Internal Model
Alexander Liss
Generalization
of Internal Model of the Body
Foundation
Images and Patterns
Manipulation
of Own Foundation Images and Patterns.
Manipulation
of Other's Foundation Images and Patterns
Movement
of Homeostatic Boundary
Functioning
with Internal Model
Actions
Evaluation and Positive Feedback
Decision
Making and First Feedback
Decision
Making and Second Feedback
Mechanism
of Positive Feedback
Internal
Model of own Body is described in literature. This model reflects current state
of the Body. It is perpetually updated and it is used by the Body to evaluate
potential changes of its state, which the Bode could initiate. D'Amassio
provides in depth study of this system from neurological point of view.
This
model is perpetually updated through minor actions of the Body and collection
of sensory information caused by these actions. Term "emotions" is
well suited to name such minor actions used to update the Internal Model of own
Body.
We
extend here the concept of the Internal Model of own Body to a concept of an
Internal Model, which reflects of surrounding and society.
Areas
of the brain supporting the Internal Model of own Body are known already.
Repeated
fear provoking situations produce Long Term Potentiation (LTP) in amygdala and
new branches and connections in its neurons. Hence, a part of Internal Model of
surrounding and society is supported by amygdala.
Because
some areas of amygdala support the Internal Model, amygdala is one of subjects
of following study.
To
describe the Internal Model, one has to rely on concepts of a Mind and a
Consciousness.
If
one limits a concept of the Mind to the mind of an individual and concept of
the Consciousness to the consciousness of an individual, then it is difficult
to explain various phenomena, particularly social communication.
A
human being is a social creature. A concept of human being even cannot be
defined without a concept of society. People, who grew up outside of society
lack so much, that they can't be integrated into a society.
This
means that description of learning, social communication, etc. cannot be done
with a set of descriptions of individual minds; group effects relatively
independent from individual minds taken in isolation have to be taken in
consideration.
Hence,
the description of the Internal Model should use broad concepts of Mind and
Consciousness, where the society is reflected.
Still,
some properties of a human being should be analyzed in isolation from the
society. Hence, the description of the Internal Model of own Body uses narrower
concept of individual mind in isolation of society.
The
generic concepts and the generic description provide a basis for defining of
limits of applicability of the description of functioning of the Body, which is
a description of the Internal Model of own Body.
The
concept of the Internal Model should be complemented with a concept of Filters
of information delivered to the Internal Model.
When
one analyses the Internal Model of own Body, one differentiates filters of
sensory information and describes how the Internal Model of own Body affects
them (for example fear causes them to let more information through).
Similar,
there are Filters of information coming to the Internal Model, and the Internal
Model affects their functioning.
The
Mind has an Internal Model of physical and biological Body, its physical and
biological surroundings and social context.
The
Internal Model is used to evaluate New Actions (patterns of activity) before
they are deployed.
The
Internal Model is perpetually updated, and if there is a "suspicion"
of its inadequacy, then the Mind engages into minor experimentation to gather
feedback and update this Internal Model.
This
is done with:
·
minor
actions of the Body to collect feedback and improve the picture of the state of
Self(emotions)
·
minor
interactions with surroundings,
·
minor
social interactions (they include facial expressions, gestures, small talk,
etc.)
Consciousness
has only partial awareness of this Internal Model.
The
Internal Model has a list of Possible Actions (patterns of activity). Some
Actions from this List are deployed to update the Internal Model.
Other
Actions from it are used in automatic responses, for example in case of danger.
Consciousness
is rarely aware of this List, unless we develop it, for example by training
facial expressions in front of a mirror or through engagement in martial arts.
Part
of the Internal Model accessible to Consciousness is perceived as a system of
Foundation Images and Patterns, on top of which new images are built and
patterns are recognized.
Manipulation
of these Images and Patterns affects the Internal Model and affects basic
activities of the body -internal activity, interaction in biosphere and in
social sphere, etc.
Done
carefully, it can be beneficial. However, mistakes in this area could be highly
destructive.
One
manipulating own Foundation Images and Patterns has no internal benchmark,
which could be used to evaluate results of such manipulation, because a changed
Internal Model presents different view of the world to Consciousness.
It
is possible to have external benchmarks; it could be a few types of them and a
proper type we could choose consciously. Here lays a conundrum - one arrives to
new Consciousness after manipulation of Foundation Images and Patterns. What
should one rely at: an old external benchmark chosen by an old Consciousness or
a new benchmark chosen by a new Consciousness.
There
are a few esoteric schools actively engaged in modification of Foundation
Images and Patterns. Among them are: yoga, control of "chi",
mysticism, etc.
Various
forms of "brainwashing" are used to force these modifications to
acquire a direct control of a person or guide future person's actions in
direction uncharacteristic for the person in an original state.
Storytelling
is an ancient art of manipulation of Foundation Images and Patterns.
Awhile
ago, tools of modification of an Individual Internal Model of other people were
accessible only to a few individuals - parents, practitioners of religious
institutions, leaders of nations. Now they are widely used by media,
motivational speakers, college professors, etc. This creates a potential
instability of society - very private parts of individual minds are wide open
to random manipulation undetectable by manipulated.
A
social group (department of an organization, religious community, nation, etc.)
is often actively engaged in modification and support of modified Internal
Model of individuals of that group.
A
stable social group has a Template of an individual Internal Model and it
forces this template on members of its group and often beyond its group.
The
Internal Model affects system of values, distinguishing of "good-and-bad"
and decision-making. Changes to the Internal Model could cause changes in all
these phenomena.
However,
there is one element of the Internal Model, which is very conservative, and
which could be used as a basis of a generic structuring of the Internal Model.
This element is related to homeostasis - a sense of differentiation between
oneself and surrounding and desire to maintain this differentiation.
Detected
danger to Homeostasis evokes brief evaluation of Actions from a list of
protective Actions, choice of an Action from this list and deployment of this
Action. The Internal Model is used to evaluate these actions.
Some Actions are evaluated fast and result in a base action as fight, flight or freeze; others are more sophisticated and need longer evaluation before they are translated into decision and Action.
This is a basic pattern of behavior, which can be found in behavior of primitive organisms and as an underlying mechanism of psychic activity.
In
the Internal Model, this sense is powerfully reinforced with a special organ -
skin. It is present in the basic part of the Internal Model - in the Internal
Model of Own Body.
Note
that desire to maintain homeostasis is not overwhelming all other desires -
suicide is an example, but it is universally present and used to create
conscious logical systems of values.
Division
on self and surrounding produces a pair of derived concepts: Expansion and
Contraction.
Expansion
in one area and Contraction in another area is a Movement of self in
surrounding.
The
Internal Model allows evaluation of potential Expansion-Contraction Action from
the point of view of Homeostasis.
An individual interprets evaluation of various types of Expansion-Contraction with help of the Internal Model as different types of feelings. Some such feelings are basic, relying on the Internal Model of Own Body reflecting basic structures of the body and surroundings; others are more sophisticated and involve elements of the modeling of society.
Feelings can be classified according to these Actions. Evaluation of an Action of Contraction is interpreted as Fear, Sadness, Disgust, etc. Evaluation of an Action of Expansion is interpreted as Anger, Aggression, etc.
Most likely, a part of Internal Model responsible for evaluation of Expansion-Contraction Actions is supported by the amygdala.
The Internal Model is a part of a Behavior Governing System.
From observation of psychological and neurological functioning of the brain as the Behavior Governing System, one could distinguish a special structural element - Filters of sensory information.
By a natural analogy, in the Behavior Governing System of Self, we distinguish Filters of information through which external information goes to the Internal Model.
Functioning of these Filters is affected by information coming from the body, from surroundings and from society. For example, dangerous situation causes lowering of a threshold of their sensitivity.
The way Filters function and their reactions to various situations are mostly beyond Conscious.
One of the most important characteristics of Filters is their ability to filter out repetitive information.
However, when repetitive information is important, for example in the case of danger, the Body specifically stimulates filters to pass it through.
Focus (concentration) is the way to control Filters and consequently control Actions. Focus causes blocking of one type of information, which is normally comes through, and opening Filters for other type of information, which is normally filtered out.
Basic types of Focus are supported by not Conscious automatic Body activity associated with food and danger. Artificial types of Focus are learned to participate in social activities of study, work, etc. Some types of Focus are learned for self-development (meditation, prayer, etc.)
Focus is achieved through a set of (trained) special Actions. Often, these Actions cause elements of fear reactions. This happens because fear causes a natural Focus and it is relatively easy to modify it for other uses.
Because Focus circumvents natural "dampening" behavior of Filters, it could and sometimes it does cause undesirable circles of activity, from which it is difficult to break out. For example, persistent focusing on potential danger could cause a cycle of anxiety fed by imagination.
Habit to focus creates a predisposition for such circles and hence anxiety.
Warriors and sportsmen learn to focus out of necessity. However, many forms of work in modern society require ability to focus. This could be a cause of wide spread anxiety and depression in modern society.
From the other hand, a developed ability to focus at will, could be used to break out of undesirable circles of activity, by artificial filtering out types of information participating in such cycles and opening window for other types of information.
It
would be nice to define a theoretically adequate Internal Model, which
correctly reflects Reality and to compare particular Internal Models to this
one. However, this is unattainable goal. It is possible to compare one Model to
another, monitor success of its usage (from the point of view of maintaining
Homeostasis), compare them to some template of the Internal Models supported by
some social group, but nothing can predict future exactly.
An
Internal Model failing some or even all of its evaluations can be very useful
in rapidly changed circumstances. There are many examples supporting this
statement.
Recollection
of a phenomenon is a construction of an image based on existing associative
relationships in the body (including brain) guided by the Internal Model. Every
time the Recollection occurs, the new image is constructed. Destruction of some
associative relationships leads to disappearance of some phenomena from
recollection.
A
person with damage to the brain sometimes does not have a conscious awareness
of a limb. Stimulation of certain region in the person's brain can temporarily
bring back this awareness and even the fact that such awareness was missing for
awhile. When stimulation is terminated, the awareness disappears again, and
even memory of events, when absence of such awareness was detected and actively
discussed, disappears also.
The
Internal Model organizes large part of associative relationships stored in
body. Hence, comprehensive models of memory (and decision making) should
include the Internal Model. Currently, this is seen in mysticism. This is also
seen in idiomatic constructions so pervasive in all languages, where generic
phenomena (especially actions) are denoted as specific phenomena (actions) of a
body, a group of people or immediate ubiquitous surrounding. While they look as
a reference via example, they reflect deep organization of Mind's processes.
The
Object of modeling of the Internal Model is the Body and it's Surrounding
(social, physical, etc.).
Information
about this Object is collected via sensors.
It
is filtered via Filters.
Based
on filtered information, the Internal Model is perpetually modified.
Based
on current state of the Internal Model, the Body makes two decisions:
One
Decision is made to modify Filters.
Another
Decision is made to modify the Object.
These
Decisions are implemented and cycle is repeated:
A
system with a feedback, as one described above, has a potential problem of
positive feedback, when information from the Object (stimuli) causes lower
threshold of sensitivity in Filters and stronger and stronger reaction on the
Object, which in turn causes more stimuli.
The
usual functioning of a Body is just the opposite - repetitive stimuli cause the
rise of threshold of sensitivity in Filters (we react on novelty and ignore
repetitive information).
However,
in some cases, such positive feedback occurs and these cases have to be dealt
with artificially.
Difficult
to control escalations of information flow could happen, when the Mind evaluates
actions using its Internal Model.
Action
evaluation with the Internal Model often involves imitation of the action with
minor movements of the body and collection of the "action model".
These
minor movements are reflected in the Internal Model, which reacts to them as to
real actions of the body.
It
is possible, that a positive feedback is triggered and the system enters into a
loop of growing information flow until it reaches limits of its capacity, where
this flow stabilizes at unusually high level.
This
state should divert resources from other activities of the body and should be
interpreted by the Mind as undesirable.
Interruption
of such loop with following subsiding of information flow, could be done
through flipping the body into another state via focused muscular activity,
broad muscular relaxation or shifting flow of sensory information.
When
falling in such loop becomes frequent - a combination of evaluated actions and
surrounding which causes it happens often, that pattern of activity could become
a part of the Internal Model.
There
is a case, when the possibility of such positive feedback is increased, because
of the design of the Body.
The
Object includes muscles and hormones. States of these two components are
interrelated - changing of hormonal state leads to changing of state of
muscles.
Following
is a path of influence:
1. Corticotropin-releasing hormone
(CRH) via nervous system induces adrenal glands.
2. Adrenal glands produce
hormones: epinephrine (adrenalin) and glucocorticoids (hydrocortisol).
3. Epinephrine and glucocorticoids
induce muscles
State
of hormones and state of muscle is passed to the Internal Model.
This
is already a source of potential problems - two types of characteristics of the
Object are passed to the Internal Model and these two types of information
substantially repeat each other. While this creates a reliable information
flow, it is hard to interrupt or modify this information flow, when needed.
One
part of amygdala supports the Internal Model.
There
are two information paths from the Object to the Internal Model; one is from
muscles via sensory cortices and another via locus coerules.
State
of muscles is monitored by sensors and passed to the amygdala (Internal Model)
via sensory cortices (Filters).
Locus
coerules acts as a sensor for glucocorticoids. In response to glucocorticoids,
locus coerules produces norepinephrine. Norepinephrine induces amygdala
(Internal Model).
Production
of norepinephrine is affected by mechanism of psychomotor retardation
(prolonged exposure to glucocorticoid depletes levels of norepinephrine in
locus coerules neurons), which we interpret as a Filter.
Second part of amygdala supports Decision making - stimulates sensory cortices (Filters); it lowers their threshold of sensitivity.
Third
part of amygdala supports another branch of Decision making - produces
corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which affects states of muscles in the
Object as this is described above.
The
Filter related Decision-maker (amygdala) could cause lowering of threshold of
sensitivity of Filters (sensory cortices), which filter broad range of information
coming to the Internal Model. This allows new types of information to reach the
Internal Model triggering reaction based on a part of the Internal Model, which
was not involved in the decision causing lowering of threshold of sensitivity.
Release
of acting agent CRH by the Object related Decision-maker (amygdala) causes the
state of the Object, which is read by hormonal sensors (locus coerules) as a
state justifying higher response (higher level of norepinephrine) passed to the
Internal Model. Fortunatly, this path of information has Filters with a cut off
- psychomotor retardation.
The
same release of CRH by the Decision-maker causes more tense muscle state of the
Object, which is read by muscle sensors as a state justifying higher response
passed to the Internal Model. The resulting escalation of information flow
through this path breaks only when disturbing sensory information subsides or
an entire system flips into a different state.
Hormonal
and muscle readings reinforce each other - they are influenced by the level of
the same hormone and both have to be reduced independently to break the
positive feedback loop.
An
obvious use of described positive feedback is rapid mobilization of resources
in a case of danger. This is what is called a "gift of fear". It
means that the mechanism is extremely important and it should not be damaged by
artificial intervention.
A
positive feedback could cause a increased internal information flow, which is
not justified by surroundings or homeostasis of the body. Depending on severity
of the case, it is called stress, anxiety, depression, etc.
Because
the mechanism of this positive feedback should be preserved and even protected,
a treatment of these illnesses should be a kick-off the state, where the
positive feedback is present.
In
the majority of cases, a prolonged period with an active positive feedback
means an illness.
To
get out of such state one has to break positive feedback in three places
simultaneously:
·
In
Filters of information (through elimination of negative information -
painkillers, artificial not threatening surrounding, etc.)
·
In
stream of information from muscles (relaxation of muscles, through conscious
effort or via medication)
·
In
stream of information from hormones (reduction of level of glucocorticoids
through intensive physical exercise).
There
is an obvious experience of breaking from this loop of positive feedback. Such
loop happens in dangerous situation and it is broken through fleeing from this
situation.