Is the brain relativistic?

Drawing on three decades of neuroimaging knowledge, the authors propose a theoretical framework unifying time and space in the brain into a four-dimensional 'brain spacetime.' They argue that, because action potentials travel at a finite speed along myelinated axons, this brain spacetime would follow a relativistic pseudo-diffusion principle and possess a functional curvature shaped by neural activity, analogous to how mass curves the spacetime of the Universe. The framework is then applied to interpret brain dysfunction phenotypes in neuropsychiatric and consciousness disorders. The work is a conceptual synthesis, not an empirical study.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Considering the very large body of knowledge which neuroimaging has put at our fingertips over the last three decades we looked at the brain with a fresh view which could unveil those 'old' things in new ways, in a framework which could help us making predictions tailored made for a scrutiny with the outstanding imaging instruments to come, such as ultra high field MRI. By doing so, switching back and forth between physics and neurobiology, we came across the view that time and space in the brain, as in the Universe, were, indeed, tightly mingled, and could fade away to be unified through a brain 'spacetime'. Considering that there is a speed limit for action potentials flowing along myelinated axons further thinking led us to envision that this 4-dimensional brain spacetime would obey a kind of relativistic pseudo-diffusion principle and present a functional curvature governed by brain activity, in a similar way gravitational masses give our 4-dimensional Universe spacetime its curvature. We then looked at how this whole-brain framework may shed light on brain dysfunction phenotypes (clinical expression of diseases) observed in some neuropsychiatric and consciousness disorders.