Raslan Circuit: von Economo neurons as biological dipole antenna elements in a proposed FI–ACC communication pathway for multimodal integration and conscious access

Abstract

Consciousness remains incompletely explained at the anatomical, biophysical, and functional levels. Although existing theories characterize key functional correlates of conscious experience—including global broadcasting, information integration, attentional selection, working-memory-based awareness, and electromagnetic field dynamics—none has yet identified a specific cellular mechanism embedded within a defined long-range cortical pathway that could support the transmission of integrated sensory, interoceptive, emotional, and cognitive information toward anterior access and control systems. Here, the “Raslan Circuit” is defined as a candidate solution centered on the fronto-insular cortex (FI), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and their von Economo neurons (VENs). Anatomically, VENs form a selectively localized population in FI and ACC, two regions already implicated in salience processing, interoception, emotional evaluation, and conscious awareness. Biophysically, within the Raslan Circuit hypothesis, VENs are proposed to act not merely as histological markers of higher cognition but as elongated, polarity-organizing neuronal elements with biological dipole antenna properties, supporting field-sensitive coupling and potentially resonance-based communication between FI and ACC. Functionally, FI is proposed to act as a deep multimodal collecting and organizing station, while ACC serves as a receiving and redistributive hub that links the transmitted signal to working memory, awareness, emotional valuation, and action selection. Together, this FI–ACC–VEN axis is advanced as a previously unrecognized communication infrastructure that could complement—rather than replace—Global Workspace Theory, Integrated Information Theory, embedded-processes and awareness-buffer models of working memory, salience-network accounts, and electromagnetic field theories of consciousness. The dimensional properties of VENs suggest a theoretically motivated, though speculative, prediction of resonance in the terahertz range, providing a falsifiable spectral hypothesis. More generally, the Raslan Circuit is grounded in four interlocking components: an anatomical foundation in VEN-rich FI and ACC, a biophysical rationale based on field-sensitive coupling, an explicit integration with existing functional theories of consciousness, and a set of testable predictions spanning connectivity, cellular and field measurements, clinical syndromes, and computational modeling.