Jon's Page O' Linguistics - BRAIN AND MIND

KEY CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES

Experience is (at least) Tri-Fold

• External Stimuli --NATURE (natural science) (There is something out there!)

• Mental Perception and Processing --MIND (psychology and philosophy) (We do not sense everything out there, and perceptions are influenced by our physical and mental states.)

• Social Influences--CULTURE (social science) (Our social situations affect what we see and how we see it and how we feel about it.)

Meaning and Reality are Products of Experience and therefore are not Absolute and Separate from Mind

• Mind and Culture affect our realities as much as Nature does.

• Different minds in different social situations make different meanings and live in different realities.

• Some meanings and realities may be more productive than others.

The Function of Education is to Help People Learn to Make Better Meanings (and Realities)

• To make better meanings, we must improve our abilities to perceive and to process.

Mind . . .

• is a function of the brain;

• involves basic physiological functions and instinctive behaviors (R-Complex), basic social and emotional behaviors (Limbic System), and advanced intellectual behaviors (Neocortex);

• has interrelated psychomotor, affective, and cognitive "domains;"

• involves different states of consciousness;

• uses genetic, extragenetic, and extrasomatic information;

• and processes information using classificational/conceptual, structural/spacial, and operational/analytical techniques.

The Concept of Consciousness

• Unconscious (unreachable by conscious processes)

• Preconscious (sometimes reachable by conscious processes; often the product of repression)

• Conscious (more influenced by the subconscious than we normally realize)

The Mind is What the Brain Does

• Mind-Body dualism is rejected by modern cognitive scientists.

• The structure and functions of the brain largely determine the nature of mind.

• The neuron is the primary building block of the brain

• Neurons -- carry electrical charges and make chemical connections to other neurons
• Cell Body -- contains the nucleus
• Axons -- long fibers (extending from the cell body) that transmit messages
• Dendrites -- short fibers (surrounding the cell body) that receive messages
• Synapses -- tiny gaps between axons and dendrites (with chemical bridges) that transmit messages

• The human brain is composed of approximately 100 billion neurons each having 1 to 10 thousand synaptic connections to other neurons (providing an incredibly large number of possible connections)

• Sensory neurons (<10% of total) perceive stimuli
• Interneurons (>80% of total) process information: Sensory, Affective, Cognitive
• Motor neurons (<10% of neurons) control behavioral responses

TRIUNE NATURE OF THE BRAIN

Brain Stem and Reptilian Brain (R-Complex)

• spinal chord -- relays messages

• medulla -- basic life support systems

• pons -- links cerebellum with cortex controls some facial expressions and eye movements

• midbrain -- controls reflex responses

• cerebellum -- kinesthetic senses

• Basic physiological functions
• Primary motor functions
• Instinctive or genetically-programmed behaviors
• Primitive sensations
• Aggression, territoriality, and dominance
• Reproductive behaviors

Mammalian Brain (Limbic System)

• hippocampus -- emotions, conditioning, memory storage

• amygdala -- emotions, smell

• hypothalamus -- physiological functions, hormone levels

• pituitary gland -- produces hormones, under direction of hypothalamus

• thalamus -- processes perceptions (except smell), and sends information to the cortex

• Emotions and Altruism

• Religious tendencies

• Sexuality

• Complex sensation and perception

• Short Term Memory and storage (into Long Term memory)

Neocortex (85% of human brain mass)

• Cerebrum -- covers most of rest of brain divided into two hemispheres, each with four lobes deeply fissured and folded: frontal lobes -- language processing and complex thinking, parietal lobes -- perceptual processing, occipital lobes -- vision, temporal lobes -- hearing, expression, and memory

• Cerebral Cortex -- outer layer or covering of the cerebrum controls thought and language

• Corpus Callosum -- connects the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex

• The distinctively human part of the brain controls and adjusts functions of other parts of the brain, produces thoughts, governs language, and stores memories

THE PROSSESING BRAIN IS A PRIMARY MEANING MAKER

Pattern Detection and Conceptualization

• Thing Making

• Concept Formation (groups, categories, structures, and scripts)

• Classification (genera, species, and sorting factors)

• Structure Analysis (wholes, parts, joints)

• Operation Analysis (stages, substages, junctions, functions, and purposes)

IN SEARCH OF MIND

A cognitive approach to education requires that we learn more about the nature of mind. If teaching is truly the facilitation of learning, development, intelligence, cognition, and motivation, then we must know more about those processes, and they are the processes of mind.

Modern concepts of mind such as consciousness, free will, and independent thought have been denied by behaviorists and emphasized by humanists. Behaviorists essentially deny the very existence of mind. They prefer the seemingly more "scientific" assumption that human behavior is the automatic result of external stimuli, that mental processing is limited to stimulus recognition and conditioned selection of appropriate responses. Humanists emphasize the existence of mind and the desirability of independence from environmental control, but fear that social influences can corrupt our positive natural tendencies.

Cognitive psychology has looked to the activities of brain and mind for explanations of development, learning, thinking, and motivation.

In a remarkable PBS television series (see Restak, 1988), George Page offers the simple statement, "The mind is what the brain does," and then proceeds to overview modern concepts of brain and mind. A summary of the video's key points follows:

1. The traditional concept of Mind-Body Dualism, suggested by Aristotle and codified by Descartes, holds that brain and mind are separate, that a soul or psyche exists outside the body. Modern thinkers, however, reject the idea of dualism and realize that mind is a function of the brain, that body and mind are not separate.
   
   
2. The idea of evolution, advocated by Charles Darwin in the mid-19th century, suggests that humans evolved (by natural selection) from lower animals, that early man was not as highly evolved as modern man, and that as animal brains have evolved so has the nature of consciousness and mind.

   Cro-magnon cave paintings at Lascaux, France, made about 17,000 years ago, provide one of our earliest records of human "mind." The paintings provide rich pictures of hunting scenes, showing the animals in great detail, but there is an almost total absence of human figures. It suggests that early man did not have a firm concept of self.

   Studies of chimpanzee behavior show that primates other than man (some of whom share up to 99% of the genetic material carried by humans) show no evidence of consciousness Chimps exhibit social behaviors, even primitive communication, but show little ability to use symbols and no sense of self.

   Examination of genetically-damaged humans (with autism, etc.) reveals inability to understand emotions, attach meaning, or relate socially--a limited sense of self.
   
   

3. The concepts of psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud include the idea of consciousness and of a subconscious mind of repressed animality. Freud's id (libido, animal subconscious), ego (coping ability, conscious mind), and superego (self control, conscience) describe aspects of mind that Freud (a medical doctor) believed are based in the physical brain.
   
   
4. Modern brain research has shown the existence of subliminal or unconscious perception which nevertheless affects behavior. It has also shown a human tendency to "filter" stimuli, bringing some perceptions to consciousness and not others. Freud referred to this ability to keep some thoughts at the subconscious level using the term repression.
   
   
5. Modern studies of human brain structure show incredible complexity-- about 100 billion neurons, each connected to hundreds or thousands of other neurons, forming more "connections" than there are atoms in the entire universe.
   
   
6. Studies of mental deficits or problems show they often result from brain damage or physical anomaly. Mental problems often have physical causes.
   
   
7. The mind truly is "what the brain does."

TEACHING AND THE NATURE OF MIND

Renate and Geoffrey Caine (1991) have written a straight-forward and practical book that outlines much of the modern cognitive approach to educational practice.

Some Learning Capacities of The Human Brain, (Caine & Caine, 1991)

• detecting patterns
• making approximations
• self correction and learning from experience
• by analyzing new data and by self reflection
• memory
• creativity

Basic Intellectual (Meaning Making) Activities, (Romig)

• perception (things and qualities)
• concept formation (groups, categories, structures, operations relations, patterns, maps)
• learning (conditioning, reinforcement, modeling)
• memory (rote, meaningful; short term, long term; storage, retrieval)
• analysis (classification, structure analysis, operation analysis)
• problem solving
• creativity

Why are we struggling in our ability to educate?

• Educators have assumed that learning primarily involves memorization of specific facts and skills.
• We have ignored the natural capacity of the brain to make meaning.
• "As we become more familiar with the brain's capacity to seek and perceive patterns, create meanings, integrate sensory experience, and make connections, we can also become more adept at solving practical problems, such as selecting appropriate methodologies, effectively assessing learning, designing schools, and administering education." (Caine & Caine, p.5)
• Learning must be active. It must involve "talking, listening, reading, viewing, acting, and valuing." It must involve meaning making, not merely rote memorization.
• "People can and need to grasp the larger patterns. The part is always imbedded in the whole, the fact is always imbedded in multiple contexts, and a subject is always related to many other issues and subjects." (Caine & Caine, p. 6)
• We must distinguish between surface knowledge (rote memorization) and meaningful knowledge (conceptual understanding). The brain is a better pattern detector than a data gatherer.
• Traditional objectives-based teaching and evaluation focuses upon surface knowledge, conditioning, and rote memorization; modern cognitive teaching involves active learning and authentic assessment and focuses upon meaning making.

How do we educate for Meaning Making?

• Move away from objectives-based and overly-systematic instruction.
• Promote "active uncertainty" and require individual understanding rather than memorization within defined parameters of prespecified outcomes.
• Use "immersion" rather than "presentation" methods.
• Tolerate ambiguity and "searching;" encourage questions, open-ended problems and diverse solutions.
• Encourage metaphor and simile and models and demonstrations.
• Provide choices for study topics and assignments and projects.
• Integrate different disciplines and subjects.
• Emphasize the affective and the artistic as well as the cognitive and the logical; allow "joy."
• Provide multiple and rich experiences; don't make everything simple and straightforward; cherish complexity.
• Allow (require) the learner to make the meaning.

Some Questionable (and Common) Assumptions about Education

• The Factory Model
  Use an "assembly-line" approach of building knowledge. Break learning down into separate subjects and objectives; present subject content in structured sequences; seek mastery of each objective before moving onward.
• The Behavioral Model
  Emphasize drill and practice, reward and punishment. The teacher provides the stimulus; the student learns the appropriate response.
• The Quantitative Research Model
  Everything which exists exists in some quantity. Educators can define and measure independent (input) variables, control intervening (extraneous) variables, and predict and control dependent (outcome) variables.
• The (TV and Lecture) Presentation Model
  Quality presentation is most important. Learners will remember well-prepared lessons and will imitate unambiguous models. Precise algorithms are more important than conceptual understandings. Concrete examples are better than abstract principles.
• The Memory Model
  Knowledge is made up of facts (content) and behavioral skills (processes). Education is remembering facts and being able to perform behaviors.

Some Less Questionable (and Uncommon) Assumptions about Education

• The Mental Processing Model
  The Brain is a Parallel Processor with many patterns and interconnections happening at once.
• The Developmental Model
  The brain changes as it develops; it requires stimulation and develops structures and processes.
• The Cognitive Learning Model
  Different cognitive structures, learning styles, and personality types require different educational activities.
• The Multiple Intelligences Model
  Intelligence is a matter of multiple factors, not of a single and inherited "general ability level."
• The Active learning Model
  Knowledge and understanding are active products of internal meaning making, not passive results of external stimulation.

The Human Memory System is Facilitated by Meaning Making

• Rote Learning is essentially unmeaningful and has significant limitations. We can hold eidetic information only a few seconds. Short-Term Memory can handle only about 7 (+/- 2) "bits" if information at a time, and it lasts only 15 to 20 seconds. Rote information can be rehearsed and stored into Long-Term memory with conscious effort.
• Meaningful information is automatically stored. Types of Meaningful Memories include: Structures (physical relationships) including "locale" or spacial memory, (maps and diagrams), Classifications (conceptual hierarchies), Operations (scripts and narratives)

  The more rich (complex and meaningful) the experience, the easier it is to remember!

Page constructed and maintained by Jonathan D. Pettus
Email: [email protected]