Steady State Nature of Evolution, Learning, etc.
253
We may redefine, then, the unity of sensorimotor performance within
an organismic context: the subjective (sensory) and objective (peripheral
motor) facets of our nature manifest themselves in our experiencing the
Universe in sensations and in our displaying the ability to change that
Universe through sensorimotor integration. It is the Yogi and Faust the
man of contemplation and the man of action -who symbolize the artificial dualism. This dualism is most distinct in man, and it is based on this
dualism that we can distinguish sensory to motor ratios within integrated
sensorimotor operations.
In the light of the foregoing, matching response within our model of
a non-linear transfer function (Figure 3) assumes a dual character. On the
one hand it stands for the experience of meaning during states of equanimity,
excitation and tranquilization, on the other hand, it also denotes a specific
sensory to motor ratio. High or low sensory to motor ratios within a
sensorimotor performance - behavioral state - imply, in extreme cases,
either a hallucinatory state or a running race, to give examples. There is,
of course, an infinite variety of behavioral states between these two extremes. Within this context and in discarding the Cartesian 4 split of universe
into self awareness and an outside world, we postulate that sensations,
eidetic imagery and entoptic phenomena in dreams and hallucinations are
the result of inhibition of the motor component within the steady state of
sensorimotor performance. Therefore, we redefine Hallucinations as intense!J
active sensations with blocked gross motor manifestations 5 ; including the mainly
visual alcoholic hallucinosis and the mainly auditory and tactile hallucinations of schizophrenics especially those of the excited, hallucinating catatonics.
Another excited state most closely resembling the psychoanaleptic
drug-induced hallucinations is the cyclically recurring REM or D-state of
dreaming during sleep [3, 4, 7]. There is no parallel increase in gross motor
activity during the excitatory drug-produced sleepless dream state. Similarly, the REM dream state represents an organismic condition comparable
in intensity and variability of internal events only to the most aroused wakefulness, with unit activity in the visual cortex greater than during most
waking situations [6], but distinguished from waking by differences in the
functional organizations of nervous activity and massive, though incom4 For the Cartesian definition of hallucinations see DESCARTES' "Dioptrik" [27].
5 Hallucination, as an adaptive event, is comparable to another adaptive process. KOHLER'S [25] subjects when wearing strongly distorting lenses soon see
"correctly" even in a new environment and thus experience what could be called
a re-adaptive hallucination with no corresponding "object out there". We suggest
that the difference between no object at all "out there" and no corresponding
object "out there" may be indicative of the amount of gross motor performance
associated with the sensation. As a matter of fact, the amount of gross motor performance may be a measure of "reality".
253
We may redefine, then, the unity of sensorimotor performance within
an organismic context: the subjective (sensory) and objective (peripheral
motor) facets of our nature manifest themselves in our experiencing the
Universe in sensations and in our displaying the ability to change that
Universe through sensorimotor integration. It is the Yogi and Faust the
man of contemplation and the man of action -who symbolize the artificial dualism. This dualism is most distinct in man, and it is based on this
dualism that we can distinguish sensory to motor ratios within integrated
sensorimotor operations.
In the light of the foregoing, matching response within our model of
a non-linear transfer function (Figure 3) assumes a dual character. On the
one hand it stands for the experience of meaning during states of equanimity,
excitation and tranquilization, on the other hand, it also denotes a specific
sensory to motor ratio. High or low sensory to motor ratios within a
sensorimotor performance - behavioral state - imply, in extreme cases,
either a hallucinatory state or a running race, to give examples. There is,
of course, an infinite variety of behavioral states between these two extremes. Within this context and in discarding the Cartesian 4 split of universe
into self awareness and an outside world, we postulate that sensations,
eidetic imagery and entoptic phenomena in dreams and hallucinations are
the result of inhibition of the motor component within the steady state of
sensorimotor performance. Therefore, we redefine Hallucinations as intense!J
active sensations with blocked gross motor manifestations 5 ; including the mainly
visual alcoholic hallucinosis and the mainly auditory and tactile hallucinations of schizophrenics especially those of the excited, hallucinating catatonics.
Another excited state most closely resembling the psychoanaleptic
drug-induced hallucinations is the cyclically recurring REM or D-state of
dreaming during sleep [3, 4, 7]. There is no parallel increase in gross motor
activity during the excitatory drug-produced sleepless dream state. Similarly, the REM dream state represents an organismic condition comparable
in intensity and variability of internal events only to the most aroused wakefulness, with unit activity in the visual cortex greater than during most
waking situations [6], but distinguished from waking by differences in the
functional organizations of nervous activity and massive, though incom4 For the Cartesian definition of hallucinations see DESCARTES' "Dioptrik" [27].
5 Hallucination, as an adaptive event, is comparable to another adaptive process. KOHLER'S [25] subjects when wearing strongly distorting lenses soon see
"correctly" even in a new environment and thus experience what could be called
a re-adaptive hallucination with no corresponding "object out there". We suggest
that the difference between no object at all "out there" and no corresponding
object "out there" may be indicative of the amount of gross motor performance
associated with the sensation. As a matter of fact, the amount of gross motor performance may be a measure of "reality".