> “I think, therefore I am.”
(Rene Descartes, 17th-century philosopher)
In other words, brain is vital to our existence.
(images was taken from Wiki. CC BY 2.0. No changes were made)
(by the way, pay attention to the image. We can easily imagine an “apple” or “tree”, but it’s hard to imagine “thinking” or “freedom” because it is something abstract (an idea which doesn’t have a physical/concrete existence); and sculptures like the one on the image above help us to imagine and remember those abstract ideas for a long time (that’s what was discussed in the precious post))
Progress so far:
In the previous post of this series we discussed metaphors/allegories and their relation to our brain (metaphorical way of thinking is “hardwired” deeply into the brain).
Christmas-related events are most likely just a metaphor/allegory for some events/stuff happening in the world. And if it’s an allegory, then it should carry a message encoded in it. That’s what will be discussed in the next 2 posts of this series.
Also it was stated that the
> the purpose of this series is not just trying to provide scientific explanation for the stuff related to Christmas, but (and this is even more important) to answer the question
> Why have/How could we ended up in such a situation (having flying reindeers and Santa Claus, decorating Christmas trees and giving presents each other etc.)?
> What brain’s characteristics/features enforced that to happen?
(source)
That wouldn’t be possible without talking about thinking and reasoning.
Plan
Thinking vs. reasoning
Biological foundation
Mental representations
Mental scene
Two minds in one brain
System 1
System 2
Theories of reasoning
Philosophical considerations
Mental logic theory
Mental models
Dual mechanism theory (Mental logic + Mental model)
Conclusion
Video-version
(just a side note; imagine if you could speed up the thinking process x2 times. This means you could generate x2 times more thoughts during you life. That wouldn’t most likely make your life happier or more adequate though (thoughts quality vs. quantity))
Thinking vs. reasoning
Now, let’s take a look at the difference between thinking and reasoning.
> Thinking is the activity of using your brain by considering a problem or possibility or creating an idea.
[Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. New Digital Edition, 2008]
> Reasoning is the process by which you reach a conclusion after thinking about all the facts.
[Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. New Digital Edition, 2008]
Thinking is a conscious or unconscious process that produces thoughts (and logic doesn’t play a key role in this case).
Reasoning is a conscious process that requires logic.
> The logic of a conclusion or an argument is its quality of being correct and reasonable.
[Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. New Digital Edition, 2008]
Reasoning is just a sub-type of thinking [1].
Biological foundation
> As Lewis Carrol's Alice might have phrased it: 'You're nothing but a pack of neurons
(source – “The Atheist's Bible: How Science Eliminates Theism” (By Geoff Linsley))
Well, as you probably know, our brain is basically a bunch of neurons and some other cells which constitute tissues grouped into different regions which perform different functions.
It is the key player of our nervous system. And it’s that bunch of cells which allows us to process information (received with the help of sense organs) and react accordingly.
(the image was taken from Wiki. CC BY-SA 3.0. No changes were made)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgmQe-HXP9w
(Royalty Free Medical Human Brain HD Footage – Brain (Blue)360 Degree View. FREE FOR BOTH COMMERCIAL & NON COMMERCIAL)
Mental representations
Now, you can imagine that “apple” (I mentioned in the description to the first image) somewhere in your brain, right? It’s called a mental representation. And according cognitive neuroscience, those representations are actually patterns of firing activity of the neurons.
> A neural representation is not a static object like a word on paper or a street sign, but is rather a dynamic process involving ongoing change in many neurons and their interconnections. A population of neurons represents something by its pattern of firing.
((source)[2])
And I suspect it’s not only about images (the same should be the case with sounds, smells etc.).
mental representation = pattern of firing of neurons
The neuron can be in 2 states: active (the one in which the neuron generates electric impulses) and inactive (the opposite).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXdPb0h4Jig
(Wetsoil Private limited (Channel on Youtube). Can be Used Everywhere (under some conditions))
The image below should help you to grasp the idea of mental representations
(activated neurons are highlighted in purple; inactive neurons are not coloured. Each combination of active / inactive neurons (and there should be much more that 3 neurons of course; it’s just for the sake of simplicity) serves as the mental representation of the objects of the environment or (I assume) ideas generated by the brain itself. The overall image was created by me. Reindeer, man, apples and moon and man with a brain images are from Pixabay, neurons are from WIki (Wikimedia Commons))
So, that “apple” image appearing somewhere in our brain is just 1 pattern of neuron activation.
Given that there’re near 100 billion neurons in the brain, there should be enormous number of those patterns [2].
> If each neuron can fire 100 times per second, then the number of firing patterns of that duration is (2^100)^100000000000, which is far larger than the number of elementary particles in the universe,
only about 10^80.
(source [2])
This is what the quote given in the last post describes (“Dickenson’s theorem”):
> The Brain — is wider than the Sky —
(‘The Brain is wider than the Sky’ poem by Emily Dickinson)
> The brain really does have the capacity to represent the sky, the person, and the universe in general.
(source [2])
It’s important to note that that firing activity depends on a number of reasons and one of them should be different substances “visiting” our body. Just like other cells, neurons receive some substances and excrete some. And sometimes those substances (like drugs) may lead to substantial changes in the neurons activity which (I suspect) may result in –> hallucinations (that’s how we’ll come to the flying reindeers etc. in the next post).
Mental scene
I said “somewhere in your brain” in one of the previous paragraphs.
Let’s try to figure out where exactly
The information provided in this paragraph is from the book called “Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long” by David Rock.
(source, CC BY-SA 2.1 jp, No changes were made)
Prefrontal cortex is the part of our brain which allows us to think things through.
The ideas which we generate ourselves (not the ones we perceive with senses) are there.
The author of the book suggests to think of the place as a small theatre stage. And the “actors” on that stage are our thoughts. The stage is also known as working memory [3]. The number of the actors we can hold there is limited and is equals 7 (or 4 according to other studies) [4, 5].
Two minds in one brain
So, now that we know some biological basics, let’s move on to the actual theories trying to explain how the reasoning happens
But first, let’s talk shortly about the modes of reasoning/thinking (2 Systems) working in our brain.
System 1
This is an automatic (subconscious) fast process which doesn’t require you to put any efforts (or put very little efforts) for it to happen. This is what we inherited from other animals. This system works when you try to remember the capital of France, turn your head towards the source of the noise, solve 2+2=… or react (facial expressions) to avatars on social media.
System 2
This is conscious process which require you to put substantial efforts. It’s evolutionary recent and enables us to make abstract reasoning and hypotheses (is what makes us humans). This system works when you try to solve more complex problems like 58*16=…, count the number of “o” in this sentence or compare 2 social media platforms.
This system is what allows us to construct the models of future possibilities and react accordingly (not just rely on our previous experience in decision-making (which is the case with the System 1 ((so if you look at your cat, this should be pure System 1; cats unable to plan their future career))))).
This is what allows us to be more rational in decision-making.
That System 1 is a subject to a number of biases (and it’s System 2 which helps us to overcome them) [6].
Life lessons (personal experience):
a) followers on media
One of the biases/errors of the System 1 is a substitution effect (asking the wrong questions (the ones which are easier to answer. System 1 is a lazy one)).
I suppose that some users (including me) ask the questions like:
Does this person follow me?
Do I like his/her avatar/face?
Does this person have a large stake?
Does this person upvote my posts?
And if the answer is “Yes”, then we may follow the user (it’s easier to answer these questions that the one below).
However, if you think about it, the more appropriate question probably would be (in my opinion)
Do I like the content of this person/user?
b) System 2 activation. On the way to more rational judgements.
If someone asks you something important, it’s a good idea not to give the first answer appeared in your mind (System 1 mind), but rather try to whisper the question (which should help to activate the System 2 (more rational one)) and wait a little. This way we should make more rational judgements. On the contrary, if you want to hear from someone the truth, it’s a good idea to inform the person the he/she should quickly give the first answer appearing in his/her mind (this way he/she will not have time to activate the System 2 which may help to correct the answers).
Theories of reasoning
Now let’s move on to the theories trying to explain reasoning.
Currently there’re 3 theories:
1. Mental logic (in a nutshell, reasoning happens with the help of images).
2. Mental model (in a nutshell, reasoning happens with the help of our language/words (that your inner voice you may hear right now reading this sentence))
3. Dual mechanism theory. Mental logic + Mental model
[7]
Philosophical considerations
According to Mental logic and Mental model theories, it’s assumed that there’s an underlying knowledge and mechanism of inference in our brain.
Now for the underlying knowledge, understanding of the logical terms (sort of innate input modules/mechanisms).
What’s interesting that several centuries ago Immanuel Kant was popularizing in his “Critique of Pure Reason” (1781) so-called a priori knowledge.
> an a priori cognition of them, which is to establish something about objects before they are given to us.
(source)
-> something about objects before they are given to us.
> Kant asserts that experience is based on the perception of external objects and a priori knowledge.[90] The external world, he writes, provides those things that we sense. But our mind processes this information and gives it order, allowing us to comprehend it. Our mind supplies the conditions of space and time to experience objects.
(source)
I suspect that Kant managed to predict the underlying knowledge (those innate input modules/mechanisms) back then. Possibly, this innate underlying knowledge is encoded on the gene level.
Mental logic theory
The Mental logic theory (linguistic hypothesis) postulates that we understand the logical terms of our language (“all,” “if” “none,” “and,”…) and use them to make conclusions. It says that reasoning is a syntactic process.
syntax
> the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language
[Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2010]
and
> internal representations preserve structural properties of linguistic strings in which the premises are stated.
(source [7])
Programming language analogy
I guess it resembles to some extent how programming languages work (let’s say JavaScript).
There’re some logical words reserved in the language itself (like “if…then/else” conditionals, “for” loops and other keywords (“function”, “return” etc.)). And programmers create the program with the help of those logical keywords and constructions.
In other words, there’s sort of underlying knowledge / logical terms in the programming language itself.
(the image was created by me with the help of Notepad++ and paint.net)
Mental models
The Mental model theory (spatial hypothesis) postulates that we understand the logical terms of our language (“all,” “if” “none,” “and,”…) and use them to build and search alternative scenarios/models with the help of space manipulations (think of working with graphical editors (like “Illustrator” etc.)). It says that reasoning is a visuo-spatial process.
and
> internal representations of the argument are said to preserve the structural properties of the world (e.g., spatial relations) that the sentences are about (rather than the structural properties of the sentences themselves, as above)
(source [7])
> subjects solve abstract syllogisms through the use of Venn Diagrams, Euler Circles, or more generally, the spatial models predicted by mental model theory
(source [7])
Venn Diagrams (logic diagrams)
> is a diagram that shows all possible logical relations between a finite collection of different sets.
(source)
(image source; CC BY-SA 3.0. No changes were made)
Euler Circles
> is a diagrammatic means of representing sets and their relationships
(source)
(source; CC BY-SA 3.0. No changes were made)
And these spatial mental models are highly efficient because
> Visual processes evolved over millions of years, so the machinery is highly efficient, especially in comparison to the circuitry involved in language
(source [3])
And according to David Rock, holding images is much easier than, say, describing that image with words.
(source; Public domain)
Dual mechanism theory (Mental logic + Mental model)
According to some studies (Goel V. et. al.), it's more likely that both mechanisms work together.
Semantic content dependency
If there’s content (like as “All dogs are pets; All pets are furry”), then the left temporal region of our brain plays the key role in reasoning.
If there’s no content (like as “All A are B; All B are C”), then the left parietal region of our brain plays the key role in reasoning.
(source – [7])
And all this does make sense because
it’s the temporal region of the brain which is responsible for sentence processing/ language comprehension (Mental logic theory) [8].
and
it’s the parietal region of the brain which plays an important role in spatial reasoning (Mental models theory) [9].
(source. CC BY-SA 3.0. No changes were made)
Split-brain patients studies
Pay attention to “the left” part (not the right).
The good news is that findings of the aforementioned research are consistent with the data obtained in researches with split-brain patients.
Gazzaniga with colleges concluded
> that reasoning is a left hemisphere phenomenon
> Gazzaniga goes on to postulate a “left brain interpreter,” a mechanism that continuously elaborates and interprets information presented to it and readily draws inferences
(source – [7])
Conclusion
Now everything should just come together...
(the image was created by me with the help of Paint.net)
(to my understanding)
So, we have System 1 and System 2. Both are not separate entities but collaborate all the time (System 1 constantly presents the products of its activity to the System 2) and both use Mental logic and Mental models mechanisms for reasoning which, in its turn, rely upon mental representations and underlying knowledge.
The most important thing for the reader (if there’re still any, ha-ha) to remember for the next post is that there’re mental representations of the objects in our brain. It’s neurons which are responsible for them. The state of the neurons may change in the presence of some substances (like drugs), hence, those representations may change as well (which may lead to experiencing hallucinations/illusions).
“Identify the molecule” league #14. Prize: knowledge + 5 XRP + 200 TMN
.jpg){kind=link}
_-_lateral_view.png){kind=link}
#/media/File:Biological_classification_L_Pengo_vflip.svg){kind=link}
.svg){kind=link}
