THE MYSTERY OF THE MIND

Dr. Wilder Penfield - 1975

A neurosurgeon with some 1200 surgery cases involving mainly epilepsy sufferers, Penfield at the end of his career examines his case histories and concludes that the dual theory of mind/brain is more valid than the monist theory, which says that the brain itself constitutes the mind. (A third theory, proposed by Bishop Berkley says that one element, the mind, is the only reality, and that matter has no existence except for its place in the mind).

With photographs and diagrams of brain surgery, Penfield examines the higher brain stem, the cerebral cortex and its frontal and temporal lobes, locating the various motor, somatic sensory, visual, speech, interpretive and organizational centres. Many of the functions are “run” by the higher brain’s computer, which, from the time of birth, is trained and programmed by the mind to carry out many of the ongoing daily ‘executive’ functions of the person.

Using electrodes on his conscious patients, Penfield was able to map each patient's individual brain areas, including amazing memory sequences, or engrams, so vivid that under electrical stimulation the patient would, in effect, re-enter the 'stream of consciousness' of the former event, and hear, smell and see a reproduction of the event.

He describes the mindless automaton effect of petit mal, wherein the mind 'takes a vacation' but the computer carries on (playing the piano, walking through traffic, etc.) although no decisions as to anything 'out of the program' can be made, and no memory trace is recorded (i.e. amnesia) until the mind again takes over. (Between the mind and the computer is a mechanism called the highest brain mechanism (HBM) which coordinates the environmental perceptions, programs the computer's 'search' of its memory banks, makes low-level operating decisions (referring higher strategic decisions involving ethical, value, long term matters to the mind) and directing the various motor functions in executing the decision. The HBM cannot lay down new memory traces by itself, nor experience emotions nor humour, but makes use of all the reflexes and skills (genetic and acquired) within the computer.

The mind itself has not been physically located by Penfield nor others, nor is it known what kind of energy it uses nor where the energy comes from, as no physical connections to the HBM can be found. Penfield claims that:

· the mind has no memory of its own, relying rather on the HBM and its computer

· the mind sleeps, leaving the HBN and computer to maintain bodily homeostasis

· the mind gives direction to the HBM to handle certain well-understood tasks (driving from A to B/walking to the store) and the HBM auto pilots the computer while the mind goes on with other mental processes

· at the time of birth, humans' brains, compared to other mammals, have a vastly greater proportion of uncommitted cortex which, as the human grows, is taken up with speech and non-verbal functions, with large organizationa1 and logic centres and interpretive (comparison/association) and abstract reasoning faculties. This is the mind’s initia1 challenge - to get all of these faculties up and running, as only after every learned reaction becomes automatic can it be turned over from the light of conscious attention by the mind to the HBM and thereby allow the mind time to go on to further challenges. (These functions/reflexes/skills, when automatic, can be performed far better by the autopilot HBM than by the mind's conscious direction.)

· when the person (mind) is asleep and HBM is in charge, it can somehow wake up the mind if pre-set wake up cues are sensed by the auto pilot (time/danger/nature’s call).

· "mind decides what is to be learned and recorded. The child grows and the mind comes to depend more and more on the memory and the automatic patterns of action stored away in the brain's computer. The mind conditions the brain. It programs the computer so that it can carry out an increasing number of routine performances. And so, as the years pass, the mind has more and more free time to explore the world of the intellect, its own and that of others." As the body and the brain age and deteriorate, the mind is by then in possession of clearer understanding and better, balanced judgment - the 'disposable' brain/body having served their purposes.

· gray matter in the HBM has direct connection with those parts of the frontal and temporal lobes (organization/logic and interpretive) whereas the gray matter of the automatic sensory-motor mechanism (computer) is directly connected to various areas of the sensory and motor cortex. (The HBM makes its connections with the sensory/motor cortex through the computer, which it appears has a capacity to block out, or inhibit signals before they are passed into the HBM and communicated in the stream of conscious awareness to the mind).

· the mind is the person. The person walks about the world, depending always upon his private computer, which he is continually updating and programming to suit his ever-changing purposes and interests.

· the 3 elements of man – mind, brain and body - are interdependent and symbiotically tied. Each is useless without the other two, and mind takes the initiative in exploring the environment.

· the key brain organs are the hippocampi (2), the hippocampal gyrus, and the amygdaloid nucleus. These organs are in the reticular formation. The two hippocampi are involved in the memory scanning and recall function, and appear to perform, under the mind’s direction, the engram encoding function and have the "key of access" to the record of the stream of consciousness.

Quote: “Do brain mechanisms account for the mind? The mind seems to act independently of the brain in the same sense that a programmer acts independently of his computer, however much he may depend upon the action of that computer for certain purposes. Because it seems to me certain that it will always be quite impossible to explain the mind or the basis of the neuronal action of the brain, and because it seems to me that the mind develops and matures independently throughout an individual’s life as though it were a continuing element, and because a computer (which the brain is) must be operated by an agency capable of independent understanding, I am forced to choose the proposition that our being is to be explained on the basis of two fundamental elements.”

Penfield repeatedly comes back to the problem of how to locate/define the mind and its energy source; he notes that the mind develops and matures independently throughout an individual's life and he conjectures that it has a continuing existence or destiny when its connection to the brain and body is dissolved. At this stage Penfield leaves the realm of science and enters the realm of metaphysics, yet takes his critical judgment with him as he steps outside the boundaries of natural science. He notes that the spiritual communion between the mind of man and the mind of God is universally believed; with mankind having received - through prayer and meditation - guidance and revelation from this external power, this energy which, in some form, passes from spirit to spirit.

- Quote from W.H. Thorne “If we can see purposive behaviour in animals or man, we have provisional grounds for believing that there is within the organism some sort of expectancy of the future, which entai1s or implies a capacity for ideation, an integration of ideas about past and future, and a temporal organization of ideas”.

- Reference to T. Belt "The Naturalist in Nicaragua" and the leaf-cutter ants; when many were crushed crossing the tramway, they built tunnels underneath it. When these were plugged, they re-built tunnels rather than reverting to the earlier dangerous practice of crossing over the rails.

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Subsequent Addendum:

“In 1951 I had proposed that certain parts of the temporal cortex should be called “memory cortex” and suggested that the neuronal record was located there in the cortex near points at which the stimulating electrode may call for an experiential response. This was a mistake. The record IS NOT IN THE CORTEX” (Referenced by Rupert Sheldrake “Presence of the Past” – Pg. 220)

[Penfield’s earlier theory appears to have been based on his work in split-brain surgery on epileptics rather than normal brains – the former may have utilized non-normal engram memory storage processes.]

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