CATALYSIS, PERCEPTION, AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Patricia A. Carpenter (), Christopher J. Davia () and Ram Lakhan Pandey Vimal ()
Additional contact information
Patricia A. Carpenter: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
Christopher J. Davia: Centre for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN19RH, UK
Ram Lakhan Pandey Vimal: Vision Research Institute, 428 Great Road, Suite 11, Acton, MA 01720, USA

New Mathematics and Natural Computation (NMNC), 2009, vol. 05, issue 01, 287-306

Abstract: This paper describes and provides support for a non-representational theory of perception called the Fractal Catalytic theory, which proposes that perception is a catalytic type of process that occurs at multiple scales.1Enzyme catalysis involves a vibratory facilitation of a reaction. A catalytic model for smell at the molecular level is supported by evidence that smell involves a vibratory process.2This type of facilitation can be generalized to the neural level, where many neuroscientists have observed vibratory neural patterns. At the level of the organism, we describe research with blind individuals who experience a visuo-spatial world through patterns of sounds or tactile vibrations. Such research argues against the standard theory that people are representing objects and events, and supports the view that experience arises as an organism mediates (catalyzes) the transitions in its surround. The theory relates to the biologically-grounded theory of Autopoiesis3as well as proposals that catalysis is central in biological evolution. We examine the implications of this theory for the nature of consciousness.

Keywords: Perception; fractal catalysis; autopoiesis; consciousness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1793005709001295
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:nmncxx:v:05:y:2009:i:01:n:s1793005709001295

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S1793005709001295

Access Statistics for this article

New Mathematics and Natural Computation (NMNC) is currently edited by Paul P Wang

More articles in New Mathematics and Natural Computation (NMNC) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().