Abstract

It is widely accepted that consciousness or, more generally, mental activity is correlated to the behavior of the material brain. Since quantum theory is our most fundamental theory of matter, it is a legitimate question to ask whether quantum theory can help us to understand consciousness. There are three basic types of corresponding approaches: (1) consciousness is a manifestation of quantum processes in the brain, (2) quantum concepts are used to understand consciousness without referring to brain activity, and (3) matter and consciousness are regarded as dual aspects of one underlying reality. Major contemporary variants of these quantum inspired approaches will be discussed.