TITLE:
An Integrative Account of Neural Network Interaction: Neuro-Messenger Theory
AUTHORS:
Tien-Wen Lee
KEYWORDS:
Auditory Hallucination, Delusion, Neural Coding, Neuro-Messenger, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Sparse Coding
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Neuroscience,
Vol.11 No.2,
May
12,
2021
ABSTRACT: Neural interaction is realized by information exchange. It seemed that
the information amount does not keep constant and may be reduced during the
travel between neural nodes. In addition, recent research of neural coding has
suggested that neural information could be represented by parsimonious spiking
pattern, named sparse coding. Based on the above observation, neuro-messenger
theory (NMT) is proposed to explicate the communicative process between the
source and the target neural nodes. Neuro-messenger is a sparse code which does
not have to carry every detail of the dynamics in source node. Other formats of
neural coding (e.g., temporal and rate coding) could be the precursors of
neuro-messengers, and the repeated spatiotemporal patterns buried in the
ongoing brain activities may be the circulated neuro-messengers from diverse origins. Referred to
chaos/complexity theory, information can be recovered at target node where
neuro-messenger serves as a facilitator to locate the trajectory at proper attractor, and hence the associated psychological entity. In contrast to
conventional concepts of encoding and decoding, the processes of encoding in
source node, issuing neuro-messengers, and recovering information at
target node are summarized as “three-facet coding scheme”. The design of
neuro-messenger enables the brain to utilize energy in an efficient and
economical way. NMT may have substantial implication in several major
psychiatric disorders. Some psychiatric conditions could be mediated by
abnormal neuro-messengers that coerce the regional neuro-dynamics to delve into
maladaptive attractors and hence the characteristic symptoms.