Cortical simplicity and mental processes.

The cerebral cortex can be looked upon as a non-linear system of coupled oscillators that tries to resist desynchronization and seeks to optimize the activity distribution of its elements. Cortical self-optimization can be disturbed by incoming nervous activity and the cortex will compensate for it by reorganizing the state of the soma, thus producing behavior. This simple concept would not explain mental processes that run within the cortex. It is proposed to relate mental processes to somatic behavior. Emotions, visual images, dreams, thoughts, memories, and anticipations could be perceived from the activity of respiratory, orofacial, and eye muscles. In their basic nature, mental processes may not differ from auditory, visual or visceral sensations. It is the peripheral soma that determines our mind and behavior; the task of the cortex is to line up somatic states. This philosophy could provide a new framework for data and results emanating from different fields of the neuroscience.