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A 21st CENTURY PARADIGM DESCRIBING
THE NEURAL SYSTEM

by JAMES T. FULTON

A complete and contiguous electrolytic theory of the neuron and neural system is presented in unprecedented detail.  It represents a new electrolytic paradigm that provides a more sophisticated framework than the chemical concept employed under the old paradigm. Individual sections are provided addressing the modalities of vision, hearing, taste and smell via the left navigation panel. Special reports are available via the right navigation panel.

MAJOR SECTIONS

Neural System

Vision
Hearing
Taste
Smell
Touch

The Heart


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Get NEW VISION TUTORIAL

   
A Beta release CD-ROM on VISION is available
   

Book Cover
Get NEW HEARING TEXT
   
Get NEW Study of VISION, ECHOLOCATION AND LANGUAGE in the DOLPHIN
   


Last update:              Activa™: See Citation Page

The old paradigm of the neural system based primarily on chemical mechanisms is no longer tenable.  While the dominant paradigm during the last half of the 20th Century, neuroscience has been held back through reliance on this concept.  The primary signaling functions within the neural system are based on its electrolytic character.  (Electrolytic = involving the transfer of electrical charge in a liquid environment.)  This fact constitutes the new paradigm, and is highlighted by the logo of this website.  It is only the secondary functions, providing electrical power to the electrolytic circuits, that are fundamentally chemical in nature.  It is these secondary functions, based heavily on stereochemistry, cellular surface physical chemistry and the permeabilitiy of the matrix surrounding the neurons that provide control of the neural processes.

This 21st Century electrolytic paradigm has proven extremely successful.  Its success, particularly in describing the visual and auditory system of humans, overshadows any criticism generated within the context of the old paradigm.  Several recent medical breakthroughs could not have been achieved in the absence of this new paradigm.  The current understanding of the operation of the central nervous system, in both the visual and auditory contexts, would not be available without this new paradigm.

A particularly intriguing success has been the elucidation of the complete echolocation system of the bottlenosed dolphin. This new understanding has provided new insights into the teaching of blind children in their intrinsic auditory echolocation capabilities.

The theory and descriptions of the neural system to be presented here, based on the new 21st Century paradigm, is quite extensive. To manage the volume of material to be considered, the site has been subdivided into four major sites related to the sensory modalities:

The EXTERNAL SENSORY MODALITIES of the NEURAL SYSTEM

  1. NEURON CONCEPTS A site dedicated to a comprehensive understanding of the architecture and signal flow through the complete chordate neural system, with emhasis on the human neural system. It initially develops the theory and operation of the neuron. It then develops the mechanism for powering the fundamentally electrolytic neuron. It then reviews the various architectures used in chordate neural systems and the complexity of the architectures of the higher primates. It briefly synopsizes each of the major sensory modalities discusses in the following paragraphs below, before providing performance parameters of the entire system, including discussions of consciousness and memory in their global constructs.

  2. VISION CONCEPTS  A site dedicated to the description of the visual sensory input to, and the related data extraction by, the overall neural system.

  3. HEARING CONCEPTS  A site dedicated to the description of the hearing sensory input to, and the related data extraction by, the overall neural system.

  4. OLFACTORY CONCEPTS A site dedicated to the description of the sensory systems of taste and smell and the method of processing this data within the neural system.

The MINI-NEURAL SYSTEMS of MAMMALS

In exploring the sensory modalities, and the neuro-affectors of the neural system, it became clear that two distinct mini-neural systems existed within the overall neural system of the mammals. These subsystems were found in the cardiac system and the enteric system, as described anatomically. Both of these systems were found to be more than just mini-brains (as they have frequently been described); they are complete mini-neural systems including sensory, neuro-affector modalities as well as the computational capability usually associated with the central enrvous system (albeit on a smaller scale).

Sections of this website are under development to describe these mini-neural systems. Unfortunately, the discoveries emanating from the Electrolytic Theory of the Neuron have been so broad and detailed that documentation is slow. Anyone specifically interested in these systems is invited to contact the author for beta-versions of the relevant materials.

  1. Cardiac Mini-Neural System A site describing the complete neural subsystem of the cardiac system, including the unique cytology of the myocytes (more adequately described as cardiocytes).
  2. Enteric Mini-Neural System A site describing the complete neural subsystem of the digestive tract.

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS OF THIS RESEARCH

In developing the theory presented here, it was found that there was no satisfactory treatise on the BASIS OF THE NEURAL SYSTEM. The main work was stymied by this situation. The state of the neuroscience literature was found so inadequate in 1995 that a diversion was necessary. This diversion resulted in the publication of two new books:

Both of the highlighted texts are available for purchase on their respective web sites.
"Biological Vision: A 21st Century Tutorial" also available as an E-BOOK
"Hearing: A 21st Century Paradigm"
The texts can also be purchased through your local bookseller, on Amazon.com, or from Trafford Publishing in Bloomington, Indiana.

Background on this site

The portion of this site related to the more general aspects of the neuron is still under development. However, extensive discussions of the neuron have been provided in Chapter 4 of the visual sensory site and Chapter 3 of the hearing sensory site.

The development of this site is being carried out in parallel with the development of the new text, "The Neuron: A 21st Century Paradigm." However, the expansion in academic activity and academic inquiries based on the two previous books has resulted in a significant diversion of the authors focus from this third text.

Two fundamental finding and one major discovery related to the neuron have resulted from the overall effort:

Discovery of the ACTIVA

The discovery of the active electrolytic semiconductor device, the Activa™, provided the key to the understanding of the operation of the neuron and the rest of the neural system. It placed the functional role of the various morphological and cytological structures in proper perspective and provided the correct interpretation of the operational phenomena involved.

The Activa is a unique biologically based structure that exhibits "transistor action" The term "transistor action" is a term in the Patent lexicon to define a unique quantum mechanical mechanism. The Activa, US Patent #5,946,185, is the electrolytic (biological) equivalent of the man-made transistor.

A CAUTION

Because of the revolutionary nature of some of the material presented, students subject to examination by their institution are encouraged to review the Cautions Page before proceeding.

MAJOR CONCEPTUAL CHANGES

The main work introduces three major paradigm shifts affecting concepts held true for the last 50 years, a super extended period considering the rate of changes in other scientific technologies. The second shift redefines the fundamental nature of the neuron. It calls for a extending the Neuron Doctrine of Cajol beyond the realm of morphology to include electrophysiology.

A restated Neuron Doctrine [10.8.1]

Although the PARADIGM SHIFT related to the neuron is completely supported by the data in the literature, it is so significant that most of the hypotheses found in journal material must be considered obsolete until they are reinterpreted. Most neuron related hypotheses in current textbooks must also be considered obsolete. The PARADIGM SHIFTS, AS A GROUP, lead to a larger set of FUNDAMENTAL PREMISES that form the foundation of this work. The basic shift related to the neuron also leads to an entirely new description of the cytology and function of the specialized sensory neurons of the neural system.

One premise that is fully documented in Chapter 2 is that all known synapses are electrolytic in origin and contain an Activa.

If the reader accepts the above premises and the shifts in thinking described, it is suggested that he will be amply rewarded. Many previously undefined phenomena become quantifiable and a large group of new performance descriptors become available.


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