Sitting on the Ocean Atlantic ferry, I typing while watching the skyline of Newfoundland disappear on the horizon. I saw the waves shaking, sucking in the salty breeze, feeling and hearing the buzz of the boat's rumbled engine. I tried to concentrate on writing this sentence, but my eyes hoped to scan the sea to see if there was a rogue, splashing whale .
According to a new paper in Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, these scenes, smells and eyes are just memories, even if we feel they happen in real time. A team from Boston proposed a new theory of consciousness that is inseparable from memory.
In short: In its core part, consciousness evolved as a memory system. It helps us remember events in our lives—when, where, what, whom—which in turn helps us recombinate them creatively and flexibly to predict or imagine other possibilities.
It becomes even more puzzling. Rather than saying that we are perceiving the world in real time, we are actually experiencing this perceived memory. That is, our unconscious mind filters and processes the world under the hood and often makes instant decisions. When we realize these perceptions and decisions - that is, once they rise to the level of consciousness, we are actually experiencing "the memory of these unconscious decisions and actions", the author explains.
In other words, this is mainly manipulated by the unconscious mind.
Due to the large-scale parallel computing power of biological neural network or neural circuits, many of the brain's processing of our surroundings and internal feelings happens without us realizing it. Consciousness, in turn, as part of our memory, helps us to connect events to form a coherent, time-lapse series of narratives rather than taking fragments from an incoherent dream.
"Our theory is that consciousness develops into a memory system that is used by our unconscious brain to help us imagine the future flexibly and creatively and plan accordingly," said author Dr. Andrew Baderson. "We don't directly perceive the world, make decisions, or execute actions. Instead, we do all these things unconsciously and then--about half a second later--consciously remember to do these things."
At the moment, this theory is just a theory. But looking at consciousness from the perspective of memory systems can provide new clues to brain diseases, such as stroke , epilepsy, dementia and other diseases that damage memory or consciousness. The theory also raises questions about animals, AI and mini brain consciousness, helping neuroscientists further explore how conscious and unconscious brains work together every second of our lives.
How did I realize it?
For thousands of years, consciousness has tampered with the brains of our greatest thinkers. Why did it develop? What are its benefits? How did it come about? Why is it so irresistible to suppress impulses (like a second serving of incredibly ready-made crispy fish and chips)?
What exactly is consciousness?
We don't have a definite definition yet, which is a bit confusing. Broadly speaking, consciousness is a personal experience of the world, including our own existence. Conceived primarily in the 1890s, a broad overview of this concept left enough room for research for a variety of theories.
In neuroscience , there are two perspectives that dominate, and the world is struggling to compete with carefully designed experiments. One is the Global Neuron Workspace Theory (GNWT), which argues that the brain integrates information from multiple sources into a single "sketch" of a "global workspace". This workspace only understands the items we pay attention to, forming a conscious experience.
, in contrast, another mainstream theory, Integrated Information Theory (IIT), takes a more connected view. Here, consciousness arises from the neural structure and interconnectivity of the brain network.The physical and data processing properties of neural networks—especially the posterior regions of the brain—can generate consciousness in themselves.
Other theories dig deep into the complex network of neural connections, believing that the information cycle between brain regions extends in time and space, generates consciousness. Some people believe that understanding of the "self" is the key to being conscious of the outside world.
Yes, it's like a theoretical zoo.
A small amount of memory
The new theory is inspired by previous ideas and experimental data to come to a surprising conclusion: consciousness evolves as part of memory - in fact, it is the process of memory. Scientists have long linked consciousness with occasional memory, the "diary" about our lives encoded by hippocampus . Intuitively, this makes sense: what we experience consciously is essential to form a memory of "life" that connects different aspects of an event in a timely manner. But here, the author believes that consciousness and the memory network of the brain work hand in hand to form a "conscious memory system", thus creating consciousness.
The group starts with an unsettling idea: conscious perception is very slow and often fools us in the form of various auditory or visual hallucinations. It is obvious that our conscious perception is affected far more than reality itself. So, why do we value consciousness as a way of perceiving, explaining, and interacting with the world?
The author believes that the answer is memory. Consciousness may evolve with memory, so we can remember it. Suppose you are walking around in a familiar community and hear a dog barking. Within milliseconds, the barking of dogs enters our working memory - the psychological "sketch board" that processes data. There, it serves as a prompt to retrieve previous memories of the same dog barking, or the face of a puppy who is eager to bite your ankle. Once you remember, you will quickly want to stay away.
Here, consciousness is absolutely indispensable throughout the sequence. Hearing a dog barking—that is, consciously perceiving it—recruiting memory, thereby consciously remembering. Then, the brain imagines what might happen (again bitten again?), causing you to rush out. Without conscious perception, we will not associate it with potential dangers, nor will we strive to avoid it. The key to the problem is that consciousness, as an important part of memory, can help plan future actions in a flexible and creative way with memory. Or in their words, "there is no reason for consciousness to operate in real time."
This means that rather than saying that we are experiencing the world in real time, we regard our surroundings and inner thoughts as "memory" - like seeing the starry night sky, but it may not exist in fact. It further enables us to project into the future, or reach the depths of creativity and imagination, outline new worlds based on memory, but combine these elements in new ways.
The brain is known for its parallel processing power, most of which happens under the hood. A conscious memory system makes incoherent unconscious information meaningful, time stamping each bit, making memories scroll like a movie.
"Even our minds are generally not under the control of our consciousness." Dr. Budson said: "This lack of control is why it may be difficult for us to stop the flow of thought in our mind when trying to fall asleep, and why mindfulness is difficult."
By reshaping consciousness as part of memory, the team hopes that the theory can help patients with neurological diseases. Patients with stroke that affect the cerebral cortex or peripheral neural roads often have the ability to use memory to solve problems or plan for the future. Those suffering from dementia, migraine or epilepsy also have the same interference that causes interruptions in consciousness and memory, which are often linked.
The authors are very clear that they are entering a controversial field. They wrote: "Many - perhaps even most of the assumptions we propose may prove incorrect.Even so, testing the theory through experimental testing can "put us closer to understanding the basic properties of consciousness and the basis of anatomy ."
