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THINKING BACKWARDS ABOUT THE BRAIN:

IMPLICATIONS FOR NEUROBIOLOGY AND FOR EDUCATION

 

THE ODYSSEY OF THE FROG

• LEAVING OUT THE NEOCORTEX ... and consciousness
• BEGINNING FROM THE SENSORY SIDE ... and discovering abstraction
• REDISCOVERING THE HARVARD LAW OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

  "Under carefully controlled experimental circumstances, an animal behaves as it damned welll pleases"

"INTRINSIC VARIABILITY" ON THE OUTPUT SIDE and beyond

• IN THE FROG - adaptability/creativity without a neocortex, regulatable
• IN THE LEECH - output without input
• IN HUMANS - rediscovering/redefining consciousness, and the output/input relation

THE GENERALITY AND VALUE OF AMBIGUITY ON THE INPUT SIDE

• More ambiguous figures
• Ambiguity as normal
• More ambiguity as normal
• Ambiguity as normal - depth perception
  • binocular vision
  • brightness cues
  • perspective cues
  • Necker cube
  • Necker plus
  • Advantages of ambiguity/variability

IMPLICATONS FOR EDUCATION

• Dealing with ambiguity
• Learning by generating output, comparing input with internal expectation/objective
• Requirements: multiple possible outputs, willingness/ability/patience to choose, meaningful feedback
• Trying to make it work, in particulars (Biology, Neurobiology and Behavior), in general (Serendip)

 

 

 

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