Neural Cell Behavior and Fuzzy Logic

Nonlinear dependencies of doses, time and reciprocal interactions (The verve of injured neurons (a single neuron tries to survive))

When harmful factors directly affect a neural tissue, parameters of tissue change. In the first approximation, this change is in accordance with a linear law: the stronger the impact, the stronger the damage. Injury is determined by outer environment and usually one may see some damage characteristics immediately, for instance, an increase in excitability. Certainly, […]

Homeostasis as a resetting and reorganization (The verve of injured neurons (a single neuron tries to survive))

Homeostasis against death Homeostasis is a key idea in biology. By mean of restorative, compensational mechanisms, homeostasis maintains stability of physiological systems and holds the parameters of an organism’s internal milieu (or correspondence between these parameters) within limits that allow for survival [203]. We understand homeostasis as a life-supporting mechanism incorporated into a cell. The […]

Long-term potentiation as a form of cell damage (The verve of injured neurons (a single neuron tries to survive))

Long-term potentiation and related forms of synaptic plasticity, sensitization and postsynaptic depression are often used for investigation of learning and memory. The advantage of LTP over conventional forms of learning (habit-uation, classical and instrumental conditioning) is the possibility of inducing long-term and strong alterations in the neural system by means of a short treatment. Persistent […]

Motivation as the simplest tool for investigation of the objective roots of a subjective life (Subjective nature of motivation (a single neuron can want))

The way a question is formulated A brain, like any physical system, dissipates energy and moves towards equilibrium. Nevertheless, there is a difference between a contracted spring and a panther preparing to jump. A brain creates motivation and impels the organism to reach those environmental fluctuations (reward), which may prevent dissipation of its energy. For […]

Chemical nature of motivations (Subjective nature of motivation (a single neuron can want))

Control of motivations by means of motivationally-relevant substances When one experiences a motivation, some specific areas in one’s brain are activated, indicating a connection of the specific motivation with a specific brain area. Moreover, electrical activation of such an area causes the same (or almost the same) motivation, and connection between an origin of the […]

Elemental motivations emerge in a result of transient cell damage (Subjective nature of motivation (a single neuron can want))

At present no specific investigations are examining how specific brain neurons are damaged during homeostatic disturbance throughout motivational behavior. Such damage may consist of changes in a cell’s morphology, ion metabolism, electrical activity, and other factors that prevent normal functioning of the cell, and these may eventually lead to cell death. Direct evidence of damage, […]

Reward protects neurons from damage (Subjective nature of motivation (a single neuron can want))

Reward as well as motivation itself has two components, conscious and unconscious or subjective and objective. When, as a result of motivational behavior, an organism accepts reward, it receives the two components. The first is pleasure, or the conscious component of reward, which encourages further voluntary actions and metabolic improvement. The second, unconscious component of […]

Goal-directed behavior of single cells Part 1 (Subjective nature of motivation (a single neuron can want))

Motivation is a goal-directed activity of the entire brain, based on primitive goal-directed activity of an enclave of individual neurons. Specific neurons detect particular requirements, determine the goals of behavior and the means for their achievement, accomplish intentional actions, consume reward and recover metabolic equilibrium. On the other hand, broad areas of brain are involved […]

Goal-directed behavior of single cells Part 2 (Subjective nature of motivation (a single neuron can want))

Interruption of pairing for 5-10 minutes after acquisition or 20 minutes after extinction increases response to the first CS+ after the break (Fig. 3.4, top). Arrows between the last values during acquisition and the first values during extinction (or the last value during extinction and the first value during reacquisition) indicate the significance of the […]

Paradoxical properties of instrumental reactions (Subjective nature of motivation (a single neuron can want))

We have demonstrated earlier that excitatory influences in some cases may exert a protective action. Therefore, a one-dimensional interpretation of beneficial influences as inhibitory cannot be a general rule. Similarly, when we have considered cellular damage and protection in topic 2, we certified that homeostasis can support a lively state of cells even if some […]

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