Understanding the Changes in Entropy in the Brain as a Basis of Perception
A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Multidisciplinary Applications".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 339
Special Issue Editor
Interests: neuroscience; dynorphin expression in dorsal spinal cord circuits; cortical processing of sensory inputs; mental measurements of time
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The organization and circuitry of the neocortex provide plausible basis of some of its main functions, namely, the voluntary control of actions and perception. The cortical minicolumns receive sensory information from the environment via the activation of sensory receptors, which is processed stochastically due to the sparseness of the horizontal connections between the minicolumns. This increases the entropy in the spiking activity of multiple neurons in the brain. The net increase in the entropy occurs mostly in the cortical areas of the brain, which are the sites of sensory information processing. This net increase in the entropy is reduced by the increased probability of the joint activity of pairs of neurons, which may be located in different parts of the cortex, including motor, sensory and association areas. The increase in the probability of the joint activity of pairs of neurons in different areas of the cortex, such as sensory, motor and association areas of the cortex, is a result of the interaction of the brain with the physical external environment. A maximal increase in the energy cost from the decrease in the entropy would depend on the “successful interaction” of the brain with the external environment. Since there is an energy cost of the reduction in entropy, we propose that the net energy cost of the reduction in entropy serves as the physical basis of perception and the voluntary control of movements. We would like to welcome future works that would shed light on the information-theoretic aspects of an initial increase in entropy due to the stochastic processing of sensory information, followed by a reduction in the entropy due to a successful interaction of the brain with the environment.
Prof. Daya Gupta
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- interval-timing by the brain
- perception
- mutual information
- affordance
- temporal binding
- voluntary movement
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