Abstract
Throughout the life of the vertebrates, the core of the central nervous system, sometimes called the reticular formation, has retained the power to commit the whole animal to one mode of behavior rather than another. Its anatomy, or wiring diagram, is fairly well known, but to date no theory of its circuit action has been proposed that could possibly account for its known performance. Its basic structure is that of a string of similar modules, wide but shallow in computation everywhere, and connected not merely from module to adjacent module, but by long jumpers between distant modules. Analysis of its circuit actions heretofore proposed in terms of finite automata or coupled nonlinear oscillators has failed.
We propose a radical set of nonlinear, probabilistic hybrid computer concepts as guidelines for specifying the operational schemata of the above modules. Using the smallest numbers and greatest simplifications possible, we arrive at a reticular formation concept consisting of 12 anastomatically coupled modules stacked in columnar array. A simulation test of its behavior shows that despite its 800-line complexity, it still behaves as an integral unit, rolling over from stable mode to stable mode according to abductive logical principles, and as directed by its succession of input 60-tuples.
Our concept employs the following design strategies: modular focusing of input information; modular decoupling under input changes; modular redundancy of potential command (modules having the most information have the most authority); and recruitment and inhibition around reverberatory loops. Presently we are augmenting these strategies to enable our model to condition, habituate, generalize, discriminate, predict, and generally follow a changing environment.
Our program is epistemological. We are trying to develop reticular formation concepts which are complex, precise, and valid enough to inspire reasonable experiments on the functional organization of this progenitor of all vertebrate central nervous tissues.
The major portion of this work was supported by the AFOSR, administered through Michigan State University. Support was also given by the following: Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grant AF-AFOSR-1023-66 through Michigan State University; DSR Project 55-257, sponsored by the Bioscience Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Contract No. NSR22-009-138 through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Instrumentation Laboratory; the National Institutes of Health Grant NB-04985-03 through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; U.S. Air Force (Research and Technology Division) Contract AF33(615)-1747 through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and the Teagle Foundation Inc., through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adametz, J. H. Rate of recovery of functioning in cats with rostral reticular lesions. J. Neurosurg., 16:185–197, 1959.
Adey, W. R. Neurophysiological correlates of information transaction and storage in brain tissue. Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles.
Albe-Fessard, D. and A. Fessard. Thalamic integrations and their consequences at the telencephalic level. Progr. Brain Res. 1:115–148, 1963.
Altman, J. Organic Foundations of Animal Behavior. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1966.
Amassian, V., and others. Patterns of activity of simultaneously recorded neurons in midbrain reticular formation. Annals New York Acad. Sci. 89:883–895, 1961.
Arbib, M. A. Automata theory the development. Electrical Engineering Dept., Stanford University, 1966.
Arbib, M. A. Brains, Machines, and Mathematics. New York, 1964.
Bard, P. and M. Macht. The behavior of chronically decerebrate cats, Neurological Basis of Behavior (G. Wolstenholme and C. O’Connor, eds.), 55–70, Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, 1958.
Barlow, H. B., Possible principles underlying the transformations of sensory messages, Sensory Communication—Contributions to the Symposium on Principles of Sensory Communication (W. A. Rosenblith, ed.), pp. 217–234, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (July 19 to August 1, 1959).
Bell, C., Sierra, G., Buendia, N. and Segundro, J. P. Sensory properties of neurons in the mesencephalic reticular formation, J. Neurophys., 961 – 985, 1964.
Beurle, R. L. Properties of a mass of cells capable of regenerating pulses. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, 240, B: 55–94, 1956.
Block, S. H. A neural net for adaptive behavior. Rand Report RM-3638-PR, Rand Corp., Santa Monica, California, 1963.
Brodai, A. The Reticular Formation of the Brain Stem: Anatomical Aspects and Functional Correlations. Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Illinois.
Braitenberg, V., et al. Observations on spike sequences, from spontaneously active purkinje cells in the frog. Kybernetik, January, 1965.
Brick, D. B. Wiener’s nonlinear expansion procedure applied to cybernetic problems. IEEE Trans. System Science and Cybernetics SSCL, November 1965.
Bullock, T. H. The problem of recognition in an analyzer made of neurons, Sensory Communication —Contributions to the Symposium on Principles of Sensory Communication (W. A. Rosenblith, ed.), pp. 217 – 234, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (July 19 to August 1, 1959), 717–724.
Butenin, N. V. Elements of the Theory of Nonlinear Oscillations. Blaisdell, Waltham, Mass., 1965.
Caianiello, E. R. Decision equations and reverberations. Kybernetik, 1966.
Caianiello, E. R. Decision equations for binary systems, application to neuronal behavior. Kynernetik, January, 1966.
Caianiello, E. R. Nonlinear problems posed by decision equations. In: [Functional Analysis and Optimization (Caianiello, ed). University of Naples, Naples, Italy, December, 1966].
Craik, K. J. W. The Nature of Explanation. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1952.
Craik, K. J. W. The Nature of Psychology (S. L. Sherwood, ed.), Cambridge University Press, New York, 1966.
Dell, P. Some basic mechanisms of the translation of bodily needs. Neurological Basis of Behavior (G. Wolstenholme and C. O’Connor, eds.), 55–70, Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, 1958, 187–203.
Dell, P. Reticular homeostatic and critical reactivity. Progress in Brain Research, I, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1963.
Doty, R. W. Some neural facts relevant to attention, motivation and learning, from lecture at International Spring School of Physics, Cybernetics of Neural Processes, Naples, Italy, April, 1962.
Doty, R. W. The role of subcortical structures in conditioned reflexes. Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., 92:939–945, 1961.
Doty, R. W., E. C. Beck and K. A. Kooi. Effect of brain-stem lesions on conditioned responses of cats. Exp. Neurol., 1:360–385, 1959.
Doty, R. W. and J. Bosma. An electromyographic analysis of reflex deglutition. J. Neurophysiol., 19:44–60, 1956.
Drocchiolo, C. and A. Drago. Linear separability and state reverberations. University of Naples, Naples, Italy, 1965.
Droogleever Fortuyn, J. and R. Stefens. On the anatomical relations of the intralaminar and midline cells of the thalamus. EEG and Clin. Neurophysiol, 3:393–400.
Ebert, J. D. Interacting Systems in Development. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York, 1965.
Eccles and Curtis. On frequency specific pathways in vertebrate neural tissue. J. Physiol, 150:374, 1960.
Fair, C. M. The organization of memory functions in the vertebrate nervous system. Neurosciences Res. Prog. Bull, 3:27–62, April 7, 1965.
The Physical Foundations of the Psyche. Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut, 1963.
Farley, B. Films on artificial neural net operation, shown at various cybernetics conferences. Films at M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratories, Bedford, Massachusetts, 1963.
Fessard, A., The role of neuronal networks in sensory communications within the brain. Sensory Communication—Contributions to the Symposium on Principles of Sensory Communication (W. A. Rosenblith, ed.), pp. 217–234, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (July 19 to August 1, 1959). 585–606.
Flexner and Flexner. On puromyacin erosion in avoidance trained rats. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 52, 1964.
Gabor, D. Hologram pattern recognition. Nature, October 30, 1965.
Gastaut, H. Some aspects of the neurophysiological basis of conditioned reflexes and behavior. Neurological Basis of Behavior (G. Wolstenholme and C. O’Connor, eds.), 55–70, Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, 1958.
Handbook of Physiology, Sections 2, 3, Neurophysiology (J. Field, H. W. Magoun and V. E. Hall, eds.), American Physiological Society, Washington, D.C., 1959–1960.
Hennie, F. Iterative Arrays of Logical Circuits. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Wiley, New York.
Harmon, L. D. and E. R. Lewis. Neural modeling. Physiol. Rev. 46:513 – 591, 1966.
Hernandez-Peon, R. Reticular mechanisms of sensory control. Neurological Basis of Behavior (G. Wolstenholme and C. O’Connor, eds.), 55–70, Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, 1958.
Herrick, C. J. The Brain of the Tiger Salamander, Amblystoma Tigrinum. University of Chicago Press, 1948.
Humphry, and Rodin-Smith. On the specificity of neural habituation in cockroach ganglia. Proc. Roy. Soc. London, Series B, 122:106, 1937.
John, E. R. and K. F. Killam. Electrophysiological correlates of avoidance conditioning in the cat. J. Pharmacology and Exp. Therap. 125: 252–274, 1959.
Kilmer, W. L. Iterative switching networks composed of combinational cells. IRE Trans. Electron Computers EC-11: 123–131, 1962.
Kilmer, W. L. On Cycling Behavior in 1-Dimensional, Bilateral Iterative Networks. Research Report, Electronics Research Laboratory, Montana State College, August 1962.
Kilmer, W. L. On dynamic switching in 1-dimensional iterative logic networks. Information and Control, 6:399–415, 1963.
Kilmer, W. L. Topics in the theory of 1-dimensional iterative networks. Information and Control, 7 (March 1964).
Kilmer, W. L. and W. McCulloch. Towards a theory of the reticular formation. Proc. IEEE 5th National Symposium on Human Factors in Electronics, (May, 1964).
Kilmer, W. L., et al. On a cybernetic theory of the reticular formation. Proc. 1966 Bionics Symposium, Dayton, Ohio, May, 1966. To be published.
Krieg, W. J. S. A Polychrome Atlas of the Brain Stem. Brain Books, Evanston, Illinois, 1963.
Krieg, W. J. S. A. Brain Mechanisms in Diachrome. Brain Books, Evanston, Illinois, 1963.
Leibniz. Selections (ed. P. P. Wiener), Scribner’s, New York, 1951.
Lettvin, J. Y., H. R. Maturana, W. H. Pitts and W. S. McCulloch. Two remarks on the visual system of the frog. Sensory Communication— Contributions to the Symposium on Principles of Sensory Communication (W. A. Rosenblith, ed.), pp. 217–234, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (July 19 to August 1, 1959). 757–776.
Magoun, H. W. The Waking Brain. Charles C Thomas, Pub., Springfield, Illinois, 1963.
McCulloch, W. S. Embodiments of Mind. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1965.
McCulloch, W. S. and W. L. Kilmer. Introduction to the problem of the reticular formation. In: Automata Theory, Proc. of the 1964 International Summer School of Physics, Ravello, Italy (ed. E. R. Caianiello), Academic Press, 1966.
McLardy, T. Hippocampal formation of brain as detector-coder of temporal patterns of information. Perspective Biol. Med., 2:443–452, 1959.
McLean, P. D. Psychosomatic disease and the visceral brain: recent developments bearing on the Papez theory of emotion. Psychosomatic Medicine, 11:338–353, 1949.
McLean, P. D. The limbic system with respect to self-preservation and the preservation of the species. J. Nervous and Mental Disease, 127:1–11, 1958.
Melzack, R. and P. D. Wall. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science, 150:971–979, November, 1965.
Minorsky, N. Nonlinear Oscillations. Van Nostrand, Princeton, N.J., 1963.
Minsky, M. Matter, mind and models. Proc. IFIPS Congress, Spartan Books, Washington, D.C., May, 1965.
Minsky, M. and O. Selfridge. Learning in random nets. Fourth London Symposium of Information Theory, Butterworths, London, 335–347, 1961.
Moore, G. P., D. H. Perkel and J. P. Segundo. Statistical analysis and functional interpretation of neuronal spike data. Annual Rev. of Physiol., 28:493–522, 1966.
Moore, J. and H. R. Mahler. Introduction to molecular psychology. Proc. California Association of Chem. Teachers, 42:49–60, January, 1965.
Morrell, R. and H. H. Jasper. Electrographic studies of the formation of temporary connections in the brain. Electroencephalog. Clin. Neurophysiol., 8:201–215, 1956.
Moruzzi, G. Reticular influences on the EEG. Electroencephalog. Clin. Neurophysiol., 16:2–17, 1964.
Moruzzi, G. and H. W. Magoun. Brain stem reticular formation and activation of the EEG. Electroencephalog. Clin. Neurology, 1:445–473, 1949.
Nauta, W. J. H. Central nervous organization and the endocrine motor system. From Advances in Neuroendocrinology, University of Illinois, 1963.
Nauta, W. J. H. Fibre degeneration following lesions of the amygdaloid complex in the monkey. J. Anatomy, 95:4, October, 1961.
Nauta, W. J. H. Hippocampal projections and related neural pathways to the mid-brain in the cat. From Brain, 81:3, 319–340, 1958.
Nauta, W. J. H. Some efferent connections of the prefrontal cortex in the monkey. From The Frontal Grannular Cortex and Behavior, McGraw-Hill, 1963.
Nauta, W. J. H. and W. P. Koella. Sleep, wakefulness, dreams, and memory. Neurosciences Res. Prog. Bull., 4, May 31, 1966.
Nauta, W. J. H. and H. G. J. M. Kuypers. Some ascending pathways in the brain stem reticular formation. In: Reticular Formation of the Brain (ed. H. H. Jasper, et al.), Little, Brown, Boston, 3–30, 1958.
Nauta, W. J. H. and W. R. Mehler. Some efferent connections of the lentiform nucleus in monkey and cat. Anat. Record, 139:260, 1961.
Nauta, W. J. H. and E. Ramon-Moliner. The isodendritic core of the brain stem. J. Comp. Neurology, 126:3, March, 1966.
Nauta, W. J. H. and E. S. Valenstein. A comparison of the distribution of the fornix system in the rat, guinea pig, cat, and monkey. J. Comp. Neurology, 113:3, December, 1959.
Nauta, W. J. H. and D. G. Whitlock. An anatomical analysis of the nonspecific thalamic projection system. In: Brain Mechanisms and Consciousness (ed. J. G. Delafresnaye), Univ. of Illinois, 81–116, 1954.
Nilsson, N. J. Adaptive Pattern Recognition: A Survey. Presented at the 1966 Bionics Symposium, Dayton, Ohio.
Olds, J. and P. Milner. Positive reinforcement produced by electrical stimulation of septal area and other regions of rat brain. J. Comp, and Physiol. Psychology, 47:419–427, 1954.
Pask, G. An Approach to Cybernetics. Harper Bros., New York, 1961.
Pringle, J. W. S. On the parallel between learning and evolution. Behavior, 3:174, 90–110, 1951.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel, Hallucinations and the brain stem reticular core. Reprinted from Hallucinations, Grune and Stratton, 13–35, 1962.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel. Neurology of learning. Reprinted from Childhood Education, February, 1966.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel. On neural mechanisms for self-knowledge and command. Mitre Report SS-3, First Congress on the Information Systems Sciences, Mitre Corp., Boston, Massachusetts.
Patterns of organization in specific and nonspecific thalamic fields. From The Thalamus (ed. Purpura and Yahr), New York, 1966.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel. Periodic sensory nonresponsiveness in reticular neurons. Arch. Ital. Biol., 103:300–316, 1965.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel. Some structuro-functional correlates of development in young cats. Reprinted from Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., Netherlands, 1963.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel. Structural substrates for integrative patterns in the brain stem reticular core. Reprinted from Reticular Formation of the Brain, Internation Symposium, Boston, 1958.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel. The adaptive response of individual reticular units to repeated Stimuli. Vol. II, Recent Advances in Biological Psychiatry, Proc. Nineteenth Annual Conv. Soc. Biol. Psychiatry. Los Angeles, Calif., May 1–3, 1964.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel. The response of reticular units to repetitive stimuli. Arch. Ital. Biol. 103:279–299, 1965.
Scheibel, M. E. and A. B. Scheibel. The brain stem reticular core—an integrative matrix. Proc. pproaches to Systems Theory in Biol., Case Tech. Symposium, Cleveland, Ohio, October, 1966.
Scheibel, M. K, A. B. Scheibel and H. H. Jasper. A Symposium on Dendrites. Formal Discussion, No. 10, November, 1958.
Scheibel, M. E., A. B. Scheibel, A. Mollica and G. Moruzzi. Convergence and interaction of afferent impulses on single units of reticular formation. J Neurophysio., 18:309–331, 1955.
Scheibel, M. E., A. B. Scheibel, F. Walberg and A. Brodai. Areal distribution of axonal and dendritic patterns in inferior olive. J Comp. Neur., 106:121–150, November, 1956.
Scholl, D. A. The Organization of the Cerebral Cortex. Methuen and Co., Ltd., London, 1956.
Scott, J. P. Critical periods in behavioral development. Science, 138:949–958, 1962.
Sechenov, I. M. Reflexes of the Brain. M.I.T. Press, Boston, Mass., 1965.
Sharpless and H. H. Jasper. Habituation of the arousal reaction. Brain, 79:655, 1956.
Shurrager, P. S. and E. Culler. Conditioning in the spinal dog. J Exptl. Psychol., 26:133–159, 1940.
Shurrager, P. S. and R. A. Dykman. Successive and maintained conditioning in spinal carnivores. J. Comp. Physiol. Psych., 49:27–35, February, 1956.
Shurrager, P. S. and R. A. Dykman. Walking spinal carnivores. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol., 44:252–262, 1951.
Skinner, B. E. The phylogeny and ontogeny of behavior. Science, 9, September, 1966.
Smith, D. R. and C. H. Davidson. Maintained activity in neural nets. J. Assoc. Comp. Mach. 9:268–279, 1962.
Smythies, J. R. The Neurological Foundations of Psychiatry. Academic Press, New York, 1966.
Sperry, R. W. Neurology and the mind-brain problem. American Scientist, 40:291–312, 1952.
Sprague, J. M. and W. W. Chambers. Control of posture by reticular formation and cerebellum in the intact, anesthetized and unanesthetized and in the decerebrated cat. J. Exper. Neurol, 170:52–64, January, 1954.
Sprague, J. M., W. W. Chambers and E. Stellar. Attentive, affective and adaptive behavior in the cat. Science, 133:165–173, January 20, 1961.
Swanson, R. W. Cybernetic in Europe and the U.S.S.R.—Activities, Plans, and Impressions. AFOSR 66–0579, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., March, 1966.
Taub, A. Local, segmental, and supraspinal interaction with a dorsolateral spinal cutaneous afferent system. Exper. Neurology 10:357–374, 1964.
Tauc, L. The activity of the Mollusc Neuron. On Integrative Actions in Single Neurons, Endeavor, January, 1966.
Ten Hoopen, M. Multimodal interval distributions. Kybernetik, January, 1966.
Teuber, Hans-Lukas. The riddle of frontal lobe function in man. 410–444.
Valverde, F. A new type of cell in the lateral reticular formation of the brain stem. J. Comp. Neur., 117:189–196, October, 1961.
Valverde, F. Reticular formation of the pons and medulla oblongata, a Golgi study. J. Comp. Neurol., 116:71–99, 1961.
Varju, D. Central Organization of Neural Systems. Examples of the Quantitative Analysis of Central Nervous Processes A, 23–42.
Verveen, A. A., H. E. Derksen. Fluctuations in membrane potential of axons and the problem of coding. Kybernetik, February, 1965.
Wall, P. D. Personal Communication.
Wall, P. D. The laminar organization of dorsal horn and effects of descending impulses. Paper 850, Dept. of Biology and Center for Communication Sciences, Research Laboratory of Electronics, M.I.T., Cambridge, Mass., 1966.
Wall, P. D. Two transmission systems for skin sensations. Sensory Communication—Contributions to the Symposium on Principles of Sensory Communication (W. A. Rosenblith, ed.), pp. 217–234, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (July 19 to August 1, 1959). 475–520.
Weir, B. Spikes-wave from stimulation of reticular core. J. Exper. Neurol., 209–218, August, 1964.
Weiss, P. A. Specificity in the neurosciences. Neurosciences Res. Prog. Bull, 3, October 5, 1965.
Wiener, N. Nonlinear Problems in Random Theory. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., and John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Winograd, S. and J. Cowan. Reliable Computation in the Presence of Noise. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1963.
Young, J. Z. A Model of the Brain. Oxford, 1964.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1968 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kilmer, W.L., McCulloch, W.S., Blum, J. (1968). Some Mechanisms for a Theory of the Reticular Formation. In: Mesarović, M.D. (eds) Systems Theory and Biology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-88343-9_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-88343-9_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-88345-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-88343-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive