The mind revealed?

Article Abstract:

The discovery that cat neurons (brain cells) lying far from one another fire synchronously when presented with apparently related stimuli, but not when the stimuli are unrelated, has excited neuroscientists. An implication of these results is that brain cells can somehow 'match' their activity, and further investigation could shed light on the ways information is pooled to form coherent thought. The firing frequency of the cat neurons was 40 hertz, a pattern that might be characteristic not only of visual awareness, but also of consciousness. At a more practical level, the problem of how an object, for instance a pen, can be visually selected from the environment that surrounds it has long baffled scientists. Disparate aspects of the pen, such as color, texture, and size are stored in brain areas that lie far from one another. These aspects are united into a coherent image through a process called 'visual binding'. Wolf Singer, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, West Germany, discovered 40-hertz oscillations in neurons of the visual cortex and recalled the work of Christoph von der Malsburg. von der Malsburg had suggested that such synchronization might underlie visual binding, and Singer's group went on to show that synchronous oscillations could be detected in cells lying as far as seven millimeters from each other. Other researchers have gone farther anatomically, and found synchronous oscillation in cell groups in adjacent cortical areas. Consciousness, they say, may be based on such widespread oscillations. The phase-locking characteristics of the 40-hertz oscillations seem to correspond to the time scale by which attention shifts from one object to another. Skeptics see no reason to assume the oscillations are more than a side effect of neuronal activity. Experiments on awake monkeys will enable scientists to determine whether the results so far are an artifact of anesthesia. Paradoxically, previous studies of this purported 'basis of consciousness' have all been performed on unconscious cats. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Brain

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Visual system provides clues to how the brain perceives

Article Abstract:

Research on the neurobiology of vision may be seen as a first step in the effort to discern the neurophysiological basis of consciousness. Researchers have shown that the visual system creates a neural image of visually perceived objects, and that these neural images can be altered by the mind in meaningful ways.

Innovations, Cover Story, Brain research, Neurophysiology, Mind and body

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New clue to brain wiring mystery

Article Abstract:

A research team led by Barbara Barres has discovered that rat neurons will not respond to neurotropic factors unless the neurons are in an activated state. The finding provides information about how neurons make connections during brain development.

Developmental neurology, Neural circuitry

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