THOUGHT
EDUCATION
DESIGN
THOUGHT Cognitive maps Your - Sense of direction? | Maps DESIGN 'True South' |
EDUCATION for All | Maps - Power Our - |
Previously: 'thought' : 'education' : 'design' : 'cognitive map'
My source: https://x.com/NobelPrize/status/2098073718371262921?s=20 and @TED_ED
| Mental Intelligence |  We Are Movement - Unlocking Your Physical Intelligence |
... ever increasing 'artificial' intelligence here . . .? |
"We? |
Wayne McGregor (2026) We are Movement: Unlocking Your Physical Intelligence. London: Bloomsbury. (Book cover) https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/we-are-movement-9781526629531/
My source: Nadia Beard, Our bodies, ourselves. Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 17-18 January, 2026. p.9.
Previously: 'movement' : 'dance' : 'intelligence' : 'art' : 'body' : 'AI'
^. . . help me find (a) the notation?
'Snow. A single word, for an infinite variety of water formulations, frozen in air. The study of snow is physics, chemistry, meteorology, anthropology, geography, poetry and art. It is hope – annually renewed. And it is history, too.
Earth saw its first snowfall 2.4 billion years ago. The world's oldest skis, made by hand five thousand four hundred years old, pre-date the pyramids of ancient Egypt. To humanity, snow has variously been an ally and an adversary; an inspiration to countless artists and a place of breathtaking tragedy and survival. But it’s always been there. And now it is melting.
In 1927, the snow was already more than nine metres deep on Japan's Mount Ibuki when a remarkable 230cm fell in 24 hours, bringing about the greatest depth of snow - 11.82m - ever recorded. Yet it is a fact today that, ironically not only has this mountain's resort been forced to close due to lack of snow, most people in the world have never been near snow: never felt the soft crunch of snow underfoot, never held snow to see it melt in their hands, let alone stood on a pair of skis.' continued ...
compass defined compass unified mental expanse beauty memory lived experience signature of change sadness signifier |  |
culture poetry - arts social history shared loss recreation - leisure Two kids. Uncles! In car, drenching us driving through slush in the gutter 😎 |
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| The New York Review of Books |
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| Hodges' model: Axes & Domains Structure AND Content :: Fight OR Flight |
Doniger, Wendy. The Rise and Fall of Warhorses. The New York Review of Books. April 10, 2025. Volume LXXII, Number 6. pp.17-19. https://www.nybooks.com/issues/2025/04/10/
"We have seen that our beliefs are tightly coupled to the structure of language and to the apparent structure of the world. Our "freedom of belief," if it exists at all, is minimal. Is a person really to free to believe a proposition for which he has no evidence? No. Evidence (whether sensory or logical) is the only thing that suggests that a given belief is really about the world in the first place. We have names for people who have many beliefs for which there is no rational justification. When their beliefs are extremely common we call them "religious"; otherwise, they are likely to be called "mad," "psychotic," or "delusional." pp.71-72.
my freedom of belief senses - logic my belief - beliefs belief hygiene my mental health state continuum model - of mental health-illness | freedom of movement senses logic physical reality personal hygiene |
culture organised religions our beliefs | theocracy secular states Mental health law |
System 1 -
"operates automatically and quickly,
with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.
System 2 -
allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations. The operations of System 2 are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration." pp. 20-21.
"When we think of ourselves, we identify with System 2, the conscious, reasoning self that has beliefs, makes choices, and decides what to think about and what to do. Although System 2 believes itself to be where the action is, the automatic System 1 is the hero of the book. I describe System 1 as effortlessly originating impressions and feelings that are the main sources of the explicit beliefs and deliberate choices of System 2. The automatic operations of System 1 generate surprisingly complex patterns of ideas, but only the slower System 2 can construct thoughts in an orderly series of steps. I also describe circumstances in which System 2 takes over, overruling the freewheeling impulses and associations of System 1. You will be invited to think of the two systems as agents with their individual abilities, limitations and functions." p.21.
System 2:
| System 1:
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"A migraine, says Kustaa Saksi, is like an unexpected visit from an irritating old friend. A sudden attack upends your plans; causes havoc; you never know when it will leave.
The 48-year-old Finnish textile artist has lived with these repetitive, immobilising headaches and their accompanying visual disturbances — ranging from partial blind spots to borderline hallucinations — since childhood.
'It usually happens on the side of my eye, then it’s like a sun, travelling from east to west,' he says. 'At one point it will take over my whole vision, then it vanishes.'"
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| Brainscapes |
Now I know how Umami (p.87) an "example food magazine website to demonstrate some of the features of Drupal core" - got its name. I'm sure this was explained at a Drupal Meetup. Savoury indeed!
There had to be two! The brain has two strategies: brain maps and distributed codes.
"Representing information with a distributed code is entirely different from representing it with brain maps. In a brain map, neighboring neurons represent neighboring regions in space, frequency, time, and so forth. And brain maps essentially represent information using location, or where in the brain area the neurons are most active. In contrast, there is no consistent relationship between neighboring neurons in brain areas that use distributed codes. These areas represent information through the distributed pattern of activity across that entire region of the brain, rather than through the location of activity within it. This pattern of activity is a kind of code." pp.93-94.
This distinction is significant for Hodges' model, as the distributed codes act to deal with novelty, what is new - ongoing (lifelong) learning (p.95). Hodges' model can help distinguish between subjective and objective concerns. Schwarzlose unifies the two - via a catfish (also a goal here - but not necessarily with such an assistant).
"The map in the olfactory bulb is organised into odor zones based on molecular structure, an objective property of these compounds in the physical world. But the second map is organized into zones based on the significance of the odors to the animal." p.100.
Chapter 6 'On the Move: Brain Maps for Action' would have been useful as a student nurse at Winwick Hospital, the history in the book brings back many reminders - late 1970s. Epilepsy, then was less well understood, and managed. In describing the M1 brain map and movement I wondered about consent, but can see that is a distraction. Chapters -
6. On the Move: Brain Maps for Action | 107- offer much to relate to clinical encounters: movement, reaching, infant versus the brain in adults, the senses and catastrophic events such as cerebrovascular accident - stroke. Morphologically there is much still to learn (brain maps are 'primed' before birth), which perhaps is why we recognise the remarkable nature of gestation and birth. 'Maps in the Making' provides wondrous insights, including the need in hospitals to rethink the sensory environment and experience for premature infants.
7. Maps in the Making: How Brain Maps Develop and Adapt | 131
8. Knowing Again: Brain Maps for Recognition | 151
While reading - I was struck at the experience of the newborn and mothers in Ukraine. The 'health career' model concerns life chances - from birth to later life...
As a community mental health nurse I have found subtle and less-subtle impacts on a person affected by semantic dementia (p.204) and their family. Given the ongoing invasion and war, I also thought about people living with dementia and having to flee their homes. The multiple contexts that pertain in such a crisis situation when considering 'maps' and sense-making. Especially, when the need for action is preemptive - preventive and so must be explained and justified, not once but perhaps repeatedly?
We are all innate mathematicians even if we feel we have no ability.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=mathematics+in+catching+a+ball
I take some succor in this (p.127).
There's a hodgepodge in here too (p.161 hb). The myriad of objects we encounter and their recognition calls for the combination of brain maps and distributed codes. Chapter 8 is more psychological, touching :-) how we categorise objects, dimensions and scales, size and animacy. Galton's contribution is discussed, his ideas on eugenics also acknowledged. Visual perception, mental imagery and visual learning style remain subjects of note for researchers. I'm not sure why figure 32 stood out ( :-) - please pardon the quality of the photo. Paul Kim's illustrations are an excellent support for the prose.):
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| FIGURE 32 A comparison of visual perception and mental imagery in the V1 visual map. Paul Kim |
Somewhere I've saved an article on mental imagery from New Scientist I think, about this ability - the mind's eye and how it is missing for some 'brilliant' people (p.182) and posted previously:
In my mind's eye I can picture care: Frame by Frame
I might read Chapter 9 again, attention, action and perception in combination.
Chapter 10 had me thinking again about 'Conceptual Spaces' (quality dimensions) and threshold concepts (not in the book - but this is a positive!):
"Many of the concepts that rule our financial, social, and emotional well-being have no shape, no color, no odor or weight. How do we grasp these intangible concepts? As it turns out, we often do so by aligning abstract concepts with physical dimensions and then putting our brain maps to work." p.191.
There is a 'mental number line', vertical too, and culture is a factor in how we learn and the brain associates space and quantities, in which L-R, low-high are also brought into play. The question remains here: Is Hodges' model culturally neutral?
Still with h2cm - mind reading, writing and 'drawing' perhaps? p.236. In "Fortune-Telling with the Brain" we read about how fMRI is allowing us to learn how the brain maps employ teamwork. There is an architecture whose stability can inform predictions of future abilities - reading is described. Reading this you see ethical implications (as Schwarzlose warns p.238), but it may help to target personalised learning, as an adjunct to personalised medicine? I double checked (index) and the connectome is not mentioned, but the benefits of this research is still to be realised. In 'prison health' here in the UK (and globally?) it is long overdue but it is encouraging to hear about the focus on investigation for previous brain injury within the prison population. Remember - lead in fuel and the socio-economic impacts of pollution (ongoing - air and plastic pollution)?
Corporations have literally only 'scratched the surface' of the future potential to 'read' us individually. Through Hodges' model I can qualify and justify the model's increasing relevance. Technology and science not only call for SOCIO-technical approaches. The brain-computer interface and AI (p.239) demands we also consider the several forms of literacy and informatics that are needed in the 21st century: bio-informatics, bio-political, psycho-political and more.
This is very informative and timely read - the diagrams too. This is a book for all. For student nurses specifically, it will enable them to maximize learning in their practical placements and throughout their course of study.
Writing this review I can also see the important messages in chapter 12 - recognition of infancy and the opportunities this affords.
Many thanks to Rebecca Schwarzlose and Profile Books for my review copy.
Schwarzlose, R. (2021) Brainscapes: The Warped, Wondrous Maps Written in Your Brain―And How They Guide You". London: Profile Books.
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| Brainscapes |
A marvellous cover (US too), a fascinating, clearly written and hence readable book. As expected today the layout, print size and design add enjoyment to the time invested.
As a nurse with an interest in science you are aware of much of the content in broad terms but 'Brainscapes' provides more detail and made me wonder about the prospects to follow from improvements in brain imaging, The Connectome, new technologies and techniques. Rebecca maintains the focus throughout.
I'm pleased to add this to my CPD reading list.
Nature and science are humbling. It is still quite recent that we realised the milky way is one of billions of galaxies. Now we can appreciate not only the complexity of the brain, but how it is embodied in mind, body and our experience of reality.
There is history here to begin. Russia and Japan were at war in 1904. Russia had a new high-velocity rifle with smaller bullets, 7.6mm reaching speeds of 620 meters per second. Whether co-incidence, and/or ironic, there are of course many brains trying to make sense of the current conflict in Eastern Europe. A change in injuries followed with these bullets capable of passing straight through the skull, sparing the life of the soldier and yet with life altering injuries.
As triage was founded on the battle-ground. So aftercare is grounded in the journey back 'home' for those who can make it and the extent to which 'veterans' and their families are recognised.* This lead to investigations (Inouye, see below) as soldiers experienced localised damage to the brain. Soldiers suffered scotomas affecting their vision, stimulating research and new approaches, devices 'cranio-coordinometer'. There are illustrations and some photographs throughout, the illustrator Paul Kim, adding to the text.
In 'Maps of You' maps are everywhere especially on screens, and yet as Schwarzlose notes the map's materials matter little. On p.17 "All I need is a pen and a scrap paper" I smiled - given the 'map' that Hodges' model provides, on paper, sand, black/whiteboard and mind's eye. Mental imagery is there too. Salience, figures early p.19 and with brain maps, visual maps and where we direct our gaze prompts more detailed consideration of context. The explanations of the sensory brain maps is fascinating, especially how the brain has evolved to deal with constraints of space, energy, distance and organisation. At the fovea in the eye, the map is magnified.
Perhaps in Hodges' model there are two fovea? One is the center of the model, the person-centred nexus an assurance function/correction as the fovea that is context shifts and jumps in response to the dynamics of the situation. Reading about the audio map, p.73 I thought about the 'timbre of care' (Yes, I've a bad case of h2cm-meme-mapitis). As a further sign of the times, chapter 5 (A Body Under Siege) on taste and smell and the protective function of what we do or don't ingest, I travelled from the individual to the national and the binary choices (yes or no) being exercised right now.
More to follow ...
Alexander P. Leff (2015) Tatsuji Inouye (1881–1976), Discovery UCL.
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1491645/1/Leff_tatsuji_inouye_1881-1976.pdf
Many thanks to Rebecca Schwarzlose and Profile Books for my review copy.
*Apologies for digression...
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perseverance too ...
how to touch another person's mind if 'seeing is believing', touch is ... ... | physical touch making a mark leaving a trace how distant nature's touch? yetweather's touch is Constant |
| may I ... touch ... |
policy touches how light & legitimate a State's touch? |
Sooke, A. A reminder of how important it is to touch, The Daily Telegraph, 15 January, 2021, p.24.
| < - Please, please scratch my back! | |
| Oh, Yes! Lovely! Now I suppose I have to sratch yours...?! -> |
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Source: BBC Radio 4 Inside Science 8 October 2020
"Claudia Hammond looks at the neuroscience behind our sense of touch. Why does a gentle touch from a loved one make us feel good? This is a question that neuroscientists have been exploring since the late 1990's, following the discovery of a special class of nerve fibres in the skin. There seems to be a neurological system dedicated to sensing and processing the gentle stroking you might receive from a parent or lover or friend, or that a monkey might receive from another grooming it. Claudia talks to neuroscientists Victoria Abraira, Rebecca Bohme, Katerina Fotopoulou and Francis McGlone who all investigate our sense of emotional touch, and she hears from Ian Waterman who lost his sense of touch at the age of eighteen"
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Dreams Empathy Rapport Attending Listening INSIGHT Knowledge / Learning Communication / Liaison Palliative Medicine Holistic Care DeafBlind Alexandra Elaine | Senses Sight- VISION 0% - 5% Touch Negotiation / Navigation Physical Physical examination Vital signs Observation Patient assessment |
| Adams Negotiation - Acceptance "A DeafBlind Doctor?" Patient Reactions Colleagues - Reactions ‘A doctor said, what are you doing with a patient’s cane?’ DeafBlind | Negotiation Human Rights Law Employment Law Equality, Equity Governance Political Accessibility 'Tick Boxes' Activism: TEDMED DeafBlind |
| All heart ...
"Dear
margins | ... No technique
Hearing World"
Spacesound, volume, voice Deaf people - Literacy - Statistics |
margins
education - system |
| Sometimes more (knowledge) is revealed than first appears ... Attend to the 'libration of ideas'. Reflect first ... | |
Imagine if we shared a generic means to share ideas and concepts...? | ... then Liberate. |
Ability to exercise choice (visually impaired - buying clothes) Cognitive access Do not assume a person does not have mental capacity Thought... that really counts | 'Exercise' Physical access mobility, reach "Transact on the pavement" Conduct business with the shopper outside the store/shop without access Equipment - maintenance Extent of provision Token- |
| Do not assume that the person who is with a disabled person is their carer. The shopping experience cafe, restaurant, shops interaction training | -ism activism The Purple Pound £249bn a year on retail and leisure customers - clients - citizens Law: The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 The Equality Act 2010 c |
| "Sight gives you the world, ... | ||
... but hearing gives you other people."
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| Brian E. Hodges - c/o Brian's family. |
Born in Liverpool, NW England, UK.
Community Mental Health Nurse NHS, Part-time Lecturer,
Researcher Nursing & Technology Enhanced Learning
Registered Nurse - Mental Health & General
Community Psychiatric Nursing (Cert.) MMU
PG Cert. Ed.
BA(Joint Hons.) Computing and Philosophy - BIHE - Bolton
PG(Dip.) Collaboration on Psychosocial Education [COPE] Univ. Man.
MRES. e-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning, Lancaster Univ.
Live and work in NW England - seeking a global perspective.
The views expressed on W2tQ are entirely my own, unless stated otherwise.
Comments are disabled.
If you would like to get in touch please e-mail me at
h2cmng AT yahoo.co.uk
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965
