Biology 202 Neurobiology and Behavior Spring 2007

The challenge in general

• Expert Ties Ex-Players Suicide to Brain Damage
• To Fight Stuttering, Doctors Look at the Brain
• An Image of Consciousness Creates a Stir
• Is Hysteria Real? Brain Images Say Yes
• Out-of-Body Experience? Your Brain is to Blame
• Are You a Giver? Brain Scan Finds the Truth
• Excape from the Insipid: Our Brains May be Wired for Daydreaming
• Consciousness May Be a Sure Bet
• Knowing the Ingredients Can Change the Taste
• Supporting Boys or Girls When the Line Isn't Clear
• Taking Middle Schoolers Out of the Middle
• Voices in My Head Say "But It!" Why Argue?
• Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don't

Review of Blink, NY Times Book Review, 16 January, 2005

The response in general

Biology major?	20
Psychology major?	7
NBS concentrator?	12
Other majors	sociology (4), philosophy (3), anthropology (3), chemistry (3), political science (3), english (2), postbacc (2), geology, fine arts, romance languages
Satisfy science requirement	6
Interested in biology/nervous system?	9
Interested in psychology/behavior?	18
Interested in philosophy/nature of reality/human experience?	14
Interested in practical problems? medicine, psychiatry, education social activism, etc?
Want to understand who you are? why you/other people behave the way you/they do? What you/they can do about it? Serendip's Brain and Behavior	lots

Neurobiology and BEHAVIOR ... what is "behavior"?

actions of individuals and groups, reactions to stimuli, effects of thinking on action, chemicals/hormones, emotion, thought, mimicking, prediction, ethics/morals, rationality, social/cultural values, creativity, self-determination

NEUROBIOLOGY and behavior ... Neurobiology = study of the nervous system ... what is the "nervous system"?

	Image by Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), contemporary of Copernicus, suggested (less than 500 years ago) that nervous system rather than heart was origin of behavior (see Milestones in Neuroscience Research for a time line extending from 4,000 B.C.).		Image by Rene Descartes (1596-1650). Set framework for several centuries (and continuing) discussion: mind and body distinct things or same thing?
	Nervous system is material object, part of body, can be touched, manipulated, measured. What IS the relationship between brain (nervous system) and behavior (broadly defined to include human experience)? Subset of this are questions such as the relation between mind and brain, mind and body, matter and spirit, matter and form ...

The core of the challenge

• Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
• Francis Crick, contemporary: The Astonishing Hypothesis: "a person's mental activities are entirely due to the behavior of nerve cells ... and the atoms, ions, and molecules that make them up and influence them".
• Paul Grobstein, contemporary: "Brain = behavior, there isn't anything else." (Descartes' was ... wrong; we are actually nothing more, and nothing less, than organized clumps of matter)
• "let your neurons make up their own damn mind" - NY Times Review of Blink, 16 January 2005 .... ???

Brain = behavior?, from a "scientific" approach:

Start with overview of the "trend of the evidence":

• Behavior can be altered by altering the nervous system
  • Traumatic brain damage
  • Surgery, drugs, and ... ?
  • Epilepsy as an instance
• Lots of aspects have behavior, even quite sophisticated ones, have "material" feel about them
• Surprising and quite sophisticated things can emerge from interactions of simple elements (of which the brain/nervous system is an example, as we'll see).
  • one example
  • another
  • and another
• It isn't that anything "disappears" as one discovers things related to the brain but rather that the Brain gets "wider"
  • Disadvantages?
    • Vulnerability?
    • Amorality?
    • Indifference to the interpersonal?
    • Using MRI's to See Politics on the Brain ???
  • Advantages:
    • ???
    • would make the unobservable observable?
• Brain=behavior "True"? ("perhaps we just do not have the right microscopes yet"?). Good "story"?

Our task for the semester (and beyond?):

Let's roll ... Forum area this weekend: YOUR thoughts on "brain=behavior", on science, on ... ?

• Is "brain = behavior" a good story? What's problematic about it?
  • observations to date?
  • difficulties in extension to additional things?
  • implications for other stories?

30 January

Starting with what one thinks .... and getting used to/seeing the advantages of being wrong

From the Forum Brain = Behavior? By treating stuttering as a legitimate disease, it is possible to pinpoint the source, which scientists are currently in the midst of doing, and find a drug that will be able to minimize the amount and severity of stuttering that some people suffer from. This could not only improve their speaking skills, but also their general quality of life ... Cayla Something to think about is that if Descartes was alive right now amidst these technologies and discoveries would he still believe in his mind and body theory? ... I am a believer of brain= behavior but recognize Descartes for his importance in laying the foundations for thought in this field.Aditya The brain may be responsible for the chemical actions that physically cause behavior, but I think it is very short sighted to think that the brain causes all behavior. Environmental factors, upbringing, role models, culture and situation all influence behavior. The brain cannot stand alone as the reason for all behavior ... Ariannah I think every environmental and social influence, has to be taken in through the brain ... Karen I feel behavior has a spiritual side because there are some aspects of human nature that seem unexplainable. My best example is human innovation ... What in the brain formulates new technology that drives our world forward? ... Perhaps, there is an intangible factor to behavior that science cannot justify. In my opinion, Descartes theory of dualism between the brain and the soul seem to explain the unexplainable ... Lauren Whether all of these behaviors most definitely not associated with the nervous system are due to a soul or mind or something else that is present in all creation I really don't know and would not hazard to guess at ... Alexandra even though the brain may control a great deal of our physical body, there is something else that we remain ignorant of ... Mollytam I have come to believe in the Buddhist canon that there is no self, just the mind and body. I think that is the beauty of seeing the mind separate from the brain. It helps one understand that all things barely last a moment in time, and the mind has the ability to interpret the information in a better way ... A. Kyan I just find it impossible to believe that there isn't something else... perhaps an energy, or something ... Antonia ... and morality? To extend Holly and Stacey's lines of questioning, what are we to make of moral/ethical behavior in the context of brain vs. spirit? If morality is inextricably linked to spiritual constructs of right and wrong in Western thought, does this mean you cannot behave morally without a belief in a "higher power?" ... secalwe figuring out which gender you identify with may be a lifelong process, and may even change during the course of your life ... steph ... and reality? the idea that you, and I, and everything I can see right now is somehow only present because I perceive it is a crock. I think these things exist, with or without me, in my reality and in yours. But, I believe my presence allows me to perceive it my way. It just reminded me so strongly of that old conundrum: If a tree falls in the forest ... dmckeever I'm inclined to disagree, if only to be the devil's advocate. The trend is that when trees fall in forests, they make noise, but that's only because we are there to perceive the sound. Something only happens if it is observed ... Sarah ... and self? this raises a handful of somewhat frightful questions: are we nothing more than a collection of attributes? And if so, do we have any say in the matter? Or are we hardwired from birth with certain associations and configurations? Nevertheless, even if we were nothing more than a bundle of properties, with no distinction between mind and body nor physical and non-physical, we would still be in a constant state of flux and change ... And that's what human beings seem to be; we are works in progress, more or less ... Meera if one makes an active effort to change a behavior and suceeds in doing so then does that also cause a change in the brain? This question I think makes more sense if you think of the brain and mind as seperate things because it's hard to think of an actual change in the brain on a material level as if rewiring the calculator. Or is it that people can't actually change their behavior and we have no control over it ... plebron87 You can't change your genes, but you have the ability to act against your natural tendencies from them, which is an interesting idea in itself... eden But can a thought, anxiety or desire of a person result in an illness? And what about other thoughts and beliefs that are said to manifest themselves physically, like stigmata? ... Rachel if thoughts supposedly arise from physical structures (i.e. neural connections) then why can't thoughts influence those physical structures in turn? ... Heather In the article, it sounded as if the words brain activity and awareness were interchangeable. The definitions of these words are multi-faceted and don't necessarily go hand in hand. How does the presence of brain activity relate to consciousness? ... Francesca ... and the course We, us right now, at this very moment, are the pioneers discovering the brain ... What we know about the brain are answers to questions science doesn't even know how to pose ... Holly we all recognize (or should) that science will change, even its current most fundamental truths may not stand the test of time ... Darlene We must learn to debate and think ... taking into account the current body of observations and base our inquiries on that... Rebecca

IF Emily et al are right:

• "brain"="nervous system"=body=matter, therefore all action/experience a function of organized matter? complexity from simplicity? (puzzlements? discomforts? see end of last lecture)
• Brains must not be only "reactive"
• Brains are to some degree different in different people
• Brains in given people must change with time/experience, must be affected by culture/language, nexus point for ALL influences on behavior?
• Brains must have different parts?

If brain=behavior then the nervous system must not be a stimulus/response machine (nor a bag of chemicals) that is invariant and the same in everyone. It must instead be

• somewhat different in different individuals,
• affected by both genes and experiences/culture,
• capable of
  • different outputs for the same input
  • taking in inputs with no output
  • generating outputs with no input
  • a "semi-autonomous" input/output box consisting of input/output boxes.

Go on to look at actual nervous systems to see if they satisfy expectations and to address issues ... further iterations ("getting it less wrong") to come?

The "real" nervous system - an input/output box consisting of interconnected input/output boxes?

	photo from Kemali and Braitenberg, Atlas of the Frog Brain, Springer-Verlag, 1969

Caudal to rostral sequence of "boxes" of "central nervous system" originates in neural tube development, is commmon to all vertebrates (will defer to later discussion of invertebrates, variations among vertebrates)

Each box in turn (somewhat arbitrarily) subdividable into smaller boxes (with some differences among vertebrates, to return to)

And those ... yes, "its boxes all the way down"

• dorsal medulla, cerebellum
• ventral medulla
• forebrain
• spinal cord

The smallest box: neurons everywhere

Invertebrate nervous systems also have neurons, but differently arranged - makes sense?

Neuron as common, smallest box and as input/output element, connected to other boxes

• Cells, like other cells, but specialized to receive/process transmit "information" (as opposed to matter or energy)
• Size scale - tens of microns (10^-6) meters)
• Larger boxes must differ in how smallest interconnected
• Relevance of numbers? enough to "account for all the uniqueness that exists among people"? ... 10¹²exp10¹² possible nervous systems?
• Differences between people, differences between organisms due to .... not building blocks but assembly (architecture)
• Need to know how neurons work - to return to

Can use boxes->boxes ... ->boxes(neurons) to show that larger boxes interconnected, in relatively specific ways (anatomical specificity) and to rigorously specify "input" and "outputs" of largest box ... nervous system itself

• grey matter (soma, dendrites, pre-synaptic terminals, neuropil) vs white matter (bundles of axons, tracts)
• central vs peripheral nervous system (some ganglia, but largely axon bundles
• output elements of nervous system (motoneurons, plus) = neurons with axon terminating outside nervous system
• input elements of nervous system (sensory neurons, plus) = neurons with receiving surface (dendrites) outside of nervous system
• everything else = interneurons

  So ... at least parts of our box within box model real ...

  The boxes inside boxes (with "autonomy") model plus Additions: Inside boxes THEMSELVES have interconnected inside boxes Organization critical Internal interconnections = tracts, axonal bundles "Action" regions = neuropil (somas, dendrites, synapses) Inputs = axons of sensory neurons (plus) Outputs = axons of motor neurons (plus), can be very long And some questions (as in figure)

  6 February

  From the Forum After learning about leeches in vitro, reading about the hippocampus in vitro, and remembering Phineus Gage, I think the brain has pre-programmed systems in different parts of the brain, which are activated from interconnections between all the parts of the brain and an executive system also in the brain. I am even more a believer of the brain being filled with interconnected boxes theory, and brain=behavior ... Aditya this similarity is not only from human to human either. So much brain research is performed on rats and other small mammals--and that can tell us about the human brain. Using the boxes within boxes model, this makes sense considering the smallest box we're considering is the same. Our differences are incredible, but it's the similarities that interest me the most ... Sarah While I find the sheer number of neurons in our bodies to be impressive, I am more interested by the idea that (far) less than .01% of our neurons are in contact with the world ... with 99.99% of our neurons being interneurons, very little of our nervous system really has a direct perception of the world. After those very few sensory neurons, everything is essentially transmitted as chemical and electrical signals with varying concentrations and frequencies ... As Emily Dickinson tells us, the mind contains the world, but it's also interesting to consider that the mind can never come into contact with this world ... the world that we "know," is not as it is in-and-of-itself (the world qua world). However, we can never know what we miss by viewing the world through the lens of our mind. I suppose this goes back to the tree in the woods question, as one may ask if the world un-perceived exists or even matters ... Ian if I have a dream about a forest is there a forest? My brain is creating the forest. Is that the same as perceiving a forest? My brain is still creating something. How is that different in a dream? What makes one forest real and not the other? ... James Is an original thought what's created as an output, with no input? ... Karen What is an original thought, and can it only be composed of other original ideas to be an original thought? ... In Descartes' Mediations, he uses an analogy to link dreams and reality that I think would like to apply here ... we understand that a painting has been created independent of things the painter has seen. For instance a satyr would be composed of a human and a goat, both of which the painter has seen, but has put the halves together to create an entirely new creature ... Rachel if Emily Dickinson had known what we now know today she wouldn't have been in the least surprised. The fact that the brain can produce outputs without any external inputs would not, I think, surprise her ... It explains why you can wake up from a nightmare with your heart racing and cold sweat pouring down your neck in the same way it would if you had really just been pursued by some terrible entity. So perhaps, the great poet is right. Everything is just a function of the brain. To the brain the dream is just as real and just as significant as physical outside input ... Alexandra the part of the motor cortex that was in charge of dealing with these piano-playing finger movements had taken over surrounding area in the five days of practicing. But the most interesting part of this experiment was in the second group he tested. In this test, instead of actually practicing PLAYING the paino, he has his subjects THINK about playing the piano for the same amount of time as the first group for five days. They were to visualize moving their fingers in the same way the first group would have, just without real movement. When he did the TMS test on these people. the results were surprising: the part of the motor-complex that controlled the finger movements had once again expanded and taken over adjoining areas of the brain. In class the other day we talked about whether or not just htinking could actually change the structure of the brain (aside from consolidating memories, etc). This is proof that indeed, it can ... a fascinating, but somewhat terrifying thought. What if you unconscoiusly are thinking of something enough that it changes the structure of your brain without your knowing? ... Its seems ...that Emily Dickinson is indeed right: we are a product of the brain as opposed to the other way around ... Caroline At the end of this article [on pseudocyesis], a doctor is quoted as saying, "The pituitary gland is located right at the base of the brain, and that's where all the hormones come from" in pregnancy, he said. "This is one of the classic examples in medicine of how the mind affects the rest of the body." Although I may just be being picky, I think that the doctor used a poor choice of words. Brain, would have been a much better word to convey the message that he was trying to get across because he is attempting to explain the body's response ( or behavior ) to an influx of hormones in the BRAIN not the mind ... What is perception's role in this phenomenon? If people did not perceive the "pregnant" woman as being such, would she go through the 9 months of symptoms and try to deliver or would her feelings subside without positive reinforcement? ... Stacy After reading Stacy's post about pseudocyesis, I began to think about other examples of specific outputs that were created without the introduction of those inputs attributed to them. In my opinion, the use of placebos in experimental research is a perfect example of this phenomenon ... csandrinic I was thinking about the boxes within boxes model of the nervous system and I came to realize that as impressive as this system of the nervous system is, what really astounded me is trying to wrap my head around the fact that this system is vastly different from person to person, thus making us each our own unique person. This idea applies to the phenomenon of pseudocyesis because as was pointed out, not every person who wants to have a baby goes through pseudocyesis ... Jessica I think that if others do not perceive the women as pregnant she may eventually stop perceiving herself as pregnant as well. This may be what happened with Queen Mary, after her first "full term" false pregnancy no one believed her and her second false pregnancy only last a few months ... Laura I believe it is the mind that has conjured up these desires, which then affects the brain and the body (much like psychosomatic diseases that are caused by a chaotic mind.) .... A Kyan Ok, so in class today, Sarah played the devil's advocate and challenged my "tree falls in the forestÉ" example based on perception and its effects ... so maybe I am gathering a new set of observations to revamp my original argument ... Eden exists whether I exist or not, because others are perceiving her ... But ... if my perception of Eden did not exist, then the Eden that here and now exists would not Ñ a part of her would be lost, that part that was part of me ... dmckeever I agree that Eden will exist regardless of whether you (dmckeever) exist because others perceive her. But I think your thought on how other's perception shapes Eden's identity is incomplete. It is true that "Eden's existence is very much dependent on those around her because our perceptions of her make her who she is" but this would not be true if Eden did not have the ability to respond to our perceptions of her ... a child with CIPA will never learn directly that touching a hot stove will burn. If a child touches a hot stove, he will not be able to respond to the input and change his brain; he will not be able to change his actions/himself according to the input ... An example with Eden would be: Eden is in a group of people that do not like the subject money ... If she could not perceive the group's dislike, Eden's existence does not depend on those around her because the perception of those around her does not make her who she is. She would continue to talk about money with or without the group's perception of her. It is important to remember that it is an endless loop of inputs and outputs, which can be another person's outputs and inputs ... alexa09 what about when Eden is by herself? I guess it comes back to the same ol' "If Eden falls in the forest, and no one is there to laugh at her..." question. However, being fairly well aquainted with Eden myself, I'd like to argue that I still exist when you guys aren't around. Or at least, I perceive myself to be existing. In which case, maybe this is an argument about sentience ... even a mushroom reacts to its environment, it just doesn't "know" that it's doing it. Well, unless there's a lot more to mushrooms than we think, which is always a possibility ... Eden The organism, however, is unaware of the brain's "decision" to alternate motor unit activation. In this case, output seems to be generated with no input. However, I propose that the brain creates an input for reasons unknown to the organism's conscious mind, but known to the brain. This kind of internal reasoning or unconscious reasoning is the input that creates the output ... If the cricket chirps for reason's that he's unconscious of, it could be something his body is telling him or a prediction about what is to come. He's consciously unaware of it, despite his brain's awareness. Could his mind and body be sensing something that he isn't aware of? Is the unconscious a type of input that conveys an output? ... Lauren Seems to me that ovulating human females are equivalent to the male crickets chirping for absent females Ð they are unconscious actions based on some inner unknown trigger ... secaldwe What is of greatest interest to me in these arguments is that you both refer to the unconscious as something that could be perceived as being distinct from brain/ neurological function. Is stating that the above are unconscious actions ways of explaining what we can't yet comprehend about the function of the nervous system, or are you making an inference to the soul and how it operates with the brain? ... Rachel Years later, the memory will surface, and the repulsiveness of the situation will be understood by the victim, thus causing an output of certain behaviors.This leads me to wonder about the Autonomy Model of the nervous system. Although this model leaves room for inputs and outputs to not direct connect, and for living beings to react as they please, it does not explain suppressed memory ... lrifkin Perhaps there is a break in the chain of boxes that results in this delayed response to these traumatic events. Perhaps we have the ability to control inputs on a much greater level than we know or are able to comprehend ... Katherine something is missing. I just do not seem to be able to account for such things as personality and freewill. Variability in our neural connections does not completely justify these aspects of the brain, or should I say, the mind. If we were nothing but neurons and connections we would be more like robots, would we not? ... Jayme While I really enjoy this class, the vastness of the human nervous system makes me wonder what it can actually teach us, other than that the brain is far too complex to ever be minimally understood ... Cayla I think it is a bit ill-conceived to think we can map out the brain by categorizing it and putting it into boxes. Not only are there more neurons than we can count, but weren't we just saying last week how little we know about the brain? We say there is no input as the cause of an output and that may be true, but we are considering the brain in such a linear style: why does the brain have to be so straightforward and fit so nicely into boxes? Frankly, I much prefer to think of the brain as complicated until proven otherwise ... Holly And outputs without inputs... to be quite honest, I don't know what to think about that. Maybe, as Holly says, that this does not exist, and we merely are unable to see the input right now. Or maybe Kirsten is right in that we could call this our imagination. I would really like to explore this more in class, because I just don't understand how there can possibly be an output without an input ... Antonia

  Continue looking at actual nervous systems to see if they satisfy expectations and to address issues ... further iterations ("getting it less wrong") to come?

  The "real" nervous system - different if behavior different?

  • Among different kinds of organisms?
    • Notice neocortex present in some, not all vertebrates
  • Among different individuals? within individuals over time?
    • Notice that differences leave open the question of what causes differences (genes, experiences, activity, culture, etc)
    • Implies that "information" can alter matter; not mysterious, "info" turns out to be perturbations of matter organization in neurons, can via metabolic processes influence organization/properties of neurons

  Outputs - topographic organization - anatomical specificity

  • Motoneurons located at levels of neuraxis related to location of muscles controlled
    • spinal AND cranial motor nuclei/nerves
  • Each motoneuron activates only one muscle
  • Implications:
    • "action" is not one output but pattern of activity across lots of them - "motor symphony"
    • source of lots of additional variation in behavior
    • lots of outputs/nervous system involved in any "action", is "distributed" characteristic
    • need to understand how patterns of activity created, parts coordinated
  Inputs - also some topographic oranization (with some other things to be returned to)
  • Sensory neurons terminate at levels of neuraxis related to location of receptors
    • spinal AND cranial ganglia/nerves/terminal zones
  • Implications
    • "sensation"/"perception" not one input but pattern of activity across lots of them (across modalities and, as will be seen, in one modality - another "distributed" characteristic
    • need to understand how inputs combined

  For additional information: central nervous system - regional neuroanatomy peripheral nervous system overview Sympathetic/parasymaphetic systems Enteric nervous system cranial nerves/sensory ganglia/motor nuclei spinal nerves/sensory ganglia/motor nuclei

  Usefulness of the interconnected box model and ... another box?
  • Capabilities of spinal cord
  • Quadriplegia (slightly better) - relevance of topographic organization
    • Christopher Reeves and ... , from NIH
  • The "I-function"

  Observations "surprising", but have to be accepted - Issue is "how to make sense of them"

  Two kinds of behavior ("reflex" versus something-else) intuition probably not useful

  • Spinal cord capable of very sophisticated activity
  • Brain capable of quite unsophisticated activity
  • Distinction between "reflex" and other things?
  Break problem down into components, see what actually difficult/suprising (good general principle in science)
  • "foot withdraws when irritated" - spinal cord capable of sophisticated activity on own
    • is ok ... given topography and "physical contiguity principle ("PCP")
  • "person doesn't say ouch when foot irritated" - behavior frequently depends on linking paths within nervous system
    • is ok ... given topography and "physical contiguity principle ("PCP")
  • "person doesn't move foot when hearing (or reading) request to do so" - behavior frequently depends on linking paths within nervous system
    • is ok ... given topography and "physical contiguity principle ("PCP")
  • "person says foot irritation not felt/experienced" - behavior frequently depends on linking paths within nervous system
    • is ok ... given topography and "physical contiguity principle ("PCP") AND ..
    • "behavior" can occur without it being experienced by the behaving organism AND ...
    • neuronal circuitry adequate to support "feeling/experiencing" (I-function) is in the brain (spinal cord not needed for this function)

  • Where is Christopher Reeves? Is he paralyzed? Does he feel pain? - has to do with "mind", "self", "soul", "personality", "consciousness" ?
    • words requiring redefinition in light of new experiences/observations?

  13 February

  From the Forum how can one measure behavior when, if we all have 10^12 neurons, there is so much possibility for behaving differently? How can behavior be made into a credible science when there are infinite possibilities for generalizations masquerading as truths? ... Steph I would go nuts if I had to write a paper on a book that kept changing its format as I was reading it - how can these scientists see any progress when dealing with the ultimate in incomprehensible shape-shifters? ... Sarah Thinking about people with quadriplegia or any other kind of neurological disorder, or even mental disorders and disabilities, part of me wondered why the mind cannot fix these things as well ... Jessica The effectiveness of placebos seems to depend on where on the spectrum [from "objective" to "subjective"] the illness lies. I have not read any studies showing that administration of placebo drugs results in regained movement in quadriplegia. Whereas placebos and antidepressent drugs have about equal efficacy in many trials. This makes alot of sense to me, not because depression is any less "real" but because of its subjective nature ... Rebecca Based on this article I would say that "thought" can affect matter directly although it would be more accurate to say that "thought" is a physiological process involving physiological (read: material) changes and mechanisms ... James I find it very difficult to deny the power of the mind in dealing with pain because all my life I have seen people overcome great pain with mental strength. I am really posing a question for thought: if Emily Dickinson is right, then are these differences in tolerance and reactions, which could be grouped in with all other behavior, simply a product of the structural make-up of the brain? ... dmckever I think we are making progress in having this "I-function" box and accounting for experience, but I think we need to further define the implications and assumptions that are associated with such a box ... Holly Brain damage causes loss of the I-function ... Adiya is it possible that some people's "I-functions" naturally have more control/awareness than others? ... Claire Whereas we spoke about how it is possible to receive inputs and generate appropriate outputs without necessarily being aware of doing so (in the way that Christopher Reeves will move his foot if it pinched), in this situation it is possible to believe that we are generating outputs, to simulate an output in our brain, without having any concrete input or visible output ... csandrinic Maybe the conscious and the unconscious that Freud psychoanalyzed are our I-Function ... Laura I have a lot going through my I-box right now ... Stacy Does this inner activity in our nervous system relate to our inner self? Are inner selves all the same since we all have an I function or are they different because the patterns of neuron activities are too complex to recreate in two people? ... Lauren the capabilities of the spinal cord alone continues to amaze me ... The mechanisms of the spinal cord and corresponding extremities are enough to sustain life (with a supply of nutrients and oxygen) however; they seem to be lacking the experience aspect of living it is limited in the sense that if you tickle the frog in the same way it will most likely produce the same twitching behavior ... This descriptions seems comparable to a machine, and machines are not usually thought of as experiencing ... It is still unclear to me what the actually process of experiencing is; this is merely an interpretation of information. I am also unclear on how information is stored in the form of memory. In general people learn from experience, but in what form is this experience stored? ... Rachel

  Ascending somatosensory pathways Descending motor pathways Action (and perception) as problems of patterns of activity (thinking?) Behavior as dependent on internal communication among boxes I-function as a distinct box Behavior as interacting boxes I-function is not necessary for behavior dependent on other boxes for access to input and influence on output necessary/helpful in thinking about meanings of "paralysis", "pain"?, "choice"?

  
  

  If its all sensory neurons, motoneurons, interneurons, and signals moving among them, we need to look at signals, what they are, how they're handled ...

  Signals:

  • Resting potential
  • Action potential
  • Receptor and generator potentials
  • Synaptic potentials

  • Start with action potential, use it to raise questions that will lead to explanation of resting potential, use those ideas in turn to successively build up a set of more basic ideas that collectively account for all signalling.
    • continual motion (diffusion)
    • concentration gradients of charged particles (ions)
    • specific membrane permeability
    • passive current flow
    • variable membrane permeability

  Action potential - longitudinal battery which appears/disappears successively at successive points along an axon ("travels" at finite speed), "all or nothing" transient (millisecond range) event

  • Helps to account for "thinking takes time"
  • Is the common currency of "information" in nervous system cables (axons, axon bundles), of all organisms
    • Problem: how distinguish action from perception from thought?
    • Solution: anatomical specificity ("see thunder, hear lightning")
  • Is way to "see" otherwise unobservable
  • Need to understand it - doing so will help make sense of other potentials, provide further insights into how ns COULD be behavior

  To understand action potential, need first to understand resting potential - transverse battery, continuously present, with potential for continuous variation

  Organization based on random motion

  • Diffusion
  • Selective permeability
  • Charged particle movement, balance of diffusion and battery creation
  • Stable transverse battery, with potential for variation
    • Concentration gradients, energy dependent ion pumping
  • Can get action potential? what more?
  action potential: adjacent membrane regions with different transverse batteries (because of different selective permeabilities) - Issue then is how to get it to MOVE, with finite velocity?

  Propagation passive current flow voltage/time dependent permeability change - Channel gating Non-linearities ... Threshhold (alternate and another) - Analogue to digital conversion, turning continuous fluctuation into signal/no signal direction of propagation, rudimentary history dependence (memory) Notice it is NOT matter moving, nor energy, it is a perturbation (signal, information)

  Will propagate if started. How affect things? How started? Need to understand synaptic potentials, receptor potentials, but first ...

  Lots of things can start it. Among them is something that provides answer to one of our box questions ...

  

  And the big question ... Do signals actually start in the middle of the box? If so, how?

  Yes, not mysterious, follows from what we know, if we add possibility of some differences in permeability of some membrane regions not mysterious, has interesting implications ...

  • brain in a vat
  • action without "personal responsibility"?
  • epilepsy
  • other things?

  Go on to receptor potentials, synaptic potentials (how action potentials affect things, how boxes integrate, how signals stopped in box)

  Input (sensory) signals - an example

  • Neuronal receiving surface outside nervous system
  • Sensory transduction - specific channels varying permeability in response to external events
  • Receptor potential - continuously variable in space/time (like passive current flow
  • Transformed into action potentials
  • Coding in pattern of action potentials
  • Significance for behavior?
    • Restricted sample of "reality"
    • All representations of "reality" in same form, in same signals as those created in nervous system itself
    • Anatomical specificity IMPORTANT ("hear lightning, see thunder")
      • Auditory pathway
      • Visual pathway

  20 February

  I understand how action potentials cause movement and reaction to outside stimulus ... but how do thoughts cause action potentials? I've learned about action potentials several times now in my biology/psychology career and this point always gets me ... AriannahM I always though that whether I was attracted to someone depended entirely on my opinion of them and their personality I guess I have less control than I thought. Emily Dickenson wins this one ... Laura I do think it is interesting to think that action potentials may in fact be the limiting factor in our sensitive and experiential reality ... Holly After the tsunami hit, there was a lot of talk about animals and their "6th sense." It appeared that animals were afraid and acted strangely before it hit, as if they new something was about to happen. It seems reasonable that receptors could explain this phenomenon ... francescamarangell Society as a whole does seem to be constantly searching to be more "in touch" and "in tune" with themselves, their lives, and the world around them and beyond them. And, perhaps even more surprising, is the success and fulfillment that many claim to find when these connections are made, when they find a way to perceive what has previously been beyond their senses. If we are truly equipped with "nothing more, nothing less" than needed for survival (Aditya), why do so many strive to perceive what is beyond their own senses? ... Meredith maybe we're much, much less advanced, in comparison to other organisms, than we think are ... Karen Proprioception, termed the "sixth sense", is the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself ... RachelBrady What I find interesting, is the small portion of what we're able to percieve that we actually pay attention to. We are not always aware of the clothes on our backs, but if someone brings your attention to it, "Hey, your shirt's on backwards," you become extremely aware of it .... Think of an autistic child who hates going to the grocery store. He is so miserable because he can sense the light cycling in the flourescent lighting, almost like a buzz, and is acutely aware of all the people surrounding him, moving around, talking, making noise ... He is experiencing more of reality than I would in that grocery store ... Sarah Are our senses meant to be completely separated or are we meant to experience everything in a way that engages all of our senses? ... kjusewiczh it occurs to me to wonder why, if it is possible for the brain to create its own action potentials and stimulus, is it not possible to experience things for which you have no outer receptors ... alexandra mnuskin How does one with no arm experience the sensation of that non-existent arm being pinched? ... Stacey I started thinking about people who claim to be able to see people's "auras" that surround them and what color that person emits. I don't think I disbelieve that people can do this, it seems to me just another sensory cross-over like the people with synesthesia ... Jessica Wurtz what is it in our brains that allow us to sense what is occurring in other people? ... AKyan

  Reminders about receptor potentials and implications:

  • exist only if there are proteins that transduce external input: restricted sample of "reality"
    • how do we know about things that we don't have receptors for?
    • could we have receptors that we don't know about?
  • produce action potentials regardless of input character: anatomical specificity critical
    • Auditory pathway
    • Visual pathway
  • coding in patterns of action potentials; pattern critical

Synaptic potentials - Synaptic integration

• action potential vanishes at synapse
• intermediate chemical step: neurotransmitter release and ... (multiple control steps)
• permeability change leads to >synaptic potential, also continuously variable in space/time
• summation - neuron as integrator rather than relay
• inhibitory synaptic potentials, algebraic summation
• is how to "stop" signals - significance for behavior?
  • neurons as individual "computers"
  • "thinking backwards" - chicken with head cut off
  • other things, eg ...
    "do people with ADD or ADHD have a decreased amount of inhibitory synaptic potentials"? .... Elissa
  • "pharmacological" as well as "anatomical" specificity

• Lots of neurotransmitters
• anatomical - e.g. presynaptic inhibition
• multiple steps in synaptic transmission - e.g. neurotransmitter inaction/reuptake
• use-dependence
  • nervous system as continually evolving
• additional indirect effects of receptor activation - e.g. neuromodulation
  • signalling linked to cellular metabolism
  • nervous system as continually evolving

• hormones, other materials, external agents (drugs, food, etc)
• "chemicals" can be an input/ouput, modulates "state" of network
• pharmacological as well as anatomical specificity
  • "When people experience mood swings, do their neurotransmitter levels fluctuate significantly?" ... Claude
  • we are not "bags of chemicals", but may be patterns of activity that reflect in part chemical neurotransmitters and can be modified by the chemical environment

Seeing where we were, where we are ...

Problems solved, new issues raised ...

• got inputs, outputs, boxes inside boxes
• got signals starting in middle, ending in middle
• got "I-function" as box
  issues of "self", "consciousness", "free will" not avoidable - if such terms didn't already exist, we'd have to make them up to make sense of studies on the nervous system ... "I-function" one way into them
  • report of internal state
  • effect of external event on internal state
  • action based on internal state as opposed to simply external state or "causeless"?
• got general sense of how smallest boxes work
  • integrators, with own contribution
  • anatomical specificity, local information transmission
  • pharmacological specificity, local and more global information transmission
  • modified by their own activity/function
• implies all aspects of behavior/experience correspond to patterns of action potentials in neurons (modifiable by hormones, drugs, etc). Important "micro" base but also already some important "macro" understandings. Behavior/experience
  • involves distributed patterns of activity
  • changes due to its own activity
  • is sensitive to chemicals
  • does not always have an external cause
  • may be as much a function of inhibition as excitation

Begin (non-traditionally) with output - "action" (since not all outputs can be accounted for by inputs and, it will turn out, outputs can affect both inputs and the processing of them, the nervous system, like science, is "loopy")

Action = "motor symphony" A new concept: the reafferent loop Accounting for motor symphony Use reafferent loop? Play from internal score?

27 February

when we learn new things our brains are continually making new connections, yet here we are talking about erasing those connections which lead to problems. When we are able to both create and remove connections within our brains, will we then each have our own "designer" brain? ... Leigh a rather common and growing social faux pas which virtually all of us are guilty of committing from time to time. Classified under the umbrella of the developing field known as social neuroscience, this phenomenon is called flaming, or more technically "online disinhibition effect," ... Meera to gain some insight into what we've been referring to in class as the "I function" (the article uses the phrase "executive or cognitive control"). What this study suggests is that, although we know very little about abstract thought and its analogues, the responsible neurons are physiologically situated in the prefrontal cortex ... James brains in love and brains in lust actually look very different, exposing the fact that love and lust are stimulated in different parts of the brain ... Steph I wonder if creative thought - as in inspiration" (in dance, theater) - has any pre-programmed movements just as reaching for an object is imbedded in our nervous systems ... secaldwell epilepsy further exemplifies the complexities that are responsible for behavior and also the minute amount of understanding we have of them. We know that these excitatory and inhibitory synaptic potentials exist and work most of the time, but they don't work the same way or right in anyone. There are still more questions out there about behavior and how everything works together (or for that matter, doesn't)... Holly After reading about the ability to loose one's sense of proprioception, I then discovered two instances in which the human sense of proprioception can be tricked into working when it is not needed ... amputees describe pain and sensation in the place where a limb has been removed years after surgery ... lrifkin there are also less extreme cases of the loss of sensitivity to the proprioceptors, such as aging and muscle or joint injuries ... Studies show that after three months of regularly performing movements aimed at sharpening balance, the vast majority of elderly subjects restored a level of body control and posture stability ... the only way to stabilize the proprioceptors, which are in charge of unconsciously perceiving movement and spatial orientation, is to make a conscious effort to do so. In other words, the actions go through the I-function box rather than skipping it. ... csandrinic if someone throws something unexpectedly at you, and you put your hands up to cover your face, did YOU put your hands up, do you remember thinking about putting your hands up? ... another part of my nervous system sensed the danger before my ibox did ... How much control do we have our bodies? ... Aditya

Central pattern generation

• "thinking backwards" about behavior, from output to input
• proprioception real, not I-function
• nervous system does same thing "at least five different ways"
• cpg common in lots of organisms, including humans
• may be genetic, or result of experience, usually both
• location?

CPG from genome/experience/combination - is interconnected neurons

• Lobster stomatogastric ganglion
• Neuromodulators

Location (back to crayfish)

Motor sympony lacks a conductor - coordinated performance of independent players (cf. Boids, flocking, fireflies) - efference copy = corollary discharge

some general implications

Look at some more uses/implications of corollary discharge:

• role in "perception"
• role in body sense
  • phantom limb
  • anosognosia
• comparison of expectation/input
• role in behavioral choice - Pleurobranchea

6 March

I have always thought that the brain was the "central hub" of the nervous system and that the neurons must send signals through the spinal chord. Now I see that organisms have central generators that are not located at or near the brain. They act on each other and not through a central hub of information. I have seen that we can experience phantom limbs that we think are there but it's because the nerves think that they are there. I was so confused in class this past week because my brain couldn't wrap around the fact that we can feel what is not there ... being wrong has never felt so right ... eshuster I am still very confused about the I-functions role in all this ... Are things corollary discharges something that we are not actually aware of - something that goes on inside without our thinking about and experiencing it? ... I confess I've always believed, perhaps subconsciously, that there was some unifying force, soul, I function, in short--the self that which qualifies you as a thinking and reasoning human being. Is that not what the I-function is? How many of these semi-autonomous parts have to malfunction for you to be considered damaged or even dead? It seems that there is no longer that distinct line between life or death, sanity and insanity ... alexandra mnuskin What are some natural neuromodulators that affect central pattern generated behaviors in humans and can these be artificially modified in order to enhance behaviors? I'll keep looking ... RachelBrady prior to class I was one of those people who would just assume an amputee complaining of limb pain was crazy ... while I understand that the basic underlying cause of motion sickness is that there is a disagreement between the sensory input and the corollary input that the brain is receiving, a few questions remain ... do sensory inputs originating in the eyes have greater influence on the brain than inputs coming from the skin? This question also came up in the discussion about phantom limb pain ... why don't the sensory signals correct the corollary signal? Something that completely stumped me was the condition known as "mal de debarquement." This is when one feels perfectly fine on a boat at high sea but becomes nauseous and disoriented on steady, dry land. Can anyone think of an explanation for this? ... Stacey Blecher It seems logical that immediately after you got off of a boat you might still feel like you were rocking because your system has gotten used to the sensation and has synchronized itself with the rocking motion; when you get off, it takes time for your body to adjust to its new surroundings. What really confuses me is that this condition can last for months or years ... katherine (see also secaldwe and Jessica Wurtz and lrifkin) If you are mute, and you pretend to scream, will there be a signal that gets sent to your auditory neurons? Will they desensitize themselves even though you are not capable of making any noise? ... Do mutes experience discomfort in the part of their body that expects to receive a signal but doesn't in the same way that an armless person will experience discomfort in the area where their limb should be? ... csandrinic We are all equipped with generally the same brains, with the same parts and connections, capable of the same functions yet we are all so different with regard to personalities, skills and talents, and preferences. I personally think the variability of central pattern generators and how corollary discharge signals interact in each person might explain this ...Does trying to explain these individual differences with central pattern generators and patterns of corollary discharge signals seem too farfetched? Aditya I find myself thinking about what is behind muscle memory. I think that it is very clear that we use muscle memory every single day. We don't think about how to walk, talk, or write. Does msucle memory completely cut out the brain and just rely on the motor neurons connected to the muscles in question or is it happening so fast that we just do not realize that our brain is being used? ... kjusewiczh

Have some useful "boxes"/concepts from thinking about output side in terms of possible origins of motor symphonies ... and some new questions
Output affects input ... input affects output?
Let's reinstate reafferent loop, see what new things that gets us

Stretch "reflex"

• Knee jerk
• Muscle spindle and stretch reflexes

• input causes output; output causes input - no "simple" cause/effect
• negative feedback - stabilizing, "purpose"?
• thermostat - variable setpoint
• temperature regulation
• weight control
• others?

Have motor symphony, central pattern generation, corollary discharge, "purpose", "choice" without I-function
What more from motor side?

Many more boxes/tracts relevant to output side of nervous system (alternate)
Cerebellum, basal ganglia as "loops"

• Cerebellum and "motor learning" (without the I-function)
• Motor imagery (the I-function without action)

• Somatotopy (topographic organization) - "upper motoneurons"?
• frogs don't have motor cortex - not needed for movement?
• decerebrate rigidity, spastic paralysis
  • human
  • cat
  • three-toed sloth

Role of motor cortex?

• inhibition
• fine motor control, exploration?
• "voluntary/involuntary movement" distinction - with/without "I-function"?

20 March

Recapitulation: (looking back)

Lessons learned "from the output side":

• There ain't nothing there but neurons (ion flows, permeability changes, transmitters ...), interconnections among neurons, information processing
• Action = motor symphony = spatio-temporal pattern of activity across lots of motoneurons
• Symphonies may be based on internal scores and/or afferent/reafferent signals (usually both)
• Symphonies may reflect prior inputs and/or genetic information (usually both)
• Symphonies may be endogenously generated and/or triggered by inputs (frequently both)
• Inhibition plays an important role in determining what symphonies are played
• Symphonies frequently involve distributed performances with corrollary discharge signals creating coordination
• Outputs affect inputs and their interpretation, both via the outside world and via corollary discharge signals
• Corollary discharge can create elements of what appears to the external observer to be "choice"
• Feedback organizations can endow systems with what appears to the external observer to be "purpose"
• Action can occur without involvement of the "I-function" or the neocortex
• Damage to neocortex abolishes the ability to create "voluntary" movement but not the ability to generate motor symphonies nor to do so in complex and "adaptive" ways in response to sensory input (relevant to the Terri Schiavo case?)

From the forum At the risk of sounding spectacularly obvious, it's a strange concept that we sometimes can't control our own bodies ... Heather (see also LS on sleeping pills, AriannahM on obesity) Who or what is really in control here? Right now it seems like the I-function is batting cleanup for whatever doesn't fit nicely into our already developed scheme ... I have to ask, where is the I-function located? Does it have a physical location or is it something within the different parts ... We think of purposeful actions and we like to assume that we have some control over it .. I'm not sure what role the I-function has in our purpose, both our executable purpose (day-to-day activities) and this idea of ultimate "purpose." It seems to me we are at a point where we need to identify who is really in control here ... Holly Stewart the implications of choice on the concept of learning creates another "catch 22" in the understanding of the brain and its workings. If, in fact, we do choose learning, we would be capable of making a choice to alter our own brain structures. And if we were capable of such alteration, then we would be capable of controlling changes in the brain's generation of outputs. Thus the control would be back in our own hands. However, if we do not have a choice in the matter of learning, if the structure of our brains really do take control of those actions, then the brain itself would be causing its own growth and altering its own outputs ... Meredith Sisson Isn't anyone else disturbed by this idea that many of the actions we take that we thought were acts of free will and of choice may actually be behaviors, or responses to patterns of action potentials, automatic responses to a stimulus coded for by the pattern generators pre-existing in our bodies?! ... I have had more time to think and so I am more terrified of the possibility that everything I do is dictated by some biological mechanism - even writing this post may not be a choice I am making; it may be voluntary because as far as I can tell, I want to be writing this right now, but may have been the only possible response to the discussion we had in class (the input), which triggered thoughts in my mind that resulted in this ... dmckeever while I do share the concern that my actions may not be the products of my free will, I must also recognize that I could not have the functional autonomy that I do have, as limited as it may really be, without the heteronomous input from the rest of my body ... Ian Morton convicted murderers had reduced glucose metabolism in their prefrontal cortex and people with antisocial personality disorder had significantly less grey matter in their prefrontal cortex. This brings up the idea that the cortex which potentially allows for the I-function to function, if damaged or is not functioning properly, might influence or not inhibit our natural inherent actions, and things like spastic paralysis, or as Raine suggests, violence occur ... Can we ever not hold people accountable for their actions if their cortex is not working properly? ... Should we be further researching these findings, are we just giving criminals an excuse? ... Aditya (also Lauren Poon)

Coming in from the sensory side

Expectations of what will be learned "from the input side"?

• can account for action in terms of neurons, assemblies of neurons
• origins frequently inside box
• meaning in distributed patterns of activity
• two systems, one involving I-function, the other not
• ?

• The "classical inputs": Seeing, hearing, smelling ... touch, taste
• Additional inputs, including proprioception, pheromone detection, and ... ?
• Extra-sensory perception?
  • Info the nervous system has without the I-function about it?
  • Information from sensory neurons neuroscientists don't know about?
  • Information that "self"/"mind" has which doesn't come through sensory neurons?
    • telepathy
    • remote viewing = clairvoyance
    • precognition
    • Science and Spirit
    • The Physical and the Spiritual: A Conversation About "How To Get Through the Veil"
• Further evidence, in any case, for "encapsulated" I-function

Interesting extensions of central origin of perception Fibromyalgia Psychogenic shock Ants crawling on skin "Psychosomatic" Actually its ALL "in the head" Relevance for synesthesia (separate modalities learned?)

Recall "labelled line" - see lightening, hear thunder because different neurons activated, send action potentials to different places

• Good first approximation but ...
  • Pain?
  • Synesthesia - more
  • Complication of "perception" ... "I-function"?
  • Stay with labelled line idea, one modality

Vision as a paradigmatic case (is it? ... is at least best studied, and shows some general principals)

• "Seeing" vs light-detection
• Critical feature is information about differences, in this case differences in light arriving from different locations

"Imaging" - essential role of non-neural structures

• pin hole aperture
• refraction, optics of eye - near and far sightedness
• creates one to one correspondence between direction in space and location on retina
• creates appearance of light going in one direction rather than all directions; don't see "reality", see "images"

• Size, stability, clarity, completeness of "picture in head"? Of picture on retina?
• Important details of retina
  • fovea
  • optic disk = nerve head
• nerve head more closely examined
• picture in head NOT picture on retina ... among other things, parts "made up"
• Additional insights into "I-function"?

27 March

Picture on retina and picture in head very different

• addition of "motor" information
• "inference" ("making up") parts of picture based on other parts of picture
• what "I-function" sees is not necessarily what's out there and it doesn't know it

From the forum Yesterday, I had to spend all day driving to Connecticut to pick up my car and while driving back I was contemplating vision and what I was seeing and what my brain was "filling in." It amazed me to think that the other cars, the road, my steering wheel, everything was a just points of light, two dimension images on my retina that appeared to me as three dimensional images ... LS It was "revealed" to us last class that the picture in our heads is larger than the picture on our retinas... Shouldn't we have already known that? Our eyes are so small, and our brains are supposedly "wider than the sky," so it shouldn't be difficult for us to comprehend that the retina picture is smaller. However, it's uncomfortable to know that picture transmission from retina to brain is done completely without the I-function ... Sarah Harding if the human brain is capable of generating and perceiving mental images without receiving input then I have to start questioning reality in terms of what I am seeing. Can I really trust my brain to give me an accurate image of what is in front of me? ... jpena It may in fact be the sensory system that has dictated our experiences within reality ... Holly Stewart Emily Dickenson's poem claiming that the brain contains everything is not completely accurate. One brain cannot contain another brain. Although it can control one's perception of the world and their behavior, and the world only exists because of the brain, someone else's brain can contain a world completely different. Therefore reality is comprised of everyone's joint perceptions of it ... Michelle

Look in more detail at retina and interconnections to get more idea of how much picture in head is "made up" ... and why

• reminder of retina as three layers of neurons
• photoreceptors -> ganglion cells ... "vertical" and "horizontal" connectivity
• receptors good photocells ... ganglion cells?
• lateral inhibition network and its significance
  • more "filling in"
  • reality "more real" than apparent from input received
  • inbuilt presumptions about nature of reality
  • in different worlds?

Why are people so concerned about "reality"? Important to know what's "out there" to test theories Useful to test/expand onself Might be more fun if there isn't a single one Would one want to experience directly what's "out there"? Could one? Reality is average with standard deviations Theater performance (or strobe) as metaphor audiences constructs reality from fragments may be constructed differently by different people insanity is that which is more than one standard deviation away

Thinking about imaging/lateral inhibition/brightness implies:

• What we see ("picture in head") is not "reality" but a "story", an informed guess about what is out there.
• Its an INFORMED guess. Based in part on genetic information about what "worked" in past
  • Plato's "ideal forms"
  • Kant's "a priori's"

• I-function "picture" is generally based on processes unknown to it (but usefully discoverable?)
  • The Brain's Images: Reflecting and Creating Human Understanding
  • Getting It Less Wrong, the Brain's Way: Science, Pragmatism, and Multiplism
  • Science as Story Telling and Story Revising

How to tell less wrong stories (guess well): using multiple perspectives ... to add depth

Binocular stereopsis resolving conflict	But ... creating ambiguity

Nervous system always has five ways to do the same thing - multiple depth cues

Better "picture" by making use of multiple perspectives, accepting/making use of "conflicts"

Ambiguity as fundamental in seeing, sensory systems generally
Can be reduced by using multiple cues, not eliminated (a "useful" gap?)

3 April

Ambiguity as fundamental in seeing, sensory systems generally
Can be reduced by using multiple cues, not eliminated (a "useful" gap?)

From the forum Illusions are not something abnormal that cloud the "normal" perception of the real world ... should be anlyzed as part of the normal perceptual process ... RachelBrady my brain isn't meant to perceive things as they really are. It's meant to perceive them in a way that is most helpful to my survival ... Claire Ceriani I think it isn't really necessary to consider what the world is like outside of our experience of it, since that is really all we can know (Kant also takes this viewpoint) ... Holly For me, my consciousness IS my reality. I would argue that you have to be conscious to have a reality, so these two concepts are interchangeable for me ... AriannahM [Tyler's] cure to the gaps in knowledge ... is hermeneutics. He proposes abandoning epitemology and embracing hermeneutics since the gaps in our knowledge are an unavoidable part of life ... In some sense, all our experiences are mediated... James Damascus No two humans are living and perceiving a different world ... Lauren Poon The problem I have is with the variation from person to person. If we are all creating our own constancies in our own realities, there is a lot of room for variation. But there doesn't seem to be that many differences in the observation of 'reality.' Does the blue that I see look like the blue you see because we were both taught that that specific wavelength of color is called blue? Or are we truly experiencing the same color?I believe our realities are the same from person to person ... Sarah Powers (see also Pleiades on color) It is amazing that our brain is able to see things in multiple different ways. But do we just assume that everyone is seeing the same thing or are we all really seeing the same thing? Perhaps we all just think that we are describing and looking about the same thing the same way; it is only until a picture such as the skull/woman is presented when the difference between what we see comes out... Katherine (see also Aditya) Basically, this class, by making me question reality, has made me a little more open to the idea that people can hear, see, or sense things that I may not be able to hear, see, or sense. I'm a bit ashamed to say it, because I really do like things to be clear, "experimentable on", etc. But maybe this is good... maybe I'll start looking into subjects I would otherwise have ridiculed ... Antonia J (see also eden and Steph Herold on auras) Two heads are better than one, not only for the combined thinking power, but also because one person can see something different/differently than another, opening up more pathways to an answer. So when people say, "We just don't see eye to eye", are they really not seeing the same things? And does this type of variable perception apply to the way people think as well? Is the i-function's ambiguities responsible for things that are considered creative and inventive? ... urbrainondrugs

The issue of color,

Physical "reality"

• Light consists of photons, intensity ~= number of photons
• Photons come in different wavelengths
• "White" = mix of photons of different wavelengths - alternate - alternate
• rainbow colors correspond to photons of different wavelengths
• colors of objects reflect absorption/reflection

• Retina - photoreceptors
• Rods/cones and photopigments
• dark adaptation
• Purkinje shift
• Trichromatic vision
• Color mixing(alternate)
  • broad band channel behavior
  • three channel behavior
  • color equivalence
• Land's color constancy ... more ... alternate

10 April

From the forum It seems like we have finally arrived at an answer for the tree falling in the forest problem ??? My [chemistry] professor said color is the result of hyperconjugation. Conjugation is when there are double bonds every other bond. When there are multiple conjugated structures put together, the structure is said to be hyper conjugated. This puts the pi orbitals close together. The proximity of the orbitals allows visible light to promote electrons which in turn causes "color". To me, this is a physical property; compounds that are colored are actually hyper conjugated. I understand we only experience the colors because of the way our vision works, but isn't the property physically there? ... AriannahM So what is reality then? In class we said that color is not an intrinsic quality of objects. I disagree. Because what is color? Color is directly related to the wavelengths of light adsorbed by an object, which is directly related to the energy of bonding systems within the compounds that make up the object. These things are fundamental to the object, regardless of whether or not they are perceived ... Without brains walking/crawling/swimming about, the world would be exactly what our nervous systems know it is: a bunch of forces, elements, light waves, pressure changes, electrostatic forces, masses, and magnets that interact in an incredibly intricate manner ... Eden If colors are only a creation of photoreceptors and our brain, then why are they used to signal harmful toxins and protect certain animals throughout nature- not just to humans? ... Sasha Actual sound occurs in the presence of two bodies and a space between them (filled with air, water) -- a body producing the sound, a space through which the waves can travel, and a sense organ. In other words, a single body cannot produce sound, as there must be a second body for the first to affect, a body for the produced waves to strike ... Ian Morton There is so much going on and under the control of the brain I am just amazed ... However in terms of the tree in the woods question, I do think that if no one hears the tree it doesn't make a sounds, but this gets trick in other cases and makes me uneasy. For example when I leave my dorm room in the morning ... does my dorm room cease to exist because I no longer attend to it with my visual system? I have a hard time believing this, I just do not know why. Maybe it is because I perceive it with my mind. When I am not with my friends they still exist even though I am not "seeing them" right ... at least I think so! This happens with people who have died technically they are not still here but we still are perceiving them and remembering themÉwhat does this mean then? ... LS Berkeley would certainly agree with the premise that if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to witness such an occurrence, the tree does not make a sound, this account would not be sufficient. He would go so far as to say that not only does the tree not make a sound, but also that there is no tree to begin with ... Meera Seth Just because we can't tell its there, doesn't mean a) it isn't, b) it isn't useful to something else perhaps in some other way ... Pleiades if every organism with the requirements to see and interpret the color of the world all closed their eyes at the same time, the world would suddenly go devoid of color? ... What about the world before there was life that could perceive color? Was nothing colored then? Were the skies and oceans and primitive plant life colorless simply because there were no eyes and nervous systems yet? I find it hard to believe that when those came into being, suddenly the whole world changed because of it ... Jessica Wurtz Whether our nervous system can process them or not - the waves and chemicals the tree gives off are the same --- they are intrinsic to the tree. What is not intrinsic to it--color, sound, smell is simply the way that the majority of people perceive it. It is just an evolutionary useful way for us all to function together ... Alexandra Mnuskin the implications of saying that there is no sound if a tree falls implies that we have not truly understood sensational reality, but we have begun to understand sound/vision/our experience within reality ... Holly Stewart Its relation to "disability" ... Even before taking this course I have wondered whether color is perceived by all in the exact same way. But now I don't feel like I have to wonder about that anymore because I am leaning towards the opinion that color is a construction of the brain ... I've also thought about my ADHD which makes it hard for me to block out noise distractions sometimes ... we have one disabillity, color-blindness, that limits input and another that fails to ignore some unwanted input. Both of these are "disabilities" but for different reasons so it seems like "disabilities" could be a social construction. People who sense inputs in ways that deviate from the average are said to be disabled. But where do we draw the line between disabled and different? ... jpena I definitely agree that disability is a social construction. What interests me is that many times when people are disabled--according to society - they often have developed other abilities beyond what is considered the norm ... these people are not disabled, but merely differently-abled ... katherine Standards are made in order to allow societies to function, however how are these standards set, for it could not be due to an overall consensus. Every "I" sees green slightly differently. Another example would be grades. Who is to say that a paper really is an A paper or a B paper? Is it really fair to proclaim a standard for, say, an english paper, where the reception of it can be so very different between two people? ... urbrainondrugs there ARE differences in perception which are dangerous. And I think that labeling these differences is important for the sake of the people themselves, and finding them treatment, and protecting others around them. This process of labeling is very difficult, and I don't know if it's the right way to go about things - but I can't think of anything better ... Antonia J I believe in my personal definition of "disability", which is when the mind handicaps itself from doing good things and overcoming the bad ... A. Kyan And beyond ... our reality is an educated guess of the brain that is continually checked ... how far can we push this idea? Can our mind fill in more complicated occurrences, such as movement? After all we perceive an object as having continual motion even when part if its trajectory is hidden from us, and not as two independent motions of a single object ... RachelBrady Can we understand some dreams as being reflections of those things which are not observed in the 'real world', but which occur and are interpreted in our sleep? That is, what if some dreams are a mechanism for that which is unobserved/witnessed to be experienced by us while asleep ... Darlene Forde

Lessons from color:

• "color" is a function of brain, not of physical reality
  • Add color contrast, like brightness contrast
  • Does a tree falling in the woods make a sound if no one is there?
• perception is different in different organisms (Goldsmith, Scientific American, July 2006)
  • Most vertebrates have four cone pigments
  • Most mammals have two
• perception different in different people
  • Color "blindness" (alternate)
  • Human tetrachromacy
  • what is "real"? does it matter?
  • what is "normal"?, the issue of "Culture as Disability"
  • multiple perspectives advantageous? generative?
• sensory info, like motor output, coded across populations
• brain creates "platonic ideals" - "categories" which "work"
  • a "gap" between the "physical" and the "mental"?
• allows creation of things which don't exist in physical reality - non-spectral colors
• is all done without the I-function
• there is a difference between knowing how to do something and EXPERIENCING doing something - more "gap"? another I-function characteristic?
  relates to The Content and Epistemology of Phenomenal Belief, by David Chalmers, and Vision in a Complete Achromat, written by a vision scientist.

Reality always an hypothesis, checked and rechecked ... ?

• Disconcerting ... but also liberating?
  • individual creativity
  • value of interpersonal sharing

Where IS "picture in head"? ... where/what is I-function?

Multiple ganglion cell types - frog

• contrast and color opponency
• multiple samples
• motion

Retinal projections ... another ... another

• multiple targets
• midbrain
• thalamus -> striate cortex
• different, parallel functions

• Visual field deficits

Moving on to neocortex

http://www9.biostr.washington.edu/DA-ATLASES/Neuroanatomy/gifs/Forebrain/Coronal%20Slabs/f60eb.gif

Visual Cortex - binocular convergence, altered "feature" detection, columnar organization, topographic organization

• Picture in head not in striate cortex
• parallels to topographic organization in motor cortex
• laterality re what looking at rather than re "self"
• unlike picture in head, representation in visual cortex moves when eyes move

• Color and motion dissociable
• Partial color deficits
• motion blindness
• face blindness
• Distributed "picture in head"

Blindsight and its implications - Don't NEED "picture in head"

• What IS "picture in head" for?
• internal experience
• Self as object
• I-function ("story teller"?) in neocortex? constructed ("story"), testable, reconceivable, "imaginary" and hence re-imaginable

17 April

From the forum I was having a conversation with my friend who is an english major about how she, as an english major, views human nature. I thought it was very interesting, because, if I understand her correctly, english majors generally discuss the self as if it were an etherial essence of some kind, and that human behavior is a result of various repressions of this due to societal pressures. When I mentioned that in this class we basically argue that everything is a product of the physical entity that is the brain, that there is no etherial "self," she was shocked. She said that if someone tried to argue that in her english class, they would probably be shot down by everyone in the class. I thought this was fascinating, because pretty much the exact opposite is true in this class (though perhaps not as extreme.) I think its pretty neat that different genres of subjects view things completely differently, and I see a lot of value in that. Sometimes I think it would be good for me to go sit in on an english class and hear someone argue the opposite case ... eden I have never second guessed my perception of reality because other people seem to have drawn similar conclusions. It is not as if we have to constantly ask if we are seeing or experiencing the same thing. The majority of the time, it seems like we come to a general consensus about what is going on and what we're looking at ... Katherine I am not disturbed by the fact that we are not experiencing the world as it "truly exists" because frankly, I am existing happily without that knowledge. I am able to interact with others sufficiently and appreciate the world to an extent with which I am happy ... dmckeever I am interested in the problems other have with this idea. To me it seems pretty...logical. We perceive the world via mechanisms that are appropriate for the behaviors we carry out. We dont have receptors for magnetic fields because that information is not particularly useful to the way we live. Humans typically find a good spot and stay there. We do not cover large distances and therefore do not need the unique navigational devices some birds have developed. The sound range we are able to experience is determined by the sounds relevant to our lives, human voices, tiger roars, baby cries, trickling streams, a mosquitos buzz. We make things up because there are gaps, and since on the large, things are predictable, we are able to fill in the blanks appropriatley. Whether or not there is an out there out there is pretty irrelevant for our lives. Who cares? As long are we are able to function as an individual and a society the existence of an objective reality has no real consequence one way or the other ... I guess I am questioning the merit that could be found in experiencing "more" "all" or "true" reality ... Rebecca Pisciotta I'm missing the passion that others in the class have on this discussion. To me, it seems like we are directing our energies toward something that is interesting and fascinating, but at the end of the day, does it really matter? ... AKyan I think people should feel comfortable with (and appreciative of) our ways of perceiving the world. It is ideally suited to the way we live our lives. Or alternatively, we live our lives in ways that are ideally suited to the way we perceive our world ... [but] Perhaps there is both truth and reality in those perceptions that lie more than 1 standard deviation from the mean. If so the true 'enlightenment' may lay in developing a richer understanding of the many different methods by which we are currently capable of understanding the world, drawing readily on these different ways of seeing while recognizing them as valid. In short, let us redefine our epistemology ... Darlene Forde I realize that most people purposely alter there realities on a somewhat regular basis. This is, after all, exactly what drugs and alcohol do ... Even prescription medicines like anti-depressants or over-the-counter pain relievers are changing the way we think and perceive what is going on around us and within ourselves. It's almost as if people are more inclined to try and get even further away from some universal reality than to try and find it ... Caroline Wright I want to know what we aren't seeing. Maybe there are no monsters lurking around, but I have started to become very frustrated by knowing that there are whole spectrums in existence that my body does not have the sensors to detect. Not only that, but I am curious about what my body DOES detect and does not pass onto my I-function ... Molly Tamulevich It's interesting to think about people using drugs or alcohol to alter their realities. I've always thought of people using them to escape from reality as they see it. As far as drugs like antidepressants are concerned, I've thought of them as a way to bring people back to reality ... This might no longer apply if reality is defined in the individual by what the brain creates ... Giving him medications to correct his disorder would not necessarily return him reality, but merely change it into something closer to the norm or average ... jpena this theory states that depressed individuals actually have a more accurate view on the world and their abilities. Non depressed individuals tend to over estimate their abilities and have a less realistic grip on reality. I just always liked this theory because it does show that reality is individualized to every person and that things may not always be as we expect ... LS Making it up. Playing house. Using our imagination. These are activities we play as young children and then believe that we can grow up and grow out of it. It wasn't until last week when the belief that I don't do those things anymore all changed for me. Even if we tell ourselves we need to 'grow up" and we are too old for playing imagination games, our brain has other ideas. Our brain is constantly imagining ... The craziest part about all of this is when we think about the role (or lack of a role) the I-function plays in all of this ... something creative and requiring interpretation (i.e. the picture in the head) which I would assume to go through the I-function doesn't. It definitely seems a bit counter-intuitive. The I-function isn't needed for perception!?! We only need it for accessing this visual information and being conscious of it. I am not yet sure what this says about experience and the I-function's involvement in consciousness and thus reality. It seems like reality may in fact be out of our conscious control and is a byproduct of the nervous system. We can then only access this byproduct via the I-function; each of these conclusions seem a bit wild to me ... Holly Stewart The question that remains - the aspect that bothers me a littleÉis the fact that the brain does all of this completely independent of the I-function. What then is the I-function for? ... Alexandra Mnuskin it's pretty clear that any attempt to indoctrinate people against a basic human instinct has very little contructive impact. Even when powerful institutions such as religion and morality come into play, the trend seems to be that people end up having sex before marriage no matter what ... That being said, what does this mean for any attempt to reform human nature? ... Steph Herold We can, if we really want to, abstain from eating and ignore hunger pains. There are stories of mothers subjecting themselves to normally intolerable amounts of pain to rescue or protect their children. Despite all of our recent talk on how we have little control over our behavior, I do still believe humans have to ability to override biological demands should feel strongly enough about the cause. What we have to do first is convince our brains to comply. For example, I've spent years trying to convince my father to quit smoking- giving him statistics on lung cancer, etc. However, he never actually quit until he personally made the decision to do so. Our brains will only comply if it is our OWN conscious decision, not that of others, because only we know what's best for ourselves. Therefore, maybe the only thing we can do is present all the facts to the students and hope they decide for themselves to make appropriate sexual decision ... Michelle

Blindsight and its implications - Don't NEED "picture in head"

• What IS "picture in head" for?
• internal experience
• Self as object
• I-function ("story teller"?) in neocortex? constructed ("story"), testable, reconceivable, "imaginary" and hence re-imaginable

Lessons from sensory side ...

• distributed systems
• ns "creative", "reality" an hypothesis rather than a touchstone?
• distinction between responding and experiencing, I-function/story teller
• I-function/story teller relates to neocortex?
• picture in head = pattern of activity in neocortex, thoughts/ideas?

Emotion, feeling, personality, self?

"generalized control mechanisms"

• wide spread changes of state
• pharmacological involvement
• degree of autonomy

• more on independence from I-function, on expectation generation
• more on I-function ("story teller") localization/independence
• human behavior without an I-function
• interplay of unconscious and I-function (story teller) to yield "self"

"Creativity" as the way out of the box/machine/determinism?

Other generalized control mechanisms (pharmacological dependence, semi-autonomy from both environment and I-function, potential "pathologies")

• mood
• stress, menstrual cycles
• "Creativity" - making what hasn't been
  • unconscious - frog, dreams
  • I-function - reflecting on/altering what has been - (detail)
• ability to influence generalized control mechanisms?
  • not I-function nor necessarily experience, but to some (enhanceable?) degree influenceable by I-function
    • Exploring Mental Health
    • Models of Mental Health
    • Exploring Mental Health: A Working Group

• pain as after the fact in re movement
• significant/communicable independent of I-function/story teller
  • body language
  • dementia and the unconscious
  • implicit vs explicit memory (story?)
• contributory to adaptive thought
  • Damasio
  • in practice
  • usable to develop/share more elaborate stories of what might be

From the forum When we looked at the frog hop towards the mealworm, its landing distance and location were different for each trial. We attributed this difference as a type of variability in the frogÕs nervous system. I, however, saw it as an imperfection ... Lauren Poon perhaps, this trying similar moves over and over again is our nervous system trying to get things less wrong. Instead of being like a frog who never tries anything over again our nervous system does because we are more evolved. However, this really doesnÕt mean that we have any control of this, our I-function is just making up a story to go along with our innate variability, that story is free will ... LS If the frog had an I-function, its I-function would think hypothetically and show the frog that certain moves are just a waste of time. Then the rest of the frogs nervous system has a chose to either listen or test it out for itself ... Shayna It seems this variability, this ability to change and adapt and the inconsistency that may result are all intrinsically part of the nervous system, and these aspects contribute to the creative, spontaneous, unpredictable beings we find ourselves being ... Holly Stewart Perhaps we should define enlightenment as the ability to access/control aspects of our nervous system in new ways, particularly in ways which connections between the I-function and other aspects of the nervous system are connected in untraditional/uncommon ways ... Darlene Forde I was thinking a lot about our discussion of primary emotions and feelings that then lead to our I-function creating a story for whatever feeling we have. To use the baby example: I see a little baby crying on its ownÉI get a warm, even maternal feeling, I think that baby is awfully cuteÉand so my I-function creates the story: this is a helpless baby that I need to care for. I think itÕs an elegant idea and IÕm quite happy that it finally begins to explain what the I-function is really for ... All the same I donÕt know if I completely buy it. It seems that there are instances where the story could come before the primary perception ... Alexandra Mnuskin In some ways, it makes more sense that feelings would come first and justifications would come afterwards. After all, we would need to have some primary, visceral reaction or else there wouldn't be anything to base the story on ... Heather F Perhaps these feeling are created out ... out of socialization. In our twenty years of life, we have been taught that red is the color of fire/heat, and blue is the color of ice/cold. Therefore, when we look at a picture of reds, we're not likely to have an experience of being cold. Rather, based our socialization experiences, we associate red with feelings of warmth. I feel that these associations are created subconsciously ... In these situations, the story definitely comes first. Even though it's subconscious, my brain understands the story behind each association. ... Sarah Harding Feelings can come before actions and actions can cause feelings. Why canÕt both pathways exist? ... francescam There is something called priming. Basically if your exposed to a set of words, or even told to think a certain way, it can affect your performance ... Pleiades How do we really prime and train out brains to work this way, how to we train ourselves to react postiviely to the positives, how does this all work? ... Alex Hansen I wonder if morality is just another story from the I-function. Thus to disucss the evolution of morality one has to discuss and address the evolution of the I-function--the story teller ... Shayna I really like the idea of calling the I-function the story-teller, despite my misgivings about how I feel about this aspect of our perception ... I want there to be a 'truth', or a definitive reality, that we can experience somehow ... Antonia J The writer in me wants to think that human beings have always told stories, that storytelling is an innately human quality ... and that storytelling is necessary to existence ... Steph Herold

Feeling/emotion/intuition - experiences associated with signals resulting from non I-function processing, primal "stories"?

• pain as after the fact in re movement
• significant/communicable independent of I-function/story teller
  • body language
  • dementia and the unconscious
  • implicit vs explicit memory (story?)
• contributory to adaptive thought
  • Damasio
  • in practice
  • usable to develop/share more elaborate stories of what might be

Personality - aspects of behavior/internal experience that are relatively resistant to change either environmentally or by I-function?

Self - distributed - ongoing dynamic interplay of unconscious and story-teller?

• emerges from unconscious, perspective dependent, could be otherwise
• memory as story

• agnosias
• parietal cortex - hemifield neglect
• frontal cortex - executive function, difficulty generating alternatives?
• split brain - multiple stories
• distributed story teller
• bilateral assymetry left brain vs right brain, unconscious vs story teller?
• right brain more directly related to unconscious?

Differences between two parts
• number of variables handled
• use of 3D space, time
• use of "reality"
• coherence
• story vs summary of experience, implicit vs explicit memory, memory, history, time as story

From interaction
• Conflict, generativity
• Free will

• I-function a part of story teller
• Creativity the way out of the box/determinism
• Exploring AND story creating
• Revisable self
• Revisable reality
• Culture
  • Conflict
  • Benefits of story sharing
• New approaches to "mental health"?
• New approaches to education?
• New forms of social organization generally?

• Believe in where one is, has come from (including genes)
• Challenge self/others, dream/imagine/create
• Share stories
• Repeat over and over again

Thanks for your contributions to our collective story telling, including my own. Your thoughts about where we started, have gotten to, might go in the future in the forum ...

To be continued  


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