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Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor
One of the fundamental questions in neuroscience is how brain activity relates to conscious experience. Even though self-consciousness is considered an emergent property of the brain network, a quantum physics-based theory assigns a momentum of consciousness to the single neuron level. In this work,...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7550535/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33132930 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.540676 |
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author | Sánchez-Ramón, Silvia Faure, Florence |
author_facet | Sánchez-Ramón, Silvia Faure, Florence |
author_sort | Sánchez-Ramón, Silvia |
collection | PubMed |
description | One of the fundamental questions in neuroscience is how brain activity relates to conscious experience. Even though self-consciousness is considered an emergent property of the brain network, a quantum physics-based theory assigns a momentum of consciousness to the single neuron level. In this work, we present a brain self theory from an evolutionary biological perspective by analogy with the immune self. In this scheme, perinatal reactivity to self inputs would guide the selection of neocortical neurons within the subplate, similarly to T lymphocytes in the thymus. Such self-driven neuronal selection would enable effective discrimination of external inputs and avoid harmful “autoreactive” responses. Multiple experimental and clinical evidences for this model are provided. Based on this self tenet, we outline the postulates of the so-called autophrenic diseases, to then make the case for schizophrenia, an archetypic disease with rupture of the self. Implications of this model are discussed, along with potential experimental verification. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7550535 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-75505352020-10-30 Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor Sánchez-Ramón, Silvia Faure, Florence Front Psychiatry Psychiatry One of the fundamental questions in neuroscience is how brain activity relates to conscious experience. Even though self-consciousness is considered an emergent property of the brain network, a quantum physics-based theory assigns a momentum of consciousness to the single neuron level. In this work, we present a brain self theory from an evolutionary biological perspective by analogy with the immune self. In this scheme, perinatal reactivity to self inputs would guide the selection of neocortical neurons within the subplate, similarly to T lymphocytes in the thymus. Such self-driven neuronal selection would enable effective discrimination of external inputs and avoid harmful “autoreactive” responses. Multiple experimental and clinical evidences for this model are provided. Based on this self tenet, we outline the postulates of the so-called autophrenic diseases, to then make the case for schizophrenia, an archetypic disease with rupture of the self. Implications of this model are discussed, along with potential experimental verification. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC7550535/ /pubmed/33132930 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.540676 Text en Copyright © 2020 Sánchez-Ramón and Faure http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychiatry Sánchez-Ramón, Silvia Faure, Florence Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor |
title | Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor |
title_full | Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor |
title_fullStr | Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor |
title_full_unstemmed | Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor |
title_short | Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor |
title_sort | self and the brain. the immune metaphor |
topic | Psychiatry |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7550535/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33132930 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.540676 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT sanchezramonsilvia selfandthebraintheimmunemetaphor AT faureflorence selfandthebraintheimmunemetaphor |