Interactions of Consciousness

What functions of the brain are required to comprehend the interaction of a factor, involved in being conscious of something?

I summarized my understanding of the function of consciousness, or being conscious of any given factor, in my post; Conscious Comprehension (and have around 15 more posts with more detail on the topic). Basically, to be conscious of something, I hypothesized that it takes simultaneous memory access of that factor and its interaction.

In my previous post; Artificially Intelligent Language, I touched on a new understanding of the requirements for this conscious memory access, specifically regarding the interaction of a factor. When it comes to using labels in language to comprehend new factors, using general intelligence, it seems to require a saved memory of an action, besides just memories of labelled objects.

Memory access of the interaction of a factor seems to be the minimum requirement to be conscious of that factor, or to comprehend that factor within any context. But in order to save a memory of any factors interaction, the action of that factor changing is required. If a factor does not change, then there is no interaction, and no comprehension. There is only individual factors, and no conscious awareness of the factors or how they interact. In order for a factor to change by action, some minimum time period must take place. As without time, nothing changes. If this is a requirement for conscious comprehension, then the ability to remember a time period, involved in a factor changing, is required.

Even when being conscious of 2 objects being combined to result in a new final result, it requires memory access of the action of combining the 2. Without memory of the action of combining, you are only accessing memories of 3 factors, which is not comprehension or being conscious. For eg, when being conscious of a duck on a pond, you could access a memory of the image of the duck (factor 1), then the image of the pond (factor 2), then the image of the pond and duck together in 1 image (factor 3), but you are only remembering 3 images, with no comprehension of the interaction of the 1st 2 factors. It requires comprehending that the 1st factor combined with the 2nd, = the 3rd. Memory of the action of combining the 2, is required.

If memory is recordings of sensory input, saved in neurons and synapses, then the brain function of; saving a long enough time period (for a factor to change) of sensory input, as a memory, must be required. Considering using the sense of sight, rather than saving a single recording of lightwave measurements (1 image) as a memory, the brain must be capable of recording a time period, of measurements of the lightwaves changing (a “video”). If a video is only multiple images changing, it seems likely that memory of an action, is only neurologically saved recordings of multiple individual lightwave measurements. While accessing the memory of an action, it seems likely that the brain is accessing these multiple lightwave recordings, in sequence. So it seems, the ability to sequentially access multiple recordings, in memory, is required to access the memory of the interaction of any factor.

If it requires a time period of sequentially accessing multiple neurologically recorded memories, then it seems that being conscious of any given factor and its interaction, can not be done in 1 instance of memory access. For eg, a calculator is not conscious of 1+2=3, even if it was able to simultaneously access the memory data of the digit 1, the digit 2, the digit 3, and the data of the result of 1+2=3. The calculator would require continued memory access of the action of combining 1 with 2, then the result of 3.

It seems that perhaps “simultaneous” is not quite the most accurate term, to be applied to memory access of 2 factors and their interaction. It’s more like continued or sequential memory access of a factor, then it changing, then the result. If someone accesses sequential memories of an object changing to a new result, then it seems likely that, that is comprehension of that factor and its interaction. It is being “conscious” of how that factor changes to an alternate resolution. With this minimum requirement of brain function, it seems plausible to understand the interaction of any factor in its context, and therein, potentially be conscious of the cause and effect of how any factors (or any things) in this world, interact.