Response Selectivity , Neuron Doctrine , and Mach ' s Principle in Perception

I discuss the principle that bridges neural firing and perception. I start from the assumption that in order to understand perception, the state of neural firing in the brain is necessary and sufficient (the neuron doctrine in perception). I argue that the concept of response selectivity, currently the de facto central dogma in explaining the relation between neural firing and the brain, is incompatible with the neuron doctrine. I suggest that we start instead from Mach's principle as applied to the neural correlates of perception. I propose to define a percept as an interactionconnected firings of neurons, not as a single (or an ensemble of) neuron(s) which selectively respond(s) to a particular set of stimulus, as is assumed under the paradigm of response selectivity. This definition of percept by necessity leads to an interesting argument about the neural basis of psychological time, namely the principle of interaction simultaneity. Finally, I discuss the relevance of the twistor formalism to the foundations of neuropsychology.