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According to our hypothesis presented here, the human mind is a process depending on interactions of masses of mainly cortical neurons connected by biochemical, electrical and quantum factors into a massive system. The consciousness is dependent on the additional communication between particles, in particular between electrons. The Pauli repulsive exchange mechanism and other communication mechanisms may be able to transform physical events into a subjective information. PHILOSOPHY, IDEAS

Electrical activity of a population of visually responsive cells located in the vicinity of a single functionally defined neuron was recorded in the area 18 of the cat's cerebral cortex with a single tungsten microelectrode. The correlograms calculated from the mass activity record showed an existence of a rhythmic neuronal firing with an average interval near to 3 ms. When the system was activated by a visual stimulus, a line at an optimal angle moving in an optimal direction, the rhythmic activity became regular, acquiring an oscillatory sinusoidal character. This rhythmic pattern cannot be easily recognized when the activity of a single neuron is recorded. It is possible that such rhythmic activity involving large numbers of neurons contributes to the recognition of the velocity and position of the visual stimulus.

The receptive fields of "complex" neurons within area 18 of the cerebral cortex of the cat were determined by a computer-assisted method using a moving light bar substantially shorter than the long diameter of the receptive field as a visual stimulus. The visual cells repeatedly generated nerve impulses when the stimulus crossed well-defined "active points" within their receptive fields. Outside of these active points, the cells remained silent. It is suggested that the receptive fields are formed by a discontinuous accumulation of such active points. When the electrical activities of two neighbouring visual neurons are recorded simultaneously, their active points do not coincide. In addition, some active points were located outside the most prominent excitatory part of the receptive field of the studied cells. Individual visual cells typically differ in the number and distribution of active points. Since these cells best respond to a stimulus moving in a certain direction, it is suggested that they may act as direction of movement and/or velocity detectors. Alternate firing of a number of neighboring cells connected to a distributed pattern of peripheral receptors may form a system which is able to code for velocity and direction of the moving stimulus.