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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binding problem | 4/6 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binding_problem | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:12:30.252490+00:00 | kb-cron |
==== fMRI work ==== Stoll and colleagues conducted an fMRI experiment to see whether participants would view a dynamic bistable stimulus globally or locally. Responses in lower visual cortical regions were suppressed when participants viewed the stimulus globally. However, if global perception was without shape grouping, higher cortical regions were suppressed. This experiment shows that higher order cortex is important in perceptual grouping. Grassi and colleagues used three different motion stimuli to investigate scene segmentation or how meaningful entities are grouped together and separated from other entities in a scene. Across all stimuli, scene segmentation was associated with increased activity in the posterior parietal cortex and decreased activity in lower visual areas. This suggests that the posterior parietal cortex is important for viewing an integrated whole.
==== EEG work ==== Mersad and colleagues used an EEG frequency tagging technique to differentiate between brain activity for the integrated whole object and brain activity for parts of the object. The results showed that the visual system binds two humans in close proximity as part of an integrated whole. These results are consistent with evolutionary theories that face-to-face bodies are one of the earliest representations of social interaction. It also supports other experimental work showing that body-selective visual areas respond more strongly to facing bodies.
==== Electron tunneling ==== Experiments have shown that ferritin and neuromelanin in fixed human substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) tissue are able to support widespread electron tunneling. Further experiments have shown that ferritin structures similar to ones found in SNc tissue are able to conduct electrons over distances as great as 80 microns, and that they behave in accordance with Coulomb blockade theory to perform a switching or routing function. Both of these observations are consistent with earlier predictions that are part of a hypothesis that ferritin and neuromelanin can provide a binding mechanism associated with an action selection mechanism, although the hypothesis itself has not yet been directly investigated. The hypothesis and these observations have been applied to Integrated Information Theory.