Resonant cell assemblies: a new approach to cognitive functions and neuronal synchrony.
This paper presents a novel reading of ideas on temporal binding as a key for cognitive operations by means of fast (gamma band) phase synchrony. We advocate a view of binding of widely distributed cell assemblies transiently locked in a neural hypergraph which serves as a reference point to incorporate or interpret other less coherent concurrent neural events. The paper traces in some detail the empirical evidence concerning the gamma binding process and presents some implications for the constitution of a unified cognitive-mental space.
Varela
F J
FJ
Laboratoire de Psychophysiologie Cognitive, Hôpital de la Salpétrière, Paris, France. fv@ccr.jussieu.fr
D000818:Animals; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D004569:Electroencephalography; D000882:Haplorhini; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D015204:Spectroscopy, Mossbauer / Q000379:methods; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*