The Brain Binds Entities and Events by Multiregional Activation from Convergence Zones

Abstract

The experience of reality, in both perception and recall, is spatially and temporally coherent and “in-register.” Features are bound in entities, and entities are bound in events. The properties of these entities and events, however, are represented in many different regions of the brain that are widely separated. The degree of neural parcellation is even greater when we consider that the perception of most entities and events also requires a motor interaction on the part of the perceiver (such as eye movements and hand movements) and often includes a recordable modification of the perceiver's somatic state. The question of how the brain achieves integration starting with the bits and pieces it has to work with, is the binding problem. Here we propose a new solution for this problem, at the level of neural systems that integrate functional regions of the telencephalon.