Are we close to an answer on consciousness?

 

Revolutionary theories in science require scientists to depart from the accepted point of view. Consciousness science is no exception. The millennia-old mystery of the nature of consciousness may need an outsider's approach.

Looking at another quality of consciousness is our difficulty regulating our thoughts and emotions. The more we try to control what we think, the more unsuccessful it becomes, to the point that emotions can cause mental and bodily problems. During meditation, you watch your thoughts pass by or temporarily orient your focus through an active process. The difficulty arises because emotions represent energy, the fundamental force of motivation. This insight may remind you of the photon, the particle of material interaction. Emotions are analog to photons. Photons make an electron faster or slower. Likewise, emotions make you feel more or less energized. 

You probably remember learning about the electron in secondary school. It is indivisible, constant (never changes no matter what you do to it), and cannot be destroyed. Likewise, the most fundamental qualities of the mind are unity, indivisibility (we always have a unified perception), and constancy from birth to death. So electrons (and their nuclei) build matter in space, which you can hold, but the mind exists in time, which you cannot control.

The fermionic mind hypothesis recognizes the mind as the smallest unit of intellect and an organic and necessary part of the physical world. Our bodily and mental needs, even hunger or thirst, spur interaction with our environment. An intelligent response to a stimulus depends on the intuition of the physical laws, such as gravity. Thus, the brain operates by physical principles. The energetic nature of emotions shows their role in intelligence, morality, and mental health. 

The fermionic mind hypothesis is a paradigm shift in consciousness science; watch my video. How do you explain consciousness? on YouTube.

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Decision making ability is a reliable marker of emotional stability

 

A common factor called "decision acuity" underpins diverse decision-making abilities. Decision acuity reflects a facility for sound decision-making. High decision acuity reflected fast learning, considering outcomes in the distant future, reward sensitivity, trust in others, and a low tendency for retaliation. Crucially, decision acuity and IQ had dissociable brain signatures. Independent of IQ, decision acuity predicted performance in the decision-making tasks was higher in older subjects and increased parental education. 

Decision acuity may be necessary for understanding mental health, inferior social function, and aberrant thought patterns. Decision acuity increased with age and was associated with mental health symptoms independently of intelligence. It was associated with distinctive resting-state networks, particularly in brain regions typically engaged by decision-making tasks. Decision acuity is reliable and stable over months and even years later. Therefore, stable, functional connectivity underpins decision-making ability. 

These results may be necessary for understanding mental health, inferior social function, and aberrant thought patterns. Decision acuity is reduced in individuals with low general social functioning. Decision acuity was decreased in those with deviant thinking and low general social functioning. 

Image: Rodin, The Thinker

Read the original article: A generic decision-making ability predicts psychopathology in adolescents and young adults and is reflected in distinct brain connectivity patterns

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The psychological consequences of emotions

Time representation of emotions Positive emotions come from slow oscillations, which expand time perception (top left). Negative emotions carry a lot of information, which contracts time perception (Bottom left)  

 

Neurons transfer information by electric means, forming brain frequencies. Although emotions represent the unlimited colors of the human experience, they only have positive or negative energy signatures. Therefore, emotions represent energy imbalances, the fundamental motivations of the mind. The brain's self-regulation produces a response that restores the equilibrium position or resting state. The resting state is the spontaneous fluctuations of the inactive, resting brain.

The need for air, water, food, and mating modulates between urgency and relaxation, turning time into a subjective mental experience. In the words of Einstein, "When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it's only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it's two hours." Einstein's insight shows that even minutes and seconds trigger impatience when we are suffering; the painful misery makes the clock seem to tick slower. In addition to hot stoves and pains, positive experiences also slow the perception of time. We feel the transience only in retrospect. When spending time with a nice girl, or boy for that matter, time seems to stand still.

Information processing builds on the mental state; fast oscillations permit greater information transmission, but their significant energy needs tax the brain's energy cycle. Positive and negative emotions have contrasting energy needs and mental and health consequences. The increasing time perception in both cases suggests the trigonometric (wavy) origin of emotions; positive emotions expand, and negative emotions contract the wave. 

Fast oscillations are deterministic, leaving their residual energy on resting activations. They constrict focus and create psychological heaviness. They recreate the past via rumination and repetitive thinking. Negative emotions are also information-rich. The excess information has to go somewhere. There are two possible paths to channel their pent-up tension. In the first case, aggravation, critical tendency, and physical brutality radiate into the environment. In the second case, negative emotions are internalized, wreaking havoc on the hormonal system via anxiety and depression. Both possibilities induce adverse hormonal and psychological consequences, as shown in my YouTube video, where psychological tightness is represented by lines drawn closer together. Where do the pressure and tightness of negative emotions go? 

Watch Understanding and Managing Emotions. 

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