A complex vector space model of single neuronal coding and experience.
A model of consciousness is proposed, in which the experience attributable to a single sensory neuron is related to its instantaneous firing rate. In that this can only be quantified within statistical limits from the incidence of spikes across multiple presentations of a stimulus, consciousness remains inaccessible to direct measurement on a single trial. In this way, the model disambiguates subjective experience from objective neural properties. The model adopts a quantum mechanical formalism, in which the state of the neuron is represented as a vector in a complex vector space.
Duggins
Andrew John
AJ
Western Clinical School, Westmead Hospital, Hawkesbury Road, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia. aduggins@med.usyd.edu.au
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*