Metaneurology A spiritual vision of the brain   (Part 1)   The new areas   The study of fossil skulls is piling up surprising revelations about the brain of animals which lived millions of years ago. This new specialism, Neuropaleontology, studies small
signs marked in the skull of these animals. The expansion of the brain, due to the predominant use of the right hand, the improvement of vision over smell, the ability to produce tools and the development of the areas of language, reflects changes in certain areas of the skull that can be observed later on after thousands of years.

From the seventies of last century, scientists have realized that they could study the brain by visualizing its biological mechanisms. Phenomena as complex as memory, attention and language are examined now from the neurons, their synapses, neurotransmitters, neural networks and modular systems committed to those functions. It was created therefore the Cognitive Neuroscience, whose purpose is to reveal which biological phenomena occurring in the brain are related to certain psychological phenomena.

On the other hand, by analyzing behaviours that occur in animals of different evolutionary levels, scholars have created the Evolutionary Psychology and by quantifying the contribution of genetic heritage linked to those behaviours, the Behavioural Genetics was developed.

Advances in the neurosciences are revealing some brain functions never imagined before. Even the spirituality, which is shown in varying shades in each of us, is being studied scientifically. Neurotheology has been identifying the brain activity that relates to this type of feeling.  

How to study the brain   

The brain works by mobilizing multiple functions, integrating and organizing them within a hierarchical system. A simple phenomenon as to feel the effect of a needle sting has a precise anatomical location in a brain region linked to pain sensitivity, but its psychological effect mobilizes several areas. On the other hand, complex tasks such as language, numeracy, writing, memory and decision making require, since its inception, the integration of several anatomical regions and each of those procedures can recruit different paths for execution.

The interpretation of each brain phenomenon that we know still requires reductionist reasoning used by the scientific method. In a particular brain area that stimulates our interest, one can explore the ways in and out of its bundles of nerve fibres and expand with the microscopic study of its neurons. The neuron, in turn, will show its membranes, receptors and chemistry that trigger communication with thousands of its neighbours. The chemical composition of neurotransmitters has already been identified in dozens of substances that compose them. We already have biochemical methods to identify its production and distribution in particular regions of the brain. We know, for example, where serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine circulate in various regions of the brain.

In the study of complex functions about which we have already mentioned, one can also follow the other way around. We have gathered functions from different areas in an attempt to understand the full complexity involved in the phenomenon. Memory and language are great examples that demand one’s reflection on their multiform presentation. What makes us remember and forget? Why does a child so quickly expand its vocabulary and why do adults have great difficulty learning a second language? How can we remind ourselves of a familiar face in a crowd?

The various areas of Neuroscience are admittedly producing a breakthrough in the interpretation of brain and mind; however, they are still far from the final frontier. Physics has already consolidated itself with theories which work very well in their role of explaining the physical world. The identity relation between energy and matter has unified fundamental principles between those theories. Biology has already built its basics by finding the cell, the evolution of the species and the DNA, but Psychology, by intending to study the mind, has so far produced only provisional theories and no certificate of validity. We must recognize that we are still far from having a unifying theory to explain the mind.

When I wrote about the "mental body", I meant to bring onto Neurology a clinical study that may introduce a new paradigm in the knowledge of the mind. Without any presumption, I am naming this knowledge Metaneurology.   

Brain functions  

Let us consider the brain functions whose mechanisms are already fairly well known:  

The sight of an object - The light reflected in that object is projected in one’s eyes signalling neurons in the retina. After that the nerve stimulation courses anatomic pathways leading that stimulus to the visual cortex. Distributed in concentric layers like an onion skin, the neurons encode in nearby areas each of the features of the object being viewed. That is how one has a specific location to see the shape of the object, another location to see its colour and still another one to perceive its movements. That object can be, for instance, someone's hand waving at us. After that we face a great puzzle: how the brain puts together this scattered information - shape, colour and movement - into a single object together with its meaning, i.e., recognition of an object that is familiar or not.  

Let us talk about memory - Everyone knows we have a short-term memory which suits us for the resolutions of everyday life. What is my appointment today? What have I just watched on TV? When my wife asked, what time did I say I would be back home? We also have a long-term memory: Who my parents are, where I was born and which medicine I use to cure a headache. That memory can be partially rescued with a little effort. We can recall scenes that we experienced on our last vacation. Sometimes that memory is treacherous and lets us down by not allowing us to remember a friend's name. Systematic studies about the retrieval of memory have confirmed that every report of memorized facts is filled with imagination. We can also confirm that we do not remember what happened, in fact, we remember what we think has happened. The mind scientists are using the term "faction" to name this blend of fact with fiction. And our memory is profuse in creating this explosive mixture.  

Spoken language - In 1867, Paul Broca confirmed that the inferior frontal gyrus of the left hemisphere is related to the utterance of spoken language and, some years later, Carl Wernicke, related language comprehension to an area located a bit further back, in the left parietal lobe. Hence, with the contribution of eminent neurologists such as Pierre Marie, a "quad", with cortical and subcortical structures linked to our ability to reveal our thoughts through spoken language and to be understood by those who listen to us, has been delimited. After Noam Chomsky's works, we have learned that children are born with a grammar module which enables them to easily learn any human language. The stimulation of the environment and the culture of each people make an addition of vocabulary which eventually settles the mother tongue in the child.  

Writing - simple motor activities such as extending the leg can be performed with the patellar reflex, involving theoretically two neurons - one to stimulate the reflex and another to prepare the response. Shaking hands requires a certain amount of intentionality and writing a text implies a special ability to create an idea, produce it in a text with words and use a tool like a pen or a computer to transcribe it.  

Human dialogue - keeping up a conversation with a friend who has just arrived will require from us to mobilize a range of ideas and convey them into words. That friend can ask us: What car do you have now? I almost immediately reply: a green Honda Civic. Soon we both hear my wife's voice correcting it- The green Honda was last year's car, we now have a black Honda. I was deceived by distraction and memory failure.  (This article will be concluded in the next issue of this magazine.)