Please note, that this article is not finished, yet the context is complete.
How does one ‘remember’ things, that could not be from one’s own memory?
What is instinct, but an ‘imprinted memory’, passed on by DNA?
So how can a species with ‘cognitive abilities’ imprint memory into its offspring?
Evolution of Learning
First off, one must understand that the human being is evolved from animal state. This means we are no different in base. We just have…added features.
This means our most basic organism’s instruments and methods are derived from the same ancestral functioning as other animals (though with deviation). The biggest difference between humans and animals is, that animals are fully functioning on emotion, while humans have the ability to choose to do so.
The learning method is still the same, by emotional charge. Cognitive learning is in the brain, but doesn’t get passed to next generation. It is in a too complex state of neuron connections to be placed in any gene/DNA sequence. This is why many things we have to learn again each generation. But how can sometimes, people have past knowledge from previous generations? Does it require extreme emotions, like pain or fear to have it placed into DNA by the species defense mechanism? I think there is something different in place.
Creating a response
I think there is a system creatable that can cause a human brain to work like a catalyst. Meaning as long as it is brought up in the same environment as its ancestors and the environment hasn’t change contextual nor semantically, the signals received by the brain after several generations can cause the brain to run identical pathways after learning exactly the same semantics.
In a sense, I think this has been done around the world, more or less conscious of the cause, result and effect on the subjects. This is also the reason many don’t have the ‘neuron flexibility’ after learning a specific amount of structures.
The how, why and what?
So, what warrants this view? I hear you say.
Well, the learning by emotion is sure. The more pain an organism experiences in a situation, will cause it to adapt to the situation, either by physical adjustment, or neurological imprinting a response to a pattern. If the organism survives after the extreme situation, the response will be imprinted in DNA.
So, how do children remember something about past ancestors, while not having been part of that society? Well, the central point here is ‘society’. See, culture and society make all signals (music, language, behavior) coherent to each individual within it. So, if a society doesn’t change much, the signals stay the same, the results by the individual brain stays the same. As an analogy, you could think of any animal or plant that responds to the same events in its environment (society/culture) the same way, each generation, because the signals (sun, food, danger, procreation) are the same. A flower will always turn towards the sun. The mouse will always hide away when a shadow falls upon it. All part of survival and its instincts. But imagine the more intrinsic patterns of monkeys and other social species. They respond to emotions, but there are recognizable responses that even humans have to specific events (darkness, predators, animals with known dangerous venoms).
Now, how do you get from this, to a child remembering cognitive things from before its own past?
Actually, by the same means, but the signals it will receive are first build to be addressed on a cognitive level by the previous generation. Learning how to interpret signals with ‘foreknowledge’ of what they will mean. Learning this well enough, will cause the mind/brain to respond by filling in the gaps, when certain information is provided. We see this in deja vu, but also in children that seem to remember ancestors they can’t have known. How? Because of the intuitive nature of how we expect things to equal how we ourselves respond to things. If signals from society have confirmation biased imprinted responses of society itself, the chances that this results in insights of a new generation that someone WOULD have responded the way they would (cloning imprint response), is very high.
Where do we see this kind of behavior? Actually everywhere, but in many cases we aren’t conscious about it, because it is our own brain that has to register that a brain that behaves like ours, is not acting as we (our brain) thinks it does (confirmation bias breaking), but more likely to more general (none confirming) methods.
Basically, what I say is:
Psychology is divided in psycho-analysis, behaviorism, bio-psychology, neuro-psychology and many more fields, yet many of them have observable value. Yet many feel that their way of viewing answers all questions, which we know it doesn’t. Each field leaves out items that the other field includes, simply because they are viewing the whole field in exclusion. In all, I feel we should combine the fields and take the observed causalities to answer the questions, taking the base on ‘how’ rather than ‘why’. How does something get caused by society or the context of it, and then Why does it happen this way (which in a sense is an extended ‘how’).
The fields of psychology still miss parts, because many of the ‘experts’ working in it, are limited in their fields. Actually as result of what I explained to some limited way above.
Research required:
Experiments of non-invasive nature can be conducted with both specimen and cultural related or non-cultural related groups, of different species, which aim at a relation of instinctive, and emotional responses to different patterns.
Predictions:
Different species who are connected in a common ancestor, will have instinctive behavior that resembles the same responses in both offspring branches. Also, behavior that differs, while the base instinct is consistent, will show abnormal behavior patterns that cause conflicts in inherited patterns. ie. an Instinctive overruled behavior will have abnormal emotional and cognitive rationalization behavior as a result.
