How Do We Have Feelings?

Irving C. Statler

Human Factors Research Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/jbbs.2015.511045                

Abstract

For centuries, the question of how a physical structure (the brain) generates the subjective feeling of consciousness has plagued neuroscientists, physiologists, psychologists, linguists, and philosophers. This has become known as the “hard problem of consciousness” and has been the subject of many publications. Although lots of answers have been proposed, none has been completely satisfactory. The focus of most of these studies has been on the neuronal structures and activities. Experiential consciousness emerges from neural processes, but it has not been explained with models that have been based solely on the electro-mechanical aspects of the processes. There must be some other dynamic features of neuronal activity to explain the emergence of experiential consciousness. I argue that a likely answer to the dilemma resides in the added dimension of the neurochemistry of the brain that has, so far, received little attention.

Keywords

Experiential Consciousness, Feelings, Mind-Body Problem, Hard Problem of Consciousness, Neuropharmacology

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Descartes, R. (1641) Meditations on First Philosophy. In: Cottingham, J., Stoothoff, R. and Murdoch, D., Eds., The Philosophical Writings of René Descartes, Vol. II, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1-62.
[2]	René, D. (1647) Les passions de l’ame (The Passions of the Soul). In: Cottingham, J., Stoothoff, R. and Murdoch, D., Eds., The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Vol. I, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 325-383.
[3]	Chalmers, D.J. (1995) Facing up to the Problem of Consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2, 200-219.
[4]	Edelman, G.M. (1987) Neural Darwinism: The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. Basic Books, Harper Collins Publishers, New York.
[5]	Edelman, G.M. (1989) The Remembered Present. Basic Books, Harper Collins Publishers, New York.
[6]	Humphrey, N. (1992) A History of the Mind. Simon & Schuster, New York. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8544-6
[7]	Baars, B.J. (1988) A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
[8]	Penrose, R. (1989) The Emperor’s New Mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
[9]	Penrose, R. (1994) Shadows of the Mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
[10]	Beck, F. and Eccles, J.C. (1992) Quantum Aspects of Brain Activity and the Role of Consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 89, 11357-11361. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.89.23.11357
[11]	Beck, F. and Eccles, J.C. (2003) Quantum Processes in the Brain: A Scientific Basis of Consciousness. In: Osaka, N., Ed., Neural Basis of Consciousness, John Benjamins, Amsterdam and Philadelphia, 49-141.
[12]	Stapp, H. (2007) Quantum Mechanical Theories of Consciousness. In: Velmans, M. and Schneider, S., Eds., The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness, Blackwell, Malden, 300-312. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470751466.ch24
[13]	Crick, F. and Koch, C. (1990) Towards a Neurobiological Theory of Consciousness. Seminars Neurosciences, 2, 263-275.
[14]	Nagel, T. (1974) What Is It Like to Be a Bat? Philosophical Review, 83, 435-456. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2183914
[15]	Dennett, D. C. (1991) Consciousness Explained. Little, Brown and Company, Boston.
[16]	Chalmers, D.J. (1995b) Absent Qualia, Fading Qualia, Dancing Qualia. In: Metzinger, T., Ed., Conscious Experience, Ferdinand Sch?ningh Verlag GmbH, Paderborn, 309-328.
[17]	Tye, M. (2000) Consciousness, Color and Content. The MIT Press, Cambridge.
[18]	Elliot, A.J. and Maier, M.A. (2007) Color and Psychological Functioning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 250-254. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00514.x
[19]	Van den Tol, A.J.M. and Edwards, J. (2013) Exploring a Rationale for Choosing to Listen to Sad Music When Feeling Sad. Psychology of Music, 41, 440-465. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0305735611430433
[20]	Koch, C. (2009) The Will to Power. Scientific American Mind, 20, 20-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanmind0909-20
[21]	Macnab, R.M. and Koshland Jr., D.E. (1972) The Gradient-Sensing Mechanism in Bacterial Chemotaxis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 69, 2509-2512. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.69.9.2509
[22]	Denton, D. (2005) The Primordial Emotions: The Dawning of Consciousness. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
[23]	Schmidt, A. and Thews, G. (1989). Autonomic Nervous System. In: Janig, W., Ed., Human Physiology, 2nd Edition, Springer-Verlag, New York, 333-370.
[24]	Siegel, G.J., Albers, R.W., Brady, S.T. and Price, D.L. (2006) Basic Neurochemistry. 7th Editon, Elsevier Academic Press, Waltham.
[25]	Florey, E. (1960) Physiological Evidence for Naturally Occurring Inhibitory Substances. In: Roberts, E., Baxter, C.F., van Harreveld, A., Wiersma, C.A.G., Adey, W.R. and Killam, K.F., Eds., Inhibitions of the Nervous System and Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Pergammon Press, Oxford, 72-84.
[26]	Dismukes, R.K. (1979) New Concepts of Molecular Communication among Neurons. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 2, 409-448. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00063317
[27]	Damasio, A. (1994) Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York.
[28]	Wrobel, S. (2007) Science, Serotonin, and Sadness: The Biology of Antidepressants: A Series for the Public. The FASEB Journal, 21, 3404-3417. http://dx.doi.org/10.1096/fj.07-1102ufm
[29]	Meyer, J.S. and Quenzer, L.F. (2005) Psychopharmacology: Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland.
[30]	Alkon, D.L. (1992) Memory’s Voice: Deciphering the Mind-Brain Code. Harper-Collins Publishers, New York.
[31]	Wilson, E.O. (2012) The Social Conquest of Earth. Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York.
[32]	Kirk, R. (1995) How Is Consciousness Possible? In: Metzinger, T., Ed., Conscious Experience, Imprint Academic, Ferdinand Schoningh Verlag GmbH, Paderborn.