SCIPRESS FORMA
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Forma, Vol. 19 (No. 1), pp. 69-84, 2004
Original Paper

Quantum Processes and Functional Geometry: New Perspectives in Brain Dynamics

Sisir Roy1,2* and Menas Kafatos2

1Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta-700 035, India
2Center for Earth Observing and Space Research and School of Computational Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030-4444, U.S.A.
*E-mail address: sroy@science.gmu.edu

(Received February 1, 2004; Accepted March 15, 2004)

Keywords: Hilbert Space, Quantum Formalism, Functional Geometry, Statistical Distance, Perception

Abstract. The recent controversy of applicability of quantum formalism to brain dynamics has been critically analyzed. PELLIONISZ and LLINÁS (1982) proposed a functional geometry to understand the internal representation of the events associated to the space-timing of moving objects in the external world. The joint representation of space and time associated to an event as understood by the brain is shown to be different from that understood in modern physics. This indicates that the four-dimensional geometry i.e. Minkowski geometry is not an appropriate description for the internal world. If it is to be the case, the applicability of any kind of quantum field theory in modeling brain function has to be analyzed with great care. Here, the issue of applicability of quantum mechanics to brain function has been discussed in general, from an anatomical perspective and then particular emphasis has been given to the applicability of quantum field theory.


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