Tobore Tobore Onojighofia
Independent Scholar.
Commun Integr Biol. 2021 Mar 12;14(1):41-50. doi: 10.1080/19420889.2021.1898752.
Understanding the mechanisms behind memory, learning, and behavior is crucial to human development and significant research has been done in this area. Classical and operant conditioning and other theories of learning have elucidated different mechanisms of learning and how it modulates behavior. Even with advances in this area, questions remain on how to unlearn faulty ideas or extinguish maladaptive behaviors. In this paper, a novel theory to improve our understanding of this area is proposed. The theory proposes that as a consequence of the brain's energy efficiency evolutionary adaptations, all learning following memory consolidation, reconsolidation, and repeated reinforcements or strengthening over time, results in a phenomenon called mental representation block. The implications of this block on learning and behavior are significant and broad and include cognitive biases, belief in a creator or God, close-mindedness, dogmatism, physician misdiagnosis, racism, homophobia, and transphobia, susceptibility to deception and indoctrination, hate and love, artificial intelligence and creativity.
理解记忆、学习和行为背后的机制对人类发展至关重要，并且在这一领域已经开展了大量研究。经典条件作用、操作性条件作用以及其他学习理论已经阐明了不同的学习机制以及学习如何调节行为。即便该领域取得了进展，但关于如何摒弃错误观念或消除适应不良行为的问题依然存在。本文提出了一种新理论，以增进我们对该领域的理解。该理论认为，由于大脑能量效率的进化适应性，所有在记忆巩固、再巩固以及随着时间推移反复强化之后的学习，都会导致一种名为心理表征阻滞的现象。这种阻滞对学习和行为的影响重大且广泛，包括认知偏差、对造物主或上帝的信仰、思想狭隘、教条主义、医生误诊、种族主义、恐同症和恐跨症、易受欺骗和灌输、仇恨与爱、人工智能和创造力。
