to a second AI Overview i posed a similar question and received the following response: “yes, the cognitive mind generates neural oscillations (‘waves’) that directly interact with the layer 1 (L1) apical tufts of pyramidal columns to modulate attention, perception, and conscious awareness.”

the response went further addressing top-down inputs (cognitive driven): “internal context, predictions, memories, and attention signals travel via long-range feedback pathways from higher-order brain regions (like the prefrontal cortex) and the thalamus directly into layer 1. there, they synapse onto the highly branched apical tufts of pyramidal cells.”

from the material reductionism perspective, the “cognitive driven” inputs would emerge solely from the material components of the brain and its synaptic networks. so my question remains, is it possible, or likely, that “top-down inputs” can refer to the immaterial cognitive mind and its capacity to generate wave forms that interact synchronously with the apical dendritic tufts of pyramidal columns? Let us examine more of the response:

“electrical resonance: apical dendrites possess specialized ion channels . . . that make them act like tiny tuning forks. they preferentially resonate at specific oscillatory frequencies . . . allowing the apical tuft to selectively filter out background noise and synchronize (Italics added) only with specific cognitive commands.”

in upcoming blogs i shall refer to the foundational work of john c. eccles concerning pyramidal modules. in summary, modules resonate at specific learned frequencies and amplitudes to enable synchronous interaction with the “specific oscillatory frequencies” generated by the immaterial cognitive mind, the apical dendrites of modules acting as detectors (“tiny tuning forks”).

is it reasonable to posit that it is the immaterial cognitive mind that is the source of causally active “cognitive driven input?” if so, we are seeing dual interactionism between the immaterial mind of man (and of god/holy spirit) and the material components of the neural synaptic networks. more to come. thank you.

in my last blog I stated the following: “in coming blogs i shall address this question in more detail, identifying the possible role of the apical dentritic tufts of pyramidal cells in a dual interactive process.” i am beginning by posting an ai overview response to my question concerning the possibility that the immaterial cognitive mind interacts with the material components of the pyramidal columns, including the apical dendritic tufts: “within mainstream neuroscience, the cognitive mind does not ‘generate specified electromagnetic waves’ that interact back onto neurons through the air or via an external transmission source.” the response continued stating, “while the exact nature of this feedback loop is a heavily researched and debated topic in theoretical neuroscience, it is firmly established that layer 1 apical tufts serve as the primary receiving zones for the top-down signals that modulate this conscious processing.”

these comments confirm two things important to my research. First, mainstream neuroscientists deny the reality of dual interactionism, ATTRIBUTing ALL COGNITIVE ACTIVITY TO THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PHYSICS OF THE MATERIAL BRAIN AND ITS SYNAPTIC NETWORKS, MATERIAL REDUCTIONISM. SECOND, IT HAS BEEN “FIRMLY ESTABLISHED” THAT THERE IS A CRITICAL ROLE OF APICAL DENDRITIC TUFTS IN CONSCIOUS PROCESSING. MY QUESTION IS WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE “TOP-DOWN SIGNALS” THAT MODULATE IT? SO IT IS MY CHARGE TO PRESENT EVIDENCE FOR DUALISM IN NEURAL PROCESSING AND INTERACTION. THE PREMISE PRESENTED IN MY TWO BOOKS AND NUMEROUS BLOGS IS COMPELLING FOR DUAL INTERACTIONISM, WHICH IS CAUSAL, BETWEEN THE COGNITIVE MIND, AN IMMATERIAL ENTITY, AND THE MATERIAL COMPONENTS OF THE NEURAL SYNAPTIC NETWORKS WHICH TRANSMIT ENCODED ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES WITHIN ACTION POTENTIALS THAT ARE FOUNDATIONAL TO THINKING, CREATIVITY, ATTENTION, MOTOR RESPONSES AND OTHER SUCH NEURAL ACTIVITIES.

PLEASE STAND BY. MUCH MORE TO COME. THANK YOU.

an article by jessica berman appeared in science and health dated february 5, 2012, entitled “decoding brainwaves allows scientists to pry into thoughts.” it is an article that describes the work of neuroscientist robert knight, who heads the u. c. berkley neuroscience center, to create a computer system by which brainwave patterns can be interpreted by an electronic voice synthesizer as audible speech, of benefit to patients who have lost the ability to speak. brainwave patterns are encoded and possess specific amplitude, frequency and shape that reflect words transmitted through neural synaptic pathways. the question to be raised is whether the encoded brainwave patterns detected by electroencephalography are generated by the immaterial mind of a subject and then interact with pyramical tract sensors, or detectors, in the neocortex that in turn transmit encoded brainwave frequencies through synaptic tracks. in coming blogs i shall address this question in more detail, identifying the possible role of the apical dentritic tufts of pyramidal cells in a dual interactive process. pasley hopes that this technology will allow people to talk with their thoughts, or to speak their minds.

i am citing an article from the university of california, berkley dated january 17, 2018 that is featured research entitled “tracking thoughts moving through the brain.” the authors described “a universal signature of activity centered in the prefrontal lobe that links perception and action. it’s the glue of cognition.” using electrocorticography which records from hundreds of electrodes placed on the surface of the exposed brain of epilepsy patients, they detected “activity in the thin outer region, the cortex, where thinking occurs.”

i pose a question based on this finding: how does the “glue of cognition” occuring in the “thin outer region of the cortex” relate to thinking by the immaterial mind and the apical dendritic tufts of the pyramidal neural columns located in this region of the brain? is it a dual interactive relationship? in subsequent blogs i shall comment further on this issue, identifying a probable role of apical dendritic tufts in thinking. please stand by, and thank you.

Scientists Ask, “Is Materialism Holding Science Back?”

Science & Culture

June 5, 2026

Philosophy of Science, Scientific Reasoning

That’s the title of a discussion featuring astrophysicist Adam Frank, neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, and biologist Michael Levin, at Institute for Arts and Ideas (IAI)’s YouTube channel:

Display "Is materialism holding science back? | Adam Frank, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Michael Levin" from YouTube

Host Güneş Taylor poses the question to the three:

Does science need to assume a materialist account of the world or might this have fundamental limitations? Could a different metaphysics help science make progress on key questions, from the origin of life to the mysteries of quantum gravity? Or would abandoning materialism risk returning us to the myths of superstition and religion?

Or as IAI summarizes:

For centuries, we’ve assumed that science has banished the transcendent and established that reality is entirely physical. But critics argue there are signs that a rigorous materialism might be holding science back. Increasingly, “emergence” is used to account for everything from consciousness to spacetime — a convenient placeholder for what materialist science may be unable to explain. Physicists like Heisenberg and Hawking concluded that science gives us models of reality, rather than final descriptions of its true nature, while there are scientists working in everything from biology to computer science who suggest that dualism is a productive metaphysical framework for their research. Materialism may have enabled science to reach beyond the dogmas of religion, but there are now those who are restlessly probing the limits of materialism itself.

Says Professor Frank, from the University of Rochester: “Really the only way we get reality is from a perspectival point of view. There is no third-person view of the universe.”

Is materialist dogma a straightjacket? The very fact that a respectable conversation is going on around this question tells us that something has changed.

i have posted this article from the discovery institute’s division of science and culture to show how the committment of scientists to material reductionism is being challenged. Note the statement, “. . . that dualism is a productive metaphysical framework for their research.” i have presented abundant evidence for dualist interactionism in my books and blogs that i hope is compelling.

As i continue my research into dual interaction between immaterial minds, including the mind of god/holy spirit, and the material synaptic networks of the human brain, i will be posting blogs that address this issue. one question i will be addressing concerns how and where in the brain the immaterial cognitive mind, including the mind of god/holy spirit, works, is in an interactive relationship. the consensus of a majority of neuroscientists still maintains that the mind, as well as consciousness, is generated by and emerges from within the operations of the brain itself without acknowledging the presence and causal effects of an immaterial mind as i have documented in many blogs and in my books from a number of resources. i am addressing this issue because it gives testimony to the reality of god’s communion with mankind and the power of the gospel.

i am sharing two significant verses from the book of galatians written by the apostle paul. they speak to the indwelling of the spirits and souls of repentant mankind by the holy spirit and how lives (in our time!) are guided by faith in the living son of god.

gal 2:19-21: for through the law i died to the law so that i might live for god. i have been crucified with christ and i no longer live, but christ lives in me. the life i live in the body, i live by faith in the son of god, who loved me and gave himself for me. i do not set aside the grace of god, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, christ died for nothing.

gal 5:22-25: but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. against such things there is no law. those who belong to christ jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit.

my focus over the last 25 years has been to learn, at least in part, how we “live by the spirit,” how we “keep in step with” and hear from the spirit so that we commune personally with him. i have applied the principle of dual interactionism to my studies, how the immaterial mind of man interacts bidirectionally with the immaterial mind of god/the holy spirit through the material neural synaptic networks of the human brain. progress in the neurosciences has clarified this communion, that it is real, employing the transmission of linguistically encoded action potentials that are learned and interpreted over a lifetime and archived in memory. I have posted compelling evidence over these many years that validates this communion that occurs in our time, as has been documented in the biblical narratives.

2 Corinthians 5:

now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from god, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. for while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. now it is god who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 COR 5:14-15:

FOR CHRIST’S LOVE COMPELS US, BECAUSE WE ARE CONVINCED THAT ONE DIED FOR ALL, AND THEREFORE ALL DIED. AND HE DIED FOR ALL, THAT THOSE WHO LIVE SHOULD NO LONGER LIVE FOR THEMSELVES BUT FOR HIM WHO DIED FOR THEM AND WAS RAISED AGAIN.

2 Cor 5:16-21:

so from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. though we once regarded christ in this way, we do so no longer. therefore, if anyone is in christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! all this is from god, who reconciled us to himself through christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that god wAS RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF IN CHRIST, NOT COUNTING MEN’S SINS AGAINST THEM. AND HE HAS COMMITTED TO US THE MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATI0N. WE ARE THEREFORE CHRIST’S AMBASSADORS, AS THOUGH GOD WERE MAKING HIS APPEAL THROUGH US. WE IMPLORE YOU ON CHRIST’S BEHALF: BE RECONCILED TO GOD. GOD MADE HIM WHO HAD NO SIN TO BE SIN FOR US, SO THAT IN HIM WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.

I SHARE THESE VERSES TO SHOW THE BOUNDLESS LOVE OF GOD WHO GAVE HIS SON, JESUS, TO BE A SIN SACRIFICE SO THAT WE CAN HAVE COMMUNION RESTORED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AS INTENDED FROM THE CREATION OF ADAM, BUT LOST AT THE FALL. GOD’S LOVE IS THAT ALL MIGHT BE SAVED, MADE POSSIBLE BY THE ATONING SACRIFICE OF JESUS ON THE CROSS.

I am posting several verses from Romans 8 that speak to life when we are indwelled by the holy spirit:

8:5 those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires.

8:9 you, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the spirit, if indeed the spirit of god lives in you. and if anyone does not have the spirit of christ, they do not belong to christ.

8:10 But if christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the spirit gives life because of righteousness.

8:15 the spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. and by him we cry, father.

in the previous blog post i offered the following statement:

“he [HOLY SPIRIT] does have the capacity to observe any and all aspects of his creation, including the immaterial mind of human beings. he can transmit specified information into our minds WITHIN linguistic neural codes which the cognitive mind of man can interpret.”

the apostle mark in 13:11 said, “whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the holy spirit.”

THIS VERSE FROM Mark and my comments give testimony to the reality of dual interaction between the mind of god and the mind of man, both immaterial entities CAUSALLY reactive with the mATERIAL NEURAL SYNAPTIC NETWORKS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN. GOD THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRT STILL COMMUNES WITH US IN OUR TIME.