[Verse 1]
A excites B, B excites C,
a bucket brigade through the nervous tree,
feedforward excitation, the signal's relayed,
amplified whispers into a parade,
chaque étincelle allume une autre encore,
one small spark knocking on the next neuron's door.
[Chorus]
On s'allume, on s'éteint, écoute le courant,
excite, inhibe, c'est le même instant,
feedforward sharpens, feedback keeps the beat,
disinhibition, libère et complète,
motifs de circuits, le code du cerveau,
convergence, divergence, danse en réseau.
[Verse 2]
Feedforward inhibition — two paths, one race,
excite the target, excite the brake in its place,
the interneuron lags a half-beat behind,
slamming the window shut, sharp and refined,
une fenêtre étroite où le signal doit passer,
timing's the teacher, precision the key.
[Chorus]
On s'allume, on s'éteint, écoute le courant,
excite, inhibe, c'est le même instant,
feedforward sharpens, feedback keeps the beat,
disinhibition, libère et complète,
motifs de circuits, le code du cerveau,
convergence, divergence, danse en réseau.
[Verse 3]
Now feedback loops — the neuron fires, calls its own guard,
an interneuron answers, stomps the brake hard,
pyramidal cells and inhibitors entwined,
spin up a gamma rhythm pulsing through mind,
ça tourne, ça résonne, comme un métronome,
gain control humming inside its own dome.
[Bridge]
Inhibit the inhibitor — the cage unlocks itself,
VIP cells quiet SST cells on the shelf,
pyramidal neurons breathe, free now to fire,
freedom born from muzzling the muzzler entire.
In the basal ganglia, the striatum's command
settles down the GPi with a velvet hand,
thalamus wakes up, movement gets the nod,
disinhibition, logic's clever fraud —
libère, libère, en inhibant l'inhibiteur,
voilà le secret, le fameux détour.
[Verse 4]
One neuron branches wide — that's divergence, a fan,
a single voice shouting to a whole waiting clan,
many neurons funnel down to one lonely site,
convergence collects them, decides what is right,
branché, croisé, le réseau prend sa forme,
patterns on patterns becoming the norm.
[Chorus]
On s'allume, on s'éteint, écoute le courant,
excite, inhibe, c'est le même instant,
feedforward sharpens, feedback keeps the beat,
disinhibition, libère et complète,
motifs de circuits, le code du cerveau,
convergence, divergence, danse en réseau.
[Outro]
Excite, inhibe, libère, répète,
four little motifs, the alphabet complete,
every circuit that you'll ever meet
is built from these letters, this old neural beat.
Allume, calme, enchaîne, libère,
le cerveau chante sa propre grammaire.