KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION (Physiology of)

Charles François (2004). KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION (Physiology of), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 1818.

Collection	International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics
Year	2004
Vol. (num.)	2(1)
ID	◀ 1818 ▶
Object type	Discipline oriented, Epistemology, ontology or semantics

R. FISCHER synthetizes the successive stages of knowledge construction in the brain (1992, p.211).

A “primary repertoire” is formed “between the 10th to 18th week of gestation… (when) the formation of neurons accelerates, and a fierce competition for neurons to connect with other neurons and with sensory cells can be observed Those who could not link up, die off. These interconnections are formed during development, prior to experience, and there is evidence for extensive variance of connectivity, even in genetically identical animals.

“A secondary repertoire is in the making during postnatal experience: selection among diverse preexisting groups of cells accomplished by differential modification of synaptic strengths or efficacies without change in connectivity pattern. Responses of neural populations are significantly influenced by similarities between present and past constellations of sensory signals. Perception, memory, learning are consequences of selective amplification which leads to increased speed or strength of selected responses when similar patterns of stimulation are repeated”…

“It takes then many years of environmental exposure until a third, a more global, problem solving repertoire is acquired from the brain's self-experience that we have in the mind. This knowing system can generate alternatives that subserve goal seeking, alternatives that are selected by the environment for fitness”.

See also