An Electronic Circuit Model of the Interpostsynaptic Functional LINK Designed to Study the Formation of Internal Sensations in the Nervous System

Figure 2

Artificial stimulation of a postsynapse is expected to induce the semblance of the arrival of activity from the presynaptic terminal as a systems property. This is exemplified by the induction of visual hallucinations of a simple or complex nature depending on the location of stimulation along the visual pathway in response to either artificial or pathological conditions [32]. In the figure, it is shown that the stimulation of postsynapse D evokes the cellular illusion of an activity reaching presynapse C. What sensory meaning does stimulation of the postsynapse impart to the system? It is necessary to search for the virtual inner sensation formed at postsynapse D. This can be estimated as the following. Sensory identity of the semblance of activity occurring at postsynapse D consists of inputs from the set of neurons that synapse to neuron . The set of neurons is normally activated by inputs from a set of lower-order neurons . The set of neurons in turn is activated by another set of its lower-order neurons. Continuing this extrapolation towards the sensory level can identify a set of sensory receptors . The semblance of activity induced by stimulating postsynapse D is that of a stimulus activating the sensory receptor set . Is it necessary to activate the whole receptor set to activate postsynapse D? It may become possible to activate postsynapse D by activating one of the receptor subsets {sr1}, {sr2}, or {sr3} of the receptor set . The hypothetical packets of sensory stimuli capable of activating the sensory receptor sets {sr1}, {sr2}, and {sr3} are called semblions 1, 2, and 3, respectively (modified from [33]). On the right side of the synapse is a graph showing miniature potentials reaching postsynapse D at rest and a large amplitude potential during artificial stimulation (the axes are not scaled and the graph is only intended to show the difference). Semblance formation is expected of systems where neurons at certain orders are activated in an oscillating manner.