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Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience Topic 1: An Overview
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Cognition Goes hand in hand with “thinking” The processes by which your brain/mind takes information about the world and does stuff with it Memory – short term and long term Decision making Perception Etc. – anything that you do requiring the use of your brain
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Cognition and the mind/brain problem Also known as the mind-body problem René Descartes – 17 th century
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The mind/brain problem Is your brain “you?” If you took your brain and transplanted it into someone else’s body, would that person think and act exactly like you do? What is the “stuff” of consciousness and cognition? If your brain is made of matter, what is your “mind” made of?
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The philosophical ZOMBIE
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Looks human Acts human Lacks consciousness What happens if you poke a human with a pin? A philosophical zombie?
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Humans Bill vs. philosophical zombie Bill Ouch! That hurts! I want to get away! Feels pain and runs away …………….. Feels no pain but runs away anyway, because he acts exactly like a human
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So what’s the difference? From the outside, you can’t tell them apart, because consciousness is hidden and personal. Thoughts on thoughts on thoughts …………
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So, is the philosophical zombie human? He looks human He acts human He is, in every sense, biologically human The only part of him that seems inhuman is private – no one else knows about it! What do you think?
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MindBody/Brain Cognition Consciousness Perception “Software” Physical brain Neural networks Basic biology “Hardware”
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Are our “software” and “hardware” independent of each other? Dualism (thank you Monsieur Descartes): The physical brain = matter The “mind” = matter (one we can’t see). They are independent entities and can exist separately. Monism: Mind and Matter (brain) are related They are not independent, and they cannot exist separately
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Monism Physicalism: the mind derives from the physical brain The mind cannot exist without the brain and cannot have experiences without direct connection to the physical world Idealism: the physical world exists ONLY as our perception of it (which means yours might be different from mine); “it’s all in your head” The world cannot exist without the mind (because there is nothing there to experience it) Neutral monism: the physical world and the non-physical mind are related to each other, and they communicate with each other to create a third “substance” that is our conscious experience The mind/brain/physical world are interconnected and our conscious experience is the result of their connectedness
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What do you think? Does the physical world around us affect our brain? Does the physical world around us affect our mind/perception/consciousness? Does our mind/perception/consciousness affect our brain? Does our mind/perception/consciousness affect the physical world around us? Does our brain affect our brain?
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Where do we land today on the mind/body problem? 1) The physical world exists without our conscious perception of it. It was here before we were (duh). 2) If we did not have a brain, we could not think. So at least SOME part of our mind comes from our brain. 3) The way our brain is organized definitely affects how our mind works and how we perceive the world 4) There is evidence that our perceptions about the world can, over time, affect the biology of our brain 5) There is NO evidence that our brain or mind can have any direct effect on the physical world around us. Sorry, that’s magic.
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Assignment 1: Reaction Paper What do you think about the relationship between your mind and body? Please address these three points. Your paper should be at least 1 page long and be formatted as per the sample on the website. 1) Do you think that mind = brain, or do you think that your mind is something special or more than your brain? 2) Do you think that your mind or brain affects how you see the world? Or do you think everyone sees the world in a relatively similar way? 3) What do you think would happen if you put your brain in someone else’s body?
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