How the Self Controls Its Brain 49184 160377958 2007-09-26T01:19:43Z 201.255.171.132 '''''How the Self Controls Its Brain'''''<ref>John C. Eccles, ''How the Self Controls its Brain'', Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1994. ISBN 3-540-56290-7.</ref> is a book by [[Sir John Eccles]], proposing a theory of philosophical [[dualism]], and offering a justification of how there can be mind-brain action without violating the principle of the [[conservation of energy]]. Eccles called the fundamental neural units of the [[cerebral cortex]] "[[dendron (cerebral cortex)|dendrons]]", which are [[Cortical column|cylindrical bundles]] of [[neurons]] arranged vertically in the six outer [[Cerebral cortex#Laminar pattern|layers or laminae]] of the cortex, each cylinder being about 60 [[micrometre]]s in diameter. Eccles proposed that each of the 40 million dendrons is linked with a mental unit, or "[[psychon]]", representing a unitary [[consciousness|conscious]] experience. In willed actions and thought, psychons act on dendrons and, for a moment, increase the probability of the firing of selected [[neuron]]s, while in perception the reverse process takes place. ==References== <references/> ==See also== * [[Dualistic interactionism]] * [http://www.enformy.com/$dual.html Eccles' Model of the Self Controlling Its Brain] by Donald Watson and Bernard Williams. * [http://www.enformy.com/tesintro.htm Introduction to the Theory of Enformed Systems] by Donald Watson and Bernard Williams. [[Category:Science books]] [[Category:Consciousness studies]] {{psych-book-stub}}