Abstract
Bioelectric oscillations occur throughout the nervous system of nearly all animals, revealed to play an important role in various aspects of cognitive activity such as information processing and feature binding. Modern research into this dynamic and intrinsic bioelectric activity of neural cells continues to raise questions regarding their role in consciousness and cognition. In this theoretical article, we assert a novel interpretation of the hierarchical nature of “brain waves” by identifying that the superposition of multiple oscillations varying in frequency corresponds to the superimposing of the contents of consciousness and cognition. In order to describe this isomorphism, we present a layered model of the global functional oscillations of various frequencies which act as a part of a unified metastable continuum described by the Operational Architectonics theory and suggested to be responsible for the emergence of the phenomenal mind. We detail the purposes, functions, and origins of each layer while proposing our main theory that the superimposition of these oscillatory layers mirrors the superimposition of the components of the integrated phenomenal experience as well as of cognition. In contrast to the traditional view that localizations of high and low-frequency activity are spatially distinct, many authors have suggested a hierarchical nature to oscillations. Our theoretical interpretation is founded in four layers which correlate not only in frequency but in evolutionary development. As other authors have done, we explore how these layers correlate to the phenomenology of human experience. Special importance is placed on the most basal layer of slow oscillations in coordinating and grouping all of the other layers. By detailing the isomorphism between the phenomenal and physiologic aspects of how lower frequency layers provide a foundation for higher frequency layers to be organized upon, we provide a further means to elucidate physiological and cognitive mechanisms of mind and for the well-researched outcomes of certain voluntary breathing patterns and meditative practices which modulate the mind and have therapeutic effects for psychiatric and other disorders.
Highlights
Neural oscillations, or ‘‘Brainwaves,’’ are fluctuations in activity shared among neuronal populations and were first discovered in the late 19th century in animals (Beck, 1890; Coenen et al, 2014)
The concept of a hierarchy of brain oscillations across space and time has been previously proposed by notable authors (Freeman, 1987; Lakatos et al, 2005; Knyazev, 2012; Buzsáki et al, 2013; Fingelkurts et al, 2014; Fingelkurts and Fingelkurts, 2017a), we model a hierarchy in a novel way based on frequency by contending that these superimposed spectral layers are isomorphic to superimposed aspects of phenomenal consciousness
We have advanced a novel perspective on the hierarchical nature of biological oscillations which identifies an isomorphism among the frequency-based superimposition of neural oscillations and the superimposition of the contents of consciousness
Summary
‘‘Brainwaves,’’ are fluctuations in activity shared among neuronal populations (evident as extracellular voltage fluctuations; Jia and Kohn, 2011) and were first discovered in the late 19th century in animals (Beck, 1890; Coenen et al, 2014). Slow oscillations do modulate (Sirota and Buzsáki, 2005; Canolty et al, 2006; Schroeder and Lakatos, 2009; Buzsáki and Wang, 2012), group (Vanhatalo et al, 2004; Steriade, 2006), entrain, and organize faster ones (Monto et al, 2008; Fingelkurts and Fingelkurts, 2017a), providing support for our perspective on this layer being the most basal The timing of localized events across distinct neural assemblies can be coordinated by these slow oscillations (Sirota and Buzsáki, 2005) In our view, these slow oscillations, due in part to being most efficient at long-range communication (Hyafil et al, 2015) by affecting larger populations of neurons compared to fast oscillations (Sirota and Buzsáki, 2005), provide the unifying mechanisms for global coherence needed in a metastable mind. Consciousness has often been thought to disappear during deep, dreamless sleep; some researchers have argued that good empirical and theoretical reasoning exists for the presence of some sort of dreamless sleep-experience (Windt et al, 2016)
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