Mentalism: Aristotle's Psyche

• Behavior studies are related to brain studies
• Behavior causes can be classified into mentalism, dualism, and materialism
• Modern brain investigators tend to subscribe to the materialist theory
• The three theories still influence thought

Aristotle and Mentalism

• The mind, or soul, controls behavior in many cultures
• This is embodied by Psyche in Greco-Roman mythology who became immortal through dedication
• Aristotle alluded that all human functions are produced by a person’s psyche
• Psyche is nonmaterial but responsible for consciousness, perception, emotion, imagination, opinion, desire, pleasure, pain, memory, and reason
• Aristotle believed the psyche is essential for life, and death is its departure from the body
• Aristotle's idea influenced later cultures, including Islamic scholarship
• Aristotle thought the brain existed to cool the blood
• Religions have adopted Aristotle's view that a nonmaterial entity governs behavior and consciousness survives death
• Psyche translates to mind, the Anglo-Saxon word for memory
• Mentalism is the philosophical position that the mind is responsible for behavior
• Mentalism continues to influence behavioral science
• Psychological terms still used as descriptions of the mind

Descartes and Dualism

• René Descartes proposed a theory where the mind is prominent and the brain has a role
• Descartes placed the mind in the brain and linked it to the body as one unit
• Descartes was influenced by machines to explain bodily functions
• Mechanical and physical principles could explain body and brain activities like motion, digestion, and breathing
• Descartes proposed that the mind interacts with the body through the pineal body
• The mind instructs the pineal body to direct fluid through nerves into muscles
• Fluid expanding the muscles causes the body to move
• Dualism proposes that behavior is controlled by a material body and a nonmaterial mind
• Dualism argues that there is no way for a nonmaterial entity to influence the body
• The issue in explaining how a nonmaterial mind and physical brain interact is called the mind-body problem
• Descartes proposed language and memory tests for the presence of mind
• He proposed nonhuman animals and machines would be unable to pass

Contemporary Implication

• "The Imitation Game" references interaction between a questioner and a computer
• In the game, a judge decides whether the computer is conscious
• A contemporary version of Descartes' tests is the Turing test, proposed by Alan Turing
• In the Turing test, a machine could be judged conscious if its answers are indistinguishable from a human's
• In the imitation game, the critical component is the human judge's subjective assessment
• Simulated Natale makes the point that AI is changing humans, thereby changing how judgements are made
• Research casts doubt on Descartes' view that nonhuman animals cannot pass "consciousness" tests
• Studies seek to discover whether other species can speak and reason about things that are not present
• It's argued that with animals, only humans have evolved language because of their unique ability to "merge" words and concepts
• Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky argue language is unlikely to have appeared initially in full-blown form
• Studying brain and behavior helps to understand language origins and brain role
• Elaborate vocalizations are possible in many animals with a small cerebrum
• Vocalization is more elaborate in those with a large cerebrum
• Scientists investigate language learning, vocalizations, gestures, and brain anatomy, in chimpanzees
• Beatrice and Alan Gardner taught ASL to Washoe, a chimpanzee
• Sue Savage-Rumbaugh taught the symbolic language Yerkish to Kanzi, a bonobo
• Kanzi displayed clear evidence of understanding complex human speech
• Kanzi's vocalizations reveal he makes many meaningful sounds
• Chimps smack their lips with the same rhythm as humans speaking
• They emit raspberry or extended grunt sounds to attract attention
• Chimps gesture with facial and arm movements when vocalizing
• They use distinct calls to attract others to feeding locations or initiate a trip
• Stewart Watson and colleagues reported that chimpanzees use different referential calls for apples
• When groups combined, they modified their calls and adopted a common call
• Brain regions important for language are also present in chimpanzees
• Blood flow imaging indicates the same brain regions activate in humans and chimpanzees when they communicate
• Chimpanzees attract human investigators and show structural brain pathway changes
• Sam and Anna Roberts point to chimpanzees' communication ability for animals to live together in groups
• Michael Wilson argues that chimpanzee language-like behavior is antecedent to modern human behaviors
• Descartes's theory of mind led to some bad results
• Based on dualism, some people have argued that young children and the mentally ill must lack minds
• Some dualism proponents reasoned that those lacking a mind were simply machines, who should not be given respect or kindness
• Cruel treatment of animals, children, and the mentally ill, were seemingly justified by Descartes's theory
• It is unlikely that Descartes intended these interpretations

Darwin and Materialism

• The theory known as materialism came to prominence when it was supported by evolutionary theory
• Materialism advanced that workings of the brain and nervous system fully explain behavior-
• Evolution by natural selection and adaptation have been observed throughout history
• It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that Wallace and Darwin independently proposed all living things are related
• Darwin described descent with modification in On the Origin of Species
• Darwin proposed small changes in animal traits are passed from parents to offspring
• Natural selection explains how new species evolve and how existing species change
• Individual organisms of a species vary in their characteristics
• Individual organisms whose characteristics help them survive and reproduce more
• Natural selection is nature's blueprint for artificial selection
• Monk Gregor Mendel discovered phenotypic variation passed through offspring
• Mendel deduced that genes govern various physical traits
• Mendel's principles of inheritance led to countless discoveries related to Mendelian genetics
• Species members with a genotype are likely to express similar phenotypes
• Offspring will express the same trait if parents pass on the genes for it
• Unequal ability to survive and reproduce is related to genes inherited from parents
• Similar characteristics within or between species are usually due to similar genes
• Genes that produce similar features in the nervous systems are similar
• Gene inheritance alone cannot explain all traits
• Even Mendel realized the environment participates in the expression of traits
• Experience likewise plays a part
• Genes can be active at different times and under different conditions during life
• Epigenetics studies how gene expression is turned on or off at different times
• It also studies how environment and experience influence behavior through genes
• Natural selection, genetic inheritance, and epigenetics are the foundations of materialistic approaches to neuroscience

Implications of the Theories

• Because all animal species are related, their brains must be related
• Brain cells are so similar that these cells and brains must be related
• Brain researchers study the nervous systems of diverse animals with the expectation that results apply to humans
• All animal species are related, their behaviors must be related
• Emotional expressions are similar in humans and other animals because all animals inherited them from a common ancestor
• Brains and behaviors in complex animals such as humans evolved from simpler animals' brains and behaviors
• Consciousness and other processes attributed to the mind must be the product of the nervous system
• Donald Hebb proposed that neurons form connections with one another to form a memory cell assembly
• Linking cell assemblies produces consciousness of actions
• Modern psychology takes for granted that behavior and neural function are correlated
• Patricia Churchland argues that if consciousness, pain, and attention can be explained by physical mechanisms, it is unnecessary to appeal to mental explanations
• Giulio Tononi proposes that Phi network turns off when sleep and back on when awake
• Tononi's theory is derived from MRI imaging in the brain
• fMRI monitors the flow of oxygenated blood to give information about active brain structures

Science and Belief

• Materialism is neutral with respect to religion
• Many religions accept both evolution and the brain's centrality in behavior
• Behavioral scientists hold religious beliefs
• Science is a set of procedures designed to allow investigators to confirm answers to a question independently