Exploring hormone communication and perception of emotion

Abstract

Are the biological mechanisms that facilitate perception of external photon stimuli using the sense of sight also responsible for the perception of internal hormone stimuli using the instinctive sense of emotion? Different regions of the body influence one another by communicating on the molecular scale with small electrical ions as well as larger chemical macromolecules such as hormones. For example, the detection of a predator causes hormones to be produced throughout the body, leading to a rapid physical response. To model such a system, we divide biological phenomena into two stages: sensing and communication, where each stage uses electrical ions and various molecules as signals. Designing a biomimetic computer system that can perform such a task is currently a challenge due to the large size of biological macromolecules and the small size of digital electronic components that are suited for electrons. We derive a general molecular communication theory to describe the interaction of molecules on different time and space scales with a thermodynamic model of hormone equilibration based on the Minimization of Helmholtz Free Energy (MFE). Our work paves the way for future cutting-edge AI systems to utilize heterogenous units of information and as a result, more accurately resembles the style of computation performed by biological systems.