Physical, neural, and mental timing.
Consciousness and cognition June 1, 2002 Wim Van de Grind
The debate over Benjamin Libet's findings on the timing of conscious experiences reflects deeper assumptions about how the nervous system handles time. The nervous system recombines and recodes sensory messages; ignoring these processes can lead to theories requiring subjective back-referral. Many neuroscientists assume a neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) that compares activity patterns only if they arrive simultaneously, prompting searches for synchrony or latency compensation. Alternatively, symbolic representations of time and space could be encoded as tags multiplexed with sensory qualities. The hidden issue is whether the NCC is uniquely smart—solving timing and location problems on its own—or whether such information is coded symbolically early in processing. The author sides with the latter, distributed-smartness view.