Brain Function and Oscillations: Volume I: Brain Oscillations. Principles and Approaches (Springer Series in Synergetics)

by W. J. Freeman These two volumes on "Brain Oscillations" appear at a most opportune time. As the "Decade of the Brain" draws to its close, brain science is coming to terms with its ultimate problem: understanding the mechanisms by which the immense number of neurons in the human brain interact to produce the higher cognitive functions. The ideas, concepts, methods, interpretations and examples, which are presented here in voluminous detail by a world-class authority in electrophysiology, summarize the intellectual equipment that will be required to construct satisfactory solutions to the problem. Neuroscience is ripe for change. The last revolution of ideas took place in the middle of the century now ending, when the field took a sharp turn into a novel direction. During the preceding five decades the prevailing view, carried forward from the 19th century, was that neurons are the carriers of nerve energy, either in chemical or electrical forms (Freeman, 1995). That point of view was enormously productive in terms of coming to understand the chemical basis for synaptic transmission, the electrochemistry of the ac­ tion potential, the ionic mechanisms of membrane currents and gates, the functional neuroanatomy that underlies the hierarchy of reflexes, and the neural fields and'their resonances that support Gestalt phenomena. No bet­ ter testimony can be given of the power of the applications of this approach than to point out that it provides the scientific basis for contemporary neu­ rology, neuropsychiatry, and brain imaging.

This book establishes a brain theory based on neural oscillations with a temporal relation to a well-defined event. New findings about oscillations at the cellular level show striking parallels with EEG and MEG measurements. The authors embrace both the level of single neurons and that of the brain as a whole, showing how this approach advances our knowledge about the functional significance of the brain's electrical activity. They are related to sensory and cognitive tasks, leading towards an "integrative neurophysiology". The book will appeal to scientists and graduate students.
This two-volume treatise has the special features that:
- powerful mathematical algorithms are used;
- concepts of synergetics, synchronization of cell assemblies provide a new theory of evoked potentials;
- the EEG frequencies are considered as a type of alphabet of brain function;
- based on the results described, brain oscillations are correlated with multiple functions, including sensory registration, perception, movement and cognitive processes related to attention,learning and memory;
- the superposition principle of event-related oscillations and brain Feynmann diagrams are introduced as metaphors from quantum theory.