Pathologic Brain: Impairment of Mind Based on Break of Oscillations and Modulation of Neurotransmitter Release

Abstract

In physics, two perfect clocks at two distant points should show exactly the same time. However, there are, according to Einstein, good clocks and bad clocks. “Good” clocks are synchronized and always show exactly the same time even when they are spatially separated. In the brain, various clocks are oscillating with several discrete frequencies. They are synchronized or partially synchronized by executing diverse types of brain functions. In this chapter, the insufficient synchronization between oscillators or “clocks” of different neural populations in neuropsychiatric patients is described. Metaphorically speaking, this means that clocks in the pathological brain are often “bad clocks,” as they are not synchronized. In the theory of relativity “asynchrony” of clocks plays an important role in processes observed between places separated by a long distance.