Thoughts on current neuro research, and classics of the field. Much of what you find here in the near future will be a detailed reading of James’ Principles of Psychology and Cajal’s Texture of the Nervous system. See the first blog post The Project if you’re new here and want some more context.
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Creatures of habit, creatures of chance
“And when once the possibility of some kind of mechanical interpretation is established, Mechanical Science, in her present mood, will not hesitate to set her brand of ownership upon the matter, feeling sure that it is only a question of time when the exact mechanical explanation of the case shall be found out.” James, The Principles Having Read more
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Habit
“It thus appears that habit covers a very large part of life, and that one engaged in studying the objective manifestations of mind is bound at the very outset to define clearly just what its limits are.” William James, The Principles Jacque Barzun called the chapter on Habit in The Principles “the masterpiece within the Read more
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The brain and the limits of knowledge
Cajal ends big on chapter one of the Textura, with a meditation on how much of reality our brains can ultimately know. Reading this actually feels a bit like Descartes’ first meditation, where he keeps trying to take his own legs out from under him, philosophically, to see what he might have left to stand Read more
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Representational neurons
As the first chapter starts winding down, Cajal starts unspooling his full philosophy of nervous system function and development. “From a dynamic standpoint,” he says, “the progressive differentiation of the nervous system appears to respond to the essential goal of improving and amplifying the reflex act.” Cajal sees early life forms as something like robotic Read more
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Evolution: Tinkerer and economizer
Cajal is very much an evolutionary thinker, but he also definitely sees the evolving nervous system as working toward something, in vaguely cosmic or spiritual terms. (The word ‘perfect’ appears 86 times in Vol I of the Textura… the word ‘brain’ appears 57 times). He considers, for example, the mammalian brain to be “the ultimate Read more
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Psychomotor cells
Cajal gives us a few words about a very special type of motorneuron, which he refers to as “psychomotor.” He clearly sees this as the nervous system’s secret sauce. “Its mission is to take the commands of the will to all neural foci […]. Memory, will, and intelligence emerge with it.” It’s not that the Read more
The Excitable Membrane 