Nonlocal neurology: Beyond localization to holonomy

SummaryThe concept of local pathology has long served neurology admirably. Relevant models include self-organizing nonlinear brain dynamics, global workspace and dynamic core theories. However such models are inconsistent with certain clinical phenomena found in Charles Bonnet syndrome, disjunctive agnosia and schizophrenia, where there is disunity of content within the unity of consciousness. This is contrasted with the split-brain case where there is disunity of content and disunity of consciousnesses. The development of quantum brain theory with it nonlocal mechanisms under the law of the whole (“holonomy”) offers new possibilities for explaining disintegration within unity. Dissipative quantum brain dynamics and its approach to the binding problem, memory and consciousness are presented. A nonlocal neurology armed with a holonomic understanding might see more deeply into what clinical neurology has always aspired to: the patient as a whole.