Electromagnetic Mind - Other supporting
Fields are involved in the synchronous firing of neurons and other facts to add

Following the steps initialized in the section dedicated to propose and describe how mind is constructed from a variety of electromagnetic (EM) fields [1], here there are addressed some more facts and theories from where they can be extracted points that a complete EM based theory of mind surely should include. ...

Firstly it can be take in consideration, in support for the arguments and the theory displayed in [1], an important logical reason described in [2]:

" Locating consciousness in the brain's EM field, rather than neurons, has the advantage of neatly accounting for how information located in millions of neurons scattered through the brain can be unified into a single conscious experience (sometimes called the binding or combination problem: the information is unified in the EM field. In this way, EM field consciousness can be considered to be "joined-up information". This theory accounts for several otherwise puzzling facts, such as the finding that attention and awareness tend to be correlated with synchronous firing of individual neurons. When neurons fire together, their EM fields generate stronger EM field disturbances; so synchronous neuron firing will tend to have a large impact on the brain's EM field (and, thereby, consciousness) than the firing of individual neurons."

In this sense one important aspect that comprises various subsections is to show how the synchronous neuronal firing, which generates informative EM fields, have a strong correlation for attention, awareness and consciousness [3], how this synchronous firing generate cross-frequency interactions and couplings also related to mind function [4] and how endogenous brain EM fields are able to influence neuron firings in return [5].

At sensory level it appears that various frequency modalities are necessary to perceive sensory inputs of any kind, in [6] it can be read:

" Studies suggests a causal role of theta and gamma oscillations in auditory cortices for auditory processing and alpha and gamma oscillations in parieto-occipital regions for visual perception. In addition, the sensory gating by alpha oscillations applies not only to the visual but also to the somatosensory domain."

This is also related with attentional states that can focus on particular perception to manage it in the most efficient way (although in reality attention is not necessary to perceive any particular perturbation, as the so called "subconscious" perception is always working) and attention is also related to the usage of specific frequencies in the brain.

In this sense [7] speaks about the inherently rhythmic nature of attention and the influence of entrainment and resonance on this by presenting recent findings that reveal top-down guided behavior by theta band (3-8 Hz) frequencies organizing the functional attention networks, meanwhile in [8] an initially surprising finding that that alpha synchrony plays an inverted causal role in modulating attention and visual processing is presented where decreases in alpha synchronization are correlated with enhanced attention, and inversely, alpha synchronization increases are correlated with inattention is found, but this is not surprising if is viewed through the prism of that alpha rhythms are rhythms that connect us with the world [9] and are the typical frequencies of meditative states [10] and initial sleep stages, that is when our 'ego' diluted in a more extended consciousness, so attention as part of a more concrete mind is also diluted.

Apart from this purposes Alpha rhythms are also fundamental and one of the aging symptoms is the reduction in its power [11]:

" Resting-state EEG is dominated by sustained alpha oscillations, and low-frequency activities (short theta bursts and non-oscillatory 1/f slope). Resting alpha power decreases with age and correlates with intelligence. We propose that alpha facilitates proactive control (requiring task-set maintenance in preparation for expected conditions), whereas theta bursts relate to reactive control, requiring task-set updating in response to unexpected demands."

Georgiou et al. [12] show that a growing body of evidence suggests that oscillatory synchrony plays a crucial role in the selective communication of neuronal populations that encode the attended stimuli. Attention itself isn’t a continuously active spotlight as it was thought until now and is also based on rhythmic neuronal oscillations [13].

Memory consolidation is also dependent on different brainwaves, for example Watrous et al. [14] advances the idea that oscillations provide a reference frame for phase-coded item representations during memory encoding and that shifts in oscillatory frequency and phase coordinate ensemble activity during memory retrieval.

Findings in [15] demonstrate that alpha-band activity is directly related to the coding of spatial representations held in working memory and in [16] it's show that intrahemispheric theta rhythm desynchronization impairs working memory.

Much other concepts (in reality there is believed that all concepts related to mind) like language production [17] or abstract reasoning [18] are dependent on different frequencies on the brain. Furthermore as mentioned, all those synchrony patterns are themselves coordinated in a cross-frequency coupling way. Returning to the interesting article [10] that speaks about meditative states it can be read:

" Neural activity is known to oscillate within discrete frequency bands and the synchronization between these rhythms is hypothesized to underlie information integration in the brain. Since strict synchronization is only possible for harmonic frequencies, a recent theory proposes that the interaction between different brain rhythms is facilitated by transient harmonic frequency arrangements. In this line, it has been recently shown that the transient occurrence of 2:1 harmonic cross-frequency relationships between alpha and theta rhythms (i.e. falpha≈12 Hz; ftheta≈6 Hz) is enhanced during effortful cognition. In this study, we tested whether achieving a state of ‘mental emptiness’ during meditation is accompanied by a relative decrease in the occurrence of 2:1 harmonic cross-frequency relationships between alpha and theta rhythms. Continuous EEG recordings (19 electrodes) were obtained from 43 highly experienced meditators during meditation practice, rest and an arithmetic task. We show that the occurrence of transient alpha:theta 2:1 harmonic relationships increased linearly from a meditative to an active cognitive processing state (i.e. meditation< rest< arithmetic task). It is argued that transient EEG cross-frequency arrangements that prevent alpha:theta cross-frequency coupling could facilitate the experience of ‘mental emptiness’ by avoiding the interaction between the memory and executive components of cognition."

Or in [19] continuing with those general mental physiologic states it can be read:

" In this study, we address the fundamental question of how different brain rhythms continuously interact and collectively behave as a network to facilitate distinct physiologic states and integrated physiologic functions. We analyze temporal patterns in the amplitude of brain waves activation, and probe for coordination and synchronous modulation in dominant and nondominant brain rhythms. We demonstrate the presence of robust coupling profiles representing dynamical network interactions among brain rhythms. We discover an entire ensemble (“alphabet”) of key profiles of brain-wave interactions, which are universally observed for different brain areas and across subjects. Moreover, we find that these interaction profiles and the related networks change with transition from one physiologic state to another, and thus, are a unique signature of physiologic state and function."

Apart from general mental states concrete functions are also enabled/facilitated by cross frequency couplings, with a plethora of studies that can complement the studies mentioned upward in this text and that treat brain frequencies independently, for example in relation to memory Mizuhara et al. [20] show that:

" The slow EEG power was enhanced in association with the better accuracy of working memory retention, and accompanied cortical activities in the mnemonic circuits for the natural scene. Fast oscillation showed a phase-amplitude coupling to the slow oscillation, and its power was tightly coupled with the cortical activities for representing the visual images of natural scenes."

Or in relation to attention Bonnefond and Jensen [21] show that in visual tasks during the anticipatory pre-distractor period the phase of alpha oscillations was coupled with the power of high (80-120Hz) gamma band activity suggesting a mechanism of gating controlled by the gamma activity in relation to the phase of the alpha activity in the visual system. And Voloh et al. [22] show that exists a

" ... robust increases of 5–10 Hz (theta) to 35–55 Hz (gamma) phase–amplitude correlation between Anterior cingulate and lateral prefrontal cortex during successful attention shifts but not before errors."

Finally in [23] authors demonstrate that changes in synchrony and phase difference can be used to set up or abolish information transfer in a network of cortical circuits.

Need to be mentioned that endogenously generated fields are not just an "epiphenomenon" but they play a fundamental role in neuronal processes. Electromagnetic fields from brain cells feed back to the field generating cells and to other cells (ephaptic coupling) and for example, modulate the spiking timing of them, so EM consciousness is not a "ghost in the machine". Anastassiou et al. [24] wrote:

" The electrochemical processes that underlie neural function manifest themselves in ceaseless spatiotemporal field fluctuations. However, extracellular fields feed back onto the electric potential across the neuronal membrane via ephaptic coupling, independent of synapses. The extent to which such ephaptic coupling alters the functioning of neurons under physiological conditions remains unclear. To address this question, we stimulated and recorded from rat cortical pyramidal neurons in slices with a 12-electrode setup. We found that extracellular fields induced ephaptically mediated changes in the somatic membrane potential that were less than 0.5 mV under subthreshold conditions. Despite their small size, these fields could strongly entrain action potentials, particularly for slow (< 8 Hz) fluctuations of the extracellular field. Finally, we simultaneously measured from up to four patched neurons located proximally to each other. Our findings indicate that endogenous brain activity can causally affect neural function through field effects under physiological conditions."

Various experiments demonstrate that ephaptic coupling is not only working but that is so fundamental that neuronal communication is possible in this way even blocking the other forms of know communication (chemical and electrical) in [25] experiencing, on the ones side, by blocking endogenous electric field propagation they show that ephaptic coupling is a necessary mechanism for propagation of spontaneous activity, and on the other side they prove that endogenous electric field induced activity can propagate through a complete physical cut of the tissue, showing that electric fields alone are sufficient to mediate non-synaptic propagation.

In [26] there is also an experimental research that by blocking synaptic transmission pharmacologically do not impede the entrainment of neurons exposed to ELF fields, specially of lowest frequencies (1–4 Hz), this indicates that the electric fields with physiologically feasible frequencies and intensities can entrain activities of the dendrites, independent of synaptic transmission, in a frequency-dependent manner.

Various models are presented in relation to this, in a model developed in [27] it is explained that the field picture is a generalization of the presently prevalent current mediated picture for interaction between axons. Another model [28] founds that electromagnetic induction is helpful for discharge of neurons under positive feedback coupling, while electromagnetic induction is necessary to enhance synchronization behaviors of coupled neurons under negative feedback coupling. Numerical results from Deng et al. [29] elucidate that endogenous field feedback cause a more rhythmic macroscopic activation of the network.

In [30] it can be read:

" It is found that field coupling between neurons can change the magnetic flux and induction current, and then the excitability of neurons are changed to modulate the collective behaviors of electrical activities in neuronal network."

In [31] also it's found that a magnetic flux coupling between neurons can induce a perfect phase synchronization between them.

On the other hand, in this section, there are also enlisted a variety of papers that addressed various interesting points that can be added to an electromagnetic mind theory, for example in [32] author proposes that for computational purposes biological systems not only use neural networks at their mesoscopical scale, being a neuron the minimum computational unit, but that the computational capacities are replicated also inside each neuron, taking in consideration at a lower level microtubules and at ever lower level proteins, in concrete, he interestingly explain how:

" All molecules thermally vibrate at particular frequencies and emit two types of noise—high frequency ‘‘white’’ noise by small molecules (such as water and metal ions) and medium frequency ‘‘colored’’ noise by large molecules (such as proteins; Al-Khalili and McFadden, 2014). The bends and twists of the peptide chain of proteins are flexible and cause the chain to emit signals composed of colored noise, but only at specific frequencies. The frequency is determined by the aminoacid sequence and the conformation and movements of the protein molecule. Thus each protein will have a signature dynamic pattern of colored noise in the form of a number of peaks in its noise emission spectrum, in which the number, size and frequency of the peaks will vary. Thus, changing these conditions in one protein in a heteroreceptor complex by some stimulus will lead immediately to a change in the conformation and noise emission spectra of all the proteins in the complex."

Although he mentions that those “thermal” vibrations in proteins are now know to be strongly coupled collective vibrations, as can be see in this subsection of the web [33] he don’t underline a biophysical consequence of the bipolar electric characteristic of proteins that, if they vibrate, can generate electromagnetic fields. Furthermore in recent investigations [34] notable general electrical properties for proteins has been observed, which underline this last possibility.

More elements participating in the electromagnetic mind can be: a mutual electromagnetic induction in the axon-glial sheath association propesed by Goodman and Bercovich [35], a QED induced radiation in EM signaling across the cleft between presynaptic and postsynaptic cells proposed by Prevenslik [36] and that is shown to offer a reasonable alternative to chemical signaling conceptual problems (that are described in the paper). Or, as a last example, the proposition of Swain [37] of large up-conversions and mode coupling between Fröhlich states (described in [38]) and biophotons (described and associated to neuronal function in the section [39] of this website).

Deserves a separate mention the other two subsections that are attached to this section, that although they don’t speak about electromagnetic fields as a conscious fields are, the first one, a big support for this notion as it peaks about the unicellular intelligence and consciousness [40] (with the amazing capacities of these living systems) that hopefully can cause a paradigm shift in those people that think that consciousness is only a brain derived phenomena that requires it's physical structures and chemical synapses.

The second subsection [41] delves into a philosophical issue: if consciousness is electromagnetic in nature then mentality is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of the universe, this is the basis for a Panpsychistic philosophy, that is described and argued in its favor in this subsection's papers, but, only to mention, here is a descriptive extract [42] speaking about the advantages of taking this philosophy in conjunction with the EM mind theory:

" Thus we have two different types of theory on offer, panpsychism and an electromagnetic field theory of consciousness, each of which has interesting potential, but each of which also has a major problem. The problems are quite different and yet fortuitously complementary. ... The combination problem doesn't affect a field theory because a field is a unity, not an aggregate, and the hard problem doesn't apply to panpsychism because panpsychism axiomatically assumes consciousness to be a fundamental constituent of the universe's ontology, not something that evolved from non-conscious reality."

References:

Very related sections:

Endogenous Fields & Mind
EM Mind - Other supporting