The holonomic brain theory, originated by psychologist Karl Pribram and initially developed in collaboration with physicist David Bohm, is a model for human cognition that is drastically different from conventionally accepted ideas: Pribram and Bohm posit a model of cognitive function as being guided by a matrix of neurological wave interference patterns situated temporally between holographic Gestalt perception and discrete, affective, quantum vectors derived from reward anticipation potentials.
Pribram was originally struck by the similarity of the hologram idea and Bohm's idea of the implicate order in physics, and contacted him for collaboration. In particular, the fact that information about an image point is distributed throughout the hologram, such that each piece of the hologram contains some information about the entire image, seemed suggestive to Pribram about how the brain could encode memories.[1] Pribram was encouraged in this line of speculation by the fact that DeValois and DeValois[2] had found that "the spatial frequency encoding displayed by cells of the visual cortex was best described as a Fourier transform of the input pattern."[1] This holographic idea led to the coining of the term "holonomic" to describe the idea in wider contexts than just holograms.
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In this model, each sense functions as a lens, refocusing wave patterns either by perceiving a specific pattern or context as swirls, or by discerning discrete grains or quantum units. David Bohm has said that if you take the lenses away, what you are left with is a hologram.
According to Pribram and Bohm, "future orientation" is the essence of cognitive function, which they have attempted to define through use of the Fourier theorem and quantum mechanical formulae. According to Pribram, the tuning of wave frequency in cells of the primary visual cortex plays a role in visual imaging, while such tuning in the auditory system has been well established for decades. Pribram and colleagues also assert that similar tuning occurs in the somatosensory cortex.
Pribram distinguishes between propagative nerve impulses on the one hand, and slow potentials (hyperpolarizations, steep polarizations) that are essentially static. At this temporal interface, he indicates, the wave interferences form holographic patterns.
Pribram has written, "What the data suggest is that there exists in the cortex, a multidimensional holographic-like process serving as an attractor or set point toward which muscular contractions operate to achieve a specified environmental result. The specification has to be based on prior experience (of the species or the individual) and stored in holographic-like form. Activation of the store involves patterns of muscular contractions (guided by basal ganglia, cerebellar, brain stem and spinal cord) whose sequential operations need only to satisfy the 'target' encoded in the image of achievement much as the patterns of sequential operations of heating and cooling must meet the setpoint of the thermostat."
According to this theory, waveforms, within the matrix of a distributed system, allow fluctuations taking place to create new patterns, according to Pribram, and the resulting dynamic potential can then organize new foci of activity oriented to the precipitation of strategic planning and exercise of free will.
In a 1998 interview,[3] Pribram addressed the understanding of cognitive potential, stating that, "(I)f you get into your potential mode, then new things can happen. But usually free will is conceived in terms of how many constraints are operating, and we have in statistics a notion of degrees of freedom. I think our will essentially is constrained, more or less. We have so many degrees of freedom, and the more degrees of freedom we have, the more we feel free, and we have freedom of choice."
These so-called "quantum minds" are still debated among scientists and philosophers, and there are actually a number of different theories—not just one—that have been suggested. Notable proponents of various quantum mind theories are philosopher David Chalmers and mathematical physicist Roger Penrose. Cosmologist Max Tegmark is a notable opponent of the various quantum mind theories. Tegmark wrote the well-known paper, "Problem with Quantum Mind Theory," which demonstrates certain problems with Chalmers' and Penrose's ideas on the subject.[4]
A robust quantum theory of consciousness has been developed by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory physicist Henry Stapp who has both replied to Tegmark and to thermodynamic challenges to the theory. See selections of his papers and correspondence at http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~stapp/stappfiles.html. See also an article by Schwartz, Stapp, & Beauregard (2004) on "Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: a neurophysical model of mind–brain interaction" at http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~stapp/PTRS.pdf. Coauthor Jeffrey M. Schwartz has done research on obsessive compulsive disorder, applying the theory to brain neuroplasticity through focused, persistent attention. Holonomic brain theory might also be considered in relation to the holon (philosophy) and to autopoiesis.