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Creating and Applying Concepts
Here is another simple example of a concept: We begin to develop the concept of sitting down on a chair between 10 and 16 months old. Developing this concept would mean that we do not have to learn how to sit down on every possible type of chair, one by one. We sit down on anything without consciously thinking because we have created a general concept for sitting down, and from that, our brain predicts and adapts that concept to different types of chairs (contexts) that we sit in.
In this emerging model the mapping of concepts is a three-stage process:
1. The astrocytes and neurons form a tripartite relationship across synapses and this relationship allows the astrocytes to map the complex neural patterns that underpin each concept and then automate that pattern. The automation process is based on the trigger that the brain also mapped at the time of the formation of the concept. Each time this trigger is activated it stimulates the concept to be applied to the context being experienced non-consciously. This process is referred to as ‘automaticity’.
2. For the concept (pattern) to be mapped, it is necessary to create more astrocytic cells. Two possibilities exist for this process. A. Neurons morph into astrocytes as required, or B. Stem cells may be released from the gyrus, in the centre of the brain, and follow hormone markers to where they are needed.136 The pattern underpinning the concept is then mapped.
3. The third stage of this process is for the astrocytes to identify the trigger for that concept and then automate that pattern or concept into a non-conscious process, relieving us of being required to process the concept consciously every time it is needed. This process provides humans with a huge efficiency gain—and it also means we can multitask.
Being able to multitask is a purely human capacity. There is almost no difference between genders when it comes to multitasking capability. This three-stage process increases the efficiency and effectiveness of human thinking dramatically. We can carry out most of our day-to-day processes non-consciously, applying our one available conscious thinking process137 to the most unpredictable situation we are experiencing.
Many concepts get automated to the point where we have no memory of the process happening. Because it has been carried out non-consciously. An example of this is eating. Have you ever gone out to dinner with the firm resolve that you will not order dessert? Halfway through the crème brûlée, you suddenly remember that you were not going to have dessert!
The reason this happens... Long ago, those astrocytes, in concert with the neurons, automated the process of eating so that we could talk and eat at the same time and not think about eating. The conversation is the highlight of the evening and it is mostly unpredictable, so we must attend our conscious attention to that. Even though the intent was good, the routine of entrée, main and dessert is all preconfigured, and we are not consciously thinking about it. As we have seen, eating dessert when you were not going to is not your fault. You are the victim of your brain’s relentless thirst for efficiency and effectiveness.
Developing concepts is an extraordinary way of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of learning, as we do not have to learn every single contextual application of each concept via rote.
136 Kriegstein, A & Alvarez-Buylla, A; US National Library of Medicine; National Institute of Health Annu Rev Neurosci. (2009). The Glial Nature of Embryonic and Adult Neural Stem Cells. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3086722/
137 Regardless of gender, humans can only think consciously about one thing at a time but what we can do is automate a range of other processes by building concepts and conceptual frameworks. This process underpins how we, as humans, are the only the species that can multitask.
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