M I N D DR. JAMES Malce ALO

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MIND Is the complex of cognitive faculties

mental processes that enables: 1. Consciousness – quality/state of being aware 2. Thinking – act of thinking that includes:

Cognition - awareness Sentience – ability to feel, perceive, be

conscious Imagination – ability of mind creativity

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3. Reasoning capacity of human being to make sense of things Establish and verify facts Change or justify practices, beliefs, & institutions

4. Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of

sensory information in order to fabricate a mental representation through the process of transduction, which sensors in the body transform signals from the environment into encoded neural signals.

5. judgment Evaluation of evidence Making of decision

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Process of Transduction refers to changing physical energy into electrical

signals (neural impulses) that can make their way to the brain.

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Nature of Mind

- is its relation to the physical brain and nervous system

- Is somehow separate from physical existence - deriving from and reducible to physical

phenomena- is identical with the brain or some activity of the

brain

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Whatever its relation to the physical body it is generally agreed that mind is that which enables a being to:

1. Subjective awareness and intentionality towards their environment,

2. perceive and respond to stimuli with some kind of agency, and

3. consciousness, including thinking and feeling.

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Important philosophers of mind include :

Plato - Greek Philosopher, presented ideas thru dramatic dialogues

Descartes – French philosopher & mathematician. He concluded that everything was open to doubt except conscious experience.

Leibniz- German rationalist, he devised a method of calculus

Kant – German philosopher, he argued that reason is the means by which the phenomena of experience are translated to understanding.

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influential theories about the nature of the human mind developed by:

Siegmund Freud = Neurologist & Psychoanalyst Id, ego, super-ego are three parts of psychic apparatus

William James = Philosopher & Psychologists, “the meaning of truth” “The will to believe” ?The sentiment of rationality in mind”

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Attributes of Mind: "higher" intellectual functions constitute mind,

particularly reason and memory various rational and emotional states cannot be so

separated it is a private sphere to which no one but the

owner has access can only interpret what we consciously or

unconsciously communicate

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Mental Faculties: "higher" cognitive function and the analysis of

thinking processes is a part of cognitive psychology connected with our capacity to make and use tools to

understand cause and effect engage in problem solving, reasoning and making

decisions allows human beings to make sense of things in the

world, and to represent and interpret them in ways that are significant, or which accord with their needs, attachments, goals, commitments, plans, ends, desires

involves the symbolic or semiotic mediation of ideas or data, as when we form concepts

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Mental content are those items that are thought of as being "in"

the mind, and capable of being formed and manipulated by mental processes and faculties- Examples:

- Thoughts – idea/mental picture- concepts – abstract idea/ general notion- memories – person’s power to remember things- Emotions – any particular feelings- percepts – something that is perceived- Intentions – the act or fact of intending

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BRAIN & MIND Brain, or encephalon (Greek for "in the head")

control center of the central nervous system responsible for thought

located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision,

hearing, equilibrioception, taste and olfaction all vertebrates have a brain, most invertebrates have

either a centralized brain or collections of individual ganglia

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- Primitive animals such as sponges do not have a brain at all.

- Brains can be extremely complex. - For example; the human brain contains

more than 100 billion neurons, each linked to as many as 10,000 others

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Sensory system

Part

of t

he n

ervo

us sy

stem

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Relationship between the brain and the mind:

physical brain matter and the mind is the impact physical alterations to the brain have on the mind, such as with traumatic brain injury and psychoactive

drug use relationship between mental activity and brain

activity drugs influence cognition, and neural correlates of consciousness.

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Anatomy/PhysiologyA. Neuron- highly specialized for the processing

and transmission of cellular signals1. Basic component of the nervous sy.2. Composed of cell body, axon & dendrites

a. Cell body = center of metabolismb. Axon =long fibers > conduct impulses away from the

cell body; usually 1 axon for each cell bodyc. Dendrites = short, unsheathed fibers> receive nerve

impulses> transmit to cell body

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3 major philosophical schools of thought of MIND:

Dualism holds that the mind exists independently of the brain

materialism holds that mental phenomena are identical to neuronal phenomena

idealism holds that only mental phenomena exist

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Philosophy & Psychology of MIND: the branch of philosophy & psychology that

studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body.

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SCIENCE of mind: Psychology is the scientific study of human

behavior, mental functioning, and experience Psychology involves the scientific study of mental

processes such as perception, cognition, emotion,

personality, as well as environmental influences, such as social and cultural influences, and interpersonal relationships, in order to devise theories of human behaviour.

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Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental health problems.

Noology the study of thought. As both an academic and applied discipline,

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Mental health

• "A state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life." According to the World Health Organization (WHO)

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Mind/Body Perspectives:

• Monism is the position that mind and body are not physiologically and ontologically distinct kinds of entities

• According to Spinoza's dual-aspect theory, mind and body are two aspects of an underlying reality which he variously described as "Nature" or "God".

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“When we talk about understanding, surely it

Takes place only when the mind listensCompletely --- the mind being yourHeart, your nerves, your ears ==

When you give your whole Attention to it.”

-Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Thank You.