Mind ShiftPub Date : 2021-04-22DOI: 10.1093/OSO/9780198801634.003.0008
J. Parrington
{"title":"Learning and Memory","authors":"J. Parrington","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198801634.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198801634.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter addresses the process of learning and memory in the animal and human brain. Learning is central to the development of a child into an adult, but also to the progression of human culture over time. But the ability to learn is also bound up with the capacity to remember. Speculation about the nature of human memory stretches back at least 2,400 years to Plato's attempts to understand this process. However, the eighteenth century English philosopher David Hartley was the first to link memories to the nervous system. While changes to the synaptic structure of a neuron clearly play an important role in the initial formation of memories, there is increasing evidence that altered expression of genes underpins long-term memory formation. The chapter then considers the role of the hippocampus in memory. The dynamic interaction of the hippocampus and the cortex may be key to the ability of the brain to form new associations between people, places, and objects.","PeriodicalId":307422,"journal":{"name":"Mind Shift","volume":"17 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130906045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mind ShiftPub Date : 2021-04-22DOI: 10.1093/OSO/9780198801634.003.0024
J. Parrington
{"title":"Mind and Machine","authors":"J. Parrington","doi":"10.1093/OSO/9780198801634.003.0024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OSO/9780198801634.003.0024","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores how future technologies might impact on human consciousness. It begins by discussing how new techniques are continuing to add to the understanding of the human mind. There are many exciting technologies available now to the neuroscientist, such as genomic analysis, optogenetics, gene editing, and brain organoids. To what extent could such technologies be used to investigate the model of human consciousness outlined in this book? The chapter then considers whether artificial intelligence might come to rival that of human beings, and possible interfaces between human and machine intelligence. Our growing ability to develop functioning robots raises the question of whether an artificial human brain might be used to control such a robot, creating in effect a cyborg. However, the creation of such an entity could make a big difference in terms of an artificial brain’s sense of identity in the world, as well as its rights.","PeriodicalId":307422,"journal":{"name":"Mind Shift","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121960832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mind ShiftPub Date : 2019-09-23DOI: 10.2307/j.ctv16kkxc7.6
J. Parrington
{"title":"Conscious and Unconscious","authors":"J. Parrington","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv16kkxc7.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv16kkxc7.6","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter determines the relationship between the conscious and unconscious aspects of brain function. The unconscious consists of those mental processes that occur automatically and are not available to introspection. Increasingly, studies of brain function are revealing that a surprising amount of that function is automatic, and therefore, unconscious. However, there are controversial aspects to discussions about the unconscious, particularly the idea that it may play a far more contradictory role in consciousness, even acting in opposition to conscious thoughts. Such a viewpoint sees the unconscious as a force that may suppress unwelcome thoughts, but which might also make us carry out actions that do not appear to have been planned by our rational minds, and may even appear wholly irrational. This view of the unconscious mind is most associated with Sigmund Freud. Freud viewed the unconscious as the epicentre of people's repressed thoughts, traumatic memories, and fundamental drives of sex and aggression. This chapter reconsiders this view of the unconscious by relating to Mind Shift’s central theme about the importance of language in shaping consciousness.","PeriodicalId":307422,"journal":{"name":"Mind Shift","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133849965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mind ShiftPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0007
J. Parrington
{"title":"Growth and Development","authors":"J. Parrington","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter assesses the linked processes of brain growth and development. Each human life begins with the union of a sperm and an egg. Embryogenesis is the process by which the fertilized egg divides repeatedly to produce the 37 trillion cells that make up a person. But embryo development is about far more than just this dramatic increase in cell number. It also involves the formation of all the specialised cell types of the body, and their organization into tissues and organs. Initially, the embryo is just a ball of cells called a blastocyst. But then a dramatic transformation takes place called gastrulation, which is a key event in the formation of a human being. While these are the gross structural changes underlying brain development, equally important are the cellular changes. The development of the human brain occurs at such a rapid rate that a newborn baby’s brain has almost the same number of neurons as that of an adult. However, brain growth continues after birth due to the creation of new glial cells and connections between neurons.","PeriodicalId":307422,"journal":{"name":"Mind Shift","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115115159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mind ShiftPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0016
J. Parrington
{"title":"Crime and Punishment","authors":"J. Parrington","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0016","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter focuses on the criminally insane, assessing whether brain biology is significantly different in a serial killer. One of the first people to suggest that criminality arose from abnormalities in the brain was Cesare Lombroso, an Italian surgeon, who in 1871 conducted a postmortem of a serial murderer and rapist. While Lombroso's theories can be dismissed as a product of a misunderstanding of evolutionary mechanisms and the prejudices of his time, this does not mean that the belief that criminality has a biological basis is no longer held. Indeed, there has been a recent resurgence in this view, focusing on the claim that criminality is a product of biological differences in the brain. The claim is based on genetic analysis, and study of the brain itself. One gene linked to criminal behaviour is monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), which encodes an enzyme that destroys a particular type of neurotransmitter as a way of controlling its activity. The chapter then considers the idea of a link between brain injuries and criminal behaviour. The problem in looking for biological differences as the primary cause of criminality is that this could mean less acknowledgment of the role of social environment in the development of a criminal personality.","PeriodicalId":307422,"journal":{"name":"Mind Shift","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132908591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mind ShiftPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0020
J. Parrington
{"title":"Art and Design","authors":"J. Parrington","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0020","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter focuses on how the birth of figurative art marked a significant shift in our species’ ability to represent the world around us, and presumably, a step forward in our capacity for conscious awareness. The ability to draw a familiar object such as a cat or dog develops so naturally in children that it is easy to forget what a remarkable human capacity this is. For unlike tool use, spoken language, or perhaps even the capacity to make music, which may all have evolutionary precedents in the actions or sounds made by other species, the ability to draw appears to have no relationship to anything found in the rest of the animal kingdom. And certainly for the view presented in this book of the uniqueness of human conscious awareness, the ability of humans to both produce and appreciate visual art is something that deserves a wider discussion. In particular, abstract symbols, mathematical systems, planning diagrams, and other forms that constitute visual art, can all be viewed as further examples of the 'cultural tools' that shape our minds besides language.","PeriodicalId":307422,"journal":{"name":"Mind Shift","volume":"15 10","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114115151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mind ShiftPub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0022
J. Parrington
{"title":"Science and Technology","authors":"J. Parrington","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198801634.003.0022","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter challenges the common perception of scientists as a group that think and behave in very different ways from the rest of humanity. While scientists may occupy a very specific niche in society in their role in the construction of new knowledge, they are prone to the same strengths and weaknesses in terms of their individual minds, and are affected by the same social prejudices, as the rest of humanity. Moreover, far from being an alien activity, the pursuit of scientific knowledge is something that is a key resource for humanity as a whole. Everyone with an interest in the origins and fundamental nature of human conscious awareness should have a strong interest in knowing more about the process of scientific discovery, and an input into debates about both the direction and application of scientific research. To understand why, it is worth looking at how science first developed, which this chapter does. The chapter then goes on to look at some of the key ways in which scientists develop new scientific concepts about the world, building on Lev Vygotsky’s ideas about this process and extending them to a discussion of some of the main areas of science today. It also links this process back to the specific theme of the book about human consciousness.","PeriodicalId":307422,"journal":{"name":"Mind Shift","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126349744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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