Contextual Memory in the Molecular Domain

Abstract

Contextually rich recall of past events and actions indicates the formation of complex memory traces in which many items of information are integrated. The speed of this process and the inference that large numbers of cortical neurons are involved argue against synaptic transmission of all of the information required. The intercellular electromagnetic field giving rise to the EEG may function as an additional carrier of information essential to contextual processing. Recent experiments have led to models of the neural membrane that show very great sensitivities to the intercellular field. Changes of arrayed molecular conformations in this membrane due to cooperative effects in the intercellular field may provide a contextual memory located within the dense dendritic network of the cortex. Integrative effects within the volume structure of complex electromagnetic fields may thus provide a means of high-speed contextual processing and discrimination.