Sequences of unique assemblies (Figure 1A) evolve in both neuronal space and in time (Rabinovich et al., 2008a,b). My second hypothesis is that, analogous to words and sentences in language, neuronal assemblies are organized by syntactical rules that define their first order and higher order relationships. Chunking information into smaller packages by syntactical rules, known to both sender and receiver, makes communication more straightforward than interpreting long uninterrupted messages (Figure 1B; Wickelgren, 1999). Furthermore, without syntactical rules that can silence assembly activity, an input would generate a perpetual reverberation of excitatory activity (Figure 1A; Lorente de Nó, 1938), potentially involving the entire brain.
