The Yin-Yang of the animal brain.

[kandrathe]

... including humans.

I study many things, but one consistent passion I have is in a better understanding of our brains. My quest in this regard was at first vocational, as I create computerized simulations of complex animal behaviors. This led me to delve into AI for awhile, where I pretty early on decided Minsky was way off track. Mostly, I doubted we had the computing power back then in the 80's to accurately emulate in digital circuitry what neurons do in analog ( chemically as well ). At that time I felt progress would be made if we built a more analog replacement for a transistor. As I understand them, a neuron has upper and lower stimulation thresholds, so that they might not respond if the get to much, or too little attention. Also, they can then act too amplify, or dampen the signal. Anyway, in neural computing/networking, there are many ideas and subsequent models. But, Moore's law has done the magic of providing the micron level circuitry capabilities. Real AI is likely to happen in my lifetime ( next 20 years).

We've known for quite some time that one can think of the human brain as a coordinated group of interacting functions(e.g. Minsky's Society of Mind), and that in (too) simple terms, bilaterally we associate the left side of the brain with tasks that have to do with logic, and the right side performs tasks that have do with creativity and the arts. This absolute left/right is a bit of a mythology as we know its more distributed. Also, Recent research in neuroscience has discovered that our brains are grandly organized to simultaneously search for prey, and be wary of predators.

In psychological translation to moderns humans I view it as the bold side grasps, while the wary side searches. Or, in other words, the rational, manager attempts to bring order, and the wary, creative, chaotic, paranoid side presents everything to which we should be afraid. One possible explanation of our brain size is simply lions, or their ancient ancestors. The theory, as is being explored in looking at predator prey relationships, is that predatory pressure rewards the better thinking prey with survival. Our ancient ancestors, having left the protection of trees, were most likely heavily hunted.

Developmental Changes in the Corpus Callosum from Infancy to Early Adulthood: A Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Nonparametric local smoothing models revealed age (in months) to be significantly related to corpus callosum size. There also appeared to be developmental differences between the sexes. Fig. 4 shows changes in monthly growth rate for the entire corpus callosum

You always hear of people claiming, "I've always been ... " Rather than focus on being good at say more rationality (logic) or more creativity, I believe as we mature we should endeavor to seek a balance between the two. So, one might clearly see that the ability to rationalize fear relates to the size of the Corpus Callosum, which connects the two hemispheres. Which is why when young I was sure that noise under my bed was a boogie man, but as an old man I no longer even have nightmares. At my old age of 57, I know how to be safe, so there is nothing left to fear. And, I do truly believe each of us can excel at both rational tasks, as well as creative ones.

Reciprocal organization of the cerebral hemispheres
The cerebral hemispheres are anatomically and neurophysiologically asymmetrical. The evolutionary basis for these differences remains uncertain. There are, however, highly consistent differences between the hemispheres, evident in reptiles, birds, and mammals, as well as in humans, in the nature of the attention each applies to the environment. This permits the simultaneous application of precisely focused, but narrow, attention, needed for grasping food or prey, with broad, open, and uncommitted attention, needed to watch out for predators and to interpret the intentions of conspecifics. These different modes of attention can account for a very wide range of repeated observations relating to hemisphere specialization, and suggest that hemisphere differences lie not in discrete functional domains as such, but distinct modes of functioning within any one domain. These modes of attention are mutually incompatible, and their application depends on inhibitory transmission in the corpus callosum. There is also an asymmetry of interaction between the hemispheres at the phenomenological level.

Next on my reading list is THE MASTER AND HIS EMISSARY also by Iain McGilchrist