Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Medica. Monographia
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Acta Univ Carol Med Monogr · Jan 2007
Biography Historical ArticleChaos, brain and divided consciousness.
Modern trends in psychology and cognitive neuroscience suggest that applications of nonlinear dynamics, chaos and self-organization seem to be particularly important for research of some fundamental problems regarding mind-brain relationship. Relevant problems among others are formations of memories during alterations of mental states and nature of a barrier that divides mental states, and leads to the process called dissociation. This process is related to a formation of groups of neurons which often synchronize their firing patterns in a unique spatial maner. ⋯ Specific form of chaotic inner organization which cannot be explained only as a consequence of external causality support also psychophysiological data that lead to the so-called self-organizing theory of dreaming by Kahn and Hobson. This study suggests that self-organizing theory of dreaming is particularly important with respect to problem of memory formation and processing during dissociative states characteristic for dreams. Recent data and also findings of this study support the research utility of chaos theory in psychology and neuroscience, and also its conceptual view of dynamic ordering factors and self-organization underlying psychological processes and brain physiology.