Systems analysis of the integrative activity of the neuron

This article is aimed at revising the traditional concept of neuronal activity based on preeminence of transmembrane potentials and “electric summation” on the neuron surface. It presents a historical survey of the emergence of the prevailing concept on propagation of potentials alongconductive structures and reveals the psychological situation that determined the transfer of this concept to dendrites and the neuronal soma. Structural and biophysical properties of the neuron which do not permit information propagation along the neuronal membrane without crude distortion are critically discussed in detail.