4 ms·
Admittedly I'm very pedestrian when it comes to neurology. But my understanding is that much like the bands of the EM spectrum (radio, ir, visible etc), the ban
by IIAOPSW 7y ago
Admittedly I'm very pedestrian when it comes to neurology. But my understanding is that much like the bands of the EM spectrum (radio, ir, visible etc), the bands of brain waves (alpha, beta, gamma etc) are just human imposed categorizations. There's no real dividing line. Eg you won't find a lack of brain wave frequencies right on the borderline between alpha and beta.
I think it is fairly obvious that brain waves on the 10Hz scale must be useful for processing / reacting to / controlling phenomena that happen on 1/10th of a second time scales. The shorter the time scale, the higher the relevant frequency. In my rank speculation, bees have "alpha" waves because something they do happens to be on that time scale.
I doubt there is some cognitive mechanism to consciousness that humans, bees, and no other species has in common.
- blululu 7y agoI would disagree with this characterization of light and brain waves. The various portions of the em spectrum are distinct in terms of their optical properties. To some extent this is related to the common types/state of matter on earth but in other ways it is related to the sizes of atoms, molecules and the such and this has some basis in fundamental constants. Similarly alpha and theta rhythms have clear physiological relationships. There is some debate about whether gamma is a true oscillation but gamma activation is clearly indicative of neural/cognitive activity in a way that theta and alpha are not.
- IIAOPSW 7y agoWell sure the wavelength of a given light beam makes it useful for interacting (or passing through) things of different sizes. And the frequency of a brain wave makes it useful for thinking about tasks of different temporal sizes. I think that thinking of these waves as the same phenomena with the same rules but on different scales is a more powerful tool than trying to divide a continuous spectrum into a large taxonomy with "known" properties. If we thought of the radio spectrum as communication waves, infrared light as waves to do with heat, and visible light as a medium only for localized spatial information, then we would be stumped by the cosmic microwave background, TV remotes , and light houses.
- dr_dshiv 7y agoOh, the key signal processing idea is this: alpha is the dominant frequency band (highest amplitude, most resonant frequency). The other bands are roughly harmonic doublings or halvings of alpha. That is how the brain couples different time scales together -- it can synchronize gamma cycles to the beat of alpha. It's like music, then, for integrating different rhythms together. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030439401930504X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030439401...
- IIAOPSW 7y agoWell that's interesting but raises a big question for me. Why does the brain need to couple different time scales together? Why should my breathing rate be a multiple of my typing rate. What does synchronizing processes at different time scales accomplish?
- dr_dshiv 7y agoGenerally speaking, information integration is entropy reduction, which is essential for life. As for what it accomplishes, think of how walking is a large rhythm involving the synchronization of many smaller rhythmic units. Or how perception of an object involves the integration of many small textures and elements into a whole. If those textures can be viewed as rhythms (FFT everything), it's another practical example of what synchronizing processes accomplishes. Singer has evidence that seeing objects as a whole uses 40hz inhibitory interneurons to synchronize the firing of features associated with a different object. So, another object would have a different 40hz phase. In that way, the synronizing creates wholes from different parts.