The Brain in Evolution of Species and Darwin’s Theory

Abstract

Fessard (1961) stressed that the brain must not be considered simply as a juxtaposition of private lines leading to a mosaic of independent cortical territories, one for each sense modality, with internal subdivisions corresponding to topical differentiations. What are principles dominating the operations of hetero-sensory communications in the brain? Fessard (1961) indicated the necessity of discovering principles that govern the most general – or transfer – functions of multi-unit homogeneous messages through neuronal networks. The transfer function describes the ability of a network to increase or impede transmission of signals in given frequency channels. The transfer function, represented mathematically by frequency characteristics or wavelets (Başar 1980; Başar-Eroğlu et al. 1992) constitutes the main framework for signal processing and communication. The existence of general transfer functions would then be interpreted as the existence of networks distributed in the brain having similar frequency characteristics facilitating or optimizing the signal transmission in resonant frequency channels (Başar 1998; see also Chap. 6).