Editorial
Physical Formation of Memory: The Role of Glia Cells
by Charles Ross and Shirley Redpath
We invite comments and feedback on this paper which has just been published in NeuroQuantology, Vol 7, No 4 (2009).
We build on recent progress in understanding how the initial neural networks are built in the foetal brain. This has led us to make three significant potulates. Short term memory results from Glia cells forming speculative links directly and solely as a result of neural activity generated by life experiences. These temporary 'glia bridges' create long term memory by stimulating the growth of axons, dendrites and synapses, and provide the pathways enabling permanent neural structures to be constructed. This fundamental algorithm for how the brain generates new links is the underlying process of memory maintenance, learning and creativity.
Recent publications
by Charles Ross and Shirley Redpath
Please send the editors your comments on the two papers recently published on the arXiv site of Cornell University. We'd also like to hear of any other recent publications on topics concerning the brain and mind.
The Physical Foundations of Consciousness: Brain Organisation: The Role of Synapses
Role of Glia cells in the formation of memory in the brain
[Cornell University references:
http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.2192
and
http://arxiv.org/abs/0905.2836v1]
We have received the following comment:
I think this is an interesting contribution with the potential to spark a debate on these exciting topics. I think the important role of glial cells had been largely overlooked by neuroscience society and is likely to require our rethinking of the way in which our brains perform computations and store memories.
--- Dr Vladislav Volman PhD,
Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California at San Diego,
Computational Neurobiology Lab, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, California.
Aims & Objects of the Brain Mind Forum
by Charles T Ross
Our brain understands so much, yet so little about itself. We stand on the threshold of potentially the greatest advance of human knowledge of all time - in medicine, heredity, physics, computing, education, human behaviour, economics and the beginnings of world government - yet the system that makes all this activity possible is still largely a mystery. Every field of endeavour depends on, and contributes to how we think. In particular, neuroscientists research how to modify our moods, emotions and behaviour, while cognitive scientists search for remedies to degenerative mental illnesses.
We are learning an increasing amount about the components of our brains, such as neurons and the chemicals that modify their operation, while a dozen other disciplines contribute directly from sound engineering to archaeology. However, notwithstanding all this activity, we do not understand basic things like the nature of memory and its physical formation, how we think and are creative, or what actually happens in our brain when we wake up and become conscious of the world, that we are alive, able to control our behaviour and make a contribution.
Maybe we have to find a whole new way of thinking about this problem. Each one of us has our own individual laboratory sitting there on our shoulders. Everyone has the potential to make a contribution.