8
votes
Is a network of neurons the only factor in memory?
Answer
Yes, theoretically.
Now
According to my ongoing informal research, there are two sides of brain preservation innovation: 1) the preservation and mapping (building) the connectome; and 2) the ...
- 201
5
votes
Are action potentials necessary for experience?
It is generally accepted that all activity having to do with conscious experience is mediated by spiking in the cortex. Sub-threshold activity, such as excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) are ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Does monism imply that computers can have consciousness?
Note: While "The Basic Theory of the Mind" may potentially be well researched and possibly accurate, it is (as far as I know) a self-published discourse by a non-researcher, that is not peer-reviewed. ...
- 19.3k
4
votes
Disprove that Humans are selfish
Giving a dollar to homeless people on the street serves no aid to the donor, since the only difference is who has that dollar, and clearly to have the dollar is better than not.
This action is ...
- 141
4
votes
Is there any evidence that language is the limit of the world?
First some linguistic theory background.
Noam Chomsky has hypothesized that language developed internally to facilitate certain aspects of human cognition. According to Chomsky's hypothesis, human ...
- 512
4
votes
Is there any evidence that language is the limit of the world?
This is not quite your question, but it's the closest thing I know of. There's a significant amount of work suggesting that purely morphological attributes can shape conceptualization: looking at the ...
- 2,943
4
votes
Is prior experience necessary to perceive the Kanizsa triangle illusion?
It's a difficult question to answer. My educated guess is that the appearance of the triangle, and illusionary contours in general, would persist, even in individuals who have never seen a triangle ...
- 20.5k
4
votes
Can curiosity be described as an emotion?
The currently accepted model of curiosity is that of Litman. It describes curiosity as a sort of motivating factor:
Curiosity as a feeling of deprivation (CFD) reflects feelings of uncertainty and ...
- 404
4
votes
Mind uploading & its constituents: Theoretically possible?
To upload information stored in the mind is to upload information stored in the brain because the brain is the physical part of the mind. To do this is not an easy task because the brain has neither ...
- 1,825
4
votes
Why do people believe what they believe?
This is a good question, but keep in mind that when you ask a broad question, you typically get a broad answer - ie, I won't go into much detail.
First Impressions
In general, belief and attitude ...
- 19.3k
3
votes
Is prior experience necessary to perceive the Kanizsa triangle illusion?
First, in the context of your reference to cultural context, one aspect of your question appears to be whether or not a person who has never had experiences of triangles before can have a triangle ...
- 755
3
votes
How can a persons good or bad be accurately measured?
In a way, I agree with the answer given by AivanF.
But more can be said. One of the greatest biologist of our times, the scientist Edward O. Wilson has something to say about what humanity has been ...
- 226
3
votes
Why would the brain flip the images perceived by your eyes?
There are many transformations between the light hitting your retina and your perception of the world.
The signals from your retina initially travel through the visual pathways to reach your visual ...
- 981
3
votes
What is the most comprehensive system of describing human emotions or states of mind?
The recently published Atlas of personality, emotion and behaviour catalogues over 3,000 emotions (Mobbs, 2020). A summary of the emotions is below with a more comprehensive version included in the ...
- 1,698
3
votes
How can machine possibly possess consciousness if computation is a human idea?
Short answer: This is formally known as the hard problem of consciousness - if you can figure it out, then you'll probably win a Nobel Prize:
The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of ...
- 19.3k
3
votes
What is a belief, and how does it differ from an opinion?
Edit: This article from the Guardian reviews research into what forms and influences belief, gives some make up of what a belief is, but I could not find a, and separate, scientific defintion.
A ...
- 863
3
votes
Is there an explanation for concepts or situations that are repeated within a short amount of time?
Short answer
The repeated encounter of a word or object after just having been introduced to it is linked to the frequency illusion, also called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.
Background
It may be an ...
- 20.5k
3
votes
How do we imagine? How do images have qualia?
This is hardly settled science, but one hypothesis with some empirical support is that
Visual mental imagery and perception share similar cortical representations (Cichy et al., 2012; Kosslyn, ...
- 10.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Differentiations of Imposter Syndrome
It sounds like two measurements are needed:
1) Perception of competence. This could be measured using self-report for large studies, or semi-structured interviews for individuals or small samples. ...
- 1,498
3
votes
What can coma patients report about their experiences - if anything?
The majority of people who recovered from coma did not report any experiences that occurred while they were in coma (clinically unresponsive, with absent or minimal brainstem reflexes, and with ...
- 1,825
3
votes
Accepted
The perception of time of workaholics
Being deeply immersed in a task is called flow. The term was introduced by
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a hungarian psychologist. Csíkszentmihályi spent decades on researching this phenomenon and I can ...
- 46
2
votes
Cultural brain hypothesis and gene-culture co-evolution
"evidence of recent co-evolution between genes and large-scale culture
This 2018 PLOS Computation Biology simulation study - The Cultural Brain Hypothesis examined the data from animals and humans. ...
- 1,069
2
votes
Why would the brain flip the images perceived by your eyes?
It is not the case that the brain flips the retinal image, nor does it have to, nor are there any images in the brain like there are on the retina. It is just as meaningless to say that the retinal ...
- 755
2
votes
Can the mind affect the physical brain? - a simple thought experiment
Question: Can the mind affect the physical brain?
"Scientists maintain that "a physical action requires a physical cause". However, if I am in deep thought about my dead spouse, for example, and a ...
- 1,825
2
votes
Is spiritual enlightenment a valid way attempting to understand the universe and consciousness
I do have a question though, once you have an awakening, and realize as others have said, that you are in the matrix, aren't you aware of this fact forever? So how can you be not enlightened anymore, ...
2
votes
Math understanding: intuitions and proofs
Some master mathematicians have written on the process of mathematical invention and on some methods of plausible reasoning in mathematics.
Here are some references:
Jacques Hadamard. An Essay on the ...
2
votes
Math understanding: intuitions and proofs
I think it is important here to be clear about what John is really capable of doing. If all he is able to do is manipulate the axioms of S correctly, this actually does not get him very far, for at ...
- 176
2
votes
A list of books on the big ideas of psychology
Yeah, it's too difficult to say ALL the books, because there are thousands. Some good ones I've come across lately are "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Kahneman. His ideas have been enormously ...
- 21
2
votes
Accepted
If we do not consciously perceive a sound at a time, can we sometimes still later consciously recall it?
This question is related to subliminal perception, often studied in vision but sometimes also in hearing. This remains a bit controversial, and that is mostly because of arguments about how ones ...
- 1,103
2
votes
Accepted
Does anyone know how to explain Quinian bootstrapping process by Carey to a layperson (like me)?
The basic idea of Quinian Boostrapping is that you start off not understanding a concept, but use a symbolic placeholder for it, and then fill in the details over time. For example, right now you don'...
- 36
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