A New Theory of Macular Organization Based on Computer-Assisted 3-D Reconstruction, Monte Carlo Simulation and Symbolic Modeling of Vestibular Maculas

Transmission electron microscopy of serial sections coupled with computer generated imagery has demonstrated that mammalian vestibular maculas are three-dimensionally organized for weighted, parallel distributed processing of information. This result has now been interpreted to indicate that maculas consist of two basic kinds of circuits: highly channeled, and distributed modifying. The theory is new for the macula, but its basis can be traced to earlier ideas that there are "vertical" and "horizontal" (22), or "through" and "local" circuits in neural tissue (11, 12, 21). A corollary hypothesis, that there is constrained randomness in wiring (16, 17), is important to the further concept that it is the distributive circuit that introduces most modification during adaptation and contributes to memory and learning.