ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

152 Anesthesia: Another Side of Consciousness
Figure 7.3: EEG from patient after induction of general anesthesia with thiopental
and isoflurane. Top: 4 seconds of conventional EEG show higher voltage, lower
frequency waves. Bottom: same 4 seconds plotted as phase trajectory as in
Figure 7.2. Phase portrait of anesthetized patient is unraveled with “looser,”
geometric contour resembling an “attractor” Dimensional analysis reveals a less
“chaotic,” more “ordered” phase portrait in the anesthetized state compared to the
awake state. From Watt and Hameroff (1987).
Perception and short-term memory storage may constitute awareness, but do
not necessarily cause a physiological response or become long-term memory to
produce postoperative recall.
Figure 7.4: Sensory information may be perceived and register short term
memory and awareness. A second step which takes a finite period of time results
in long term memory storage and recall. Modified from Cherkin and Harroun
(1971).
Consolidation of short term memory to long term storage appears to take a
finite period of time, on the order of 45 seconds (Figure 7.4). The establishment
of long-term memory traces depends to a great extent on the initial impact of the
information input. Many of us who are old enough can remember exactly where