Unified Ontology of Mind, Brain, and Behavior

1. Mental Functioning is Neural Functioning: Towards a Unified Ontology of Mind, Brain, and Behavior Gwen A. Frishkoff Department of Psychology NeuroInformatics Center Georgia State University University of Oregon

2. Outline of Talk • What is a mental process? • A view from cognitive psychology • The Mind–Brain problem and three proposed solutions (ontology views) • A neurophsysiological framework for understanding mental processes • Levels of brain, levels of mind • What are mental representations “about”? (Proposed solution to problems of subjectivity, aboutness)

3. Outline of Talk • What is a mental process? • A view from cognitive psychology • The Mind–Brain problem (redux) and three proposed solutions (ontology views) • A neurophsysiological framework for understanding mental processes • Levels of brain, levels of mind • What are mental representations “about”? (Proposed solution to problems of subjectivity, aboutness)

4. What is a Mental Process? A view from cognitive psychology Short-term memory Cognitive control Sensation, Perception Motor control, Action Long-term Memory Habits & Skills

5. How do we know any of this? That is, where did the components of the standard model come from?

6. X The mind as a black box mental processes • Mental processes cannot be observed.* • They must be inferred based on what we can observe. What can we observe?... *We can revise this assumption later (if Mind = Brain)

7. What we can observe… and How CogPO! A 256-channel electrode “net” that is used to measure brain electrical activity (EEG) A schematic of Helmholtz’s apparatus for measuring the time course of muscle contraction and the propagation velocity of the nerve impulse. Source: Bennett, 1999. Physical processes in body  Behavior (response type, accuracy, reaction time) Physiological processes in brain  Neural activity and correlates of neural activity (blood flow to brain regions)

8. What IS a mental process*? * “process” and “function” are used interchangeably in this talk

9. What IS a mental process? NOTE: Dotted line designates indirect link within subsumption hierarchy

10. Three proposed solutions

11. Outline of Talk • What is a mental process? • A view from cognitive psychology • The Mind–Brain problem (redux) and three proposed solutions (ontology views) • A neurophsysiological framework for understanding mental processes • Levels of brain, levels of mind • What are mental representations “about”? (Proposed solution to problems of subjectivity, aboutness)

12. “A mental process is NOT necessarily a physical process.” • Mental processes could be something qualitatively different from bodily and brain processes; aka Dualism (Mind ≠ Brain) ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR ARGUMENTS AGAINST • Can accommodate lay view • Can explain properties of mind: • subjectivity • aboutness • Imprecise (what kind of process…?) • Unclear how Mind and Brain are related • Unnecessarily complex

13. “A mental process is a physical process, but is NOT necessarily a neural process.” ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR • Avoids Mind-Body dualism • More precise than Solution #1 ARGUMENTS AGAINST • Still somewhat imprecise (what kind of bodily process…?) • Does not make explicit the relationship between mental and neurophysiological processes

14. “A mental process is a neural process.” ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR • Avoids Mind-Body dualism • More precise than other two solutions • Gives ready framework for comparative neurophysiology & comparative cognition • Knowledge of brain structure & function informs understanding of mental function (and dysfunction)

15. Outline of Talk • What is a mental process? • A view from cognitive psychology • The Mind–Brain problem (redux) and three proposed solutions (ontology views) • A neurophsysiological framework for understanding mental processes • Levels of brain, levels of mind • What are mental representations “about”? (Proposed solution to problems of subjectivity, aboutness)

16. A neurophysiological framework for understanding types of mental process • Unimodal regions: sensory and motor cortex • Hetermodal regions • Heteromodal association cortex: “cognitive” functions • Paralimbic regions: emotion and motivation, self-regulatory functions

18. Levels of brain, levels of mind • Representation, monitoring and control of bodily interface to external environment (“real world”) Representation, monitoring and control of internalenvironment (“self”) Mesulam, 1990

19. Mental representations: What are they “about”? Mapsof the internal milieux Sensoy-motor maps in the brain Peripheral (sensory-motor) parts of the body are “mapped” to (represented by) an orderly set of discrete regions within sensory and motor cortex. • The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis monitors and controls internal bodily functions, such as blood circulation, breathing, digestion, stress, and arousal.

20. Perception of internal (bodily) environment (“self”) Perception of external environment/sensory input (“real world”)

22. Mental processes, states, and representations

23. Summary • What is a mental process? • A view from cognitive psychology • The Mind–Brain problem (redux) and three proposed solutions (ontology views) • A neurophsysiological framework for understanding mental processes • Levels of brain, levels of mind • What are mental representations “about”? (Proposed solution to problems of subjectivity, aboutness)

24. Funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIBIB), R01-MH084812 (Dou, Frishkoff, Malony) Acknowledgements