Authored by Evgeny A Yumatov
Short Communication
The brain is a unique organization in nature, having the mental
activity, which is expressed in thoughts, feelings, emotions, i.e.,
in the subjective perception of the man himself and the world.
Knowledge of the nature of mental activity of the brain is the
most urgent and the most challenging task of physiology [1-4].
A way by which the brain generates the inner subjective world
remains one of the greatest mysteries in nature. However, there is
a skeptical opinion among neurophysiologists about studying the
subjective activity of the brain. It arises from the fact that the origin
of a subjective state cannot be evaluated on the basis of modern
neurophysiological approaches. All reasoning’s on this subject are
nonproductive and do not explain the nature of the subjective state.
Moreover, this basic problem is misunderstood and even «factor
out» from the area of scientific studies. The subjective brain activity
fell outside of scientific researches. This question seems to not exist
for neurophysiology. In this regard, a Nobel Prize winner F. Crick
and C. Koch, told that «among neurophysiologists, all attempts to
speak about consciousness were interpreted as the first signs of
oncoming senile «dementia» [5].
Why the investigation of the mechanisms mental activity of the
brain causes skepticism in many physiologists?
Many scientists do not even understand the question about
the mental activity of the brain. For them, the electrical activity
of the brain, the registration of neurons, neural networks, the
visualization of brain structures are manifestations of the mental
activity of the brain.
Many modern psycho physiologists are afraid to investigate the
problem of the mental activity of the brain, because:
• They do not want to cause a negative attitude conservative
scientist;
• Do not have adequate methodological approaches to the
study of the mental activity of the brain.
Nevertheless, many outstanding scientists attached great
importance to the study of the mental activity of the brain and
expressed an optimistic view of the knowledge of the psyche.
IP Pavlov, RW Sperry, PK Anokhin, NP Bekhtereva and KV Sudakov
[6-10] were optimistic about the possibility of understanding of
the psychic activity brain. They urged us to determine a possible
origin of unique brain function, the subjective mental activity [6-
10]. According to IP Pavlov [6], «Marching forward and pressing
onward, the natural and unavoidable approach and final fusion of
the psychological with the physiological, the subjective with the
objective is achieved - the actual question so long disquieting to
human thought! And any further facilitation of this fusion is a great
goal of the near future in science.
The same thought was expressed by a Nobel Prize winner R.
Sperry [8]: «Subjective states and properties, which were driven
away from scientific explanation for a long time, should, figuratively
speaking, take a driver seat in the theory of brain activity as a crown
of evolution». The subjective state really exists. In this meaning, the
subjective is objective too, though it takes place only in the living
organization of matter. The brain activity is dual in nature. On one
hand, there are neurophysiologic processes. On the other hand,
there are subjective states, characterizing all facets of the worldview.
The neurophysiologic processes can be observed and registered
by various methods and devices developed based on laws of
physics and chemistry. The processes on the subjective level are
perceived as self-sensations, which cannot be registered directly
by physical and chemical methods based on the phenomena in the
abiocoen. In living organism and in particular in the brain, such
physical phenomena and processes may occur, which in principle,
do not exist and cannot exist in inanimate nature. This thesis is of
fundamental importance for understanding of the very core of the
subjective in the activity of the brain. The subjective state is
intrinsic
to the living organization only and does not exist in inanimate
nature. Therefore, it is impossible to explain the origin of mental
functions of the brain in view of the laws of inanimate nature only.
The computer tomography of a brain, mapping of gene
expression in various brain structures, multichannel record of
neuronal activity, multichannel electroencephalogram allows
revealing only participation and interaction of various brain
structures in the organization of behavior, training, memory,
emotions and thinking. However, these studies do not bring us
closer to understanding the origin of subjective states.
The mental activity of the brain is beyond classical science,
based on the laws of physics and chemistry of inanimate nature.
Analyzing the problem of the origin of the subjective AN Leontyev
[11] supposed that «no direct correlation of psychic and brain
physiologic processes will not solve the problem» [11]. Currently,
there are many theories of consciousness in philosophy, psychology,
and neurophysiology. And none of them can reveal the nature of
the mental activity of the brain and answer the question: how are
neurophysiological processes transformed into mental (subjective
states) in the brain?
When analyzing the problem on the origin of a subjective state,
Т Nagel [12] wrote «……describing mental phenomena, «subjective
reality» and coupling them with the neurophysiologic processes
faces the «explanation gap» because the mental processes are
physical and cannot be referred to spatial and time coordinates. On
the other hand, there are no grounds to say that the physical does
not accompany the mental, but the question is how? The parallel
description of the neurophysiologic processes and mental states
caused by them (?) or accompanied by them (?) does not help
answering the question how the behavior of a neuron network
produces the subjective states, feelings, self-reflection and other
phenomena of high order. Without the change of the fundamental
concepts of the consciousness, the explanation gap can not be
overcome» [12].
Why when registering neurophysiological processes, it is
impossible to reveal the nature of the mental activity of the brain?
- In our opinion, there is no transitional link characterizing the
uniqueness of the brain as a biological phenomenon. In our research,
we use the methodological principle: «The brain mental processes
can directly register and study only with the help and participation
of the living structures» [13,14]. We came to the basic postulates,
which characterize interrelation of psychic and neurophysiological
processes in a human brain [13-17].
Acknowledgemnet
The study was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic
Researches (grant 19-07-00008 А).
Conflict of Interest
No conflict of interest.
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