Beyond Spikes: Neural Codes and the Chemical Vocabulary of Cognition

TL;DR

This paper challenges the spike doctrine by proposing that neurochemicals, rather than neural spikes, are the fundamental units of information encoding in the brain, offering a new perspective on neural communication.

Contribution

It introduces a neurochemical-based framework for understanding brain information encoding, contrasting with the traditional spike-centric view.

Findings

Neurochemicals may serve as elementary information units.

Predictions align with some current research results.

Addresses open questions in neural coding theories.

Abstract

In this paper, I examine what I refer to as the spike doctrine, which is the generally held belief in neuroscience that information in the brain is encoded by sequences of neural action potentials. I present the argument that specific neurochemicals, and not spikes, are the elementary units of information in the brain. I outline several predictions that arise from this interpretation, relate them to results in the current research literature, and show how they address some open questions.