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Prefrontal Cortical Microcircuits Support the Emergence of Mind

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The Physics of the Mind and Brain Disorders

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Cognitive and Neural Systems ((SSCNS,volume 11))

Abstract

This chapter dwells on the high-order neural processing that underlies the emergence of the mind. We discuss the operation of microcircuits, such as neurons in different laminae of cortical columns, modular networks composed of microcircuits, and the hubs of the brain’s connectome. We show how the integration of information by distributed networks of neurons generates engrams, cognitive functions, and complex mental sequences, such as the perception-to-action cycle. The mind is considered to be the product of the integration of perceptual prefrontal cortical signals processed in supra-granular cortical layers, action-related information represented in infra-granular layers, and reward signals originating in the midbrain. The cortical modules and their microcircuits are described as building blocks of this complex neural circuitry that performs hierarchical processing. We emphasize the importance of bidirectional information flow in cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical loops, which integrate bottom-up and top-down communications between the brain areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Department of Neurological Surgery, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Ioan Opris

  2. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Bucharest, Romania

    Ioan Opris

  3. University of South Carolina, School of Medicine Greenville, Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC, USA

    Manuel F. Casanova

  4. Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Mikhail A. Lebedev

  5. Department of Electricity, Physics of Solid and Biophysics, Department of Physics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Aurel I. Popescu

  6. Center for Neuroengineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Mikhail A. Lebedev

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  1. Ioan Opris
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  2. Manuel F. Casanova
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  3. Mikhail A. Lebedev
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  4. Aurel I. Popescu
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Correspondence to Ioan Opris .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Department of Neurological Surgery, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Ioan Opris

  2. Greenville Health System, University of South Carolina, School of Medicine Greenville, Greenville, SC, USA

    Manuel F. Casanova

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Opris, I., Casanova, M.F., Lebedev, M.A., Popescu, A.I. (2017). Prefrontal Cortical Microcircuits Support the Emergence of Mind. In: Opris, I., Casanova, M.F. (eds) The Physics of the Mind and Brain Disorders. Springer Series in Cognitive and Neural Systems, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29674-6_4

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