The entangled brain

The entangled brain

Luiz Pessoa

The core idea of emergence inspired me to develop the concept I call the entangled brain: the need to understand the brain as an interactionally complex system where functions emerge from distributed, overlapping networks of regions rather than being localised to specific areas. Though the framework described here is still a minority view in neuroscience, we’re witnessing a gradual paradigm transition (rather than a revolution), with increasing numbers of researchers acknowledging the limitations of more traditional ways of thinking.

Emergence seems like one of those wishy-washy terms the Materialist faith uses to try and avoid the reality of Mind being irreducible to brain, but at least this is a movement away from reductionism...

...What’s particularly fascinating is that these brain assemblages overlap and change over time. Just as a violin might be part of the string section in one moment and join a smaller ensemble in the next, brain regions can participate in multiple networks simultaneously and shift their roles as needed. But note that, in this view, even brain networks aren’t seen as constituted of fixed sets of regions; instead, they are dynamic coalitions that form and dissolve based on the brain’s changing needs. This flexibility helps explain how the brain can support such a wide range of complex behaviours using a limited number of regions.

Categories such as perception, cognition, action, emotion and motivation are not only the titles of introductory textbooks, but reflect how psychologists and neuroscientists conceptualise the organisation of the mind and brain...