A model for the detection of weak ELF electric and magnetic fields

Abstract

A model for the detection of weak electric and magnetic fields is developed by analogy to a phased array antenna and receiver. Pyramidal cells from the cortex of the brain are shown to have elements which can be modeled as an antenna, a mixer amplifier, and a neural network narrow band filter with summing junctions output which could, in turn, modulate the firing rate of a pacemaker cell or ongoing brain oscillations. The signal-to-noise ratio is shown to increase for signals which are coherent in time and space with the square root of the number of elements involved. Additionally, the signal-to-noise ratio may be enhanced by increasing the power spectral density of the ongoing chaotic oscillation at the applied signal frequency.