Walter J Freeman University of California at Berkeley

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Title, Wake Forest SPP06-17-05
From brain to neuron to molecule and back again
circular causality in the organization of
embodied cognition Walter J Freeman University
of California at Berkeley http//sulcus.berkeley.
edu
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John von Neumann
Information Technology was repudiated almost
immediately by the key designer of the serial
digital computer Whatever the language of the
brain is, it cannot fail to differ considerably
from what we consciously and explicitly consider
as mathematics. John von Neumann (1958) The
Computer and the Brain
John von Neumann
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John von Neumann
Brains lack the arithmetic and logical depth
that characterize our computations . We
require exquisite numerical precision over many
logical steps to achieve what brains accomplish
in very few short steps. The Computer and the
Brain, 1958, p. 63.
John von Neumann, 1900-1958
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Claude Shannon
The fundamental problem of communication is to
reproduce a message. Frequently the messages
have meaning. These semantic aspects are
irrelevant to the engineering problem. Claude
Shannon (1948) A mathematical theory of
communication. Bell System Technical Journal
27 379.
Likewise by Shannon
Claude Shannon 1916-2001
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Neumann Nichols, fMRI
The use of imaging to localize brain modules
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Neumann Nichols, neurophrenology
PET, SPECT, BOLD, fMRI, DTA, EEG, MEG, etc.
support contemporary forms of 19th century
phrenology.
Neumann Nichols, Nature, 1999. Imaging data
assembled by C. J. Doane.
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Requirement for a new model

• OUTLINE
• Why is the information/representation model
  so tenacious?
• What can be done to open the way
• to new models?
• What are von Neumanns few short steps?

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Haken Prigogine
Ilya Prigogine, 1917-2003
Hermann Haken, 1927 - dissipative
structures circular
causality
Brains are open thermodynamic systems far from
equilibrium.
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EEG, Cat hungry, then satiated
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PG PSTH
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Periglomerular (PG) root loci
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PG Threshold, non-zero point attractor
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Pole at the origin of the complex plane
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Root loci Sigmoid curve
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Root loci Sigmoid curve, KIe
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St. Thomas Aquinas, Intentionality
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Plato and Aristotle
The ancient roots of theories of perception
Passive Platos Cave Active
Aristotles Heart
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An example of intentionality
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Root loci PG PSTH and AEP
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Root loci 64 AEP OB from PON
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Root loci Mode 1e
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Root loci Mode 2
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Root loci Sigmoid curve, KIIob
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A state transition is induced in the olfactory
system by each inhalation that brings new
sensory input.
Freeman, 1972
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Electrode arrays on rabbit brain
Left hemisphere of the rabbit brain with size and
location of 8x8 electrode arrays The circles show
typical activity domains.