Aimee Dollman (Host/Mentor)
Neuropsychologist; PhD Candidate in the Department of Psychology (University of Cape Town) with research interests in visuospatial cognition and traumatic brain injury.
Location University of Cape Town
Activity
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Good observation George!
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Good for you @shamacollins. I hope that you have had a good experience thus far!
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Hi Farzana, you are definitely at the right place. Enjoy the course!
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Welcome Will. We are fortunate to have a great mix of experience and backgrounds on this course. Wishing you many interesting discussions ahead!
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Dear Margaret, the course that you did on philosophy will stand you in good stead as we begin to explore what we believe to be the defining properties of a mind. In week 3 we concentrate on consciousness, and although we do not go into great depth in respect of the Hard Problem you will find some additional links and material along the way that you may find...
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Welcome to the course Henry.
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Stay tuned Zhana, we will cover some of this during week 3 of the course.
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Thanks for joining us, welcome to the course.
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Welcome Ekenemolise!
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We will certainly try our best!
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Welcome Sunday!
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Thank you for joining our course!
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Exactly! Processing information unconsciously and relying on procedural memory is by far more mentally efficient.
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Welcome Lindani, I trust this course will help you in answering those questions!
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Yes thats right, they are certainly two of the most influential early behaviourists.
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Hi Judy, welcome to the course!
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Thank you Dean, enjoy the course!
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Dear Jean, you may find the article on addiction posted in step 6.5 interesting: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/what-is-a-mind/17/steps/1178419
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@JeanWOLFENDEN sorry to hear about your bereavement. I hope that this course will equip you with a greater understanding of what feelings are for and how to deal with them, though please do seek a mental health care professional should your difficult feelings persist. All the best.
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Welcome Shuaib :)
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That's great!
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Huiberta, that is so true. Freud was unfortunately limited by the investigative and knowledge constrains of his time, but he was on the right track for many things in spite of this. Mark is indeed an almost lifelong Freud scholar and is in fact the authorized editor and translator of the forthcoming Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works...
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Dear Huiberta, thank you for your summary of these points. I will add that behaviourists, in addition to looking at outward manifestations of the mind, also focused on a subject's responses to external stimuli (and in that way they discovered how learning works - i.e. operant learning and classical conditioning).
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I couldn't agree more. Hope you enjoy the course!
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Dear JMT, thanks for the questions. I'm assuming you are describing that you find yourself 'automatically' reacting to something in this unknown situation in a particular way. If you were in an unknown/uncertain situation with opportunity to figure out out to deal with it, you'd be able to use consciousness cognitive work to figure out a solution by...
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Aimee Dollman (Host/Mentor) replied to Mohammad El Ali
Thanks for the feedback Mohammed, glad to hear you enjoyed it.
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Dear Colin, in light of wondering about sleeping, you should find useful the following response by Mark on a question on consciousness and dreaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Il31viGXA
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@LudoHellemans this matter seems to me to be at the heart of determining criminal capacity. Forensic psychiatrists are involved in legal cases where capacity of the individual is brought into question, in order to help determine the individual's capacity for conducting the actions in question.
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Welcome Lorna!
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You have come to the right place Norma, to learn more about these kinds of questions. We hope you find the course fruitful.
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Excellent analogy, enjoy :)
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Great, thanks for the feedback!
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Welcome Lisa!
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@DavidIvens Essentially, first order consciousness is just the subjective state of that feeling of fear (in your example) and nothing else attached it to, while that the fear you are feeling is 'about' that particular person (who you have a negative evaluation of in your example) is what second order consciousness refers to. Here is our glossary definition of...
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That's a great idea Susan, and thanks for the feedback. Our course videos are also downloadable so fell free to download to listen to them at leisure.
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I am certain that Freud's genius would be even more impactful now had he had access to the kinds of diagnostics and technology we have today! Many conditions known as they are today as well as non-pathological attributes, were either not conceptualised or understood correctly (or enough) during his time. Freud however laid down significant foundations for...
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Welcome Matthew, yes unfortunately we do not go into detail on the 'hard problem' in this course, but the course will lay good foundation work. You will however find references and resources along the way, and suggested at the end, which you will be able to use to further explore the hard problem of consciousness and Mark's proposals at understanding and...
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Welcome back Joe, great idea to come back and to explore in your own time. Glad to hear you are reading The Hidden Spring, let us know your thoughts on it when you're finished.
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Welcome Kerrie! Thanks for sharing, we hope that you will gain new insights about yourself along the way as we introduce the different properties of the mind.
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Thank you for sharing and welcome to the course, Lita.
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Thanks for sharing. We hope you will be able to learn more about yourself as you learn more about what a mind is throughout this course.
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Dear Maggie, Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your insights after your previous course. We hope ours will also add valuable insights.
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You're welcome Robert, and likewise!
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@MarkAdams yes, I think that the use of the word here seems a bit different to how it is colloquially used, which is where there might be some confusion setting in. That is right, you can be motivated to go eat due to feeling hungry or motivated to sleep because you are tired - you will SEEK out these activities in order to do something about the feelings you...
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@ShelaghPooley I think that is a good illustration. Thirst is considered a homeostatic affect - so hydration is kept within a particular range and is monitored by the nuclei of the hypothalamus. You aren't conscious of this until you *feel* thirst, and this is when it then comes into conscious awareness (due to the feeling i.e. affect, that is now there to...
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Janet, you are right that there is a 'scale' in terms of the level of consciousness, but it is better to understand this as levels of wakefulness (being in a coma, asleep, awake). The term 'unconscious' is often also used to refer to someone who is in a coma, but also refers to mental processes out of your conscious awareness. Also refer to our glossary for a...
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Dear Joe, they just two different forms of affects (which is the technical term for feelings). Hunger is known as a homeostatic affect, then we have the emotional ones (we will go into more detail on the seven basic emotions in this course), and then the third are sensory affects which include pain, surprise and disgust.
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Welcome Claire! No doubt you'll learn some interesting new bits of knowledge along the way.
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Yes, the correct term is the 'unconscious', rather than the 'subconscious' with the latter now more of a pop-psychology term.
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Hello Rajeev, welcome to the course!
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Essentially, yes. The mesocortico-mesolimbic dopaminergic circuit aka the SEEKING system plays a role in reward and motivation and is implicated in addictive behaviours such as gambling.
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A good observation here regarding the evolution of psychology/differing schools of psychology. And, now the advances of the neurosciences adding valuable input.
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Those are good observations so far, Aung.
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Welcome Hannah. Sorry to hear that you have not been able to finish your exams! Hope you enjoy the course.
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Thanks for joining us Aung! Feel free to share your experiences with others over the next few weeks as well as how you might incorporate new insights into practice.
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That neuron is right!
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One never stops learning when it comes to this field. Hope you enjoy the course Manuela!
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Welcome to the course Ahmed, we hope you gain some insights into those ideas that you are pondering.
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Hi Gary, welcome back! No doubt we'll get you thinking again and you'll learn some new things along the way.
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Thank you Clarisse, it is great that you have been able to learn something new. Thank you for the feedback on the content of the videos - Prof Solms has tried to make the material as accessible as possible.
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Thanks for the feedback Martin. The course will run again in the near future, so you are welcome to sign up again to work through any material you may have missed this time round.
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Thanks for the feedback Lesley, we are glad you enjoyed it!
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Hi Anne, feel free to describe an experience you've had that, perhaps reflecting back on, may help you determine whether something has a mind or not. You can paste here in the discussion comments for further feedback from fellow learners on the course.
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Thanks for your interesting comments and questions @JanDeurwaarder. As we progress through the weeks I am sure you will find some insights into the unanswered questions.
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Welcome Aya. I'm sure you are going to gain greater insights into the mind during the course and perhaps have answers to your questions by the end of it!
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Welcome Mahra, I'm sure you will learn plenty during the course.
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Welcome Colleen
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Thanks for sharing, we hope you gain some insights from the course over the coming weeks.
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That's great Srividya, hope you enjoy the course!
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I agree. What additional/other measures or criteria would you suggest would be useful in determining if something has a mind?
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Thank you Ruth.
Angela, let's make a note for the next run. -
Welcome Margaret, always great to have high school students on board. Hope you enjoy the course!
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Hi Helen, thanks for alerting us to that! Futurelearn has indeed changed user access policies since this was written. I'll be sure to correct it.
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Welcome Hannah, I hope you gain some insights as you work through the course. All the best for the future studies!
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Hi Philip, we have now updated the link so that the paper is accessible.
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Welcome back Sam! We hope you enjoy the course and the insights on offer.
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Congratulations Nicola, all the best on your recovery. We hope you find the course helpful in your journey.
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Welcome Margret! It is not a problem to start a bit late. You are welcome to work through the course at your own pace.
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Good observation, Clive.
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Thats great feedback, thanks Tim! We hope you have a good learning experience again.
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Welcome Thomas! You are right, definitions of these concepts can often vary. Because we find this in general with many of the terms used throughout the course, we have put together a glossary for learners to have a read through. You'll find this glossary in step 1.5 (https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/what-is-a-mind/11/steps/463803).
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Hi Nadira, I trust that working through the course will help you in achieving that.
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Thanks for joining us Hassan!
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You may find the upcoming assignment useful in thinking through some of these questions and getting feedback from a fellow learner.
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That's an insightful observation and suggestion Jennifer.
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Great! Thanks for joining us!
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Welcome Adam! I hope you enjoy the course.
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Interesting (and clever) description of consciousness, Khalala.
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Great examples, and also exemplifies just how much of this behaviour is encompassed is so many areas of our lives.
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Welcome Rebecca, we hope you enjoy the course!
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Hi Yvonne, quite right, in some types of neurodegenerative diseases (which can lead to dementia) - for example Parkinson's Disease - the dopaminergic system is affected and hence we see symptoms such as increased apathy and difficulty in initiation. A person with PD therefore may exhibit an amotivational and adynamic presentation.
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From reading your comment, I take what you are referring to when 'the pieces don't fit together' as the need for reflexivity and problem-solving, in order to come up with a solution to what you sought out to resolve (in the midst of a great many competing needs).
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Worked for me!
Thanks for sharing your assignment - great job! -
You have found the right course to engage further in those issues. Happy learning!
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Hi Ramphelane, thanks for joining us!
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I think we would all have slightly nuanced definitions if we had to try.
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Indeed!
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An operational definition would for sure be useful. What would your definition of a mind be?
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Welcome Nick!
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Welcome to the course Fatima! I hope you will gain useful insights in the weeks ahead.
