Hi Lothar,

> For neurophysiologists to be able to make any valid statement about
>mental phenomena, the latter would have to be within reach of their
>methodology, which I don't think is the case.

The only methodology I can think of that might fulfil your
requirements would be to ask test subjects what they perceive/feel
etc when an intervention is performed.

For example, I read about an experiment where they trained the test
subjects to have body-external perception of the sense of touch. In
other words, they felt something outside of their bodies. The subject
sat, knees apart, with electrodes on each knee. They would get a jolt
on either knee. Then after a while they would get jolts on both knees
almost simultaneously. With training--rather like with the time delay
that enables us to hear the direction from which a sound comes--the
subjects, though jolted in both knees, felt it as a single jolt
occurring somewhere in the empty space between their knees. Varying
which jolt came first, and the time delay between them (which was on
the order of microseconds) made the perceived jolt move back and
forth in the space between the knees.

This experiment combines physical study of the sense organs with its
effect on the awareness of the participant, but it depends on the
participant reporting back to the scientists what he or she
experienced. I don't see why it shouldn't be possible to devise more
experiments along those lines to study links between neurophysiology
and consciousness.

best regards,

/Rett