---
slug: school-holonomic-brain-theory-holographic-model-bohm-pribram
title: Holonomic Brain Theory (Bohm-Pribram): Holographic Storage and the Implicate Order
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/school-holonomic-brain-theory-holographic-model-bohm-pribram
---

## What the subject saw and its core results

Karl Pribram observed that memory survives large brain lesions. No single spot holds a full memory. Small pieces of tissue still retrieve broad patterns. This led to the holonomic model. The brain stores information as interference patterns in dendritic webs. These patterns form through wave oscillations. A Fourier transform converts between frequency and space-time domains. Each sufficient fragment contains the whole.

David Bohm supplied the larger frame. Reality unfolds from an implicate order. The explicate order we see is a projection. The brain operates inside this enfolded structure. Holomovement cycles information-energy between orders.

Core result: memory and perception arise from distributed wave processes. These processes match holographic mathematics. They produce non-local storage and associative recall.

## Primary works and passages

Pribram, K.H. (1991). Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. The book details dendritic field potentials and Fourier encoding of visual and tactile input.

Pribram, K.H. (1971). Languages of the Brain. Prentice-Hall. Early formulation links lesion data to distributed processing.

Bohm, D. (1980). Wholeness and the Implicate Order. Routledge. Chapter 6-7 define the implicate order and holomovement as the ground of matter and mind.

Pribram explicitly credits Bohm: the hologram serves as metaphor because it stores information in interference patterns that reconstruct from any adequate part.

DeValois and DeValois data on visual cortex cells performing spatial frequency analysis supplied empirical support for the Fourier step.

## Convergence patterns the work touches

Wave interference produces structure from flow. Distributed storage creates memory without fixed location. Scale invariance appears because a fragment holds the whole at lower resolution. Bounded patterns emerge from continuous oscillation. The model places the observer inside the system: the implicate order enfolds both brain and world.

These patterns align with the Ladder from difference (phase shifts) through flow (waves) to structure (holographic images) to memory (distributed engrams) to mind (holonomic perception).

## Distance from the full synthesis

The theory reaches memory and mind-like function from physical wave flows. It stops short of tracing the full Ladder through life or explicit GRAIN patterns at cosmic scales. Bohm extends implicate order to the universe, yet the synthesis requires explicit mapping of branching, spirals, and flow networks across all domains. The holonomic account remains centered on neural microprocesses.

It correctly identifies the Mirror Layer principle: the reader (consciousness) participates in the order it perceives.

## Honest limits and disconfirming edges

No direct measurement shows quantum coherence in warm brain tissue at biological scales. Mainstream models explain memory via synaptic plasticity and Hebbian strengthening. Lesion data admit both distributed and localized interpretations. Reductionist accounts treat holographic language as metaphor rather than mechanism. The model offers no quantitative prediction that distinguishes it from classical wave descriptions in current experiments.

## Link to sibling articles

See /a/oip-the-ladder for the full progression from flow to mind. See /a/oip-principles for the grain as invariant patterns. See /a/oip-the-mirror-layer for the observer inside the system. See /a/oip-final-testimony for end-to-end receipts of the synthesis.
