It was a cold morning in the early spring some 32,000 years ago on the banks of the Ardèche River, in what today we call southern France, when Mum went into labor. Like all of the other women in her clan, Mum was supported by the clan’s Shaman in the process. But Mum was lucky. The Shaman happened to be her mother, Ra, the clan’s mother goddess in the flesh. Mum’s labor was much easier than her prior two attempts at birthing. Her first child had died in child birth. Her second, a girl, had taken nearly a full day to be delivered. This birth, a boy named Alph, came very quickly without much drama. Ra proclaimed, after they had cleaned up Mum and the baby, the great Mother Spirit was very pleased and that Alph would be a fine addition to the clan. That evening, as the sun set on Alph’s first day, Ra slipped into Mum’s tent and presented her grandson with an ivory carving of the Mother Spirit. She whispered the words of strength and protection that she knew the carving would bring.
Alph’s sense of touch developed before all of his other senses while he was still in the womb. It was the main way he learned about his environment and how he first bonded with Mum and Ra. Throughout life, humans use their sense of touch to learn, protect them from harm, relate to others, and experience pleasure. Positive touch from others is necessary for an individual’s healthy development. As infants intentionally attempt to interact, they learn that certain actions lead to specific consequences. These experiences lead to an understanding of cause‐and‐effect relationships. During the first month, Alph was limited to his reflexes. By the time he was four months old he learned to suck on a pacifier that Mum had carved from smooth wood. By eight months, it was apparent that Alph was aware that he’s cries for food were being rewarded. When he turned one, he would crawl across the tent to get his Goddess carving. He was fascinated with making people laugh when he was eighteen months. When he was two he would call out at night for Mum.
It was the summer of Alph’s second year. He had crossed the river with Mum and they were gathering berries in an open meadow when the commotion began. First he heard the cries of his clan’s men. He turned and saw them running towards him. As they passed him, Mum picked him up and they stood frozen in the field as an eleven foot tall, six ton woolly mammoth emerged from the trees only 20 yards away. The animal raised his long nose and roared as the clan’s men attacked. The sensory coding over load was too much for Alph. He screamed and passed out.
Sensor coding is an information processing occurrence which involves four different, but highly related events: reception, transduction, coding, and rendering. The process starts when an external stimulus, such as light or sound, reaches a receptor which absorbs the physical energy of the stimulus. Next, the physical energy is transformed or transduced into electrochemical energy. This event is aided by the firing patter of the neurons involved in transforming the physical energy. . As a general rule, every receptor performs transduction of only a single type of energy. For example, visual receptors can only transduce light energy. The intensity of the stimuli affects the activation potential of a receptor. Coding occurs when there is a one-to-one correspondence between the attributes of the stimulus and the neuronal activity. Rendering occurs when there is a probable perception of the sensory stimulus that has been encoded. This possible perception is in the conscious level of the mind.
Alph learned by doing: looking, hearing, touching, grasping, and sucking. The learning process appeared to Mum to begin with coordinating movements of his body with incoming sensory data. His sensory coding system for vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and balance acted as transducers from the physical world to the realm of Alph’s developing mind. The information was interpreted, creating a perception or rendering of his world. Surrounded by a 360 degree array of objects and activities and receiving multiple sensory stimulations, Alph’s developing brain was faced with the decision of how to categorize these stimuli. His nervous system was responsible for whether to integrate or segregate signals. Multisensory integration allowed Alph to perceive a world of coherent entities and to adapt by creating thoughts, feelings, and physical behavior. As Alph grew, he became more adept at this process. His grandmother commented often that he was very intuitive and quick to understand. She knew that when he was older, Alph would be her assistant.
Alph’s sense of touch developed before all of his other senses while he was still in the womb. It was the main way he learned about his environment and how he first bonded with Mum and Ra. Throughout life, humans use their sense of touch to learn, protect them from harm, relate to others, and experience pleasure. Positive touch from others is necessary for an individual’s healthy development. As infants intentionally attempt to interact, they learn that certain actions lead to specific consequences. These experiences lead to an understanding of cause‐and‐effect relationships. During the first month, Alph was limited to his reflexes. By the time he was four months old he learned to suck on a pacifier that Mum had carved from smooth wood. By eight months, it was apparent that Alph was aware that he’s cries for food were being rewarded. When he turned one, he would crawl across the tent to get his Goddess carving. He was fascinated with making people laugh when he was eighteen months. When he was two he would call out at night for Mum.
It was the summer of Alph’s second year. He had crossed the river with Mum and they were gathering berries in an open meadow when the commotion began. First he heard the cries of his clan’s men. He turned and saw them running towards him. As they passed him, Mum picked him up and they stood frozen in the field as an eleven foot tall, six ton woolly mammoth emerged from the trees only 20 yards away. The animal raised his long nose and roared as the clan’s men attacked. The sensory coding over load was too much for Alph. He screamed and passed out.
Sensor coding is an information processing occurrence which involves four different, but highly related events: reception, transduction, coding, and rendering. The process starts when an external stimulus, such as light or sound, reaches a receptor which absorbs the physical energy of the stimulus. Next, the physical energy is transformed or transduced into electrochemical energy. This event is aided by the firing patter of the neurons involved in transforming the physical energy. . As a general rule, every receptor performs transduction of only a single type of energy. For example, visual receptors can only transduce light energy. The intensity of the stimuli affects the activation potential of a receptor. Coding occurs when there is a one-to-one correspondence between the attributes of the stimulus and the neuronal activity. Rendering occurs when there is a probable perception of the sensory stimulus that has been encoded. This possible perception is in the conscious level of the mind.
Alph learned by doing: looking, hearing, touching, grasping, and sucking. The learning process appeared to Mum to begin with coordinating movements of his body with incoming sensory data. His sensory coding system for vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and balance acted as transducers from the physical world to the realm of Alph’s developing mind. The information was interpreted, creating a perception or rendering of his world. Surrounded by a 360 degree array of objects and activities and receiving multiple sensory stimulations, Alph’s developing brain was faced with the decision of how to categorize these stimuli. His nervous system was responsible for whether to integrate or segregate signals. Multisensory integration allowed Alph to perceive a world of coherent entities and to adapt by creating thoughts, feelings, and physical behavior. As Alph grew, he became more adept at this process. His grandmother commented often that he was very intuitive and quick to understand. She knew that when he was older, Alph would be her assistant.
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