SIGNAL CHEMICAL COMMUNICATION: FROM ANT PHEROMONE TO HUMAN WORD

Modern neuroscience has accumulated a detailed description of the macroscopic organization of the brain; however, the network level explains the localization of processes but not their essence. This paper proposes a shift in the level of explanation from anatomical and physiological to molecular-chemical. A cellular-molecular mechanism of meaning transmission is presented, demonstrating a universal principle of communication systems from chemical signaling in insects to verbal communication in humans. It is shown that both processes are based on the activation of chemical ensembles of synaptic connections, encoded via long-term potentiation (LTP) on the molecular substrate of synapses. The difference reduces to the mode of signal delivery: in ants, transmission occurs directly through pheromone molecules; in humans, through the conversion of a chemical state into a multimodal pattern and back-conversion on the receiving side. The anatomical substrate of engrams, molecular cascades of LTP, mechanisms of neuromodulation, and principles of chemical ensemble formation are described. It is concluded that the unification of molecular biology and phenomenology is necessary to address key questions about the nature of consciousness.