Theoretical Implications on Visual (Color) Representation and Cytochrome Oxidase Blobs

Abstract

The rich concentration of mitochond rial cytochrome oxid ase (CO) blobs in the V1 (striate) primate visual cortex has never been explained . Although the d istribution of CO blobs provid ed a persuasive example of columnar structure in the V1, there are contrad ictions about the existence of hypercolumns. Since photoreceptors and other retinal cells process and convey basically external visible photonic signals, it suggests that one of the most important tasks of early visual areas is to represent these external visible color photonic signals d uring visual perception. This representation may occur essentially in CO-rich blobs of the V1. Here w e suggest that the representation of external visible photon signals (i.e. visual representation) can be the most energetic allocation process in the brain, w hich is reasonably performed by the highest d ensity neuron al V1 areas and mitochond rial-rich cytochrome oxid ases. It is also raised that the functional unit for phosphene ind uction can be linked to small clusters of CO -rich blobs in V1. We present some implications abou t d istinction betw een the physics of visible photons/ light and its subjective experiences. We also d iscuss that amod al and mod al visual completions are possible d ue to the visual percep tion ind uced visualization w hen the brain tries to interpret the unseen parts of objects or represent features of perceived objects that are not actu ally visible. It is raised that continuously prod uced intrinsic bioluminescent photons from retinal lipid peroxid ation may have functional role in initial d evelopment of retinogeniculate pathw ays as w ell as initial appearance topographic organizations of V1 before birth. Finally, the metaphysical framew ork is the extend ed version of d ual-aspect monism (DAMv) that has the least number of problems compared to all other framew orks and hence it is better than the materialism t hat is currently dominant in science. Key w ord s: Color representation; V isible electromagnetic photons; A modal and modal visual completions; COrich blobs in V 1; Phosphenes; M etaphysics; M aterialism; Dual-aspect monism; V isual channels IN TROD UCTIONThe attributes of visible electrom agnetic photons, such as w avelength and intensity, are physics, but both exogenous (stimu lus/ light d epend ent) and / or end ogenous (such as phosphenes) colors are su bjective experiences related to its attribu tes hue, saturat ion, and brightness (Vim al, Pokorny, & Smith, 1987). When w e talk about our visual p erception, in reality, w e talk abou t the perception/ d etection of external electrom agnetic visible photons. Although external visible p hoton signals that are conveyed to V1 can be mod ulated by otherCorrespondence to : Istvan Bokkon: bokkoni@yahoo.com;

Connectopathy in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review of Evidence from Visual Evoked Potentials and Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

“…We speculate that blob impairment is a key component of this mechanism. In V1, the P-blob stream is characterized by a higher mitochondrial CO concentration, whereas the P-interblob stream has a lower concentration of CO. CO is well-known to be the last enzyme in the respiratory chain of mitochondria that is related to oxidative metabolism and energy production (Liu and Wong-Riley, 1995 ; Bókkon and Vimal, 2010 , 2013 ) and is closely coupled to neuronal functional activity (Liu and Wong-Riley, 1995 ). It is interesting to note that recent neuroimaging and postmortem studies have reported mitochondrial dysfunction in the brains of ASD individuals (Rossignol and Frye, 2012 , 2014 ).…”

Gender Differences in Cerebral Metabolism Induced by Polarized Light in Mice Brain: A Quantum Coherence Model

“…These re-emitted photons on receptoral stimulation arise from within mitochondrial CO-rich blobs in supragranular layers of V1 and stripes throughout the entire V2. The COrich blobs are the functional unit for phosphene induction and also could be elicited in V3, v4, V5/ MT+, intraparietal sulcus regions [60]. This suggests that, the visual cortex provides widespread units of microenvironment that protects from brain environmental 'decoherence'.…”

“…The photoreceptors and other retinal cells would convey photonic signals due to effects of exogenous visible electromagnetic photons. However, photon signals can also arise from within the neural processing apparatus, for example, direct electrical stimulation to neurons of the visual system would cause subjective perception of point of light called phosphenes [60]. The latter suggests that, re-emitted photons could arise at the neural stage in the primary and secondary visual cortex during visual perception.…”

Enhanced Fine-Form Perception Does Not Contribute to Gestalt Face Perception in Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…In V1, the color pathway (blob region) is characterized by a rich concentration of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase (CO), whereas the form pathway (interblob region) has lower CO concentration. CO is the last enzyme in the mitochondrial respiratory chain engaged in oxidative metabolism and energy production [ 48 – 50 ], and is closely coupled to neuronal functional activity [ 48 ]. Interestingly, mitochondrial dysfunction in the brains of ASD individuals has been recently reported in neuroimaging and postmortem studies [ 51 , 52 ].…”