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Single Idea 4903

[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 2. Reduction of Mind ]

Full Idea

The pattern of brain activation during, say, a word retrieval task is usually similar enough among the dozen or so participants who typically take part in such studies for their scans to be overlaid and still show a clear pattern.

Gist of Idea

Scans of brains doing similar tasks produce very similar patterns of activation

Source

Rita Carter (Mapping the Mind [1998], p. 17)

Book Ref

Carter,Rita: 'Mapping the Mind' [Phoenix 2000], p.17

A Reaction

This doesn't surprise me, though it could be interpreted as supporting type-type identity, or as supporting functionalism. Armstrong and Lewis endorse a sort of reductive functionalism which would fit this observation.

The 19 ideas from Rita Carter

4902 Pain doesn't have one brain location, but is linked to attention and emotion [Carter,R]
4904 Proper brains appear at seven weeks, and neonates have as many neurons as adults do [Carter,R]
4903 Scans of brains doing similar tasks produce very similar patterns of activation [Carter,R]
4906 Babies show highly emotional brain events, but may well be unaware of them [Carter,R]
4905 Normal babies seem to have overlapping sense experiences [Carter,R]
4907 The 'locus coeruleus' is one of several candidates for the brain's 'pleasure centre' [Carter,R]
4908 No one knows if animals are conscious [Carter,R]
4909 The only way we can control our emotions is by manipulating the outside world that influences them [Carter,R]
4910 Sense organs don't discriminate; they reduce various inputs to the same electrical pulses [Carter,R]
4911 The recognition sequence is: classify, name, locate, associate, feel [Carter,R, by PG]
4912 Out-of-body experiences may be due to temporary loss of proprioception [Carter,R]
4913 Brain lesions can erase whole categories of perception, suggesting they are hard-wired [Carter,R]
4914 A frog will starve to death surrounded by dead flies [Carter,R]
4915 In primates, brain size correlates closely with size of social group [Carter,R]
4916 There is enormous evidence that consciousness arises in the frontal lobes of the brain [Carter,R]
4917 Consciousness involves awareness, perception, self-awareness, attention and reflection [Carter,R]
4918 In blindsight V1 (normal vision) is inactive, but V5 (movement) lights up [Carter,R]
4919 There seems to be no dividing line between a memory and a thought [Carter,R]
4920 Thinking takes place on the upper side of the prefrontal cortex [Carter,R]