For questions about this branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, consciousness and their relationship to neurobiology.
15
votes
3answers
4k views
Why would the brain flip the images perceived by your eyes?
The following is a common scientific statement, which you don't have to google long for to find:
The eye views images upside-down in the manner of a camera lens, but
our brains reinterpret this ...
15
votes
2answers
425 views
Does language and/or culture affect an individual's cognitive capacity?
Some languages have multiple expressions to identify, address, comprehend, and interpret a single concept and/or experience.
Are limits placed on understanding and describing aspects of cognition due ...
11
votes
3answers
228 views
Is it possible for certain people to perceive colors differently?
What if someone perceives a color as 'red' when it is actually 'green'?
Since different people have preferences for different colors, and colors are perhaps constructed in the mind, is it possible ...
9
votes
1answer
124 views
How does evolution help in Minsky's theory of a resourceful mind?
I've read Minsky's book The Emotion Machine, where he explains how the mind can be seen as a set of resources interacting and self-interacting based on several levels of change. The explanation is in ...
8
votes
1answer
258 views
Is there a region of cortex which over a period of development becomes the seat of self?
Background
Mountcastle's hypothesis, which is based on the observation of uniform cortical anatomy, suggests that the there might be a uniform cortical "algorithm". The only reason that some cortical ...
8
votes
2answers
165 views
Is it possible to run multiple thought processes concurrently?
For example, let's say I have a friend sprinting a 50m distance and that friend wants me to time the race, but I don't have a stopwatch so I have to count "manually". Can I count while simultaneously ...
8
votes
0answers
79 views
Can the Philosophy thought game “The experience machine” be answered by Positive Psychology?
In Philosophy, a thought game exists called "The experience machine" {1}. In summary, it's a machine you plug into that enables you to always experience positive events, and never negative ones.
One ...
7
votes
1answer
202 views
Is performance reducible to brain activity in an unambiguous way?
As a preface, let me assume that the entirety of mental states and their corresponding behaviors in a person are entirely reducible to the physical activity of neurons sending a variety of chemicals ...
7
votes
1answer
116 views
Any attempts at testing or modeling the 'cognitive conception' of language?
For those unfamiliar, the 'cognitive conception of language' refers to a claim made by some theorists that, in the words of Carruthers:
"besides its obvious communicative functions, language also ...
6
votes
2answers
320 views
Is there evidence that brain and mind are separate?
I've heard countless discussions about whether or not the mind is separate from the brain, but they have all been philosophical.
I am looking for peer-reviewed studies that suggest the mind is not ...
6
votes
0answers
368 views
Cultural brain hypothesis and gene-culture co-evolution
Recently, Joseph Henrich of UBC has been promoting his cultural brain hypothesis. The goal is to explain a selection pressure behind the development of the human brain and general intelligence. The ...
5
votes
2answers
211 views
Is it possible for humans to conceive of being dead?
I am reading Stephen Cave's book Immortality, and one of the claims he makes early on is that there is a "mortality paradox." This is the phenomenon that humans know that they will die (based on ...
5
votes
1answer
53 views
Is there any fMRI evidence for different “states of mind”?
If you've seen a snickers commercial, it goes something like "you are a different person when you are hungry". I'm interested if the person's brain actually looks different when observed through fMRI ...
4
votes
3answers
145 views
Theoretical limit to the use of mental faculty of the brain
A lot of articles stress the importance of having to train the brain (By training the brain, I mean the cognitive faculty of the brain for learning things and not brain's normal functions) since the ...
4
votes
1answer
150 views
Can one “understand” emotions, yet not “feel” them?
Prometheus Viral Clip #3 - David is a good clip of a fictional character in a science-fiction movie that helps frame my question; but I am interested in the general question, not the specifics of this ...
4
votes
2answers
146 views
Does each sensory neuron type have a characteristic spike sequence pattern?
Background
It is known that all sensory information is input to the brain as neural spike sequences. Now, to distinguish between the spike sequences generated by retinal red/blue/green cone cells ...
3
votes
2answers
238 views
Where is the visual “image” that we “see” finally assembled?
David Hubel's online book, Eye, Brain and Vision describes in great detail our early visual system. The image that we are conscious of when we open our eyes goes through a complex path:
The final ...
2
votes
0answers
65 views
Causal reasoning(implicit models?) vs grammar of native language
I was reading about linguistic relativity and it struck me that there could also be differences in multilingual individuals and mono/bi-lingual individuals on how they derive/reason/create structure ...
1
vote
1answer
135 views
What is the scientific term or concept for inner thought control? [closed]
Usually when a thought arises, it seems that we quickly scurry after it, unconsciously getting caught up with whatever everyday thoughts come up. These can be invoked internally or externally.
(No ...
0
votes
0answers
66 views
Theories of the human mind and/or intelligence [closed]
As Jeff Hawkins writes in "On Intelligence":
When I first became interested in brains many years ago, I went
to my local library to look for a good book that would explain how
brains ...
