Scientists 'locate' intelligence
Glen M. Sizemore
gmsizemore at triad.rr.com
Thu Aug 24 16:54:46 EST 2000
"...how to explain operant conditioning..."
Bravo, sir, bravo!
"Sergio Navega" <snavega at attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:39a52181_4 at news3.prserv.net...
> Jure Sah wrote in message <39A3E10F.88D2A890 at guest.arnes.si>...
> >Sergio Navega wrote:
> >> One could take the visual cortex to be an example of a specific area
> >> of genetically specified origin, unable to process nothing more
> >> but visual stimuli. This is not the case.
> >> There's a huge amount of research indicating that the
> >> visual cortex is reused in blind humans to help processing of
> >> somatosensory and auditory cortexes. Cortical columns *change*
> >> in structure because of that, approaching the organization
> >> found in auditory cortex.
> >> Deaf individuals were seen (by fMRI) activating the auditory
> >> cortex in response to visual stimuli related to american sign
> >> language. Only a plastic brain could manage to get that.
> >Deaf from birth only or all?
> It doesn't matter. After one year of practice, any blind subject
> will use parts of the visual cortex to help audition and
> touch. Several studies support this (Nature, Science, Trends in
> Cognitive Science and Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, among
> >Ok, excuse me, but my computer's sound card can also process pictures
> >(raw binary information), although the results are usually not very
> >useful. Ok, then I'll give you an example where you can: On another NG I
> >have been discussing the use of the modem when linking it over to a
> >sound card, well, for storing any information on audio media.
> >By my theory, a brain that just happens to be well known for it's
> >parallel processing sends the input information trough all it's circuits
> >and then learns what output makes no connection with the environment and
> >then excludes those circuits and vice-versa (it can replug them, since
> >humans are known to forget things also).
> >What's the problem making the AI then?
> The problem is understanding precisely what kind of information
> processing is going on in the brain.
> The questions that need answer are why we forget things, how we
> categorize objects and events, what is the effect of perception
> on thinking, what is the relation of cognition to the body, how
> symbolic languages emerges from statistical constructs of the
> senses, how language origin is related to social collaboration
> among agents, what is the relation between language and motor
> commands/actions, how complex decisions emerge from conflicting
> threads of thought, why we're subject to the base-rate fallacy,
> what is the effect of emotion in decision making, what is the
> relation between creativity and perception, what is the role of
> noise and stochastic resonance in the brain, how does the brain
> stabilizes itself avoiding epileptic seizures all the time, how
> the hell does spreading activation obtains generalization from
> sensory stimuli, why children go through U-shaped learning of
> past-tense of verbs, how to explain operant conditioning *and*
> systematicity/generativity simultaneously, why Thorndike cat
> eventually pulls the string, how to reconcile behaviorism and
> gestalt psychology, how to integrate gestaltic principles of
> closure, continuity, pragnanz, etc. with recent discoveries
> about synchronous oscillations during perceptual functions on
> mooney faces, and a dozen more intriguing questions...
> Sergio Navega.
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