Thursday, August 09, 2007

The Wait


In the coming couple of weeks my neurobiology course will conclude. It will end with how-the-brain-gets-wired themed lectures. I guess two of these plus a lecture focused on a special kind of wiring - the wiring of the optical pathway. Nothing less than a feast.

Following are the typical questions whose answers I will be fishing for in these lectures.
  • The basis of instincts. Especially the behavior of just born calves. Where does this information come from?
  • Nature of data structures. Is the location and form of a given memory identical (or at least similar) in two different humans? For e.g. say the neuronal data structure corresponding to a given memory - say the English numeral 1 (i.e. basically a shape).
  • Imagination. Imagination is a brain activity unlike other brain activities such that you have neuronal activity in absence of an external input. How does one imagine?
  • Perception. Making an image of the world around you is a biological challenge in itself. A 100% biological lens followed by a bunch of 100% biological cables and ultimately a 100% biological "processing center". Marvelous. Still, beyond that how does an individual perceive an object. For e.g. when I see a square I feel a square. I wonder if some kind of reflection phenomenon - reflection of neural impulse encoded information within the brain would be necessary for perception. Say back and forth between the two cerebral hemispheres. This question is perhaps intricately related to the puzzle of imagination stated before.
Yeah, pretty much it. I hope to get at least a start towards solving these puzzles from these lectures. A reasonable expectation I suppose.

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