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The Paradox of Identity and Time: A Neurophilosophical Exploration - Prof. Kurowski, Slides of History of Sociological Knowledge

This document delves into the complex relationship between identity, time, and the brain, exploring the paradox of how our sense of self persists despite constant change. It examines the role of memory, brain activity, and resting-state variability in shaping our identity over time, drawing on examples from schizophrenia and other neurological conditions. The document also discusses the concept of temporal discounting and its connection to self-continuity, highlighting the importance of the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pacc) in mediating these processes.

Typology: Slides

2023/2024

Uploaded on 11/23/2024

yukta-joshi
yukta-joshi 🇨🇦

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Identity and time

The paradox

  • (^) Everything in the body changes over time
  • (^) Sleep=change in resting state
  • (^) Morning regain your normal sense of self
  • How do you reconcile the two?
  • (^) Resting- state variability: healthy, ongoing change
  • (^) Lack of variability(amplitude): vegetative state
  • (^) Change in the brain=persistence of identity or self
  • (^) Andrew(schizophrenia): discontinuity in brain=discontinuity in self or identity

Memories and identity

  • (^) Locke: memory tracks identity over time; consciousness tracks subjectivity over time, yes? No?
  • (^) Neuro-philosophy: which kind of memory? LTM, STM, episodic/autobiographical, procedural?
  • Which brain parts? Prefrontal cortex, somatosensory, motor, hippocampus, CMS-middle of brain
  • (^) Which best tracks personal identity?

Cont’d

  • (^) Is memory a solid candidate for tracking personal identity?
  • (^) Is it reliable enough?
  • (^) Interestingly: Resting-state’s functional connectivity and its entropy correlates with the degree of stressful or traumatic experiences
  • Amygdala(emotions) and midline regions related to sense of self (p. 183)

Am I my brain or not?

  • (^) “I am my brain”(Nagel, 1974)
  • (^) Damage to brain?
  • (^) Damage to liver?
  • (^) Midline structures: variability(activity levels) and functional connectivity with many brain other parts=continuity of change
  • (^) Correlated with self-related information and continuous sense of self (over time)
  • (^) Paradox? Discontinuity and variability mediates continuity of personal identity?

Cont’d

  • (^) Parfit: survival mediates identity
  • (^) Psychological continuity based on survival
  • (^) Or: psychological connectedness: memories
  • (^) Parfit disagrees with Nagel’s brain claim too.
  • (^) Is this sound?
  • (^) What did we learn from schizophrenic patients and brain variability?

Time, brain, self-continuity

  • (^) Perigenual anterior cingulate cortex(PACC): mediating self-continuity and temporal discounting (TD): the longer the delay in reward($ for correct answer) the less interest in obtaining the reward, and less value placed on the stimulus. Negative correlation
  • (^) PACC: self-relatedness
  • (^) Personal identity=linking self to time
  • (^) Brain(resting state) mediates self(psychologically) and time(world and brain based)
  • (^) Resting-state= neural discontinuity
  • (^) Schizophrenia= lack of normal discontinuity= disruption in psychological continuity

Schizophrenia and more

  • (^) Do changes in brain cause changes in self-continuity or identity over time?
  • (^) DBS and injection of fetal cells in Parkinson’s
  • (^) Schizophrenia
  • (^) DBS in depression, close to PACC, it works

Cont’d

  • (^) (hypothesis)Temporal parallelism=neuronal discontinuity in resting state=schizophrenia: psychological discontinuity or identity
  • (^) schizophrenia: brain-based time is decoupled from world—based time= world-brain relation disrupted
  • Testimony: temporal gaps: lack of seamless transitions (p. 204, 205)
  • (^) analogy: pearls on a chain
  • (^) Pearls: mental content
  • (^) Chain: spatio-temporal continuity of the resting-state
  • (^) Lack of order and continuity in consciousness (we take for granted)

Testimony

  • (^) p. 205 and bottom