Spontaneous symmetry breaking in large scale nervous activity

A theory is outlined of the nature and origin of drug-induced visual hallucination patterns. It is shown that such patterns correspond to blobs or stripes of visual neo-cortical activity. A neuronal circuit is described that generates such patterns whenever its homogeneous resting state becomes unstable. Such a process is shown to be an example of spontaneous symmetry-breaking, similar to that occurring in electro-weak interactions, and in fluid convection. It is suggested that the neuronal instability is produced by the action of hallucinogens on monoamine secreting brain-stem neurons.

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