Assignment 1
SE 367 Introduction to Cogniitive Science
Name: Apurva Gupta
Assumptions :
1) Decision of going from room to institute has already been made.
2) I have gone to the institute before, thus , I am familiar with the path
3) I know all the possible paths in locality(allowing me to identify my current location by landmarks)
Process
I decide to choose the primary path, which would be the route I usually take to institute everyday. Now if I have to finish some other tasks on my way, I modify this path to obtain another route.
From room to the bicycle stand: I leave my room for institute with a chosen primary path. I have a rough spatial map of locality in my mind. I also remember some landmarks on my way as I have been on the route before. First I need to get my bicycle which is in cycle stand. To go there, I have to order my legs to move in the direction of cycle stand from room. As I walk from my room to cycle stand, tiny hairs submerged in a fluid in my ear canal help me in balancing my body, as they send signals to my brain telling me my tilt. My brain interprets these signals and sends another signal to control legs correcting my tilt and maintaining balance. Also both my eyes create a stereo vision of the world in my range of sight, which tell me about my orientation.This coordination between my eyes-brain-legs allows me to walk without falling at every step. In this 3D world, the brain identifies landmarks such as rooms, stairs and canteen in my hostel. Then based on my memory of path from room to cycle stand, legs are ordered to move in direction of cycle stand(CYC). On reaching CYC I try to remember where I parked my bike. If I remember it I repeat the above procedure of walking towards it. If I dont remember, then I heuristically search for it as should be parked at the usual places i prefer, nearer to my room or hostel gate. The search involves comparing my mental image of bicycle with the input I am recieving from my eye. From that input my brain segments and isolates cycles are objects and compares features which distinguish my bike such as its maroon colour or an extra stand on right.
Once I have located the cycle, again eyes, hands, legs and brain coordinate to get the body up on bicycle and in posture which I remember from my practice of cycling over years. All this is without any concious thought and is based on my experience and learning. Thus brain identifies the pattern of "climbing on a bicycle" as one entity and executes required motor functions with minimal interference leaving my concious for more important thoughts.
From bicycle stand to institute(class)
As I have left the bicycle stand, I pedal towards class on road with my subconcious matching landmarks to keep me on my desired path. Balancing the cycle is again a process learnt and refined over years and is now completely obvious. Henceforth I assume that subconciously my brain controls basic movements such as balancing my body, maintaining breath, heart rate and discuss what is going on in my concious.
Subconcious interferes in concious only when some important issue comes up. For example, I left for class without eating and I "feel" hungry on my way. This feeling is concious as food is an important requirement. Unless something more important comes up, the feeling remains in concious. Now, if I see a source of food when I am getting late for class, I "feel an urge" to divert from my path and eat. This feeling is instinctive as "hunger" is a biological instinct. But my logical brain supercedes this intinct and "deduces" that if I get late for class the repurcussions would be more than missing food for a few hours. The deductive process goes as follows :
1) A : I am hungry and food is available
2) B : If I miss the class, I wont understand anything in next class
3) C : Class is only of an hour
4) Hence, I can eat after coming back from class, total wait is only one hour. Thus continuing to class is a better idea.
As we can see the deduction was not simple boolean yes/no decision, but an allocation of preferences and profits and a fuzzy deduction of best decision. I decide to follow this logical decision, as over time I have learnt that being logical is more profitable than following instincts in normal life.
Continuing along the path, matching landmarks, I finally reach my class. Most of the physical tasks(identifying objects, climbing on cycle, balancing, driving were done subconciously). Whereas concious tasks were : searching for bicycle, deciding a path, deducing that diversion on path for food is a bad decision.
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