Two millennia of animal spirits: An ancient theory about nerves proved surprisingly hard to dislodge

Article Abstract:

Alexandrian physicians of the third century BC were the first to ask the question about nerves, and they believed that it was a flow of animal spirits along motor and sensory nerves that resulted in movement and sensation. The theory survived until the seventeenth century AD and in the nineteenth century Emil Du Bois Reymond showed that the voltage over the surface membrane of inert nerve fibre diminished when the fibre was stimulated. In the twentieth century Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley proved the hypothesis that actional potential involves both diminution and a change in sign of the voltage across the nerve membrane.

History, Nerves, Biology

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Influence of dendritic structure on firing pattern in model neocortical neurons

Article Abstract:

The electronic structure of a neuron influences the interactions between non-uniformly distributed ion channels, and manages the repetitive firing and interspike membrane potential trajectory patterns. Compartmental models of reconstructed cortical neurons reveal that dendritic morphology causes functional differentiation in neocortical neurons. This occurs due to partial electrical coupling of fast active conductances in the soma and axon, and slow active ones throughout the dendrites.

Physiological aspects, Dendrites, Neocortex

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An intriguing door

Article Abstract:

The concept of the neural correlates of consciousness has attracted considerable attention because these are significant and nearly accessible. If mental states can affect behaviour only through their neural correlates, then the subjective nature of mental states is irrelevant. This does not explain the connection between pleasure and survival-promoting circumstances and between discomfort and survival-endangering circumstances.

Consciousness

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