AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 245, Issue 4 510-R533, Copyright © 1983 by American Physiological Society
Toward a physical approach to integrative physiology. I. Brain dynamics and physical causality
E. Basar
This report treats the fundamental question raised by Yates [Am. J.
Physiol. 238 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 7): R277-R290, 1980.]:
"Why should neuroscience look to physics for its theories?" This is the
viewpoint of an experimentalist who needs a physical approach to brain
theories to interpret the results of physically oriented experiments on
electroencephalogram and evoked potentials. The fundamental physical
theories are briefly outlined; the phenomena of enhancement of brain
potentials, frequency stabilization effects, and phase-resetting phenomena
of populations of neurons in the brain are explained. The results of
experiments are interpreted in the light of a variety of physical theories:
coupled oscillators, induced magnetization, laser physics, and synergetics.
Further, analogies with nonlinear mechanics, theory of dissipative
structures, and the S-matrix formalism of quantum mechanics are provided to
predict the brain's excitability. The homeokinetic approach of Iberall, the
electromagnetic theory of Adey, and the quantumlike theories of Walter are
discussed. It is concluded that brain scientists need an ensemble of
physical approaches and concepts to understand various brain mechanisms.
