21 Questions Major Problems in Mathscience

The Key Questions for BRAIN SCIENCE and SOCIETY to address in the 21st Century
Curiosity about our brain is one of the oldest subjects of human speculation, yet in many ways it is still a very young science. How the brain operates is fundamental to every human activity and therefore, arguably, is the most important subject in the whole of science.
Only in the last century have we begun to probe the complexity of neurons, hormones and all the other physical components of the human brain. Only in the last few decades have PET scans, MRI and fMRI, EEG, and MEG and other windows into our brains made it possible to begin to observe this most complex of all systems in operation.
Why is understanding how our brain operates so important?
Because it is the only means we have of solving problems, finding solutions and discovering how to repair it when it goes wrong: there are over 1,000 illnesses associated with the brain. Practical applications like invention, research, design and all the other creative activities are becoming major occupations and principal wealth creators. Decisionmaking is closely related to learning and memory formation. Education and life-long learning is fundamental to our futures. All of us, scientists and non-scientists alike, have a big stake in this debate.
Setting out the unanswered questions emphasises the massive scale of the problem and focuses attention on the pressing need to devote significant resources to find the answers.
Brain science is on the leading edge of our knowledge, but everyone has their own personal test-bed, so everyone can participate in exploring this frontier.
Given the scale of problems facing the world, at no time has this quest been more important.
The only means of creating knowledge is the human brain, and the only system capable of converting that knowledge into wealth is people working together, exchanging ideas, cooperating, competing and experimenting.
www.brainmindforum.org
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Why are Questions so Important?
The usefulness of the knowledge we acquire and the effectiveness of the actions we take depend on the quality of the questions we ask. Questions open the door to dialogue and discovery. They are an invitation to creativity and breakthrough thinking. Questions can lead to movement and action on key issues; by generating creative insights, they can ignite change.
What is the role of the Brain Mind Forum?
The Brain Mind Forum interacts with corporations, academics and the public to catalyse the development of neuroscientific knowledge, research and understanding.
The BMF is a new type of entity located at the nexus between business, research and public science. Its immediate objective is to engage the stimulation of both academic and public discussion of the Brain/Mind to promote widespread understanding and use of neuroscientific knowledge and findings within institutions and society, with a mission to support on-going positive research, change and learning.
The BMF hopes to facilitate a wider, more holistic approach to the brain, learning and decision making and encourage the spread of new insights from neuroscience to other stakeholders throughout society.
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question; I could solve the problem in less than five minutes. ALBERT EINSTEIN [see Appendix **]
''Who among us would not be happy to lift the veil behind which is hidden the future; to gaze at the coming developments of our science and at the secrets of its development in the centuries to come? DAVID HILBERT [see Appendix*]
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Format
The objective of the Brain Mind Forum is to facilitate the preparation of, and general agreement to, a comprehensive taxonomy of important questions across the spectrum of our burgeoning knowledge and understanding of the physiology of the Brain (Question 1), and the attributes and capabilities of the Mind (question 2). Questions 3, 4 and 5 address important associated matters. Questions 5 and 6 look ahead to what brain science can offer and the likely beneficiaries, while 8 questions the paths to finding solutions and measuring progress.
The questions start from the over-arching general problems, and proceed through successive levels to detailed questions, addressing different levels of interest, and stimulating different levels of debate, but grounding them all in the context of the overall system. Subsets of these questions can then be used as a basis to study specific solutions.
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Index
1. Questions about how the Brain works.
2.
Questions about the attributes and functions of the Mind.
Key Questions. 2.1. 2.2. 2.3. 2.4. 2.5. 2.6. 2.7. 2.8. 2.9. 2.10. How do we learn from experience? How does the brain enable us to plan for the future? How do we solve problems and make decisions? Which brain processes make something meaningful? What are intelligence and thinking? How do we invent new ideas and be creative? How do emotion, sensation and passion influence our behaviour? How does the brain stitch its patterns of activity together? What Brain changes make us individuals? What is conscious awareness?
Parallel Questions 2.11. 2.12. 2.13. 2.14. 2.15. 2.16. 2.17. 2.18. 2.19. Are Individuals born with different inherited levels of skills, talents, attributes & abilities? How does the Brain process time? How do we observe, describe, define and measure qualia? What is the neural basis of personality? What is the nature of the psychosomatic link between the brain and the immune system? How do we prepare our brains to cope with the explosion of knowledge? How do we prepare our brains to cope with rising life expectancy? What network processes does the brain execute to cope with persistent information overload? What network processes does the brain execute to cope with stress (such as loss of control of a situation, or being faced with too much responsibility)?
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Associated General Questions 3. 4. 5. What makes a Brain Mind normal or abnormal? What is the significance to the Brain Mind of nutrients and energy? What are the definitions of life and the relevance to our understanding of the Brain Mind?
The Way Ahead 6. 7. 8. What can Brain science offer society? Who are the beneficiaries? What are the paths to finding solutions? What road maps can we construct? How can we track progress and measure success? To bring the full power of the scientific method to bear do we need to develop definitions, notations and means to measure the features of the brain we observe?
Appendices * Prof David Hilbert: The 23 Problems ** The Power of Questions
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1.
Questions about how the Brain works.
Any thorough study of our understanding of the Brain Mind must start with a survey of the state of the art of our knowledge of the physiology of the Brain. Much of this will be well known to many, but, as this field is developing so fast and so many disciplines are involved some audiences may find an update useful
The State of the art of the physiology of the Brain?
The Physical structure 1.1. The Neurons 1.1.1. 1.1.2. 1.1.3. How many different types of neuron are known? What are their individual forms and functions? In computer systems the processor supports only eight basic function commands available to the programmer.
What are the equivalent basic processing functions that each type of neuron is capable of performing? 1.1.4. 1.1.4.1. 1.1.4.2. 1.1.4.3. 1.1.4.4. 1.1.4.4.1. 1.1.4.4.2. 1.1.4.4.3. What are the form and functions of the components of Neurons? Nuclei? Axons? Dendrites? Synapses? What maintains the tension that determines the width of the Is the width of the synaptic cleft fixed or variable? If the width of the synaptic cleft is variable, is this variability in turn variable for different groups of synaptic cleft or gap
neural networks? 1.1.4.4.4. 1.1.4.4.5. If so, how is this selective tension controlled? Is this a possible source of how an individual initiates a mental activity: starts a thought or action, or
executes a decision?
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1.1.5. 1.1.5.1. 1.1.5.2. 1.1.5.3. 1.1.5.4. 1.1.5.4.1. 1.1.5.4.2. 1.1.5.5.
How are the Neuron structures formed? Nuclei? How are the billions of neural structures present in a brain at birth constructed in the foetus? How are the trillions of neural links and structures in a mature brain constructed during a lifetime? What is the end to end process by which a new neuron is formed? What stimulates these links and structures to grow? How do they know where to go? Of what are they constructed?
1.2 1.2.1. 1.2.2. 1.2.3.
Glia How many different types of glial cells are known? What are their individual forms and functions? What processing functions is each type of cell capable of performing?
1.3. 1.3.1. 1.3.1. 1.3.2.
Chemistry How many different types of chemical substances in the brain are known? How is their production stimulated? What are their effects?
1.4. 1.4.1. 1.4.2. 1.4.3. 1.4.4. 1.4.4.1. 1.4.4.2. 1.4.4.3. 1.4.4.4. 1.4.4.5.
What are the Communication systems of the Brain? How are messages initiated in neurons? How are messages transmitted along dendrites and axons? How are messages transmitted across the synapses? How are messages transmitted from the sensory organs to the brain? Sounds? Visual images? Tastes? Touch? Smells?
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1.4.5. organs?
How do neurons cause messages to be transmitted from the brain to the muscles, glands and other
1.5. 1.5.1. 1.5.2. dendrites? 1.5.3. 1.5.4. this gap? 1.5.5. 1.5.6.
What are the Energy systems that drive the Brain? How do the mitochondria convert nutrients into energy? What is the energy source that generates the action potentials that transmit signals along the axons and
How do neurotransmitters carry signals across the synapses? Is there an energy source that controls the tension across the synaptic clefts, and, therefore the width of
How do chemical storehouses in the brain convert energy into activity? How is the flow of nutrients to the neurons controlled?
1.6.
What are the emotional systems of the brain?
1.7.
Are worn or damaged neural structures replaced?
1.7.1.
If a neural structure is replaced, is the replacement the same as the original structure inherited at birth, or
does the replacement include any extensions or modifications? 1.7.2. If a replacement includes these extensions and modifications how are they stored and reproduced?
1.8.
How many separate functional areas have been identified in the brain
1.9.
Statistics & definitions
Various researchers and commentators quote a wide variety of numbers and volumes, often without relating these figures to precise definitions. 1.9.1. 1.9.2. 1.9.3. What is a reliable and confirmable value for the average number of neurons at birth? What is a reliable and confirmable value for the average number of neural networks at birth? What is a reliable and confirmable value for the average number of neural links and additional structures
in a mature brain? 1.9.4. 1.9.5. What is a reliable and confirmable value for the average number of glia at birth? What is a reliable and confirmable value for the average number of glia in a mature brain?
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2.
Questions about the Attributes and Functions of the Mind?
We have discovered and learned a great deal about the brain in the last century and so we already have partial answers to many of the questions above. However, we do not even have hypotheses to answer many questions about the mind. Even some of the basic questions remain an enigma. One thing we can observe is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts at every level. What is this added value? The first step is to accept that this mysterious additional functionality exists, and can be meticulously observed. Learning, thinking, decision-making and planning for the future are complicated intellectual activities, done inside the human brain by cells that on their own cannot perform these activities. We know from systems that we ourselves have created, such as industrial machinery or computer software, that very complex activities can be produced by groups of components that are individually capable of performing only simple actions. Individual neurons cannot forecast the future any more than individual transistors can forecast the weather. In computer programming, for example, there are only eight basic commands behind the building of all the software in the world. The magic lies in the way these components and commands work together. Programming computers is very different from the way brains learn, but there are many intriguing similarities. The concept of programming may or may not prove to be a key to understanding how the brain achieves some of its feats, but it does provide a structure and framework to think about these problems.
.
How do we learn from experience? What brain processes give us confidence in our beliefs?
Neuroscience has made considerable progress in understanding how the brain processes stimuli, forms various kinds of memories and generates behaviours. We already know that memory is more malleable than previously thought, and that environmental factors such as stress can warp a recollection or even create a false memory an important finding which has not yet been fully acknowledged by, for instance, our criminal justice systems. Researchers working on the biochemistry of memory have also made remarkable advances, opening up exciting possibilities for the treatment of memory disorders like post-traumatic stress.
Yet there is much we still don't know about how, at the genetic, epigenetic, biochemical and neuronal levels, information is stored, modified and recalled to shape future brain activity. More research is also needed on how individual differences, life events and developmental changes affect our capacity to learn, adapt and remember. What role, for example, do individual differences in personality, intelligence and creativity play in a person's ability to learn from varying kinds of experience? How do education and training exert their beneficial effects? And what can
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we do to improve our memories? For an ageing population in particular, these questions are not merely theoretical; they need urgent answers.
2.1.
How do we learn from Experience?
2.1.1. 2.1.1.1.
Learning What neurally changes when learning takes place?
2.1.2. 2.1.2.1. 2.1.2.2. 2.1.2.3. 2.1.2.4. 2.1.2.5. 2.1.2.6. 2.1.2.7. 2.1.2.8. 2.1.2.9. 2.1.2.10. 2.1.2.11. 2.1.2.12. 2.1.2.13. 2.1.3. the other? 2.1.4. 2.1.5. 2.1.6. 2.1.7. 2.1.8. 2.1.8.1.
Memory What are the physical processes that create memory? What is the physical process of Recognition? What is the physical process of Recall? How does the brain learn to execute physical actions? How does the brain learn to enhance skills? How does the Brain perfect the timing of physical actions? Is there one type of memory structure or are there many memory types? Is there a separate memory structure associated with each sense? Is there a memory structure for information, another for activities? The above are linked to things or actions; how are abstract thoughts memorised? How and why do brains forget? What are the processes of memory failure? What is the process by which the brain blocks memories it does not want to deal with? What are short term memories and long term memories? Are they different or is the one an extension of
How are short term memories converted or modified into long term memories? How do memories, beliefs and expectations influence our thoughts and behaviour? What brain processes give us confidence in our beliefs? How do we sometimes intuitively know that an answer is correct? Life long learning How do very young children learn the first skills of self control, crawling, walking, speaking and language,
apparently automatically? 2.1.8.2. How do older children learn skills that require a conscious effort like swimming or riding a bicycle?
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2.1.8.3. 2.1.8.4. 2.1.8.5. 2.1.8.6. 2.1.8.7. 2.1.8.8. 2.1.9.
How do people learn skills dependent on language, like reading and writing? How do people learn from their own experiences? How do people learn from the experiences of others? How do people learn from experiences that have not occurred but that they have imagined? Are these ways of learning different facets of one basic algorithm, or do they involve separate skills? Can people be taught, and learn to learn better and more effectively? Do people have different types of brains?
There is a popular and wide spread belief that people tend to divide into two groups: those who are literate and those who are numerate. What evidence supports this conjecture? Are there two or many brain types? 2.1.10. 2.1.10.1. 2.1.10.2. If individuals do have significantly different brain types:Could this help explain why people are either attracted to, or repelled by others? Could this help explain why some people can learn easily from some teachers, while finding it difficult to
learn from others? 2.1.11. Teaching. We only have less than a century of experience of teaching the whole population to their mid
teens. Teaching techniques appear to be failing to engage individual brains leaving vast numbers of young people outside society. How can we teach more effectively?
2.2.
How does the brain enable us to plan for the future? Processing past, present & future.
How does the brain deal with the Future? All natural organisms are self organising systems (selfortems) and therefore have little means of anticipating future events. The human brain is the only known system that can project or imagine and plan in a sophisticated way for the future and so people can predict and prepare for future eventualities.
2.2.1. 2.2.2. 2.2.3. 2.2.4.
What are the neural correlates of planning? What are the neural correlates of projection? What are the neural correlates of prediction? What are the neural correlates of extrapolation?
2.2.5. 2.2.6. 2.2.7. 2.2.8.
What are the neural correlates of imagination (conscious fantasising)? What neurally happens when someone conceives of a possible future scenario? How does the brain cope with the unexpected? What is the process of creating an imaginary future?
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2.2.9. imagination? 2.2.10.
How does the brain differentiate between real and planned or projected events generated by the
What are the similarities and differences between imagination (conscious projection and planning) and
dreaming (neural activity during sleep)? (See 2.10.7.3)
2.3.
How do we solve problems and make decisions?
2.3.1. 2.3.1.1.
The individual on their own. How does the brain interrupt an established learned reaction, and provide time to identify and evaluate
alternatives and select a reasoned response? 2.3.1.2. 2.3.1.3. 2.3.1.4. 2.3.1.5. What happens in the brain when someone makes a decision? Can we identify what has changed? What has been updated? What effect does emotion have on decision making? A human brain can only process information that it already holds. The quality of every decision, therefore,
can only be a function of the amount of information stored: unless a completely new concept is created. Thus decision making is closely related to learning and memory formation. Are these statements correct? 2.3.1.6. One other condition must also be satisfied. A person must be prepared to use the information they have
acquired. It is observable that many people firmly believe some things they know to be false. Similarly many people do not to believe some things that they know are correct. Is it neurally possible to block some information from being considered? If so how does this operate? 2.3.2. 2.3.2.1. The individual as part of a group. Why is it that when people form into groups, although they might individually be educated and sensible,
the group can take destructive and irrational decisions? 2.3.2.2. 2.3.2.3. In a group people can voluntarily follow a leader to their own destruction. How? An absence of discussion, disagreement and challenge can lead to individuals losing their grasp on the
reality of others and become despots in business and politics. Identified as hubris syndrome, how does this occur in the leader and the led? 2.3.3. 2.3.3.1. Evolution of neural responses. Considerable research suggests that a major evolutionary driver has selected in favour of ever faster
responses to incomplete information: the flight or fight reaction to a hint of danger. Far less research has been conducted on the opposite, namely a massive overload of information. How does the brain cope with an overload of information? 2.3.3.2. 2.3.3.3. How does a brain select a course of action and avoid being made impotent by indecision? Does an emotion like fear paralyse the decision making process? If so how?
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2.3.4. 2.3.4.1.
Thinking v speed. Thinking of the best solution takes time. In a crisis the brain bypasses all thinking processes and executes
the best available alternative to survive. How is this selected? 2.3.4.2. 2.3.5. 2.3.5.1. 2.3.5.2. values? 2.3.5.3. 2.3.5.4. Is better decision making a skill that can be learned? If so how do we teach it? Decision making is closely related to the time available to consider alternatives. Hereditary decision making skills Is the ability or otherwise to make decisions and be decisive an hereditary talent? Is there a nascent neural template (similar to language) that early learning populates with beliefs and
2.4.
Which brain processes make something meaningful?
Human beings are meaning-makers, i.e. interpreting things that we dont understand in terms of things we do understand. We have a tremendous capacity to learn from and adapt to our physical, social and cultural environments, but our behaviours are also influenced by the meanings we create for ourselves. Sometimes that influence is beneficial, creating for instance great works of art. Sometimes it is dangerous; but it is rarely if ever a negligible factor in explaining behaviour.
Yet we have much to learn about how the brain interprets events and how patterns of neuron activity convey meaning. Indeed, we do not even fully understand what explanations are and why they are so important to us. What are the structures, processes and environments that make it possible to evaluate information by interpreting and understanding its significance? And how is that evaluation achieved? For example, what brain signals make us confident that we recognise a scene, or doubtful of our own opinions? (Reference Q2.1.7)
As well as understanding the processes underlying meaning-making, we also need to know more about the factors which feed into them, such as emotions. In particular, we know that both emotions and the symbolic thinking exemplified by language have much to do with meaning, but we do not understand their roles and interactions. Recent research on embodied cognition has emphasised the importance of our physical structure, facial expressions, gestures and other movements in creating meaning. As the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein noted (years before brain researchers began using terms like embodied cognition), meaning is and has to be a shared construction. As
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neuroscience moves beyond its early focus on individual brains to considering their social influences, new technologies will need to be developed to understand the neural basis of meaning.
2.4.1. 2.4.2. 2.4.3. 2.4.4. 2.4.5. 2.4.6.
How does the brain attach meaning to information? What is an explanation? How do we understand the implications of a piece of information? How do we extrapolate one piece of information to inform other subjects and problems? How do language and emotions contribute to creating and understanding meaning? What are the neural differences between rote learning, and understanding the implications of information
and being able to extrapolate the learned information to different problems? 2.4.7. 2.4.7.1. Understanding new ideas and concepts. People can only understand new information in the context of their current knowledge. If ideas are too
radical then people do not have the neural structures in place to recognise the value of the new idea. Is this statement correct? 2.4.7.2. 2.4.7.3. If so, what are the implications for education and life long learning? Lord Rees, Past President of the Royal Society, agues that there may be some things beyond the
st
comprehension of the 21 century human brain. If he is right how do we find ways of overcoming this limitation?
2.5. skills?
What are intelligence and thinking? Are they two aspects of the same phenomena or are they different
2.5.1. 2.5.2. 2.5.3. 2.5.4. 2.5.5. 2.5.6.
How can we describe, define, and measure intelligence? How can we describe, define and measure thinking? Is higher intelligence a skill that can be learned? If so, how do we teach it? What is the definition of an abstract thought or idea? How does the brain hold abstract thoughts?
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2.5.7. 2.5.8. 2.5.9. 2.5.10. 2.5.11.
How does the brain process abstract thoughts? Can we identify and measure thinking? Is a greater ability to think a skill that can be learned? If so, how do we teach it? Can we measure different types of intelligence?
2.5.11.1. Can we identify neural or other differences between cohorts of people with consistently high g (fluid) intelligence scores, and low g (fluid) intelligence scores? 2.5.11.2. If we define mental g as a measure of mental agility can we subdivide this into constituent categories? 2.5.11.3. Can we identify neural or other differences between cohorts of people who consistently exhibit high levels of these g category skills? 2.5.11.4. Similarly can we identify the various categories of s (crystallised) type abilities that can clearly be related to specific observable talents and aptitudes that are inherited propensities [ s ] ? 2.5.11.5. Can we identify neural or other differences between cohorts of people who consistently exhibit high and low levels of these s category skills? 2.5.11.6. Can we then deduce that other measurements of s type abilities are related to Post natal skills that may be based on general propensities but are essentially learned [s ] and associated with Weschlers Adult Intelligence Scale and similar tests? 2.5.11.7. Can we identify neural or other differences between cohorts of people who consistently exhibit high and low levels of these s category skills? 2.5.11.8. Given a growing database of these measurements can we identify any patterns or correlations between g, s and s high and low scorers? 2.5.11.9. Could we devise learning regimes to help individuals raise the levels of their intelligence? [After Duncan] 2.5.12. Can we measure different types of thinking?
2 1 2 2 1 1
2.6.
How do we invent new ideas and be creative?
2.6.1. 2.6.2. 2.6.3. 2.6.4. 2.6.5.
What neurally happens when someone has a new idea? What stimulates or encourages the generation of new ideas? How can creativity be defined? How can creativity be taught and learned? How can creativity be measured?
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2.7.
How do emotion, sensation and passion influence our behaviour?
2.7.1.
What happens in the brain to cause people to behave differently in identical circumstances because they
are in a different emotional state? 2.7.2. 2.7.3. How does the brain generate sensations processing external input from the sensory organs? How does the brain generate sensations from processing internal input from the autonomic system and
body organs? 2.7.4. 2.7.5. 2.7.6. How does the brain generate responses to experiences; external stimuli and events (anger, joy)? How does the brain generate self initiated and induced behaviour (ambition, drive, desire, hubris)? Emotion and the concentration of authority can cause hubris syndrome frequently leading to the decay of
decision making effectiveness. 2.7.7. 2.7.8. How do extreme experiences like grief, pain, fear and anger disrupt normal thinking patterns? What is the interface between the immune system, the autonomic system and the higher brain functions
such as creativity and decision-making? 2.7.9. functions? What are the interfaces between the emotional carriers (chemicals, hormones) and the higher brain
2.8.
How does the brain stitch its patterns of activity together?
Across its billions of participating cells, no two patterns of a brains activity are ever identical. The same object can be reflected in enormously variable sensory representations in the brain, while very different stimuli may produce overlapping responses. Yet the human observer easily associates a flash of colour with birdsong, the number thirteen with a feeling of unease, or the overturned vase she finds one morning with the crash that woke her several hours earlier. Our ability to knit our qualia into representations of objects, real or symbolic, can reach across time and space to inspire, guide or sometimes mislead us.
This 'binding problem' is the psychological version of a much deeper and hideously complex quandary: how does the brain integrate its activity so smoothly? The number of contributing components is frankly mind-boggling. For even the simplest stimulus, electrons flow, DNA unwinds, proteins interlock and neurons fire in networks whose intricacy we have only just begun to grasp. We will need more computing power, but also better tools to understand and manage these huge numbers. Only then can we begin to understand how a unified perception, clear thoughts and continuous behaviour arise from the mele of brain activity.
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2.8.1. 2.8.2.
How is fluent behaviour achieved, second-by-second? How is the sense of a coherent self and consistent personality created and maintained over years?
2.9.
What Brain changes make us individuals? (characteristics of personality)
Take one fused egg and sperm in a suitably accommodating womb. Mix in assorted ions, lipids and proteins; add some DNA methylation, phosphorylation and other modifications, stir in some hormones, food and drink, infections, radiation, drugs and environmental toxins, a shaking of chance and a measure of experience, and behold! a human being in all his or her unique, irreproducible glory.
We know that many factors combine to make each of us different from every other person on the planet. The straw man of nature vs. nurture has long since rotted down to a more fertile compost. What we do not yet understand is how, and when, the various components come into play to build people. Neuroscience has discovered, for example, that critical periods in brain development affect basic sensory processing, but it is not yet clear whether the concept of a crucial time during which certain stimuli must be experienced if the brain is not to be left disfigured forever applies to other kinds of processing, such as those involved in social interactions. How malleable are our brains at different ages, and how irreversible are the consequences of early damage and abuse? This is a question whose answer will have profound implications for how we treat the most vulnerable and damaged members of society.
2.8.1.
How do genes, physiology, nutrition, experience, environments and chance interact to make each
human being unique? 2.8.2. Which aspects of brain function are set early in life and which stay malleable into adulthood?
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2.10.
What is conscious awareness?
Current thinking suggests that for humans, and for at least some animals, several types of conscious state can be experienced, from complete awareness of events and the surrounding environment, to dreaming and hypnosis. These states can be distinguished from our background selfconscious awareness of being a living, individual entity. Much of the brains work seems to be done subconsciously, with attention acting as a searchlight whose illumination brings a subconscious event to consciousness.
In a famous paper, Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness (1995), philosopher David Chalmers discussed the hard problem of consciousness. He defined it as the question of why there is subjective experience, i.e. what it is to be a conscious organism. We do not yet know which physical processes underpin the awareness of experiences, although research has begun to identify the neural correlates of a variety of conscious states. Crucially, however, we do not understand how those processes give rise to our feelings of a touch, mood, colour or sound.
As Chalmers pointed out, however, the hard problem is only one problem of consciousness; there are others. They too pose huge challenges, but neuroscientists are confident they can be solved, given sufficient research effort. One such problem is how the various states of consciousness are related. What physical changes take place as people pass between the states of consciousness and unconsciousness between being awake and asleep for example? What makes meditation different from alertness, or dreaming different from daydreaming, or dreaming and imagination? And how does subconscious processing interface with attention and conscious experience? We also need to understand which patterns of neuronal activity in the brain and nervous system give us our sense of time and space, our awareness of ourselves as embodied creatures, and the feelings we have of being actors rather than passive machines.
By deconstructing the problem of consciousness, scientists have multiplied the number of problems while making them easier to solve. Some hope that as they answer more and more of the easier questions, the hard problem will dissolve into a non-problem, or that some strategy will emerge to deal with it. Meanwhile, it remains the pre-eminent challenge to anyone hoping to understand the brain.
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2.10.1. 2.10.1.1. 2.10.1.2.
What are the neural correlates of consciousness? What factors control changes in conscious states: between waking and sleep? What are the different levels along the gradient of consciousness between anaesthesia and full
awareness? How can they be reliably defined? 2.10.1.3. whole? 2.10.1.4. 2.10.1.5. 2.10.1.6. 2.10.1.6.1. 2.10.1.6.2. 2.10.1.7. Why are some events consciously experienced and others ignored? How does the brain enable multiple tasks to be carried out in parallel? How does the Brain monitor the behaviour of Self? Other? Why can a sharp knock to the head cause unconsciousness? How are the experiences of the outside world knitted together to form a co-ordinated recognisable
2.10.2. 2.10.3.
Is it possible to learn to be more consciously aware? Is consciousness the basis of thinking, creativity and the planning and projection of the future (sometimes
called imagination)? 2.10.4. Are the principal functions of consciousness to initiate these activities and then monitor brain activity and
external responses, i.e. to provide feed back? 2.10.5. Is there another source of prime movement in the brain, such as personality and is consciousness only
our awareness of this? 2.10.6. 2.10.6.1. 2.10.6.2. 2.10.6.3. 2.10.6.4. 2.10.6.5. 2.10.6.6. 2.10.6.7. 2.10.6.8. Other aspects of consciousness How can a chunk of matter inside the skull exude consciousness? Does consciousness require something non physical? Can we create a golem and endow it with feelings? Can a severely brain-compromised patient be aware? When does a new born baby become conscious? Is a foetus ever conscious? Is an animal, like a dog, aware of itself as a thinking being? Could the internet with its billions of interconnected computers ever exhibit any of the attributes of (After Christof Koch).
consciousness?
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2.10.7.
Dreaming appears to take place when people are asleep (unconscious), yet they are aware of the
experiences almost as vividly as though they were real, awake (conscious). How can this be? 2.10.7.1. 2.10.7.2. 2.10.7.3. Does dreaming have a purpose? If so what is or are its role(s)? What are the similarities and differences between dreaming and imagination (conscious projection and
planning)? (see 2.2.10) 2.10.7.4. Dreaming appears to exclude the motor neurons, but include awareness. Sleep walking appears to
exclude awareness but include motor neuron activity. Is this correct? Does it help understand either or both experiences?
2.10.8. 2.10.9.
What is the purpose of having these states and levels of conscious awareness? Concentration. Is this an extension of consciousness, or a different skill or attribute? Can concentration be taught?
Parallel Questions
2.11. 2.11.1. 2.11.2. 2.11.3. 2.11.4. 2.11.5. 2.11.6. 2.11.7. 2.11.8. 2.11.9. Are individuals born with different inherited levels of:Skills Talents? Attributes? Abilities? Is intelligence one such Skill? Is the propensity to think one such skill? Is the propensity to be creative one such skill? Can these faculties be taught and learned? How can these faculties be identified, defined and measured?
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2.12.
How does the brain process Time?
2.12.1. 2.12.2.
How does the brain maintain the sequence of events? How does the brain differentiate between real events and projected (imagined) events?
2.13.
How do we observe, describe, define and measure qualia?
2.14. 2.15.1 2.15.2
What is the neural basis of the characteristics of personality? Is it characteristics of personality that enable people to influence others and be influenced by others? What is the neural basis of self confidence?
2.15.
What is the nature of the psychosomatic link between the brain and the immune system?
2.16. 2.16.1. 2.16.2. 2.16.3.
How do we prepare our brains to cope with the explosion of knowledge? The ever faster pace of change. Implications for education and life long learning. How does the brain adapt to ever faster streams of sensory input, e.g. driving a car at 70mph when three
generations ago people travelled by horse and cart?
2.17.
How do we prepare our brains to cope with rising life expectancy?
2.18.
What network processes does the brain execute to cope with persistent information overload?
2.19.
What network processes does the brain execute to cope with stress (such as loss of control of a
situation, or being faced with too much responsibility)?
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Associated General Questions
3. What makes a Brain Mind normal or abnormal?

There are more than 1,000 illnesses of the brain and nervous system, resulting in more hospitalisations than any other disease group, but we have no cures for the major and most serious disorders Parkinsons and Alzheimers disease, epilepsy, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, autism and dyslexia. To help damaged people we first have to be able to identify them. Except for extreme and obvious dysfunction this is not an easy project, as the current intense debate over DSM-V makes clear. Editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, often called the psychiatrists Bible, define certain forms of human difference as mental illnesses, like clinical depression or conduct disorder.
Yet these definitions not only change over time homosexuality, for instance, is no longer in the manual they can be extremely controversial, since they are often tied to funds for treatment and research as well as bearing considerable stigma. Exploring the difficult territory of what counts as normal, abnormal, damage or dysfunction, is hugely challenging work, not only for brain researchers but for all of us; and we all contribute to the task. Every time a person reacts with hostility, or mockery, to someone else because of some difference between them, he or she is asserting a claim as to what is normal and what unacceptably abnormal.
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To improve the definitions, we need to know much more about how brains grow and change during development. We also need much more information than we currently possess about natural human variation between individuals, across cultures and over time. Neuroimaging and anatomy have already discovered extensive differences in, for instance, the position of major anatomical landmarks. Yet at present we know very little about brains other than those of cooperative students at Western universities. Nor do we understand what causes this variation, or what factors can tip a developing brain into dysfunction. Even a set of minimum environmental standards to achieve reasonably healthy brain growth would be an immense asset to any society trying to improve its children's futures, while a better understanding of what makes brains fail would ease the terrible suffering currently inflicted by brain disorders.
3.1. How do neurons know how to grow and change during development? 3.2. How variable are healthy adult human brains, and when do differences become dysfunctional? Dysfunction can be classified in four groups:3.2.1. 3.2.2. 3.2.3. 3.2.4. Inherited Lifetime Aging Behavioural
4. What is the significance of diet, nutrients and energy on the Brain Mind?
Although the muscles do most of the hard physical work of the body, the brain uses between a quarter and a third of all food ingested. How do different nutritional inputs affect the functioning of the neurons? Greater knowledge of the beneficial and detrimental effects of all the food and other substances on the development and operation of the brain are an essential ingredient of any holistic study of the brain. For instance, certain nutrient deficiencies can have lasting effects over multiple generations. The long term damage caused by poor diet in young children is not widely known.
5. What are the definitions of life and the relevance to our understanding of the Brain Mind?
A sense of being alive is usually included as one of the key attributes of consciousness. Definitions of life are proving to be elusive. Components of the body and particularly the neurons exhibit many of the attributes of life. Greater understanding of life and a greater knowledge of the origins and evolution of life forms are an important component of our understanding of the brain as one aspect of the holistic body. How do we develop a definition, language, notation and means of measuring life: being alive?
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The Way Ahead 6. What can Brain science offer society?

The knowledge and insights of the Brain science community are already making very considerable contributions to the general knowledge of many important areas of public interest. In particular Brain science can make a major contribution to understanding the processes of learning and memory formation that are central to the whole process of decision making at every level, from the individual citizen, through the corporate world to international government.
Similarly knowledge of how information is assimilated and, in particular, the difference between rote learning and understanding the meaning and significance of information, and how it can be extrapolated to solve problems and stimulate creativity, is the foundation of all education, training and life long learning; as well as the different tests needed to assess both competence and aptitude.
To set up a neuroimaging facility you need a budget in the millions. As with any large-scale publicly funded endeavour, brain researchers need to demonstrate the value of their efforts. And neuroscience has already brought many benefits, not least better survival rates for brain tumour sufferers, treatments for brain disorders from Parkinsons to depression, and help for paralysed patients. Increasing knowledge of the effects of environmental toxins, such as lead, on the brain has stimulated changes in government regulation, thereby improving public health. Work into major disorders like Alzheimer's is ongoing, while on a lighter note neuroscientists also contribute to the entertainment industry, for example in designing games which can be controlled by brain activity.
In the near future we may see two remarkable developments. One, arising from better treatments for devastating neurodegenerative disorders, will allow us all to preserve a healthy brain into old age. The second will grant us the power to enhance normal function, whether by chemical or genetic methods or by interfacing our brains directly with computing technologies making us neural cyborgs. These extraordinary achievements may render the diseases we most fear distant memories for our descendants. They may improve society immeasurably; they will certainly change it. Because the brain is where the self is generated, they will also change us.
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What are the possible benefits of neuroscience in the 21st century? Who decides how far to go along the path of improving normal function, and how fast? Should neuroscience be differently organised, funded or monitored; if so, how? How much research should be done on enhancing the taxpayer, relative to treating the patient? Are there aspects of ourselves with which science should be barred from experimenting, or features we should change as quickly as possible?
The possibilities opened up by our ability to change our own brains are unprecedented. They will affect those who opt out, as well as those who opt in, to any future enhancement scheme. Already there is social pressure on students to take cognition-enhancing drugs. To minimise the costs, and maximise the benefits of neuroscience, which could well transform life in the 21st century, much more discussion is needed about the future of brain research. These questions, we hope, will engage that debate.
8.1. 8.2.
Could brain research enhance normal brain function? Who decides what limits to set, if any, on research into changing human nature?
7.
7.1. 7.2. 7.3. 7.3.1. 7.3.2. 7.3.3. 7.3.4. 7.3.5. 7.4. 7.5. 7.6.
Who are the beneficiaries?

Science Medicine Education, Training & Life Long Learning Talent Aptitude Ability Competence Skill Computing Robotics Creative industries
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7.7. 7.8. 7.9. 7.10. 7.11. 7.12. 7.13. 7.14. 7.15. 7.16.
Knowledge economy Research Invention Entrepreneurship Commerce & Business Marketing Finance Government Community Resources of the 3 Age.
rd
8. What are the paths to finding solutions? What road maps can we construct? How can we track progress and measure success?
8.1.
Language.
Language has both been created by the brain and has influenced its evolution. How can we use this symbiotic relationship to help us understand the Brain? 8.1.1. 8.1.2. 8.1.3. 8.1.4. 8.1.5. 8.1.6. 8.1.7. 8.1.8. 8.1.9. 8.1.10. 8.1.11. 8.1.12. 8.1.13. 8.1.14. Symbiotic role in shaping brain. Precision hearing system. Precision speaking system. Precision writing images. Converting visual images to sounds. Accommodating many thousands of words in memory structures. Attaching meaning to words. Multiple languages and translation. Creating words. Words as an essential component of thinking. Creation of new words to categorise and define brain activities & functions. Agent of thinking. The only known way to communicate abstract ideas. See 8.2.15.
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8.2.
Definitions.
Brain Science is struggling to find the words and the language to discuss, categorise and define with scientific precision all the features and attributes we can observe. The first step to understanding any subject is to categorise the phenomena we observe and find or develop the language to define an unambiguous terminology. Then we must invent a notation so that we can measure what we have defined, before we can fully apply the scientific method that has stood us in such good stead over the last half millennium.
8.2.1.
How do we develop a definition of Information that includes information in the brain?
A great deal of work has been done to understand information in communications, computing and other human created systems. However, far less work has been done into the structure, nature and operation of information in natural systems in general and nervous systems in particular. 8.2.1.1. 8.2.1.2. What is the physics of information? In computers information is either kinetic patterns of energy (being transmitted) or potential
patterns of energy (stored in various media). Is there a similar configuration in the Brain? 8.2.1.3. Information in computing and communication systems is digital using codes invented by us.
Information in the brain is analogue, and, therefore, involves quite different systems. How then is information represented in the brain? 8.2.1.4. 8.2.2. 8.2.3. 8.2.4. 8.2.5. 8.2.6. 8.2.7. 8.2.8. 8.2.9. 8.2.10. 8.2.11. 8.2.12. 8.2.13. How is information processed in the Brain? How do we develop a definition language, notation and means of measuring Consciousness? How do we develop a definition language, notation and means of measuring Awareness? How do we develop a definition language, notation and means of measuring Qualia? How do we develop a definition language, notation and means of measuring Memory? How do we develop a definition language, notation and means of measuring Meaning? How do we develop a definition of Intelligence? How do we develop a definition, language, notation and means of measuring Thinking ? How do we develop a definition, language, notation and means of measuring Creativity? How do we develop a definition, language, notation and means of measuring Talent? How do we identify and the develop definitions, language, notation and means of measuring Ability? How do we develop a definition language, notation and means of measuring Decision Making? How do we develop a definition language, notation and means of measuring Imagination, in the
form of planning, projection and preparation? 8.2.14. 8.2.15. How do we develop a definition language, notation and means of measuring Knowledge? Is language an essential ingredient of thinking? Is the mind largely a product of language? See 8.1.10.
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8.2.16. thinking? 8.2.17. and training?
Can the science of software and programming help us understand the processes of learning and
Are we satisfied we have sufficiently rigorous, comprehensive and agreed definitions of education
8.3. 8.4. 8.5. 8.6. 8.6.1. 8.6.2. 8.6.3. 8.6.4. 8.6.5.
Building Lexicons. Inventing Notations. Designing Measurement systems. Using Analogies. Anthropology. Evolution. Concept creation. Science of software. Metanetworks, brain grid systems, co-operatives, institutions.
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Appendix * Prof David Hilbert: The 23 Problems

Hilbert (1862 1943) was a German mathematician, and is recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Hilbert put forth a list of 23 unsolved questions at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris in 1900. This is generally reckoned the most successful and deeply considered compilation of open problems ever to be produced by an individual mathematician and it led, inter alia, to the invention of computing. Hilbert's 10th question asked for an algorithm to decide whether diophantine equations have a solution. In 1928 he expanded this to what was called the Decision Problem or the Entscheidungsproblem.
Alan Turing worked on this problem: indeed the title of his famous paper published in 1936 proposing a computing machine is On computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem.
** The Power of Questions
This is the way science works: begin with simple, clearly formulated, tractable questions that can pave the way for eventually answering the Big Questions, such as What are qualia, and even What is consciousness? - V S RAMACHANDRAN THE TELL-TALE BRAIN. Heinemann, 2011. p115
The usefulness of the knowledge we acquire and the effectiveness of the actions we take depend on the quality of the questions we ask. Questions open the door to dialogue and discovery. They are an invitation to creativity and breakthrough thinking. Questions can lead to movement and action on key issues; by generating creative insights, they can ignite change. -ALBERT EINSTEIN
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Another Nobel-prize winner, physicist Arno Penzias, when asked what accounted for his success, replied, I went for the jugular question. Still practicing his questioning discipline today, Penzias recently commented at a Fast Company Conference, Change starts with the individual. So the first thing I do each morning is ask myself, Why do I strongly believe what I believe? Constantly examine your own assumptions. Its this type of self-questioning that keeps creativity alive. THE ART OF POWERFUL QUESTIONS: Catalyzing Insight, Innovation, and Action
http://tinyurl.com/4vvxtwd http://www.theworldcafe.com/articles/aopq.pdf
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21 Questions Major Problems in Mathscience

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The Key Questions for BRAIN SCIENCE and SOCIETY to address in the 21st Century

Why is understanding how our brain operates so important?

Why are Questions so Important?

What is the role of the Brain Mind Forum?

Questions about the attributes and functions of the Mind.

Appendices * Prof David Hilbert: The 23 Problems ** The Power of Questions

Questions about how the Brain works.

The State of the art of the physiology of the Brain?

1.1.5. 1.1.5.1. 1.1.5.2. 1.1.5.3. 1.1.5.4. 1.1.5.4.1. 1.1.5.4.2. 1.1.5.5.

1.2 1.2.1. 1.2.2. 1.2.3.

1.3. 1.3.1. 1.3.1. 1.3.2.

What are the emotional systems of the brain?

Are worn or damaged neural structures replaced?

Statistics & definitions

Questions about the Attributes and Functions of the Mind?

How do we learn from Experience?

Learning What neurally changes when learning takes place?

2.1.8.3. 2.1.8.4. 2.1.8.5. 2.1.8.6. 2.1.8.7. 2.1.8.8. 2.1.9.

2.2.1. 2.2.2. 2.2.3. 2.2.4.

2.2.5. 2.2.6. 2.2.7. 2.2.8.

2.2.9. imagination? 2.2.10.

dreaming (neural activity during sleep)? (See 2.10.7.3)

How do we solve problems and make decisions?

Which brain processes make something meaningful?

2.4.1. 2.4.2. 2.4.3. 2.4.4. 2.4.5. 2.4.6.

2.5.1. 2.5.2. 2.5.3. 2.5.4. 2.5.5. 2.5.6.

2.5.7. 2.5.8. 2.5.9. 2.5.10. 2.5.11.

How do we invent new ideas and be creative?

2.6.1. 2.6.2. 2.6.3. 2.6.4. 2.6.5.

How do emotion, sensation and passion influence our behaviour?

How does the brain stitch its patterns of activity together?

What Brain changes make us individuals? (characteristics of personality)

What is conscious awareness?

2.10.1. 2.10.1.1. 2.10.1.2.

How does the brain process Time?

How do we observe, describe, define and measure qualia?

2.14. 2.15.1 2.15.2

2.16. 2.16.1. 2.16.2. 2.16.3.

generations ago people travelled by horse and cart?

How do we prepare our brains to cope with rising life expectancy?

situation, or being faced with too much responsibility)?

Associated General Questions

3. What makes a Brain Mind normal or abnormal?

The Way Ahead 6. What can Brain science offer society?

Who are the beneficiaries?

How do we develop a definition of Information that includes information in the brain?

8.2.16. thinking? 8.2.17. and training?

8.3. 8.4. 8.5. 8.6. 8.6.1. 8.6.2. 8.6.3. 8.6.4. 8.6.5.

Appendix * Prof David Hilbert: The 23 Problems

** The Power of Questions

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