Oh the Possibilities

For this week I wanted to look at what I think I want my paper to be. I was very interested in the virtual reality and emotional manipulation sections. I wanted to write on the possibilities of literature if applied to a virtual realm as well as the minds cognitive/ToM effects resulting. Primarily my paper is going to involve my in-class presentation and a mix of readings from the emotion-literature and VR weeks. I have a possible Thesis below but it is very rough looking and Still needs a little clarification or a small restructuring. Basically I want to dissect the character of Christopher in order to exhibit the humanity from his inhumanity and relate this to artificial intelligence/robots/computers and how our cognitive functioning both is changed or mirrored similar to our functioning with other "normal" human individuals. This will help draw parallels with literature and the Theory of Mind involved, but also can help show the possibility of the future of literature. Another problem that could be possibly tackled is the problem of transitioning literature into VR (I don't know if I will do this) because of the variability of experience based on the placement of the user. If they are simulating the protagonist, their view on the story is completely different from if they were a third party member because of the separation between the characters experience and the outsider's mindset. A different problem is determining what changes in cognition will bleed through to the real world. Finally by changing to a visual platform, it changes the amount of imagination and creative  thinking but enhances the reality and physicality of the storyline. 

Possible Thesis:

            The view of the mind being a viewing platform is one that is tackled in a couple of works, most importantly the Curious Incident. It is through this novel that Attention and reflection are handled in a way that produces a dichotomy between human and computer. However with increasing virtual reality tests and studies it is clear that computers may be able to mimic emotion and become humanized. It is possible that techniques of theory of mind may be able to be applied to these computer characters in order to effect real world outcomes just as literature and other arts do.

Whoever does read this, I would love feedback or perhaps additional tips, ideas, or resources that will help me find a more well-rounded thesis and write a more complete paper. Hope to hear some response in order to help. And Good luck to others writing Final Papers.

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?.

      Virtual Reality allows possibilities that seem endless, but the cost of programming and technology limits its ability. With virtual reality technology social and cognitive experiments can be done in a controlled environment without compromising the facade of a natural setting. A new world can be created and engaged with by a variety of individuals through quick-access cognitive pathways: vision. In the section read this week, examples of practical and experimental uses for virtual reality were listed with interesting results. However, learning about ToM and other immersion techniques has made me question the comparability of virtual reality to literature. It would seem to me that both have pros and cons to cognition. While virtual reality handles all visual attributes it lacks in the complexity of real-world scenarios that only the imagination could achieve, but then again, literature requires much attention in order to be fully immersed. It would be most interesting to be able to do a side by side comparison between the effects of both on the mind and individuals actions.
          Of course, certain individuals may not be able to participate well in one or the other. If, for example, Christopher were given the choice of the two he would of course choose virtual reality because of his strong affinity for the computer and dislike of surreal fiction. Others such as Dyslexics would also prefer the virtual world to its plain text counterpart because of their inability to immerse fully due to their disability. However, what about simulating one of these individuals as a "normal" being. Which would be a more convincing or enlightening experience. Do you think reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time would trump the virtual experience? Is it the fact that you are allowed to be witness to the mind of the character or rather to be placed in the environment of them. If it is the latter, then virtual reality would be a better immersion device, but i would think that not everyone would act in a similar way unless of course pressured by a group or some outside restriction. Only witnessing the mind of one individual takes away from the experience necessary to fully understand the mind's development and how certain choices are made.
         Lets take this further, could we use either of these two processes or a combination of the two in order to influence cognition for an artificial brain. This is assuming the fact that we can teach other humans. However, if we could influence the ideas of human cognition using these two means then it could be plausible to teach patterns to an artificial intelligence in order to learn how to think or develop human-like thought.

Separate but Equal

       This week we read about two abnormalities in human cognition. The first was Dyslexia, which is a general term for a set of reading disorders, in a chapter of Dehaene's Reading in the Brain. The other is Autism and this is a disorder of varying degrees of both social and cognitive disability. While they have different causes, we assume since we do not know the causes of either,  both disorders have similar outcomes when it comes to reading, they have problems with the comprehension of literature. In the case of Autism, many of those affected cannot grasp two key concepts needed for healthy social growth. These two concepts are fictionalization, the ability to create a spatial or metaphorical nonexistence, and theory of mind, the ability to predict anothers actions and thoughts through gestures and speech patterns. Dyslexia, on the other hand, deals with the construction of words themselves. This can be a trouble in phonetic sound memorization and/or visual recognition of letters due to word density. But one question that comes along is this, "Why do we care?"
        This question is a serious one and with a little education one can learn the answer. If one were to look at the number diagnosed, then they would have the short answer: a lot of people are affected by these disorders. 1 out of every 88 children are diagnosed with Autism and many other children are diagnosed with dyslexia in varying degrees, numbers cannot be tallied because of lack of a set diagnosis criteria. This means that a large amount of the population have a problem with literature and thus education. If in fact this large amount of children cannot understand literature, then this same population will have trouble understanding other key concepts and relations made both in academic and social education. It is then our duty to dedicate perhaps a new style of teaching one that could thwart such inability and perhaps let those who have no disorder to learn easier and be able to interact just as well with those who do.

Poetic Dissection

"Our analysis also identifies a subset of brain regions in which the activity in the listener’s brain precedes the activity in the speaker’s brain. The listener’s anticipatory responses were localized to areas known to be involved in predictions and value representation (20–23), including the striatum and medial and dorsolateral prefrontal regions (mPFC, dlPFC). The anticipatory responses may provide the listeners with more time to process an input and can compensate for problems with noisy or ambiguous input (24). This hypothesis is supported by the !nding that comprehension is facilitated by highly predictable upcoming words (25). Remarkably, the extent of the listener’s anticipatory brain responses was highly correlated with the level of understanding (Fig. 4B), indicating that successful communication requires the active engagement of the listener (26, 27)." Stephens and Hasson On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer By John Keats Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,

And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;

Round many western islands have I been

Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told

That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;

Yet did I never breathe its pure serene

Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies

When a new planet swims into his ken;

Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes

He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men

Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—

Silent, upon a peak in Darien. Handy Guide By Dean Young Avoid adjectives of scale. Dandelion broth instead of duck soup. Don’t even think you’ve seen a meadow, ever. The minor adjustments in our equations still indicate the universe is insane, when it laughs a silk dress comes out its mouth but we never put it on. Put it on. Cry often and while asleep. If it’s raw, forge it in fire. That’s not a mountain, that’s crumble. If it’s fire, swallow. The heart of a scarecrow isn’t geometrical. That’s not a diamond, it’s salt. That’s not the sky but it’s not your fault. My dragon may be your neurotoxin. Your electrocardiogram may be my fortune cookie. Once an angel has made an annunciation, it’s impossible to tell him he has the wrong address. Moonlight has its own befuddlements. The rest of us can wear the wolf mask if we want or look like reflections wandered off. Eventually armor, eventually sunk. You wanted love and expected what? A parachute? Morphine? A gold sticker star? The moment you were born— you have to trust others because you weren’t there. Ditto death. The strongest gift I was ever given was made of twigs. It didn’t matter which way it broke.             Both poems are similar in that they tell about a comment on a very real happening. The first on the translation of Homer and the other begins with a caution of some sense. However, the latter goes on to an unpredictable pattern. This is where the Stephens article becomes key. This article was a study on oral speaker-listener connection and its cognitive effects. This is interrelated to the Theory of Mind talked about in an earlier class The small excerpt brings up a very interesting point and one that relates well to these poems.            When one treats these narrators as though they are a speakers, which is indeed the case due to our theory of mind, they might in fact exhibit these same qualities. The above excerpt tells how the listeners mind in fact activates before the speakers in order to find a pattern in speech and thus in the conversation's content and timing. This can be clearly seen in Keats poem. While his colorful language is a little unpredictable, the majority of the poem is easily predictable and can be followed with ease. However, the Young poem is a contradiction to this process. It uses unpredictable sentences that lack a cohesive superficial meaning such as: "My dragon may be your neurotoxin." or "Your electrocardiogram may be my fortune cookie." Because of this unpredictability, the poem baffles the "listener" and their progression to a pattern-filled conversation. However, this makes poetry more true to its purpose of imagination and interpretation. Through this lack of pattern, one must come to conclusions through self-interpretation and possible education on topics unknown. How a dragon could be a neurotoxin is not a normal statement, but a dragon could stand for many things (like strength, mysticism, fire, evil, etc.) that could possibly correlate with neurotoxin. This allowance for variability allows for a freedom of the mind for the mind. In other words, it allows for the listener to disengage predictability and thus nonchalant care towards the poem in order to allow the full imagination and interpretation that lets the poem speak differently to each member of its audience.

Baby Don't Hurt Me, Don't Hurt Me No More.

"Emotions play out in the theater of the body. Feelings play out in the theater of the mind. As we shall see, emotions and the host of related reaction that underlie them are part of the basic mechanisms of life regulation; feelings also contribute to life regulation, but at a higher level. Emotions and related reactions seem to precede feelings in the history of life. Emotions and related phenommena are the foundation for feelings, the mental events that form the bedrock of our minds and whose nature we wish to elucidate." Antonio Damasio in Of Appetites and Emotions

"On the other side of a mirror there’s an inverse world, where the insane go sane; where bones climb out of the earth and recede to the first slime of love.

     And in the evening the sun is just rising.

      Lovers cry because they are a day younger, and soon childhood robs them of their pleasure.

      In such a world there is much sadness which, of course, is joy . . .   " Antimatter by Russell Edson

       This little snippet of a fascinating article, by Demasio, sums the entire paper. It tells of the bio-psychological occurrences that are associated with humans at various levels of cognition, both conscious and not. He says that there should be a distinction between "Emotions" and "Feelings." While this is fine, he makes a distinction that is not normal to conventional thinking. This thought that the outward emotions are the cause of feeling rather than the result is different yet ingenious. In this view, feelings are a reflective process that allows one to reason actions/emotions and influence personality and future actions. With this view, the above poem becomes a story that makes sense in more than just a metaphorical way. The poem on first glance is about opposites becoming the natural order of a parallel world. But after reading the article the last few lines really stand out. "Lovers cry because they are a day younger, and soon childhood robs them of their pleasure. In such a world there is much sadness which, of course, is joy . . ." This line becomes much more interesting with the edition of emotions preceding feelings. Their feelings of joy and sadness are different because their world is different and because emotions exhibited are different. Lovers cry because this emotion of sorrow is then reflected on the loss of time of maturity. All in all this mirror world is one that is wholly not unlike our own, but the details seem askew.

        However my one concern with this article is the lack of definition of the cause of emotions. It is mentioned that emotion is biological and that we do not need to learn how to exhibit them but why we exibit them changes. I questions this drive to show emotion and why it is undefined. This drive to exhibit an emotion is not classified by the Spinoza Appetites or Desires. I would just like to know the classifications of this state otherwise known as the emotional development. For example, anger is sometimes grown from annoyance but this is then developed from an unknown "feeling" or another appropriate word.

Imaginative Entities

"The close relation between navigating social- and story-worlds has a number of
implications, not the least interesting of which is the proposal that readers of predominantly
narrative fiction may actually improve or maintain their social-inference
abilities through reading. The same is unlikely to be true of non-fiction readers.
Although in both cases individuals are removing themselves from true social interaction
by virtue of the solitary nature of reading, non-fiction presumably does not
sponsor the same simulation of the social world as narrative fiction. Frequent readers
of non-fiction, then, by sacrificing human interaction and replacing it with no similar
substitute, may actually impair their social skills. Individual differences in reading
habits and preferences, then, may relate systematically to individual differences in
social-processing ability." By Raymond A. Mar et al. "Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to Fiction
versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds"

         This study opens with a discussion of social stereotypes that comment on the charisma of those who predominantly read more than other activities. It brings up the hypothesis that, while those who read non-fiction may be inept in social situations, those who read fiction are actually better in social situations and are stronger in things dealing with the "Theory of the mind." It tells the process and subjects used in the study (which included a wide age range and many types of tests). The article takes into account some uncontrollable variable (like age leading to wisdom or knowing English for longer period of time) by halving results multiple times to ensure trends. This resulted in a slight but significant correlation between fiction and social ability.
           While these were taken into account, the main fact was that the narratives found in fiction novels are the main result. However, the question I have is, "Can this be taken further?" My question is fueled by curiosity but more importantly in pursuit of education. Perhaps a study comparing those who read fiction very little if at all and those who read fiction a lot. One point I would like to raise is reminiscent of my talk about the education of language. If one can learn to pronounce words and talking in ones mind and experience language without a personal attachment (through a computer for example) then can one learn social actions and personality from fiction alone? Of course one would have to read the books of the culture of the time because of the ever changing social aspects of different cultures. If this could be overcome, then can one learn how to socialize in a manner that seems very unorthodox, but perhaps has an educational and social validity.
         One other idea that could be interesting is to try and teach other primates about human society. Primates have the ability to learn sign language and memorize with great speed and accuracy. If there was a way to have these animals "read" fiction novels with great narration, could they be able to function in society. Charles Darwin commented on humans and other animals saying, "their differences are in degree not kind." Other ethologists have said that animals show emotions and other human actions to a lesser degree, and by accomplishing a feat such as this perhaps we could see that the development of complex society is not unique and rather can be learned. The foundation for such social intricacy then can be implied as being biological. This would have to be taken cautiously because this could be twisted into a dark place (i.e. sociobiology and eugenics). However, it could lead to a revolution in not only animal biology but in cognition as well. It could help us perhaps trace the lineage of different thinking processes among species and more.

Getting down to Business

Bare with me that I haven't had much time to look at this (just got the critiques on wed.) but I have gotten some great tips and creative direction from our Professor.

Circles, Brains, and Squares Oh My! - Margaret Cavendish           

           The 18^th century was a time of much discussion and contention involving the brain and its inner-workings. However, there was a backlash from other scientists for a movement against defining the brain and the mind. Those in literature as well as science contested this definition of a unified brain including one young prolific author, Margaret Cavendish. Cavendish argued against the merging of the mind and brain, especially the fact of placing the mind in the organ known as the brain. Cavendish outright humiliated those who tried to demystify it. Through her poem, “The Circle of the Brain cannot be Squared,” Cavendish sets a message that confronts the defining of the mind in the confines of the brain, but also sends a silent outcry against the mathematical simplicity implied about and the worn methodology used to analyze the mind-brain complex.

Possible Sentence beginnings to paragraphs:

1st: The circle was a symbol that had a deep significance to philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians alike. 

2nd:While Cavendish used the imagery of geometry to explain the complexity of the mind, she also critiqued the tendency of those who studied the brain to confine both the brain and mind to a simplistic idea.

3rd: The final major point that Cavendish makes is that those studying the brain have been trying relentlessly for a long time without much result.

Conclusion:

           Cavendish was an extravagant writer that had a passion for her fancies. She wasn't respected in her time but she still expressed her thoughts because the valued both the mind and the brain. She argued against those minds at her time because she just could not stand idly and watch the brain with all its complexities and fullness be transformed into a simple formula or graph. She believed in the ability of natural perception and reasoning and by having this outrageous idea that it, the brain, can be boiled down to the simplicity of the same magnitude as a square. Cavendish and her opinion are very valuable to scientific and educational philosophy and through studying her words one can appreciate the complexity of the brain and of human thought.

Sweet Dreams are made of These: The Flower

Visible also in Pegasus, therefore, is the imagination's aspiration to lift us above the material world, to disencumber us of given restraints. The flower, no doubt, makes visible the opposite movement of imagination, its willful re-encumbering of itself, its anchoring of itself in the ground- its aspiration, in other words, to rival material reality in its vivacity. ~ Elaine Scarry in Dreaming by the Book

10. The absence of the stimuli of external bodies, and of volition, in our dreams renders the organs of sense liable to be more strongly affected by the powers of sensation, and of association. For our desires or aversions, or the obtrusions of surrounding bodies, dissever the sensitive and associate tribes of ideas in our waking hours by introducing those of irritation and volition amongst them. Hence proceeds the superior distinctness of pleasurable or painful imagery in our sleep; for we recall the figure and the features of a long lost friend, whom we loved, in our dreams with much more accuracy and vivacity than in our waking thoughts. This circumstance contributes to prove, that our ideas of imagination are reiterations of those motions of our organs of sense, which were excited by external objects; because while we are exposed to the stimuli of present objects, our ideas of absent objects cannot be so distinctly formed. ~ Erasmus Darwin in Zoonomia

          In the article written by Scarry, we learn about the importance of the flower in the imagery of dreams. It tells of how the abstract in dreams are collections of prior conceived objects that are not directly symbolic of anything. Rather, these objects are place markers for ideas that are inconceivable. The flower is different. It is a grounding in the real world that is able to hold the greatest attention and beauty. It is through the flower that the dreamer tries to bring reality to the abstract. It tells about the flower is so perfect for memory and the vision captured. Darwin tells of the physiological implications of dreaming and sleep. In the last sentence of the extract above, "This circumstance contributes to prove, that our ideas of imagination are reiterations of those motions of our organs of sense, which were excited by external objects; because while we are exposed to the stimuli of present objects, our ideas of absent objects cannot be so distinctly formed." This fits exactly with what Scarry talks about. Darwin tells about how imagination is more stable and believable when it is grounded in reality. This is because it is more powerful and takes more concentration and will to reproduce something so complex and little as a flower in one's mind.

           This brings to mind a question that has been given some popular thought. The idea of lucid dreaming and losing oneself in such a dream. Most recently the movie inception tried to struggle with this question. But it is very important to think about. Since we discuss how the mind works and its studies, why not investigate its ability to replicate the real world. Many questions then come to mind. How does our brain recreate the real? How does one believe these recreations, even if the belief is temporary? These seem the most important because it deals with something that is exclusively internal. Something that can only be experienced from the mind of the dreamer. While everyone dreams, everyone has different dreams that have some subconscious commentary on there life. It is a question not only for philosophy but of science as well. If the mind is able to trick and be tricked at the same time, what mechanisms are activated and can they be manipulated? Can the flower with its infinite beauty and unending complexity be pinpointed by the neuroscientist? These readings in my own opinion don't give answers but raise many more, a quizzical hydra of sorts. All we know is that the vivid ability to recreate reality captures our attention. It can be seen in movies, literature, digital media, and any other sort of entertainment. This ability to set oneself in the moment, to recreate a time that did exist and to imprint it onto an endless space is nothing short of marvelous in the truest sense of the word. So this ability to dream a dream, to re-experience an experience, is something that is so vast and complex that even the most delicate things of life, like the gorgeous bowl of roses, or the delphinium; must be taken in separately and studied. Only after one can master the knowledge of the flower, can they take the next step towards decoding the mirage that is the dream.

Free Week: Ramblings of a Philosopher Prince

Sitting here, having just slid the physical copy of the literary, intellectual shitstorm that was my paper, I slowly eat my cocoa pebbles wondering about the world around me and feeling compelled to write a blog for this week. Seeing as my ability and wanting to write prose is equal to how much I want Mike Tyson to play slug-bug with me, (I'll give you a hint; it starts with "No way" and ends with "in hell") I think I will stick to a medium of high art and fashion, other wise known to some of my friends as, "that thing that weird emo-kids do." Of course what I am talking about is poetry, or what I deem as poetry. This of course would be a misconception on my part because it falls somewhere between "Roses are red..." poems and nursery rhymes. Now that the caffeine is settling in, so should you too, my audience, and prepare for the strange thinkings of a kook, a screwball, and a gentleman of a certain degree, bachelors for those who are wondering.
If you're still reading, or just skipped to this line for no apparent reason, kudos because now you get to hear from a brain that the Mad Hatter himself would label as brother:

My story begins, where all things must,
the middle of the beginning or maybe just
the beginning of a series called my life,
or maybe, the pages of the past, are cut down with a knife.

I agree with you that all of this seems really, very strange.
You read this with your thoughts, this bullocks very plain
The mind leads to think, memories to fade or to change
to live, to dream, to fight, to love, to be insane

A life as a hopeful Romantic is a hopeless one abound,
Like one searching for treasure; no map or starting ground.
And when he finds the husk, of a plunder that's been done,
he is not careless or thinks there's only one.

This pilgrim of the detail, learns life through another
each failure, a new truth, each scratch, mental loot;
closer, final chest, new tricks for the lover
of wit and of beauty he doth pursuit

For one learns Happiness, be not a single road
with a message golden that a sign does well bode.
Pursuit isn't one lone beast but one of many heads
and life is but a journey, living fear and dreads
find there way into minds dreaming in their beds.

In conclusion, my mind doth spin -- like a top,
sitting in my chair, silent sleeper ego lies
falling from my head drip by drop
cutting all subconscious ties
Says the id about to flop
mindless, mad demise.

Sound of Silence

"Mental conversion into sound plays an essential role when we read a word for the first time... Initially, we cannot possibly access its meaning directly, since we have never seen the word spelled out. all we can do is convert it into sound, find that the sound pattern in intelligible, and, through this indirect route, come to understand the new word. Thus sounding is often the only solution when we encounter a new word." ~ Reading in the Brain by Stanislas Dehaene pg 27

" Those only who have attempted to teach children can conceive how extremely difficult it is to fix their attention, or to make them seize the connection of ideas, which it appears to us almost impossible to miss. Children are well occupied in examining external objects, but they must also attend to words as well as things. One of the great difficulties in early instruction arises from the want of words: the pupil very often has acquired the necessary ideas, but they are not associated in his mind with the words which his tutor uses; these words are then to him mere sounds, which suggest no correspondent thoughts." ~Of Tasks by Maria Edgeworth pg. 14

         In the small selection of Reading in the Brain that was assigned, Dehaene tells of a multitude of strange ways the brain does when reading. The first being the peculiarity of the brains attention to small details but is lacking in larger differences. For example the word eight and sight are nearly identical except for the first letter yet the brain can notice this small different and assign vastly different meanings to said words. However, when One ChaNges the caSe of worDs then the brain filters out said case when interpreting the words meaning and sound. This also happens with words in italics or in bOLd. Another area covered is the automatic breakdown of words into smaller parts in order to classify their meanings otherwise known as morphemes. But one of the largest parts of the selection discusses speech inside the mind. When reading silently words are "spoken" in one's mind and through this we learn and correlate letters, groups of letters that make an understandable sound (bigrams) and finally an audibly correct sounding word. Through other memories and classifications made through learning from others, visual relations, or other means. This learning through sound is the primary learning of children according Dehaene because of the necessary need to slowly comprehend a string of letters and association with a prior known word. 
           Edgeworth however implies something different. Instead of the innate ability to associate morphemes through vision-based teaching, Edgeworth believed that children could not make the connection because they lacked the attention. This fits with her prior thoughts on attention and its very limited amount that can be used at one time. Edgeworth believes that the only way to be able to use and have a large vocabulary is to have many friends and be social. Thus there is a stress on vocalization in order to gain understanding of words. This is also stressed by the understanding of sounds and not the letters themselves. Therefore by learning the sounds found on page 6, one can begin to string together words in order to practice in front of others and learn from everyone. 
             The question at hand however is about learning words and recognizing them. Can one build a large vocabulary through not talking in this day and age of digital, impersonal globalization? If Edgeworth were to look and experience the internet there would be a rather different story. The internet is filled with millions of bits of information of audio, visual and written kinds. We see that as new generations are made, the more connected to technology they become. Because of this, would it be a terrible hindrance to learning if children learn by listening instead of conversing? Would priming still work correctly if words are only spoken through silent thinking? The internet seems like a save-all but will it be the handicap to generations of techno-kids? I believe Dehaene thinks not and it is through this silent talking and priming that words are primarily understood. As long as basic words can be learned in order to create associated morphemes then it seems that a basic understanding of written language can be learned. As for spoken syntax and other vocal peculiarities, these too could be learned without direct communication and could theoretically be taught through mimicry. Imagine, a world where one only learns from a computer screen and cannot live without it... I'm lookin' at you Google and Wikipedia. 

Momento Ergo Sum

       "And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom , my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it; perhaps because I had so often seen such things in the meantime, without tasting them, on the trays in pastry-cooks' windows, that their image had dissociated itself from those Combray days to take its place among others more recent; perhaps because of those memories, so long abandoned and put out of mind, nothing now survived, everything was scattered; the shapes of things, including that of the little scallop-shell of pastry, so richly sensual under its severe, religious folds, were either obliterated or had been so long dormant as to have lost the power of expansion which would have allowed them to resume their place in my consciousness. But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection." ~The Madeleine by Marcel Proust

"Of course, once Proust began to remember his past, he lost all interest in the taste of the madeleine. Instead, he became obsessed with how he felt about the cookie, with what the cookie meant to him . What else would these crumbs teach him about his past? What other memories could emerge from these magic mouthfuls of flour and butter?" ~Marcel Proust: The Method of Memory by Jonah Lehrer (pg. 81)
_________________________________________________________________________________
        Lehrer discusses memory in the terms that Proust believed were true. He tells of how a weak Proust wanted to leave a mark on the memories of others. Proust was a master of flowery language and introspection according to Lehrer. Proust had an ability to see into himself and his mind through mundane or trivial acts. Through the eating of a cookie, Proust is able to envision his own ability of remembering and memories about himself that are very much unrelated. Lehrer's article tells of how Proust's work and thoughts on memory were very complimentary to the scientific aspects and studies. Proust himself recognizes the power of art and science but tells of how the artist deals with the reality of the situation (Lehrer 77-78). Proust is a visionary of memory and describes many things that help give an artistic light to scientific theory.
         While the topics of both readings were of memory, i want to focus on something a little different. Proust talked of how memories were plagued by influence of ones self. In other words, when someone remembers something they change little details in order to convenience themselves. Lehrer tells of how Freud studied this in victims of sexual abuse. (Lehrer 82-83) This theory that memories are what we want to believe means that we in fact cannot tell the truth and thus our memories tell more about the person recalling them than the memories contents. For this reason, I propose a look not into memories of the past, but memories that have sprouted from the great void of nothing. The French call this Deja Vu. It is when one recognizes a current happening that has either unknown or no groundings in the past. In the case of Proust, this brings to mind an interesting hypothesis.
           If memories have actual roots to a past happening, and a person remembers said happening with thoughts that are influenced by their personality; then what does it mean for said person if only the latter were true. In other words, if a memory has no roots but someone remembers it then what does this say about this person. Therefore, is Deja Vu the subconscious commentary of a persons actions or rather is it a the wishes of the self being portrayed in reality. Barring miraculous events, sorcery, or prophecy; one must really look at this in the light of the mind-subconsciousness relation. Deja Vu is curious in this aspect because of the ambiguity of their meaning. It is the raw view of oneself through a blind belief in a fake history. Deja Vu, in the context of Proust, is like a subliminal message from our self to our-self but we must be open and ready to study and learn from them. Rather than focusing on memories, I believe Proust is trying to get to a core idea of finding "Self" through our experience of life. However, Proust may not have considered Deja Vu because of its uncommon nature and thus focused on regular memories. If someone were to talk to Proust about Deja Vu, I wonder what his response would be and what he could find out about himself or others based on there own happenings. So remember, next time you have that weird feeling think about it in terms of your own self. Think of what your subconsciousness is trying to tell you or maybe even remind you.

Paying Attention: Why Students are Poor

Some people who attend public lectures upon natural philosophy, with the expectation of being much amused and instructed, go home with sensations similar to those of the poor Eskimaux; they feel that they have had too much of every thing. The lecturer has not time to explain his terms, or to repeat them till they are distinct in the memory of his audience.[16] To children, every mode of instruction must be hurtful which fatigues attention; therefore, a skilful preceptor will, as much as possible, avoid the manner of teaching, to which the public lecturer is in some degree compelled by his situation. ~Practical Attention: Chapter 3 by Maria Edgeworth (Pg 73) [Pg3 of the word document]

Another view that has become increasingly popular in recent years is called the selection-for-action view.... attentional limitations should not be attributed to a limited capacity or mechanism. Instead, the limitations are byproducts of the need to coordinate action and ensure that the correct stimulus information is controlling the intended responses. ~Attention: Theory and Practice by Addie Johnson & Robert Proctor (pg 22)

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          Proctor and Johnson recount a history of the study of attention and its importance. They break up the study of Attention into five periods, beginning with the philosophical pre-psychology period and ending with the modern age of fMRI's and PET scans that are able to reproduce full three dimensional renderings of the brain. They discuss how the views of attention went from thoughts of animal spirits and humors swimming through the rippling hills of the brain to internal capacities and abilities of developing minds. The main question becomes, "How should attention be interpreted?"

Yet some things never change...

          The viewpoint that Proctor and Johnson is an interesting one. They say that, "attentional limitations should not be attributed to a limited capacity or mechanism." This means that instead of attention loss being blamed on natural, biological limits. Instead they say, "the limitations are byproducts of the need to coordinate action and ensure that the correct stimulus information is controlling the intended responses." In layman terms, loss of attention is caused by the coordination of thoughts or objects being received and their related appropriate actions. Thus not a limit in capacity or how much time attention can be held but in how many thoughts or objects that can be mentally processed at once.

          This is very contradictory from the views of Edgeworth who tells of a natural ceiling to how long or complex a thought may be. This is an a theory that instead gives a natural limit to mankind and thus shows a more clear evolution in thinking as time goes on. However this also does not allow multitasking to be taken into account in a clearly definable way. This division in theories are not just scientific in thought but also allow for philosophical undertones. Proctor and Johnson leave an interpretation of complexity and unlimited human possibilities. Edgeworth's on the other hand is open to a more realist approach or set boundaries that will shift over time and mutation. However, both ideas are allowable and undefinable at this time without a clear winner. How to measure and define attention is important, but if one loses att.....

SQUIRREL!!!

Any-who, attention is important for furthering human knowledge, but by understanding how attention works one can streamline how to teach effectively and maximize attention. By better understanding attention maybe we can finally figure out why reddit, Wikipedia, and Facebook are so addicting.

First Reading - Postulation and Placement: Finding the "Mind" in the Brain

A Circle round divided in four parts

Hath been great Study 'mongst the men of Arts; 

Since Archimed's or Euclid's time, each Brain 

Hath on a Line been stretched, yet all in Vain; 

And every Thought hath been a Figure set,

Doubts Cyphers were, Hopes as Triangles met; 

There was Division and Subtraction made, 

And Lines drawn out, and Points exactly laid, 

But none hath yet by Demonstration found

The way, by which to Square a Circle round:

For while the Brain is round, no Square will be, 

While Thoughts divide, no Figures will agree.

And others did upon the same account,

  Doubling the Cube to a great number mount;

But some the Triangles did cut so small, 

Till into equal Atoms they did fall:

For such is Man's curiosity and mind,

To seek for that, which is hardest to find.

~Margaret Cavendish's The Circle of the Brain cannot be Squared

What else am "I"? I will use my imagination. "I" am not that structure of limbs which is called a human body. "I" am not even some thin vapour which permeates the limbs- a wind, fire, air, breath, or whatever I depict in my imagination; for these are things which I have supposed to be nothing. Let this supposition stand; for all that I am still something. And yet may it not perhaps be the case that these very things which I am supposing to be nothing, because they are unknown to me, are in reality identical with the "I" of which I am aware? ~Descartes' Mind as Consciousness pg 22

 Bonnet concluded that it implied that body and soul could not be two distinct and separate substances but that animate beings constituted what he called an ‘être mixte’ (6). Julien Offray de La Mettrie also seized on this implication in his mid-century works, l’Homme Machine  (1747) and Traité de l’âme  (1751) (see Smith, 2002a). He concluded, like Bonnet, that the division of creation into two parts – body and soul – was absurd. Both, he writes, were created together, at the same instant, as if ‘by a single brush stroke’ (de La Mettrie, 1745, p. 2). To think otherwise was nothing more than a casuistry designed to throw dust into the eyes of the watching theologians (6). But this sort of panpsychism has, of course, tricky implications. Does all matter have this ‘dual aspect’? Leibniz, at least, recognised this implication and was content to allow his fundamental units – the monads – to possess both attributes. ~C.U.M. Smith's Brain & Mind in the 'Long' 18th Century pg 20

       The 18th century is a point of many important happenings of science and the arts. Smith discusses that the 18th century should not be limited by dates arbitrarily picked but organized by the start and finish of an era in varying realms of knowledge. He sights many examples of possible 18th centuries based on varying criteria and paradigms, but his main focus is on that of the mind and the "soul" or "spirit". First it discusses the nerve chords of the body and the question of them being hallow. Then it moves on to the idea of the location of the "animal spirit" and the debate of the separation or inclusion from or with, respectively, the body. Along with this was the idea of perceptions of the mind through irritability and sensibility. Finally the piece covered the thoughts on Electricity and its transmission throughout the nervous system.

      Although the history accounted by Smith is brief but wide in scope, I wanted to focus on one topic in particular. This manifests itself into one question: Where are our personalities located? This is a fundamental question of life. It is one that we have tried to solve for many years and some have tried but ultimately failed. Descartes talks about the personality (or soul) being separate from the body but in order for it to exist as an individual it must have an ability, in this case it is to think, in order to be able to actively participate in the surrounding world.

The internet is the 21st century's philosophical salon.

But even Descartes didn't know how to describe the physical entity of the personality let alone tell where it originated. He could only tell that there was an abstract thing called the soul or spirit and he said that it was of another substance than the body, which included the brain. We all know, through modern science, that the brain is not a spiritual vessel but it contains areas for controlling actions and processes. 

         Cavendish's poem makes a comment on the study of the brain throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. She tells of the study to "square the circle" or in other words to define the brain and its parts clearly.

Not to be confused with the Pythagorean Variety

It tells of how we try to reason, "every Thought hath been a Figure set" and map, "And Lines drawn out, and Points exactly laid" the brain in order to more fully understand its inner workings. However, it concludes with our failure, "But none hath yet by Demonstration found The way, by which to Square a Circle round" and while it may have been a dead end during the 17th and 18th centuries, today it is helps us formulate new ways to "Square the Circle". While new technologies allow us to delve further into the personality, the question of location is left in the realm of poets, philosophers, and students alike. 

What if indeed...