Assignment 4

    In the article "A Perspective on 3D Illusions", they address the way in which our brain interprets certain visuals to be something that they are not. It is explained that even though our sensations feel accurate and real, they do not necessarily reproduce the physical reality of the outside world. "Visual illusions are defined by the dissociation between physical reality and subjective perception of an object or event. When we experience such an illusion, we may see something that is not there, or fail to see something that is there, or even see something different from what is there." (Paragraph 3) This is due to a disconnect between perception and reality in the brain. 

    They go on to explain how this idea is prevalent in art. An example is how a painter can make paint on a canvas appear to be a realistic image by using techniques such as shading, lighting, and color. This can also be demonstrated through architecture, such as with the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The concept behind this illusion is that when two of the same image are side-by-side of the same tilted and receding object, the object appears to be leaning in two different directions. This illusion explains how the visual system uses perspective to reconstruct three dimensional objects.  It is explained that the brain uses the convergence angle of two reclining objects as they recede into the distance to calculate the relative angle between them, making it appear slanted. 

    The article also touched upon the subjectivity of color, brightness, and shape, and how the process of our brains processing sensory information varies based on each individual's brain circuits. How each brain experiences the color, brightness, and shapes presented in our environments may or may not accurately match reality, and visual illusions really encompass how interpreting this information is subjective.

    Personally, I really enjoyed this article. Before reading, I wasn't aware of the illusion behind the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is amazing to me how our eyes can play tricks on us so effectively that it appears to be reality.  I thought it was interesting that the article tied visual illusions into artists' realism. Normally, when one thinks of optical illusions they think about the abstractness of the illusion, but artists incorporate illusions into their work of art in order to simulate reality. Overall, this was my favorite reading to date.

Assignment 3

     In the article, “Studying Mind and Brain with fMRI”, a group of researchers aimed to study localization in the brain and how it applies to psychological functions in different regions of the brain. To do this, they looked at fMRIs to further understand the connection between psychological and neural processes. 

    One study evaluated fMRIs of participants while performing various tasks, theorizing that if the same area of the brain is activated during both tasks, they likely are related to the same processes in the brain. Another study on disassociation in the brain monitored activation of brain regions while performing the Stroop task. This showed that while performing a single task, it is possible for multiple regions of the brain to be active at once. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was more active when subjects were told to name the color rather than read the word, and the anterior cingulate cortex was activated by the stimuli itself, thus showing greater activation for the high-conflict incongruent compared with the low-conflict congruent stimuli. 

    In contrast, a third study actually revealed differences in localization between individuals. Activation of the amygdala were consistent when viewing fearful facial expressions, however they became inconsistent when viewing happy facial expressions, showing that brain activation may differ from person to person in certain situations. They also addressed how fMRIs can be used to test psychological models. This happens through the use of fMRIs while testing different model predictions; helping to distinguish between competing psychological theories. The use of fMRIs allows researchers to visually see the activation in these areas to accurately predict which areas are activated throughout various, different tasks.

    Overall, I thought that this article was a little boring to read. However, it was very informational and lead me to learn uses for fMRIs that I was not aware of before. I also learned that viewing happy facial expressions can activate different areas of the brain depending on the person, but that the amygdala was consistent with the viewing of fearful facial expressions. I was not aware of this before I read this article, but it is an interesting concept that I would like to learn more about!

Embodied Cognition Reading

Embodied Cognition 

    What is the task to be done? What are the resources available? How might these resources be assembled to solve the task? Did the subject assemble and use these resources? These are the four main questions that researchers are trying to answer through embodied cognition. In Andrew Wilson and Sabrina Golonka's article Embodied Cognition is not what you think it is, they address this new theory that cognition is not only limited to the brain; rather, it is influenced by factor such as our body and the environment as well. This suggests that our brains eliminate the need for complex mental representation of what we perceive due to the resources provided by the environment and our bodies to accomplish tasks.

    One of the main points in this article that struck my attention the most was the concept of locomotion and passive dynamics. I hadn't ever asked myself the question "why do we walk the way that we walk?" However, when I came across this section in the reading, in sparked my interest. "Humans don’t walk like lions because our bodies aren’t designed like lions’ bodies." This is a fairly obvious statement, however I had never thought of it as a biological trait over a cognitive one. They go on to explain that the reason that we walk on two feet instead of four is due to the bodies structure and not solely due to cognition. When they represented this with the robots who had no programming to walk on two feet, but learned to do so through their structure and environment.

    The idea of embodied cognition makes sense if you really think about it. It would be near impossible for us to simply be born with the cognitive abilities to survive and exist. Although we are naturally equipped with a mind and body suitable to our environment,it takes interaction and experience with our surroundings to make sense of it all. As we grow older, we experience more from our environment and become to understand things on a new level. Because of this, we can then use the interaction between our environment and cognition to provide things such as heuristics, which help take pressure off of the brain by creating mental shortcuts that we use in our daily lives.

    Before reading this article, I was unsure of if I understood what embodied cognition truly was. Now, I have a whole new insight into a theory in psychology that I didn't even know existed. This text was both informational, as well as interesting to learn about. I would say that I agree with the embodied cognition theory and I hope to learn more as research continues.

     

Embodied cognition is the hypothesis that cognition is not only limited to the brain; rather, it is influenced by factor such as our body and the environment as well. This concept was a bit confusing to me at first, however, upon reading the article I obtained a much clearer understanding of how embodied cognition works and which aspects of life it affects. 

    The most intriguing section, to me, were the experiments with the robots and animals.