ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY
 HUMANIST GALAXY
OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS
MARIANO SIGMAN
July 6, 2022

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THE SECRET LIFE OF THE MIND:
 How Your Brain Thinks,
Feels, and Decides.
 by Mariano Sigman.
Little, Brown Co, 2017 (277 pages)

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    Quote = "If I were to sum up the idea behind this book in one sentence, it would be the quest to make human thought transparent. From the first page to the last, the search for that transparency is a constant." (By the author, Mariano Sigman, from the Epilogue, page 244)

    Quote = "All of these experiments with babies are designed to better comprehend their desires, needs and virtues, when their lack of language makes them opaque. Understanding how we make decisions, the driving force behind boldness, the reasons for our whims and our beliefs, is a way of removing a layer of opacity from thought itself, which is sometimes hidden beneath the mask of consciousness." (By the author, Mariano Sigman, from the Epilogue, page 244)

    Quote = "And, finally. the pedagogy that is so prominent in the book’s last chapter is, in my view of neuroscience, a human achievement that allows us to come together, to share what we know and what we think. So that the world is less wide and strange." (By the author, Mariano Sigman, from the Epilogue, page 244)

    Quote = "It is useful, when studying the brain, to divide it into different regions. Some of them are delineated by grooves or clefts. Using this method, the cerebral cortex, which includes the entire surface of the cerebral hemispheres, can be divided into four large regions: frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal. The parietal and frontal cortices, for example, are separated by the central sulcus." (By the author, Mariano Sigman, from the Appendix, page 245)

    Quote = "Each of these large regions of the cortex takes part in multiple functions but, at the same time, has a certain degree of specialization. The frontal cortex functions as the brain’s ‘control tower’. Without it, for example, we would be unable to refrain from eating in a situation in which we know it is not good for us (although we are hungry). The frontal cortex regulates, inhibits and operates different cerebral processes, and makes plans. The occipital cortex manages visual perception. The parietal cortex integrates and coordinates sensorial information with actions. It accounts for our ability to catch a ball by guiding our movements using in-real-time information about its speed and its trajectory. And the temporal cortex encodes memories, and works as a bridge between vision, hearing and language." (By the author, Mariano Sigman, from the Appendix, pages 245-246)
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BOOK OUTLINE
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Note = Numbers in parentheses refer to pages

 INTRODUCTION (1-3)

PART 1 — THE ORIGIN OF THOUGHT: How do babies think and communicate, and how can we understand them better? (5-46)
    [1] THE GENESIS OF CONCEPTS (6-8)

    [2] ATROPHIED AND PERSISTENT SYNESTHESIAS (8-11)

    [3] THE MIRROR BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND ACTION (11-13)

    [4] PIAGET'S MISTAKE! (13-15)

    [5] THE EXECUTIVE SYSTEM (15-16)

    [6] THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES (16-18)

    [7] DEVELOPMENT OF ATTENTION (18-20)

    [8] THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT (20-22)

    [9] MOTHER TONGUE (22-25)

    note = Use information about how brains of babies specialize in use of language with phonemes (23)

    [10] THE CHILDREN OF BABEL (25-28)

    note = Babies cannot express moral ideas because their prefrontal cortex is not developed (31)

    [11] A CONJECTURING MACHINE (28-31)

    [12] THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (31-33)

    [13] HE WHO ROBS A THIEF … (33-34)

    [14] THE COLOR OF A JERSEY, STRAWBERRY OR CHOCOLATE (34-38)

    [15] ÉMILE AND MINERVA'S OWL (38-40)

    [16] I, ME, MINE AND OTHER PERMUTATIONS BY GEORGE (40-41)

    [17] TRANSACTIONS IN THE PLAYGROUND, OR THE ORIGIN OF COMMERCE AND THEFT (41-44)

    [18] JACQUES, INNATISM, GENES, BIOLOGY, CULTURE AND AN IMAGE (44-46)
PART 2 — THE FUZZY BORDERS OF IDENTITY: What defines our choices and allows us to trust other people and our own decisions? (47-98)
    [1] CHURCHILL, TURING AND HIS LABYRINTH (48-49)

    [2] TURING'S BRAIN (49-52)

    [3] TURING IN THE SUPERMARKET (53-55)

    [4] THE TELL-TALE HEART (55-56)

    [5] THE BODY IN THE CASINO AND AT THE CHESSBOARD (57-58)

    [6] RATIONAL DELIBERATION OR HUNCHES? (59-60)

    [7] SNIFFING OUT LOVE (60-63)

    note = The most important and complex decisions we make are social and emotional (60)

    note = Pheromones are “smell mediators” (62)

    [8] BELIEVING, KNOWING, TRUSTING ( 63-64)

    [9] CONFIDENCE — FLAWS AND SIGNATURES (64-65)

    [10] THE NATURE OF OPTIMISTS (65-69)

    note = Dopamine that is generated by consciousness is codified in a Basal Ganglia Circuit(66)

    note = "Prediction error expresses the difference between what we expect and what we actually observe." (66-67)

    note = Desirable information activates neurons on a small part of the LEFT PFC on the Left Hemisphere and undesirable info activates a homologous region known as the RIGHT PFC on the Right Hemisphere (68)

    [11] ODYSSEUS AND THE CONSORTIUM WE BELONG TO (69-72)

    note = quote paragraph (70-)

    [12] FLAWS IN CONFIDENCE (72-75)

    note = The confirmation bias = "We only see what we already believe to be true.' (72-73)

    note = "A second principle that inflates confidence is the ability to completely ignore the variance of data." It is "Confirmatory Effect" (73)

    note = A vital question in understanding and improving our decision-making is = "Confirmatory Effect" (74)

    [13] OTHER PEOPLES' GAZES (75-78)

    note = What is "Theory of mind"? (76-77)

    note = Use top paragraph about how our brains always mix internal and external info together, even if we are not aware of it! (75)

    [14] THE INNER BATTLES THAT MAKE US WHO WE ARE (78-)

    note = (78)

    note = (80-81)

    [15] THE CHEMISTRY AND CULTURE OF CONFIDENCE (85-)

    note = (85-)

    [16] THE SEEDS OF CORRUPTION (91-)

    note = (91-)

    [17] THE PERSISTENCE OF SOCIAL TRUST (95-)

    [18] TO SUM UP (97-

    note = Use bottom paragraph about slight chemical differences describe warm or cool decisions or reactions (97-)
PART 3 — THE MACHINE THAT CONSTRUCTS REALITY: How does Consciousness emerge in the brain and how are we governed by our Unconscious? (99-)
    [1] LAVOISIER, THE HEAT OF CONSCIOUSNESS (99-)

    [2] PSYCHOLOGY IN THE PREHISTORY OF NEUROSCIENCE (100-)

    note = Use the great ideas about how the steam engine changed the world in the 18th Century: now neuroscience must provide answers to the questions about human consciousness in the same way humans needed to understand Heat Energy in the 18th Century (100)

    note = bottom of 101 about Freud and Neurons and also in late 19th century Freud and Ramon y Cajol and Golgi embroiled in an epic argument finally (battle) that was finally resolved by the microscope after Golgi developed a “staining method” to show tiny particles in nervous system. Argument was about interconnected Neurons vs. Reticulum or Continuous Net of Neurons (101)

    [3] FREUD WORKING IN THE DARK (102-

    [4] “FREE WILL” GETS UP OFF THE COUCH (104-

    [5] THE INTERPRETER OF CONSCIOUSNESS (108-

    [6] “PERFORMIMENTS” — FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (109-

    [7] THE PRELUDE TO CONSCIOUSNESS (112-

    [8] IN SHORT — THE CIRCLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (115-

    [9] THE PHYSIOLOGY OF AWARENESS (117-

    [10] READING CONSCIOUSNESS (120-

    [11] OBSERVING THE IMAGINATION (121-

    [12] SHADES OF CONSCIOUSNESS (123-

    [13] DO BABIES HAVE CONSCIOUSNESS? (126-
PART 4 — VOYAGES OF CONSCIOUSNESS (OR CONSCIOUSNESS TRIPPING): What happens in the brain as we dream: is it possible for us to decipher, control and manipulate our dreams? (129-
    [1] ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS (129-

    [2] NOCTURNAL ELEPHANTS (131-

    [3] THE UROBOROS PLOT (134-

    [4] DECIPHERING DREAMS (137

    [5] DAYDREAMS (138-

    [6] LUCID DREAMING (141-

    [7] VOYAGES OF CONSCIOUSNESS (143-

    [8] THE FACTORY OF BEATITUDE (143-

    [9] THE CANNABIC FRONTIER (147-

    [10] TOWARDS A POSITIVE PHARMACOLOGY (149-

    [11] THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF MR X (150-

    [12] THE LYSERGIC REPERTOIRE (153-

    [13] HOFFMAN'S DREAM (155-

    [14] THE PAST AND THE FUTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (159-

    [15] THE FUTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: IS THERE A LIMIT TO MIND-READING? (165-
PART 5 — THE BRAIN IS CONSTANTLY TRANSFORMING: What makes our brain more or less predisposed to change? (169-)
    [1] VIRTUE, OBLIVION, LEARNING, AND MEMORY (169-

    [2] THE UNIVERSALS OF HUMAN THOUGHT (170-

    [3] THE ILLUSION OF DISCOVERY (173-

    [4] LEARNING THROUGH SCAFFOLDING (175-

    [5] EFFORT AND TALENT (177-

    [6] WAYS OF LEARNING (178-

    [7] THE OK THRESHOLD (179-

    [8] THE HISTORY OF HUMAN VIRTUE (180-

    [9] FIGHTING SPIRIT AND TALENT — Galton's two errors (181-

    [10] THE FLUORESCENT CARROT (185-

    [11] THE GENIUSES OF THE FUTURE (187-

    [12] MEMORY PALACE (190-193)

    [13] THE MORPHOLOGY OF FORM (193-

    [14] A MONSTER WITH SLOW PROCESSORS (194-

    [15] OUR INNER CARTOGRAPHER (197-

    [16] FLUORESCENT TRIANGLES (198-

    [17] THE PARALLEL BRAIN AND THE SERIAL BRAIN (199-

    [18] LEARNING — A bridge between two pathways in the brain (200-

    note = Use great illustration of connection (“bridge”) between the Ventral Pathway and the Dorsal Pathway (200)

    [19] THE REPERTOIRE OF FUNCTIONS —Learning is compiling (200-

    [20] AUTOMATIZING READING (202-

    [21] THE ECOLOGY OF ALPHABETS (203-

    [22] THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE WORD (204-

    [23] THE TWO BRAINS OF READING (206-

    [24] THE TEMPERATURE OF THE BRAIN (206-209)
PART 6 — EDUCATED BRAINS: How can we use what we have learned about the brain and human thought to improve education? (211-243)
    1) THE SOUND OF THE LETTERS (212-

    2) WORD-TIED (214-

    3) WHAT WE HAVE TO UNLEARN (217-

    [4] THE FRAMEWORK OF THOUGHT (219-

    [5] "PARALLELAWHAT"? (222-

    [6] GESTURES AND WORDS (224-

    [7] GOOD, BAD, YES, NO, OK (227-

    [8] THE TEACHING INSTINCT (228-

    [9] SPIKES OF CULTURE (236-238)

    note = Explain the "teaching instinct" which is natural for children! (238-241)

    note = Education: using the "Memory Palace" (241)

    [10] DOCENDO DISCIMUS = "Through teaching, we learn" [Possibly derived from Senica the Younger c.4 BC – 65 AD] (238-239)
EPILOGUE (243-244)
    note = "If I were to sum up the idea behind this book in one sentence, it would be the quest to make human thought transparent. From the first page to the last, the search for that transparency is a constant." (244)

    note = "All of these experiments with babies are designed to better comprehend their desires, needs and virtues, when their lack of language makes them opaque. Understanding how we make decisions, the driving force behind boldness, the reasons for our whims and our beliefs, is a way of removing a layer of opacity from thought itself, which is sometimes hidden beneath the mask of consciousness." (244)

    note = "And, finally. the pedagogy that is so prominent in the book’s last chapter is, in my view of neuroscience, a human achievement that allows us to come together, to share what we know and what we think. So that the world is less wide and strange." (244)
APPENDIX — The Geography of the Brain (245-246)
    note = Use Anterior Cingulate vs. Posterior Cingulate illustration (245)

    note = "It is useful, when studying the brain, to divide it into different regions. Some of them are delineated by grooves or clefts. Using this method, the cerebral cortex, which includes the entire surface of the cerebral hemispheres, can be divided into four large regions: frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal. The parietal and frontal cortices, for example, are separated by the central sulcus." (245)

    note = "Each of these large regions of the cortex takes part in multiple functions but, at the same time, has a certain degree of specialization. The frontal cortex functions as the brain’s ‘control tower’. Without it, for example, we would be unable to refrain from eating in a situation in which we know it is not good for us (although we are hungry). The frontal cortex regulates, inhibits and operates different cerebral processes, and makes plans. The occipital cortex manages visual perception. The parietal cortex integrates and coordinates sensorial information with actions. It accounts for our ability to catch a ball by guiding our movements using in-real-time information about its speed and its trajectory. And the temporal cortex encodes memories, and works as a bridge between vision, hearing and language." (245-246)

    note = "These large regions are in turn divided according to anatomical criteria or functional roles. For example, the motor cortex is the area of the frontal cortex that manages the muscles, and the somatosensory cortex is the area in the parietal cortex that coordinates tactile perception. In the fissure that separates the two hemispheres of the brain, we can identify subdivisions of the frontal cortex. For example, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex are involved in different aspects of decision-making such as encoding the value and the risk of different options." (246)

    note = "The cingulate cortex extends beneath the frontal and parietal cortices. The section closest to the forehead (anterior cingulate) plays a primordial role in the ability to monitor and control our actions. For instance, when you realize you have made a mistake just after making an action, it is because the anterior cingulate has signalled it. On the other hand, the posterior cingulate (the part closest to the nape) activates when your mind wanders or when you are daydreaming." (246)

    note = "Finally, in the center of the brain is the thalamus, which turns off when you are asleep or under anaesthesia, and it turns on when you wake up." (246)
BIBLIOGRAPHY (247-263)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (264-266)

INDEX (267-277)

Selected Topics from Index:
    Ancient Greek culture
    Brain anatomy
    Brain development
    Brain function
    Broca area
    Cannabis
    Cerebral cortex
    Children
    Cognitive development
    Consciousness
    Culture
    Decision-making
    Declarative learning
    Dopamine
    Dreams
    Education
    Efferent copy mechanism
    Evolutionary history
    Frontal cortex
    Hypothalamus
    Identity
    Intuition
    Learning
    Mathematics
    Memory
    Music
    Occipital cortex
    Parallel processing
    Parietal cortex
    Spacial memory
    Syllables
    Synapses
    Teaching
    Theory of mind
    Thought
    Time factors
    Unconscious mind
    Visual cortex
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR, SUMMARY,
AND BOOK DESCRIPTION
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 ABOUT THE AUTHOR = Mariano Sigman, PhD, a physicist by training, is a leading international figure in the cognitive neuroscience of learning and decision-making. His awards include a Human Frontiers Career Development Award, the National Prize of Physics, the Pius XI medal from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Young Investigator Prize of "College de France," and the IBM Scalable Data Analytics Award.

SUMMARY = From a world-renowned leader in neuroscience, a provocative, enthralling journey into the depths of the human mind. Where do our thoughts come from? How do we make choices and trust our judgments? What is the role of the unconscious? Can we manipulate our dreams? In this mind-bending international bestseller, award-winning neuroscientist Mariano Sigman explores the complex answers to these and many other age-old questions.

BOOK DESCRIPTION = Over the course of his 20-year career investigating the inner workings of the human brain, Dr. Sigman has cultivated a remarkable interdisciplinary vision. He draws on research in physics, linguistics, psychology, education, and beyond to explain why people who speak more than one language are less prone to dementia; how infants can recognize by sight objects they've previously only touched; how babies, even before they utter their first word, have an innate sense of right and wrong; and how we can "read" the thoughts of vegetative patients by decoding patterns in their brain activity.

Building on the author's awe-inspiring TED talk, the cutting-edge research presented in the book, The Secret Life of the Mind, revolutionizes how we understand the role that neuroscience plays in our lives, unlocking the mysterious cerebral processes that control the ways in which we learn, reason, feel, think, and dream.

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REMEMBER ALWAYS:
 You Are Your Adaptable Memory!
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Mariano Sigman

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