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Perception without perceiver
Perception without perceiver
Rafael Malach, Dept. of Neurobiology (in conversation
with Zoran Josipovic)
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 13, No. 9, pp. 57-66
(2006)
Keywords: perception, self, sensory cortex, Zen meditation
In this Q&A transcription published in the Journal of
Consciousness Studies, Rafael Malach again argues that, at least in some cases,
conscious perception does not require any form of 'observer' in the prefrontal
area, but needs only activation in the sensory cortex. This claim is based on
fMRI studies performed by Malach and colleagues. In one study where subjects
had their brains scanned while watching a film, there was a wide spread
activation of the sensory cortex in the rear of the brain, coinciding with
relatively little activity in the frontal areas, where a significant degree of
inhibition was apparent.
It was further shown that the more engaging the
film, the less activity there was in the frontal areas. Malach suggests that
the role of the frontal areas is not to create perceptual consciousness but to
deliberate on the significance of the sensory experience and to make it
reportable. When introspective or deliberative activity is in process, it is
accepted that both sensory and prefrontal areas may be activated. If we accept
this approach it becomes impossible to explain consciousness entirely in terms
of the self, and the easy let out of deconstructing the self, and then claiming
to have explained consciousness is closed off.
Malach suggests that
conceptually, there could be an axis running from, firstly, introspective
activity in the prefrontal, through, secondly, attention to external world
material such a film, which can activate much of the sensory cortex, while
inhibiting prefrontal activity, to thirdly and finally experiences such as Zen
meditation, which can be seen as pure perception without any residual awareness
of the self. This type of pure perceptual/absence of self experience is
reported as being associated with other forms of altered states of
consciousness.
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