A First Approach: Statistics

Abstract

In Part I, I have briefly highlighted the main characteristics of the system “brain”. The task we now are confronted with is that of outlining a theory of cerebral function in terms of the same principles governing the inanimate physical world. Attempts at identifying the physical principles which regulate nervous activity are not entirely new. In almost every neurophysiological paper mathematical or physical models have been adapted to the behavior of the variables under examination, and thus offer a description suited to the data. However, I would not like to follow this procedure, rather, I will try to broadly identify the domain of physics in which brain activity can be represented, and prove the identity of the laws pertinent to both the physical and the nervous systems. Thus, I will not look for models or analogues, but maintain the principle that the brain is only one of the many objects of Nature and is subjected to its laws. As was stated at the beginning, there is primarily a choice of the philosophy of approach.