title: Recurrent fractal neural networks: a strategy for the exchange of local and global information processing in the brain.
abstract: The regulation of biological networks relies significantly on convergent feedback signaling loops that render a global output locally accessible. Ideally, the recurrent connectivity within these systems is self-organized by a time-dependent phase-locking mechanism. This study analyzes recurrent fractal neural networks (RFNNs), which utilize a self-similar or fractal branching structure of dendrites and downstream networks for phase-locking of reciprocal feedback loops: output from outer branch nodes of the network tree enters inner branch nodes of the dendritic tree in single neurons. This structural organization enables RFNNs to amplify re-entrant input by over-the-threshold signal summation from feedback loops with equivalent signal traveling times. The columnar organization of pyramidal neurons in the neocortical layers V and III is discussed as the structural substrate for this network architecture. RFNNs self-organize spike trains and render the entire neural network output accessible to the dendritic tree of each neuron within this network. As the result of a contraction mapping operation, the local dendritic input pattern contains a downscaled version of the network output coding structure. RFNNs perform robust, fractal data compression, thus coping with a limited number of feedback loops for signal transport in convergent neural networks. This property is discussed as a significant step toward the solution of a fundamental problem in neuroscience: how is neuronal computation in separate neurons and remote brain areas unified as an instance of experience in consciousness? RFNNs are promising candidates for engaging neural networks into a coherent activity and provide a strategy for the exchange of global and local information processing in the human brain, thereby ensuring the completeness of a transformation from neuronal computation into conscious experience.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Medical College of Georgia, 1120 15th Street Room CB-2803, Augusta, GA 30912, USA. ebierberich@mail.mcg.edu
authors.forename: Erhard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bieberich
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D003243:Consciousness; D005246:Feedback; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*