In a message dated 12/25/08 8:48:25 PM, [email protected] writes: > If you turn on two separate faucets in your home, water will stream from > both simultaneously although there's only one ultimate water pipe coming into > the home. Neuronal firing can occur in many places at the same time although > the sensory input is single. And awareness is constructed from the neuronal > activity. > I don't think the analogy works. This is just a guess, but I'd bet money on it: The molecules of water that are right next to each other in the originating water pipe until they are divided into those for cold water and those for hot do not arrive in your sink simultaneously. The ones that have to be heated will take longer.
The "one ultimate water pipe coming into" your brain -- in the case of a car bearing down on you -- begins with a retinal impression. Granted, the layman tends to think the nerve impulses from the retina go solely and directly to the occipital area of the brain where "vision" is processed, but your report of people who are "blind" because the pertinent occipital area is inactive but who nevertheless can be frightened when confronted by a hostile face is interesting. Nevertheless I maintain the logic behind my doubt persists: Why would one experience fright when confronted by an approaching car or a hostile face if they have not already "registered" and "recognized" in some subconscious chamber the car or the face? What were they frightened OF? Perhaps a distinction should be made between what I'll dubiously call a primary and secondary "emotion". Possibly the "taste" of vanilla and the dislike of the taste could arrive simultaneously. (After all, pain from flame and awareness that that's flame can be simultaneous.) Those would be "primary" emotions. I'll term "secondary" emotions those that arise from what (for temporary communicative convenience) I'll call the "meaning" of the awareness. The approaching car does not cause pain, but, once we recognize it's a car approaching, we know it "means" pain to come if we don't move. We cannot experience a secondary emotion without a prior "recognition". Meantime I'm still interested in the central question put to you last time: " Have you read of > convincing > neurological > research that the realization and the fright are > unquestionably simultaneous > -- as distinguished from simply being separated by such a > tiny time-interval > that current machinery can't discern it?" > > > > --- On Thu, 12/25/08, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: sense of pulchritude and intellectual engagement > > To: [email protected] > > Date: Thursday, December 25, 2008, 3:30 PM > > In a message dated 12/24/08 12:08:52 PM, > > [email protected] writes: > > > > > > > I don't think we can talk anymore of sequential > > process in consciousness, > > > cognition, etc. We may invent a sequence to sort out > > something complex but > > > our brains are operating on multiple neuron-firing > > sequences simultaneously. > > So > > > in the end to say we respond emotionally first or last > > is meaningless > > > (except maybe in subconscious brain stem activity. > > > > > This is interesting. Say I turn my head just to check the > > traffic at the very > > moment a car is rushing toward me. I would have thought > > that what would > > follow would be, first, realization of what was happening, > > and only then > > fright. > > The "realization" need not be > > "conscious". > > > > (I'm open to the idea that the subconscious does lots > > of processing and > > "thought" before the thought becomes conscious. > > It seems obvious to me that > > that's > > what's happening when I try to remember, say, a movie > > actor's name: I'm > > sitting there mumbling, what the hell's his name, and > > suddenly -- pop! there > > it is > > in my larynx, or in a visualization of the letters of his > > name.) > > > > What isn't clear to me how/why my subconscious > > could/would be frightened > > until after it had processed the threat. Have you read of > > convincing > > neurological > > research that the realization and the fright are > > unquestionably simultaneous > > -- as distinguished from simply being separated by such a > > tiny time-interval > > that current machinery can't discern it? When I put > > some requests to Google > > the response seems "instantaneous", but we know > > an immense amount of > > "searching" > > must have taken place. > > > > ************** One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp& icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025)
