Sensory systems as cybernetic systems that require awareness of alternatives to interact with the world: Analysis of the brain-receptor loop in Norwich's Entropy Theory of Perception

Abstract

Introduction & Objectives: Norwich's Entropy Theory of Perception (1975 [1]-present) stands alone. It explains many firing-rate behaviors and psychophysical laws from bare theory. To do so, it demands a unique sort of interaction between receptor and brain, one that Norwich never substantiated. Can it now be confirmed, given the accumulation of empirical sensory neuroscience? Background: Norwich conjoined sensation and a mathematical model of communication, Shannon's Information Theory, as follows: "In the entropic view of sensation, magnitude of sensation is regarded as a measure of the entropy or uncertainty of the stimulus signal" [2]. "To be uncertain about the outcome of an event, one must first be aware of a set of alternative outcomes" [3]. "The entropy-establishing process begins with the generation of a [internal] sensory signal by the stimulus generator. This is followed by receipt of the [external] stimulus by the sensory receptor, transmission of action potentials by the sensory neurons, and finally recapture of the [response to the internal] signal by the generator" [4]. The latter "recapture" differentiates external from internal stimuli. The hypothetical "stimulus generators" are internal emitters, that generate photons in vision, audible sounds in audition (to Norwich, the spontaneous otoacoustic emissions [SOAEs]), "temperatures in excess of local skin temperature" in skin temperature sensation [4], etc. Method (1): Several decades of empirical sensory physiology literature was scrutinized for internal "stimulus generators". Results (1): Spontaneous photopigment isomerization ("dark light") does not involve visible light. SOAEs are electromechanical basilar-membrane artefacts that rarely produce audible tones. The skin's temperature sensors do not raise skin temperature, etc. Method (2): The putative action of the brain-and-sensory-receptor loop was carefully reexamined. Results (2): The sensory receptor allegedly "perceives", experiences "awareness", possesses "memory", and has a "mind". But those traits describe the whole human. The receptor, thus anthropomorphized, must therefore contain its own perceptual loop, containing a receptor, containing a perceptual loop, etc. Summary & Conclusions: The Entropy Theory demands sensory awareness of alternatives, through an imagined brain-and-sensory-receptor loop containing internal "stimulus generators". But (1) no internal "stimulus generators" seem to exist and (2) the loop would be the outermost of an infinite nesting of identical loops.

Reductionism ad absurdum

“…Norwich. This Homunculus error is revealed in Nizami (2009a) and further criticism appears in Kybernetes (Nizami, 2011(Nizami, , 2013 and in other cybernetics journals (Nizami, 2009b(Nizami, , 2010(Nizami, , 2012a).…”

Homunculus strides again: why “information transmitted” in neuroscience tells us nothing

“…The present author uncovered the concept of an infinite regression of Homunculi within the human mind following upon his discovery of a hidden infinite regression of Homunculi within putative sensory receptors (Nizami, 2009a) in an erroneous multi-paper model of perception authored by K.H. Norwich (scrutinized in Nizami, 2009bNizami, , 2011band elsewhere).…”

I, NEURON: the neuron as the collective

“…the "seeing" of the object? The first choice amounts to the actual generation of the stimulus by the looking organism, which is altogether ludicrous (to everyone except Kenneth Howard Norwich; as described in Nizami, 2009 andWiner et al, 2002). However, if "image" refers to the percept, which is what the brain has already "constructed", then why "reconstruct" it?…”