(3) Strong coupling between isolated excitable sites

(4) Logically-complete wave interactions, including facilitation and annihilation

(5) Dendrite growth by electrodeposition in “closed” excitable systems

(6) Subthreshold distributed field effects, especially in locally-refractory regions.

In addition, our attention has necessarily been directed to various problems of general experimental technique and choice of materials, especially as related to stability, fast recovery and long life. However, in order to understand the possible significance of, and motivation for such experiments, some related modern concepts of neurophysiology, histology and psychology will be reviewed very briefly. These concepts are, respectively:

SOME CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTS

Since we are attempting to duplicate processes other than chemical, per se, we will forego any reference to the extensive literature of neurochemistry. It should not be surprising though if, at the neglect of the fundamental biological processes of growth, reproduction and metabolism, it proves possible to imitate some learning mechanisms with grossly less complex molecular structures. There is also much talk of chemical versus electrical theories and mechanisms in neurophysiology. The distinction, when it can be made, seems to hinge on the question of the scale of size of significant interactions. Thus, “chemical” interactions presumably take place at molecular distances, possibly as a result of or subsequent to a certain amount of thermal diffusion. “Electrical” interactions, on the other hand, are generally understood to imply longer range or larger scale macroscopic fields.

1. Cellular Structure

The human brain contains approximately 10¹⁰ neurons to which the neuron theory assigns the primary role in central nervous activity. These cells occupy, however, a relatively small fraction of the total volume. There are, for example, approximately 10 times that number of neuroglia, cells of relatively indeterminate function. Each neuron (consisting of cell body, dendrites and, sometimes, an axon) comes into close contact with the dendrites of other neurones at some thousands of places, these synapses and “ephapses” being spaced approximately 5μ apart [(1)]. The total number of such apparent junctions is therefore of the order of 10¹³. In spite of infinite fine-structure variations when viewed with slightly blurred vision, the cellular structure of the brain is remarkably homogeneous. In the cortex, at least, the extensions of most cells are relatively short, and when the cortex is at rest, it appears from the large EEG alpha-rhythms that large numbers of cells beat together in unison. Quoting again from Sperry, “In short, current brain theory encourages us to try to correlate our subjective psychic experience with the activity of relatively homogeneous nerve cell units conducting essentially homogeneous impulses, through roughly homogeneous cerebral tissue.”