background preloader

Mind

Facebook Twitter

Mind. A phrenologicalmapping[1] of the brain. Phrenology was among the first attempts to correlate mental functions with specific parts of the brain. A mind /ˈmaɪnd/ is the set of cognitive faculties that enables consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, and memory—a characteristic of humans, but which also may apply to other life forms.[3][4] A lengthy tradition of inquiries in philosophy, religion, psychology and cognitive science has sought to develop an understanding of what a mind is and what its distinguishing properties are.

Important philosophers of mind include Plato, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, Martin Heidegger, John Searle, Daniel Dennett and many others. Etymology[edit] The original meaning of Old English gemynd was the faculty of memory, not of thought in general. The meaning of "memory" is shared with Old Norse, which has munr. Definitions[edit] Which attributes make up the mind is much debated. Mental faculties[edit] Mental content[edit] Memetics[edit] Relation to the brain[edit] Theory of mind. Definition[edit] Theory of mind is a theory insofar as the mind is not directly observable.[1] The presumption that others have a mind is termed a theory of mind because each human can only intuit the existence of his/her own mind through introspection, and no one has direct access to the mind of another.

It is typically assumed that others have minds by analogy with one's own, and this assumption is based on the reciprocal nature of social interaction, as observed in joint attention,[4] the functional use of language,[5] and the understanding of others' emotions and actions.[6] Having a theory of mind allows one to attribute thoughts, desires, and intentions to others, to predict or explain their actions, and to posit their intentions. Theory of mind appears to be an innate potential ability in humans; one requiring social and other experience over many years for its full development. Different people may develop more, or less, effective theories of mind.

Development[edit] Autism[edit] 15 styles of Distorted Thinking. 15 styles of Distorted Thinking Filtering: You take the negative details and magnify them while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. Polarized Thinking: Things are black or white, good or bad. You have to be perfect or you're a failure. There is no middle ground. Checklist for Hidden Anger Procrastination in the completion of imposed tasks. 10 Ways Our Minds Warp Time.

How time perception is warped by life-threatening situations, eye movements, tiredness, hypnosis, age, the emotions and more… The mind does funny things to our experience of time. Just ask French cave expert Michel Siffre. In 1962 Siffre went to live in a cave that was completely isolated from mechanical clocks and natural light.

He soon began to experience a huge change in his perception of time. When he tried to measure out two minutes by counting up to 120 at one-second intervals, it took him 5 minutes. After emerging from the cave he guessed the trip had lasted 34 days. He’d actually been down there for 59 days. But you don’t have to hide out in a cave for a couple of months to warp time, it happens to us all the time. 1. People often report that time seems to slow down in life-threatening situations, like skydiving. But are we really processing more information in these seconds when time seems to stretch?

2. We’ve all experienced the fact that time seems to fly when we’re having fun. How to Hack Your Brain. Consciousness. Representation of consciousness from the seventeenth century At one time consciousness was viewed with skepticism by many scientists, but in recent years it has become a significant topic of research in psychology, neuropsychology and neuroscience. The primary focus is on understanding what it means biologically and psychologically for information to be present in consciousness—that is, on determining the neural and psychological correlates of consciousness.

The majority of experimental studies assess consciousness by asking human subjects for a verbal report of their experiences (e.g., "tell me if you notice anything when I do this"). Issues of interest include phenomena such as subliminal perception, blindsight, denial of impairment, and altered states of consciousness produced by drugs and alcohol, or spiritual or meditative techniques. Etymology and early history[edit] John Locke, British philosopher active in the 17th century In the dictionary[edit] Philosophy of mind[edit] Consciousness.