Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience Topic 1: An Overview

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

Cognition and the mind/brain problem  Also known as the mind-body problem  René Descartes – 17 th century

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?

The philosophical ZOMBIE

 Looks human  Acts human  Lacks consciousness  What happens if you poke a human with a pin? A philosophical zombie?

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

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 …………

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?

MindBody/Brain  Cognition  Consciousness  Perception  “Software”  Physical brain  Neural networks  Basic biology  “Hardware”

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

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

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?

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.

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?