Reductive Model of the Conscious Mind

Wiesław L. Galus, received the M.S. degree and Ph.D. degree in solid-state physics from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw. He worked in laser radiation detection and modulation at the Institute of Quantum Electronics of the Military University of Technology and the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Micro-fusion in Warsaw. His work focused on the theory of detection of ultrashort radiation pulses and noise theory. Co-founder of the high-tech Vigo Photonics SA company producing medium- and far-infrared detectors. He is currently involved in the philosophy of mind and modeling natural and artificial brain operation as an independent researcher. Together with the co-author of the book, Janusz Starzyk, attention has been drawn to the fundamental role of motivation in conscious reactions. Motivations for action arise from emotional states triggered by unsatisfied needs of the organism. The associative abilities of neuronal hierarchical representations of these states enable learning and the formation of intentional behaviors. These interdependencies form the basis of the Motivated Emotional Mind model (MEM). In subsequent works, Wieslaw Galus expanded the MEM model by proposing the hypothesis of the identity of mental phenomenal states with the biophysical states of lower sensory fields in the neural network structure that constitutes the brain. This is a crucial contribution to the theory of identity in the mind-brain relationship. He utilized the MEM model to elucidate first-person, subjective sensory experiences (qualia), as well as phenomenal feelings during imaginings, recollections, and dreams. He also explained the role of neuronal processes propagating from lower sensory layers to upper cognitive layers (bottom-up) and the feedback, backward process (top-down) in shaping the hierarchy of knowledge in the mind and the processes of planning and decision-making.

Janusz A. Starzyk received a M.S. degree in applied mathematics, a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland, and the Habilitation degree in electrical engineering from the Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland. He was an Assistant Professor with the Institute of Electronics Fundamentals, Warsaw University of Technology. He spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow and a research engineer at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Since 1991, he has been a Professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Ohio University, Athens, and the Director of Embodied Intelligence Laboratories. Since 2007, he has been the Head of the Information Systems Applications, University of Information Technology and Management, Rzeszow, Poland. His research interests include embodied machine intelligence, motivated goal-driven learning, self-organizing associative spatiotemporal memories, active learning of sensory-motor interactions, machine consciousness, and autonomous robots and avatars.