Function of the Human Brain



Concrete and Abstract Terms Processing in the Human Brain

|ALEŠ GRMELA |NIKOS MASTORAKIS |

|AGCES Ltd. |Hellenic Naval Academy and WSEAS |

|AGCES, Levského 3221/1, Praha 4 |Ag. I.Theologou 17-23, 15773, Zografou, Athens |

|CZECH REPUBLIC |GREECE |

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Abstract: - The human brain has ability to process information. The whole body also has ability of processing information. But the Human Brain was developed especially for this purpose.

Key Words: - Concrete terms, Non-concrete terms, Abstract terms, Ideas, Material Objects, Immaterial Objects

1.

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2. Introduction

This is the fifth paper in the series of papers called Human Brain. The previous paper called Processing of Logical Functions in the Human Brain was introduced on the congress held in Crete 2002 organised by WSEAS.

The human brain is the most developed tissue as we know at present time. This tissue is composed of material elements as neurons, axons, dendrites and synapses.

Therefore it is comprehensible that the brain can process material objects. It can perceive them, name them, hold them in the memory and create them or create new material objects. The brain has ability to create new forms of existing forms.

But it is much less comprehensible that the human brain can process immaterial objects or terms. It can name them, it can hold such terms in the memory and it can develop new immaterial terms according to the needs.

This is one of the biggest differences of the human being from the animal being. Where we can find the difference between human brain and the animal brain.

We know that is so, but we do not know why. We do not know why the brain can process terms that eyes cannot see and hands cannot touch. Such information cannot come to the brain via any of senses we have.

The paper shows what are the possibilities the human brain can process immaterial objects or so called abstract terms.

The theory of information processing in the human brain described in [1] is supported by many events in the human life. The human brain processes concrete terms as well as abstract terms. The people can imagine how the human brain can process concrete terms.

It is difficult to imagine how the human brain processes abstract terms. The brain must do it. People understand the meaning of abstract terms and they use them very often. I assume that abstract terms must be processed by the existing brain structures; neurons and their connections.

Theories based on mysteries do not provide results reliable enough. It is better to look for processing of abstract terms in the existing structures that provide many more mysteries than theories based on mysteries.

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3. Information Processing in the Brain

The information processed by the brain is typically received by the sensors and compared with memory records already saved in the brain.

Processing of the human brain is described in the [1] and [2].

The equations 1 and 2 show processing in the human brain.

Y=M*X (1)

X=Y (2)

The X matrix is the set of all neuron outputs in the brain. The Y matrix is the set of all neuron inputs. The number of inputs is equal to the number of outputs. The M matrix shows connections of neuron outputs to the neuron inputs.

Graphically can be the processing using equation 1 and be depicted as follows in the Figure 1. Using these equation we can see only processing inside the brain without sensory inputs.

But sensory inputs are important to be included in our searching for the brain function. The graphical view is better to show how the equation 1 and 2 should be modified.

The M matrix is extended for processing having sensory inputs included by two columns. These two columns show coefficients controlling inputs from sensors.

Fig. 1 – Processing of the human brain.

|Y1 | |M11 |M12 |M13 | |X1 |

|Y2 |= |M21 |M22 |M23 |* |X2 |

|Y3 | |M31 |M32 |M33 | |X3 |

Fig. 2 – Processing of the human brain including sensory inputs.

|Y1 | |M11 |M12 |M13 |M14 |M15 | |X1 |

|Y2 |= |M21 |M22 |M23 |M24 |M25 |* |X2 |

|Y3 | |M31 |M32 |M33 |M34 |M35 | |X3 |

| | | | | | | | |X4 |

| | | | | | | | |X5 |

Where X4 and X5 are outputs of the sensory neurons connected to the brain.

The human brain reads data from sensors and adds this data with the data coming from the brain while creating the input data of the new quality. The input data is expressed by the Y matrix (elements Y1, Y2, Y3).

This chapter shows processing of the basic signals by the human brain. All these signals are transformed into terms which can be interpreted by the brain many different ways.

The paper shows special interpretation of signals as concrete and abstract terms.

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4. Concrete terms processing – material objects processing

The information about material objects come to the human brain via senses. We can see objects, touch them, smell them, taste them, hear them.

The real material objects as, for example, stones trees, etc. we can see, and touch. Some chemical substances we can taste and smell. And finally we can hear vibrations of the air caused as a result of vibrations of some material objects.

It looks as clear that we can “grasp” such object. It means we can assign some name to it. We can categorize such names and finally we can assign some actions to such objects we can do with them.

Some of such objects we cannot directly grasp by our senses. We must use some devices that transform these objects to the figures that our senses can grasp. But finally there are out senses that perceive such material objects.

The concrete objects are processed as it is shown in the Fig. 2. The sensory inputs are included in the processing of data.

The everything we can perceive via our senses is of material substance either directly or indirectly.

However there are also some terms that are not and cannot be of material substance. They are totally immaterial.

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5. Abstract terms processing – immaterial objects processing

The information about non-concrete i.e. abstract terms is generated by the brain itself. It cannot come from any of sense.

The abstract term is just idea. The human brain can “grasp” also idea although human body cannot touch it, hear it, smell it, see it or taste it. The strength of the human brain imagination is so big that it can create material representations of the immaterial objects – ideas.

We use abstract terms without being surprised using it as if it was given to use from the all times we are on the Earth. But comparing to the animals we see that it must have been different way long time ago.

But it is not so easy to imagine how the human brain sets connections in case it creates records of the immaterial objects.

It is real fact that the brain grasps the immaterial terms using material objects it has in its tissue. Neurons and their connections creates using axons, dendrites and synapses are being used merely.

The abstract objects are processed as it is shown in the Fig. 1. The sensory inputs are not included in the processing of data. It seems that processing as by the figure Fig. 2 is more complex than the processing by the Fig. 1. In the real it is not.

The processing by the Fig. 1 shows processing in the brain itself. Higher quality of this type of processing shows the quality of the human brain. The goal of the study is to increase number of neurons that process abstract terms.

The goal of this work is not to fully discover how the human brain processes abstract. The goal is to show that it is one of the most interesting problems. Does the brain use memorizing words defining abstract terms or it use something else?

We can feel love and other abstract terms without giving them a name. We remember them, we feel that such feeling was anything new. It is not necessary to find a name for it. But people always find some name for anything.

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6. Development of abstract terms processing

The people from the times many thousand years ago were not able of using tools. They had to learn it from nature. The first stone and wooden tools were people able to use after long time of development.

The initial capacity of the human brain was closer to animals than to today’s people. The brain must develop itself by increasing its size. But later after many thousand years the capacity of the human brain increased so rapidly that other beings on the Earth could not compete with the human brain.

It is not very clear why just the human brain changed its size and capacity. Why such development did not occur at other species.

It seams that capacity of the human brain plays the most important role in the rapid development. But it is not only the capacity. Also the structure of the brain is important in the assessing the human brain abilities.

We can see that our brains are developed more that the animal brains. But we do not know how it happened and why it was so.

The huge capacity of the human brain gives us enough room for saving records wearing information about non- concrete objects.

When seeing the Fig. 1 we realize easier how much important is to have the higher number of neurons and the stronger connections of these neurons. If we have it, our capability of abstract term processing will be better than for those having smaller M matrix.

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7. Wisdom

Wisdom is one of the very well know abstract term that is processed by the brain. Wisdom is rather characteristic of the brain. It is difficult to define wisdom precisely. The theories of the constructive and destructive memorizing and growth of the brain offer explanation to that term.

Some older people are considered to be wisdom whereas young people are not considered to be wisdom. Instead of this, the people say that young people are for example smart or clever or so, but not wisdom. The wisdom people do not have special good memory often they are not extremely clever or smart.

They have something that can not be taught or learnt. Wisdom must be developed during life. Memory records created during life have better or worse quality depending on acts or deeds of people. Acts or deeds can be either positive or negative. Therefore memory records in the brain can have better or worse quality. The wisdom people are able to build-up their brain structure better than other people.

The wisdom people have good stability of the brain. Therefore they can do work till their high age. Their productivity at this age is not huge but results of their work are good due to their great experience. The work is meant here regardless whether it is gardening or scientific work or any other work.

Wisdom people are those older people who have stable brain with relatively high brain power.

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8. Beauty, pleasure and pain

The beauty is another abstract term that only the human brain can process as far as we know. The theory of the human brain function can be valid only if it is valid also for processing of abstract terms

Processing of beauty is one of the most important characteristic of the human brain. The people can decide that something is beautiful and something is ugly but some people can do it better than other ones. People process beauty in the brain unintentionally. Some people have been thinking why is that so and what it is beauty.

Theory of parallel and serial processing the information in the human brain suggests that this theory can be used to explain processing of beauty. Therefore I tried to explain it using this theory.

The human brain is set of neurons and their connections. The human brain looks like a technical device that can process impulses and voltages. Can give the description of the human brain as of the computer acceptable solution this problem? This chapter shows that there exists chance.

Scientific experiments have revealed two regions in the brain that are responsible for processing of pain and pleasure. These experiments were made on rats using electrical excitation of both these regions.

1. Exciting of the first region causes strong pain for the tested rat. The rat is very aggressive to the people who want to push the handle that excites the first region. The rat is able to do everything that would protect it against excitation of this region.

2. Exciting of the second region causes great pleasure. In this case the rat efforts to push handle that sends impulses to this region. After long enough time the rat can die of hunger because it forgets to eat.

The human brain has also such regions. These regions at the human brains are often affected using chemical agents to cure some diseases. They are known as anti-depressive medicaments, for example. Some chemical agents cause pleasure but some can cause pain.

I tried to imagine how the brain can process pleasure and pain. In the beginning it is necessary to define what it is pleasure and what it is pain. The definitions are depicted here in this book in simplified form.

1. Pain is feeling that causes unpleasant feelings. The unpleasant feelings are joined with anxiety and depression. The result of excitation of the brain region that causes pain is anxiety, depression and stronger muscle tension. The pain is joined with the serial processing. The brain waves have higher irregular frequency and lower amplitude. The electrode fastened in the region causing pain excites neurons in the brain. The high mental activity causes pain. This pain is not very strong and it can be easily overcome but when people do not have enough rest after brainwork so it can be noxious to the health. However adequate amount of pain can be useful. The growth of the brain is possible only through pain.

2. Pleasure is feeling that causes pleasant feelings. The pleasant feelings are joined with relaxation. The result of excitation of the brain region that causes pleasure is relaxation. Therefore muscle tension is weaker. The relaxation is joined with the parallel processing. The brain waves have slower frequency and higher amplitude. The electrode fastened to the region causing pleasure inhibits some neurons and regions in the brain. Pleasure is very important to heal the body and brain illnesses and diseases. The body is able to create substances (based on morphine) that relax body due to overcome strong pain. These substances decrease brain activity to cause pleasure. Therefore some people intentionally cause pain themselves.

3. Pleasure and pain have important relation. The pain is often followed by pleasure and pleasure is often followed by pain. This relation is caused by regulation and stability in the human brain.

Now let us approach to describe how the human brain can process beauty. This was goal of this chapter. I have noticed that when I enjoy seeing beautiful picture or wonderful landscape I feel relaxed. Contrary to this, when I see something dirty or ugly I feel stressed.

These feelings are not very strong but they exit. Some people can feel it better than others. This feeling distinguishes people with talent to arts from people who do not have this talent.

From this example I have realized that instead of concrete regions in the brain that control what is pleasure and pain, the whole brain can control it itself. These two regions have only stronger effect to the brain activity.

The human brain perceives beauty as step from the serial processing to the parallel processing. Other words it is step from excitation to inhibition of some brain parts.

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9. Will, Longing and Love

Will, longing and love, are three so called abstract terms that characterize people and the human brain. People can imagine how the brain can process movement or regulation of internal temperature or everything that can be called as concrete or non abstract term.

I think that everyone knows that all these three terms are processed by the brain. There is no any other chance how else they could be processed. The numerical integrating methods described in this book have shown how the brain can work.

Theories must be verified on as many examples as it is possible. I am not sure that it so. Therefore I have to take into account all possible function of the brain I know to judge that these methods are valid for this purpose.

Will and longing are two terms characterizing the human brain but it is not known that animals would have ability to control theirs behavior by will and longing. Most probably the will and longing are processed by frontal lobes. Injury of these frontal lobes or when they are disconnected operationally from other parts of the brain.

This injury to frontal lobes causes often change of the personality depending on the range of the injury. Such operation is called lobotomy. This operation had been used to cure some mental diseases. Main disadvantage of this operation was partial or complete loss of patient’s personality. The part of personality is of course will and longing.

The patients who passed the lobotomy have mostly untouched intelligence. They could do everything what they had taught or learnt before. However, they were not able to learn new things. Such people were very dependent on other people and on the environment, where they have been living. They could memorize static data, but they had problems to learn dynamic processes.

The corrupted ability to process and stabilize dynamic processes can lead to strong depressions, aggressive behaviour, or passivity. It depends only on type of injury of the brain.

The first type of injury can stabilize the brain whereas the second type can destabilize it. This operation has been prohibited. Diseases that were cured by this operation are now cured using medicaments.

Consequences caused by the lobotomy are worth to show that stability of the brain is very important and that mental diseases are probably caused by the instability of the brain. There are many kinds of mental diseases those have no origin in visible structural changes of the brain.

These diseases can have many other origins, but instability is very important reason. For example, these diseases can origin in instability of certain parts of the brain only. There are many possible causes of the instability. It is difficult to decide which of them is responsible for concrete disease.

Some mental diseases can be caused by the increased sensibility of some brain parts. The sensibility is increased by loss of neurons. The increased sensibility can generate imaginations those are then responsible for either mental diseases or for high creativity.

It is known that when Albert Einstein was living in Prague (1912-1914), he was living in the street that is close to the hospital for mentally handicapped people. He told that he feels sometimes that he belongs among the people behind the high hospital wall.

These were his words said maybe as a joke. In spite of he was mentally healthy. However, he was great individual.

Therefore, he could afford to express his feelings this way. These his words brought me also to this work. I realized that high creativity and some types of mental diseases can be very close. Very high excitation of all neurons can bring destabilization of the brain that decreases control of the brain over the human body.

Therefore many mental diseases can accompany creativity. Ability of create great ideas need high excitation of neurons in the brain. This kind of excitation can cause disintegration of the body health in extreme cases.

The electronics has its term for high sensibility. This term is gain. Concretely it is gain of amplifier or integrator. The gain of amplifier is very important number giving level of stability of the circuit. Mostly the gain of amplifier influences the gain of the regulation loop. The change of loop gain is every time important for the stability of the system or its part.

The brain is system with many elements (neurons). The partial loss of certain amount of neurons can influence stability of the whole brain. It is known that changed stability of the brain changes many important functions of the brain. However, many people would not expect that the stability is so important for the human life.

Will and longing are characteristics of the brain having its origin in lower stability. The brain generates impulses pushing people to work what they are longing for. This instability leads people ahead. When longing is too strong then it can bring rather disease instead of success.

The typical example described in many novels is longing for beloved person. This type of longing is practically the strongest feeling. Much unhappiness has been arisen from it.

Let us have two persons those would show us two separate examples of the brain destabilization. First person works extremely hardly with love. The second person works also hardly with same intensity as the first one. However, the second person works only with expectation of high financial profit but without love to the work; for example.

Also it can be expectation of fame or glory instead of expectation of financial profit. The second person works with stronger longing than the first one. It is known that the first person is able to endure much higher workload than the second one.

Many people have been placed in hospitals due to they have overworked themselves. Diseases caused by overwork are not only psychosomatic and mental diseases; the somatic diseases can occur too.

On the other hand both will and longing are necessary to distinguish people from animals. There is an only one solution; to control the strength of will and longing so these people did not to overcome some threshold level.

Limitation of will and longing should be guided by increase of love. Love should be the leading factor for any work. It is also known that people led by love were much more successful than the people led by expectation of money. There is perhaps origin of why love is considered to be highest valuable of life.

This chapter shows that we can place the different valuables of the human life on the line. The first one is love. The second one is longing. These two terms are opposite regarding to brain stability. The many people look for the answer to the question: “What to do and how to live.” Typically, the best technical solution lies somewhere in the middle.

Many ideas that have been described here in this book, I derived from technical experience. The technical solutions come from the nature, when they are good. The human life is nature too. Therefore, there cannot be substantial difference.

Longing is emotion based on serial processing of the brain. The person that is longing for something thinks about it in sequences. The typical example is longing for a new car. The person then imagines where it will travel with the new car. Such feeling is positive and not destructive for brain. The more complicated is however everything that comes before this.

The person who wants a new very expensive car must get money for it, which is not easy. That person has to do work that it hates because such work can in certain cases bring more money, for example. Hate is negative feeling. Therefore when hate is very strong so it can be very destructive. Normal level of hate that is common to many people is also not positive for the brain but it is not very destructive.

The body must mobilize will to obtain sufficient amount of money although the work is not exciting. (Sometimes that person attempts to obtain money by way of criminal offense, which is most destructive.) Will can be understood here as enforcement of the brain and body to do that is against innate abilities. Such longing generates envy.

I assume that it is not necessary to describe all psychological details of envy. The envy is followed by hate. They are both very destructive forces in the brain. The envy is understood here as a serial processing because it generates sequences in the brain. The brain is being very slowly destroyed by the serial processing.

On the other hand love is based on parallel processing. Real love does not know envy, hate and many other similar negative emotions. Therefore two people who love each other do not know why. They do not have reasons that they could lineup in sequences.

They have only feeling; whilst feeling is parallel operation of the human brain. Same it is with love to any work. The person that loves some work does not know why is that so. The person does it and such work is most useful for that person and for other people.

I assume that this technical view over this problem is very similar to the views of philosophers. This chapter did not bring philosophical conclusions but it has brought mathematical view scope over it.

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10. Love and Beauty

I have mentioned love in the book [1] and in this paper many times. The chapter 7 of this paper describes much about love. This chapter concludes information about love and brings short explanation. This chapter is to show how the human brain processes feeling called love. This term does not have any concrete meaning especially not sexual.

The chapter 6 of this paper shows how the brain can process beauty. Both these terms show mutual relation and its processing in the brain. The beauty is one of the most important factors that can cause relaxation of the human brain and body. The people need relaxation. If they did not effort for relaxation they would suffer from mental overload.

Love can be defined using three similar definitions.

1) Love is need of beauty.

2) Love is effort or endeavour to relax the brain and body.

3) Love is also psychological method showing how to relax body and brain.

Most people use this every day although they do not realize it. Therefore these people love something and they do not know why. Beauty and love cause relax.

The human brain is complex regulator and when it is relaxed then it can better control all mental and somatic functions.

Therefore the love is very advantageous in all aspects.

This chapter has shown what is the principal of mental healing of somatic and psychosomatic illnesses and diseases.

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11. Love and Work

The work has been mentioned in this book as a process that destabilizes the human brain. Now I would mention the work that is done with love to the work. Love stabilizes the human brain. Therefore there are two antagonist processes that contribute to the result.

The love improves results of the work and gives sense to the work. The work that is done with love does not destabilize the human brain. The work done with love helps to find beauty of life. Such work improves people.

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12. Creativity versus Stability

Changed stability of the human brain can affect behavior of people. The degree of that change and its consequence is different for each person. The change of stability of the brain can have either positive or negative impact on abilities of people. This chapter describes how abilities can be affected on the example of creativity.

Creativity is the most complex human ability. Therefore creativity can be easily affected by disorders of human brain stability. Relatively small changes of brain function or of the brain stability can substantially change and affect the creativity.

It is very interesting that disorders of the brain stability can decrease or increase creativity. This chapter describes what are relations between creativity and stability.

The most people can have the certain degree of creativity innate. This degree of creativity allows people to create some new ideas or things using combinations of previously known ideas.

It is often visible that very creative people are not able to move perfectly. Their movements are not so smooth as movements of trained people.

They do not like to move as well as they do not like sports very often. Often they do not like sports because sports use body different way then creativity.

Creativity and intelligence are different terms. Creativity requires intelligence, but intelligence does not guarantee creativity. Creativity is mostly caused by destabilization of the brain.

There are many mental diseases caused by loss of neurons. Hence the loss of most mental abilities that is caused by destabilization of the brain. These diseases are very interesting for this book because they mostly cannot be cured at all; sometimes only partially.

Some people having such diseases are very hardly handicapped. However, these diseases can sometimes be cured by stabilization of the brain.

To change ourselves is quite simpler for younger people with non-matured brain structure than for older people who have matured brains. The elderly people can have many more problems to change themselves.

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13. Conclussions

The paper describes how the human processes information stored in the memory. The information is of material or immaterial nature. The human brain can process both types of information.

The most important result of the research depicted in the paper is junction of technical and mathematical sciences with biological sciences, mainly with medicine.

In the modern life only the interdisciplinary sciences can bring the new advances.

Connection of mathematical discoveries with the medical ones shows new results.

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References

[1] Grmela Aleš, Neural Computing and Neural Science – A Theory of Information Processing in the Human Brain, AGCES Publishing, 1997.

[2] Grmela Aleš, Function of the Human Brain, Advances in Neural Networks and Applications, World Scientific and Engineering Socienty Press, 2001.

[3] Grmela Aleš, Connections in the Human Brain, Advances in Neural Networks and Applications, World Scientific and Engineering Socienty Press, 2001.

[4] Grmela Aleš, Mastorakis Nikos, Memorising and Forgetting in the Human Brain, Advances in Neural Networks and Applications, World Scientific and Engineering Socienty Press, 2002.

[5] Grmela Aleš, Mastorakis Nikos, Processing of Logical Functions in the Human Brain, Advances in Neural Networks and Applications, World Scientific and Engineering Socienty Press, 2002.

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