Neural Experience of Conscious Time

Abstract

“Pure perception and pure memory constantly intermingle” Henri Bergson, 1908. One can consider that “Time” and “memory” are related experiential facets of mentality. Without memory, there is no Time. To clarify, we distinguish between the physisist’s objective time (pTime), which has no emotive quality or memory component, and the subjective conscious time (cTime), which engages both emotions and memory. Our tripartite mechanism of a neural memory involves neurons interacting with their surrounding extracellular matrix (nECM). Incoming perceptions are chemically encoded in the nECM as metal-centered cognitive units of information (cuinfo), wherein NTs serve as molecular encoders of emotive states In the context of the tripartite mechanism (Marx & Gilon, 2012-2020), we consider two possible modes whereby the temporal sequence of events (i.e. cTime) could be recalled by the sensing neural net. Chemical (allosteric) sensing of cuinfo in the nECM by neural receptors (i.e. GPCR, integrins, etc.) which establish fleeting contact with the nECM as they diffuse along the neural membrane. Effectively, this is a lateral decoding process. Electrodynamic sensing of cuinfo vertically displaced from the neural surface. New nECM components and cuinfo are constantly being formed, like coral growths, extending from the neural surface. The individual neuron senses and decodes the distal cuinfo in the surrounding nECM (like long-distance radar detection). Neural sensing is consolidated and transformed by the net into comprehensive memory. These speculations suggest experimental tests to measure the interactions of the tripartite components, to examine the electro-chemical aspects of neural encoding of memory perceived as cTime.