Abstract
Are there distinctions at the neurophysiological level that correlate with voluntary and involuntary actions? Whereas the wide variety of involuntary behaviors (and here mostly the deviant or pathological ones will be considered) will necessarily be represented at some biophysical level in nervous system activity–for after all those cellular activity patterns manifest themselves as behaviors and thus there will be a multiplicity of them–there could be some general tendencies to be discerned amongst that assortment. Collecting observations derived from neurophysiological activity associated with several pathological conditions characterized by presenting will-less actions such as Parkinson's disease, seizures, alien hand syndrome and tics, it is proposed that a general neurophysiologic tendency of brain activity that correlates with involuntary actions is higher than normal synchrony in specific brain cell networks, depending upon the behavior in question. Wilful, considered normal behavior, depends on precise coordination of the collective activity in cell ensembles that may be lost, or diminished, when there are tendencies toward more than normal or aberrant synchronization of cellular activity. Hence, rapid fluctuations in synchrony is associated with normal actions and cognition while less variability in brain recordings particularly with regards to synchronization could be a signature of unconscious and deviant behaviors in general.
Highlights
The main query to be addressed here is whether there are special patterns of activity in the nervous system, in the brain, that are associated with wilful and will-less behaviors
Collecting observations derived from neurophysiological activity associated with several pathological conditions characterized by presenting will-less actions such as Parkinson’s disease, seizures, alien hand syndrome and tics, it is proposed that a general neurophysiologic tendency of brain activity that correlates with involuntary actions is higher than normal synchrony in specific brain cell networks, depending upon the behavior in question
The fact that the action is involuntary suggests that the neural activity of her seizures has integrated the neural networks that were responsible for that specific and at early time voluntary act, so the action occurs during the ictus and it remains out of consciousness. This intriguing case provides food for thought as it reflects the integration of neurophysical and psychological levels and illustrates how brain ensembles of cells “storing” certain actions can be recruited by paroxysms or aberrant synchronous activity and yet may remain out of mind because the abnormal coordination dynamics during these events perturb the integration and segregation of information characteristics of normal brain function
Summary
Reviewed by: Nazareth Castellanos, Complutense University of Madrid-Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain Jonathan Downar, University of Toronto, Canada. Collecting observations derived from neurophysiological activity associated with several pathological conditions characterized by presenting will-less actions such as Parkinson’s disease, seizures, alien hand syndrome and tics, it is proposed that a general neurophysiologic tendency of brain activity that correlates with involuntary actions is higher than normal synchrony in specific brain cell networks, depending upon the behavior in question. Wilful, considered normal behavior, depends on precise coordination of the collective activity in cell ensembles that may be lost, or diminished, when there are tendencies toward more than normal or aberrant synchronization of cellular activity. Rapid fluctuations in synchrony is associated with normal actions and cognition while less variability in brain recordings with regards to synchronization could be a signature of unconscious and deviant behaviors in general
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