Consciousness as a physical process caused by the organization of energy in the brain

Robert Pepperell*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

To explain consciousness as a physical process we must acknowledge the role of energy in the brain. Energetic activity is fundamental to all physical processes and causally drives biological behavior. Recent neuroscientific evidence can be interpreted in a way that suggests consciousness is a product of the organization of energetic activity in the brain. The nature of energy itself, though, remains largely mysterious, and we do not fully understand how it contributes to brain function or consciousness. According to the principle outlined here, energy, along with forces and work, can be described as actualized differences of motion and tension. By observing physical systems, we can infer there is something it is like to undergo actualized difference from the intrinsic perspective of the system. Consciousness occurs because there is something it is like, intrinsically, to undergo a certain organization of actualized differences in the brain.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2091
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume9
Issue numberOCT
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2018

Keywords

  • Brain
  • Consciousness
  • Energy
  • Feedback
  • Information theory
  • Metabolism

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