Mind and body: psychology and neuroscience.
Mind and body: psychology and neuroscience.
复制标题
心灵和身体：心理学和神经科学。
DOI：
10.1068/p3304ed
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发表时间：
2004
期刊：
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Heller,MortonA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Heller,MortonA
It is necessary to understand perceptual systems at a behavioral or cognitive level, before real progress can be made in the direct investigation of brain events. For example, magnetoencephalogram recording (MEG) requires the immobilization of subjects, and their isolation from electrical and magnetic currents. In addition, subjects are asked to lie on their backs, while speaking or while feeling patterns. At the very least, it is important to clarify the effects of these postural and motor manipulations on perception, before one can understand the patterns that are generated by the MEG. Furthermore, it is necessary to understand psychological mechanisms, before one can know which sorts of problems are solvable with the use of the MEG. Popper has provided an interesting and useful discussion of the relationship between different forms and levels of inquiry (Popper and Eccles 1977). For Popper, the problem is in understanding the relationship between different levels of analysis, from the physical, to the chemical, to the psychological, to the social. Popper's solution is to argue that the various levels interact, and that it may not be possible to completely reduce higher levels to the lower ones. On this viewpoint, the relationship between higher and lower levels is complex, and may include enrichment. He also proposed an interactive form of dualism, and argued for the existence of mind. Thus, while some cognitive processes may reduce to physical brain events, it is not clear that all will reduce.According to Popper (1977, page 38), the solution to the mind^ body problem entails recognition ofWorld 3'objects. By this, he means``_ the world of the products of the human mind, such as stories, explanatory myths, tools, scientific theories _, scientific problems, social institutions and works of art''. Thus, language is a real product of human evolution, and influences the development of the brain. We are biologically programmed to develop language, but the form that language development takes is dependent upon World 3. World 3 is partly physical and material (eg perceptual journals), and is partly mind. This analysis allows for the interaction between mind and body. At present, it is not always obvious how to demarcate higher-level cognitive functions from perceptual or lower-level sensory functioning. Moreover, the study of perceptual processes is informative in its own right, irrespective of any possible benefits to neuroscience. For example, while some chemical processes reduce to physics, I do not foresee the discipline of physics replacing chemistry. Similarly, it seems unlikely that we will ever replace psychology with biology and accomplish a complete reduction of mental to brain states.
