Single Idea 4913

[catalogued under 7. Existence / E. Categories / 2. Categorisation]

Full Idea

The discovery that a single brain lesion can erase all knowledge of man-made artefacts, or all knowledge of animals, suggests that these categories somehow hard-wired into the brain - that we all have a set of 'memory pigeonholes'.

Clarification

A 'lesion' is damage

Gist of Idea

Brain lesions can erase whole categories of perception, suggesting they are hard-wired

Source

Rita Carter (Mapping the Mind [1998], p.190)

Book Reference

Carter,Rita: 'Mapping the Mind' [Phoenix 2000], p.190


A Reaction

Presumably something can become 'hard-wired' through experience, rather than from birth. The whole idea of 'hard-wired' seems misleading about the brain. What matters is that the brain physically constructs categories.