Beyond Classical Neuroscience: The Hard Problem
Classical neuroscience has made immense progress mapping neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs)—brain regions and activity patterns associated with specific experiences. Yet, it stumbles before the 'hard problem': how and why do these physical processes give rise to subjective, qualitative experience? Some theorists propose that the answers may lie not in classical biology alone, but in the weird world of quantum mechanics. The Institute's Theoretical Psychobiology Group explores the most promising quantum biology hypothesis related to consciousness: the Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) theory, originally proposed by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, and investigates whether psychotropic substances might act as modulators of these proposed quantum processes within neurons.
Microtubules and Quantum Coherence
The central players in Orch-OR are microtubules—cylindrical protein polymers that form the cytoskeleton of neurons, crucial for cell structure, transport, and division. Hameroff and Penrose suggest that the tubulin proteins within microtubules can exist in quantum superpositions of conformational states. Through mechanisms like topological quantum computing or Frohlich coherence, these quantum states could become orchestrated across large networks of microtubules, particularly in dendritic and somatic networks of cortical pyramidal neurons. According to the theory, this orchestrated quantum coherence collapses (reduces) in a non-computable way, and each collapse corresponds to a discrete moment of conscious experience—a 'quantum bit' or 'qubit' of consciousness.
This is a highly controversial hypothesis, with critics citing the 'warm, wet, and noisy' environment of the brain as hostile to sustained quantum coherence. However, proponents point to evidence of quantum effects in biological systems (e.g., photosynthesis, bird navigation) and suggest specific mechanisms, like ordered water within microtubules or screening by the actin gel, that could protect quantum states. Our research aims to test elements of this theory empirically, not to prove it, but to explore its plausibility and potential explanatory power for psychotropic phenomena.
Psychotropics as Quantum Perturbers
If consciousness has a quantum biological component, psychotropic compounds could be powerful tools to study it. We hypothesize that these substances might alter the conditions necessary for quantum coherence in microtubules. For instance, many psychotropics (like anesthetics, which eliminate consciousness, and psychedelics, which radically alter it) bind to receptors that are coupled to G-proteins, which in turn can influence the cytoskeleton and the phosphorylation state of tubulin. This could change the electrical dipole moments of tubulins, affecting their ability to enter or maintain quantum superpositions. Psychedelics, known to increase entropy and complexity in brain signals, might do so by disrupting the orchestration of quantum collapses, leading to a more disordered, less constrained flow of conscious moments—experienced as ego dissolution and expanded awareness.
We are designing experiments to look for signatures of quantum effects in neural tissue exposed to psychotropic agents. These include searching for anomalous heat capacity or conductivity changes in purified microtubule preparations, using advanced spectroscopy to look for evidence of quantum vibrational modes, and analyzing the fine-scale timing of neuronal spikes for non-computable patterns that might suggest quantum randomness. This work is highly speculative and interdisciplinary, requiring collaboration between quantum physicists, biochemists, and neuroscientists. While the quantum consciousness hypothesis remains far from mainstream, investigating it pushes the boundaries of what's considered possible in biology. Whether it ultimately proves correct or not, the exercise forces us to ask deeper questions about the nature of mind and the profound, still-mysterious ways in which molecules can alter the very fabric of our reality.