All posts tagged: Processes

Cognition might emerge from embodied “grip” with the world rather than abstract mental processes

A new article published in Journal of Humanistic Psychology argues that cognition is not something that happens inside the head as abstract information processing, but emerges through an embodied person’s ongoing engagement with the world–a process the author describes as achieving an “optimal grip” on one’s environment. Traditional cognitive science has treated the mind as a kind of information-processing system, emphasizing internal representations and computations. This perspective gained traction during the cognitive revolution, when advances in artificial intelligence and formal modeling suggested that intelligent behavior could be explained through symbolic manipulation. However, as Garri Hovhannisyan points out, this approach struggles to account for something more basic: how organisms perceive and navigate the world in real time. For example, it has proven easier to design machines that outperform humans in chess than to build ones capable of holding an egg without breaking it. Hovhannisyan’s work builds on the phenomenological tradition, which shifts the focus from abstract mental content to lived experience. Rather than asking how the mind represents a pre-given world, phenomenology examines how the world …

Childhood trauma changes how the brain processes caregiver cues

Published by José Betancourt

For most young children, the sight and voice of a parent serve as a primary source of comfort and safety. A new study suggests that for children who have experienced interpersonal violence or abuse, the brain processes these caregiver signals in a distinct way. Researchers found that a history of threat experiences is linked to heightened activity in the insula, a brain region involved in sensing the body’s internal state and determining what is important in the environment. These findings, published in the journal Developmental Science, offer new insight into how early adversity may shape the developing brain. Scientists have spent decades trying to understand how difficult childhoods influence biological development. One prevailing theory is the Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology. This framework suggests that different types of bad experiences affect the brain in specific ways. The model distinguishes between two main categories of adversity: threat and deprivation. Threat involves the presence of harm, such as physical abuse or exposure to domestic violence. Deprivation involves the absence of expected inputs, such as neglect or …

Methamphetamine increases motivation through brain processes separate from euphoria

Published by José Betancourt

A study published in the journal Psychopharmacology has found that the increase in motivation people experience from methamphetamine is separate from the drug’s ability to produce a euphoric high. The findings suggest that these two common effects of stimulant drugs likely involve different underlying biological processes in the brain. This research indicates that a person might become more willing to work hard without necessarily feeling a greater sense of pleasure or well-being. The researchers conducted the new study to clarify how stimulants affect human motivation and personal feelings. They intended to understand if the pleasurable high people experience while taking these drugs is the primary reason they become more willing to work for rewards. By separating these effects, the team aimed to gain insight into how drugs could potentially be used to treat motivation-related issues without causing addictive euphoria. Another reason for the study was to investigate how individual differences in personality or brain chemistry change how a person responds to a stimulant. Scientists wanted to see if people who are naturally less motivated benefit …

Finland confirms dates and processes for opening up gambling market

Published by skeptic

Finland is seeing major change take place in its gambling market, as a government-issued press release states “Veikkaus Oy’s monopoly on running gambling games will end.” This comes as the country has agreed upon a new Gambling Act which will see the running of betting games, online slot and casino games, and online money bingo to be opened up to competition through a licensing system. Finland to open some gambling services to competition https://t.co/uoZJbZRTDL — Finnish Government (@FinGovernment) January 15, 2026 This has been in the works for some time now, but it was in a session on January 15 that the Government proposed the President of the Republic approve the Gambling Act on January 16. Most of the provisions of the new act will enter into force on July 1 2027, as confirmed by the Finnish Government. The aim of the changes in the country is to prevent and reduce the harm resulting from gambling and to improve the channeling rate of the gambling system. Finland will run a licensing system for gambling under …

Natural Intelligence Creates Information; AI Processes It

Published by Jenni Sidey

Glauco Amigo This article was contributed by Glauco Amigo, Senior Algorithm Engineer, Snap-on Equipment. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Baylor University. Free choice and purpose are central to human intelligence. Abilities such as high IQ, memory, and computation, are only a narrow slice of the range. What distinguishes intelligence is the capacity to choose well for reasons and ends. If an action is the result of external manipulation, it does not express intelligence; free actions do. On this view, every genuinely free human choice generates new information. Computers, by contrast, excel at processing information. They store, compute, apply rules, and discover patterns, but they do not originate information in the human sense. Thus, “artificial general intelligence” (AGI) can only refer to computational capability, a subset of human-level intelligence. The definitional hinge of artificial general intelligence (AGI) If intelligence is fast, adaptive computation, AGI is a moving yet tractable target: calculators outpace us in arithmetic; contemporary systems surpass us in search and large-scale pattern discovery. But if intelligence …

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