Mental Processes Are Neuro-mental Processes

Abstract

Mental processes (judgment, thinking) are not possible without concepts. Concepts are not only words with nonverbal (perceptual) and verbal meanings but also memory structures that exist in the brain. Therefore, mental processes are neuro-mental. Stimuli are recognized by a feature comparison process between a subject of judgment and a frame of reference (concept, category). The subject of judgment is the representation of the stimulus in the brain (e.g., the primary visual cortex represents visual stimuli). The frame of reference is the proper (most similar) memory structure (e.g., the features of a rose). The formation of memory structures depends primarily on perceptual learning. Beneficial to the development of self-regulation are care, love, affection, and rule learning based on interactions with reference persons as well as other forms of social learning. The first part of the chapter ends with an analysis of mediating functions of mental processes and provides an overview of the process of self-regulation. In the second part of the chapter, the process of information integration is analyzed. Evidence is presented that information integration by algebraic rules is not a real mode of feature processing in the field of perceptual processing and in other fields.