Thursday, April 20, 2006

tags: example control filter performance contradiction separation

New Scientist Breaking News - Watching the brain 'switch off' self-awareness: "Self-awareness, regarded as a key element of being human, is switched off when the brain needs to concentrate hard on a tricky task, found the neurobiologists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
The team conducted a series of experiments to pinpoint the brain activity associated with introspection and that linked to sensory function. They found that the brain assumes a robotic functionality when it has to concentrate all its efforts on a difficult, timed task – only becoming "human" again when it has the luxury of time."
Introspection seems to be a very "expensive" process. There must be a control mechanism in the brain that does signal switching between simple and complex tasks. It also appears that it is triggered by emotions by default, but can be activated by one's own mind after extensive training.

A good illustration of the "separation upon condition" principle.

The core contradiction looks like this:
1) The brain needs to perform complex processing that require a lot of capacity in order to evaluate and predict events;
2) The brain does not need to perform complex processing in order to react to immediate danger and/or opportunity.

Evolution solves this contradiction by creating at least two separate processing areas, which are selectively activated upon an environmental condition. Most likely, events are filtered through a experience-dependent evaluation sub-system.

I wish I could draw diagrams here

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