Gamma waves abd quantum consciousness

[Greg Boyles]

From Wikipedia

A gamma wave is a pattern of neural oscillation in humans with a frequency between 25 to 100 Hz,^[1] though 40 Hz is prototypical

 

Was just reading about this in relation to consciousness.

Some reasearchers have suggested that the gamma waves observed in EEGs may related to consciousness.

 

And that the reduction of gamma waves by expert Tibetan mediators can induce a state of 'selflessness' where consciousness is modified or eliminated, at least as we normally experience it.

 

Role in attentive focusThe suggested mechanism is that gamma waves relate to neural consciousness via the mechanism for conscious attention:

 

The proposed answer lies in a wave that originating in the thalamus, sweeps the brain from front to back, 40 times per second, drawing different neuronal circuits into synch with the precept, and thereby bringing the precept into the attentional foreground. If the thalamus is damaged even a little bit, this wave stops, conscious awarenesses do not form, and the patient slips into profound coma.^[4]Thus the claim is that when all these neuronal clusters oscillate together during these transient periods of synchronized firing, they help bring up memories and associations from the visual precept to other notions. This brings a distributed matrix of cognitive processes together to generate a coherent, concerted cognitive act, such as perception. This has led to theories that gamma waves are associated with solving the binding problem.^[3]

 

Gamma waves are observed as neural synchrony from visual cues in both conscious and subliminal stimuli.^[10] This research also sheds light on how neural synchrony may explain stochastic resonance in the nervous system.^[11] They are also implicated in REM sleep, which involves visualizations, and also during anesthesia.^[6]

 

 

I must get a copy of ' The Emperor's New Mind ' and see how ideas of quantum consciousness fit into this.

 

 

[herbbread]

The gamma-band simply refers to oscillations observed in EEG, intracranial EEG, or MEG which has a frequency between anywhere from 30Hz to 200-300Hz. While the exact mechanism by which gamma oscillations occur isn't quite understood yet, we do know that any change in the local field potential measured by EEG is likely synchronized synaptic activity measured from the dendrites of pyramidal cells. While thalamo-cortical loops can give rise to gamma oscillations, it is by no means the only way to generate gamma activity. Some groups have shown that the cortex can generate its own gamma oscillations, most likely mediated by the inhibitory interneurons. Cardin, et al. (2009) Nature

 

Gamma oscillations have become a "hot" neuroscience topic over the last few years because it has been correlated to various higher order cognitive processes, anywhere from the representation of visual information to language processing. You are right that expert meditators have shown the ability to modulate various measures of brain activity (included gamma activity), but whether this is the direct cause of the modified consciousness or simply an epiphenomenon is unknown.

[Greg Boyles]

The gamma-band simply refers to oscillations observed in EEG, intracranial EEG, or MEG which has a frequency between anywhere from 30Hz to 200-300Hz. While the exact mechanism by which gamma oscillations occur isn't quite understood yet, we do know that any change in the local field potential measured by EEG is likely synchronized synaptic activity measured from the dendrites of pyramidal cells. While thalamo-cortical loops can give rise to gamma oscillations, it is by no means the only way to generate gamma activity. Some groups have shown that the cortex can generate its own gamma oscillations, most likely mediated by the inhibitory interneurons. Cardin, et al. (2009) Nature

 

Gamma oscillations have become a "hot" neuroscience topic over the last few years because it has been correlated to various higher order cognitive processes, anywhere from the representation of visual information to language processing. You are right that expert meditators have shown the ability to modulate various measures of brain activity (included gamma activity), but whether this is the direct cause of the modified consciousness or simply an epiphenomenon is unknown.

 

Interesting about the pyramidal cells. While a recognized the name I had long since forgotten exactly what they were about. But it would seem that they for some sort of controlling master circuit within the brain. I suppose an analogy would be the role of the computer operating system in mediating the interactions between software and hardware.