Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 15.20 The downward
arm of the
reciprocal
causation of mind and
molecule
depicted in
Fig.
15.17
. The macro-micro
coupling in the brain by
increasing the effective mass
of computing (or decision-
making) system and hence the
computational power
Size
System
Time
~ 10
-1
m
Cortex
~ 1 s
~10
-2
m
Subcortical
Regions
~ 10
-4
m
Columns
Minicolumns
Neurons
~10
-10
m
~1 s
Ion Channel
synchronous firing of the efferent neurons of the motor cortex (see Fig.
15.20
)that
innervate the muscle cells. It is interesting to note that the FDTABIM principle is
implemented by
nerve impulse
in the contractile system and by
thermal fluctuations
inside cells (Fig.
7.6
). We will refer to the former as the “voltage-initiated” FDTABIM
mechanism and the latter as the “fluctuation-initiated” FDTABIMmechanism. (Since
the
chunk synchronization
is a necessary condition for FDTABIM (see (i) above), we
can alternatively refer to these mechanisms as “voltage-initiated” and “fluctuation-
initiated” chunk synchrony, respectively.) These two types of FDTABIMmechanisms
are not independent of each other but hierarchically linked. Hence, it can be predicted
that the action of the skeletal muscle, for example, will depend on both the fluctuation-
and voltage-initiated FDTABIMmechanisms, although the details are not yet known.
So far we have been discussing the mechanisms underlying the transmission of
force from the myosin molecules to the skeletal muscle given the synchronous
activation of the muscle cells involving neuronal synchrony, namely, through the
voltage-initiated FDTABIM mechanism
. That is, we have been focusing on the
upward arm
of the
reciprocal causation
underlying the mind-molecule coupling
phenomenon (see Fig.
15.17
). We will now discuss the
downward arm
of the
reciprocal causation of this mind-molecule coupling. The main idea here is that
once the brain decides which muscle cells to activate to produce the desired bodily
