Quantum Processes in Neurophotonics and the Origin of the Brain's Spatiotemporal Hierarchy

Book Title

Neurophotonics and Biomedical Spectroscopy

Author(s)

Travis J. Craddock, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Philip Kurian, Howard University College of MedicineFollow
Jack A. Tuszynski, University of AlbertaFollow
Stuart R. Hameroff, The University of Arizona Health Sciences CenterFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

ISBN

978-0323480673

Publication Date

2019

Edition

First

Description

We review the brain's complex dynamical organization necessary for cognition and consciousness and conclude that, rather than a linear computer of neuronal synapses, the brain seems to function more as a nonlinear spatiotemporal hierarchy of interacting, dynamically layered systems. The brain's hierarchy apparently spans multiple layers covering at least 12 orders of magnitude reaching from large (nearly brain-wide, ∼10 cm), relatively slow (<100 >Hertz, “Hz”) processes based on neuronal membranes and synaptic network activities (e.g., electroencephalography, “EEG”), downward and inward to increasingly smaller and faster molecular scales inside neurons including kilohertz (103 Hz), megahertz (106 Hz), gigahertz (109 Hz), and terahertz (1012 Hz) dynamics of cytoskeletal filaments and their constituents at micrometer, nanometer and subnanometer size scales. These faster, smaller processes delve into biomolecular quantum states whose properties are suggested to offer solutions to questions related to cognition and consciousness, but also in the traditional view considered unlikely in the “warm, wet, and noisy” biological brain milieu. Here we contend that functional neurological quantum states—nontrivial in their manifestation at mesoscopic and macroscopic scales and possibly useful for signaling and information processing—can originate in either (1) photoexcited transition-state dipoles of aromatic networks, driven by endogenous photon emissions generated during aerobic processes, or (2) collective electronic behaviors due to van der Waals interactions in such aromatic networks, which can result in a hierarchical cascade of coherent oscillations spanning 12 or more orders of magnitude. Cognitive processing and consciousness may occur in this cascade due to nonlinear amplification of resonances among coherent brain states.

Publisher

Elsevier

City

Amsterdam, Netherlands

First Page

189

Last Page

213

Additional Information

Robert R. Alfano and Lingyan Shi, Editors.

NSUWorks Citation

Craddock, T. J., Kurian, P., Tuszynski, J. A., Hameroff, S. R. (2019). Quantum Processes in Neurophotonics and the Origin of the Brain's Spatiotemporal Hierarchy. Neurophotonics and Biomedical Spectroscopy, 189-213.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facbooks/568

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