in the next several posts I will be including comments by researchers in the 2/19/23 quanta magazine article by jordana cepelewicz, entitled, “The brain doesn’t think the way you think it does.” I have pointed out that material reductionism has dominated neuroscience perspectivesof brain function for a very long time, but this article shows that that perspective is being challenged, or at least questioned.
I begin with statements by lisa feldman barrett, a psychologist at northeastern university: “ . . . a brain map with neat borders is not just oversimplified - it’s misleading. ‘scientists for over 100 years have searched fruitlessly for brain boundaries between thinking, feeling, deciding, remembering, moving and other everyday experiences,’ barrett said. a host of recent neurological studies further confirm that these mental categories ‘are poor guides for understanding how brains are structured or how they work.’
“neuroscientists generally agree about how the physical tissue of the brain is organized: into particular regions, networks, cell types. but when it comes to relating those to the task the brain might be performing - perception, memory, attention, emotion or action - ‘things get a lot more dodgy,’ said david poeppel, a neuroscientists at new york university.”
I have shared that single impulses can appear in A SPECIFIC neuron AND CHANGE TO NEW ONES within microseconds, showing the versatility in the CODING functioN OF individual neurons. IN THE NEXT POST THIS REALITY WILL BE ADDRESSED.