In the search for the physical origin of consciousness, neuroscientists have long looked to neurons, the brain’s billions of electrically active cells, as the most likely answer. A new theoretical paper challenges this assumption.
A new theory suggests that our awareness of reality may not emerge directly from neurons, but from a hidden wave deep within the brain, functioning as a holographic model of the world.
In an article published this Thursday in Frontiers in Psychologythe neuroscientist Robert Wordenfrom the Active Inference Institute, proposes what he calls “projective wave theory of consciousness“.
Worden’s hypothesis suggests that our conscious experience emerges from a wave excitation inside a small but critical brain structure known as the thalamus.
Although it is not a conventional theory, if confirmed, the idea could subvert decades of neuroscience and fundamentally reshape the way scientists understand the biological basis of consciousness.
“This article is a initial conceptual sketch of a projective wave theory of consciousness, in which phenomenal consciousness emerges exclusively from wave excitation in the thalamus,” writes Worden. neuronal activity keep the wave, but does not have any direct connection to conscience.”
A radical proposal: Consciousness as a wave
For decades, most scientific theories about consciousness have focused on neural computing, the idea that patterns of electrical signals in the brain generate subjective experience. But Worden argues that this approach faces a fundamental problemrooted in the way information works.
In computers, including the brain, the information is encoded. Neural signals are made up of impulses, patterns and temporal relationships. But the encoded data, by themselves, they do not contain meaning intrinsically. Meaning emerges only when encoded information is interpreted or decoded.
This creates what Worden describes as a “decoding problem“. Consciousness presents us with a direct space experiencewhen we see the corner of a table or the position of an object, without requiring a conscious decoding of neural signals.
“The physical events inside a computer do not define what this computes“, notes Worden, arguing that neuronal firing patterns alone cannot fully explain conscious experience, as they lack intrinsic meaning without external interpretation.
To resolve this paradox, the neuroscientist proposes that our consciousness does not emerge directly of neuronal firing.
Instead, it suggests that neurons may contribute to generating and maintaining a physical wave, similar, in principle, to a hologramwhich serves as an analog model of the surrounding world.
At the heart of projective wave theory is the idea that the brain contains a analog model of the surrounding spacestored in the form of a wave excitation, possibly in the thalamus — a central node deep within the brain that links sensory and motor systems.
“The wave stores information in a Fourier transform of spacesimilar to a hologram,” writes Worden. “The neurons couple to the wave, and the wave is the source of consciousness.”
In this model, neurons do not directly produce the conscious experience. Instead, interact with the waveintroducing information into it and extracting information from it. The wave itself becomes the fundamental substrate of consciousness.
Such a system could allow the brain to maintain a continuous and integrated model of the world, combining sensory input from vision, touch, hearing and other senses into a unified spatial experience.
The most likely location for this wave, according to theory, is the thalamus — a small structure of approximately spherical shape, located near the center of the brain. Worden argues that his central location and its shape may suggest a deeper function.
“The mammalian thalamus has numerous nucleiwith weak or non-existent connections between them”, notes Worden, arguing that it is ideally positioned to integrate spatial information from multiple senses.
One of the most striking aspects of the theory is the use of principles of physicsspecifically, Fourier transforms, mathematical tools used in holography, notes .
In holograms, the waves store information about three-dimensional objects, allowing the original image to be reconstructed later. Worden suggests that the brain can work in a similar waywith the thalamic wave acting as a holographic storage system for spatial information.
This could explain one of the most perplexing features of consciousness: why our perception of space it looks so precise and fluid. “The wave is like a holographic model of reality,” the article explains, allowing conscious experience to mirror the geometry of the physical world.
According to the theory, everything we experience, from sights and sounds to thoughts and emotions, can be represented in the form of patterns in this wave.
Despite its bold claims, the theory is entirely speculative. So far, no direct evidence of such a wave has been detected in the brain. However, Worden argues that this absence may simply reflect the limitations of current instruments measurement.
The wave, if it exists, can operate at extremely low energy levels or involve unusual physical states, not easily detectable with conventional neuroscience techniques.
“There are possible physical mechanisms and anatomical locations for wave excitation in the vertebrate brain,” writes Worden. However, identifying its precise nature will require additional investigation.
Worden acknowledges that there is still a lot of work to be done. Still, he argues that the theory points in a promising new direction.
“The projective wave theory is not just a theory of consciousness. It is a cognitive theory of how the brain worksand differs radically from current purely neural theories”, concludes Worden.
