Visual perception and imagery: A new molecular hypothesis

Abstract

Here, we put forward a redox molecular hypothesis about the natural biophysical substrate of visual perception and visual imagery. This hypothesis is based on the redox and bioluminescent processes of neuronal cells in retinotopically organized cytochrome oxidaserich visual areas. Our hypothesis is in line with the functional roles of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in living cells that are not part of haphazard process, but rather a very strict mechanism used in signaling pathways. We point out that there is a direct relationship between neuronal activity and the biophoton emission process in the brain. Electrical and biochemical processes in the brain represent sensory information from the external world. During encoding or retrieval of information, electrical signals of neurons can be converted into synchronized biophoton signals by bioluminescent radical and non-radical processes. Therefore, information in the brain appears not only as an electrical (chemical) signal but also as a regulated biophoton (weak optical) signal inside neurons.During visual perception, the topological distribution of photon stimuli on the retina is represented by electrical neuronal activity in retinotopically organized visual areas. These retinotopic electrical signals in visual neurons can be converted into synchronized biophoton signals by radical and non-radical processes in retinotopically organized mitochondrial-rich areas. As a result, regulated bioluminescent biophotons can create intrinsic pictures (depictive representation) in retinotopically organized cytochrome oxidase-rich visual areas during visual imagery and visual perception. The long-term visual memory is interpreted as epigenetic information regulated by free radicals and redox processes. This hypothesis does not claim to solve the secret of consciousness, but proposes that the evolution of higher levels of complexity made the intrinsic picture representation of the external visual world possible by regulated redox and bioluminescent reactions in the visual system during visual perception and visual imagery.

Meditation Experiences, Self, and Boundaries of Consciousness

“…The thalamus receives: 1) sensory information from the eyes, ears, and skin by way of cranial and peripheral nerves, and 2) visceral information via the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and brain stem. Sensory information is converted to electrical, neural, and chemical signals [26][27][28][29][30][31], in a matter of microseconds [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], supporting the theory that our internal and external view of the world is processed at different temporal rhythms. We propose that all of these integrated cells and retinogeniculo-cortical oscillations form a 3D default space around the thalamus, providing the brain and body a place to solidify all incoming information entering the brain (Figure 1).…”

Near death experiences: a multidisciplinary hypothesis

“…Namely, NDEs consist of some recurrent components among which meeting deceased relatives, meeting guardian spirits and mystical beings or sensing a border are common occurrences. These intrinsic visual experiences during NDEs can be linked to our recently suggested biophysical visual representation concept (Bókkon, 2009; Bókkon and D'Angiulli, 2009). …”

“…According to our novel biophysical representation idea (Bókkon, 2009; Bókkon and D'Angiulli, 2009) objects in the visual field can be directly represented in the retinotopically organized neural networks of striate cortex (also known as primary visual cortex or V1) by congruent patterns of biophotons generated from regulated bioluminescent radical/redox processes, and iterative computation (Bókkon et al, 2011a). Our concept of intrinsic biophysical visual virtual reality by bioluminescent photons in early retinotopic areas may simply be a first possible biophysical basis of Kosslyn's depictive pictorial theory (Kosslyn, 1994; Lewis et al, 2011; Cichy et al, 2012).…”

A Visual Based Proto-Consciousness Model of Human Thinking

“…Tanulmányunk egy olyan új molekuláris képi modellt ismertet, amelyben a látás és a vizuális kép-zelet belsô képeket alkot a retinotopikus idegsejtekben keletkezô szabályozott biofotonok által [5][6][7] . E cikkünkben a tudat kérdésével nem foglalkozunk, kizárólag az elsôdleges, alacsonyabb szintû V1 és V2 vizuális területek (biofizikai) képi reprezentá-cióját tárgyaljuk.…”