BIOLOGY: ORIGIN OF INTELLIGENT LIFE PART 4

THEORY OF MIND AND PERSONALITY

Emotion can get in your way or get you on the way

The greatest journey in life is the journey of self discovery

Thinking modules

Modules of working memory exist for a wide variety of purposes. Initially they require voluntary action inputs. Later the inputs act on the previous experience and produce automatic action.

Modules for object recognition utilizing vision depend on such programs to recognize individual objects. Later these objects with the help of psychological distance maps which resemble navigation maps,build classes such as transitivity, by thinking modules.Thinking modules have inputs and programs to utilize object similarities to map deduction,induction and analogy.Thus deduction utilizes overlap of category distance in maps to form  conjunction or disjunction. This program is extended to determine ordered lists .

    The thinking modules are greatly enhanced by mirror neurons which are present in most mammals.These enable images to be constructed by imitation  of an event and retained in memory . This greatly enhances visual thinking by detecting similarities in two objects.They can be modified in humans as imagination. This allows imagination of objects in their absence and making of plans

Theory of mind

Theory of mind is the ability to understand the beliefs of another individual by observation.It depends on ability to distinguish  different face expressions or postures of other individuals.This can be used as input in modules to form beliefs or knowledge about the desires or values and intentions of the person. For input in these intention modules past behaviour in similar  contexts are used. The output is in form of withdrawal,aggression .

  Higher animals including primates ,birds and domestic animals have mirror neurons. This enables automatic  knowledge of the intentions and beliefs of others and a theory of mind.In humans language development depends on understanding the intention of spoken sentences.Without mutual understanding conversation cannot proceed. 

Theory of mind in humans requires the automatic mirror neurons capability of image formation to be modified and reconstructed . This enables imitation in humans .The image has to be broken down into sequences ,the sequences meaning should be grasped individually..Thereafter there arises the ability to recombine the sequences and test the product. This is helped by teaching through development of joint attention.

In apes the first two steps ,breaking into sequences and their directedness is present.The theory of mind arose in homo habilis partially . It enabled tool making and teaching. Further about 1.5million years ago homo erectus learned fire and joint hunting. The development of language was a further step in theory of mind. It allowed cave paintings,mythical culture of story telling.

    The origin of language allowed thinking in humans to occur in sequence of abstract concepts such as democracy and wars.In animals thinking is visual and involves comparison of sequences of images. This process only allows visual thinking

Mental development of children

In a way mental development of children recapitulates the evolutionary development of thinking.Before one year of age the child is in a sensorimotor stage. It responds to the parents face expression and learns to cry when hungry or in discomfort to attract the parents. The PFC working memory can only form basic associations based on internal needs

 By one year the child follows objects. The crucial ability is object permanence or remembering the self actions and resulting position of objects in their absence. This reflects the episodic memory of apes,higher mammals and birds based on a new ability of PFC working memory to encode self actions.As the hands were freed for action due to erect posture this ability to encode actions in memory arose.It gives the ability to involuntarily select appropriate actions based on circumstances.                                                Later in humans the ability of joint attention occurs. This enables an observer to follow the gaze of another person and detect the action or object of his interest. This  ability allows formation of intentions and beliefs  of others. The ability to understand intentions and beliefs of others allows predictable communication and rule formation in groups.later beliefs are recognised as relational -the child is ready to understand that it’s own beliefs are different from others.This happens when belief is found to change based on an object being changed in position in absence of an individual -false belief Again this ability is basis of symbolic codes like language. Here the symbols have an existence independent to the object they represent.This ability of PFC working memory is only present in humans.

    Another crucial ability develops by one year and this is imitation . This allows an action to be reproduced in working memory from visualising it. Imitation is required for two way communication in language . Identical symbols have identical action meaning. This extends to identical words imitated during language. The ability of imitation evolved in homo erectus and led to formation of communication groups.

  Language is a code which allows rules of thinking to be learned. Thus language allows learning of rules of concrete and then formal thought. The higher intellectual abilities develop due to better executive control with brain maturation

Emotion and self

 The theory of mind is applied to self behaviour and intentions also. The desires ,intentions of the body serve as inputs to form an image of the self. The body responds to different circumstances differently. Personality is formed by the different patterns by which self reacts.

    Emotion modules have inputs of favourable,adverse events in life. They produce sustained body autonomic reactions as well as withdrawal and aggression. Emotions arose in mammals especially for parental care which requires sustained effort. These basic modules are modified in two ways .Higher animals have feelings. These are awareness of emotion through visual thinking . . In humans mirror neurons and language enable a rational interpretation of emotions and their control.

Personality types, Mental disorders

Personality types and mental disorders are manifestation of variation in the working of thinking modules,emotion modules and intention modules

Obsessive compulsive personality- They are obsessed with repetitive behaviour or compulsive desires, There is a dysfunction in anticipation of risk of events leading to overcompensation.Normal intention modules are activated by events which indicate inability to decipher intention of others.In obsessions these signals are overgenerated.There may be hypertrophy of certain brain regions responsible for anticipation. This will lead to excess production of dopamine,which is produced in unanticipated events

Paranoid personality- Here the person is always on the lookout for clues to validate his own theory .Instead of fitting clues to different hypothesis they misinterpret events as indicating a particular  intention.It again appears to be due to dysfunction in intention module to respond to optimum triggers.Like the obsessive personality there is a dysfunction in executive function and an inability to shift attention flexibly.

Antisocial borderline and narcissistic personality disorders :follows pervasive failure to follow social rules,reckless behaviour and lack of remorse.They are frequently deceitfull,dominating with lack of remorseNarcissism requires feeling of grandiosity,need for admiration and lack of empathy.It appears to be an inability to  understand and respond accordingly to the intention of others. It can lead to impulsive behaviour. Slave to whims and frequently knocked around as a result he may transform his misfortune into a brutally simple misethic”do it to them before they do it to you”

Autism spectrum disorder- Here the dysfunction in intention modules is due to inability to construct mirror neurons and understand intentions. The autistic child thus cannot communicate with others as it cannot interpret their facial expressions,gestures or word meanings

ADHD-These are the opposite of obsessions. The child is unable to give sustained attention and constantly looks for novelty. There is hypertrophy of brain regions producing dopamine. The trigger for intention modules is constantly shifting and there is dysfunctional executive function of attention.

Schizophrenia -It is characterized by delusions,hallucinations and thought disorders.Delusions may be due to inappropriate attribution of thoughts to persons . This disorder of intention can lead to simulation of voices speaking to self. There is changes in schizophrenics related to areas for mirror neurons networks.

Bipolar disorders- This is characterized by manic episodes which are extremes disorders of thinking and attribution of intentions.

Anxiety and depression- Here the disorder involves module of fear and emotions . There is an inability to control the onset or severity of emotions . The disorder may be in amygdala or higher centres of emotional control in cortex. Serotonin is involved in pathways which calculate magnitude of rewards. Many of these pathways maybe atrophied  in these disorders. 

The underlying cause of most mental disorders is a gene or epigenetic abnormality. At the neural level it disrupts circuits concerned with thinking of affect or theory of mind. There are secondary disorders of neurotransmitters due to abnormal balance in these circuits its. Drugs can create a new balance and correct the functioning,but since underlying abnormalities persist they have to be repeatedly used.

Ack:Textbook of evolutionary psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine,The feeling of what happens,Innernatures brain self and personalityExecutive functioning,How the mind explains behaviour