Chapter 2
THE HUMAN BRAIN VS THE COMPUTER: HUMAN INFORMATION PROCESSING
Learning Objectives:
The students will be able to do the following by the end of the lesson:
Enumerate the similarities and difference between humans and computers and the brain and
the circuit board;
Understand different types of problem solving, reasoning and memory;
Formulate the conclusion of each premise in the reasoning; and
Differentiate between the types of technology adopters.
Differences Between Humans and Computers
Figure 6. The Brain
The brain has previously been compared with a telephone switchboard, nowadays, it is often compared
with the computer. Some use this comparison to say that the computer is better than the brain. Some say
the comparison indicates that the brain is better than the computer. Most of us in today's progressive
virtual world pass our human work to computers to simplify our lives. However, users have a lot of work
that can't depend on the computers to do for us. Humans are smarter than computers sometimes, they
may forget something because of psychological problems, but when it comes to a computer, they will
never forget anything to do something wrong because commands and codes to prevent errors happening
are embedded into its system.
In humans, nutrition is required for impulse transmissions and related responses through their neural
networks. But for computers, they rely on electricity, not organic compounds. By enhancing the synaptic
connections in the nervous system, individuals can improve their memory. But if you want to expand a
computer's memory, you need to add chips and/or physical memory drives like a hard drive. These are
just some of the things that people can mention instantly when comparing human beings to computers.
Figure 7. Human and Computer
Human Strength:
1. Human beings have common sense; neurons and brains can understand thoughts and actualize them.
2. They can think out of the box and can store unlimited information.
3. The human brain receives inputs from senses such as hearing and sight, they can also receive input
from detecting patterns, irregularities, and visualizing data trends, understanding facial expression,
speech, and behavior.
4. Can complete tasks, make decisions, and solve knowledge and life-based problems.
Human Weakness:
1. Takes time to recall information or memories.
2. Information is limited to the capacity of a person's memory and comprehension.
3. Can get sickness or illnesses which render them to complete task at hand.
Computer Strength:
1. The computer supports various input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, joysticks, microphones, etc.
All these input devices help communicate with computers.
2. Computer output device includes speakers, screens or monitors, printers, etc.
3. Computers do not require sleep unlike humans to be able to analyze, calculate, and perform tasks
without exhaustion even round the clock.
4. Computers are not affected by emotions, feelings, needs, etc.
Computer Weakness:
1. Requires electricity for computers to process or operate.
2. Until you add an input command into the computer, you won't receive an output.
3. Computers will follow exactly what is coded. If a user inputs wrong data, the computer will output the
wrong data.
Philosophy of Mind
Figure 8 Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Mind is a philosophic branch that explores the essence of the mind and its relationship to
the physical body, including mental events, mental function, mental quality, and consciousness. To some
extent, it intersects with sciences such as neurobiology, computer science, and psychology.
Philosophy of mind's central issue is the mind-body problem, which is the relationship between the
physical body and the mind, and the objective is to explain how the non-physical mind can impact the
physical body and vice versa. Dualism and Monism are two significant positions that are trying to solve
this problem.
Dualism claims the independent presence of the mind and the body and can be linked back to Aristotle
and Plato in the West as well as to the Sankhya School of Hindu Philosophy in the East. This was most
clearly articulated in the 17th century by René Descartes, who described the mind with cognition and
conscience-awareness and distinguished it from the brain, which was the mere center of information.
Monism was primarily suggested by Parmenides and in the current era by Baruch Spinoza in the West,
and vaguely comparable to the Brahman, a Hindu concept, or to Lao Tzu's Tao in the East. This insists that
there is only one substance; or that the mind and the body are not existentially different.
Most modern philosophers of the mind hold the view that the mind is not really something distinct from
the body. This approach has been highly influential in sciences, particularly in the fields of sociobiology,
computer science, artificial intelligence, etc.
In the world of computer science, Artificial Intelligence or AI is a computer- controlled robot's ability to
carry tasks usually associated with conscious beings. The concept is often used in the development of
systems of mental mechanisms that are typical of humans, such as the ability to reason, explore meaning,
generalize or learn from experience. It has been shown that computers can be programmed to perform
tasks of significant difficulty. Currently, there are no systems that can equal human autonomy over
broader realms or activities that require a lot of regular awareness.
Answers to many digital issues have benefited from applied philosophy, since applying philosophical
approaches to computer science isn't just logic. Ethics, for example, found a large application to pc-related
privacy, security, and regulatory issues.
On the other hand, the computer revolution changed the discourse of these problems, providing our best
prospects for computers that imitate thought, decision-making, problem-solving, comprehension, verbal
awareness, and other mental processes. Advances in technology pose the possibility that the mind itself
is a computational system a position known as CTM.
Computational Theory of Mind or CTM argues that the human mind is an information processing device
and that consciousness and awareness are computational processes. CTM is also known as
computationalism. CTM is generally assumed as the core working hypothesis in cognitive science.
Brains vs Circuit Boards
Figure 9 Human Brain
Figure 10 Circuit Board
The human brain remains relatively an enigma; full of untapped potential and capable of besting even the
most modern high-tech machines. Given that, when you evaluate the capacity of a human brain vs. a
computer at the current market price, it seems like a computer would be better and smarter, but there's
a lot more to the story.
If the same question had been raised a few decades ago, there would be no doubt that the human brain
can run circles around computers but is that still accurate? Has technology quickly caught up with the
most impressive and extraordinary organs in the human body?
The brain is the body's most intricate organ. This three-pound organ centers all information, intelligence
or knowledge, interprets the senses, initiates body movement, and controls the body's behavior.
While a Circuit Board or CB is a physical bit of technology that connects electrical or data circuits on flat
material. Such plastic boards and their integrated parts offer basic technology for everything from
computers and mobile phones to wearable devices. A CB's circuit connections enable the electrical current
to be effectively routed between the remotely controlled components on the board, removing larger
devices and clunky wiring.
A new circuit board developed by scientists at Stanford University in California could help people to
understand the true power of their own minds. The Neurogrid, which is modeled on the human brain, can
simulate one million neurons and billions of synapses, or brain connections far more than other "brain-
mimicking" devices. It is around the size of an iPad and consists of 16 custom-designed "Neurocore" chips,
9,000 times faster than a standard machine and more power-efficient.
Senses, reflexes and learning mechanisms, are the skills to which humans are born with. If they didn't
have any of these capabilities at birth, they'd probably have trouble surviving. But there are things humans
are not born with: knowledge, data, rules, software, representations, algorithms, memories, images,
processors, subroutines, encoders, decoders, etc. Design elements allow digital computers to act smartly.
Not only are humans not born with these skills, but they also will never develop them.
Humans don't store words or guidelines about how to use them. nor create visual representations and
store them to their memories. They don't get information, images, or words from data registers.
Computers do all these things, but humans don't.
The User as an Information Processing System
Figure 12 User as an Information Processing System
Besides the people who work for the production, management and organization of information systems,
another significant group of individuals is: Information System Users. This group is made up of a great
percentage of participants. If the user cannot understand and make efficient use of the information
system, the system will fail.
Figure 13 User as an Information Processing System
In a study by Everett Rogers in 1962, he identified five groups of technology adopters:
1. Innovators
The innovators are first to take on new technologies, they are the youngest of the five types of technology
adopters. They have the highest social status; they have high financial volatility; they are risk takers; they
have close contact with academic sources; social and they communicate with other innovators. Risk
tolerance means that they carry out systems that might result in failure. Financial resources help them to
mitigate such shortcomings.
2. Early Adopters
Early adopters are those who adhere to innovations after it is implemented and verified as a product.
Among other technology adopter groups, these individuals have the highest degree of community control,
which means that they have the biggest influence over large groups of people. These are usually younger
individuals, have a higher status, greater financial security, higher education, and are more socially
conscious than later adopted individuals. Such audiences are more conservative in their options of
acceptance than innovators and therefore, make sensible decisions that help them maintain a central role
in touch when it comes to communication.
3. Early Majority
Early Majorities mostly accept an innovation through varying extents of time. The time for adoption is
slightly longer than the innovators and early adopters. This group tends to be slower in the cycle of
adoption, has more than average social standing, connections with early adopters, and seldom occupies
leadership positions in the program.
4. Late Majority
After the typical member of society, the late majority will support innovation. These individuals view the
concept with much skepticism, have lower-average social standing, little financial stability, have late
majority and early majority experiences with others, and have very little input.
5. Laggards
People in this group are the last to change. This grouping, contrary from previous groups, displays no
leadership of opinion. These individuals tend to be averse to trendsetters or agents of change and are
usually older people. Usually, laggards rely much on "traditions," are projected to have the lowest social
standing and financial instability, they are also the eldest adopters, and are in constant communication
with family and close friends only.
These five user classes can also be interpreted as information technology consumers as well as they
provide new insights into how new information systems can be introduced within the organization. As
example, when a new program is launched, IT may want to first recognize and collaborate within the
enterprise with innovators and early adopters, and then maximize its development to facilitate the
remainder of adoption.
Human Sensation, Perception, and Cognition
1. Sensation
Sensation refers to the bottom-up process by which our senses, like hearing, vision, smell, taste and
touch, receive and relay outside stimuli. This also refers to reception of stimulation from the
environment and the initial encoding of that stimulation into the nervous system.
Example:
a. Your teacher speaks.
b. The sound waves travel to the ear.
2. Perception
Perception describes the top-down way our brains organize and interpret that information and put it
into context and also it refers to the process of interpreting and understanding sensory information.
Example:
a. Seeing your friend's diary and interpreting it as his favorite poem
b. Seeing something flew and interpreting it as an owl
3. Cognition
As we perform our daily activities, cognition is what goes on in our minds.
Problem Solving and Reasoning
1. How does problem solving vary from reasoning?
The problem-solving process, according to the dictionary, is the process of finding solutions to difficult
and complex questions and reasoning is the process of objectively thinking about something to shape an
inference or judgment.
2. Approaches in Problem Solving
There are three approaches in problem solving, namely: Gestalt Theory, Problem Space, and Analogy
A. Gestalt Theory
Gestalt Theory is a psychology term where it hypothesizes that our brain would like to group things
together where certain principles are applied.
There are several principles of Gestalt Theory, but we will be focusing on the six (6) main principles:
a. Continuation
Continuation happens when the eye is forced to move past one point and move on to another. It is often
used in typo logos. Let's take an example below: our eyes tend to move from one object that is "a" to
another object that is referred to by the arrow as "z." This means that everything from A to Z is in Amazon.
Figure 14 Amazon Logo
b. Closure
Closure occurs when the element or object is incomplete, and your brain will fill in the gaps. In Figure 2
(shown below), WWF logo is the best example in Closure principle. The logo is incomplete since there are
no lines connected from the right ear to the left ear or from the body to the ear. The principle suggests
that our brain will draw an imaginary line and fill in those gaps.
Figure 15 WWF Logo
c. Similarity
Similarity occurs when a group or a pattern looks similar to one another. In the figure below, there is
similarity between shapes on the peacock's feather but different in colors. Similarity can be in terms of
colors, textures, shapes or other design elements.
Figure 16 NBC Logo
d. Proximity
Proximity occurs when the objects are placed close to each other. For below example, Unilever's logo is
an example of proximity since objects are placed close to each other to form the letter 'U'.
Figure 17 Unilever Logo
e. Symmetry
Symmetry occurs when the object is symmetrical or looks identical to each other. In Figure 5, Starbucks
logo is a good example of symmetrical logo since if we fold vertically, the logo to make it half; we can see
that the object on the left looks identical to what is on its right.
Figure 18 Starbucks Logo
f. Figure and Ground
Figure and Ground occurs when the eye distinguishes the object (figure) from the surrounding area
(ground). In the picture below, we can see men perceive facing to each other and vases. The image
depends on how we things. If we focus on the brown areas, we can see the men facing each other as the
figure and the vases as the background but when we focus on the black areas, we can see the vases as the
figure and the men facing each other as the background.
Figure 19 Figure and Ground
B. Problem Space
A problem space comprises of problem states where the components exist in the process of finding a
solution to the problem.
The problem states include the initial state, the reference between the state of origin, and the state of
goal and the target state.
a. Initial state
This consists of problem statement. What is the problem all about?
b. State in between the initial state and goal state
This comprises of the procedures that lead to the solution of the problem
c. Goal state
This consists of the solution to the problem.
Example:
Loraine has a graduation ball to attend to by next week, but she has no dress yet to wear.
a. Initial State: Loraine has no clothes to wear. What will she do?
b. State in between the initial state and goal state: Where will she buy her clothes? What day will she
buy her dress?
c. Goal state: Loraine has something to wear on her graduation ball.
C. Analogy
An analogy in problem solving is using analogy or metaphor in solving a problem.
Three things that will happen:
1. Notice the relationship between solutions with its analogy.
2. Map between the source and its target.
3. Apply the solution to one problem and the solution to another problem.
3. Types of Reasoning
Three forms of reasoning exist which are A. deductive, B. inductive, and C. abductive.
A. Deductive Reasoning
A logical method to arrive at a certain logical conclusion in which one or more statements / prerequisites
occur. It is also known as a top-down method since it starts with, for example, a general statement, "Each
dog has four legs," and it will eventually lead to a specific conclusion, "Pomeranian has four legs."
Deductive arguments may be either (a) valid, (b) invalid or (c) sound.
a. Valid Argument
A deductive case in which the inference cannot be false if the statements are true.
Example:
i. Premise 1: All dogs can talk.
Premise 2: Pomeranian is a dog.
Conclusion: Pomeranian can talk.
Note: We do not know that dogs can talk, but if the statements are true, the inference will be correct.
ii. Premise 1: All grandparents can run faster than their grandchildren. Premise 2: Apple and Cherry are
grandparents.
Conclusion: Apple and Cherry can run faster than their grandchildren.
Note: Same as the example above. Furthermore, all assumptions are not valid. If the premises are true,
it will also lead to the fact that they
are true.
b. Invalid Argument
An invalid argument is a deductive argument where the premises do not lead to a conclusion. It can
have only one true premises no true premises or even all true premises and a true conclusion but do not
connect with each other.
Example:
i.
Premise 1: PlayStation is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Premise 2: Xbox is produced by Microsoft.
Conclusion: Nintendo Switch is developed by Nintendo Platform Technology Development.
Note: All assumptions are true, and the conclusion is true, but the assumptions do not lead to the
conclusion.
ii. Premise 1: All MLB players play baseball. Premise 2: My brother plays baseball. Conclusion: My
brother is a MLB player.
Note: All premises are true, but it does not lead to the correct conclusion.
c. Sound Argument
A sound argument is also one of the deductive arguments where the premises are valid and leads to a
correct conclusion, and the strongest form of argument is also a sound argument.
Example:
i. Premise 1: All dogs have four feet.
Premise 2: Pomeranian is a dog.
Conclusion: Pomeranian has four feet.
Note: All assumptions are true, and the inference is correct.
ii. Premise 1: Sarah's age is 25.
Premise 2: Marjorie's age is 20.
Conclusion: Marjorie is younger than Sarah.
Note: All assumptions are true, and the inference is correct.
B. Inductive Reasoning
A logical process in which the premise was generalized based on the observation from which the
conclusion was drawn. It is also known as the bottom-up approach since it begins with, for example, a
generalization of "In Mathematics, three students failed the exam." So we're concluding that "the exam
was simple.
Arguments that are inductive can be solid, weak or cogent.
a. Strong Argument
One of the inductive reasoning in which the likelihood of an inference results from the assumption is
that strong argument.
Example:
i. Premise 1: Most of humans are good in Mathematics.
Premise 2: Hyrie is human.
Conclusion: Hyrie is probably good in Mathematics.
ii. Premise
1: 95% of the students passed the exam. Premise
2: Hyrie is one of the students.
Conclusion: Hyrie probably passed the exam.
b. Weak Argument
Weak argument is one of the inductive arguments that if all the statements are true, the conclusion can
neither be with certainty nor with high probability.
Example:
i. Premise 1: Some humans are good in Mathematics.
Premise 2: Hyrie is human.
Conclusion: Hyrie is probably good in Mathematics.
Note: Since premise 1 uses some, the conclusion can either be true or false.
ii. Premise 1: One of the leading causes of death is heart attack. Premise 2: His mother died in 2000.
Conclusion: His mother probably died of heart attack.
Note: Since premise 1 uses one, the conclusion can either be valid or invalid.
c. Cogent Argument
A cogent argument is one of the inductive arguments and it is a strong argument where all the premises
are true. It is also the strongest form of argument in inductive.
Example:
i. Premise 1: Hyrie usually eats dinner at 8:30 pm.
Premise 2: It is 8:30 pm right now.
Conclusion: Hyrie is probably eating her dinner right now.
ii. Premise 1: Most people who have malaria has symptoms of fever, tiredness, vomiting and headaches.
Premise 2: Ken has malaria.
Conclusion: Ken probably has symptoms of fever, tiredness, vomiting and headaches.
C. Abductive Reasoning
Abductive reasoning is a form of reasoning in which it starts with a set of observations leading to the
conclusion possibly being best explained.
Example:
i. Premise 1: Ken tells his secret to his friend.
Premise 2: By next week, everyone knows the secret. Conclusion: His friend told other people Ken's
secret.
ii. Premise 1: The teacher advised her student that the quiz will be held the next meeting.
Premise 2: Diana is one of the students and she plays computer all night. She failed the quiz.
Conclusion: Diana did not study for the quiz.
Attention and Change Blindness
1. What is Attention?
Attention is the focus on specific stimuli in our environment.
2. Two Types of Attention
A. Divided attention
Attending to multiple sources of information at once.
Example:
Mark can multitask which he focuses only a part of his attention on multiple items at once.
B. Selective attention
Choosing certain stimuli in the environment to process while ignoring the rest.
Example:
Mark attends a party full of people and heard his name in the crowd. He became aware that his name is
being called and filters out other stimuli upon hearing his name.
3. Change Blindness
Change blindness is a failure to notice a change in a stimulus environment. In other words, if you fail to
notice the difference between a previous state and a current state, it is called change blindness.
Example:
Yesterday, your friend has a haircut and seeing him every day you don't notice that his hair is shortened.
Relation of Memory to HCI
1. Define memory
A memory is our ability to encode, store, recall and retain information or experiences in the human
brain.
2. Three types of memory function
Three forms of memory exist which are (a.) sensory memory, (b) short term memories of (c) long
memory.
A. Sensory Memory
Sensory memory refers to memories which are stored for a short period of time and retained for less
than 500 milliseconds. This comes from our sensory organ like our eyes and nose and it is the shortest-
term component of memory.
For each sensory medium, there exists a sensory memory which are: a. Iconic memory
Iconic memory is a visual symbol of the original visual stimulus. People can create image in their mind
for a brief period upon seeing the image very quickly. These are stored for a shortest period than an
echoic memory.
Example:
Your friend is scrolling and browses in Lazada an item. You spot something as he quickly closes his
phone, but you can close your eyes and visualize an image of the item in your brain very quickly. This is
what you called an iconic memory.
b. Echoic memory
Echoic memory refers to memory that stores sound information. It is a very brief memory of sound
ordinary stimuli.
Example:
When you are talking to someone, the echoic memory retains the person's individual syllable and
connects each syllable to the preceding syllable.
Figure 20 Echoic Memory vs Iconic Memory
B. Short- Term Memory
The information is passed to short-term memory from the tactile memory called attention. Consciousness
refers to the focus of the mind on one of the many opposing ideas.
Short-term memory is also referred to as working memory. It is defined as a storage limited capacity
that can retain unused information for a brief (20 seconds) time. This acts as a "scratchpad" relevant to
the interim data retrieval. The short-term memory size is limited to 7+ or -2 objects, and the length is
roughly 30 seconds.
Some of the strategies to enhance short-term memory:
a. Information chunking
This is one of the best strategies to enhance short term memory.
This strategy refers to grouping or breaking of related information together.
Example: In the image below, the numbers were grouped together so it can easily be memorized.
Figure 21 Information Chunking
b. Visualization
We use images to help us remember in this strategy. In each sentence or part of a sentence, we will assign
a picture.
c. Simple tune
In this strategy, we can use a simple tune like children's songs and take a line of text from a paragraph to
fit it into the chosen tune.
d. Roman rooms
The Roman rooms method is an ancient and efficient way of remembering unstructured information
where it is unimportant to connect information items to other information items.
C. Long-Term Memory
When information transfers from sensory to short-term memory, it can be converted into long-term
memory. It may be kept for a long time.
There are two long-term memory forms that are (a) Explicit Memory and (b) Implicit Memory
a. Explicit Memory
Declarative memory is another term for explicit memory. These are information we consciously
recollected.
Explicit memory is of two types:
i. Episodic Memory
Episodic memory is a memory of dated recollection of personal experiences.
Example:
ii.
Recalling a critical event in your life
Semantic Memory
Semantic memory refers to recollection of information, images, ideas and other knowledge in general.
Example:
Remembering Newton's three laws of motion
b. Implicit Memory
Implicit memory is sometimes called as unconscious memory, automatic memory or nondeclarative
memory. These are memories that affect behavior but cannot consciously be recalled. These are often
procedural memories.
Example: Knowing how to tie your shoe laces
4. Why do we forget?
Elizabeth Loftus, one of best-known memory researchers, identified two major reasons why people forget
which are: retrieval failure and interference.
A. Retrieval Failure
One of the most common causes of failure is inability to retrieve information. Decay theory is one of a
potential explanation why people are unable to retrieve their memory. This theory suggests that over
time memory begins to fade or disappear.
B. Interference
Interference theory indicates that when information is your past memory, interference is likely to occur
in the memory.
There are two types of Interference which are:
a. Proactive interference
Proactive intervention is when old information is preventing information from being retrieved.
b. Retroactive interference
Retroactive interference refers to when newer information gets in the way of trying to recall older
information.
Figure 22 Proactive Inference vs Retroactive Inference
