Conscious information processing

Each sensory afferent neuron connects with an interneuron or accessory neuron. These interneurons are located entirely within the CNS, with the majority occurring in the cerebral cortex. They form numerous interconnections and are the means by which all cognitive information, thoughts and feelings, are processed. It should be emphasised that the main role of this processing of information is inhibitory. The sensory receptors provide the CNS with a massive amount of data. The interneurons process and filter this into a limited amount of useful and important informa tion. Conscious information processing forms just one part of this activity. A great deal of brain activity is concerned with routine processes, which continue without conscious awareness. 

Such pathways are more likely involved in sub-conscious information processing. 

Knowledge-Based Level of Control Information processing carried out consciously as in a imique situation or by an unskilled or occasional user... 

Skill-Based Level of Control A mode of information processing characterized by the smooth execution of highly practiced, largely physical actions requiring little conscious monitoring. 

Is there a certain kind of anatomy that is most likely to mediate conscious activity Also, are there any kinds of anatomical arrangements that are unlikely to orchestrate the unified brain state we know of as consciousness There are likely to be important constraints governing what is suitable anatomy for underlying consciousness in contrast to what kind of anatomy is favorably suited for unconscious information processing. These constraints are important clues as to how different neurochemical circuits divide up the manifold tasks taken on by the CNS. 

Attention and the related phenomenon of arousal are clearly crucial to the generation of consciousness. Both processes contribute to the (everyday) experience of the focus and level of awareness. Many reviews of attention begin with the following quotation from William James Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. (James, 1890). The enduring resonance of this dehnition is due to its encapsulation of the essence of the subjective experience of attention. James emphasises the fact that attention selects stimuli from a surplus of environmental information ( simultaneously possible objects ), and maybe focussed perceptually or inwardly as a train of thought. Of particular relevance to the present chapter,... 

This chapter is concerned with the neurochemical basis of developmental disability which is considered here in two forms the globally delayed or halted development seen in mental retardation, and the more circumscribed pattern of disordered development of autism. A range of deficits of important key aspects of consciousness are apparent in both conditions. Of particular relevance to consciousness are the cognitive and behavioural impairments in attention, concentration, memory, information processing and social behaviour which are commonly present. Consideration of aberrant neurotransmitter activities in these developmental deficits may provide insights into the role of neurotransmitters in consciousness. 

Before turning to a consideration of how a psychotherapy armed with new knowledge about emotion and memory might proceed, it is crucial to define the position that neurodynamic psychology takes with respect to conscious and unconscious information processing by the brain-mind. I begin with a bottom-up view which assumes that ... 

The basic model that we have been using for clairvoyance (Figure 2-1) can be used for the PMIR if one change is made. The clairvoyance model assumed that our conscious minds activate psi by desiring or otherwise informing unconscious processes or the psi receptor processes to search for and retrieve the desired psi information. In the PMIR model, we must assume that the psi receptor and the unconscious mind are active (at least sometimes, perhaps all the time) whether or not the conscious mind desires this. The scanning of the environment by psi activates unconscious mental processes, which may, in turn, call for more psi, and so on. Finally, this affects conscious mental processes or directly affects behavior and results in need-satisfying action. 

I have made this model a little more complicated than the model in Chapter 2 by adding an arrow labeled Internal Stimuli within each possible information process to reflect the fact that more events are occurring in the agent s mind and nervous system than the experimenter s request to influence the target. This is also true for our clairvoyance and precognition model. For example, there may be spontaneous neural discharges or noises within your brain that interfere with the flow of information between the various processes. Or you may consciously dislike the experimenter, so that when he tells you to make the dice come up fours, you say (mentally), Nuts to you, and consciously try for a different target face. Or you may... 

F. X. vollenweider and colleagues in recent papers summarized in "Evidence for a cortical-subcortical imbalance of sensory information processing during altered states of consciousness using positron emission tomography and... 

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