Perception, Learning, and Engram Formation

Abstract

Perception and cognition subsume all the processes by which multiple simple, apparently unrelated sensory stimuli from the environment are categorized, analyzed, consolidated, and finally utilized in the brain in their new neural representations to permit effective behavioral responses. Perception and cognition are effectuated anatomically through a complex sensory apparatus and functionally through a genetic set of neurophysiological abilities: to abstract, to remember, to learn, and to use symbols. These anatomical and functional organizations create an innate grammar, syntax, and logic which are reflected in man as the universal abilities of language and mathematics (Chomsky, 1965).