Orchestrated Reduction of Quantum Coherence in Brain Microtubules: A Model for Consciousness

Orch OR (“Orchestrated Objective Reduction”) is a theory of consciousness put forth in the mid-1990s by British physicist Sir Roger Penrose and American anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff. Whereas most theories assume consciousness emerges from complex computation at the level of synapses among brain neurons, Orch OR involves a specific form of quantum computation which underlies these neuronal synaptic activities. The proposed quantum computations occur in structures inside the brain’s neurons called microtubules