Self and the Brain. The Immune Metaphor

Abstract

One of the fundamental questions in neuroscience is how brain activity relates to conscious experience. Even though self-consciousness is considered an emergent property of the brain network, a quantum physics-based theory assigns a momentum of consciousness to the single neuron level. In this work, we present a brain self theory from an evolutionary biological perspective by analogy with the immune self . In this scheme, perinatal reactivity to self inputs would guide the selection of neocortical neurons within the subplate, similarly to T lymphocytes in the thymus. Such self-driven neuronal selection would enable effective discrimination of external inputs and avoid harmful “autoreactive” responses. Multiple experimental and clinical evidences for this model are provided. Based on this self tenet, we outline the postulates of the so-called autophrenic diseases, to then make the case for schizophrenia, an archetypic disease with rupture of the self. Implications of this model are discussed, along with potential experimental verification.

Genomic Intelligence as Über Bio-Cybersecurity: The Gödel Sentence in Immuno-Cognitive Systems

“…As discussed, and subsequently summarized in Table 1 , many studies [ 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 70 , 71 ] underscore the intricate recognition of the self and the other, especially the hostile other, in the workings of the adaptive immune system and adduce the same molecular and neuro-physiological underpinnings for social cognition and complex strategic behaviors. Indeed, there has been a liberal use of metaphors for “mirrors” and also of self-reference to describe findings on structures in the adaptive immune system (see, [ 59 , 60 , 62 , 70 ], to name a few) and also in the Mirror Neuron System (MNS) in the brain discovered by the Parma group [ 47 , 48 , 49 ].…”

“…Ref [ 70 ] goes further and characterizes all biotic elements to be cognitive components imbued with self-referential sensory perception of the “other”. Ref [ 71 ] have tried to show how the mechanics of the clonal selection process found in the Thymic self carries over to the so called Brain Self , though they make no mention of the offline or meta/mirror status of the self-representation. Thus, many of these studies use some metaphors from G-T-P.…”