Control Flashcards
What is control about?
It discusses how our mind and other mammal’s mind controls the body.
How is the body controlled for single-celled organisms?
There are detectors on the cell membrane to process environment. For example, the thermal detector detects temperature and physically leads the cell into better temperature because there’s no thought-process behind it.
What is our Patellar Reflex?
It’s the reflex that doctors’ test (below the knee) which acts on its own accord without any influence of the mind. Instead the action comes from the spinal cord.
How is what we do stored in the Basal Ganglia?
Everything we do is stored as a representation from Basal Ganglia. Different parts of the brain interact with the Basal Ganglia for different purposes. For example, when playing tennis since the Basal Ganglia handles Procedural Knowledge, our movement is interpreted from the BG.
What do we know about the Habit System?
The habit system is what our mind defaults to (so you do what you’re used to) when we are not thinking about a task at hand.
- It is not sensitive to reward (a habit could be bad)
- It’s built through repetition/conditioning
- Not always goal based, but it could be
- Some are instinctual from genes (closing eyes when underwater)
- 40% of what we do is habitual
- Habits (esp bad ones) can add up (drinking boba everyday)
What are Reflexive and Automatic Actions? (Basal Ganglia at work)
They’re actions we have no problem with multitasking, or actions that require no level of thinking.
1) Some become automatic (no cog control required - like walking and chewing)
2) Others through repetition (automatized actions - tying your shoe)
Sometimes we find that when we concentrate on something we’re good (that it doesn’t require us to think about it) at we actually choke up on that skill.
What is part of the Cognitive Control?
1) Attention = What you are attending too/conscious of in the moment
2) Working Memory = You can think of a max of 4 things at once
3) Goal Management
What are examples of what the Cog Control is responsible of?
- Willpower / Weakness of Will
- Goals
- Supresses older brain areas (ones that speak to primal instinct such as sex, hitting people, and hunting)
- Rationalize
What does “I ate more than I wanted to” have to do with Cog Control and Habit?
When we look at the sentence itself it doesn’t make sense, because obviously we could stop ourselves if we wanted to. However, the two parts of our brain which control Cog Control (tells us we should stop eating to be healthier) and Habit (tells you to eat more even after pleasure is gone) are in a disagreement with each other. This results in us trying to rationalize why we just did what we did as a result of two brain parts contradicting.
What is the connection between Cognitive Control and Willpower?
1) Many frontal areas have inhibitory connections to other areas.
2) Willpower differentiates us from mammals which is very important for long-term rewards.
For example, when you refrain from eating chocolate, you become more happier, more healthier, have a better life, have more money, and have better relationships.
What is Cognitive Control impaired by?
It’s impaired by sleep deprivation, older age, stress, and intoxication.
What is the Reward System?
It gets you to do things that’ll give you instant gratification and pleasure while avoiding the opposite. It also helps form habits.
What’s the difference between Reward: Liking vs Wanting?
Both of them release different natural chemicals upon receiving pleasure. The reward for liking is opioids. While the reward for wanting is dopamine. What we want is not always pleasurable (compulsion for biting nails, picking scabs, and eating too much even after the pleasure aspect died down). It’s different from Cortical Cognitive Wanting.
What is the mind-wandering system?
When you are subconsciously thinking about something else, your mind wanders (thinking of food while driving). It makes you think about things irrelevant to your current situation (which can be good because we are a generation who are scared to be in our heads). So you think of longer term goals and become less anxious.
If your body were a car…
- Habit System might be driving back home automatically
- Cog System/Control is telling the Habit System to stop at the groceries
- Reward System is asking for ice cream on the way home
- Mind-wandering system is the car radio babbling about weight loss ad
(They might all align to fulfill one goal or be all thinking about different things)
