0.1 How does the mind process information?  (Page 10/4)

A mental model could mean any kind of mental model. There are models of how emotion functions and models of how intellect functions - and models of how intellect functions and is processed in the mind with emotion.

SO what is the mental model for how the entire mind works then? First there is a sensory input -and then it is processed emotionally and cognitively by the mind. That seems rather obvious. Sensory inputs cause a reaction in the mind. That is what happens - there is some sort of stimulus - and then that stimulus causes a human to think about what that stimulus does for the person.

Different stimuli trigger mental reactions that can be cognitive or emotional. That happens all of the time when someone sees something that triggers a reaction. Vision helps humans to notice various kinds of stimuli. That means that the stimuli must be processed first by one of the human senses. That is only for external stimuli or stimulation, however. A stimulus or trigger could come from within the mind from memory or what the person is thinking about.

Emotional and cognitive are intertwined

If there is an emotion stimulus (like seeing a dog) then that could trigger a cognitive or emotional reaction in a persons mind.

So what kind of reaction does it trigger? A cognitive reaction or an emotional reaction? A cognitive reaction would be considered or viewed as the person thinking more - while an emotional reaction would be the person feeling more. Since dogs are emotional it would probably trigger an emotional reaction and not a cognitive one - however, what if an emotional stimulus starts something cognitive? It might start off as emotional since the person is seeing a dog and dogs are cute and they are animals (and animals think less and are more feeling-based than humans) but that doesn't necessarily mean that it converts into being more emotional.

What kinds of thoughts would seeing something emotional (like a dog) trigger? What kinds of emotions would it trigger? If thought about that way then it seems simple - seeing something emotional would 'probably' trigger a more emotional reaction in the mind but could also just simply cause the person to think more depending on the mood that they are in. It would seemingly produce an association of similar ideas or feelings that the dog is associated with. However, the person might see dogs all of the time and in that case it wouldn't generate much more or different stimulation for the person.

Emotional and cognitive stimulation

So mental stimulation can be either emotional or cognitive. If the stimulation is emotional then it produces feelings; however cognitions can also produce feelings - an example of that would be someone laughing after hearing a good joke.

So what is the relationship between knowledge structures and emotional and cognitive stimulation? There must be some sort of emotional-cogntive relationship between each mental process or mental node that produces a combination of feelings or thoughts (i could call the thoughts 'intellectualizations')