The Matter with Things Chapter 1

Some Preliminaries

Processes within the brain that oppose other processes (inhibition) are important in control of brain funtion.

“the proper working of the body depends on what he called ‘opponent processors’, systems that complement and counterbalance one another by their essentially opposing actions”

“In the brain there are three main such pairs of opponent processors, ranged along each of the three spatial axes” — Right and Left, Frontal and Posterior, and Rostral (top) and Caudal (bottom.)

“Spanish neuropathologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, sometimes referred to as the ‘father of modern neuroscience’, believed that the extraordinary power of the human mind was primarily dependent on the increase in the number and diversity of cortical inhibitory interneurones, many of which he was the first to identify: the power of opposites – ‘opponent processors’”

“this provides ‘the anatomical and functional basis for the existing view that the left hemisphere is more involved in analytical and sequential processing while the right hemisphere is more involved in integration and synthesis.’”

The corpus callosum, which only connects 2% of neurones in the right and left hemisphere has inhibitory effects may be just as important as it’s communication functions.

“The corpus callosum itself comes to embody the predicament of the entire cortex, and ultimately of the human world: how to hold things together, and yet keep them apart. Another theme of this book is the importance of union and division together.”