Time and the brain: neurorelativity: The chronoarchitecture of the brain from the neuronal rather than the observer's perspective

Trends Cogn Sci. 2013 Feb;17(2):51-2. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2012.12.005. Epub 2013 Jan 12.

Abstract

Naturally, neuroscientists look at the brain from the outside when measuring how the flow of information unfolds over space and time. A neuron, on the other hand, can only 'see' through its connections, and they are spatiotemporally limited. Hence, the neural processing hierarchy from the neuroscientist's perspective and the hierarchy from the perspective of individual neurons do not agree. In order to understand the brain, only the neurons' perspective matters, thus demanding a change in the neuroscientists' perspective.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain / cytology*
  • Brain / physiology
  • Humans
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Time Factors
  • Visual Pathways / physiology