Synaptic pattern

A synaptic pattern or neural pattern is the unique configuration of neurons and synapses in the brain. Since memories, thought patterns, and aspects of personality are encoded in this pattern, it is often considered to represent a person's consciousness.

In the 22nd century, the Ilari autarch Tieran found a way to transfer his neural pattern from one body to the next, using a cortical implant to enhance the pattern and send it through bioelectric microfibers in his fingers. He lived this way for over two centuries, taking over a succession of bodies until he was finally removed in 2373 via a synaptic stimulator and destroyed. 

In the hopes of giving Data a better understanding of Humanity, Doctor Noonian Soong experimented with scanning the synaptic patterns of the colonists on Omicron Theta and programming them into Data's neural net. 

In 2368, three disembodied Ux-Mal criminals superimposed their neural patterns over those of Data, Deanna Troi and Miles O'Brien during an away mission to a moon of Mab-Bu VI. They attempted to take over the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) and do the same to the rest of the rest of the crew, as they had done to the crew of the USS Essex two centuries before. 

In 2369, the Klingon clerics on Boreth imprinted specific information onto the neurosynaptic patterns of a clone of Kahless, giving him memories and experiences of the original Kahless the Unforgettable as described in Klingon sacred texts. 

In the same year, analyzing synaptic patterns was used along with a DNA scan to determine that a double of William T. Riker left on Nervala IV 8 years before, was created by a transporter accident and not through cloning, as the double, later called Thomas Riker, lacked genetic drift, with their synaptic patterns being nearly identical except for minor variations resulting in different memories from their divergent lives after this accidental separation. 

The Kobliad criminal Rao Vantika developed a way to preserve his consciousness beyond death by encoding his neural patterns into bioelectrical pulses and transmitting them along the glial cells of another person's nervous system. He had the transfer mechanism installed beneath his fingernail, which allowed him to "inject" his mind into Julian Bashir after his body was critically injured in 2369. Fortunately, Jadzia Dax found a way to disrupt Vantika's control over Bashir using an electromagnetic pulse, allowing the glial cells affected by Vantika to be beamed out. Vantika's neural pattern was subsequently destroyed by Ty Kajada. 

In 2371, a sample of photonic matter collected by the USS Voyager from a protostar displayed a synaptic pattern. This led them to discover that it was in fact an intelligent photonic lifeform. 

In 2372, the patterns of the Deep Space 9 senior staff were caught mid-transport as their runabout suffered a warp core breach. Their neural signatures had to be stored in the Deep Space 9 computer system until a means could be found to rematerialize them, which required all the memory storage space available on the station. 

When Tom Paris underwent hyper-evolution after his warp 10 flight in 2372, The Doctor observed that his synaptic patterns were changing every second. 

During a mind meld to resolve an apparent T'lokan schism in Tuvok in 2373, his neural pattern and that of Kathryn Janeway became locked. The Doctor separated them using thoron radiation, which also revealed the presence of a third pattern, a memory virus. 

Later that year, the Enaran Korenna Mirell attempted to impart memories of her people's genocide of the Regressives to B'Elanna Torres via telepathy. However, the synaptic patterns of the new memories were somewhat incompatible with Torres' neural pathways, causing her to lose consciousness. 

When Captain Benjamin Sisko experienced a strange vision in 2374, Doctor Bashir noted that his neural patterns were similar to those during his pagh'tem'far experience the previous year, leading him to suspect that the Prophets might be involved. 

The neural patterns of every individual assimilated by the Borg Collective is stored and lies dormant in the cortical implants of drones. In 2375, the neural interlink frequency of a vinculum infected by Species 6339's synthetic pathogen caused these patterns to emerge in Seven of Nine's mind. 

The Druoda series 5 long-range tactical armor unit includes a complex bio-neural circuitry that mimics a humanoid synaptic pattern. The Doctor suggested that the pattern of one such unit encountered by Voyager in 2375 could be transferred to a holographic matrix like his, but the device interpreted the transfer as an attempt by the Voyager crew to destroy it. 

In 2375, Captain Kathryn Janeway asked the EMH whether the USS Equinox logs contained a neural pattern that might help in programming the universal translator to communicate with attacking nucleogenic lifeforms. The EMH, however, was from the Equinox and was less than helpful. 

In 2376, B'Elanna Torres re-created the conditions of an accident that had led her to experience a vision of the Barge of the Dead. However, eventually her neural patterns began to break down, threatening her life. 

Later in 2376, Seven of Nine's attempt to download information directly into her mind "threw [her] synaptic patterns into chaos", causing her to experience paranoia.