6. Process of Cognition and Physiological Conditions
Unification epistemology is a theory based on Divine Principle and Unification Thought. Therefore, it is inevitable that this epistemology may contain concepts and terms different from those of traditional epistemologies. However, if any assertion of Unification epistemology turns out to be contradictory to established scientific theories, then it will stand as nothing more than an unsubstantiated claim, just as was true for many past epistemologies, and its universal validity will not be ascertained.
Traditional epistemologies, such as empirical, rational, transcendental, and materialist epistemologies, have shown themselves to be theories having little if anything to do with accepted scientific knowledge; in other words, it has been proven that they are in disagreement with established scientific views. Consequently, they have little persuasiveness today, in view of the great development the sciences have achieved. This section offers evidence to show that Unification epistemology is, in fact, a valid theory, and that it is supported by scientific knowledge. Let me elaborate on this.
1. Parallelism between Psychological Process and Physiological Processes
Unification Thought asserts that all things have dual characteristics, namely, Sungsang and Hyungsang, since they are created in the likeness of the dual characteristics of the Original Image. The human being is a dual being of mind and body; and cells, tissues, and organs making up the human body are united beings of mental and physical elements as well. Furthermore, all human actions and operations are dual―which means that psychological and physiological actions are always at work in parallel. Therefore, from the perspective of Unification Thought, in cognition as well, psychological and physiological processes are always at work in parallel. This means that mental action occurs through the give and receive action between mind and brain (fig. 9.7). Here, mind refers to the union of the spirit mind (mind of the spirit self) and the physical mind (mind of the physical self).
Wilder Penfield (1891-1976), a world-renowned authority in the study of the brain, compared the brain to a computer, saying that “the brain is a computer, and the mind is a programmer.” 34 Another renowned researcher of the brain, John C. Eccles (1903-1997), also said that the mind and the brain are different things, and that it is necessary to grasp the mind-brain problem as the interaction between the mind and the brain. 35 Their assertions are in accord with the view of Unification Thought that mental activities are made through the give and receive action between the mind and the brain.
2. The Elements that Correspond to Protoconsciousness and Protoimage
Next, certain scientific views can be cited that arguably support the concepts of protoconsciousness and protoimage, concepts unique to Unification epistemology. As explained before, protoconsciousness is the cosmic consciousness which has permeated the cells and tissues of living things, that is to say, it is life; and protoimage is the image reflected on the protoconsciousness, which is a film of consciousness. Protoconsciousness is purposeful consciousness, and protoimage is information. This means that cells have purposeful consciousness and perform certain functions on the basis of information contained in them.
Let us verify protoconsciousness and protoimage from the standpoint of the theory of cybernetics. Cybernetics is the science of the transmission and control of information in living beings and automatic machines. In living beings, bits of information are transmitted through sense organs to nerve centers, which integrate them and send proper instructions, through peripheral nerves, to effectors (muscles). This is regarded as one of the phenomena of cybernetics in living beings, which is similar to the automatic operation of a machine.
When we look at even a single cell, we can see cybernetic phenomena taking place within it. That is to say, a continuous repetition of the trans-mission of information from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and a response back to it from the nucleus is made autonomously in a cell, whereby the cell exists and multiplies. Accordingly, based on these phenomena of cybernetics, we can find autonomy even in a single cell. The autonomy of a cell is none other than life and protoconsciousness. The French physiologist Andrée Goudet-Perrot, for example, explains in Cybernétique et Biologie that the cell nucleus, which contains the source of the cell’s information, gives instructions to the cytoplasmic organelles (mitochondria, Golgi complex, etc.) so that they may carry out the chemical reactions necessary for the life of the cell. 36 The cell’s information includes all the information concerning the anatomical shapes and essential functions of living beings. 37
Here, the following questions may arise. First, the code (information) must be decoded and memorized, but what is the subject that decodes and memorizes these codes? Second, in order for the cell nucleus to issue instructions to cause the chemical reactions necessary for the life of the cell, the nucleus must be accurately aware of the situation inside the cell. What is the subject of this awareness?
These questions can not be answered exclusively from the position of science (physiology) alone, since science deals only with phenomeno-logical aspects. Unification Thought, however, with its theory of dual characteristics, can clearly state that there is a purposeful element of Sung-sang, namely, consciousness, working within the cell. The consciousness within the cell is protoconsciousness (inner Sungsang), and the information is the protoimage (inner Hyungsang).
Correspondence of Psychological and Physiological Processes in the Three Stages of Cognition
As discussed above, the three stages of cognition are the sensory stage, the understanding stage, and the rational stage. According to cerebral physiology, there are physiological processes corresponding to these three stages of cognition. The cerebral cortex can roughly be divided into three areas, namely, the sensory area, which receives signals from the sense organs; the motor area, which sends out the signals related to voluntary movements; and the association areas, which are divided into frontal, parietal, and temporal association areas. It is believed that the frontal association area is concerned with the functions of will, creation, thinking, and emotion; the parietal association area is concerned with the functions of perception, judgment, and understanding; and the temporal association area is connected with the mechanism of memory.
First, the information about sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch is transmitted through peripheral nerves to the sensory areas of the visual sense, the auditory sense, the gustatory sense, the olfactory sense, and the tactile sense (somatic sensory), respectively. The physiological process that takes place in the sensory area corresponds to the sensory stage of cognition. Next, the information from the sensory areas is gathered in the parietal association area, where it is understood and judged. This process corresponds to cognition in the understanding stage. Based on this understanding and judgment, thinking is carried out in the frontal association area, where creative activities are carried out. This process corresponds to the rational stage of cognition. In this way, the three stages of cognition have corresponding physiological processes within the brain (fig. 9.8). 38
Correspondence between Psychological Processes and Physiological Processes in the Transmission of Information
In the human body there are functions operating constantly to receive various bits of information from both the outside and inside of the body, to process these bits of information, and to respond to them. The stimulation received by a receptor (sense organ such as eyes, ears, skin, etc.) becomes an impulse and passes through the afferent path of the nerve fiber to reach the central nerves. The central nerves process that information and send out an instruction, which is transmitted as an impulse through the efferent path of the nerve fiber to the effector which responds to it (fig. 9.9).
When a response toward the stimulation takes place in a manner that is unrelated to consciousness at the higher center, it is called a reflex. The spinal cord, medulla oblongata, and midbrain, are reflex centers, sending appropriate orders in response to stimulation.
Once a bit of information has entered the body through a receptor, how is it transmitted? The information that has entered through a receptor becomes a nerve impulse, which is an electrical impulse. A nerve impulse is a change in the electrical potential across the membrane between the excited and non-excited parts of the nerve fiber. The nerve impulse moves along the nerve fiber. The change in the electrical potential that takes place at that moment is called an “action potential.” The inside of the membrane of a nerve fiber is negatively charged in an unstimulated state, but when an impulse passes through it, this charge is reversed, and the inside becomes positively charged. This phenomenon takes place when sodium ions (Na+) flow into the membrane from the outside. Then, when potassium ions (K+) flow out from the inside of the membrane, the balance of charge is restored to its former state (i.e., a negatively charged state). In this way, a change in the electrical potential across the membrane takes place and moves along the nerve fiber (fig. 9.10).
Next, how is a nerve impulse transmitted across the gap between neurons, namely, at a synapse? There the electrical impulse is converted into a discharge of chemical transmitter substances and moves through the gap of the synapse. When these substances reach the next neuron, the chemical process is again converted into an electrical process. In other words, an electrical signal in the nerve fiber is converted into a chemical signal at the synapse, and when it reaches the next neuron it is converted back into an electrical signal. The transmitter substance in the synapse is said to be acetylcholine in motor and parasympathetic nerves, and noradrenaline in sympathetic nerves. The mechanism for the transmission of information explained here may be expressed in a diagram as in fig. 9.11.
The above explanation is the physiological process of the transmission of information, but from the perspective of Unification Thought, there is always a conscious process in parallel with a physiological one. That is, associated with substances at the synapse, there is always protoconsciousness at work, perceiving the content of the information and transmitting it to the center. In other words, protoconsciousness can be seen as the bearer of information. In sum, it can be understood that the occurrence of the action current in the nerve fiber and the chemical material at the synapse are accompanied by protoconsciousness, which is the bearer of information.
5. Corresponding Aspects in the Formation of Prototypes
It has already been explained that the corresponding elements of protoimage and image of relation are the content of cells and tissues and the mutual relationships among these elements. We call the protoimage and image of relation in the cell and the tissue the “terminal protoimage” and the “terminal image of relation,” respectively. On the other hand, we can call the protoimage and the image of relation that arise at the understanding stage of cognition the “central protoimage” and the “central image of relation,” respectively.
In the process whereby the terminal protoimages reach the higher center through nerve paths, they undergo selection at each level of the central nervous system and are combined, associated, and arranged, to form central protoimages. In the case of the terminal images of relation as well, they undergo selection at each level of the central nervous system and are combined, associated, and arranged, to form the central images of relation, which, when they reach the cerebral cortex, become the forms of thought. Here, each level of the central nervous system stores the protoimages and images of relation appropriate to its own level.
Among the elements from which prototypes are composed, there are also the empirical images (or ideas), in addition to the protoimages and forms of thought. These empirical images are the images (ideas) gained through past experiences and stored in the memory center. They constitute a part of the prototypes, which can be used for later cognition. As mentioned before, protoimages and images of relation together are called a priori prototypes, or original prototypes, and the empirical images are called the empirical prototypes.
As information is passed upwards from the lower to the higher levels, the amount of information received in the central nervous system (input), and the amount given out (output) increases. At the same time, the ways of processing information become more inclusive and universal. This is similar to an administrative organization: the higher the level, the greater the amount of information dealt with and the more inclusive and universal the way of processing that information. In the highest center, namely, the cerebral cortex, the reception of information is cognition; the storage of information is memory; and the output of information is thinking (conception), creation, and practice. Although it is different in dimension, the integration at the lower centers is similar to that at the cerebral cortex. Purposive integration by consciousness is exercised at each center. The purposive integration consists of physiological and mental integrations. To put this in another way, at each level of the central nervous system, physiological integration is accompanied by mental integration. In other words, the physiological process of transmitting information (nerve impulses) in the central nerves is always accompanied by psychological processes of judgment, memory, conception, and so on.
As for the transmission of the images of relation (images of form), the fact that the processing of information becomes increasingly universal as it goes from the lower to the higher centers means that, as particular terminal images of relation are passed on to the higher centers (whereby various types of information are simplified and classified), those images of relation gradually become universalized and generalized. At the point of reaching the cerebral cortex, they have been completely conceptualized into the forms of thought, or categories. This is also similar to administrative organizations: the lower the level, the more individual and particular the information is; the higher the level, the more general and universal it becomes.
Prototypes and Physiology
Prototypes are the ideas and concepts possessed in advance by the subject at the time of cognition, and can also be called memory. It has previously been explained that the human being possesses a priori prototypes (original prototypes) and empirical prototypes, which can also be expressed―borrowing physiological expressions―as “hereditary memory” and “acquired memory,” the latter gained through experience. 39 The “hereditary memory” which is the information concerning the cells and tissues of a human being as a living being, is believed to be stored in the limbic system―that part of the cerebrum that consists of the older cortex, covered by the new cortex, according to cerebral physiology. Then, how and where is the “acquired memory” stored?
Memory can be divided into short-term memory, which lasts only a few seconds, and long-term memory, which lasts from several hours to several years. Short-term memory is believed to be based on an electrical reverberating circuit. With regard to long-term memory, two theories have been proposed, i.e., the “neuron circuit theory” and the “memory substance theory.” The neuron circuit theory is the view that each memory is stored in a particular network of neuron circuits, whose junctions (synapses) receive changes through the repeated nerve impulse. The memory substance theory is the view that such memory substances as RNA, peptides, etc., have something to do with each memory. Recently, however, the number of researchers who advocate the memory substance theory is decreasing. 40 As for the area in which the long-term memory is stored, it is considered to be as follows: There is a part of the limbic system called the hippocampus, which is located within the cerebrum. This hippocampus first plays a role in the initial processing of the information to be memorized, and then the memory is thought to be stored in the new cortex (temporal lobe) for a long time. 41 That is, memory is believed to be stored in the temporal lobe through the hippocampus.
Goudet-Perrot explains that in cognition, such memory (stored knowledge) is collated with the information of an object in the external world coming through the sense organs, and is judged: “The information received by the sensory receptors is collated with the knowledge that was acquired by the sensory center in the cerebral cortex and was stored in memory, and judgment is made.” 42 This view is in accord with the position of Unification Thought whereby information coming from the external world is collated with prototypes (inner images), and is judged as to whether it is in agreement or in disagreement with the prototypes. 43
Encoding of Ideas and Ideation of Codes
In the process whereby a human subject cognizes an object, the information coming from the object, upon contacting the sense organs, becomes an impulse, which is a kind of code. This impulse is then ideated in the sensory center in the cerebral cortex and is reflected on the mirror of the consciousness as an image (an idea). This is the “ideation of a code.” On the other hand, in the case of practice, an action is taken based on a certain idea. In this case, the idea becomes an impulse, passes through motor nerves, and moves an effector (muscle). This is the “encoding of an idea,” since an impulse is a kind of code.
According to cerebral physiology, an idea comes into being through cognition and is stored in a specific area of the brain as memory, encoded as a particular pattern of combinations of neurons. In order to recall a particular memory thus encoded, consciousness decodes the code and understands it as an idea. That is, in the storage and the recollection of memory, the “encoding of ideas” and the “ideation of codes” seem to be carried out. With regard to this matter, neurophysiologists M. S. Gazzaniga and J. E. LeDoux have stated the following: Our experiences are indeed multifaceted, and it is our view that different aspects of experience are differentially stored in the brain…. We may be faced with the fact that memory storage, encoding, and decoding is a multifaceted process that is multiply represented in the brain. 44
This kind of mutual conversion between an idea and a code can be regarded as a type of induction phenomenon arising between the Sung-sang-type mental coil, which carries the idea, and the Hyungsang-type physical coil (neurons), which carries the code, just as electricity moves between the first coil and the second coil through induction. The mutual conversion of an idea and a code provides support for the assertion that cognition is carried out through give and receive action between psychological and physiological processes.