Neuropsychological Foundations of Conscious Experience by Jason Brown, A Review by Sander Kales, D.O.

The sequence in this review is the same as the Microgenetic and Morphodynamic process described by Brown and his own Ontogenesis. It will start with the philosophy because it will give us a general starting point. From there we start in the physical Outside world with Pathology, and the brain processes, both in functioning and in growth, while Brown’s work has been as a neurologist with patients who have brain damage. Working with patients always requires a psychological insight, so this is our next phase in discussing this book while it corresponds with the world Inside.  This review will end with a view on time, so more on a Quantum level.

The brilliance of Brown for me lay in the bringing together of the Outside World (Neurology: processes in the brains and growth of the Brain) and the Inside World (Psychology). Brown is a great analyst, also concerning his own experiences, as in dreams. The bringing together shows up in that he realized that the processes that can be seen in Morphogenesis, or on a cellular (Body) level, also can be seen on a psychological, or Mind level. So we start off with his Philosophical views, or to state in his terms: “The Whole”.

Philosophy, Microgenesis and Process Theory 

As William James states: “Philosophy is more a matter of passionate vision than logic, the logic coming afterwards to justify the vision” the same goes for his development of Microgenesis Theory. 

An important insight of Brown, he describes as follows: “The shift from process to substance theory was one from continuities, transitions and internal relations to logical solids, discrete brain areas or components. 

For substance theory, being is the source of becoming. For process theory becoming is the source of being. For microgenesis and process theory, the mental evolves with the physical by an expansion of proto-psychic features”.  In other words, how do things or thoughts come about and not what are they.

So in this book, the focus is continually on process/ development/ growth, and not on, can we pinpoint this function to this structure: “The whole is not constructed from the parts but is antecedent to them”. Now we will see where the development of this theory started.

NeuroPathology

Brown describes a couple of cases in this book. For the reader this gives a daily reality to the theory. That is the reason to start from here, and we can see that the diagnostic skills of Brown are to be reckoned with. “A patient of mine with a retrograde amnesia did not recall being in an accident in which his fiancé was killed, nor did he show an affective reaction when he was repeatedly told what happened. As recall improved, he developed nightmares for some days prior to the return of sufficient recall to ask what occurred in the accident, at which point, when told, he was overcome with grief. The nightmares, however, were not directly about the accident; they reflected the anxiety that forecasted the recall. The symptom is not a bizarre occurrence unrelated to the normal, but reveals preliminary or “pre-processing” phases in the elaboration of normal function”. 

So early on Brown realised that he should look at the process of conscious experience and not on the fragments or presentations. “In this respect the symptoms of brain pathology are fragments of unconscious phases that are usually inaccessible to waking cognition. One of Freud’s more important insights was the recognition that psycho-pathological symptoms are not additions but uncoverings”. 

Brain Processes

He than sets about to look at the brain processes that take place, from a Process Theory viewpoint. “The activation of neurons by external stimuli does not mean neurons are responsible for the perception of those stimuli. Levitan (2006) gives the example of regions in left hemisphere shown to be active in the perception of musical structure that are also active in the perception of sign language”. He than states that it is not just at the neurons but also in the localisation in left and right hemispheres and Antero Posterior within a hemisphere. 

“Some writers have looked at the shift from the simultaneity of spatial cognition to the successivity of the temporal in speech or action. This has also been framed in terms of a shift from the (spatial) right to the (temporal) left hemisphere (e.g. Teuber, 1958) or from posterior to anterior brain processes in language”.

Also on the brain stem level he sees a phylontogenetic development, where a tremor is basic and voluntary movements develop on top of it. “A simpler observation is that a voluntary movement such as lifting the finger develops at the cyclical peaks of normal resting “tremor”. This indicates that unconscious rhythms or oscillators underlie voluntary action, as in the respiratory timing that frames an utterance”. 

So we see here that Brown focuses on process rather than on functions:

“Most imaging studies localize functions rather than display mental or neural process. This is no doubt true for most, if not all, studies that purport to map brain areas to cognitive function. 

A single process is iterated at multiple phases rather than multiple processes acting at different loci”. Here we see a clear break with current popular research where fMRI studies appear daily stating that fear is amygdala, decisions are Pre Frontal Cortex, etc.

A brain state is that configuration of neuronal activity generating a mental state. A mental state is a virtual duration that corresponds with an epoch of brain activity. Identification of the mental state with the brain state does not apply just to its vegetative core but to every phase in transition. 

So we see a shift from Brain State towards Mental State.

Interesting here is that Phylontogenetic older information comes from organs and Autonomic Nervous System (Vegetative system) “The transition from limbic to neocortical formation is the forward direction of microgenesis”. This information arrives at the brain. Then it continues towards Limbic System and ends at the Cortex, traversing the same path as the Phylontogeny.

Corner (1) also describes the phylontogenetic development of sleep. The REM is the basic activity level of nerves, which develop every moment. On top you have successive states (Sleep stages 1-4 through Dreams to a Waking state).

From this view we can understand his remark: “The preponderant opinion is that the precursors of consciousness do not extend “all the way down” but that consciousness arises at some level of neuronal complexity”. So at some point in this traversing the Phylontogeny consciousness arises.

Let us have a closer look at this Phylontogenetic development. It was a realisation from Brown that brain mental processes show the same pattern as Morphogenetic development. This viewpoint that Phylontogeny takes place on different levels and not, like Darwin stated, on the level of the human being, is supported by several authors: Kupiec (2), Corner (1). But also in the analysis of the development of cities, sand dunes, etc. “Microgenesis exhibits and extends to cognition the pattern of growth in morphogenesis”. 

Morphogenesis.

Brown sees this pattern also on the smallest level: the cell: “Mitosis is the model of individuation as complexity grows from within. Some have argued that the tension between the active and the passive in cognition traces back to the biology of approach and avoidance in unicellular organisms (Schneirla, 1965), which evolves to grasping and withdrawal, extro- and introversion, and even aggressive and dependent personality types”. 

What does this Morphogenetic process entail? It is a balance between live and death: Growth and Apoptosis. Also on a genetic level this takes place (Kupiec(2)). Again we see the underlying process. “In a mature cognition, the endogenous constraints of the just-prior act are comparable to genetic influences on growth, while the exogenous constraints of the external world (sense-data) are comparable to the effects of the micro-environment on gene expression. Polygenes and timing mechanisms limit the degrees of freedom in the growth process, increasing the likelihood of a given outcome”. 

The development can be seen as the growth of the tree, where in the trunk you see all the growth circles. One is on top of the other. “The similarity of the process of growth to that of cognition becomes clear when we consider morphogenesis not as an open end linear succession but as a recurrent pattern, in which new form is laid down over antecedent structure. This shift in perspective helps us to see how the same process that is responsible for the growth of the brain continues as the process that is responsible for behaviour”. 

Interesting is that a Process Theory like Microgenesis Theory introduces time as a new component, from 3D towards 4D (Heterochrony is the rate or timing of this process). 

As Beloussov (3) describes: “to understand a landscape we must not just understand the structures that are there, but also its history in order to analyse it”. So Brown states: “Behaviour is four-dimensional morphology or structure over time. Memory is the obvious link from structure to function. Early in development, the persistence (recurrence) of brain structure is a kind of organic or “physical” memory. The “permanence” of a learned or remembered item is the structural aspect of thought”.

In Morphogenesis it is not just time that is important, but also the axles. Grid patterns are laid down first, before further development. This can be compared to the development of roads before a city develops. “The development that goes from archaic to recent in evolutionary structure corresponds with the transition from axial to distal innervation, from bodily space to the external world, from symmetry to asymmetry, from low frequency kinetic rhythms that mediate inter alia walking and respiration, to higher frequency oscillators or harmonics that mediate selective kinetic patterns such as those involved in prosody or asymmetric limb movement”.

Asymmetry is a new field of study, which Quantum Physicists started and which now comes to the Biological Sciences. More and more literature appears on Left Right asymmetry in the body.“The dissolution of the self and the inter-penetration with the other accompany a retreat from asymmetric and deliberate limb movements to automatic and symmetrical axial motility. Focal voluntary actions are replaced by rhythmic impulses”. The body strives for symmetry while it is not symmetrical. A symmetrical face is seen as more beautiful.

Fractal development, like the Mandelbroth set, is well known in the Biological science. Brown: “Growth does not lay down a fixed anatomy, but rather morphology is the behaviour of a developing brain. Microgenesis entails a single fractal-like process. The remedy is a concept of brain and psyche in terms of fields or fractals instead of cities and highways”.

There are two morphogenetic processes which shape growth:

• parcellation or pruning (The equivalent of parcellation in growth, or surround inhibition in physiology, is the whole-to-part or context-to-item transformation in cognition) 
• neoteny lay down “force lines” that become the process of cognition. It is a selective retardation or prolongation of a juvenile stage that can be a springboard of evolutionary growth.

Brown’s personal Development

As we have seen that Brown’s development as a Neurologist was getting to know first the structures in order to analyse the development. This same approach he took to analysing Psychology (Psychoanalysis) and also his own dreams. So here we see an analysis of the inside world. His personal experience with dreams is also a factor in the development of Microgenesis Theory.

I awoke and could only remember the first two lines of what seemed to be a wonderful poem. The lines were: 

Run thee a poem in thy time ‘ 

Pay not a fare to the rhyme or the meter. 

However brief, this was not at all a poem I could have written awake. 

The interpretation of the dream tells us more about the dreamer than the content that is interpreted.  We study the reality given in mind, not a reality mind can perfectly measure.

The difference between Brown and colleague’s is that he approached it from a Process and Morphogenetic point of view. “Consciousness is always preceded by, and enfolds, an unconscious transition, so that an attenuated mental state could exist without realizing consciousness. For most psychologists it is the other way around, i.e. experience first passes through consciousness in order to be revived in the unconscious”. Let us look more closely at this Inside World:

World Outside – World Inside

Here he comes up with a good example: “Consider brain and perception like a celluloid film and moving picture. The celluloid is felt to be more real than the movie because it does not represent something other than what it is, whereas events in the film have no actual correlates. We might think a documentary is more real than an ordinary film, but we are still looking at images, not “real” objects. Since all films (and objects) are images, it is not the imaginary or perceptual quality that counts for the unreality. There is a presumption that some mental objects – ideas more than dreams, words more than ideas, objects more than words – are more real than others. Independent of whether or not the self is illusory. We refer to the mental objects as a footprint. We are in error, we should say, it has the shape of a footprint”.

“To exist and to be real are different states of affairs.  When psychic experience does not conform to the physical world, survival is in danger”. 

In this dialogue between Inside and Outside world, Brown states that a Self develops: “The sense of causal power in the infant who reaches for a rubber ball is perhaps no more than the behaviour of a cat that reaches for a rolling ball of wool. Further individuation of self and object leads to greater autonomy and a feeling of a self opposed to inner and outer contents.”

When we look at the psychological “development” that Brown mentions, there are of course different points of view. As Brown describes a development from Core to Outside world, and states that it is unidirectional, Indian Philosophy (i.e. Swami Rama(4)) describes a movement where it is a circle coming back: from core to consciousness and back to the core. Through Self-Reflection, dream analysis we get to know our Core. In India the path also entails that one can stay in this state, and not in an outside state/ phase.

So to follow this path back inwards we start with perception, through consciousness, Ego, Dream state towards Self and finally Non Self. Again this is another point of view than Brown while he states that the movement is unidirectional (from Core towards Consciousness) and ends in the Non-Self (Outside World). 

Dream

So the dream state, like in Psychoanalysis is a chance to see the unconscious processes. It is a natural state. But:“A delusion is intermediate between the pathological symptom with its delimited interpretation and the dream as a natural phenomenon relating to one’s life. The thin line that separates the passive intention of dream from the active volition of agency is a point in the passage of internal to external mind”. This means that it is the shaping of the outside world that determines if we experience a dream state or a delusion. In the dream there is no outside perception and we experience the dream in an awake state. In a delusion there is outside perception but we experience it in a dream state.

Brown continues: “Given the relation between inner speech, hallucination and perception, the relative depth of realization in perception and action, or the dominant segment of the actualization, determines whether a verbal image is apprehended as voluntary, passive (hallucination), or mind-independent (perception)”. 

The next stage which we encounter on our path inside, is the ego.

Ego: I and me

“The distinction is embodied in the unconscious and timeless self of the “me”, and the conditional or temporal self of the “I”, one constant and authentic, another transient and adaptive. In the child the “me” precedes the ‘I’. The agent – the “I“ – is inferred from the activity of thinking. The state is not divisible into a self, an object and a direction. Without the object, there is no self. The “I” is always “I am (think, want, etc.)”. The ‘’I’’ does not exist without a verb or relation.” 

Here it is a matter of how we define the “I” and the “me”. Like the Ipad, or Iphone, one can also take the I as the Core and the “me” as the outward development. Interesting here is that in the Indian tradition of Vedanta the whole meditation is on “Who am I” (Nisargadata Maharash(5)). Also Eckhart Tolle (6) describes, while in deep depression, the realisation that I want to kill myself, made him realise the “I” is different from the “myself”. Is it Ego and Self? Again there are many viewpoints possible on this.

Fact remains that more and more research shows that most of our behaviour is an Inside Out development. Core drives and experiences determine our perception. For instance, when holding a heavy object we experience a conversation as heavier, than when holding a light object.  

So: “A person can either mistakenly believe his act is intentional, or unknowingly act intentionally”.

Next phase on our way to the Core is the Self:

The Self

“The relation of the self to inner objects is introspection or reflection. The relation of the self to outer objects is exteroception or perception. In perceiving an object, the self, indeed the entire perception, is generated with the object”. 

Again we encounter here the matter of defining Self. “There are two categories of the self, a deep core or unconscious self aligned with values, implicit beliefs and character, and a liminal, conscious or empirical self that adapts to momentary needs and future expectations.

Core self and its drive-representations, which are then derived to an empirical self and its conceptual feelings, then to images, and to objects and external space”. 

Also there is the fact of Inner Speech. “In passing to a perceptual development, inner speech dissociates from the self of agency, and actualizes in voices distinct from the patient”. 

Psychology: Drives

When we go deeper down into ourselves we arrive at, what Brown calls the Core Self. This is where the basic drives are. In the work of Stephen Porges (7) we come across the same Phylontogeny, but then for the Autonomic Nervous System. We start with Visceral sensations, which correspond with the Enteric Nervous System (Reptilian, Freeze), than up through the Sympathetic Nervous System (Mammalian, Fight/ Flight) up to the Parasympathetic Nervous System (Communication). Here we see again a “rising up” of information from deeper levels towards the surface. Again from a Process Theory point of view, the same Phylontogeny. This information reaches the Brain Stem, where for Brown his Microgenesis starts. So we could assume that it is the interoceptive experience from the body, and its memories, where the Core feelings arrive from. 

Brown:” The initial phases of the mental state arise out of an instinctual core – the inherited repertoire of drive categories - then pass through a phase of affective and experiential memories that shape conceptual feeling in the direction of perception. Instead of perception laying down memory, memory lays down perception. The transition from self to world is from contents that are memory-like to those that are perception-like, from the personal past to the impersonal present. A memory is an incomplete perception, and a perception is a memory specified to an object”. 

Also: “We come to understand that feeling is not applied to objects but develops into them.  Generally Feeling is more intense at early phases of drive and desire, less so at distal ones of object and word-production. Moreover, feeling is felt as a pressure behind or directed to the object, not in it”.

Psychology: Non-Self

At the point where we go even further down into our Mind, we come to a point where Indian Philosophy places the Non-Self. Brown names the Non-Self the experience outside oneself “The end-point of the outward-going development is non-self (other, object)”. When we get to this core, according to Indian Philosophy, this is where our convictions, and even deeper our universal feeling of connectedness, bliss, the feeling of divinity is located. Brown states:”This is where Conviction (non-self) replaces the need for choice and decision. It is closer to drive, desire and the core self, often bound up with the self-concept. The continuance of the core due to the overlap of initial phases explains the “persistence”, i.e. recurrence, of implicit beliefs and values, or character, while the rapid vanishing at the perceptual surface “clears the slate” for the next perception”.

The Trilogy that is common in Osteopathic Philosophy is that of Body – Mind – Spirit. So Spirit is the deepest level in ourselves, according to Indian and Osteopathic Philosophy. Brown: “Soul and other forms of spirit are not of mind or matter. They inhabit a nether world between the cognitive and the physical. The common belief in spirits indicates that it is not necessary to have a body (or any substrate) to infer a mind”. 

But we can see that there is not much difference in Brown’s point of view and these philosophies. “To be selfless is not to be without a self, but to revive the other in the self before it individuates. 

When such relatedness occurs with full absorption and abolition of self and a disappearance of the self, is a kind of death from which a return to life and consciousness is possible. 

To be worthy is to be selfless. Self-denial is a mode of active passivity that is the primary condition of submission. In Buddhism, as in most religions, self-denial is central. It is the timelessness of the category that inspires the belief that individuals persist after death as souls, or as ideas in god’s mind”.  

Quantum Physics

When we arrive at this core level within ourselves, the question arises if this is also on a deeper physical level. Fantappie (8)states that if we go beyond 200 Angstrom, we arrive at the Quantum level in ourselves. At this level Newtonian laws do not apply and Quantum Laws come into play. Also at this level Time is not the lineair unidirectional movement we are so familiar with.

Brown:“In organic systems the becoming of the organism is unidirectional. In basic or elementary physical entities the becoming may be reversible or isotropic. The becoming or directionality of the mental state is fundamental to its existence, its being”. 

Also on Quantum Physics and Time: “In my view, subjective time is neither particle, nor wave but in some sense both; wave-like in an actualization over the temporal extensibility of elementary physical entities or brain states, and particle-like in the modularity of the state once it actualizes”.

Time plays an important role in Microgenesis Theory, and Brown, like Bergson, studies Time from a phenomenological viewpoint. First of all there is the important fact that a becoming of consciousness takes place at a fast rate, so that we experience everything as a continuum. Brown uses the following example: “In a movie continuity requires a frequency of around 40 milliseconds per frame, which is close to the estimated duration of a mental state, thus the rate postulated for the replacement. This rate is likely governed by a pacemaker and is relatively constant. Think of the mental state as having a duration of about 50 to 100 milliseconds. The present does not have a fixed duration. James wrote of fuzzy boundaries. In meditation, the present may expand in states of confusion, it may contract”. 

Pacemakers have been identified in the brain, both in Brain Stem and in Hypothalamus, comparable to the AV and SA knot in the heart. It could be hypothesized that this pacemaker generates an electrical signal that travels through the body and returns to the Brain stem where the becoming of consciousness further advances. We have to keep in mind that information is not just transferred through electrical signals, bit also through electromagnetic fields, light, sound, etc. A new mental state thus comes about every 40-100 milliseconds.

“The acceleration and deceleration of events in pathological cases, as in the speed of a film projector, might reflect the frequency of replacement. Subjective time does not exist until the process is completed. The existence of a thing depends on the duration over which it actualizes. A tree that exists for a millisecond is not perceived at all. Sustained recurrence creates objects, novelty in the recurrence creates events. All objects are events in which change (recurrence) is more or less imperceptible”. 

“The future is not what the present moves into, it is another present that the past deposits”.

Also the origin of Time comes from symmetry. Feynman (9) also elaborates on symmetry being the origin and dissymmetry the end point. “If the Inception of the mental is simultaneous, and temporal order occurs at the conscious endpoint, simultaneity and seriality refer to earlier and later in a single epoch. Less coherent music, the less a sequence can be anticipated, the less revival is facilitated”.

Teleo Dynamics

Terence Deacon (10) describes three levels, starting with Physics to Morphodynamics and ending with Teleodynamics. This means that there is a direction giver. It is hypothesized by several authors (Lazlo(11), Haisch(12), Sheldrake(13), Fantappie(8)) that  on a Quantum level time is reversible and thus can inform the past. Brown states: “In a process approach, objects are states of flux that only appear to be solids. The flux is not random or chaotic but has a direction. In the mind, possibility is the ground of freedom and fact is the final stage of belief. In mind, the progression is from potential to actual, in the world, from cause to effect. A transition from the voluntary to the involuntary in the passage outward to objects”. 

To conclude: “That a model of the real should grow out of fantasy, that objects are recognized before they are consciously perceived, that the world is an extension of the mind, that succession in time is generated out of simultaneity”. 

In this book we see that Brown has done an excellent job on bringing the Outside World and the Inside World together. The dichotomy of Descartes is slowly fading away, and we are becoming more and more a unity, and can experience ourselves as a whole. Also the difference between our perception of the other and ourselves can significantly change. In this sense we can see the world more and more as ourselves.

References

1. Michael Corner, Sleep Evolution, 2011, 
2. Jean Jacques Kupiec, The origin of Individuals, World Scientific, New Jersey, 2009
3. Lev Beloussov, The dynamic architecture of a developing organism, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1998
4. Swami Rama, Science of breath, Himalayan Institute, Pennsylvania, 1979
5. Nisargadata Maharesh, Who am I, The Acorn Press, 1973
6. Eckhart Tolle, De nieuwe aarde, Ankh Hermes, 2005
7. Stephen Porges, The Polyvagal perspective, Biological Psychology, 2006 
8. Ulisse Di Corpo, Syntropy (Luigi Fantappie), 1996
9. Lawrence Krauss, Quantum man, Richard Feynmann’s life in science, Kindle, 2011
10. Terence Deacon, The Remergence of Emergence, Chapter 9,
11. Ervin Lazlo, Science and the akashic field, Inner Traditions, Vermont, 2004
12. Bernard Haisch, The God Theory, Weiser Books, San Fransisco, 2006
13. Rupert Sheldrake, The presence of the past, Park Street Press, Vermont, 1988

2004 Thesis Osteopathy Vagus

Abstract

The question of this experiment is whether a Cranial Base Release has any influence on
distress, heart frequency or bloodpressure. Therefore my base Hypothesis is that a Cranial
Base Release has no influence on the heart frequency, the bloodpressure or the amount of
distress that a person perceives. My end hypothesis is that the Cranial Base Release has an
influence on the heart frequency, the bloodpressure and amount of distress that a person

perceives.

In chapter 1. I will start by explaining what stress is and the effect it has on the body. In stress
there is a change in homeostasis. The system which controls the homeostasis is the
Autonomic Nervous System. I will then explain how the autonomic nervous system is built
up. Finally it will become clear that the relationship between distress and the OAA is through
the Vagus nerve. I will clarify the structure of the N.Vagus and its functions. This will be build
up from its origin in the brainstem through to the neck, thorax and abdomen. The tonus of the
vagus is a tool which is used to describe the amount of stress somebody is under, I will
describe why a checklist and blood pressure monitor have been used to measure the amount
of distress/ the vagus tonus.

In chapter 2 the technique which was used will be explained and why this technique is used
on the OAA complex to influence the amount of distress.Furthermore the explanation of the
methodology which is used: 40 people were divided into two groups through both there
dysfunction and their distress score. The group with the distress score higher than 10 and the
neck dysfunctions were put in the experimental group. The people with a distress score lower
than 10 and no neck dysfunctions were put in the control group. Both groups were during the
first treatment given the opportunity to climatize and after 5 minutes on the treating table their
blood pressure and heart frequency were measured. After that they were treated during 15
minutes with a Cranial Base Release Technique. After this treatment their blood pressure and
heart frecquency were again measured.
The second treatment was after 2 weeks and followed the same procedure except that people
filled in their form after the treatment instead of before as in the first treatment.

Chapter 3 will be a overview of the data and the statistical procedure that was used to evaluate
the experiment.
In chapter 4 it will become clear that there is an significant effect on the amount of distress
that a person perceives, through the treatment of the OAA complex after 2 weeks. There is no
significant effect on the blood pressure or the heart frequency.

My conclusion is that during the treatment there is a lowering in heart frequency, and this
indicates that there is a lowering of the vagal tone. But this effect is lost after the treatment.
Therefore this technique is good to get a patient in a lower orthosympatic tone, so that other
techniques might attain more effect. On the long term there is an effect on the distress through
this technique.

Download here

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B14-reZRb44GM3NrTzRUTVAzdFE

Sensomotor development, the first six years.

1. Growth Movements precedes Motor Development.

There are two new important insights in Sensomotor development.

The first is that development also has an Outside In direction and not just Inside-Out i.e. from Central Nervous System (CNS) towards the outside world. For us Osteopaths this implies that the Foetal surroundings are very important for later development. So for the pregnant mom, her well being, motor and sensory behaviour is of the utmost importance for the development of the child.
Within Morphodynamics the principles of Neoteny and Parcellation sculpt the development of tissue. These principles also govern the Sensor motor development: the environment sculpts the patterns, first of growth and later of movement.

The second insight is when development is always in relation to its environment, the timing of development in relation to its surroundings is important. This is why motor development coincides with hormonal development or sensory development, but also with the development of other organs. So the timeline of development of the sensory motor system but also of its surroundings is important. Here lies for us Osteopaths a new line of research. Van den Heede has already pointed out the importance of the timeline in development between Liver - Heart - Brain.

1.a. Growth and parcellation.
To understand the first insight on Outside In development, we have to begin with how do motor patterns develop. It is now possible to prove that all patterns of behaviour have embryonic developmental processes as their precursors. What we call instincts are the direct consequences of prenatal developmental events, which are really the prenatal performances of the embryo (Blechschmidt). This growth movement is the intrinsic force of life (see 1).
On the other hand we have the parcellating effect of the environment, In this case the Uterus and the Mother (see 2).

1.a.1. Growth as an intrinsic force and precursor to motor behaviour.

In fetal development, the cephalocaudal growth pattern determines the overall proportions of the head, torso, and limbs, while the limbs’ internal proportions are characterized primarily by the opposite, distoproximal pattern. Thus we see that two opposing growth tendencies are active in the developing human body. Growth ceases earlier in the legs than in the arms and later still in the torso, as many researchers confirm. (Verhulst)
This cephalocaudal growth can also be seen in the development of the Reflexes.

1.a.2. Embryonic growth directions.
Embryonic tissue development follows the information transmitted by the oscillation (Korpiun):
The first phase of an inward, centripetal motion, or inward oscillation, occurs when egg and sperm cells come together in the first week of the ovum’s development. The ovum does not grow in size as a morula and blastocyst, instead dividing itself inward in a downswing phase.
The first phase of an outward, centrifugal motion, or outward oscillation, occurs during implantation into the uterine wall and formation of the embryonic disk’s trilaminar form, with the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm; this is an upswing phase.
The second phase of an inward, centripetal motion, or inward oscillation, occurs at the beginning of the third week. This is the phase in which the heart and the head find their place through inward curling, The lower end folds inward to form the umbilical cord, a downswing phase.
The second phase of an outward motion begins centrifugally in the seventh week, with the body moving from the embryonic phase to the fetal period. The extremities begin to sprout from the body, and all main organs of the body are present in the embryo. This continues in gradual motions until birth, an upswing phase. This process is the reversal of process 1 and concludes development from conception to entry into the physical world on earth.

Besides the Outward and Inward directions of growth, there is also a left right development (as well as front to back).

Also what appears to be a symmetrical growth of the cerebral hemispheres is really an oscillating process between the right and left sides of the head. This alternating and reciprocal growth process ushers in the subsequent reciprocal transmission of nerve impulses from one hemisphere to the other.
As an example, we recall the analysis of the child’s suckling reflex let us remind ourselves that if the lips of the young embryo had never rolled in as part of an early growth movement, then the newborn child would never be able to suckle instinctively.
Indeed, preceding growth movements are found for all so-called instinctive reflexes. (Blechschmidt)

1.b. Evironmental factors in Motor development.
The most important elements of the intrauterine environment consist of the wall of the uterus, the extra-embryonic membranes (amnion and chorion) that envelop the fetus, and amniotic fluid. The myometrium of the uterus is composed of smooth muscle that provides an elastic restraint around the fetus that can suppress some aspects of motor activity while facilitating other forms of coordinated movement.
The environment contributes to the regulation of behavior in two principal ways:
it is a source of sensory stimuli, some of which can elicit specific behavioral responses
it provides a physical context in which behavior occurs."
The view emerging from this and related studies of other patterns of fetal behavior is that organized patterns of behavior are assembled from simple precursors, and that the rules governing this assembly may be quite different than the basic developmental processes that give rise to the elements themselves." (Smotherman, 1996)

Concluding (Verhulst):
The growth of the body is an extremely complicated phenomenon:
The growth patterns of different parts of the body are interdependent.
External circumstances play a role; human beings, for instance, grow faster in summer than in winter. Widen our view to not just the motor behaviour of the foetus/ child, but also what does the environment (mother, etc.) do at different points in time.

Next we will look at the development of movement patterns that follow the growth movements.


2. General movements, the interlude between growth movements and reflexes.

Prechtl, 1982
(1) Just discernible movements
Startle
General movements
This category is applicable if the whole body is moved but no distinctive patterning or sequencing of the body parts can be recognized. When they first appear at 8 and 9 weeks, they are slow and of limited amplitude. At 10-12 weeks general movements become forceful. Movements of the limbs, trunk and head are rapid but smooth in appearance. The movements are of large amplitude and therefore frequently cause a shift in fetal position during this age period. After 12 weeks general movements become more variable in speed and amplitude. They may last from about 1 to 4 min hut wax and wane during this period. However variable these movements are, they are always graceful in character.

After the General Movements, the next steps are more isolated movements of different body parts, which also take place in a Cephalocaudal direction.

(4) Hiccup
(5) Breathing
(6/7) Isolated arm or leg movement
(8) Isolated retroflexion of the head
(9) Isolated rotation of the head
(10) Isolated anteflexion of the head
(11) Jaw movements
(12) Sucking and swallowing
(13) Hand-face-contact
(14) Stretch
(15) Yawn
(16) Rotation of the fetus

Fetal motility in its various components develops early a temporal patterning. The distribution and duration of general movements, for example, changes with age. At 8 weeks, these movements are scattered irregularly over the record, whereas they occur grouped in bursts of several minutes during the following weeks. The occurrence of such bursts becomes obscured after 14 weeks and is replaced by much longer epochs of fluctuating activity.
After Growth and later General movements come the reflexes which develop from Intruterine, towards Primitive than Transitional and concluding with Postural reflexes.

3. Reflex development

3.a. Davies.
Inhibition of over activity is one of the most important functions of the Central Nervous System. Therefore there are a large number of inhibiting tracts in comparison to excitating, both in Brain Stem and Spinal Cord.
The ability to selectively activate normal musculature is a function of motor control on a cortical level, on instigation of proprioceptieve feedback.
Children are born with a great deal of anarchy and overactivity in their motor control. As they get older, this disappears.
Reflex patterns are the foundation of movement. By repeating these reflex patterns during childhood, the child learns how to move. Movement only becomes purposeful when the child is able to excite the right movement patterns and at the same time the unwanted components in these reflex patterns are being inhibited.
At birth the body is unhibitaly controled by the lower centra of the CNS, which mostly generate unvoluntary reflex movements and postures.

3.b. Feldenkrais
The unconditioned reflexes are innate and characteristic of a whole class of animals; they are transmitted by heredity and are independent of the experience of the individual animal. The conditioned reflexes are not inherited and depend on the surrounding conditions of each individual. The unborn unconditioned reflex does not require the presence of the cortex. It is present in the decerebrated animal.

We see, therefore, that a sensory experience of teleceptor origin is, in fact, always a sensory-motor-vegetative disturbance. The righting function is purely reflective. Thus, in the higher animals there is a voluntary element involved in attitude and posture. The higher corticaI centres have overriding control over other centres. Sherrington has pointed out the importance of the fact that most of the righting functions are located in the brain stem, and are therefore outside voluntary control. The optic righting reflexes in the higher animals give the animal greater freedom in movement, corresponding to the greater variety of activity. With the optical centres taking over, the cortex is given control over the lower centres, and the reference posture encountered before becomes less definite.

Reflex development is a Phylontogenetic process in which reflexes are build on each other, starting with brain stem and developing towards cerebellum. If one reflex remains strong, the foundation is laid for weaker development of consequent reflexes. (Goddard Blythe)

4. The timeline of development
Growth in humans occurs chiefly during the first three seven-year periods of life (Verhulst):
The first seven-year period is characterized by rapid growth of the nervous system. Around age seven, the nervous system is 90 percent complete, and the brain (according to some scientists) has already achieved its final size
The second seven-year period is characterized by the greatest development of the lymphatic system. Its organs achieve extraordinary size around age ten, when they are much larger than they are in adults.
The third seven-year period is characterized by the explosive development of the reproductive organs. It remains a mystery why the growth of the larynx also accelerates during puberty, especially in boys, whose vocal cords can double in length within a year, causing their voices to “break.” The growth of the bridge of the nose is also pronounced during this period.

4.1. Development of the senses as pre condition for motor development

Before motor development, the senses have to develop first. When our eyes develop, the ability to grasp can develop, the same goes for hearing and turning of the head towards the sound, etc.

4.2. The timing of development as it coincides with organ and senses development

Mr. Gautier was an endocrinologist who had a slow Thyroid and a slow motor development. He was always convinced that these two were related. He spent his professional life trying to prove the relationship between the two and founded the system Equillos.
He shows that each developmental stage is preceded by a hormonal change.

5. Conclusion.
The implications for us Osteopaths is to better understand developmental problems. To not just look at the development of the nervous system as a separate system, but to see it in the context of intra-uterine life and developmental milestones in other organ systems. In this way the treatment strategy will also be different because it will include the assessment and treatment of other systems.

References:

van den Heede P., The Brain, 2009, course given at Panta Rhei, Zeeland NL

Blechschmidt E., The Ontogenetic basis of Human anatomy, 2004, North Atlantic Books, Berkely, California

Verhulst J., Developmental Dynamics, 2003, Adonis Science Books, Ghent, NY

Korpiun O., Cranio Sacral SELF waves. 2011, North Atlantic Books, Berkely, California

Smotherman W., The development of behaviour before birth, Developmental Psychology, 1996, Vol 32, No 3, 425-434

Prechtl H, The emergence of fetal behaviour, Early Human Development 7, 1982, 301-322

Davies P., Hemiplegie, 1989, Bohn Scheltema Holkema, Antwerpen

Feldenkrais M., Body and Mature Behaviour, 1949, Frog Books, Berkely, California USA

Goddard-Blythe S., What babies and children really need, 2008, Hawthorne press, Gloucestershire UK

Gautier J., www.endocrino-psychologie.org


Sander Kales, D.O.

Location:Amsterdam

OSD Kongres The Brain 17-11-12

The current situation in Osteopathic Medicine is that we study and treat tissue which we can touch and see (3D). The Cellular level, Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF), Electrical Fields and Time (4D) are not a part of Osteopathic Medicine.
In our daily work the client comes to us with a problem of his body and he/ she also brings his psyche with him. We are trained to diagnose the structural and functional problems of the body. The psychological side we tend to see as not our terrain. Following Damasio’s work we see that the emotional side of the psyche originates from the body. So to follow Still’s first principle: the bodily human is a functional unity, we have to aim to unite the emotional and psychological issues, with the body and to see its origin in the body. This is were the Electro Magnetic Fields come into play. These fields are an important way in which the body transfers its information to the brain for further processing.

The second principle of Osteopathic Medicine, as stated by A.T.Still, is Structure and Function are reciprocally influential. Sutherland and Still also stated that Function precedes Structure. Through the structure we can come to understand the function. Our palpation is the starting point. Function is Fluid movements, Elecricity, Electromagnetic Fields, etc. To learn these Functions we need to speak the languages of Physics, Biophysics, Quantum Mechanics, Biochemistry, etc. General Medicine has developed into a molecular science, while Osteopathic Medicine is still a science about the tissues. When we expand our knowledge to the domain of the molecules and cells, our palpation will become more refined and our diagnostics will improve.
We are used to looking for the Symptomatology (What do I have) and Causality (How did I get it) of a client. Our recognition of the Originality of the client (Why do I have this), depends on this knowledge about the function of cells, fields and time. This can be compared to the First principle of Still: the bodily human is a dynamical functional unity of body (symptom), mind (cause) and spirit (origin).

How do we approach this principle in 2012?? We can analyse this on different levels of physics: Tissue (Body), Electricity (Mind) and EMF, Light(Spirit). In Eastern Medicine the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual body are well known. Still spoke about Osteopathic Medicine as being about anatomy, anatomy, anatomy and physiology, physiology and physiology. This can be expanded towards the anatomy and physiology of the electrical, electromagnetic and light “bodies” or fields. When we apply this “field theory” to Osteopathic Medicine, this means that our examination and observations change.
When we incorporate the aspect of Time (the 4th dimension) in our diagnostics, through studying Morphodynamics and Embryology, we get an idea of the function and the underlying principles of life and health. By studying these domains, we can see the consistency in the change, we can derive the function out of the structure. In this way the Phylontogeny of the ANS, Sleep or Consciousness helps us understand the underlying principles of Life so we can get to the third principle of Still: “find the Health”. Is the self-healing principle on a informational/ epigenetic/ light level??

Now that we have a four dimensional picture on different planes of what we have under our hands we come to the next level:
What is Consciousness, Being Aware, Mindfull?? This is important in our work as Therapists. Also from Quantum Mechanics comes the “observer principle”. What we palpate and the Mental Images that come to us, are influenced by our own back ground: “Know thyself, before judging another”!! Is the origin of this sensation mine or the other?? This “Mindsight” process takes us into the depths of ourselves and the others. We have to live Osteopathy. It is not a 9 to 5 job, but a way of seeing the world around us and ourselves.

Sander Kales, D.O.

Location:Hamburg, Deutschland

OSD Kongres The Brain 16-11-12

Osteopathic Medicine, the brain and consciousness

In our daily work the client comes to us with a problem of his body and he/ she also brings his psyche with him. We are trained to diagnose the structural and functional problems of the body. The psychological side we tend to see as not our terrain. The current situation in Osteopathic Medicine is that we study and treat tissue which we can touch and see (3D). The Cellular level, Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF), Electrical Fields and Time (4D) are not a part of Osteopathic Medicine. If we want to treat the brain, we need to include these phenomena.

When we follow Still’s first principle: the bodily human is a functional unity, we have to aim to unite the emotional and psychological issues, with the body and to see its origin in the body. This is were the Electro Magnetic Fields come into play. These fields are an important way in which the body transfers its information to the brain for further processing.
Following Damasio’s and Brown’s work we see that the emotional side of the psyche, the proto-self originates from the body. The impulses from the viscera of our organs are transmitted towards the brainstem. The haemodynamics, aerodynamics and electrical/ electromagnetic dynamics are means to transmit information from the body towards the brainstem. From here the information is transmitted towards Limbic system en later the cortex. In the cortex the information is translated into images. This way the body is incorperated into the brain. Our subconscious is 90 % of the information we have, this resides mostly in the body. We are only conscious of a small part of the information that come to us. Our conscious processes a small amount of bits of info, while our subconscious processes millions of bits. According to Brown this microgenetic movement takes places every 20 msec. Also this movement recapitulates the Phylontogeny.

Now that we have a four dimensional picture on different planes of what we have under our hands we come to the next level:
What is Consciousness, Being Aware, Mindfull?? This is important in our work as Therapists.
Also from Quantum Mechanics comes the “observer principle”. What we palpate and the Mental Images that come to us, are influenced by our own back ground: “Know thyself, before judging another”!! Is the origin of this sensation mine or the other?? This “Mindsight” process takes us into the depths of ourselves and the others.

This makes it possible to follow Anthony Chilla’s motto: Once the hands are on the body, the body is in command. We need to trust our subconscious, our hands and the mental images that come to us.
We have to live Osteopathy. It is not a 9 to 5 job, but a way of seeing the world around us and ourselves.

Sander Kales, D.O.

Location:Hamburg, Deutschland

Psychoneurobiology

Currently in Medicine there is still a distinction between Body and Mind. In Osteopathic Medicine it was always the intention to unite the two. In order to do this Osteopatic Physicians have to study Psychology, Neurology and Physiology to see what the connections and correlations are between our palpation, the brainwaves, neurotransmittor excretions and mental patterns. Here we can bring Osteopathic Medicine into the realms of Behavioral Medicine.
To be continued
Sander Kales, D.O.

Location:Chemin du Puits d'Eima,Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne,Frankrijk