Revelations

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Revelations

• Chapter 3
• Pages 49-77

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• Human brain evolved from rich social experiences
• Physiological architecture of the brain is the
  platform in which your intelligence performs, but
  social experience is an influential architect and
  operator of the platform
• Social definition as living together or as
  interrelated interdependent elements
• The beginning of the universe?organized simple
  structures into complex and evolving systems
  brain is a system that is disposed to
• interact with like brain systems

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Selfish gene theory individual life forms
consistently do things to benefit the survival
of genes

• The History The
  Experience
• Ancient primate, 50 million yrs. ago began to
  develop
• the size of their brain as result of cost
  benefit
• calculations on how to get food
• Benefiting life in social communities vigilance
  against
• enemies
• So they began to refine their sensory processing
  of
• visual and auditory information to be attuned
  to
• any type of communication or warningthose who
  
• were better at it became leaders of the
  communities
• And hierarchies in the social group were
  developed

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• Emotions began to develop within the social
  group by
• social observation skills as result of
  keeping homeostasis
• within the group
• With emotions became the development of
  awareness and
• the ability to infer, predict, and
  plan?mental capacity to
• anticipate events
• And approximately 2.5 humans put together a
  neural pattern
• for tool making social aspect of
  learning?inventions are
• usual contributions of a few working
  together
• Language emerged from social experience
  (intimacy)
• Broca area and Wernickes area were developed
  in the
• brain to deal with this behavior

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Collateral Development
Collateral Development

• Walking erect 2
• footed balance?new
• brain circuitry
• Upright posture
• better perspective for
• visual scanning

• Hand dexterity to make
• and use tools
• Reduced exposure to
• the sun

Linear Development Evolution
Cognitive fluidity Swiss Army Knife

• Social heritage of brains evolutionary
  experience is displayed in
• Its size and organization
• Emotional acuity
• Capacity to create and manipulate mental
  templates (executive functions)
• And, figure things out

Cells and molecules opened to environmental influe
nces
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Facing Environmental Influences

• Highly evolved neural mechanisms
• Syntactic and semantic language
• Evolved neural mechanisms for social interactions
• Muscle endings in their facial skin?facial
  expressions
• Verbal messages include expressions, tone
• And at times smell, taste touch
• Gut feeling
• Consciousness meaning, memory, emotion,
  reflection
• Reflective manipulation of information?executive
  skills
• Awareness and management of emotions to good
  effect

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• Social unfolding of its potential
• Ontogeny (development)
• Philogeny (evolution)
• Fundamental work of the brain occurs through the
  flow of electrochemically encoded information at
  the neural cell
• The growth of the cell is both environmentally
  and genetically directed
• As the primitive brain began to face more
  complicated tasks, specifically neural networks
  were developed (evolution)
• These networks progressively influenced the
  genetic adaptations
• These genetic adaptations needed the influence of
  the environment to flourish

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The Human Brain is Experience Expectant and
Experience Dependant

• Experience Expectant
• At certain developmental periods on the human
  life, there is a genetically generated excess of
  neural networks
• Occurs from birth to adolescence
• Dendritic axonal extensions ready
• Pruning also occurs
• Expectations of certain stimulation cues occur
• Plasticity
• Life long process

• Experience Dependant
• Brain is ready to environmental interaction in
  order to grow and mature
• Use it or lose it, but do not abuse it

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• The Human Brain Seeks Ways to Expand
  Opportunities to Interact With Other Brains
• 50,000 yrs. ago written language? graphics
• Now, communication technologies, radio,
  photography, movies, television, Internet
• Social Experience Actualizes Human Intelligence
• Brain was made to interact with other brains
• Social interaction since early childhood are the
  bases for adulthood intellectual capacities