The Neural Columns

The neural columns have an exclusive anatomical property, since they are stable, rooted and morphologic unchangeable structures. However, they posses the potentiality to constitute, at any given moment, extremely dynamic neuronal groups. And this is, exactly, what happens, when, However, they posses the potentiality to constitute, at any given moment, extremely dynamic neuronal groups. among is components, appropriate neurons are "recruited" to form, with other "recruited" neurons from other columns, the so-called neuronal assemblies.

The stimulus that launches the "recruitment" process can be external ( coming from the environment and transferred to the brain by the sensory systems) or internal (originating, for instance, from the memory). The selected neurons from the different columns establish active connections among themselves, thus forming a functional group, there is, a neural assembly, with the purpose of performing an specific task.

When, after a variable period of time, the task is completed, the neurons deactivate and the assembly is "dissolved". Simultaneously, in other associative areas, other assemblies are forming and dissipating. And so, continuously, assemblies keep sprouting and buds of conscious experiences keep forming and fading. Some are persistent and emerges, other ar only transitory and die before surfacing (they do not succeed in building up a consciousness) .

It all depends on the intensity of the stimulus that launched the process. For the sake of illustration, let us take the following analogy : At a given moment, in three different Brazilian cities, several physicians are carrying on their routine tasks. Suddenly, an interesting and provocative subject ( stimulus) is brought up and some of these professionals, in the three cities, mobilize to discuss the matter. Thus, for example (or because we so decided), doctors M and A, in Rio, C and S, in Campinas (SP) and Z and F, in Porto Alegre, turn on their PCs and, through the web, start a brainstorm about the subject. According to the analogy, the electronic interactivity corresponds to a functioning neural assembly, while the initial situation and the one that will follow, when the intercommunication is over and the physicians are back to their previous normal activities, represent the neural columns,