emission and absorption of electromagnetic bundles of energy, termed photons when the involved energies are close to the visible spectrum wavelengths.

Because of these various mechanisms, it can be viewed that human physiology comprises a complex set of electro-chemical and electro-mechanical processes derived through evolutionary mechanisms applied to living organisms over very long periods of time. These processes define the very concepts of life in that they encompass, in the case of the human species, the full range of human experience; from sensory input to the action stimuli represented by Maslow’s needs hierarchy. In The Brain’s Concepts: The Role of the Sensory-Motor System in Reason and Language, published in 2005 in Cognitive Neurophysiology, Vittorio Gallese and George Lakoff offered the insight that concepts, rather than coming from cognitive processes centered outside the human sensori-motor system, are actually abstractions derived directly from the human sensori-motor system. In effect, the relationship of a person to the external world, and the way in which that person thinks about this relationship in abstract terms, is established by input from the sensory systems, and cognition based output through the body’s motor systems. Hence, one should recognize the sensori-motor experience as the primary basis for humans’ understanding of the world and their interactions with it. From this understanding comes a metaphorical basis for comprehending aspects of the physical environment that are totally independent of the body and its experiences.

Within the human body, sensory stimuli are first conveyed from discrete sensors at the body to external world interface, through the peripheral nervous system until they are ultimately absorbed by the human cognitive system. The brain, comprising the primary component of the central nervous system, is the focal point of cognitive functions, although certain reflexive responses to sensory input may be handled by outlying nervous control pathways. Given the various forms of sensory input, the cognitive and reflexive systems of the body effect response actions to the sensory stimuli. We characterize the process that the human body goes through in developing the ability to associate actions with, and derive actions from, sensory inputs as learning or training. In Chapter 8, we will suggest that this process is perhaps more expansively described by the term provisioning. This will draw a strong parallel with the basic operational processes through which computer systems are readied to function in the real world.

If an action response to sensory input requires conscious cognitive consideration, implying that there may actually be a variety of possible actions in response to common sensory inputs, then we tend to call the process for associating response to sensory input, learning. The implication is that, over time, we develop an ability, that is we learn, to select a response action that gives us the most desired effect. If, on the other hand, an action is pursued as a near reflexive response to sensory input, we tend to call the process training. It has been found that through repetitive stimulation and response cycles one can actually enhance the body’s reflexive response to certain stimuli. The sprinter can be trained to leap out of the starting blocks more quickly at the beginning of the race while the body of the long distance runner can be trained, at the biophysical level, to more efficiently convert the stored energy in body fat into propulsion.

As we noted just a bit earlier, the motor mechanisms that the human body utilizes in dealing with its encompassing physical environment tend to be positive, antagonistic control mechanisms. For each mechanism, there exist component elements that drive the mechanism in opposing directions. This counter-force approach seems to exist all the way from the microscopic, biochemical level to the macroscopic, mechanical level. The interesting characteristic of such an approach to control facilities is that it allows the continual modification of default actions as the body learns to accentuate one force versus the other based on learned or trained feedback. We’ll try to make note

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