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Now I can argue that "Seeing is Not Believing." Why do I challenge this long held adage? Yesterday's presentation stated that the brain is always filling in missing information with our imaginations based on experiences because the "Input is always incomplete," "Input is always interpreted based on prior information," and "Input is always ambiguous." Again this proves that babies are true scientists because there must construct enormous amount of information before they start actually realizing the functionality of objects.

And today we learned that mood generation can be affected by I-function or develop independent of the I-function. What with our brains filling in missing sight information with our imagination and and moods being generated independently of the I-function. it is no wonder human brains need diverse feedback loops functioning constantly on all levels to keep our nervous system in a homeostasis state. I knew our nervous systems were extremely complicated and interactive but never to this extent. For lack of a $10 word, it is astounding!

Another point. Our talk has centered on the brain. Is not our minds different from our brains or are they one and the same?

And finally, today as we were discussing plasticity I tried to remember the following study done which I think vividly illustrates plasticity. (I think I have the facts correct.)

Nobel prize winners, David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel (had to confirm the names but knew they were Nobel Prize winners),covered 1 eye of newborn kittens. After 2 months, they took off the patches and found the eye that had been covered was effective blind. It was not connected to the brain despite the fact that the eye was perfectly normal from an optical point of view. The brain had no received stimulation from the eye and had rewired itself to receive information only from the other eye, the open eye. A sort of take over, all the brain cells in that portion of the brain had been taken over by 1 eye, leaving no connections to the other eye. I think this proves the brain can physically expand and contract depending on experience.