Table Of ContentIt’s a Jungle in There
It’s a Jungle
in There
How Competition and Cooperation
in the Brain Shape the Mind
z
DAVID A. ROSENBAUM
1
3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosenbaum, David A.
It’s a jungle in there : how competition and cooperation in the brain
shape the mind / David A. Rosenbaum.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–982977–4
1. Cognitive psychology. 2. Brain. 3. Neuropsychology. I. Title.
BF201.R67 2014
153—dc23
2013028959
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
Preface vii
1. Welcome to the Jungle 1
2. Darwin and the Boss 11
3. Fighting Neurons, Friendly Neurons 21
4. Pay Attention! 37
5. Ready, Set, Go! 60
6. Look Out! 81
7. Move It! 103
8. Learn the Ropes! 127
9. Aha! 151
10. Onward! 165
Notes 195
References 219
Index 241
Preface
Most people wonder what makes them tick and what makes others tick, tock,
or whatever else they do. We humans are naturally curious, and that curiosity
extends to our desire to understand ourselves and others. Th at same curiosity
led me to become a psychologist, specializing in the branch of psychology
known as cognitive psychology—the science of mental function. Cognitive
psychology is mainly concerned with basic processes of learning, thinking,
perceiving, acting, and feeling. In recent years, cognitive psychology has
formed tighter links with neuroscience than it had in the past. Th is is a healthy
shift , refl ecting an appreciation that the study of the mind is inseparable from
the study of the brain. Increasingly, cognitive psychologists have seen that
cognitive psychology, like psychology more broadly, should be viewed as a
branch of biology.
Th is book takes that perspective to its logical conclusion. Th e argument
off ered here is that the overarching theory of biology, Darwin’s theory, should
be the overarching theory of cognitive psychology. Th e way I mean this is
a bit diff erent from the currently popular view that mental and behavioral
phenomena can be explained in terms of our evolutionary past, a perspec-
tive known as evolutionary psychology. Th e approach off ered by evolutionary
psychologists is one I will discuss here, though only near the end of the book
and only briefl y because it is not central to my argument. What I’ll focus
on instead is the idea that Darwin’s insights apply to the inner workings of
individual brains. Th e mind, I will argue, refl ects competition and coopera-
tion within the brain. Th e internal dynamics of such neural competition and
cooperation give rise to the mind as we experience it.
Others have said similar things before, though they have focused mainly
on the nervous system or—at the other end of the reductionist continuum—
consciousness. Th is book focuses on what’s in between, on the kinds of basic
mental phenomena that have been studied in the everyday world and, from
viii Preface
there, in cognitive psychology labs. Th e mental phenomena discussed here
are ones covered in cognitive psychology textbooks, of which there are many,
and in cognitive psychology classes, of which there are still more. Yet such
textbooks (and perhaps such classes) have lacked a theory within which, or
around which, to organize and motivate the material. A theme might be
off ered every so oft en to summarize some aspect of the research, such as the
maxim that the mind goes beyond the information given, a phrase used by
Jerome Bruner in a 1973 book that helped launch cognitive psychology. But
telling students that they’re inquisitive doesn’t tell them much they don’t
already know. Having a guiding theory is more satisfying, both pedagogically
and scientifi cally.
My realization that Darwin’s theory could be usefully applied to cogni-
tive psychology came in a lecture I was giving while teaching Introduction
to Cognitive Psychology at Penn State University, where I have been on the
faculty since 1994. It occurred to me in the midst of the lecture that it would
be useful to summarize the facts I was presenting with a single phrase: “It’s a
jungle in there.”
Aft er I said this, I felt silly, like I had just said something that would come
across as so cute, so juvenile, that the students would scoff at it. Yet aft er the
words spilled from my lips, the students I thought were sleeping betrayed
grudging signs of amusement, the students I thought were concentrating on
crossword puzzles put down their pencils and looked up at me expectantly,
and the students who always looked at me imploringly—the ones in the front
who laughed at all my jokes no matter how poor the punch lines—smiled
more sincerely than usual.
E ncouraged by the students’ responses, I found myself saying the same
thing over and over again. (We professors are subject to reinforcement by stu-
dents as much as the reverse.) “It’s a jungle in there,” I repeated. Th e phrase
became a mantra. I would describe a phenomenon and before I knew it, some
student would raise his or her hand and say, “It’s a jungle in there, right?” Th e
fact that the quote applied so oft en and resonated so well with the students
led me to think the “jungle principle” is a useful way to present cognitive psy-
chology. I also came to feel that the principle deserved more than passing
reference in one class taught at one university by one professor. It deserved to
be disseminated more widely, not just to students who might fi nd the concept
useful as a portal to cognition, but also as a preface to a theory that my col-
leagues could contemplate.
T o pursue the idea that the mind refl ects Darwin’s drama, you have to
allow that there are inner entities doing things that unwittingly aff ect their
