Dynamical systems as an approach to consciousness: emotion, self-organization, and the mind-body problem

Problems involving mental causation and subjective "privacy" require a theo ry of consciousness as a self-organizing system around emotional-motivation al purposes using representational systems to appropriate elements useful f or those purposes, thus directing attention toward motivationally relevant items. For example, afferent activity in occipital areas alone produces no perceptual consciousness. Consciousness occurs when the limbic system promp ts corticothalamic loops, including frontal areas such as anterior cingulat e, extended amygdala and reticular formation, to look for items of interest for the organism's purposes. Emotions include (1) "tendencies" to certain self-organizing patterns; and (2) "representation" of items relevant to ach ieving/maintaining the desired pattern. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.