State of Consciousness As A Form of Communication

[turboswami]

Neurons use specific compounds, neurotransmitters, to transfer specific messages to one another. But, in fact, the neurotransmitter, itself, is not a message, per se, but a specialized substance used to induce a specific internal state upon uptake by the postsynaptic cell. Generally, this reception, regardless of the neurotransmitter received,

Comments

[igferatu]

"It makes sense to think of this as a gas or brake on the frequency of a given cell, with some substances making the cell "awake" and others putting the cell "to sleep

[turboswami]

Ahh, yes, "the movers and the shakers."

Neurons don't move much, but energy makes them shake, in a way.

[ayoungjovian]

I don't get how explaining the nature of neurotransmitters gives any reason to attribute features of that nature to the nature of consciousness. It seems like this post is missing a key part, namely, how/why the nature of neurotransmitters affects the nature of consciousness. You describe how the two natures are similar, but you don't describe the causal connection between the two. What evidence have you given that should lead us to believe that the one nature (of transmitters) affects the other nature (of consciousness)?

[turboswami]

The relationship between neurotransmitters and state-of-consciousness is already well-established -- and hoorah to that research! A round of SSRI's for everyone!

(see Basar citation given for the "evidence" you've requested.)

I had no intention of beating that dead horse with this entry. My thought was to compare two scales -- the cellular scale, of the neuron and its neurotransmitter's "communication," and our own scale, the individual and our own means of communication.

Spreading activation is a term used to describe both the semantic network and the "empathic" oscillatory response which carries from one neuron to another in neural net. Neurons communicate best when they're "on the same wavelength."

So, what does that shared oscillatory state imply? Resonance, yes, of course. Entrainment phenomenon, sure. But that cell is a living entity, and I feel the transference of frequency amongst living things is very different from the base physical phenomena of nonliving mediums.

[ayoungjovian]

I didn't notice any mention of that citation explaining the relationship between neurotransmitters and state-of-consciousness from the sentence it was appended to. I'll check it out

[turboswami]

Yes, Dennett is definitely more of a consciousness theorist, and so the basic neurochemistry I was describing is very different from broad philosophy of mind, duality, information processing model stuff that you'd be reading there