Cover story articleNon-materialist neuroscience

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Non-materialist neuroscience is one of the latest fronts in the war on science. The battle has been a long time coming and it is surprising it has taken so long to get going. Modern neuroscience is rapidly reducing much of human thought, emotion and behavior into component pieces of neuronal interactions. The combination of computational modeling and non-invasive imaging of living brains has allowed researchers to begin describing how complex thought emerges from the firing patterns of neurons. In a way, neuroscience is the death knell of dualism. When materialist causes become both necessary and sufficient to explain all of human thought then parsimony dictates that references to a soul or other supernatural entities can be tossed out.

Non-materialist neuroscience is a reaction to these discoveries, a rallying cry for dualism. Like creationism and intelligent design this "new" neuroscience is a reactionary movement against science. Rather than a hypothesis that leads to predictions and experiments, it is simply a catalog of things modern neuroscience supposedly cannot yet explain.

Unsurprisingly, the movement is spear-headed by intelligent design lackeys from the Discovery Institute and related affiliates. The primary proponents of the movement are Michael Egnor, a neurosurgeon and recent contributor to the Discovery Institute blog, Denyse O'Leary, a Canadian "journalist" who runs her own blog dedicated to non-materialist neuroscience and likes to copy and paste these entries over on William Dembski's blog as well, and Mario Beauregard, the author with O'Leary of a recent book on the subject of non-materialist neuroscience: The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul.


[edit] Michael Egnor's argument of shared properties

[edit] Egnor's Syllogism

Michael Egnor is a pediatric neurosurgeon at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Center[1] and is the latest Discovery Institute blogger. Egnor attempts to argue the case for dualism from a philosophical ground. It is interesting to note that he includes no actual science, and only vaguely approaches the scientific method by proposing a few thought experiments. The gist of his argument is that in order for one set of things to be derived from another set of things they must share the same properties. Here is his argument in syllogism form:

Conclusion: Ideas cannot be created from matter[2]

Quod erat demonstrandum, right?



Major premise: Milk is a liquid and is white.
Conclusion: Cheese does not come from milk.

Egnor's syllogism is obviously silly. A large number of examples could be set up to show how his logic is flawed, not least the existence of emergent phenomena, where the properties of a larger scale phenomenon can be completely independent of, and ultimately unpredictable from, the smaller bits that comprise it. When asking the question about whether one thing can be derived from another, you do not start at shared properties - rather, you start with correlation of states and work towards experimental manipulation of those states. Egnor does attempt to formulate something along these lines in his hypothetical thought experiments. He envisions several different manipulations, the first of which is moving the brain through space and time, and the second of which is dividing the brain into component pieces. Egnor then wants to see how "ideas" change in regards to these manipulations.[2][3] While the spirit of the thought experiment might be in the right vein, Egnor has fallen into the typical creationist trap of setting up an experiment designed to achieve a goal rather than to test a claim. Real scientists start by asking what property changes in the brain actually do correlate with changes in thought patterns. We know that wholesale movement of the brain through space does not alter thought, and dividing the brain into component pieces does not give us corresponding pieces of thought. If there were absolutely no correlation between changes in brain properties and those of thought then Egnor would be right to say that the brain cannot produce thought; however this is not what we observe.

Of course brains cannot be divided into parts as Egnor imagines. There is an analogous situation when brain damage[4] occurs. Sometimes parts of the brain are removed surgically. Other times parts of the brain die through a disease like a stroke or through a traumatic injury. Alternatively parts of the brain survive but function abnormally due to brain damage. It is well known that brain damage sometimes affects thought.[5] The exact effect depends on which parts of the brain are damaged and in what way.

[edit] The material properties of thought

As PZ Myers points out in his response to Egnor's strawman, neuroscience and psychology are full of examples of how changes in the material properties of the brain alter thought.[6] By studying injury to the brain through stroke, surgery, or accident scientists have discovered that altering the relative position of neurons to each other, severing or rewiring the connections between neurons, or the wholesale death or removal of neurons drastically alters thought.[7][8] Through the study of psychological disorders and drugs it is also known that changes in the properties of cell membranes, neuronal structure, protein properties or chemical gradients have a range of effects on thoughts and emotions.[9][10] These correlative studies identify the kinds of properties that the brain and its matter have that are important in formation of thought. The last 60 years of cognitive psychology and neuroscience have been dedicated to exploring how manipulating these properties alters thought.

Thoughts or ideas that were separate from matter have never been observed, changes in the properties of matter alter the properties of thoughts, and scientists have even begun modeling how the individual circuits of the brain could create certain thought and behavioral patterns. It is easy to see that matter is a necessary ingredient in the creation of thought, and all the evidence points to it being a sufficient cause. Egnor's argument comes down to the old school argument from ignorance. "I cannot see how a complex idea like altruism emerges from neuronal interactions, therefore it doesn't." This is the same creationist routine we have seen again and again, such as from a certain other guy named Michael.

If Egnor wants to be taken seriously he must come up with a way to identify, measure and test the ghost in his machine. He must show how a predictive falsifiable theory of neuroscience can develop from his hypothesis. Egnor can't do this, and his dualism is as much a scientific dead end as saying "god did it." All of modern neuroscience is built around discovering how neuron interactions form thought and how these interactions can be manipulated to cure disease and recover from injury. The "ghost in the machine" hypothesis gives scientists nothing to work with. If researchers hadn't tossed out Egnor's dualism a hundred years ago, Egnor would not have a job right now.

[edit] See Also

Essay:Michael Egnor's failed attempt at dualism

[edit] Mario Beauregard's quantum mind

[edit] Introduction to Beauregard's world

Mario Beauregard, like Egnor, comes with credentials. He has his doctorate in psychology and is a neuroscience researcher out of the University of Montreal.[11] Unlike Egnor, Beauregard has published his ideas in peer-reviewed journals. These publications can be divided into two categories. The first is his actual science, involving mostly neuroimaging studies on the regulation of emotion. These studies have been published in standard science journals and are of adequate quality and can be referred to as legitimate scientific peer-reviewed studies.[12][13][14] However, none of these works detail his dualistic philosophy; they are not peer-reviewed papers on the science behind dualism, but instead rather straightforward neuroscience studies grounded in methodological naturalism (except for a few odd sentences here and there about "mind processes" and "psychological space").[15] The second set of papers actually do address his dualistic philosophy.[16] Beauregard makes an interesting leap in his philosophy papers that somehow his science papers justify dualism and cites them accordingly.[16]


  • Existing materialist explanations do not adequately explain this to Beauregard's satisfaction.

The argument from quantum physics takes a slightly different path:

  • Quantum physics demonstrates that a "mind" is a necessary component for anything to happen. (This has not been demonstrated, Wave function collapse does not occur with all interpretations of quantum physics and even where Wave function collapse is postulated not all theories require a conscious observer, see Objective collapse theory.)
  • This "mind" is not based on material existence.
  • Therefore a "mind" is needed to alter the brain because quantum interactions are involved.[16]

Of course none of the neuroscience studies Beauregard has done are proof of dualism or a spritual realm, nor is his strange mangling of quantum physics. What follows is the dissection of his claims.

[edit] Badly crafted neuroscience


Beauregard's imaging studies basically fall into two categories. The first are studies that show normal people being able to change their response to stimuli through active thought[15] and the corresponding brain pattern changes that emerge from this. The second are studies that examine how psychological disorders such as schizophrenia and depression might emerge from an inability to actively alter thinking patterns[14][13]. Beauregard defines something he calls the "psychological space" and "mind process" where he believes this active thought lies, and that this "psychological space" alters the neuronal firing patters through quantum interactions. Beauregard defines this "psychological space" to be outside of material causes. Beyond this basic tautology we may ask, what would we expect to find if there really was something outside the brain controlling neuronal firing patterns, and what would we expect to find if it was the brain (basically other neurons) that are controlling the changes?






[edit] Mangled quantum physics

Beauregard's quantum mind is published with co-authors Jeffery Schwartz and Henry Stapp.[16] The argument hinges on two ideas: first that quantum effects must be accounted for in how thoughts emerge from the brain and second that quantum effects can not be accounted for unless a “mind” outside of the material causes of the brain is included in the calculations.

Beauregard argues that quantum effects must occur in the brain by bringing up the size of ion-channels that mediate signaling between neurons. He and his co-authors propose the idea that they are small enough that quantum effects must dominate over “classical” effects. The idea that the size of a given area in a neuron is with in the realm of quantum effects is not new. Other theorist and philosophers have tried to place quantum effects in other areas like the microtubules which form the cytoskeleton of the cells.[21] These ideas have more than passing resemblance to Rene Descartes' attempt to seat the “mind” and human soul in the pineal gland. Descartes idea is snickered at in Freshman neuroanatomy and philosophy courses alike, but the idea of seating the human soul in the microtubules or ion channels is just as snicker-worthy.

There are several major problems with trying to place quantum effects in neuron structures. The first is that quantum effects dominate not just in small spaces but in really small time scales and the time scales that operate in the brain remove any basis for quantum mechanics to have any significant effects.[22] We are also left wondering what in the world is so special about a microtubule or an ion channel that all of human thought, emotion, and behavior could somehow be controlled from quantum manipulations of its function. There is no reason to view these neural features as special or any different from any other architecture of the brain. Many very important neuronal architectures, which we know play significant roles in thought and emotion, are well outside the range of quantum effects both in size and time.[23] An instructive analogue is the computer. We know quantum effects are important to the operation of a computer; understanding the flow of electrons in many modern day circuits requires intricate understandings of quantum effects and must be accounted for. But even though quantum effects are present in circuits, these effects do not alter or change the actual computations that are performed or in anyway affect the software being run when compared to a classical approximation.[23] We are left with the fact that actual scientific evidence shows there is little reason to account for quantum effects in the human brain, that the few putative regions in which quantum effects are present are not particularly convincing or special, and that even if we do eventually find a place for quantum effects that does not mean that they play a role in thought at all. At this point we can throw out the quantum brain theory but lets take a look at Beauregard et al.'s second point.



[edit] The science of materialist thought


[edit] Neuroimaging correlates

One of the most exciting areas of study in modern neuroscience is the ability to use noninvasive techniques to study the activation of brain regions during controlled behavioral and thought experiments. The fMRI, pet, and EP studies have revolutionized our ability to explore how thoughts, behavior and brain activation patterns correlate. The overwhelming reality of these studies has demonstrated clearly that the same thoughts in different people activate the same basic brain regions. The thought, behavior, emotions, and consciousness all appear to be reliably predicted by the activation of particular brain regions. This is very powerful evidence for materialist based explanations of the "mind" and defiantly not a prediction of any dualist model.

Beauregard's own work has demonstrated that people reliably activate the limbic and paralimbic systems when exposed to erotic material, and suppress sexual excitement using prefrontal regions.[15] This is not a unique stream of research either, as many others have demonstrated similar effects in the role of the prefrontal and limbic regions.[25][26]





[edit] Computational modeling


However, while we are not yet at this point, that is not to say we do not have some amazing models in the bag already. Work studying particular regions in the brain (called the ventral tegmental areas) has shown that neurons in these regions fire in predictable ways in response to unexpected rewards, and associated predictors of these rewards.[31] The behavior of these cells follows exact mathematical dictates. By structuring artifcial neuron networks that behave in the same mathematically precise way, we can create digital organisms that can learn almost identically to real animals.[32] In fact, you can download the source code of OpenWorm, a computer emulation/simulation of C. elegans, and explore its full connectome (a trendy word for its whole brain connectivity).[33][34][35]


[edit] Drug manipulation, surgery, and injury


[edit] Drugs


The most common drug manipulations for sensory perception are probably hallucinogens with psilocybin and LSD being most well known. Consumption of these drugs alters major neurotransmitter pathways primarily serotonin and dopamine. The effects are drastic alternations in perception with full blown hallucinations, mixing up of sensory pathways, and significant alternations of body image.[37] It has also been known for decades that drugs in many categories strongly alter memory. Most drugs have a negative effect on memories causing poor retrieval, encoding and even implanting false memories.[38] However, other drugs are now being developed and discovered that increase and sharpen memory as well.[39] Drugs also have very strong influences on emotional responses, anyone that has had too much to drink will realize the emotional roller coaster it can cause. Drugs like amphetamines can increase anger and violent responses. These drugs also alter the pathways of cognitive control over behavior. The disinhibition effects of alcohol are notoriously well known. All of these effects also change the personalities of people involved on drugs.


[edit] Injury and surgery



Less severe but just as fascinating are examples of “alien hand syndrome.” While initially limited to just hands it has since been extended to areas all over the body. Injuries cause the patient to loose conscious control over some exterior part of the body, usually a limb. However, the area of the brain that controls it is not harmed, just its connections to executive control regions. The hand actually will seem to act of its own accord. Patient deny it even belongs to them. It can perform many complex motivated behaviors completely free of executive conscious control. These behaviors can be belligerent and contrary to what the person wishes as well.[42] [43]

If motivation, thought and behavior are dictated by the materialist mechanisms of the brain these split cases are easy to understand, as are the thousands and thousands of other examples of alterations in every aspect of behavior due to changes in the brain. Materialist explanations allow for fine-tune studying of how injury correlates with loss or change in function and allow us to better understand how and why we do the things we do. It also offers hope for treatments of patients that have debilitating injuries. The non-materialists have failed to show how their ideas can explain that data - and are even further away from showing how they can advance the cause of knowledge and help people in need.

[edit] Final analysis




[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Michael Egnor-Physician profile
  2. 2.0 2.1 Ideas, Matter, and Faith
  3. Please Help P.Z. Myers Find Altruism!
  4. See: Brain damage at Wikipedia.
  5. See: Neurocognitive at Wikipedia.
  6. Egnor's machine is uninhabited by any ghosts
  11. Mario Beauregard's Homepage
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Beauregard, M., Lévesque, J. & Bourgouin, P. (2001). Neural correlates of the conscious self-regulation of emotion. J. Neuroscience, 21: RC165 (1-6).
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Schwartz, J. M., Stapp, H. & Beauregard, M. Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: a neurophysical model of mind-brain interaction. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 1-19.
  18. Hebbian learning on wikipedia
  38. MM Ghoneim and JV Hinrichs, “Drugs, memory and sedation: specificity of effects,” Anesthesiology 87, no. 4 (1997): 734-736.
  40. By, for instance, showing something to only one eye.
  42. Sean A Spence, “Alien motor phenomena: a window on to agency,” Cognitive neuropsychiatry 7, no. 3 (August 2002): 211-20.
  43. Alien Hand Syndrome sees woman attacked by her own hand
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