[Temporal code constants--a link between psychology and physiology in research of cognitive processes? Hypotheses and...

Temporal code invariants as possible links between psychological and physiological characteristics of cognition: a tentative time quantum approach. Relationships between alpha activity and short-term memory performance are discussed referring to an approach suggested by Lebedev and Lutzky (1973). These authors suggest a secondary relationship in considering processing as well as storing of information as a result of the superposition of oscillatory processes which differ from one another an elementary period (relative refractoriness) specific to individuals. Some specifications of scan rate and STM span suggested by the authors seem to be untenable for empirical and logical reasons. Alternative explanations are proposed referring to the time quantum model (TQM) by Geissler (1985, 1987, 1990, 1991). Straight forward expansions of this model lead to the hypothesis of an "alpha band" consisting of 9 discrete frequencies. Predictions on scanning rhythms can be derived from this via the assumption that these represent segmentations caused by pairwise resonance. A modification of the Lebedev-Lutzky assumption on spans is proposed assuming an optimum code for stored information.