Global Journal of Medical Research, A: Neurology & Nervous System, Volume 23 Issue 3

multidisciplinary consensus statement concluding that “NDEs are not hallucinations or illusions but rather evidence that life continues after death” [36]. According to NDErs, the mind, when separated from the body, is even more lucid, more aware, and more knowledgeable than when it dwells in the body. This suggests that the brain, rather than being the extraordinary information processor that it has been touted to be, is actually slowing down and limiting mental function. However, what NDErs also report is that they were unable to interact with the physical world while outside their physical bodies. Thus, the brain appears to be acting as a biological transducer that translates mental signals into neurological signals. The reverse process also appears to occur: the brain appears to stimulate specific thoughts and emotions in the mind, thus creating a two-way dialogue between the mind and the brain. That this mind-brain dialogue actually occurs has now been demonstrated experimentally. Recording from single neurons in patients implanted with intracranial electrodes for clinical reasons, Cerf et al. [37] found that willful thoughts and emotions readily stimulated specific neurons when subjects were asked to perform specific mental tasks. Conversely, stimulating different parts of the brain with an electrical probe has long-been known to trigger different thoughts and emotions [38]. However, this mind-brain dialogue gives rise to the historic mind-body problem: how can the mind and the body communicate with each other if their natures are different? The answer to that question may be supplied by modern advances in biology, chemistry, and physics. Like all forms of energy, mental energy would be expected to induce magnetic fields. Likewise, the neurons of the brain induce magnetic fields as they depolarize and repolarize. Hence, the mind and the brain are naturally poised to communicate in the same language—electromagnetic energy. Besides helping to explain both the emerging data on NDEs and the experimental observations of Cerf and his colleagues, a duality of mind and brain could, for the first time, explain the distinction between unconscious and conscious mental processing. Unconscious mental processing would occur independent of brain function, whereas conscious mental processing would occur when neurologically-induced magnetic fields synchronized with mentally-induced magnetic fields (Figure 1). This synchronization process hypothetically explains the familiar time-delay when the mind attempts to formulate a thought or draw a memory into consciousness. Consciousness, in this sense, could more aptly be called “corporeal consciousness” because it occurs in conjunction with neurological function. This is in contrast to “incorporeal consciousness,” which would occur independent of neurological function [11]. Note also that unconscious mental processing, being electromagnetic but independent of neurological function, would proceed at a speed of approximately 300,000,000 meters/second (the speed of electromagnetic waves). This is in contrast to conscious mental processing, which, being dependent upon neurological function, would proceed at the relatively slow speed of about 150 meters/second (the speed of salutatory conduction) [39]. This difference, together with the uncoupling of the mind from bodily sensory systems during an NDE, could explain why NDEers experience such a dramatic expansion of consciousness when they separate from their physical bodies [31-34]. Further evidence that the mind is capable of functioning independent of the brain comes from the observation that children who are born without a cerebral cortex are conscious [40], and in their pioneering work, Wilder Penfield and others found that awareness of self and environment were fully preserved as they surgically removed relatively large areas of the cortex to treat refractory seizures [40, 41]. That leads to the question of where in the body the mind is located. Based on the observation that injury to anybody-part other than the head leaves corporeal consciousness intact, it is evident that the mind is located in the head. Also, with the exception of damage to the neurological system, damage to any part of the body can be perceived by the mind. That implies that the mind-body connection must be dependent upon intact neurological function. The only part of the neurological system that is in the head is the brain. Therefore, the mind-body connection must occur in the brain. Although it would be difficult to pinpoint where in the brain the mind is located, the topography and functional anatomy of the brain provide important clues. It is well-recognized that virtually all sensory input is relayed directly to the thalamus. It is also known that the thalamus remains a part of the conversation as the input is being processed by the cerebral cortex and other parts of the brain [42]. Furthermore, even mild damage to the thalamus can result in a vegetative state [43]. Conversely, deep brain stimulation of the thalamus has been found to be of some benefit in rousing patients from a minimally conscious state [44, 45]. Hence, it appears that the thalamus, which has been called “the gateway to the mind,” could be acting as a functional interface that allows the mind to monitor and control virtually every function of the brain and body [11]. That would place the mind, or at least its primary area of focus, at the core of the brain. 5 Year 2023 Global Journal of Medical Research Volume XXIII Issue III Version I ( D ) A © 2023 Global Journals Untangling Psychology from Biology in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders