Author: aaromolo

In this week’s module we went over memory. I think memory is one of the most intriguing topics out of all the topics we discussed this semester, as I find myself thinking about memory and talking about it quite often in my day to day life. I could never really understand it, but I feel like my memory is weak when thinking about moments of the past at any given moment. It’s like if I just try to think about random moments without being prompted to think about anything specific, I can’t really remember much. It’s kinda weird because I feel like it should be easier to just remember things. I think this goes along with the slide we had in our video lecture of “Good Remembering.” It’s as if there is an an unfaithful feeling to the past if you cannot remember it well.

Marjorie Prime

Expanding on this idea of “good remembering,” we see ample examples of how Alzheimer’s disease affects Marjorie’s memory. Having watched the movie, it actually reminded me of my grandmother and her experience with a similar neurocognitive disease she faced the last couple of years leading up to her death. The movie does an incredible job of depicting how Marjorie experiences the memories she has with her husband through a hologram of her late husband, Walter. I found this interesting because my grandmother recalled memories of my grandfather while she was experiencing the affects of the disease; however, she could not recall simple tasks she had done throughout the day. The quote that stood out to me the most in the movie was from Marjorie’s daughter, Tess. She states, “Memory is not like a well that you dip into or a filing cabinet. When you remember something, you remember the memory. You remember the last time you remembered it, not the source. So it’s always getting fuzzier, like a photocopy of a photocopy.” This quote is a wonderful example of the idea of good remembering. As the video lecture states, “memories change over time as we construct and think about them through different contexts and from different perspectives.” So the idea of memory not being like a well or filing cabinet is true. I believe some ideas like to think of memory as like saving things on a computer. If you save a picture on a computer, every time you open the picture, it will essentially appear the same. However, we know that our memories don’t work that way, as every time we remember something, we are remembering the last time we remembered it, not the event or occurrence as it may have actually happened. This pretty much sums up to me why I can’t remember many memories from the past well. I guess if you don’t think about events of the past often, or if you often think about events of the past in different contexts and emotions, then they’re bound to change. And that’s ok. Everything seems to change in retrospect.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

After watching this episode, it represents my analogy to the mind not being like a computer very well. In the scene where Data is looking at his memories afraid that he will lose them and their meaning, I thought about how memories can change and still be accurate. I feel more alright with the idea that memories change over time and that they aren’t direct recollections of what actually happened but rather how we are thinking about them and how we remember the last time we remember them. Again, the idea that everything changes in retrospect is so interesting because I often find myself thinking of a moment, a certain time, or phase in my life and perhaps thinking of it as a good time when in reality I probably wasn’t as happy as I think I was. I find this to be a beautiful aspect of memory because, as our lecture states, memory is influenced by context, emotion, and environment and is not meant to be stored in perfect order like a computer saves files.

It’s been a pleasure being a part of this class during the summer semester. I wish everyone the best of luck in their future endeavors!

In this module, we looked at how emotions are a part of our cognitive systems and how emotions are something that we create rather than something that happens to us. It was very interesting to analyze the relationship between the mind and emotions. I definitely believe that emotions are a part of our cognitive system rather than something that is separate from it.

Inside Out

At the beginning of the film, we see how the emotion character’s are a part of Riley’s cognition. When Riley’s father states, “If you don’t eat your dinner, you are not going to get any dessert,” Anger jumps into the picture. Anger gets very angry that Riley won’t be getting dessert for not having ate her dinner, so he causes Riley to act angry and make a mess with her food and begin to cry and shout. This scene relates to the James-Lange Theory of Appraisal from our lecture slides. In the scene from the film, the event that happen is Riley is told she will not be given dessert if she does not eat her dinner. This causes the character Anger to get up from where he is sitting and become angry. The interpretation of the event is that it is unfair that Riley will not get dessert for not eating her dinner. So, the emotion that comes out of Riley is anger, and she begins to knock her plate and food all over the place. I think this scene is an interesting example of how the film portrays how emotions and the cognitive system are linked together and not separate. This example of Anger causing Riley to act the way she did also goes against William James’s theory that sensations are emotions. Riley’s anger is expressed when the character Anger flips those power switches, and Riley acts out. This goes against James’s ideas because Riley’s mind (Anger)  understands the situation and then makes Riley act the way she does. However, James’s opinion would be that Riley would be anger because of the way she acts in regards to being told she won’t get dessert. Therefore, Anger wouldn’t be the one flipping the switch to make Riley angry. James would argue that the bodily sensations would be the emotion rather than Anger the character. The film does a wonderful job of tying emotions, body, and mind together, as the emotion characters are able to incite reactions out of Riley.

“Man of the People” Star Trek: The Next Generation

This episode was another interesting one. We see Deanna Troi detriorate until death. We find out that Alkar was channeling of all his negative emotions to Troi. It is incredible to see how these negative emotions that Troi experiences causes her to age very very rapidly. I think that this is an important example to show how emotions, mind, and body are tied together, as we see the negative effects of negative emotions on the body. Furthermore, once the negative emotions Alkar was placing onto others comes back to him, he also dies.

It is important to note have strong emotions are and the impact they can have on people. After analyzing these films, I think it’s safe to say that it’s impossible to separate emotions from our cognition. You can’t just turn them on and off and decide if you’re going to have them or not. Emotions, mind, and body are all tied together.

It was very enjoyable to focus on and consider empathy during this module. I’ve always kind of felt like empathy either happens or doesn’t happen in any given moment, and people may not even realize if they are showing empathy or not. At the same time, I feel like I’ve heard people say that they cannot relate to how other people feel a million times before. After considering the information and ideas throughout this module, I believe a lot of people who claim they are not empathetic actually are, and they just don’t realize they are.

Futurama

In the episode, “I Second that Emotion,” we observe Bender showing a lack of empathy toward pretty much everything around him. He definitely does not show any empathy toward the loss of Nibbler. After flushing Nibbler down the toilet, Bender does not show any signs of regret, sadness, or grief for the circumstances. When Leela says to Bender, “You have no sympathy for anyone else’s feelings,” Bender claims that he does. Not for Leela’s sadness and grief at the loss of Nibble, though. He feels sorry that Leela has, “one cantaloupe sized bloodshot eye.” Not only that, as they are all grieving Nibbler’s death, Bender is watching T.V. and laughing at a show where a character is experiencing great tragedies. Through these examples, it is clear that Bender lacks what is explained in Simulation Theory because we know that Bender has experienced loss previously when he says that the can opener had killed his father, but he does not simulate and empathize with Leela when she is grieving the loss of Nibbler. Another thing to mention is that Bender most likely doesn’t demonstrate the idea of Theory Theory because he is a robot and the other characters are human. Maybe? I don’t know. Maybe his experiences are different because he is a robot, so his experiences have been different to others. When they install the “empathy chip” into Bender’s head, they basically just downloaded Embodied Cognition into him like installing a software into a computer. Not only does he understand other characters’ feelings, he experiences them as well.

Possessor

This movie was a lot more aggressive and gory than the episode of Futurama we watched. We went from a cartoon of one character flushing a pet down a toilet to brutal, intense murders. Going back to what I mentioned earlier about people saying they can’t relate to others’ emotions, Possessor may just depict this idea through the protagonist, Tasya Vos. Bascially, Tasya possess other peoples’ bodies and takes control over them in order to kill someone that they (The Agency) would like killed. After they have killed someone while in the other person’s body, they are to kill themselves (the host) in order to return to their own body. Tasya demonstrates Embodied Cognition here, as she struggles to kill the host body in order to return to her own. In the first scenes, she waits for the police officers to kill her host body instead. She feels empathy for the feelings of the host body as she tries to kill it. After completing a task, Tasya goes through a series of questions to ensure her mind is still intact. One of the things she analyzes is a butterfly. At the beginning of the film, she states, “I killed and mounted it one summer when I was a girl, and then I felt guilty about it. I still feel guilty about it.” This scene shows that Tasya, although being in a host body and ruthlessly killing someone, still has empathy for having killed a butterfly as a girl. However, at the end of the film, after experiencing such traumatic events, such as killing her own family while battling with Colin’s mind while in Colin’s body, loses her empathetic feelings. This is depicted through the scene when she is holding the butterfly again, but this time, she does not say she feels guilty for having killed the butterfly. At the conclusion of the film, Tasya is totally psychotic and has lost her ability to emphasize.

After watching and analyzing these episodes/films, empathy and Embodied Theory are incredibly intriguing emotions/ideas to consider. I definitely think people don’t realize when they are being empathetic, but what happens when people truly are incapable of being empathetic? It is a crazy thing to consider.

When analyzing the different viewpoints of the brain and the mind, it is easy to see that the brain is a pretty strong organ. The cognition of the power of our own brain may even be too hard to fully understand. The three episodes that we watched in this module may have given us a little bit of a clue of the power that the brain has when considering it through different perspectives.

Futurama

In the episode, “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid,” we see, “The Brain in a Vat,” example throughout the episode. Since the brains and Big Brain have the power to not only exist on their own outside of a human body, but also make the humans in the episode stupid, it shows the power of the brain and how the brain is the mind and can survive on its own. This is shown when Big Brain says to Fry, “We have long since evolved beyond the need for asses.” Big Brain doesn’t have an ass or anything other part of the body for Fry to kick. Just like, “The Brain in a Vat,” example, the organ can survive, have its own mind, and live its own life without the need of a human body. In this scenario, it seems that the episode is suggesting that the mind is actually stronger than the brain. If the brain has the power to make other humans stupid, then it must be stronger than the human body itself, right? 4E Cognition wouldn’t agree though considering the brain is only part of cognition. I agree because I doubt we would be able to think the same without our brain in our body lol.

Altered Carbon

The next episode that I watched was, “Out of the Past,” which represented the idea of Cybernetics and how the mind is like a computer. It was interesting to see how the episode used the cortical stacks to represent one’s mind, and how although one’s body can die, if the cortical stack is ok, or the mind, then it can just be placed in another sleeve, or body, and still work the same way it used to. It’s kinda like if a car were to crash, but the engine remained in tact, then you could essentially take that engine and put it into another car, and the car would be able to drive as the old one did. This analogy shows that the mind and body can be viewed as separate. It also correlates with Cybernetics because the cortical stacks (mind) is like the hard drive of a computer, and if the hard drive of a computer remains in tact, you could take the hard drive from one computer and use it in another. At the beginning of the episode, the woman says, “your body is not who you are.” Basically she’s referring to one’s mind and cognition as a person’s identity. Therefore, you could pass your mind from one body to the other, and you would still be you–just like a computer’s hard drive. The body in, “Out of the Past,” are just referred to as sleeves or something that holds your mind.

Star Trek: The Original Series

In the episode, “Return to Tomorrow,” we are able to see an example of Embodied Cognition. Part of the Embodied Cognition idea is that, “cognition depends upon the kinds of experience that come from having a body with various sensorimotor capacities.” Sargon, Thalassa, and Henoch, which are basically minds that were left without a body and are being held in spheres, need the bodies of Kirk, Mulhall, and Spock in order for them to basically construct their own bodies for their minds. Through the experiences of Sargon, Thalassa, and Henoch while they were using the other’s bodies, we can see the idea that Embodied Cognition has in regards to how, “bodies and emotions are integrated into our cognitive systems, not separate from it.” While Thalassa was in Mulhall’s body, she states that she forgot, “what it felt like to even breathe again.” Simply put, these minds that were inside of these spheres without a body were not actually living without bodies, as they had forgotten what it felt like to be alive inside of a body. So, our bodies help our minds have cognition.

All of these ideas and theories were pretty crazy to consider when watching these episodes. Can’t wait for the rest of the course.

Hi everyone. My name is Anthony Aromolo, and my pronouns are he/him. My interests and hobbies include soccer and coaching soccer. At this time, I am coaching soccer at various youth levels, so many of my plans for the summer include working at various soccer camps. Some of the camps that I work are residential camps, so we get to spend the entire week at a given location/campus. Although I am an English major, I am working towards building a career in coaching and hoping to one day coach at the collegiate level!

This is a picture of me coaching at The Stony Brook School.

In addition, I am very eager to travel. I would love to visit Europe, especially Spain and Italy, relatively soon. I’d love to visit Spain to experience their culture and visit their soccer stadiums. A majority of my family is from Italy, so I’m very interested to see and experience where they are from.

This is one of the many stadiums I would love to visit in Spain. It is called Estadio Benito Villamarín, and it is home to Real Betis located in Seville, Spain.

One of the reasons why I decided to take this class is because I think the topic is very interesting. I also need to take it in order to graduate. I hope to gain more insight on different films and series and keep an open mind in terms of how my peers analyze things as well. I am looking forward to learning from the various ideas and insights of my fellow classmates.

I wish everyone the best of luck and a wonderful summer!