Conscious awareness: processing in the synaptodendritic web

Evidence is presented which indicates that, at the level of conscious exper ience, information processing in the brain is basically Gabor-like rather t han binary (as in Shannon's information measurement theory). The process ta kes place in a phase space created by a multiply interconnected web of tele dendrons, synapses and dendrites. The axons of neurons sample the phase spa ce to create cell assemblies. Assemblies are kaleidoscopic in that the same neuron can partake in a variety of patterns of neuron ensembles. This is m uch like the variety of patterns created by the features red sweaters, blon d hair, or eyeglass wearing in a classroom. A particular student (or neuron ) may participate in one or more (or none) of the patterns. The flexibility of conscious experience is attributed to sensory and cognitive challenges that drive the formation of processes in the teledendron-synapse dendritic web. When the formation of axonal patterns takes time (a temporal hold) bec ause of the novelty of the input, they become experienced consciously. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.