The Biology of Consciousness
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THE BIOLOGY OF CULTURE The Biology of Consciousness From William James to Richard Schultes BY BRIAN D. FARRELL “I am neither a theologian, nor a scholar ers). James thought broadly, and yet saw ley were a New York banker, R. Gordon learned in the history of religions, nor an that all human behaviors are probably Wasson and his spouse, Russian-born anthropologist. Psychology is the only ultimately grounded in biology. physician Valentina Pavlovna, who dedi- branch of learning in which I am particu- In offering some biological particu- cated time and resources throughout larly versed. To the psychologist the reli- lars, I wish to connect William James’ their lives to documenting the uses of gious propensities of man must be at least perspective on religion and conscious- mushrooms by cultures worldwide. In as interesting as any other of the facts ness with the work of another Harvard 1957, Wasson traveled to Mexico with pertaining to his mental constitution. It professor concerned with the particulars a photographer and recorded the Psi- would seem, therefore, that, as a psycholo- of human spiritual life, Richard Evans locybe shaman rituals, introducing the gist, the natural thing for me would be to Schultes, known as the father of ethno- term magic mushrooms, and revealing invite you to a descriptive survey of those botany. their effects on perception to the beat religious propensities.” —Williams James His lifelong work was documenting and counter-cultural movement through (On the Varieties of Religious Experience. the indigenous uses of plants and fungi a popular article published in Life maga- Longmans, Green, & Co. 1902). throughout the Americas, including in zine. Substitute the word biology for psy- religious rituals. He began his Harvard The link between James’ “religious chology, and you’d have my consideration career with an undergraduate senior propensities” and the use of conscious- of consciousness—my own curiosity in thesis on the Kiowa peyote rituals in the ness-altering materials lies in the brain, writing about that subject parallels that southwestern United States, moved on so I will draw on recent work on the neu- of James about religion. His words, writ- in later years to identifying the species robiology of consciousness by Michael ten more than a hundred years ago, have termed Ololiuqui (morning glory seeds Graziano, Professor of Psychology and a sounding resonance with what and how containing LSD) and Teonánacatl (Psi- Neuroscience at Princeton University, I—as a biologist—have come to under- locybe mushrooms) by the ancient Aztecs Consciousness and the Social Brain stand the realms of consciousness: “In in Mexico, using images depicted in the (Oxford University Press, 2013). my belief that a large acquaintance with few remaining Aztec codices, and finally, One reason to be concerned with the particulars often makes us wiser than the spent many years exploring the Amazon biology of consciousness is the effect on possession of abstract formulas, however forests of Colombia and beyond, with our personal health. Remarkably enough, deep...” Therefore, in this work at least, shamans documenting ayahuasca rituals, the power of conviction, or positive William James, widely regarded as the and collecting tens of thousands of plant thinking, on health was also recognized father of American psychology, was what specimens now deposited in the Harvard by William James, who called this the some would today call a phenomenologist University Herbaria. mind-cure, and he attributed the remark- (a concern with observations, case studies Schultes wrote about his discoveries able longevity and vigor of a friend and the like that may be contrasted with in scientific articles, influencing popular stricken with breast cancer to her ebul- purely theoretical approaches). authors from Aldous Huxley and William lient approach to life and all around her. Trained in medicine, William James Burroughs to Carlos Castaneda and Tim- Today, we know that the placebo effect first taught physiology at Harvard and othy Leary, who would then introduce can be strong enough to produce results had absorbed Darwin’s view of evolution them through books, magazine articles close to those of treatment, as evidenced and in particular, the observation that and interviews to the popular culture for example, by control groups that ubiquitous random variation sometimes of the 1960s. Aldous Huxley (grandson receive sham surgery. As Jackson Pol- leads to evolutionary innovations. James of Darwin’s champion, Thomas Hux- lock responded when he was once asked was a scientist but did not favor what he ley), had perhaps the greatest influence whether he was inspired by nature, “I am termed scientism—the position of some through his book detailing his experienc- nature.” We are nature. fellow intellectuals who demurred from es with mescaline, the active compound Sometime around 500 B.C., Hip- discussing certain subjects (presumably in peyote, that had been described earlier pocrates proposed that the brain is the such as religion) as being outside their by a German scientist as useful in study- source of the mind. The term conscious- discipline, and unscientific (he named H. ing the unconscious mind. ness itself was later defined by the English G. Wells and Bernard Shaw, among oth- Probably nearly as influential as Hux- philosopher John Locke as the “percep- 26 ReVista FALL 2016 OPPOSITE PAGE: PHOTO COURTESY OF HARVARD COLLEGE AND FELLOWS. HEALING, SACREDNESS AND BEYOND it. Awareness is therefore a more or less rough sketch of attention, apparently evolved for processing complex and com- peting signals. Consider the cacophony of sounds around you right now—sounds of traf- fic, footsteps, air-conditioning or fans— depending on where you happen to be. We pay little attention to most of these, much of the time, and none at all in the moment that a voice calls our name or the phone rings. A familiar video of selective attention shows that onlookers watch- ing players passing a basketball do not even notice a gorilla dancing in the back- ground. The diversity and range of our human senses are just what is required to make our way. We have no particular need to see ultraviolet light as does a bird or butterfly, or to sense electrical impuls- es like a fish. Nevertheless, even within our limited ranges of detection, the infor- mation from any one of our five senses, if unfiltered, would quickly overwhelm our attention. Focused attention allows us to direct our neural resources towards processing one source at a time, enhancing depth of analysis, though at some evident cost of breadth of perception. One way to mini- mize this cost, of course, is to ignore some important stimuli only at the moment, but save the memory for processing later. Graziano believes that conscious- ness emerges from the neural machin- ery for selective attention. Recently, he Richard Schultes with a Shaman examining plant materials in the Colombian Amazon. has developed the Attention Schema Theory (AST) that posits that animals tion of what passes in one’s own mind.” our senses, and of our bodies and memo- have evolved selective attention through Long the domain of philosophers, the ries, and we know we are aware of these sophisticated mechanisms for deep pro- concept has since expanded to include things. We are also aware of the minds cessing of some signals while ignoring the fields of psychology, neurobiology of others. There is nevertheless much others, and that consciousness is the and behavior. All these disciplines agree that is subconscious, however, things of result of the gradual evolution of such a that consciousness draws on our senses which we are not aware, and this is what system. Many examples of selective pro- for information about the world outside William James viewed as psychology’s cessing can be found at all levels in the of our minds, a world that provides the greatest discovery. As Graziano observes, nervous system, and overwhelming evi- context for imagining our own place awareness is a description of attention, dence now exists that consciousness is within it as well as the minds of others. and attention is a data-handling feature present in varying degrees across a wide As William James noted, consciousness of neurons in a brain. We can also pay range of animals, from frogs and lizards is not a thing but a process. attention to input without necessarily to birds and mammals. Awareness is an important aspect being aware of the act, in that our neu- Even in simple nervous systems, Gra- of the process of consciousness. We are rons are continually registering infor- ziano points out, neurons operate like aware of the information coming from mation without our being conscious of candidates in an election, each shout- REVISTA.DRCLAS.HARVARD.EDU ReVista 27 THE BIOLOGY OF CULTURE ing its message, trying to suppress the brain layer called the cortex. The main others; only a few winning signals end difference between the tectum and the up influencing an animal’s behavior. For wulst/cortex is that tectum points the example, selective signal enhancement in sensory organs towards a stimulus while the retinal cells in the eyes of most ani- the wulst/cortex permits focused atten- mals permit detection of edges that in tion without necessary action. In a 2002 turn enables distinguishing the outline of Scientific American article, “The Problem forms. Receptors involved in touch and of Consciousness,” Francis Crick (noted hearing use signal enhancement in simi- for co-discovering the DNA double helix) lar ways. called this the spotlight of attention. The To enable selective attention among wulst/cortex can shift our attention from signals within and between senses, verte- ourselves to a bystander, a jet flying over- Taino stone zemi representing the god of cassava, Yucahu. The zemis would some- brate animals have a special brain area, head or any thought we wish, without times be planted in fields in ceremonies for called the tectum, that is a central con- overt movement on our part.