The field of systems neuroscience is feeling pretty good about itself. Volumes have been written on all the successes over the past half century, yielding many Nobel prizes. Some distinguished recipients have included David Hubel and Thorsten Wiesel for their work on the visual cortex and John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser, and Edvard Moser for their work on the hippocampal formation. It is commonly accepted that the best worked out system in neuroscience is the visual system of primates (Schiller and Tehovnik 2015). Here are some sobering statistics, however. Of all the muscles in humans, only 12 are devoted to the control of eye movements for vision with the remaining 700 or so being dedicated to other behaviors. Furthermore, in a recent study that used electrical stimulation of 1,162 and 659 sites, respectively, in the neocortex and subcortex of humans(Sarubbo et al. 2020), it was found that up to 6% of sites were dedicated to oculo-visual functions. The majority of sites mediated skeleto-motor movements and somato-sensation (i.e., 49% and 37% for neocortex and subcortex, respectively) and language (i.e., 47% and 51% for neocortex and subcortex, respectively). The remaining sites (i.e., 3% and 6% for neocortex and subcortex, respectively) were involved in some aspects of cognition (see Footnote 1).
Accordingly, when a professor is talking and moving about delivering his or her lecture, expect some 96% of the neocortex and 88% of the subcortex to be engaged. In a recent study on locomoting mice it was discovered to the surprise of the investigators that much of the neocortex was active (Mausell et al. 2019). I am certain if these investigators had been studying subcortex in locomoting mice they would have found a similar result (see Footnote 2). Should we be awed that our most successful field of study, visual neuroscience, has been working at the tip of the iceberg, i.e., at 6%. On a more positive note, this 6% focus can now be used as a guide to how the neocortex and cerebellum, which represent over 95% of the neurons in the brain (Herculano-Houzel 2009), process the remaining behaviors to finish the work of Hans-Lukas Teuber (1916-1977) (Footnote 1).
Footnote 1: Some in cognitive science believe that the study of cognition (i.e., thinking) needs to be detached from the execution of body movements even if the movements are a consequence of thinking: reading, writing, speaking, painting, singing, dancing, and so on. Chomsky (2012) believes that ‘thinking’ is an exclusive human attribute and that its expression through language should never be conflated with communication. This mind-body apartheid has prevented cognitive scientists from fully embracing the comparative neuropsychological-neurophysiological tradition espoused by Hans-Lukas Teuber (1916-1977), the founder of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT of which Noam Chomsky was an active participant.
Footnote 2: It has been known since the time of Sherrington (1906) that much of the brain is involved in movement control (Vanderwolf 2007), and in the case of humans, in movement and language control (Kimura 1993; Penfield and Roberts 1966).
Being born to science as a physiologist involved in the organization of behaviour, I have always been sceptical as whether neuroscience could be considered as a research field in itself. And what is the tap of this iceberg and especially why it is a tip?
Rather, neuroscience was a fashionable label suggesting that it all the secrets of a living being had to be analyzed from a neuronal perspective. With the caution imposed by the essential role of the glial cellls. This has biased the enonciation of all the considered relevant and valuable questions in this field. A democratic or imperialist attitude?
My question is thus an answer to your question.
With a second question, as what you will do if you receive an interesting response.
With a third and last question, as what will appear as interesting?
Yours sincerely
Françoise Schenk
Professor Tehovnik,
I would like to quote something from you along the line of the following in your from question:
"This mind-body apartheid has prevented cognitive scientists from fully embracing the comparative neuropsychological-neurophysiological tradition espoused by Hans-Lukas Teuber (1916-1977), . . . . "
However, I cannot cite a Q&A in ResearchGate as the source as many readers likely could not verify it. My email address is [email protected]
I have attached an article that shows my seriousness related to Teuber's view.
Roger Thomas
Once the book “Automaticity, Consciousness, and the Transfer of Information” by Tehovnik, Hasanbegović, and Chen is finished and published, I will send you a copy so you can critique it. The book will use Shannon’s Information theory to assess whether consciousness is operative across the animal kingdom including Chomsky’s universal grammar idea—for whales, perhaps.
Ed
That is a gracious offer, but by time I receive it, it will be too late to meet my need for a citable source for the Teuber quotation that I desired for a 5K words encyclopedia entry I have nearly finished writing. it is not necessary. I merely thought it to be useful. Further communication between us might best be done by email, as it was a digression from your original question.
You might not like this answer, but I am the source. I worked for Peter Schiller for over 20 years and I was good friends was Gerry Schneider who studied hamsters. Peter was hired by Teuber (along with Charlie Gross) and Schneider was a student of Nauta. They passed on Teuber's philosophy to me via that old method: word of mouth. But I will see if I can find a reference for you. Ed
PS. Peter was not friend of Chomsky; Peter believed that Cognition/Linguistics and the neurophysiology of behavior should be studied separately. I do not agree with this view which fits with Chomsky's view.
Ed,
I responded to your email before I saw this reply. I would be pleased to quote you on the point, but I need a citable source; that is, one that the readers of my encyclopedia entry could verify if they chose.
Thank you,
roger
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