Religion and Cognitive Science
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Psychology involved observing the way we think and feel, with the observer looking into his or her own thinking and feeling processes. This was not a particularly scientific approach and behaviourists rejected it and focused on outward behaviour and the observable triggers of such behaviour. This was also not a scientific approach as it ignored behaviour triggers that could not be observed explicitly.
During the same period, our understanding of the physical causes of behaviour in the form of electrical signals passing along the neural circuits in our brain was also increasing. Stimulating specific areas of the brain caused specific feelings and behaviour. And damage to brain circuits affected these in specific ways. Neuroscience became part of “mind research.”
Evolution also plays a part in the way we think and feel. We do not think and feel like our animal ancestors (or even human ancestors, which might be more an effect of culture).
Cognitive science seeks to combine all these different approaches to studying the way we think, feel, understand, and respond, for example. And it has started looking at the religious experience also. It is seeking to answer, for example, what happens inside our brains when we pray or feel connected to GOD. Religion has many aspects including influencing moral behaviour (by making people believe that their behaviour is being observed even when nobody is around).
Read dcoda’s blog on cognitive studies.
Tags: cognitive science, moral behavior, religious experience
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Babies and Robots to Learn about Behavior Development
Saturday, November 6th, 2010
Developmental psychologists at University of Miami and computer scientists from University of California at San Diego are engaged in an interesting research.
Firstly, they observed 13 mothers playing with their infants aged one to six months. The observation was for five minute periods every week for approximately 14 sessions per mother-infant. The sessions were videotaped for a subsequent interdisciplinary study.
Researchers found that babies and mothers find a pattern while playing, which becomes stable and predictable as the child grows. When the baby smiles, the mom smiles and when the baby stops mom also stops. Babies soon learn to expect people to respond to them in a particular manner. In time, babies also learn to respond to their moms. And social skills begin to develop.
The next phase is to program a baby robot (1.3 meters tall and modeled after a one-year old child) with basic social skills and the ability to learn more complicated interactions.
In essence, babies teach researchers how to program the robot, and while doing the programming, scientists get deeper insights into human behavior development. The robot seeks mechanically to closely simulate human motor system. The study thus helps both robotics and understanding of behavior development.
Read more details at Science Blog.
Tags: behavior development, cognitive science, robotics
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Learning and the Teenager Brain
Friday, October 8th, 2010
The development of adolescents can be compared to a voyage of discovery. They are discovering the limits of what are possible physically and culturally. For example, they learn what behavior is acceptable in their culture.
The development is a gradual process that does not occur all at once. The rate of development also differs from person to person. Parents can influence the process by careful observation of their children’s interests and abilities, and providing challenges that speed up the development.
If the challenges are too ambitious, the adolescent might feel stressed beyond healthy levels. If the challenges are too low, the adolescent will usually get bored. The only way to get it reasonably right is continuous observation of responses to your actions.
Human behavior is not all that predetermined. There is a significant element of personal choices and a wide range to choose from. The width of the range becomes obvious when we observe the wide disparity in people’s views and actions on such matters as politics and religion.
As the adolescent develops towards adulthood, he or she discovers his or her interests and capabilities. In addition to finding what is physically possible, they also learn what is culturally acceptable.
Read about the views of Dr Robert Sylvester, described as an educator of educators, on the above and related issues at joste2008.com.
Tags: adolescent development, cognitive development, cognitive science
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Impact of Computers and Connectivity on Human Relationships and Cognition
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
The explosive growth in computer power and connectivity is changing the relationships among people and organizations. For example, real-time conversation between strangers at opposite ends of the world has become a commonplace occurrence these days. This is something that would have been rare indeed in a pre-Internet world.
What is the impact of such developments on human relationships is something that does indeed deserve serious research.
Another major area affected by powerful computers and connectivity is concerned with learning and discovery. For example, the Web has opened up new learning and information opportunities to the general public all across the world. It has also made possible discoveries in science that would not have been possible with the slow and limited methods of traditional scientific research.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) had announced grants under its Knowledge and Distributed intelligence initiative-a program that fosters interdisciplinary research into the effects of the explosive growth in computer power and connectivity.
A significant number of the finally approved grants were for projects that included a significant cognitive/behavioral/ psychological science aspect, reports the Observer, published by the Association of Psychological Science.
Read the report titled Psychological Science Makes Strong Showing.
Tags: cognitive science, human relationships, learning and discovery, organizational functioning
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Superstitions are Obstacles not only for Cognitive but also Economic and Cultural Development
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
When you see things as they are, you can usually find ways to achieve your goals, whether these are economic or some other. By developing a scientific approach, cause and effect relationships can be perceived more readily and this perception can be used to move towards one’s goals.
Not only an understanding of cause and effect relationships but the emotional balance to accept reality and act intelligently based on this reality is also necessary for effective achievements.
Superstitions, including ritualistic religious beliefs, prevent both these requirements. One tends to see things in a preconceived way instead of as they are. Emotional balance also might be affected because of strong biases in favor of one’s set of beliefs.
If the findings of cognitive science can be used by governments and other influencers of people’s views to change the superstitious mindset, it should theoretically be possible to create a better world where conflict is replaced by enlightened self-interest and cooperation. It would be a massive exercise, however.
The above thoughts entered this writer’s mind on going through the article titled “Scientific Mindsets and Worldviews for Peace and Development in Africa” at Azibo Press. The article suggests that African policy-makers, freedom thinkers and activists should adopt the ideals of the French Revolution and work to get rid of “paternalistic, autocratic and despotic kings and fear-mongering, deceitful and fraudulent merchant-priests.”
Read the article at Azibo Press.
Tags: cognitive development, cognitive science, mindset, scientific approach, superstitions
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Origins of Human Uniqueness and Behavioral Modernity
Monday, March 1st, 2010
The title above is the theme of a recent workshop at Arizona University where representatives from varied disciplines such as anthropology, primatology, cognitive science, psychology, paleontology, archaeology, evolutionary biology and genetics participated.
The workshop sessions explored the question of how an overwhelmingly weak species of humans could come to dominate other species that outdid it in speed, agility, jaws and claws. The participants agreed that an “underlying capacity to produce complexity” defined human uniqueness and that behavioral modernity consisted of expressing this uniqueness.
The three C’s of Cognition, Culture and Cooperation were the key characteristics whose expression the participants focused upon. They sought to pinpoint markers for each of these expressions, using these to identify the emergence of humans.
Development of larger brains led to human cognition that enabled the species to create stone tools and weapons, and to other demonstrations of a capacity for thinking and innovation. Curiously, fire helped sustain the larger brain that required more metabolic energy. Fire freed up energy needs by softening foods, denaturing proteins and breaking down toxins.
Read more details of the fascinating story including how Culture and Cooperation appeared and their impact, at Scientific American.
Tags: cognition, cooperation, culture, evolution, human uniqueness
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Coordinating the Behavior of two or more Individuals
Friday, February 26th, 2010
If we look at examples of complex human behavior, such as language and relgion, we find that such behavior involves coordinating the behavior of two or more individuals. After all, the term culture means the similar way in which a group of people behave. When we look further, we notice that such coordinated behavior is not uniquely human.
Non-human organisms, such as squirrels that hide their collections of nuts in secret locations, also exhibit identical behavior among different individuals to solve a particular problem.
Coordinated behavior is not cooperative behavior. It can be quite non-cooperative as the case of the squirrels illustrates. Coordination simply means that the individual’s behavior is in sync with those of the population.
According to the blog author, behavior coordination between the individual and population has both evolutionary and developmental significance.
Read the discussion at: Coordinated Novel Behaviors
Tags: behavior synchronization in groups, cognitive science, culture, development, evolution
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