Science
Neuroscience
NATURAL NEURAL NET VERSUS ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NET:
The Role of Cognitive Event Boundaries in the Disruption of Related Sequential Actions
Have you ever left one room to enter another, only to wonder what it is you wanted to do there and then only find yourself able to recall your intended action as you return to the first room?
Herein lies the distinction between cognition, memory formation, retention and recall in organic life forms, in contrast with the storage and retrieval of data in the processing of digital code.
If I click on an object on a computer desktop, then right click and select ‘copy’ from the drop down menu, I save the highlighted object to short term, clipboard memory. If I then grab the original object, drag it into the recycle bin, which I then empty, the original object is gone and all I’m left with is its perfect digital clone copy in clipboard. If I then right click once again and select ‘refresh’ on the desktop, the object saved in clipboard is lost permanently.
Sentient creatures rely on short term and long term memory but also have access to distant memories that seem to have been lost or forgotten until triggered and reactivated by discussion of a similar or familiar topic, notion or object, a word, a voice, a sight, a sound or a smell. This would suggest the existence of something very close to an infinite elasticity of memory in living creatures, whereas a digital device is firmly hard-limited in storage capacity that, once exceeded, is incapable of further storage or retrieval of new data.
The reason we sometimes forget what we intend to do as we move from one room to another is not because our memory has been wiped or because we’ve reached the limits of our capacity to store more memories. The brain is highly effective at multi-tasking when it comes to subconscious, instinctive or autonomous functions but less so in fully conscious mode.
When I’m in room A, a room I know well or have been in long enough to map, a layout of room A becomes overlaid on my thought processes, enabling me to navigate that room effectively, knowing where the objects in it are, whether they are in plain view on tables or shelves or out of view in drawers, cabinets or cupboards. If I decide, while in room A, that a sheet of paper I wish to insert, unfolded, into an envelope, is too big for that envelope, it might occur to me that, in room B, I have a paper guillotine that will solve my problem by neatly trimming the paper to fit the envelope.
However, as I cross what is called and ‘event boundary’, often a doorway, my mind automatically removes the overlay for room A from my immediate thoughts, because I won’t need the room A overlay to navigate either the corridor or the next room I intend to enter. The overlay for room A remaining front of mind would interfere with my ability to navigate the corridor, identify the next room and would, similarly, interfere with successful navigation of the next room where I need to locate and retrieve the guillotine.
To prevent these mapping conflicts, the mind switches between overlays, in accordance with immediate need. The switch happens at the event boundaries between room A, the corridor and room B, which in this case are the doorways to each. As I leave room A, the overlay for room A gives way to that for the corridor (in which a familiar map of the rooms off it is overlaid) and, as I enter room B, the overlay for the corridor gives way for that of room B. However, temporarily vanishing along with the map of room A, are all objects in it and all thoughts or actions associated with room A
This is why, as I arrive in room B, I might forget why I left room A and therefore lose sight of the reason why I’m in room B. However, as soon as I return to room A, the most recent iteration of room A’s overlay reasserts itself and I immediately remember the paper, the envelope and my need for the guillotine. This time, as I leave room A, I consciously create a mobile overlay consisting only of a mental image of the guillotine, which persists and survives the transition across two event boundaries, enabling me to locate and retrieve the guillotine from room B and return to room A to complete my task.
Event boundaries are often doorways but need not be. The same switching between simpler mental overlays, involving only keys, a tissue, a pocket and a hallway waste bin, is responsible for some one absentmindedly dropping keys into a waste bin with one hand, instead of the intended crumpled, used tissue in the other hand, pocketed instead of binned, if distracted by a ringing phone, for example. In this case, the phone’s ringing tone acts as the event boundary, interrupting thought processes as some one arrives home and goes to use the keys to open the door, while simultaneously retrieving the redundant tissue from a pocket, with the intention of dropping it in the hallway waste bin. Similar cognitive dislocation can happen when someone unexpectedly calls out my name (the event boundary in this scenario) as I unwrap a sweet. As a result of confused simple mental overlays involving only the sweet, its wrapper, my mouth and my pocket, I place the wrapper in my mouth and put the sweet in my pocket, much to the amusement of the person who distracted me!
Those who either genuinely misconstrue the superficial similarities in these distinct autonomic processes with processes in computing or willfully seek to mislead in order to draw a false equivalence between human and digital memory, conflate one process for the other because they either lack insight or wish to willfully obfuscate what is happening in either scenario.
Functional computers, since they are computational devices working in accordance with precise mathematical parameters in the complex engineering of their hardware and the binary coding of their software, don’t make these kinds of human cognitive dislocation errors. However, a computer has a relatively small number of components, finite storage capacity, and a strictly limited scope to its predefined functionality, prescribed by hard parameters in hardware and software.
In contrast, a healthy human being above the age of infancy has a near infinitely elastic (although not necessarily perfect or comprehensive) and unlimited (although not necessarily perfect or comprehensive) capacity for new memory storage and retrieval of past memories. In addition, unlike computers, humans (and other advanced organisms) have infinite (although not necessarily perfect or comprehensive) capacity for imagination, ideation, contemplation, inquiry and a broad ambit of cognitive functionality unconstrained by hard limits.
A typical computer system comprises a case, motherboard, processor, memory, storage drive[s], optical drive[s], [a] graphics card[s], [an] audio card[s], fans, a power source, a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, a scanner/printer, a webcam and a microphone. The computer requires cooling and ventilation of the silicon chips on the processor and the memory, the controller boards of the storage and optical drives, graphics and audio cards, as well as the integrated circuitry of the motherboard. No parts of the system can function without external power and generally all have a limited lifespan typically measured in single digit years, due to rapid obsolescence and/or the detrimental impact of accumulated dust in the computer’s case on the efficiency of the mechanics and the effective regulation of temperature, particularly of the processor, power supply and the cooling fans. Obsolescence limits the lifespan of computer systems, as new, faster, more powerful components and accessories and new, improved software, firmware, browsing and operating system iterations constantly emerge, in an unrelenting tide of progress.
A healthy, complete, living human body is a marvel of organic, RNA/DNA-based, electro-regulated, biothermic, regenerative, self-protecting, self-repairing, self-developing, growing, molecular, cellular, biochemical and biomechanical engineering. It comprises (incomprehensively): bones; muscles; water; lipids; ligaments; tendons; cartilage; veins; venules, capillaries; arteries; arterioles; skin; epithelium; subcutaneous layers; pores; autoimmune system; lymphatic system; endocrine system; procreative system; Eustachian balancing system; central, peripheral and autonomous nervous systems; sensory systems; systemic venous system; pulmonary venous system; pain receptors; temperature receptors; genes; chromosomes; cells; glands; nerves; lymph nodes; follicles; body hair; head hair; head; skull; spine; shoulder blades; shoulders, collarbone, sternum, ribcage; neck; throat; larynx; head; forehead; brow; eye brows; stereoscopic eyes; irises; pupils; corneas, lenses, aqueous humour; vitreous humour; eyelids; eyelashes; tear ducts; stereophonic ears; ear drums; earlobes; face; teeth; jaws; chin; cheeks; mouth; tongue; teeth; lips; larynx; pharynx; adenoids; nose; nostrils; nasal hairs; armpits; upper arms; biceps; forearms; triceps; elbows; wrists; hands; palms; fingers; fingernails; knuckles; buttocks; thighs; quadriceps; knees; shins; calves; ankles; feet; heels; toes; toe knuckles; soles; toenails; oesophagus; trachea, alimentary canal; digestive system; torso; mammary glands; nipples, areolae; Fallopian tube, ova, womb, vagina, vulva and clitoris or testicles and penis (depending on gender); heart; lungs; diaphragm; stomach; intestine; bladder; bowel; liver; kidneys; urethra; ureters; spleen; gall bladder; pancreas; bone marrow; blood; amniotic fluid; lymphatic fluid; synovial fluid; saliva; bile; mucus; sputum; hormones; enzymes; proteins; nucleic acids; ribonucleic acids; amino acids; vitamins; minerals; carbohydrates; neurons; axons; synapses; neural network; brain; mind; consciousness; sentience; autonomous functions; motor functions; unlimited learning capacity; reflection; cognition, ideation, imagination; vocalisation and linguistic and non-verbal communication capacities … and innate, creative intelligence that produces unique, novel ideas and innovations.
Despite this phenomenal complexity, a healthy human lifespan can extend well beyond a century, during which synapses continue to fire; the heart beats; the lungs breathe; blood circulates; organs function and replenish themselves and bones, bone marrow, skin, hairs and nails regenerate, repair and grow. Remarkably, the only inputs required to power this miracle of biomechanics and biochemistry for 36,500 or more unbroken, consecutive days, are modest amounts of sunlight; warmth; nutrition; hydration; ventilation; oxygenation; hygiene; exercise; rest and sleep. No spare parts, servicing, maintenance, hardware upgrades, software updates, code rewrites, security patches, firmware updates, power cables or external power source are required.
Any attempt to take an inert, immobile, insensate; unthinking, unimagining, unprocreative digital neural network, hard limited by parameters of depreciating, obsolescent, short-spanned hardware and fast-depreciating software which consumes vast amounts of energy in a colossal data centre of row after row after row of state-of-the-art cloud servers and a commensurately vast water supply and refrigeration system for cooling them … and seek to equate that with a small cottage loaf of bread-sized, 20 watt organic brain that can govern the stupendous complexity of all parts of an entire human body, faithfully and effortlessly for over a century, would surely be an entirely unserious endeavour.
M Balewa (MSc, PhD)
Consultant
(Neurocybernetics)
[Re-Published Online: August 12th, 2025]
https://effectiveinteraction.co.uk/neural-net
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