An Ecological Approach to Cognition

Abstract

The human mind recognizes natural kind in its environment and accommodates cultural experiences through observations on these natural kind. Information on the things of the world are gathered, we suppose, by feature extraction and clustering. However, perceptions of natural kind are products of complex interactions between the observer and its external world. Thus, as a principle of considerable importance, we cannot reasonably isolate learning behavior from the social ecosystem. Using today’s advanced computers, we can model many levels of activity and integrate these levels together, resulting in an ecological approach to cognition. The foundation for this approach is provided by specifying the evolution equations for transient neuronal and subneuronal compartments operating within a complex electromagnetic subspace. This network architecture must also be constrained by quantum field dynamics, as proposed by neuroscientist Karl Pribram. A framework is suggested to accomplish this hybrid field/network architecture. Of interest to the author are the dynamics responsible for acquired cognitive disability. To accomplish an ecological model of acquired cognitive disability, the classical mathematical theory of conditioning is extended by embedding neural and immune network architectures into a complex dissipative system.