975) in Cholinergic Mechanisms, edited by P. G. Waser (Raven, New York), pp. 43–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deecke, L., and Lang, V. (1990) in The Principles of Design and Operation of the Brain, edited by J. C. Eccles and O. Creutzfeld (Experimental Brain Research, Series 21) (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg), pp. 303–341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donald, M. J. (1990) Proc. Roy. Soc. London A 424, 43–93.

    MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, J. C. (1982) Arch. Psychiatr. Nervenkrank. 231, 423–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eccles, J. C. (1990) Proc. Roy. Soc. London B 240, 433–451.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, G. M. (1989) The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness (Basic Books, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Einstein, A., Rosen, N., and Podolsky, B. (1935) Phys. Rev. 47, 777–780.

    Article  ADS  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Everett, H. (1957) Rev. Mod. Phys. 29, 454–462.

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, E. G. (1982) Trends Neurosci. 5, 5–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingvar, D. H. (1990) in The Principles of Design and Operation of the Brain, edited by J. C. Eccles and O. Creutzfeld (Experimental Brain Research, Series 21) Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg), pp. 433–453.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jack, J. J. B., Redman, S. J., and Wong, K. (1981) J. Physiol. London 321, 65–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jessel, T. M., Kandel, E. R., Lewin, B., and Reid, L. (eds) (1993) Signaling at the synapse, Review Supplement to Cell 72/Neuron 10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, R. B., Deutsch, J. W., Carlson, S. S., and Wagner, J. A. (1979) Ann. Rev. Neurosci. 2, 399–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korn, H., and Faber, D. S. (1987) in New Insights into Synaptic Function, edited by G. M. Edelman, W. E. Gall, and W M. Cowan (Wiley, New York), pp. 57–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Libet, B. (1990) in The Principles of Design and Operation of the Brain, edited by J. C. Eccles and O. Creutzfeld (Experimental Brain Research, Series 21) (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg), pp. 185–205, plus General Discussion, pp. 207–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Margenau, H. (1984) The Miracle of Existence (Ox Bow, Woodbridge, CT).

    Google Scholar 

  • Messiah, A. (1961) Quantum Mechanics (North Holland, Amsterdam), pp. 231–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mountcastle, V. B. (1978) in The Mindful Brain, edited by F. C. Schmitt (MIT Press, Cambridge MA), pp. 7–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, A., and Kara, D. A. (1987) J. Comp. Neurol. 260, 573–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfenninger, K., Sandri, C., Akert, K., and Eugster, C. H. (1969) Brain Res. 12, 10–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popper, K. (1990) A World of Propensities (Thoemmes, Bristol).

    Google Scholar 

  • Popper, K., and Eccles, J. C. (1977) The Self and Its Brain (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I., Petersen, S. E., Fox, P. T., and Raichle, M. E. (1988) Science 240, 1627–1631.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Redman, S. J. (1990) Physiolog. Rev. 70, 165–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roland, P. E., Larsen, B., Lassen, N. A., and Skinhpj, E. (1980) J. Neurophysiol. 43, 118–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayer, R. J., Friedlander, M. J., and Redman, S. J. (1990) J. Neurosci. 10, 626–636.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sayer, R. J., Redman, S. J., and Andersen, P. (1989) J. Neurosci. 9, 845–850.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmolke, C., and Fleischhauer, K. (1984) Anat. Embryol. 169, 125–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Squires, E. J. (1988) Found. Phys. Lett. 1, 13–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stapp, H. P. (1991) Found. Phys. 21, 1451–1477.

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Szentágothai, J. (1978) Proc. Roy. Soc. London B 201, 219–248.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • von Neumann, J. (1955) Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ), Chap. IV.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Walmsley, B., Edwards, F. R., and Tracey, D. J. (1987) J. Neurosci. 7, 1037–1046.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wigner, E. P. (1967) Symmetries and Reflections (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN), pp. 153–184.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Beck, F., Eccles, J.C. (1994). Quantum Aspects of Brain Activity and the Role of Consciousness. In: How the SELF Controls Its BRAIN. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-49224-2_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-49224-2_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-49226-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-49224-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics