CONSCIOUSNESS

2. Neuroscience 103
and lead to an adaptive exchange with the environment that is characteristic of biological
systems. This treatment implies that the system’s state and structure encode an implicit and
probabilistic model of the environment. Building on mathematical equivalence of free-energy
principle and mathematical theory of communication (Shannon and Weaver (1949)) I suggest
a model of perception that offers a construal of Helmholtz’s efferent/afferent dynamic in terms
of a Shannon communication channel. In my model, Friston and Stephan’s free-energy is
construed as Shannon information, i.e. inherently a surprisal value. In other words, informative
perception is construed as a function of a difference between a system’s expectation of
the sensory input value and the actual value of the sensory input. I apply the model to a motor
control system and argue that the model provides a meaningful way of distinguishing between
conscious and nonconscious awareness of action. P2
125 Controlling Your Body from an Out-of-Body Perspective Impairs Movements of
Contralateral Body-Parts and Reduces Sensation and Proprioception Hein Van Schie,
Willem W. A. Slegers; Nathalie Theelen; Michiel Van Elk
(Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands)
The recent surge in online virtual realities and development of gaming interfaces (e.g.
Xbox whole body controller) that provide users with control over an external visual body
raises interesting issues about the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting agency, bodily control,
ownership and embodiment. Still little is known about the psychological effects and
limitations that humans may experience in external body control (EBC). In the present study
subjects engaged in a motor control task (grasping and transportation of colored blocks) while
wearing a head-mounted display that provided a live feed from a high-speed webcam placed
sideways behind the subject (3rd person perspective from a left or right angle) or was attached
to the head-mounted display (allowing a regular 1st person perspective). Considering
that in the EBC conditions the usual integration between eye-, head-, and shoulder centered
coordinate frames is disturbed we expected subjects to encounter problems in controlling
their hand movements and experience a reduction in embodiment as a consequence. Results
indicate that subjects’ in the EBC condition moved more slowly and made more errors in
selecting blocks of the wrong color as compared to subjects from the regular perspective
condition. The difficulties experienced by the EBC group were found most pronounced when
they had to use their contralateral hand (i.e. hand contralateral to the position of the camera).
This pattern was confirmed by the results of a questionnaire that asked subjects about ease
of control experienced during the task. In addition to disturbances in external body control
questionnaire data revealed that subjects noted reductions in sensation (less prickling sensation
and less feeling of the hands) and a clear decrease in the weight their arms and hands.
These findings suggest that EBC may be accompanied by impairments in movement control,
especially in body-parts contralateral to the viewpoint of the user. Furthermore, reductions in
sensation and proprioception may correspond to frequent media reports of gamers collapsing
behind their computers, presumable because of losing touch with their bodily needs. Further
study is necessary to investigate prolonged effects of EBC and extend these findings towards
virtual applications. C6
2.5 Memory and learning
126 ‘Memory Bytes’ - A Molecular Match for Activated CaMKII Encoding
Microtubule Lattices Travis Craddock, Jack A. Tuszynski; Stuart Hameroff
(Sherwood Park, Alberta Canada)
Conscious memory and long-term potentiation (LTP) are understood as synaptic modulation,
however mechanisms for encoding and distributing memory-related information remain
unknown. LTP is supported by numerous factors including post-synaptic calcium ion influx,
which activates the hexagonal calcium-calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) holoenzyme, causing
a remarkable transformation. Upon activation a maximum of six kinase domains extend
upward, and six kinase domains extend downward from the CaMKII association domain,
the activated holoenzyme resembling a robotic insect 20 nanometers in length. Each of these