"Cognitive scientists sometimes make the analogy that the brain is like a computer’s CPU, or hardware, while the mind is like the programs or software running on the CPU."
— Daniel J. Levitin (1957 - )
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
New York
Publisher
Penguin
Date
2007
Metaphor
"Cognitive scientists sometimes make the analogy that the brain is like a computer’s CPU, or hardware, while the mind is like the programs or software running on the CPU."
Metaphor in Context
For cognitive scientists, the word mind refers to that part of each of us that embodies our thoughts, hopes, desires, memories, beliefs, and experiences. The brain, on the other hand, is an organ of the body, a collection of cells and water, chemicals and blood vessels, that resides in the skull. Activity in the brain gives rise to the contents of the mind. Cognitive scientists sometimes make the analogy that the brain is like a computer’s CPU, or hardware, while the mind is like the programs or software running on the CPU. (If only that were literally true and we could just run out to buy a memory upgrade.) Different programs can run on what is essentially the same hardware—different minds can arise from very similar brains.
Categories
Provenance
Contributed by Suzanne Morgen, searching Google Books (12/3/2009).
Citation
Daniel Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music (New York: Penguin, 2007).
Date of Entry
10/17/2011
