Introducing the brain: how emotions relate (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, March 08, 2020, 17:49 (1509 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: Computers are all the same “at birth” until they are programmed. But each baby has its own individual characteristics right from the moment of birth, and probably even before birth, since experts agree that babies already respond to certain influences while still in the womb. Your comparison is pointless. The brain is not a computer.

DAVID: I tried a comparison. The brain is not a computer, and I agree each baby brain contains some different underlying characteristics when born but there is no information intake until there is information intake to work with. That is my approach to the concept of 'blank brain'.

dhw: You might as well say babies are born blind and deaf until there are sights for them to see and sounds for them to hear. But even with your extremely limited approach, you ignore the fact that “information” is already passed to the baby in the womb.
See https://parenting.firstcry.com/articles/do-babies-cry-in-the-womb
So at what point would you say the baby’s brain has no “information intake”?

What you have described is sensory intake. Yes, the newborn has had that, but what is to come is informational intake at the level of ideas and concepts. The baby is absorbing the ability to use its senses at first. But it is still not intellectualizing to form its personality; reread this statement:

DAVID: IQ can be increased by teaching and training. My 'blank' is not about the brain as its inner construction attributes. The baby 'blank' state leaves the moment it starts to experience any input from the inside or the outside. Note this: most folks cannot remember before two years of age, because the proper memory elements haven't formed yet.

In order for the baby to form its personality it must have the memory apparatus in play to begin to collect information and opinions and think about it to make up its on conclusions.

dhw: Nobody is saying the brain arrives fully formed! But its individual characteristics are not “construction attributes”; they are part of the personality. Now please give us your definition of the word “blank”.

DAVID: Each of us starts using our brain at birth with different attributes but it starts at a blank and each of our brains handles the inflow of info differently.

dhw: We start before birth, and if we all handle info differently, it could hardly be clearer that the brain is not an empty space. Why do you refuse to define the word “blank”?

I have. i'm talking about a blank personality at birth. Each new baby is a blank personality and that is the blank that has to be created over time. From my medical school education its basis is 40% inherited tendencies, 40% the experiences it encounters and 20% its own integrations.

We have been talking at cross purposes. My blank is not your blank. We both absolutely agree that each newborn brain is somewhat different. Sorry you didn't understand my blank. My fault for not explaining better to you.