Neurons are individual cells in our brain that transmit messages. They are made up of a cell body (which keeps the cell alive), dendrites (branches off of the cell body that receive messages from other neurons), and axons (fibers that carry messages to other neurons). There are also special neurons called receptors that receive messages from the environment and are located in areas such as our ears, eyes, and skin. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals used to communicate between neurons, much like people use words to communicate.
Certain stimuli activate certain neurons. When looking at a face, receptors in your eyes take in the image, transmit it through neural pathways (which are groups of interconnected neurons that follow a specific path, like roads, to bring information from one location to another) to the occipital lobe (which processes sight). But not all of the neurons in the lobe are activated, only neurons that are related to looking at a face, or at that particular face if it is of someone you know. Also, it is not only the neurons in the occipital lobe that are activated. Areas in the brain related to memory may also activate if it is a face you recognize.
This process happens for all senses, with each sense being sent to the appropriate lobe.
So how does this relate to cognition? Seeing an object, and processing it, is the process of perception. And as already mentioned, this can trigger memories, another cognitive process. We also have to be paying attention to an object to really see it and perceive it.
Another interesting part of cognition is feeling. There has been much research conducted in the neuroscience of a particular feeling, empathy, which has shown some very specific neural functioning.
Have you ever wondered how you are able to empathize with someone? Could it be related to remembering our emotions during a similar situation to that in which another person finds themselves? Maybe, but researchers have found another answer: we actual EXPERIENCE what another person is doing in our minds through what are referred to as mirror neurons.
When you take a sip of coffee, there are groups of neurons that are activated by the taste, feel, and smell of that coffee. But when you watch someone else take a sip of coffee, some of those same neurons are still activated even though you are not physically doing it yourself. Your brain is still experiencing drinking the coffee.
In his Ted Talk, Vilayanur Ramachandran explains this process and explains that the reason that you do not perceive the physical sensation is that your receptors send the message to your brain that you are not actually doing it and veto the neurons that are firing in your brain in response to watching the other person. If you didn't have taste receptors, if they were all of a sudden taken from you (a horrible fate for sure!), they would be unable to veto that message and you would experience the actual tasting of the coffee, much like individuals with phantom limbs are able to feel the sensation of the limb being touched when watching other people being touched in the area that they are missing.
These neurons are all over our brain and help us, not only to empathize, but also to learn. This may explain why individuals are able to learn a dance move by watching someone else dance it, learn to solve a math problem by watching someone else solve it, or learn to light a fire by watching someone else light it. In our brains, we are actually doing it, and those neurons are firing in the same way they would be if we were the ones to be dancing that dance move, solving that math problem, or lighting that fire.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Understanding Cognition and How it Can be Used to Benefit All (Ch 1 Blog)
Cognition is an amazing thing. We all use it every single day, most of the time without even realizing the complexity of what we are doing. Simple acts require using our cognitive abilities in several ways: simply getting a glass of water requires us to perceive, pay attention, remember, distinguish between items, and make decisions, all of which are components of cognition.
So what exactly is cognition? In a nutshell, it is what our mind does, which means to understand cognition, we must understand what the mind is.
The concept of "the mind" is one that is challenging to define. One option, as provided by Cognitive Psychology by E. Bruce Goldstein, is "the mind creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotion, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning. It is a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals."
These goals referred to include individual goals, but can also extend to include goals for our societies and for our world.
A Ted Talk by Clay Shirky, brings up the concept of cognitive surplus. Cognitive surplus is the concept that we all have excess cognitive energy. We use it when we scroll through Facebook, watch Youtube videos or television, look at lolcats pictures, or participate in other pass time activities. It is the ability to perform cognitive functions past what it is that we need to do each day.
Human beings want to contribute to society. It is often an intrinsic need. We not only use this surplus to consume information, we often use it to satisfy our need to contribute. There are two ways that we do this. One way is for a communal value. Things such as lolcats or Facebook tend to contribute in this way, where the focus is on something created by participants for each other. Another way, discussed in the video, is for a civic value, where something is created by participants that can service society as a whole. Our modern tools, such as media and technology, are effective modes to contribute in this way.
In 2008, two programmers created the website Ushahidi in response to the amount of information pouring in about the violence in Kenya. It compiled the overwhelming amount of information contributed by many people, which was too much for any one person to keep up with, into a resource that could be used, understood, and taken in by anyone.
If you added up the cognitive surplus of the global population throughout the year, it equates to 1 trillion hours...
Let me repeat that.
THERE ARE 1 TRILLION HOURS OF EXCESS COGNITIVE ENERGY A YEAR!!!
If we even took half of that, if each person took half of their cognitive energy each day, to contribute to society in a civic manner, which is made so much easier by many people's access to technology, what type of world would we be living in? How well informed would we be. If we each took the five minutes a day to read through and share something of civic value posted on Facebook, or on a blog, instead of just scrolling past to "like" the picture of the cat that wants the cheeseburger, we could each be having a part in changing the world.
So what will it be? It's up to you.
So what exactly is cognition? In a nutshell, it is what our mind does, which means to understand cognition, we must understand what the mind is.
The concept of "the mind" is one that is challenging to define. One option, as provided by Cognitive Psychology by E. Bruce Goldstein, is "the mind creates and controls mental functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotion, language, deciding, thinking, and reasoning. It is a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals."
These goals referred to include individual goals, but can also extend to include goals for our societies and for our world.
A Ted Talk by Clay Shirky, brings up the concept of cognitive surplus. Cognitive surplus is the concept that we all have excess cognitive energy. We use it when we scroll through Facebook, watch Youtube videos or television, look at lolcats pictures, or participate in other pass time activities. It is the ability to perform cognitive functions past what it is that we need to do each day.
Human beings want to contribute to society. It is often an intrinsic need. We not only use this surplus to consume information, we often use it to satisfy our need to contribute. There are two ways that we do this. One way is for a communal value. Things such as lolcats or Facebook tend to contribute in this way, where the focus is on something created by participants for each other. Another way, discussed in the video, is for a civic value, where something is created by participants that can service society as a whole. Our modern tools, such as media and technology, are effective modes to contribute in this way.
In 2008, two programmers created the website Ushahidi in response to the amount of information pouring in about the violence in Kenya. It compiled the overwhelming amount of information contributed by many people, which was too much for any one person to keep up with, into a resource that could be used, understood, and taken in by anyone.
If you added up the cognitive surplus of the global population throughout the year, it equates to 1 trillion hours...
Let me repeat that.
THERE ARE 1 TRILLION HOURS OF EXCESS COGNITIVE ENERGY A YEAR!!!
If we even took half of that, if each person took half of their cognitive energy each day, to contribute to society in a civic manner, which is made so much easier by many people's access to technology, what type of world would we be living in? How well informed would we be. If we each took the five minutes a day to read through and share something of civic value posted on Facebook, or on a blog, instead of just scrolling past to "like" the picture of the cat that wants the cheeseburger, we could each be having a part in changing the world.
So what will it be? It's up to you.
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