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. 2016 Oct 17:10:501.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00501. eCollection 2016.

The Structural and Functional Organization of Cognition

Peter J Snow  1
Affiliations

The Structural and Functional Organization of Cognition

Peter J Snow. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

This article proposes that what have been historically and contemporarily defined as different domains of human cognition are served by one of four functionally- and structurally-distinct areas of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Their contributions to human intelligence are as follows: (a) BA9, enables our emotional intelligence, engaging the psychosocial domain; (b) BA47, enables our practical intelligence, engaging the material domain; (c) BA46 (or BA46-9/46), enables our abstract intelligence, engaging the hypothetical domain; and (d) BA10, enables our temporal intelligence, engaging in planning within any of the other three domains. Given their unique contribution to human cognition, it is proposed that these areas be called the, social (BA9), material (BA47), abstract (BA46-9/46) and temporal (BA10) mind. The evidence that BA47 participates strongly in verbal and gestural communication suggests that language evolved primarily as a consequence of the extreme selective pressure for practicality; an observation supported by the functional connectivity between BA47 and orbital areas that negatively reinforce lying. It is further proposed that the abstract mind (BA46-9/46) is the primary seat of metacognition charged with creating adaptive behavioral strategies by generating higher-order concepts (hypotheses) from lower-order concepts originating from the other three domains of cognition.

Keywords: abstract intelligence; emotional intelligence; evolution of language; metacognition; nature of lying; practical intelligence; prefrontal cortex; temporal intelligence.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The representation of the psychosocial, practical, temporal and abstract domains of cognition within Brodmann’s areas 9, 10, 47 and 46-9/46 (BAs 9, 10, 46-9/46 and 47). The social mind (BA9) receives information from areas of the cortex that enables us to integrate facial expressions, gaze and body language of other agents with our own emotions. The ventral stream delivers information to the material mind (BA47) and the anterior part of Broca’s area (BA45) from cortical areas that enable us to perceive the identity of objects and people. In contrast, the dorsal stream delivers information about the space and time to the abstract mind (BA46-9/46) that is not perceptual in nature (Milner and Goodale, , p. 775). In order to accommodate this perceptually-barren information from the intangible phenomena of space and time, it is proposed that the circuitry within BA46-BA9/46 reorganizes enabling it to embody the necessarily incongruent inputs from the social (BA9), material (BA47) and temporal (BA10) domains of cognition into hypothetical concepts that characterize Piaget’s Formal Operations stage of cognitive development (see: Figure 2). The temporal mind (BA10) engages the psychosocial, practical or abstract domains of cognition in the specific cognitive processes involved in planning. Note that both Broca’s area and BA47 participate in both gestural and verbal communication indicating that the evolution of language is intimately linked to practicality. Note also the interaction (red star) of the material mind (BA47) with the orbital cortex (BA11) that underlies the autonomic arousal (negative reinforcement) which results, specifically, from lying about concrete facts.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The construction of abstract intelligence and the origins of metacognition. Illustration showing how the social, temporal and material domains of cognition (BA9, 10 and 47) form lower-order concepts (see: Social EI, Concepts 1–4; Practical PI Concepts 1–4; Temporal TI, Concepts 1–4) from our perceptions of the world around us. These concepts are lower-order because they are derived from the realities in the psychosocial, temporal and physical realms of existence (ellipses). The abstract mind (BA46-9/46) creates higher-order concepts or “metaconcepts” (α, β and γ) from a synthesis of the conceptual products of the social, temporal and material domains of thought. In this way the abstract mind essentially thinks about the cognitive products of the other three environmentally-linked domains of cognition, thereby creating the almost exclusively human faculty of metacognition.
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