lecture 1

Question 1

how many main levels can the brain be studied at?

Answer 1

7: molecules, synapses, neurons, networks, maps, systems and CNS.

Question 2

what is cartesian dualism?

Answer 2

mind and brain separate but linked. “I think therefore I am”.

Question 3

what is behaviourism?

Answer 3

materialist approach: no independent significance of the mind, all behavior is determined by different forces e.g. environment, genetics, association/reinforcement. SKINNER

Question 4

what is Occams Razor?

Answer 4

A logical principle; keep assumptions to the minimum, simplest explanation is the best.

Question 5

Explain materialism

Answer 5

The only thing that can exist is matter, everything is composed of matter thereforeeeeeeeeee;The mind is a product of the brain.

Question 6

What does Dennet believe?

Answer 6

The brain is a virtual machine in which neurons generate a sense of self.

Question 7

What is Monism?

Answer 7

The opposite of Dualism; Mind= matter in an absolute sense.

Question 8

explain the cartesian gap.

Answer 8

There is NO mechanism between mind (non physical) and brain (physical) function.

Question 9

what is functionalism?

Answer 9

A form of property dualism; mental life can be explained by higher-level functions. Linking processess & interactions.
info occurs at the software then implemented at the hardware.

Question 10

what did Coltheart (2004) believe?

Answer 10

That there was no point in studying the brain because; no facts about the activity of the brain could be used to confirm/refuse some info-processing model of cognition.

Question 11

Even consciousness can be implemented in any computer. what approach thinks this?

Answer 11

Functionalism.

Question 12

What does the Turing test question? and what is it?

Turing, 1950s

Answer 12

Main Q: can a machine have the same attributes as a person?
The Turing test; Artificial intelligence test- The imitation game, a person (interrogator) converses ‘virtually’ with another person and a computer but they dont know which is which… the machine tries to convince the interrogator that the machine is the other person.

Question 13

Searle proposed a Thought Experiment based on the Turing test, what was this?

Answer 13

The Chinese Room; person applies rules without necessarily understanding them.. concluding computers dont understand semantics. You cannot assume a computer is concious.

Question 14

Neurophilosophy challenges functionalism, why?

Answer 14

Because unlike functionalism, it believes the mind and brain are the same (Monist view) explaining the mind in terms of observable evidence from the physical world -using scientific methods.

Question 15

What is reductionism?

Answer 15

complex phenomena can be explained in terms of INTERACTIONS between simpler phenomena. (Macro to Micro)
Main aspect of neurophilosophy.

Question 16

who supported Reductionism?

Answer 16

Churchland

Question 17

“we are deceived at every level of our introspections” - what is this describing ?

Answer 17

Eliminative Materialsim (Crick, 1979).

Question 18

What is Folk Theory?

Answer 18

functional psychology is actually Folk psychology - Churchland.
That notions of mind are based on our commonsense everyday subjective understanding of mental life.

Question 19

What is Folk psychology based on?

Answer 19

concepts based on language- beliefs and desires.

Question 20

what is inter-theoretic reduction?

Answer 20

Process that explains the relationship between two theories at diff levels by explaining a high level theory in terms of a fundamental low level theory.

Question 21

explain eliminative materialism.

Answer 21

the claim that common sense of the mind is WRONG- has no reality. There are no mental states only brain states.

Question 22

What did Sperry do?

Answer 22

Sperry experiment: The divided self: used P’s with epilepsy which underwent a callosal transection, results revealed 2 independent streams of consciousness (1 in each hemisphere). therefore consciousness has multiple streams… is our idenity of ourself wrong?

SPLIT BRAINS.

Question 23

what is a callosal transection?

Answer 23

Were the corpus callosum is severed surgically.

Question 24

give 3 examples of Inter-theoretic reduction…

Answer 24

1. Laws of Mendelian inheritance reduce to Genetics.
2. Classical Optics reduces to Quantum Optics.
3. Learning reduced to neural information processing.

Question 25

Define Emergence.

Answer 25

The WHOLE may be greater than the SUM of its parts. complex behavior can arise from the interactions of many simple units.

Question 26

what is an example of Emergence?

Answer 26

Ant Colony which can be related to neurons.

Question 27

what is weak emergence?

Answer 27

high level phenomena emerge from low level domain BUT truths from the phenomena are UNEXPECTED.- you wouldnt expect it, however it can be predicted from the lower level domains.

Question 28

What is an example of weak emergence?

Answer 28

water molecules creating waves.

Question 29

What is strong emergence?

Answer 29

high level phenomena emerge from low level domain BUT gives radical results, something totally new and surprising!

Question 30

what is the main example of strong emergence?

Answer 30

Consciousness.

Question 31

What does Jackson’s thought experiment (the neuroscientist in the room) supposedly demonstrate?

Answer 31

Psychological processes cannot be reduced to neuroscience.

Question 32

What is the autonomy ideology?

Answer 32

The idea that neuroscience and psychology should be considerated as separated from each other.