Considerations of Consciousness and Emotive Memory

Abstract

The role of chemistry is generally overlooked in theories of consciousness; most neuroscientists focus exclusively on electrodynamic signaling. We argue that chemodynamic signaling modes must also be considered. As an aide to continuing this discourse, we clarify key terms, namely: Feelings, Emotions, Code and Neural net. In particular, we distinguish between “memory” as applied to the binary formatted “information” employed by computers, which lack any affective quality, and “emotive memory”, the recall of subjective “cognitive information” experienced by neural nets. Most concepts of consciousness focused on the electrodynamic activation, witness the many popular books and movies, as well as scientific papers based on this premise. However, the discovery of neurotransmitters (NTs) and development of psychoactive drugs indicates that consciousness is also enabled by chemodynamic processes, which particularly impact affective states. A graphic timeline is presented which highlights the historical milestones in the neuroscientific clarification of signaling modes pertinent to consciousness. We opine that a combined chemodynamic and electrodynamic description of emotive memory will clarify the causative processes from which the experiential consciousness of the neural net emerges. Consider that without chemically encoded emotive memory, a conscious creature could not long survive; its consciousness would be moot.