Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA,
Cogn Neurodyn. 2009 Mar;3(1):83-95. doi: 10.1007/s11571-008-9040-6. Epub 2008 Apr 13.
This theoretical and speculative essay addresses a categorical distinction between neural events of sensory-motor cognition and those presumably associated with consciousness. It proposes to view this distinction in the framework of the branch of Statistical Physics currently referred to as Modern Critical Theory (Stanley, Introduction to phase transitions and critical phenomena, 1987; Marro and Dickman, Nonequilibrium phase transitions in lattice, 1999). Based on established landmarks of brain dynamics, network configurations and their role for conveying oscillatory activity of certain frequencies bands, the question is examined: what kind of state space transitions can systems with these properties undergo, and could the relation between neural processes of sensory-motor cognition and those of events in consciousness be of the same category as is characterized by state transitions in non-equilibrium physical systems? Approaches for empirical validation of this view by suitably designed brain imaging studies, and for computational simulations of the proposed principle are discussed.
这篇理论和推测性的文章探讨了感觉运动认知的神经事件与那些推测与意识相关的神经事件之间的一种分类区别。它建议在当前被称为现代批判理论的统计物理学分支（Stanley，《相变和临界现象导论》，1987 年；Marro 和 Dickman，《格点上的非平衡相变》，1999 年）的框架内来看待这一区别。基于大脑动力学的既定地标、网络配置及其在传递特定频率波段的振荡活动中的作用，本文探讨了这样一个问题：具有这些特性的系统可以经历什么样的状态空间转变，并且感觉运动认知的神经过程与意识事件之间的关系是否与非平衡物理系统的状态转变具有相同的类别？讨论了通过适当设计的脑成像研究来验证这一观点的方法，以及对所提出原理进行计算模拟的方法。
