The Holographic Universe Read Online Free PDF Page B

the visual system worked as a kind of frequency
analyzer. Since frequency is a measure of the number of oscillations a wave
undergoes per second, this strongly suggested that the brain might be
functioning as a hologram does.
    But it wasn't until 1979
that Berkeley neurophysiologists Russell and Karen DeValois made the discovery
that settled the matter. Research in the 1960s had shown that each brain cell
in the visual cortex is geared to respond to a different pattern—some brain
cells fire when the eyes see a horizontal line, others fire when the eyes see a
vertical line, and so on. As a result, many researchers concluded that the
brain takes input from these highly specialized cells called feature detectors,
and somehow fits them together to provide us with our visual perceptions of the
world.
    Despite the popularity
of this view, the DeValoises felt it was only a partial truth. To test their
assumption they used Fourier's equations to convert plaid and checkerboard
patterns into simple wave forms. Then they bested to see how the brain cells in
the visual cortex responded to these new wave-form images. What they found was
that the brain cells responded not to the original patterns, but to the Fourier
translations of the patterns. Only one conclusion could be drawn. The brain was
using Fourier mathematics—the same mathematics holography employed—to convert
visual images into the Fourier language of wave forms.
    The DeValoises’
discovery was subsequently confirmed by numerous other laboratories around the
world, and although it did not provide absolute proof the brain was a hologram,
it supplied enough evidence to convince Pribram his theory was correct. Spurred
on by the idea that the visual cortex was responding not to patterns but to the
frequencies of various wave forms, he began to reassess the role frequency
played in the other senses.
    It didn't take long for
him to realize that the importance of this role had perhaps been overlooked by
twentieth-century scientists. Over a century before the DeValoises’ discovery,
the German physiologist and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz had shown that the
ear was a frequency analyzer. More recent research revealed that our sense of
smell seems to be based on what are called osmic frequencies. Bekesy's work had
clearly demonstrated that our skin is sensitive to frequencies of vibration,
and he even produced some evidence that taste may involve frequency analysis.
Interestingly, Bekesy also discovered that the mathematical equations that
enabled him to predict how his subjects would respond to various frequencies of
vibration were also of the Fourier genre.
    The Dancer as
Wave Form
    But perhaps the most
startling finding Pribram uncovered was Russian scientist Nikolai Bernstein's
discovery that even our physical movements may be encoded in our brains in a
language of Fourier wave forms. In the 1930s Bernstein dressed people in black
leotards and painted white dots on their elbows, knees, and other joints. Then
he placed them against black backgrounds and took movies of them doing various
physical activities such as dancing, walking, jumping, hammering, and typing.
    When he developed the
film, only the white dots appeared, moving up and down and across the screen in
various complex and flowing movements. To quantify his findings he
Fourier-analyzed the various lines the dots traced out and converted them into
a language of wave forms. To his surprise, he discovered the wave forms
contained hidden patterns that allowed him to predict his subjects’ next
movement to within a fraction of an inch.
    When Pribram encountered
Bernstein's work he immediately recognized its implications. Maybe the reason
hidden patterns surfaced after Bernstein Fourier-analyzed his subject's
movements was because that was how movements are stored in the brain. This was
an exciting possibility, for if the brain analyzed movements by breaking them
down into their frequency components, it explained the