On the quantum physical theory of subjective antedating.
This paper explores the question of mental events causing neural events through the actions of the quantum physical probability field. After showing how quantum mechanical descriptions pertain to the influence that mental events have upon neural events, the question of Libet's "delay-and-antedating" observation is examined in the light of quantum mechanical description, specifically in the action of the probability field. The probability field is the product of two quantum wave functions. According to the transactional interpretation (TI) of quantum physics these wave functions can be pictured as offer and echo waves--the offer wave passing from an initial event to a future event and the echo wave passing from the future event back in time towards the initial event. I propose that two events so correlated are experienced as one and the same event; that is, any two quantum physically correlated events separated in time or space will constitute a single experience--an event in "consciousness." Using the TI then suggests a quantum physical resolution of the "delay-and-antedating" hypothesis/paradox put forward by Libet, B., Wright, E. W., Feinstein, B., & Pearl, D. K. (Brain, 1979, 102, 193). It also offers a first step towards the development of a quantum physical theory of subjective antedating based on the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics.
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D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011336:Probability; D011789:Quantum Theory