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I came across these two posts recently: The Multiple Self and A Spooky Mind Hack.
They're good reading. If you start The Multiple Self and get tired of it before finishing, go read the second post.
Overall, very good stuff, though I do think there are a few inaccuracies in the definition of the "emotional net". The gist of it is right on.
They're good reading. If you start The Multiple Self and get tired of it before finishing, go read the second post.
Overall, very good stuff, though I do think there are a few inaccuracies in the definition of the "emotional net". The gist of it is right on.
posted by Matt at 15:57
3 Comments:
You misinterpreted "emotional net". I was using the word "emotional" as a designator for a specific small neural network whose only function was to recognize a certain pattern and fire off an emotional reaction. As I explicitly said, I was *not* talking about the totality of my intellect or emotions, only a couple of small "business rules" in my head.
I chose to use vague words like "intellectual" and "emotional" to describe the rules so as not to provide content for people to project on, but I guess I should have used names like "network A" and "network B" to prevent other types of projection. :)
My point is that there is nothing in the neocortex that fires off an emotional reaction. But then, we might just be mincing words; depending on when you consider an emotional reaction being fired. You could consider the signal that represents someone angrily yelling as firing off an emotional reaction as it enters the cortex.
I think we agree that the neocortex interprets signals from the senses and that the neocortex does have tie-in points to other parts of the brain. It's my understanding that other parts of the brain, that have very little neural network type characteristics, are what actually control emotions.
Quick addition to my earlier comment.
The "intellectual net" (aka neocortex) chooses how to respond to an emotional reaction. If someone is yelled at, they may become angry. The emotion of anger is a defense mechanism that is fired off in response to certain stimuli. It's up to the "intellectual net" to handle that anger in the appropriate manner; it gives us override capability.
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