Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Overlapping Neural Networks

"One synapse, by itself, is more like a microprocessor--with both memory-storage and information-processing elements--than a mere on/off switch. In fact, one synapse may contain on the order of 1,000 molecular-scale switches. A single human brain has more switches than all the computers and routers and Internet connections on Earth" stanford november 2010 neuron imaging synapse processing" https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2010/11/new-imaging-method-developed-at-stanford-reveals-stunning-details-of-brain-connections.html

There could be more than one type of molecular switch in a synapse, each type involving different neurotransmitters. This suggests that the synapse instead of acting as a microprocessor could simply change the path of the information from one neuron to another depending of what neurotransmitters prevail in that moment at the synapse.

Now we can think of the brain more like a dynamically re-configurable hardware with the possibility of multiple different (or even simultaneous) "neural pathways" between the same group of neurons. And if the neurotransmitters are not spread uniformly throughout a region, there goes the "classical neural network" model in favor of some ever changing and overlapping multiple neural networks.

It is obvious that until this discovery described in the article linked above was made, nobody could imagine this model.

However, let's hypothesize that a certain combination of neurotransmitters is distributed uniformly throughout the brain at a certain time. (Although it cannot last very long since these are very dynamic processes, as neurotransmitters are being secreted in different areas of the brain and also metabolized).

Nothing will happen, the brain would freeze in a certain state and thought pattern.

According to this there can be different "brain modes", depending of which type of molecular switches are favored or what mode the brain is in or how many of the overlapping networks are activated at a certain time, and if one is dominant.

It is possible that since memories being "written" when inside a certain area of the brain a certain combination of neurotransmitters is attained, to be retrieved by recreating the same combination of concentrations? Yes, but those conditions are being hard to achieve except by the brain itself, because i think there are gradients of the concentrations of different neurotransmitters that intersect each other creating that combination in very small areas.

Since some neurotransmitters are associated with emotions that means some combination of emotions at a certain time can lead to retrieving those memories?

1 comment:

George Ion said...

There are probably different combinations of different minute neurotransmitter concentrations. Some of them are for forgetting (although complete forgetting as erasing personal data from the Internet is not possible). Some for learning and memorizing. Some correspond to the trance state of mind when you are directly suggestible. A certain predetermined combination activates a certain circuit. Some categories or religions probably learned, empirically or under some external influence how to trigger a certain combination or state of mind. Probably some of the transitory or not so transitory states of mind can be triggered by as little as a word, gesture, expression. If i was a researcher and/or had researching manpower, i would start looking for answers in religions, starting with Cabala or Freemasonry or Indian Mythology etc. Look for the common ones.

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