Cataloging Cognitive Phenomena Using Reversibility Criteria
Posted by Nicole Tedesco on July 4, 2011
As you can probably tell by yesterday’s post, my thesis is still young, not quite formed, and has a few holes. As an exercise, I am considering cataloging cognitive behavior (especially economic behavior) in terms of reversibility. I am wondering if the results of this exercise, which might have a physical basis in neurobiology, could result in a kind of “periodic table of elements” for human behavior. Could it help point the way to better understanding of the neurobiology of various behavioral mechanisms? This would be a mult-dimensional map, including:
- Degree of irreversibility
- Irreversibility seeking versus irreversibility maintenance
- Irreversibility recognition (do you know it when you see it?)
- Defense of property (irreversibility maintenance)
- Economic transaction (irreversibility seeking)
- Social bonding (irreversibility seeking while bonding, maintenance afterwards)
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (irreversibility seeking, but unable to recognize it when it occurs)
- Schizophrenia (brain randomness: low irreversibility/bias, high irreversibility seeking behavior)
Consider the potential mapping along these dimensions:
| Reversible ← | → Irreversible | |
| Successful recognition ↑ | ||
| Recognition failure ↓ |
Indeed, I am having a difficult time expressing what is on my mind. I will try to read more literature on behavioral economics to see if others have already tread these waters and also to see if I can get some hints on how to express my thoughts better on this topic. Of course, this work might be a nothing but a snipe hunt, but I think I might at least learn something from the exercise.
