Member-only story
compared with today’s **computer** model
Last time we looked at the model of a brain as the organ of computation explained by famous cognitive scientist, Steven Pinker. It doesn’t stand up to scrutiny because how a computer works is intrinsic to the idea of computation. Concepts like encoded storage in binary, instructions, programs, and data don’t fit into a brain model.
Today I want to step through how a brain works based on: (a) what brain damage can do and what (b) brain scans show us. Both contain enigmas that are explained by a pattern-matching brain, not a processing one.
Brain damage
We can get a glimpse of how a brain works by looking at what happens when it is damaged. All human brains are different. The principle, plasticity, explains how a brain can use different areas for the same function. Equally, there are typical regions in a brain that perform the same function in other brains.
Let’s looks at some of the unexpected deficits in human brains that need to be explained by a valid brain theory.
Language regions
The first support for a brain to have localized function was by Paul Broca <www.simplypsychology.org/broca-area.html>. In 1861, his patient Tan was unable to produce…