Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

366 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

b2861 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter “6x9”

8.5.3 The Brain Is both Entropic and Informational

Carhart-Harris et al. [341] found that the arterial infusion of the psyche-

delic (psilocybin) decreased overall Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) and

increased the variance (or the Shannon entropy) of the fMRI signals in

select areas in the human brain with a concomitant loss of normal waking

consciousness (see Figure 8.6(l)). They divide human consciousness into

two types. The normal waking consciousness is referred to as “second-

ary” and the states induced by psychedelic, REM sleep, the onset-phase

of psychoses, and the dreamy state of temporal lobe epilepsy referred are

referred to as “primary”.

The authors state that

The defining feature of “primary states” is elevated entropy in certain

aspects of brain function, such as the repertoire of functional connectiv-

ity motifs that form and fragment across time. Indeed, since there is a

greater repertoire of connectivity motifs in the psychedelic state than in

normal waking consciousness, this implies that primary states may

exhibit “criticality,” i.e., the property of being poised at a “critical”

point in a transition zone between order and disorder. (8.13)

They further argued that entropy is suppressed in normal waking con-

sciousness which imparts a constrained quality and associated metacogni-

tive functions, including reality-testing and self-awareness to waking

consciousness. It was also proposed that

entry into primary states depends on a collapse of the normally highly

organized activity within the default-mode network (DMN) and a

decoupling between the DMN and the medial temporal lobes (which

are normally significantly coupled). (8.14)

Based on these and related observations, Carhart-Harris et al. formu-

lated the “entropic brain hypothesis (EBH)”, according to which, upon

infusion of psilocybin,

[B]rain activity becomes more random and so harder to predict in

primary states of which the psychedelic state is an exemplar. (8.15)

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