Cognitive Science

An Introduction to Mind and Brain

Daniel Kolak, William Hirstein, Peter Mandik, Jonathan Waskan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781134598816
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

Cognitive Science is a major new guide to the central theories and problems in the study of the mind and brain. The authors clearly explain how and why cognitive science aims to understand the brain as a computational system that manipulates representations. They identify the roots of cognitive science in Descartes - who argued that all knowledge of the external world is filtered through some sort of representation - and examine the present-day role of Artificial Intelligence, computing, psychology, linguistics and neuroscience.
Throughout, the key building blocks of cognitive science are clearly illustrated: perception, memory, attention, emotion, language, control of movement, learning, understanding and other important mental phenomena. Cognitive Science:

• presents a clear, collaborative introduction to the subject
• is the first textbook to bring together all the different strands of this new science in a unified approach
• includes illustrations and exercises to aid the student

1 Beginning Concepts

1.1 MANY PATHS TO THE SAME SUMMIT

The cosmos is a vast tumult of existential silence. For 15 billion years it has evolved, from the big bang to its present state, and, for all we know, it has remained entirely unconscious of itself until very recently. In our minuscule corner of this physical maelstrom there evolved beings with awareness – beings that wonder about their own existence. It takes enormous stars to illuminate the heavens, gargantuan engines of light that energize and animate the cosmos. But it is we creatures formed from the dust of stars in whom tiny sparks of consciousness have ignited. It is we who ask: “What am I? Who am I? Where do I come from? How am I able to be what I am?” Of all the wondrous things in the universe – from galaxies, quasars, stars and black holes to the one planet we know gives rise to life with all its myriad creatures – we are, as far as we know, the only beings capable of asking such questions.

As a human being you have much in common with other animals. You have a body, a brain, and internal organs, such as a heart that pumps blood, and lungs that bring oxygen into the blood. You were born, you eat, you may procreate, you sleep, and eventually you will die. Yet in asking such questions as “What am I?” you distinguish yourself in a radical way from all of the other species on this planet, maybe even from the rest of the cosmos. You can ask such questions of yourself, and you can think and reason and wonder about anything and everything. How is it that you are you able to do this? What is this thing that is aware of itself, wondering, asking these questions? Your hands may clench into fists or grasp dramatically in thin air, but your hands are not doing the asking. Your heart may be pounding in your chest, and although we may say figuratively that the heart wonders and feels, it is not the heart that is doing the asking. The heart only pumps blood, it is as unaware of itself as is blood or a star. It is a machine, an organic machine, but it is not the kind of machine that can become conscious of itself. Replace it with an artificial heart or with someone else’s heart, and still you are there, still you are you, wondering, thinking, asking questions of yourself and the world. But who or what is doing the asking, and how is this being done, what makes it possible for this take place within you?

More than twenty-five centuries ago, the great ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428–348 BCE) wondered,

Is the blood the element with which we think, or the air or the fire? Or perhaps nothing of the kind – but the brain may be the originating power of the perceptions of hearing and sight and smell and memory and opinion may come from them.

(Plato, Phaedo, p. 481)

From our present perspective, it seems clear that the brain is what thinks. Indeed, according to our best theory, not only is thinking done by the brain, but so are reasoning, perceiving, feeling, willing, moving, attending, remembering, communicating, understanding, and choosing. And it is a theory. People sometimes say, “Such-and-such is just a theory,” as if theories are, in contrast with things that have been proven, mere speculations. But formal proofs exist only in the domain of logic and mathematics, and empirical science must, as we shall see, proceed along many different paths to its summit. Not all of these paths are well worn, or even clearly marked; and it is never quite clear whether one has even reached the summit, or whether one will have to descend again before undertaking some treacherous new ascent. Therein, however, lies the thrill of the journey. Strictly speaking then, the point stands that the common-sense belief that our brains are most directly involved in cognition is, at bottom, only a theory.

It is worth taking a closer look at precisely in what sense this belief (i.e., that our brains are the locus of mental activity) is theoretical. To start with, notice that you can’t see, just by looking, that these activities (e.g., thinking, seeing, and so on – activities going on within you as you are reading this) are the result of brain activity. In all likelihood, there are massive networks of neurons that are sending millions of electrochemical impulses to one another in order to make possible these mental activities. But when you consider, for instance, this book that you see and the sense of comprehension that you feel as you read these words, notice how neither looks or feels like neurons firing. They look and feel like things, words, and thoughts. If your awareness of these objects, words, and thoughts should turn out to consist of a sequence of neural events, then we will come to knowthis only through the activity of theorizing. This is the only way in which the brain can come to know that it is a brain that is doing the things that brains do, like theorizing that brains theorize. Other animals are capable of wondrous deeds. Birds can fly and find their way over thousands of miles; deer can sprint through thick forest; fish can breathe under water; and lions can smell prey a mile away. Yet there is no evidence that any of these animals can engage in the very activity that we are presently engaged in, namely, thinking, wondering, and asking questions such as “What am I?”

But why not? These animals not only have hearts, lungs, and so on, but also have brains. Moreover, an elephant’s brain is much bigger than ours, and so is a dolphin’s. Like other animals, elephants and dolphins can see, they can respond to their environment, they can learn and adapt to changing situations. It is arguable that they even have feelings and emotions.

So what is it, then, that your brain has that none of these animals’ brains have? What is it about your brain that enables you to wonder, “What am I?” There are, in fact, many further attributes that distinguish humans from the rest of the animals. For instance, of all the animals, humans have the most highly developed means of communication – we use a language that far exceeds, in complexity, expressiveness, and even variation, any of the languages used by beasts. We humans also have a well-developed capacity to remember, in great detail, the events surrounding our own lives. This may, in turn, enable an awareness of ourselves as beings that exist in time. If we lacked this awareness, we could never wonder about such things as whether we will always exist, or whether, instead, we will simply stop existing at some point. Another of our remarkable attributes is our ability to predict what will happen should certain possibilities become actualities. Should we, for instance, come across a disposable cup full to the rim with water, we can venture a pretty good prediction about what would happen were we to use a pencil to poke a hole through the side of the cup. We use this predictive capacity in order to generate plans concerning how best to achieve our heart’s desires. We also have a capacity for tool use that far exceeds that of other creatures. Closely related to this is our unique ability to recognize what things like wrenches and light bulbs can be used for. Our thoughts are not, however, merely limited to concrete states of affairs. Our minds soar above this world of finite, changeable entities into the realm of things in their abstract and indestructible purity. As Plato noted, we don’t just consider facts about this or that particular triangle (which are far from perfect and always finite) but eternal and immutable truths about triangles in general (what Plato called the form of triangularity). We also think about economics, the rules of chess, and quarks. We humans can even read minds – that is, we are able to represent the beliefs of one another and, somehow, keep those beliefs separate from our own. For this reason, it seems, we are able to understand one another and to predict one another’s behavior to a remarkable degree.

What is more, these capacities do not exist in isolation. Instead, they interact in diverse ways, and the results are, to give ourselves the proper credit and blame, both magnificent and horrific. Thoughts of our own mortality seem to sow the seeds of religion. And shared beliefs, whatever their origin, enable groups of distinct individuals to enter into societies. So do shared languages. With the aid of shared beliefs and languages, we are able to cooperate in the execution of our shared goals. We can erect a skyscraper, score a touchdown, or coordinate an attack. In fact, we erect not only physical edifices, but social ones as well. We establish governments, universities, and committees. Science, too, depends upon memory, planning, communication, tool use, and even creativity (whatever that is). The list of uniquely human attributes and accomplishments goes on and on.

If we are ever to come to an understanding of how it is that we are able to ponder our own existence, solve problems, and wage modern warfare, a good place to start might be to gain a better understanding of the mental capacities just mentioned. Thus, in this book, we shall undertake an examination of the various forms of cognitive activity that make human beings stand out so starkly against the backdrop of other biological entities. We will try to figure out how it is that three pounds of specialized cells seated atop a relatively slow, weak, and clumsy frame gives rise to language, memory, forethought, tool use, abstraction, mind reading, and all of the other wonderful things of which humans seem capable.

Among scientists, there is no one accepted methodology for understanding these capacities. Rather, as noted earlier, there are many simultaneous and sometimes collaborative efforts to clear paths to this summit of all summits: self-knowledge. These paths have ominous names, such as: cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, cognitive neuropsy-chology, cognitive psychology, and anthropology. Construed as a collaborative, interdisciplinary endeavor, these paths are collectively known as cognitive science. As we shall see, cognitive science is just the latest (and most fruitful) attempt to shed light on what seems at once the brightest and darkest corner of the universe. It is the most recent attempt by humankind to obey that ancient edict inscribed on the hallowed walls of the temple of Delphi: know thyself.

It is worth bearing in mind that science, as we know it, has been in existence for only a few hundred years. The art of observation, theory formation, and experimentation that Leonardo da Vinci described in the fifteenth century was first perfected and applied to bodies in motion (both terrestrial and celestial) by the contemporaries Galileo and Kepler in the sixteenth. Thereafter, attempts would be made to apply this method to all manner of phenomena. It would be some time, however, before people figured out ways to apply it to the study of human mentality. That is to say, the systematic testing of psychological hypotheses had to await methods, discussed extensively in the next chapter, that were developed only recently. Be this as it may, there has never been a dearth of theories about the nature of mentality.

1.2 THE ORIGINS OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE

Let us retrace our steps and see if we can come any closer to an understanding of ourselves. What is it that makes thinking possible? Why, it’s your brain, of course. But why “of course”? How do you know it is your brain? You’ve never seen your brain. How do you know what your brain does and how it does it? Here, again, we notice something extremely peculiar. Your hand appears to you as a hand, and by looking at this appearance you can surmise what your hands are, what they are for, and how to use them. What makes the appearance and the recognition possible? Again, of course, it is your brain – but notice that nowhere does your brain appear to you as a brain! Indeed, if you start inquiring into the nature of your own existence, of what you are, it will not naturally occur to you to suppose that what you are (that is, what this activity of self-conscious awareness itself is) is a brain! Rather, what naturally emerges from such considerations is that this conscious activity consists of something very much different from all the rest of the physical universe, something that seems quite distinct from every other part of creation. According to many traditions, introspection reveals that the essence of you, what makes you you, is something non-physical, something mental, spiritual, or incorporeal. In other words, unlike your hand, which presents itself to you as a hand, your brain presents itself to you not as a brain but as something entirely other than what it is. It presents itself as a mind. So that we don’t find ourselves reinventing the wheel, let us retrace the steps that others have taken in their quest for self-knowledge.

1.2.1 Philosophy and the mysterious mind

Considering the unique way in which the brain presents itself, it is no wonder that many who first asked the question “What am I?” invariably came up with answers such as spirit, soul, or mind. They did not see themselves as being made essentially of the same stuff as the rest of their surrounding environment. In becoming aware of itself, nature seemed to divide itself into that which was aware and that which wasn’t – existence was bifurcated into physical and mental realms. This view culminated in the metaphysical dualism exemplified by the philosophy of René Descartes (1596–1650) and the famous mind–body problem that, under various guises, continues to perplex philosophers to this very day. Here is how Descartes so famously put it:

From the fact that I know that I exist, and that at the same time I judge that obviously nothing else belongs to my nature or essence except that I am a thinking thing, I rightly conclude that my essence consists entirely in my being a thinking thing. And although perhaps . . . I have a body that is very closely joined to me, nevertheless, because on the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, insofar as I am merely a thinking thing and not an extended thing, and because on the other hand I have a distinct idea of a body, insofar as it is merely an extended thing and not a thinking thing, it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it.
(Descartes 1970 [1641], pp. 151–153)

Descartes noticed that there is a great difference between our relation to our own minds and our relation to material objects. We can doubt the existence of extended (i.e., space-occupying) things, but we can’t doubt the existence of our own minds; and, he went on to note, while the former are spatially divisible, the latter seem not to be.

Philosophers have been cataloguing these remarkable properties of the mental for hundreds of years. To mention a few more, notice that most of your beliefs about the world are, strictly speaking, dubitable (i.e., they may be incorrect). It is conceivable, for instance, that you are mistaken in believing that there are nine planets orbiting the sun. Perhaps, as you were reading this, a tenth planet was discovered. Even some of your most fundamental beliefs are dubitable, such as your belief that there is a book before your eyes. Perhaps you will wake up in a moment and realize that your experience was merely a dream. There are other beliefs, however, that are much harder (some would say impossible) to doubt – your belief, for instance, that every equilateral and equiangular planar figure with an even number of sides will have, for any given side, another side that is parallel to it. Some have held that beliefs of this sort differ from those mentioned earlier in that they are acknowledged by everyone (at least everyone who gives them any thought) to be eternal and indubitable. It is no surprise, then, that philosophers have long been preoccupied with explaining how it is that such universal and necessary truths might be grasped by the human mind. Theories have ranged from the fantastical (e.g., Plato’s theory that we come to know pure geometrical forms that exist neither in our minds nor in nature but beyond space and time) to the downright mundane (e.g., Thomas Hobbes’ theory that such truths are little more than a trick we are able to perform once we learn how to use language).

Another amazing property of mental states such as thoughts, beliefs, desires, fears, and so on, is that they are generally about something. When we think, we think about things and states of affairs – for instance, we think about our families, activities that we hope to accomplish, tasty foods, parallelograms, and so on. We wonder about the beginning of the universe. We have fears about death and taxes. The nineteenth-century philosopher Franz Brentano (1838–1917) considered this aboutness of the mental to be something that defies physical explanation. We can think a...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION
• 1: BEGINNING CONCEPTS
• 2: WINDOWS ON THE BRAIN AND MIND
• 3: PERCEPTION
• 4: THOUGHT: MEMORY, REASONING, AND KNOWLEDGE
• 5: ACTION AND EMOTION
• 6: LANGUAGE
• 7: CONSCIOUSNESS
• REFERENCES
• RELATED TITLES FROM ROUTLEDGE
• RELATED TITLES FROM ROUTLEDGE
• A LIBRARY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!