On Tue, 30 Jan 1996, Alfie wrote:
> I recently
> read the following assertions in Jibu and Yasue (1995) "Quantum brain
> dynamics and consciousness", and I would welcome any enlightening
> comments...
>> 1. "...it is known that in the central nervous system, especially in the
> cerebral cortex, the majority of neurons have no axons and cannot transmit
> neural impulses." [p.104]
>> Is this referring to stellate cells? Pyramidal cells have axons (do they
> not?), but are they really in a minority in the cortex?
To my knowledge, all _neurons_ in the cerebral cortex--stellate as well as
pyramidal--have axons and can transmit neural impulses. Of cortical
neurons, pyramidal cells are the most numerous [see Braitenberg & Schuez
(1991) _Anatomy of the Cortex_]. Glial cells, on the other hand, don't
have axons as far as I know, and far outnumber neurons by 10-50x [see
Kandel, Schwartz, & Jessell (1991) _Principles of Neural Science_].
> 2. "Even in mainstream cerebral physiology, the higher order process [of
> consciousness and memory] is thought to be realized by the cooperative
> activity of dendritic networks..."
Dendritic processing is certainly important, but whether consciousness
and memory are "realized" by it, I don't know. Maybe someone else does.
Hope this helps.
John
--
John E. Anderson, Ph.D.
jander at unf.edu
