Single Units and Sensation: A Neuron Doctrine for Perceptual Psychology?

Abstract

The problem discussed is the relationship between the firing of single neurons in sensory pathways and subjectively experienced sensations. The conclusions are formulated as the following five dogmas: To understand nervous function one needs to look at interactions at a cellular level, rather than either a more macroscopic or microscopic level, because behaviour depends upon the organized pattern of these intercellular interactions. The sensory system is organized to achieve as complete a representation of the sensory stimulus as possible with the minimum number of active neurons. Trigger features of sensory neurons are matched to redundant patterns of stimulation by experience as well as by developmental processes. Perception corresponds to the activity of a small selection from the very numerous high-level neurons, each of which corresponds to a pattern of external events of the order of complexity of the events symbolized by a word. High impulse frequency in such neurons corresponds to high certainty that the trigger feature is present. The development of the concepts leading up to these speculative dogmas, their experimental basis, and some of their limitations are discussed.