How-I-Learn

by
Geoff Relf

I have some kind of consciousness system which filters incoming information, impressions and physical stimuli into a structure for both immediate and long-term usefulness. I really have no idea what the system or the structure is, but it is there among the axons, dendrites, glial cells and neurotransmitters - the wet stuff of my brain where the dry stuff of my mind resides. 

How rigidly structured is this mechanism? Again, I don't know, but it has formed somehow as a result of heredity and the life experiences of this animal self which I am. Researchers in neurophysiology estimate there may be more than 100 different types of neurotransmitters at work in the brain. These chemicals comprise the "soup" that nourishes my mental activity and in the process permits me to maintain my existing knowledge and to learn new things. The existing "flavor and consistency" of that soup is my life experience to date preserved in a chemical state.

Neuroscientists say that neurotransmitters may excite or inhibit neural activity, like an array composed of both accelerating devices and braking devices. They also say a variety of neurotransmitter systems are at work concurrently. One system, for instance, is reported to include acetylcholine, epinephrine, dopamine and serotonin, words I associate with opposing mental-emotional states such as fight-or-flight, exhiliration-or-depression, happy-or-sad. Another system of neurotransmitters called neuropeptides include endorphins and enkephalins, which among other things mediate the brain's perception of pain. These substances are manufactured naturally by the body and in the brain produce sedative and painkiller effects like those produced by manmade substances such as morphine.

 What do these five-dollar words from neuroscience have to do with how-I-learn? Well, I think, everything! I am becoming more aware of how-I-learn in the process of attempting to explain it. A recent article states that as little as 15 years ago, researchers thought the serotonin neurotransmitter worked with only one or two receptor sites on nerve cells. The article notes that now as many as 14 different serotonin receptors are thought to exist, and the transmitter may act in different ways depending on which of those receptors it latches onto.

 It appears a lot of activity going on down there at the submicroscopic biochemical level is random. And by extension, it seems the very physiological essence of consciousness may include random qualities as well. So, in turn, the process of learning may include a lot of randomness, depending on pre-existing conditions in the brain. Therefore, it seems reasonable to say I learn by sometimes small and sometimes larger incremental additions to what I already know and understand. I equate what I know and understand with my current and ongoing electrochemical state of wet-stuff-brain as recognitzed by my dry-stuff-mind.

 Meanwhile up here at the macro level, I'll return to my unknown system and structure, hoping I haven't lost you in the sea of neurochemical soup.

 Like most people, I learn mainly through what I see. I also seem to remember visual impressions more vividly and over a longer time. There is strong evidence that we humans have been prepared with a robust visual sensing and retention apparatus for most effective learning through vision. But what we see apparently winds up getting filed in multiple sites all over our brains - indexed and cross-indexed by subject matter, emotional state, related to the concurrent input from other physical senses, and a whole bunch of additional parameters - all of this going into so-called short term memory in a few hundredths of a second.

 And then my mind, I believe, tells my brain what to save and transfer into so-called long term memory. I further believe there are some things that take place which are of such intense personal magnitude that they will go into long term memory without a conscious willing by the mind.

At this point, I realize that I am dealing with a book-sized subject - no, an encyclopedic-sized subject - and in deference to you, the reader, I sign off for now. But, given a sign of interest, I will offer more about how-I-learn, later.

Sites of Related Interest

Biological Neurons
Welcome to Scott’s Brain: The Wonderful World of Neuroscience

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