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Posterior Cortical Hot Zone
The term posterior cortical hot zone was coined by Christof Koch and colleagues to describe the part of the neocortex closely associated with the minimal neural substrate essential for conscious perception. The posterior cortical hot zone includes sensory cortical areas in the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. It is the “sensory” cortex, much as the frontal cortex is the “action” cortex. When parts of the posterior cortex are damaged, whole modalities of sensory experience disappear from both waking and dreaming. For example, individuals with a lesion in the Visual area V4 often do not perceive color and dream in black-and-white; those with a lesion in the Visual area V5/MT do not perceive motion and do not dream of motion; subjects with a lesion to fusiform gyrus are impaired in face perception and also do not dream of faces. Compare that to lesions of the cerebellum or frontal cortex that have little effect on sensory experience. Object encoding in the posteri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christof Koch
Christof Koch ( ; born November 13, 1956) is a German-American neurophysiologist and computational neuroscientist best known for his work on the neural basis of consciousness. He is the president and chief scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. From 1986 until 2013, he was a professor at the California Institute of Technology. Early life and education Koch was born in the Midwestern United States, and subsequently was raised in the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and Morocco. Koch is the son of German parents; his father was a diplomat, as is his older brother Michael. He was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended a Jesuit high school in Morocco. His interest in consciousness commenced as a child when he decided that consciousness must apply to all animals not just humans. He received a PhD in sciences for his works in the field of nonlinear information processing from the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, Germany, in 1982. Koch worked for four years a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frontal Cortex
The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove between tissues called the central sulcus and from the temporal lobe by a deeper groove called the lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure). The most anterior rounded part of the frontal lobe (though not well-defined) is known as the frontal pole, one of the three poles of the cerebrum. The frontal lobe is covered by the frontal cortex. The frontal cortex includes the premotor cortex, and the primary motor cortex – parts of the motor cortex. The front part of the frontal cortex is covered by the prefrontal cortex. There are four principal gyri in the frontal lobe. The precentral gyrus is directly anterior to the central sulcus, running parallel to it and contains the primary motor cortex, which controls voluntary movements of specific body parts. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dream
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, although the dreamer may perceive the dream as being much longer than this. The content and function of dreams have been topics of scientific, philosophical and religious interest throughout recorded history. Dream interpretation, practiced by the Babylonians in the third millennium BCE and even earlier by the ancient Sumerians, figures prominently in religious texts in several traditions, and has played a lead role in psychotherapy. The scientific study of dreams is called oneirology. Most modern dream study focuses on the neurophysiology of dreams and on proposing and testing hypotheses regarding dream function. It is not known where in the brain dreams originate, if there is a single origin for dreams or if multiple regions of the brain are i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prefrontal Synthesis
Prefrontal synthesis (PFS, also known as mental synthesis) is the conscious purposeful process of synthesizing novel mental images. PFS is neurologically different from the other types of imagination, such as simple memory recall and dreaming. Unlike dreaming, which is spontaneous and not controlled by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), PFS is controlled by and completely dependent on the intact lateral prefrontal cortex. Unlike simple memory recall that involves activation of a single neuronal ensemble (NE) encoded at some point in the past, PFS involves active combination of two or more object-encoding neuronal ensembles (objectNE). The mechanism of PFS is hypothesized to involve synchronization of several independent objectNEs. When objectNEs fire out-of-sync, the objects are perceived one at a time. However, once those objectNEs are time-shifted by the lateral PFC to fire in-phase with each other, they are consciously experienced as one unified object or scene. History of the term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lateral Prefrontal Cortex
In human brain anatomy, the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) is part of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). According to Striedter the PFC of humans can be delineated into two functionally, morphologically, and evolutionarily different regions: the ventromedial PFC (vmPFC) present in all mammals and the LPFC present only in primates. The LPFC contains the Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA45, BA46, and BA47. Some researchers also include BA44. The LPFC is often further divided into dorsolateral prefrontal cortex ( BA8, BA9, BA10, BA46) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex ( BA45, BA47, BA44). Function The vmPFC is primarily concerned with inhibition of urges, motivation, identification of rewarding or otherwise significant stimuli, as well as mood and empathy. The LPFC is primarily involved in working memory, reasoning, planning, and active forms of imagination: Prefrontal Synthesis, mental rotation, and integration of modifiers In linguistics, a modifier is an optional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constructive Imagination
{{Unreferenced, date=June 2019 "Constructive" or "productive" imagination denotes the process resulting in formation of novel mental images, as opposed to simple recall that refers to remembering of a previously seen picture. On a neurological level, simple recall involves activation of an existing object-encoding neuronal ensemble (objectNE) in the posterior cortical hot zone; synchronous resonant activity of the objectNE results in conscious perception of the object. Constructive imagination, on the other hand, involves various mechanisms that modify an objectNE or assemble different objectNEs into novel combinations. Constructive imagination is further divided into active imagination driven by the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and spontaneous PFC-independent imagination such as REM-sleep dreaming, daydreaming, hallucinations, and spontaneous insight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neural Binding
Neural binding is the neuroscientific aspect of what is commonly known as the binding problem: the interdisciplinary difficulty of creating a comprehensive and verifiable model for the unity of consciousness. "Binding" refers to the integration of highly diverse neural information in the forming of one's cohesive experience. The neural binding hypothesis states that neural signals are paired through synchronized oscillations of neuronal activity that combine and recombine to allow for a wide variety of responses to context-dependent stimuli. These dynamic neural networks are thought to account for the flexibility and nuanced response of the brain to various situations. The coupling of these networks is transient, on the order of milliseconds, and allows for rapid activity. A viable mechanism for this phenomenon must address (1) the difficulties of reconciling the global nature of the participating (exogenous) signals and their relevant ( endogenous) associations, (2) the interface ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cognit
A neuronal ensemble is a population of nervous system cells (or cultured neurons) involved in a particular neural computation. Background The concept of neuronal ensemble dates back to the work of Charles Sherrington who described the functioning of the CNS as the system of reflex arcs, each composed of interconnected excitatory and inhibitory neurons. In Sherrington's scheme, α-motoneurons are the final common path of a number of neural circuits of different complexity: motoneurons integrate a large number of inputs and send their final output to muscles. Donald Hebb theoretically developed the concept of neuronal ensemble in his famous book "The Organization of Behavior" (1949). He defined "cell assembly" as "a diffuse structure comprising cells in the cortex and diencephalon, capable of acting briefly as a closed system, delivering facilitation to other such systems". Hebb suggested that, depending on functional requirements, individual brain cells could participate in dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neural Clique
Neural cliques are network-level memory coding units in the hippocampus. They are functionally organized in a categorical and hierarchical manner. Researchers investigating the role of neural cliques have gained insight into the process of storing memories in the brain. Research evidence suggests that memory of events is achieved not through memorization of exact event details but through recreation of select images based on cognitive significance. This process enables the brain to exhibit large storage capacity and facilitates the capacity for abstract reasoning and generalization. Although several studies converges in the demonstration that real-time patterns of memory traces and sensory inputs are retained in the form of neural cliques, the topic is currently in active research in order to fully understand this biological code. History Hebb proposed in 1949 that information in the brain would need to involve the coordinated activity of multiple neuronal cells, termed engrams or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neuronal Assemblie
A neuronal ensemble is a population of nervous system cells (or cultured neurons) involved in a particular neural computation. Background The concept of neuronal ensemble dates back to the work of Charles Sherrington who described the functioning of the CNS as the system of reflex arcs, each composed of interconnected excitatory and inhibitory neurons. In Sherrington's scheme, α-motoneurons are the final common path of a number of neural circuits of different complexity: motoneurons integrate a large number of inputs and send their final output to muscles. Donald Hebb theoretically developed the concept of neuronal ensemble in his famous book "The Organization of Behavior" (1949). He defined "cell assembly" as "a diffuse structure comprising cells in the cortex and diencephalon, capable of acting briefly as a closed system, delivering facilitation to other such systems". Hebb suggested that, depending on functional requirements, individual brain cells could participate in dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neuronal Ensemble
A neuronal ensemble is a population of nervous system cells (or cultured neurons) involved in a particular neural computation. Background The concept of neuronal ensemble dates back to the work of Charles Sherrington who described the functioning of the CNS as the system of reflex arcs, each composed of interconnected excitatory and inhibitory neurons. In Sherrington's scheme, α-motoneurons are the final common path of a number of neural circuits of different complexity: motoneurons integrate a large number of inputs and send their final output to muscles. Donald Hebb theoretically developed the concept of neuronal ensemble in his famous book "The Organization of Behavior" (1949). He defined "cell assembly" as "a diffuse structure comprising cells in the cortex and diencephalon, capable of acting briefly as a closed system, delivering facilitation to other such systems". Hebb suggested that, depending on functional requirements, individual brain cells could participate in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cerebellum
The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as or even larger. In humans, the cerebellum plays an important role in motor control. It may also be involved in some cognition, cognitive functions such as attention and language as well as emotion, emotional control such as regulating fear and pleasure responses, but its movement-related functions are the most solidly established. The human cerebellum does not initiate movement, but contributes to Motor coordination, coordination, precision, and accurate timing: it receives input from sensory systems of the spinal cord and from other parts of the brain, and integrates these inputs to fine-tune motor activity. Cerebellar damage produces disorders in Fine motor skill, fine movement, Equilibrioception, equilibrium, Human positions, posture, and motor learning in humans. Anatomica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
