Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ncar!boulder!sunybcs!bingvaxu!leah!gbn474
From: gbn474@leah.Albany.Edu (Gregory Newby)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Here's one ...
Summary: interesting research result
Message-ID: <1119@leah.Albany.Edu>
Date: 18 Oct 88 05:27:29 GMT
References: <1614@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU> <1153@buengc.BU.EDU>
Organization: The University at Albany, Computer Services Center
Lines: 27

.In article <1153@buengc.BU.EDU>, bph@buengc.BU.EDU (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
> >>>Have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts?
> >>Sleeping.
> 
> >
> >Do you mean that between the rapid succession of conscious "moments"
> >is a sleeplike state, or that there is nothing between these "moments", 
> >except longer periods of sleep?  

Research result (unpublished) from a recent conference:

Participants were instructed to watch a string of blinking holiday
lights (the xmas tree kind, which blink more or less randomly).
A beatles' song was played (I forget which one).  When polled
afterwards, most participants reported seeing the lights blink
on and off IN RYTHM to the music.

Possible conclusion:  consciousness, like most things we can name
in nature, oscillates.

I leave it for your consideration.

--newbs
  (
   gbnewby@rodan.acs.syr.edu
   gbn474@leah.albany.edu
  )