The Electronic Waveform of Action Potentials in the Brain

Abstract

A new research paper has detected a ‘never-before-seen’ waveform in the action potentials in the pyramidal neurons in the cortex of the brain which are believed to be modulated by neurotransmitters in the synaptic clefts of the dendrites which involve complex variations in the spikes of electric flux of both sodium and calcium positively charged ions. Previously the spikes were thought to be generated by typical all-or-none flow of sodium ions as the action potential propagates along the axon and were not graded in any way. This new finding indicates the waveform of the action potentials carry information which would enable the neural network to perform logic gate type processing like conventional computers. It is argued that as numbers don’t exist in Nature it is impossible for an organic computer to execute a numerical code, and the complex variations in amplitude and frequency of the waveforms indicate that the brain is an organic electronic device where the neurons are able to classify linearly non-separable inputs.