The Brain and Conscious Unity by Petr Bob

Author:Petr Bob
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

5.2 Concept of Omega Neurons and Modern Chaos Theory

During recognition and selective attention processing, dynamical interactions of various independent activities produce neural “recognition patterns” that enable to compare sensory information with patterns in memory and distinguish differences between these patterns. In this context, attentional selection means comparison and selection of a perceptual information during process of ‘interactive competition’ (Desimone and Duncan 1995) . This process likely is based on repeated comparisons of various competitive neural patterns representing possible interpretations of the received information during selective attentional processing (Desimone and Duncan 1995; Baars 1988, 2002; Kanwisher 2001; Bob 2011). As a consequence, the various properties of an object represented in distinct cortical regions enhance each other and suppress neural representations of competing objects. Competitive interactions across cortical areas result in domination of perceptual representations by properties of a single object. Selected interpretation from this competition and its neural pattern represent the output of the recognition process, which is subjectively experienced as mental representation of the interpretation.

With respect to recent evidence about attentional processing these complex dynamical interconnections forming various neural patterns and also comparisons among them produce “differences” that define basic “code” for recognition which in every comparison during attentional processing means one bit of information and on highest levels of this hierarchical process of recognition it is one bit of information that presents a final step of the recognition process of which output is yes or no (1 or 0 which is one bit of information). In this context, interesting physical quality of the “omega neurons” that Freud postulated is their very low energy of excitation. This postulate from the current point of view might be reasonable because energy which is necessary for recognition of one bit of information in principle might be very low energy at about 10−21 J (according to Landauer’s principle k T log2; Chap. 1.3.1.2.). This very low energy means that the process of recognition in its final steps might be processed on very sensitive microscopic level .

Based on these postulated qualities omega neurons in principle might be very sensitive “chaotic” devices that using very small and sensitive discharges during and after recognition process enable to produce massive neural responses in other neurons which consequently produce motor and behavioral responses (i.e. in principle omega neurons might use chaotic “butterfly effect” and through very small changes to produce highly significant effects on macroscopic scales) . This conceptualization of omega neurons in its basic principle that Freud proposed is in agreement with current chaos and complexity theory of the brain functions in which sensitivity during “critical times” significantly influences rapid shifts in the system’s evolution which later may emerge as very different macroscopic patterns of neural activity and mental processes (Elbert et al 1994; Freeman 1983, 1991, 2000; Birbaumer et al. 1995; Kantz and Schreiber 1997; Meyer-Lindenberg et al. 2002; van Putten and Stam 2001; Faure and Korn 2001; Globus and Arpaia 1994; Korn and Faure 2003).

Because omega neurons were postulated to explain and enable qualia and integrated

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