Impact of information compression on intellectual activities in the brain.
Imaging and modeling represent an action of information compression, which is inevitable for a complex system in order to process and communicate data. Humans are such complex systems. Sensational and body reaction information is processed by the brain, the overall information rate being 10(11)-10(12) bit/s. Consciousness is the result of massive information compression, the attentional data rate being 10-14 bit/s. The primary purpose of the conscious state is to control the interaction with the environment. In humans, this ability facilitates the projection of the future horizon far away from the next instant. Thinking and reasoning can be thought of as a process of retrospective control. Retrospective in the sense that the sub-conscious has already decided what is to come next. In the long run, however, conscious thought influences the cortical context potentiation, thus providing steering to the associative process. The paper emphasizes that all cognitive operations are restricted to the bioelectrical signal processing of the brain. Accordingly, mental models and scientific theories will always be constrained by this fact. The last subject of this paper deals with the interaction between the brain, the glands and the rest of the body. It is interpreted that qualia are the result of a complex feedback interaction between those parts, a self-supported process close to a singularity point.
Eriksson
J T
JT
Laboratory of Electricity and Magnetism, Tampere University of Technology, Finland. eriksson@cc.tut.fi
D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior