Görsel Algı Modalitesinin Bazı Otomatik İşlevleri

Görsel Algı Modalitesinin Bazı Otomatik İşlevleri

Yaşlı annem Süheyla SARAL'la mutfakta birlikte yemek yaparken ona yapmakta olduğumuz yemeğe ne kadar su koyacağımı sordum.  Tencereye bir miktar su koyduktan sonra uzaklaştı ve bana 'BAK!' dedi. 

'Göz kararı' görme modalitesini kullandığımız otomatik süreçlerden birisi...  Bana kalsa yarım bardak vb şekilde ölçerek yapacağım bir işi annem göz kararı ile yapmayı öğretti bana.

Aslında 'göz kararı' yalnızca görme modalitesine ait değil.  Ölçemeyeceğimiz içinden çıkamayacağımız çok değişkenli durumlarda 'geçmişe bakmak', geçmişte benzer bir durumda neler yapıldığını hatırlamak sık sık başvurduğumuz bir insani otomatik süreç.

Bir diğer örnek, her gün yaptığımız kapı kilitleme, musluk kapama vb. işlemleri.  Kapıyı kapatırken kısa bir süre focus olmak, diğer her şeyi dışlayıp anahtar ya da kilide bakmak gerekir.  Daha sonra kapıyı kapattım mı tereddütüne kapıldığımızda kapıyı kapatırken odaklanmış olduğumuz görüntü kısa bir süre gözünüzün önüne gelir.  Bu tamamen bilinçsiz ve otomatik bir süreçtir.  Eğer kapıyı kapatırken başka şeyler düşünüp iradenizle dikkatinizi toplamazsanız otomatik olarak kilitleme sırasındaki görüntüyü hatırlayamazsınız.  Terereddüte

düşersiniz.

Bir diğer örnek, kaybettiğiniz bir şeyi bulmaya çalışıp, nereye koyduğunuzu bir türlü hatırlayamamanız durumu.  Görsel kayıtlar bilincin kontrolündeki working memory (iş görme belleği)'de gözlere ilişkin algılama tamponundaki bilgisel şekilleri değişir.  Bunlara zaman ve yer bilgisi eklenir.  Bu halleri ile episodik (hikayesel) belleğe katılmış olurlar.  Eğer bilinç yoksa, yani otomatik süreçler görüntüyü görüntü tamponundan almışsa, görüntü (short term memory) kısa dönemli belleğe gider.  Kısa dönemli bellek adı üstünde içindeki verileri kısa dönem tutabilir,

tazelenmedikçe. 

Görsel modalitenin farklılığı sessel, dokunmasal ve diğer modalitelere göre daha uzun sürelerde dayanmasıdır.  Ayrıca, kısa dönem belleğe bilinç dışında gelen görüntülerin belirli bir kısa miktar tekrardan sonra uzun dönem belleğe yazıldığı deneylerle ispat edilmiştir.  Uzun dönem belleğe bilinçsiz yazılan bu görüntüler hatırlanamaz, yalnızca tekrar gösterildiğinde ya da benzer unsurlarla anımsanabilir.

Kaybettiğiniz bir şeyi nereye koyduğunuzu ya da nerede unuttuğunuzu hatırlamaya çalışırken ilk olarak zaman ve olay sırasını hatırlamaya çalışmak olayın episodik (hikayesel) kayıtlarına erişmeniz ve hatırlamanızı sağlayabilir.  Daha sonra kaybetme süreci içinde geçen eşya, yer vb'yi gözünüzün önüne getirmek size bir şeyler hatırlatabilir. Bu hatırlama sürecinde relaxed attention(rahat dikkat) kullanılmalı, bilinçaltının istenen sonucu getirebilmesi için imkan sağlanmalıdır.

Görsel modalitenin bir özelliği de semantik olarak zayıf olmasıdır.  Çünkü görüntüleri ilişkisel parçalara ayırmak ressam olmayı gerektirir.  Normal bir insan 'otomobil' deyince kafasında bir yaklaşık görüntü belirir.  Ama arabanın 'tekeri' için kelimesel araba - teker semantik ilişkisinden başlayıp sonra 'teker'in görüntüsünü hatırlar.  Görüntüler arasında semantik ilişki ressamların durumu dışında yoktur.

Ali R+ SARAL

On Seeing

ABOUT SEEING ... AND POSSIBLY, ABOUT SEEING GOD

Sometimes we do not see anything when we are thinking about something.  We concentrate on a specific thing and lose vision of things around us.  Concentrating is a mental process which comes after focusing.  Focusing limits our area of attention whereas concentrating deepens it.  Our brain retrieves the connections of the subject and gets deeper and deeper in the semantic tree.  It binds the semantically related leaves to the
subject leave.

The fact that we lose our sight when strongly concentrating on an idea points at: "Seeing is related with semantic binding".  If something does not exist in the semantice tree, namely if we do not know it, we can not see it.  The sight that we receive through our eyes and vision mechanism, has to be binded with something in the semantic tree.  Otherwise it will not be percieved.

If something has been viewed before but not seen - semantically processed, it can be recalled, namely it can be noticed that it had been viewed before.

An object must have been 'seen' - semantically processed, in order to be remembered - retrieved from the visual memory in the absence of present view.  The remembered view will be retrieved from semantically organized memory.

The dilemma is: "If we cannot see what we have not seen before, how can we see anything at all?"  If we cannot identify an image semantically our mind begins to breakdown that view to its pieces.  If
identification is not possible the breakdown process continues.  At each stage, effort is spent to make
semantical relations and establish semantical connections.  The process stops at the basic drawing
elements, lines, colors, circles, basic figures.  The lower the elements you get, the more general specifications are arrived at, hence the identifying value of elements get reduced.  Retrieval gets more difficult by this situation.

If a complex figure is learned by semantical positioning such as "mother's view is this", the elements
belonging to the mother's view, face color, eyes etc. are placed in the baby's semantic tree.  Other
persons' view must be related with these items in order to be seen.  Otherwise they will cause fear
of an unknown view till the baby gets used to it, namely builds semantic connections of it.

Restraint

The art is rather 'idealistic' and 'conceptual' in the sense thatthe artist's aim is not to copy

accurately what he sees before him but to convey with the maximum of clarity what he considers to be

the 'essence' of what he is carving.

in this case the figures (of Tudhaliyas IV and his personal deity) are superposed with the god standing

alongside the king, and the scale of the two is arranged so that the god, instead of holding the

usual weapon in his left hand, clasps the right wrist of the king in a protective embrace.

O. R. Gurney, THE HITTITES

'Of all manifestations of power, restraint is respected most.'

Genral, Powell, Gulf War General Commabder of USA.

Sanırım, Batı'nın bize karşı aldığı tavır yalnızca basit bir düşmanlıktan öte

yaklaşım farklılığından da kaynaklanıyor.Biz savaşa giderken davul zurna ile gitmek

geleneğine dayanıyoruz...  Onlar sakınarak, gücünü iyi hesaplayarak...

On the Perception of Unidentified Entities

We can identify things that we percieve.  This does not mean that we do not

percieve things that we can not identify.

 

If the input perturbation is too small, we can not hear, see etc., identify the entity.

For example, in an orchestra, it is impossible for every violin player in the violin

section to play exactly the same color, pitch namely the sound.  It is impossible

for us, the listener to hear each performer's different sound but instead we hear the

rich, deep sound of the violin section, rather than the week sound of a single violin.

 

We percieve the minute differences in the violin section as a feeling, a warmth,

richness and depth.  We percieve small changes that can not be identified not

cognitively but emotionally.

 

This may be the reason why small changes are frequently used in music performances.

The key here is to make the change, for ex. a temporary tempo change, in such a way

that it can barely be heard but can not be identified or noticed, though can be

percieved emotionally.

 

The entities that are unidentified include not only very small values but also

unmeasurable continuous quantities.  This varies from the perception of physical

values of heat, light etc. to the social values such as risk, friendness etc.

 

The languages include words such as hot, cold, very hot, bright etc. or dangerous,

true friend etc. words to describe these entities.  If paid attention one can notice

that these are all emotion related words or concepts.

 

The reason that an entity is unidentified may be related to the modality of the

perception.  We cannot identify quantitatively any visual input.  We cannot

identify something if it is the first time we see it.

 

Color, hue, brightness etc. light attributes are all unmeasurable continuous values.

It is impossible to identify them objectively.  We cannot remember a view if it

is not identified in the related semantical memory.  We can only recall that view

if we see it again.  Namely,  we can remember a view only if it is recorded as

part of an event in the episodic memory.

 

Aural modality has some similarities with visual modality.  Timbre, loudness,

tempo, etc. many parameters are continuous unidentifiable values, except pitch.

Instrumental music can mostly not go to episodic memory.  There is a window of

attention of the listener which slides through the music piece which builds a

balance of recalled elements and freshness.  The unity of the piece is achieved

through making small or unidentifiable changes of the initial material.  The

listener can percieve this emotionally rather than cognitively.

 

This is the reason that music expresses things that words cannot.  Music touches

the heart through feelings aroused by unidentified entities.

 

 

The Role of Belief in Cognition

The Role of Belief in Cognition

 

There are working, episodic and semantic memories in our brain among others.  It is not very clear whether these are completely seperate regions in our brain.  They can be easily detected functionally. 

Working memory is the memory we use when we are actually thinking or talking.  Episodic memory holds the information related to events and when/where they occur.  Semantic memory holds the abtracted concepts/knowledge.

An event first happens in the working memory, then it is recorded in the episodic memory.  If there is a knowledge that can be deducted, it is recorded in the semantic memory.

The semantic memory is specially organised so that generalization and instantiation can be done automatically.  For example we do not think too much to say an eagle flies.  In the semantic  tree, eagle is connected to bird and bird is connected  to flying animal and that to animal.  How the information is stored in our brain is possibly related with the formation of connections during the perception and further processing. It is not a surprise that categorical subject test have shown regions close to the perception/subject specialization.

When some concept is being inserted to the semantic memory, an appropriate location in the semantic tree is searched.  Actually this may be an innate procedure that is done automatically while forming new connections.  The crux of the issue is how it is established that a connection of the eagle to the bird occur. 

The context of the word eagle may establish the relation of eagle to bird if the context of the bird is similar to the eagle.  The more the contexts' similarity the better.  The better what? We answer this what question as: Belief.

The more the new item, the new leaf fits into the semantic tree the more it is confident.  On the other hand, the more confident the leafs of a semantic tree, the more confident it is.

Schachter says in his 'Memory, Brain and Belief', "I use the term 'belief' when I use the attribution of truth value to a particular thought content, either percieved of recalled."

The semantic tree holds not only the data items but also their belief factors. Harold Pashler says in his 'Encyclopedia of the Mind', "An alternative answer to the question of what justifies memory beliefs turns on the idea that memory is preservative not just respect to the content of beliefs but also with respect to their justification".

Belief helps us to feel our thoughts.
Belief is how we sense our brain.

 
Ali R+ SARAL

On Believing in Belief

 

On Believing in Belief

 

“ACC might be the brain’s error detection and correction device.”[1]

ACC is the mechanism that helps us mentally to decide if something is right or wrong.  You may think of  it as conscience sometimes.  Thousands years before Christ, a Hittite king advised his son :

 “Mein Sohn! Tue das, was in (deinem) Herzen (ist)”

“My son! Do what in your heart is.”[2]

“The ACC has been implicated in monitoring conflict among external and internal cues, with the dorsal ACC modulating cognitive aspects and the ventral ACC more involved in affect.” [3]

Qualia is how the outer world represented as a semantic tree in our mind.  The tree’s output is the quale value for that phenomenon.

“In any presentation, this content is either a specific quale(such as the immediacy of redness or loudness) or something analyzable into a complex of such.  The presentation as an event is, of course, unique, but the qualia which make it up are not.”   [4] 

ACC checks if something is related and can be placed in a qualia coherently.  Our conscience checks if it can explain a phenomenon as viable according to our previous experiences, knowledge and beliefs etc. 

If something can be placed in the semantic tree of qualia it means it is belieavable.  If the connections are strong and many it means it is strongly belieavable.

“2.4 Degree of Belief

Jessie believes that Stalin was originally a Tsarist mole among the Bolsheviks, that her son is at school, and that she is eating a tomato. She feels different degrees of confidence with respect to these different propositions.”[5]

If the connections are made negatively, something will be accessed as unbelieavable.

We have many qualia, on different subjects, the nature of the qualia determines the belieavablety of the phenomenon.  Religion is one of the qualia.  Religion provides an easy to access qualia for the human to handle the unknown.  Believing in a power outside him/herself in any form, in any qualia, political, philosophical and other helps human to handle the unknown.  Religion simplifies this for the large crowds while providing a fertile environment for arts and science to develop sometimes.

If something is in the working memory it is checked by the ACC for its compliance with any qualia.

The difficulty is, this would be very burdensome if it was valid for all the time.  Automatic processing bypasses the evaluation of ACC.  People can do incredibly good or bad things when they act automatically without self consciousness.  On the other hand this faculty is desperately needed for human beings to perform extraordinarily, specially in life or death moments but also in daily life. 

The human mind has a mechanism to stop checking the validity of things, it is belief in belief.  If there is a special qualia created for that area, belief in that belief area helps to isolate the working area from the ACC, conscience and practically stops it.

I will close the subject with an advise of a father as I had began it.  My father was a commando training officer who taught survival in winter, wilderness and in the mountains.  He used to tell us:

“Do not bind yourself with anything to the end in your life”.

REFERENCES

[1] Bush, Luu, Posner, ‘Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex’, Trends in Cognitive Sciences – Vol. 4, No. 6, June 2000, Elsevier Science Ltd.
[2] Daisuke YOSHIDA,  “Die Syntax des althethitischen substantivischen Genitivs” p. 5
[3] Nitschke, Mackiewicz, ‘Prefrontal and interior cingulate contributions to volition in depression’, Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior,  Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Elsevier 2005.

[4] Lewis, Mind and the World Order, 1941
[5] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Belief