INSTRUCTIONS: This assignment consists of two sections, the initial post (1a.) and the
response to a peer (1b.) You may use the lecture below to answer the questions.
1a. After watching the video Your Brain is Plastic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=5KLPxDtMqe8), write a 300 word post explaining in your own words what neural plasticity is,
and how it is involved in learning.
You don’t need to focus on all of these points, but you may consider the following in your
response: Why do young children have so many more synapses as adults? Does that mean that
the brains of children are stronger and healthier than adult brains? How is synaptic pruning
related to plasticity? And finally, why does the phenomenon of neural plasticity count against
Identity Theory, but in favor of Functionalism?
After completing your post, respond to one of your peer’s posts with a comment or follow up
question.
1b. Please respond to the following post:
Jesse Schafer
Neural Plasticity
Neural plasticity is the process of one’s brain constantly changing in order to process new
information. A human brain constantly develops and changes through a human’s life. If this
didn’t happen, it wouldn’t be as likely that people would be able to take in new information as
all the old information one has learned will take up all the “space” In one’s brain. In the video, it
is explained that one is born with 2,500 synapses. But, by the time one turns three, they will
have around 15,000 synapses. Then, when you become in adult, you have only around half as
many synapses as you did when you were three years old. This does not mean that the brains of
children are stronger than adult brains because as you age, your synapses start to shrink as they
are no longer needed as much as they were for one at a younger age.
The process of reducing the amount of unused connections is known as synaptic pruning.
Although synaptic pruning occurs, you are still experiencing many new different connections in
your brain as you age and learn new things. The synaptic pruning is mainly just reducing the
connections used for things you know well already or are now irrelevant to you. Synaptic
pruning doesn’t mean you will forget these old connections made, such as learning to cut food
with a fork and knife, driving a car, writing. Instead, these things are just less focused on, so the
brain breaks them down in order to make room for new connections. The phenomenon of
neural plasticity counts against the identity theory because while the identity theory involves a
connection through both the brain and the mind, neural plasticity only requires the brain.
Through neural plasticity the synapses and new connections are broken down through the mind
only. The mind body theory is believe that these connections are made between both the mind
and the brain.
Lecture
Introduction To Functionalism
The core claim of Functionalism is that mental states are defined by what
they do. More specifically, mental states such as belief, intention, or fear will
,be explained in terms of the inputs and outputs. This is a bit abstract now, but
we’ll consider a few examples to help flesh out the idea. For now it’s enough
to know that the Functionalist criticizes Behaviorism for defining mental states
in terms of behaviors – which gives rise to the Super Spartan problem, and
Identity Theory for defining mental states in terms of brain states – which
gives rise to the problem of Multiple Realizability. These views are overly
chauvinistic, says the Functionalist, and will rule out too many types of
systems that arguably should qualify as having minds. The Functionalist
attempts to give an account of mentality that avoids the problems of the
other physicalist theories.
"Kinds"
Two concepts integral to understanding how Functionalism explains mental
phenomena: multiple realizable kinds and functional kinds. In general, a ‘kind’
is a grouping of things based on some common feature – cactuses, chairs, and
diamonds are all examples of kinds.
, Multiple Realizable Kind
To understand the idea of multiple realizable kinds let’s compare and
contrast the kind ‘chair’ with the kind ‘diamond.’ What makes any given
object belong to the kind ‘diamond?’ First, it has to be made of carbon.
Second, the arrangement of the carbon atoms that compose the
diamond must take the form of tetrahedral lattices. Unless something
has these two features it is not a diamond. Conversely, anything that is
composed of carbon atoms arranged in tetrahedral lattices is a diamond.
Diamonds are not multiple realizable – there is only one way for
something to be a diamond. Now let’s contrast that with the kind ‘chair.’
What makes any given object belong to the kind ‘chair?’ Although the
category of chair may be a little more vague than diamond, we might say
that a chair is any object that was built as a seat for one person. We
might even expand that requirement and say that a chair is any object
built as a seat for one person, or any object used as a seat. Whether we
prefer the more narrow or broad definition, one thing is clear: the
chemical structure and arrangement of atoms have nothing to do with
whether or not something is a chair. ‘Chair’ is a multiply realizable kind –
there are a number of substances and shapes an object can take and
still be a chair. Multiple realizable kind is defined in the following way:
multiple realizable kind: a category of objects which can be realized by
physically diverse sets of properties, substances, and structures
Functional Kind
A functional kind, on the other hand, is a way of categorizing objects by
their function, or use. The example we considered in the last paragraph
response to a peer (1b.) You may use the lecture below to answer the questions.
1a. After watching the video Your Brain is Plastic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=5KLPxDtMqe8), write a 300 word post explaining in your own words what neural plasticity is,
and how it is involved in learning.
You don’t need to focus on all of these points, but you may consider the following in your
response: Why do young children have so many more synapses as adults? Does that mean that
the brains of children are stronger and healthier than adult brains? How is synaptic pruning
related to plasticity? And finally, why does the phenomenon of neural plasticity count against
Identity Theory, but in favor of Functionalism?
After completing your post, respond to one of your peer’s posts with a comment or follow up
question.
1b. Please respond to the following post:
Jesse Schafer
Neural Plasticity
Neural plasticity is the process of one’s brain constantly changing in order to process new
information. A human brain constantly develops and changes through a human’s life. If this
didn’t happen, it wouldn’t be as likely that people would be able to take in new information as
all the old information one has learned will take up all the “space” In one’s brain. In the video, it
is explained that one is born with 2,500 synapses. But, by the time one turns three, they will
have around 15,000 synapses. Then, when you become in adult, you have only around half as
many synapses as you did when you were three years old. This does not mean that the brains of
children are stronger than adult brains because as you age, your synapses start to shrink as they
are no longer needed as much as they were for one at a younger age.
The process of reducing the amount of unused connections is known as synaptic pruning.
Although synaptic pruning occurs, you are still experiencing many new different connections in
your brain as you age and learn new things. The synaptic pruning is mainly just reducing the
connections used for things you know well already or are now irrelevant to you. Synaptic
pruning doesn’t mean you will forget these old connections made, such as learning to cut food
with a fork and knife, driving a car, writing. Instead, these things are just less focused on, so the
brain breaks them down in order to make room for new connections. The phenomenon of
neural plasticity counts against the identity theory because while the identity theory involves a
connection through both the brain and the mind, neural plasticity only requires the brain.
Through neural plasticity the synapses and new connections are broken down through the mind
only. The mind body theory is believe that these connections are made between both the mind
and the brain.
Lecture
Introduction To Functionalism
The core claim of Functionalism is that mental states are defined by what
they do. More specifically, mental states such as belief, intention, or fear will
,be explained in terms of the inputs and outputs. This is a bit abstract now, but
we’ll consider a few examples to help flesh out the idea. For now it’s enough
to know that the Functionalist criticizes Behaviorism for defining mental states
in terms of behaviors – which gives rise to the Super Spartan problem, and
Identity Theory for defining mental states in terms of brain states – which
gives rise to the problem of Multiple Realizability. These views are overly
chauvinistic, says the Functionalist, and will rule out too many types of
systems that arguably should qualify as having minds. The Functionalist
attempts to give an account of mentality that avoids the problems of the
other physicalist theories.
"Kinds"
Two concepts integral to understanding how Functionalism explains mental
phenomena: multiple realizable kinds and functional kinds. In general, a ‘kind’
is a grouping of things based on some common feature – cactuses, chairs, and
diamonds are all examples of kinds.
, Multiple Realizable Kind
To understand the idea of multiple realizable kinds let’s compare and
contrast the kind ‘chair’ with the kind ‘diamond.’ What makes any given
object belong to the kind ‘diamond?’ First, it has to be made of carbon.
Second, the arrangement of the carbon atoms that compose the
diamond must take the form of tetrahedral lattices. Unless something
has these two features it is not a diamond. Conversely, anything that is
composed of carbon atoms arranged in tetrahedral lattices is a diamond.
Diamonds are not multiple realizable – there is only one way for
something to be a diamond. Now let’s contrast that with the kind ‘chair.’
What makes any given object belong to the kind ‘chair?’ Although the
category of chair may be a little more vague than diamond, we might say
that a chair is any object that was built as a seat for one person. We
might even expand that requirement and say that a chair is any object
built as a seat for one person, or any object used as a seat. Whether we
prefer the more narrow or broad definition, one thing is clear: the
chemical structure and arrangement of atoms have nothing to do with
whether or not something is a chair. ‘Chair’ is a multiply realizable kind –
there are a number of substances and shapes an object can take and
still be a chair. Multiple realizable kind is defined in the following way:
multiple realizable kind: a category of objects which can be realized by
physically diverse sets of properties, substances, and structures
Functional Kind
A functional kind, on the other hand, is a way of categorizing objects by
their function, or use. The example we considered in the last paragraph
