The Neuroscience of Freedom and Creativity

reacting upon one another and upon the brain, independent of phenomenal (conscious) experience.
Phenotype
The sum of the organism’s observable characteristics or traits resulting from the interactions of the genome with the environment.
Phrenology
Pseudoscience, based on skull measurements, that maintains that mental faculties are localized in certain areas or “modules” of the brain delimited by external landmarks.
Phyletic memory
The inborn structure of sensory and motor systems in the brain.
Preadaptation
In evolution, the use of a preformed structure for alternate use by descendants. With regard to freedom, creativity, and prefrontal function, to preadapt is to prepare the organism for anticipated changes and to adjust to them ahead of time with the prospective capacity of the PA cycle.
Prefrontal cortex
The cortex covering the anterior poles of the frontal lobes. In the human brain, it constitutes nearly one-third of the totality of the so-called neocortex, the latest cortex to develop in evolution. The prefrontal cortex encodes in its neuronal networks executive knowledge and memory. Cooperating with the posterior association cortex (PTO) in the dynamics of the PA cycle, the lateral prefrontal cortex – external convexity of the frontal lobe – plays a fundamental role in the temporal organization of goal-directed behavior, reasoning, and language. Three executive prefrontal functions serve that basic role: working memory, set, and inhibitory control. The orbital prefrontal cortex, in the inferior surface of the prefrontal cortex, is essential for the encoding of rewards, the integration of social-emotional behavior, and the control of impulsivity. The medial and anterior cingulate prefrontal region is essential for the monitoring of behavioral performance and error correction.
Priming
Implicit effect of a stimulus on the perception or memory of another, with which it has a tenuous and unconscious relationship.
Procedural memory
Memory of how to do things. It includes skills and habits.
Prospect theory
A behavioral economic theory, associated with Kahneman and Tversky, that describes decisions that involve risk, where the probabilities of outcomes are known. The theory says that people make decisions based on the potential value of losses and gains rather than the final outcome of those decisions.
PTO cortex
The association cortex of the posterior region of both cerebral hemispheres, comprising cortex of the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. It encodes in its neuronal networks perceptual knowledge and memory acquired through the senses. The PTO cortex, cooperating with the prefrontal cortex, plays a vital role in the temporal integrative functions of active memory – that is, in working memory, sensory perception, and the acquisition of new memory.
Qualia
In philosophy, individual instances of subjective, conscious experience – ordinarily sensory.
Recursion
In language, recursion has two meanings: (a) the capacity to repeat the essence of a statement or utterance in multiple different ways, and (b) the ability to return to the principal statement or utterance after digression into a secondary or less essential one.
Reductionism
The approach to understanding complex reality by reducing it to the analysis of its parts, often under the assumption that the whole is equivalent to the sum of its parts.
Re-entry
A structural property of neural networks allowing recurrence, whereby one cortical area or group of cortical cells influences another and is in turn influenced by it (positive feedback). It is an essential feature of sustained network activation in working memory, and some say also in consciousness.
Relational code
Definition of an object or item of information by the relations between its elements. Language is the pre-eminent relational code, as all its structures (words, sentences, etc.) are defined by the relationships between letters, phonemes, words, punctuation marks, etc. Geometry is another. In the cerebral cortex, cognits or cognitive networks are most typically relational.
Responsibility
The quality or state of being responsible – that is accountable – for the effects of one’s actions on oneself or on others. The accountability may be mental (psychological), social, moral, or legal. Responsibility is inseparable from freedom, as an agent is responsible not only for his choice but also for the consequences of that choice.
Reward
Positive stimulus, bounty (e.g., money), or