The Mind [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION To LEARN ABOUT THE MIND we must begin with introspection, or observation of our own experience. We can also collect indirect evidence by studying the behavior of our fellow men and fellow creatures. Imagine we are strolling together in my garden. From your reactions and your comments, I can divine much of your feeling and thinking, and much concerning your general mood. A rose may attract your attention. By perceiving the color, the smell, the stab of the thorn, you form an impression of this yellow rose in your mind, and this impression promptly merges with past impressions. The rose in your mind is bound to be similar to the rose in mine, but they are not identical, because no two minds are ever the same. Our impressions are incorporated into our memories, and thus form the body of our experience. Our individual behavior is determined by the combination of new impressions with the memory of previous experiences. The mind can handle complex situations through the use of abstraction and combination, and reach logical conclusions which may result in decisive action or creative ideas. The way intentions can be accurately executed in skilled movements —think of a surgeon, a pianist, a marksman—provides commonplace evidence of the correlation of the mental and the physical. From clinical experience as well as experiments on animals, we know that certain behavior patterns are associated with well-defined areas in the brain. Through electrical stimulation of the brainstem and contiguous areas we can elicit the reactions of defense, flight and hunger; through stimulation of higher levels, a compulsion to laugh; through stimulation of the cortex, visual and auditory reactions, among others. The results of this kind of research on the brain, which is among the subjects set forth in this volume, are fascinating but we must realize that they are hardly even a beginning. The great gap to be bridged in our knowledge of the mind remains this: how are the actions of the nervous system translated into consciousness? -W. R. Hess University of Zurich Nobel Prizewinner in Medicine, 19U9