Quantum Brain Activity

Your Brain lives in a Quantum “Cloud”

Physics World reports on a fascinating recent study published in Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal  that explores a mathematical overlap between classical models of brain activity and the formal structure of quantum mechanics. Conducted by theoretical physicist Partha Ghose and neuroscientist Dimitris Pinotsis, the study does not assert that the brain is a quantum system—but it does reveal that well-established neuronal equations can be recast in a form structurally identical to those governing quantum phenomena. Paired with recent studies on possible quantum behavior in neuronal microtubules the theory that sentience or consciousness is dependent on quantum mechanics is gradually gaining theoretical and experimental traction.

In the study, researchers examined how neurons behave when they are at low energy levels and not firing—a state characterized by background, seemingly random fluctuations in membrane electrical potential. Traditionally, this “neuronal noise” has been modeled as a form of Brownian motion, consistent with classical thermodynamic systems. However, Ghose and Pinotsis demonstrated that these same dynamics can be reformulated into a Schrödinger-like equation, suggesting that neuronal behavior may be describable, at least mathematically, using the formal apparatus of quantum mechanics.

Edward Nelson, in 1966, famously derived Schrödinger’s equation from classical stochastic processes to describe the behavior of atomic particles. But what’s novel here is applying that insight to single-neuron behavior using the FitzHugh-Nagumo model, a standard framework in neuroscience. The researchers even propose a new “neuronal constant,” functionally analogous to Planck’s constant, hinting at the emergence of a quantized model for neural processes.

The Source of Consciousness?

Nobel laureate Roger Penrose and others have long proposed that quantum processes may be foundational to consciousness. Penrose, working alongside Stuart Hameroff, famously developed the Orch-OR theory, which suggests that quantum entanglement and coherence in microtubules might underlie aspects of awareness. As Penrose put it:

“It’s not that consciousness is some sort of miraculous extra. It is part of the physical world, but one that our current physical theories are inadequate to fully describe.”

Skeptics—particularly in neuroscience and physics—have generally dismissed such ideas on the grounds of decoherence. Namely, quantum states are known to collapse rapidly in warm, wet, noisy environments like the brain. That is why quantum computers are cooled with liquid nitrogen and carefully isolated from external influences. Skeptics acknowledge the existence of the forces, but the assumption has been that any quantum behavior is minor, swamped by thermal noise and thus irrelevant to large biological systems.

This study does not directly challenge that assumption—but shows that subthreshold fluctuations in neurons can be described using quantum probability, and that these fluctuations can meaningfully contribute to neuron behavior. By deriving a Schrödinger-like form of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model (a canonical model for neuronal spiking), the researchers provide a concrete pathway by which quantum effects could, at least in principle, persist and operate at the scale of individual neurons. And by defining the functional interplay and introducing a neuronal analogue to Planck’s constant—they have created a theoretical stepping stone toward quantizing neuronal behavior.

Whether this leads to confirmation of quantum entanglement in the brain, or sheds new light on the effects of anesthetics (as the researchers suggest), the implications are significant. The mathematical consistency between models of classical neural noise and quantum dynamics invites deeper experimental inquiry—without overstepping into speculation.