Greg Detre
Thursday, 15 June, 2000
Prof. Rolls � Prelims Psych
pg 103
convergence zones � where multi-modal sensory information converges OR the ensemble of neurons whose firing represents a dispositional representation???
mere synchronicity in time for different representation being conjured up is insufficient � need convergence spatially � ganglia with inputs from all these topographical representations in the various early sensory cortices
what happens if an organism �lost� consciousness while still functioning (skeletal movement etc.)
what would you notice if you were to ablate the single N �seat of conscn�???
how can/what can: �you construct same meaning � of it?
implicit knowledge: cannot form representations of it in mind
very dodgy explanation of verbal/symbolic/non-image/abstract thoughts as all representable as topographical representations, for all thought = images (circular?)
what does the topographical bit mean???
are all representations topographically organised??? is there a difference???
all complex dispositional representations in the association cortices must first be passed through the early sensory cortices as topographical representations (to be coded into dispositional representations???)
processes/rules governing the deployment of our images utilising the rules/strategies embodied in dispositional representations � essential for thinking but not a content of our thoughts
good description of the 3 factors influencing circuitry in the modern, more xp- pliable areas of the brain
1. the old genome precisely set bioregularory areas
2. xp- individual activity the circumstances (human and physical activity as well as chance)
3. self-organising pressures
do we have motor mechanisms for breathing, or just for major, skeleetal, goal-orientated behaviour???
motivational mechanisms vs emotion???
drives + instincts either either dir � behav
OR � phys state which � problem of behav
emotions/feelings = powerful manifestations of drives + instinct (integral)
dispositions don�t change, only components of the individual behav
instinct � complex regularotry mechanisms involving overt behavs drive you to perform/not ina� curtaincertain way
pre-organised mechanisms (tuned to the environment)
� body states (hunger, nausea) or emotions (fear, anger) triggered from: visceral, outside or mental
basic set of criteria/preferences/values � grow through experience (repertore �) ability to evaluate the new expands �� - also associated with contiguous objects/entities
limbic � doesn�t discuss � though admits role in emotions
both preset + modifiable
internal + continual transduction occurs not only with N modulation but also hormones (chem <> nural <> chem signals) NESTED
one can die of a broken heart � emotnional states �/span> � immune system
trying to establish a 2 step link mind <> brain <> body
what is meant by thought processes slowing/speeding, e.g. caffeine???
drives + instincts alone insufficient to ensure organism�s survival in a complex environment
varied + unpredictable environments (were our ancestors� environments so different to those of their monkey cousins�) � highly-evolved gen-based bio mechanisms, suprainstinctual survival strategies developed in society, transmitted by culture, require the application of consc, reason + will
feelings vs emotions���������� internal milieu vs body state
innate incl pre-natal exp???
frontal surge 10-12 years, then pruned down through adolescence
putamen ventro-medial
cf New Sci � article on teenage brain inactive frontal + parietal lobe � executive functions very connected to parietal
oxytocin � vole pairs attraction lifelong
Desc � control of animal inclination by thought, reason and will = our humanity
but instead, Damasio: control from biological operation within us
Freud � non-neural superego vs neurobiological adaptive supraregulatory �
cult and civ cannot be reduced to single individuals then tio bio mechs then to subset of general specs
humans: soc conventions: additional layers of control shape and give flexibility � preset response would �/span> extinction of individuals/species dir + indir social conventions punishments
innate reg bio processes linked to the embodiment and implementation of cultural wisdom
higher emotions � simpler goals and instructions � survival
reduces the higher emotions of compassion + altriusm � ideally they�d be the result of pure intellection + willpower
but that would assume that they are rational courses of action, + universal ones?
humans = automatic innarte survival mechanisms: eductoin + encultration � survival, improve the quality of ssurviva and = the basis for constructing a �person�
innate physical reg instincts interwoven w/exteneded by basic drives for sex cognition and behavioural (constructed by bio) but also constrained just as much by society as key genes
human unique: the suprainstinctual survival strategies stem from this dual gen/soc instinct �> moral PoV transcending perhaps individual/group/species
bio regulation � ancient brain areas �/span> elementary non-conscious decision-making
(pg 127)
John Allmen : independent of body size, fruit-eaters bigger than leaf-eating monkey � neocortices
Platonic direction between neocortex and ancient lower sub-areas � no
rationality needs the subcortical (e.g. larger hypothal)
emotion as bridge between rat/non-rational and cortical/sub-cortical
emotion without bodily symptoms � no mind-stuff substrate remains, only cold/neutral intellectual perception
anti:
James � ignored the mental evaluatoin
no supplementary mechanism to generate the feeling corresponding to bodily arousal
role of emotion in cognition and behaviour
James: environment stimulates basic inflexible (instinct) mechanisms �/span> specific bodily reaction
�every object that excites an instinct excites an emotion as well�
evaluative filtering process � layer modulating the fixed emotional mechanism
also, other neural means to �/span> the body sense which James claimed = the �essence� of the emotional process
emotions early in life = pre-organised mechanism vs adult �secondary� emotions
primary � wired to respond emotionally to certain key features of sensory stimuli
(cf discussion in Rolls� tute) processing by amygdala
consciousness = an alternative higher/governing (???) decision-making mechanism
also � abstractoin + examination
emotional states �/span> flex response based on own history of interactions with the environment
primary/preorg/innate/Jamesian: limbic, amygdala, anterior cingulate
(pg 134)
importace of amygdala � studies
secondary � experiencing feelings, systematic comms(???) between categories of objects/situations + primary emotions
requires broader network than just limbic system:
the agency of prefrontal somatosensory cortices
emot changes in body state: viscera, skeletal, endocrine, peptide modulators, immune system
= a profile of departures from a range of average states = homeostasis
[is it enough to say that 2ndary = internally instigated (association) primary emotions???]
VM (frontal cortex � ventro-medial????) - > amygdala primary emotion path ultimately leading �/span> topographical representation of various sorts
explain how words = web-based epistemic weight; inter-related dispositional representations
surely words = dispositional representations??? what is topographically about a word???
which parts of Rolls� book are most original/is he most proud of???
what evidence is there to implicate the body in our feeling of emotion???
difference between feelings + emotions
body states are inherently ordained to be painful/pleasurable
doesn�t yet explain the subjective phenomenon of consciousness, just by expressing it in purely phys terms
phenomenon > sum of its components + operations
if he�s saying that, he means: only to us, from our
perspective
after all, what is their value?
dissociation � unrelated performance in one area compared to all the rest
just because we don�t have emotions to prompt us, doesn�t �/span> <FW?
but it deprives us of the censure we need to learn/respond/will ourselves � self-improvement
why a collecting habit? unable to assess the value of objects?
R vs L frontal lobe effects?
the choice-making process is different from the options-generating one, because requires an emotional reponse to guide to the correct choice
emotion as the VALUE-GIVER (pg 151)
confused about shifty landscape � working memory
confusingly uses �reason� in the sense of selecting a course of action, as opp to the consciousness inferential sense
is Elliott�s problem simply making the decisions, or also acting on them?
viz Nagel: unable to generate subjective instantiations of mind for self/others???
is anognosic patients� unawareness of own troubes: flattened or contentedly/zennishly unperturbed???
no suffering �/span> same social problems???
axonal �/span> prefrontal/anasognosic areas
Crick � neural substrate for FW
simultaneity of firing of different distributions of neurons �/span> unified sense of consciousness
representation rather than necessarily images
pg
94
the repository of facts + strategies for the manipulation of the images which constitute our thoughts is stored in the form of dispositional representations in the in-between brain sectors
integration by time instead
alternatives � bound in a small/specific spatial area
prefrontal cortices + anterior cingulate (limbic) global attention + working memory
perceptual vs recalled images (Humean???)
including the memory of a possible future
images = from topographic representations in early sensory cortices alone???
under �control of� sensory receptors or �dispositions�???
early = primary cortex? N, = LGN, PUL + COL etc.???
destruction of early sensory cortices � blindsight (because other (higher?) areas remain intact)
achromatopsia = mental images � B+W to (depending on site of lesion, surely?)
fear of selfless cognition? �perpetually recreated neurotic state�
so a neural sef is perceiving whatever the early sensory cortices throw up, either perceptual or recalled images?
damage to early visual sensory cortices �/span> < imagination in colour
dispositional � they order other neural patterns about
dispositional representations � battle stations blueprints for the other neurons (or is it t actual position they take up)
all thought is based on topographically organised representations � that is all that is knowable
convergence zones � where multi-modal sensory information converges
OR the ensemble of neurons whose firing represents a dispositional representation
mere convergence/synchronicity in time for different representations being conjured up is insufficient � need convergence spatially/physically � ganglion with inputs from all these topographical representations in the various early sensory cortices?
what happens if an organism �lost� consciousness while still functioning (skeletal movement etc.)?
what would you notice if you were to ablate the single neuron �seat of consciousness�?
how can/what can: �you construct some meaning� of it?
implicit knowledge: cannot form representations of it in mind
very dodgy explanation of verbal/symbolic/non-abstract thoughts as all representable as topographical representations, for all thought = images
all complex dispositional representations in the association corteices must first be passed through the early sensory cortices as topographical representations
processes/rules governing the deploymnet of our images utilising the rules/stratgies embodied in dispositional resp � essential for thinking but not a content of our thoughts
1. see ch 10
2. causal link between the object of thought/image and the associated body state
mis-assoc � phobic/superstitious or polyanna
(convergenze zones � mutual 3rd party brokerage) between body signals and emotion-causing � object neural signals
somatic marker � elimiantes some of the plethora of choices
= a bodily reaction to a prospect
= special instances of feeling � 2deg emotions, connected by learning to the futures of scenarios������������ (FILTER???)
can operate covertly, using the �as if� loop
willpower = choosing long-term over short-term
altruism = int/ext integrity
understanding neurobio mechanmisms doesn�t diminish the value of that freedom from bio/cultural constraints � � justice/madness
adaptive somatic marker requires normal brain + culture
created: process of education/socialisation: connect stimuli with somatic state (secondary emotions)
acquisition of somatic marker signaling = pre-frontal cortices
co-extensive with the system for secondary emotions
all images are received there (same with the entorhinal cortex previous to hippocampus)
receive signals from the bioreg (internal preference system)
categorisation of life xps according to many contingent dimensions (dorso-lateral) also frontal pole and ventromed
different domains categ in different prefront sectors
dir connection � every motor/chem response
�as if� symbols: economise on real body states
bees = probabilistic basis for behaviour � apparently goal-orientated behaviour
body-based signaling for decision-making: bio regn � pers/soc � abstract symbolic
---
why should the representation of body state be topographical??? pg 162
like reason, evolution/genetics can only give us selection, not possibilities; only the choosing mechanism (+ maybe criteria), not the variation
set of nuclei in brainsterm + basal forebrain which �/span> selective neurotransmitter release which changes cognitive mode
why hasn�t homosexuality evolved out??? different species because non-inter-breeding??? no
what would a non-evolutionary perspective on consciousness be like???
well, spiritual or religious, for one
in what ways does human neurobiological emotional mechanisms different from the animals???
CBA over time � integrating under the curve
are there any neurons without axons??? i.e. only input � the buck stops there
Brenda Milner
Walter Nanta(???)
what brain domains are there??? soc, ext, bioreg
what makes some parts of the brain�s activity conscious??? is it because those parts of the brain are being monitored by the neural representation of self???
good summary: pg 70c
abeyantly in �dispositional representations�
tomography
impecunious
support + modulation
what inputs + from where would � a Cartesian theatre???
how does he know we think in images?
dispositional representations vs pattern associators???
convergent zone vs dispositional representation
seems an affliction which affects all the way to conscious + difficult to over-ride
anosognosics are fine with balance, knee jerk + other bodily signals?
insular = the parietal (somatosensory/early sensory cortex)?