Consciousness, the barrier /channel mechanism, glial cells and a non-psychic sixth sense.

UPDATE: Alright, the following is looking less and less coherent the more I go over it. The idea of a channeling mechanism seems to be reinventing the wheel re. neural networks. I will try to do another post with a clearer idea of the barrier stuff(Dynamic Permeability Gradients in the Human Body).

1. Consciousness is the aggregate conclusion of association formulation that has been defined by a barrier/channel mechanism.

I had an idea a few weeks ago that got me very excited. It was all about way the brain functions, the basic pattern that underlies consciousness. It is in part based on the following:

For a while now I had been thinking I had a previously undocumented sensory ability. Not psychic. ...More like the ability to sense the tension in areas controlling blood flow/nutrient supply in the brain and throughout the body. It started when I was thinking about my ability to 'feel' things with distinct locations within my brain - even though high school science classes left me with the impression that 'there are no nerves in the brain' and that as such we should be unable to feel anything there except for headaches.
Looking this sensation up online I stumbled upon:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postxf94692-0-45.html
The sensations reported varied but seemed to be similar to sensations I had experienced myself.

Then I started thinking about how I could feel similar sensations of tension and relaxation within my body before muscle movement. After looking at research on the subject I came to the conclusion that these are probably just part of my somatosensory system(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatosensory_system) or more likely baroreceptors(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroreceptor) linking up to a kind of sensory homunculus(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus), allowing me greater ability to sense and to a small degree control over the locality and level of what I believe to be vascular constriction and/or nutrient supply.
This phenomenon is probably what is affected by ADHD medications. Also it makes me think that people have some control over this when they tense or relax and that this is a requirement of most muscle movement when related to sustained effort.
Back to the brain - I can feel sensations within my brain that, when I concentrate, seem to increase in intensity in certain locations. For instance when thinking about this  stuff the first time the sensation was an upright slightly bent fan starting from the front right fanning out to the back left in a slight backwards lean. While rewriting this for the blog post there is a fan of sensation that is more upright and that starts from the front left and moves to the back right. As i sit here consciously focusing my attention on my brain the center of the fan started fading and dissipating into a small ball at the front left and a larger at the back right.
From this I theorized that what I am feeling is the physical mechanism the brain uses to focus consciousness and attention.

My understanding of how the brain works:
At its most basic the brain functions by connecting nodes of 'simple ideas'. This occurs simultaneously throughout the brain billions of times per second(or millisecond etc). Connections are made by formulaic associations and will eventually loop back to original ideas. Certain ideas connect more frequently and as such have greater associations with similar ideas. The looping arrangement allows feedback. The aggregate result of these feedback loops is consciousness.

- The CHANNEL idea is that feedback loops between nodes of similar ideas will begin to send signals more often and with greater ease making a kind of channel between them. These channels form over the short and long term.
- The BARRIER idea is that nodes which are not being accessed as frequently or with the 'right amount' of signals will actively reduce the signals they send.
- Consciousness is the buildup of active signals within feedback loops that flow mostly through channels while being constrained partially by barriers.
- The focus of conscious attention increases the signals being sent to corresponding nodes and the buildup of signals in nearby channels dictates the flow of thought.
- If the focus of attention receives insufficient positive feedback the channels will not deepen and the barriers lower causing new short term channels to connect as the person searches for a solution to an idea.
- If the focus receives too much negative feedback the barriers strengthen and channels will form between more relevant areas. This happens regularly when seeking the optimal way to complete a task Ie. the best solution to a maths problem out of several familiar alternatives. A slightly more extreme example happens when the task is unfamiliar and the usual channels don't provide feedback in the form of correct solutions to the mind starts searching nearby ideas for ways to achieve the correct solution
Example 1:  a child multiplying 12 x 12 - known/remembered solution from times table is 144
Example 2:  a child multiplying 12 x 13 - answer not remembered from times table - child associates a difference of 1 in the second number multiplied by the first number and added to the first remembered solution = 156
Example 3: a child multiplying 8236344 x 84642664 - known solutions are unhelpful so the child associates this with stupidly difficult maths questions - ...and gets out a calculator

Anyway. The BARRIER/CHANNEL mechanism relates to the organization and focus of consciousness but they are not the actual process of signalling.

From here on I start to ramble a bit and occasionally link to relevant online articles, if you see a question mark it means I am probably guessing rather than theorizing.


The latest extrapolation of the original idea: Consciousness is focused by (ion?) channel regulations and permeability gradients moderated by glial cells.


1. The formation of channels is linked to the strength and regularity of signalling ie. if a neuron either doesn't have enough charge to signal or is signalling more regularly than usual then it is likely causing changes in the cell. These changes will be thermal/chemical/mechanical effects which can cause drastic differences in the resultant signals such as by releasing or absorbing neurotransmitters.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_channel) this stuff looks like it could support my idea if ion channels are capable of near(NEAR) immediate response... reading further... crap this stuff gets complicated.

2. The formation of barriers is likely to be based on signalling regulated by glial cells. Barriers include a component that is strongly chemical and mechanical. Regulation of blood flow as well as supply and collection of nutrients and neurotransmitters. Stronger barrier forming creates more focus.
Random wikipedia link - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glia_limitans)
Insects have an open circulatory system, so there are no blood vessels found within their ganglia. However, they do have a sheath of perineurial glial cells that envelops the nervous system and exhibit the same tight occluding junctions that are induced by the glia limitans in humans. These cells act as a barrier and are responsible for establishing permeability gradients.
In certain molluscs, a glial-interstitial fluid barrier is observed without the presence of tight junctions. Cephalopod molluscs, in particular, have cerebral ganglia that have microcirculation, often seen in the composition of higher organisms. Often, the glial cells will form a seamless sheath completely around the blood space. The barrier consists of zonular intercellular junctions, rather than tight junctions, with clefts formed by extracellular fibrils. In addition to protection from the blood, these barriers are thought to exhibit local control of the microenvironment around specific neuron groups, a function required for complex nervous systems.[5]
barrier mechanism can be regarded as a system for regulating permeability gradients in the brain?

3. The components of the various systems of the body work in similar ways but using varying components. Ie. parts of the nervous system which only signal electrically in one direction will still form feedback loops by signalling chemically.

4. Immediate thermal/chemical/mechanical effects are just as important as electrical in determining consciousness(if not more so).

5. Current theory: ADHD meds affect the chemical/mechanical regulation of the barrier mechanism. Tension related effects(throughout the body) of these medications are due to their basic function to be the increase of definition within permeability gradients and it is this effect within the brain which increases focus. I have noticed a kind of tension signal is sent to the area of a muscle when activity is occurring(Different to the nervous system signal used to activate the muscle). I believe this releases or supplies energy for the muscle to use. The effect of dextroamphetamine(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextroamphetamine) increases the effectiveness of this secondary signal and results in reduced feelings of fatigue. When this secondary signal is ineffective or does not get sent at all it results in a feeling of 'arms or legs giving way' even though the muscles are being sent the usual impulses to move through the nervous system.

6. Extended Consciousness - we interact with the world in similar ways as we interact with other portions of our own brains and bodies. = possible implications with regards to social studies and psychology/psychiatry.

7. There are numerous(hundreds? thousands?) of substances/chemicals/biological agents which make direct or indirect changes on the signalling processes. Many(if not all) of these have BOTH inhibition and excitation effects when applied to different parts of the signalling processes. Feedback loops ensure that many of these effects meet and are cancelled out. Completely different concentrations of substances will result in similar symptoms.
Implications? Pharmaceutical research needs to start human trials with far more control over subjects. You cant just try out a drug to see if it helps autistic people. You have to test it for autistic people with very specific sets of symptoms. Otherwise what appears to be an insignificant result could in fact be an incredibly helpful drug that is cancelled out by other effects. Problematic as it might be - the 'fix' for a specific individuals autism is likely a combination of drugs that target a variety of different mechanisms. This might seem obvious to some people but all the research in this area I see seems to focus on trying to find a general 'cure all' which will not exist.
I guess 7 should be - Autistic spectrum disorders occur across a multidimensional spectrum with hundreds/thousands of dimensions, same with motor neurone diseases I guess?


Ok where are we... Below are a few ideas I'm messing around with that I haven't looked at fully but still think they might have merit...


- headaches, particularely cluster headaches are likely glial cells mismanaging the microclimates in the brain
- Hypnosis is possible due to an individuals partial control over their own barrier/channel functions. The person being hypnotised allows their barriers to be lowered while still having their attention being effected by feedback loops. The hypnotist then stimulates certain feedback loops verbally which the subject then reacts to as if the stimulated feedback is the result of the subjects own conscious thought.
- People who can semiconsciously manipulate the barrier/channel mechanism but are unaware of it's action are those most likely to be hypnotised.?
- Some people are harder to hypnotise, these people either make too many connections outside the artificial channels or have less semiconscious control over the barrier/channel mechanism and cannot be inducted to lower it. problem - induction method of overwhelming attention and giving forceful command?
- sleep is the partial or complete lowering of the barrier mechanism(a reduction of definition within the permeability gradients). This allows long term channel formation from greater ranges information and associations while also assimilating and resetting short term channel formation. This allows the mind to learn and let go of unbalancing influences.
- query if MRI scanners track the diffusion of water within the brain is anyone researching what is preventing the passage of water in areas that do not light up.
- social interaction is the association of external signals to internal nodes which are then associated to via the same barrier channel mechanisms - in other words - to an individual, social interactions are an extension of consciousness. the same mechanisms are used. positive/negative feedback aggregation, permeability gradients and channel formulation.
- dominance is the act of impressing upon existing feedback loops to increase positive feedback with less regard for the effects of increasing amounts of negative feedback. Extrapolated examples can be seen socially(outgoing personalities), mentally(calm personalities) and physically(relaxed personalities).
- stroke is a collapse of the physical mechanisms used by glial cells to modulate blood flow within the brain???
- autism is the result of aggregate conditions which cause over-definition of either the permeability gradients or channels.
- Aspergers includes an element of addiction to focusing attention inwardly, when the focus on one idea stops returning enough positive feedback the long term attention shifts to something else which can be used to attain reward.
-If this mechanism is affecting an individual without the requirement of greater and greater reward then the inwards focus will remain - possible autism?

Some ways this stuff can be used in the future (or as a pseudo-scientific basis for science fiction)

regressing chemical conditions of the brain to a point when it begins to repair itself should be possible? although this would likely result in cancers due to degradation of the genetic structure within cells that then begin to multiply. If a way can be found to selectively isolate cancerous growth if it is known that it will occur - neural regeneration may be possible.

Idea: story about astrocyte bridges grown to connect parts of the brain and/or implants and then triggered to become neurons?

Simulation of consciousness for artificial intelligences.








Ok, that's enough. What does this stuff mean if any of it is accurate? It means that even if correct I will have no part in the upcoming research and will be thoroughly disheartened by the extraordinary advances in understanding obtained by others while I continue to wash dishes for a living. Oh well.