Perceiving The Mind*

By Joy Ewere

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

Disclaimer

*Mind and brain will be referred to as the same thing in this presentation and used interchangeably throughout it.

**Presenter's definition: the ability to interpret something detected in the environment with the senses. In this presentation, the auditory and visual sense will be explored.

The Situation

Please read the following text in the voice of an elderly person in your head:

“A Fool stands in front of one of two locked doors after having made what most would consider to be the wrong decision. Each door was said to lead to one mistake that would be crucial to suffer through. The Fool has made the decision to enter the door that would subject the volunteer to a mistake that will result in crushing regret.”

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

The Situation continued

Please read the following text:

“A Fool's Friend stands in front of one of two locked doors after the Fool's sacrificial decision. Each door was said to lead to one mistake that would be crucial to suffer through. The Fool's Friend has been left to enter the door that will subject the person to a minor, easy-to-forget mistake.”

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

Real – Life Situations

When a person...

is in a loud crowd or extremely quiet room, they become unable to think clearly to their self.

is reading a book and realizes that they are hearing it in what they believe to be their own voice in their head.

thinks or dreaming in a foreign language. sees images in their minds when they day-dream or

when they sleep at night.

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

Dissecting The Question

Areas of Knowledge that will be used to determine reason for perception of thoughts:

Natural Sciences Human SciencesOther issue that arose: Ability for a person to perceive images without

using eyes.

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

How It Is Thought to be Done

Ability for mind to perceive thoughts due to experiences.

Experiences processed through sensory-linked parts of the brain.

Processed experiences then stored in hippocampus for long-term use (like files on a hard drive of a computer).

Elements of experience can now be readily retrieved when necessary.

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

“Hearing” Thoughts

The brain is able to perceive things that have happened to a person and has been stored in the brain as a memory.

Ability for sounds a person hears in their life to be recalled and used for certain situations.

Reading text in the voice of someone famous. Recalling a sound that is heard on a daily basis.Reading a sentence in one's head and being able to register that information as sound when recalled again.

Having a song “stuck” in the mind.

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

“Seeing” Thoughts

Closing one's eyes and seeing an image or situation described to them.

Listening to music and remembering the music video for it.

Dreaming and “seeing” objects that seem unimaginable when awake.

Hallucinating.Creating a scenario in the mind.

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

Concerning The Natural SciencesPsychological state of mind Localization (different sections of the brain functioning

differently) of the parts of the brain show that the cerebral cortex, or gray matter, leading part for thinking, perceiving, producing, and understanding language (Bailey 1).

Cerebral Cortex made up of 4 lobes: Parietal Frontal Occipital Temporal

Proximity of it to other parts of the brain, like the hippocampus, influences storage of senses.

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

Why The Brain Matters

Why The Brain Matters, continued

Stimulus received by brain and processed through sensory organs (in the thalamus) and stared, but is not readily recalled.

Recollection is involuntary or due to malfunctions in the mind (sleep – deprivation or drugs leading to hallucinations).

Thoughts of or recollection of memories of pain.Some believe that there is no reason or truth behind it and that it is just something preprogrammed into the human body or strengthened throughout life, like a person's personality..

However, the neural connections that neurons have made support idea that experiences perceived by the mind are behind the perception of thought.

Human Sciences: Making Sense of It

Think...

...of a plate full of food you really want to eat....of these three words “in your mind” ....of slamming your foot into the edge of a door.…of a landscape filled with sunflowers.

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

Thoughts on ThoughtsThinking is involuntary.Ability or to do so is gained from experiences.Memories act as files readily retrieved when put in certain situations.

The ability to “hear” or otherwise perceive thoughts are due to the processing of outside factors through the sensory-linked sections of the brain.

Perception of thoughts based on experiences (everyone's differ based on idea that not everyone experiences things the same way) that shape both thoughts and personalities (both are random but dependent on the brain).

Knowledge Issue: How are humans capable of perceiving** their own thoughts?

Works Cited

Bailey, Regina. "Cerebral Cortex." About.com Biology. About.com., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Links for pictures:

http://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/documents/image/ucm107787.jpg

http://bio1152.nicerweb.com/Locked/media/ch49/49_15CerebralCortex-L.jpg