Hey all!

Long time no see!

I'm so so sorry for the extended hiatus. So many things going on, but I'm trying to get back track with the newsletter and other content creation fun.

I'm reigniting my blog and sharing with you my recent article which you can read on this very issue.

But if you prefer:

Enjoy!

The human brain is an attractive asset to explore. Nearly every popular science book, and particularly self-help books emphasises an element of the brain’s potential.

But there is one aspect that I feel has not been explored or at least has been forgotten and ignored for centuries.

An aspect that defines our ideas, our creations, and our perception of the world:

Pattern Recognition.

But what is Pattern Recognition?

For this piece, I’m talking about the cognitive science term, not the data analysis term you may have seen.

But the definition is:

This is the Wikipedia definition, but of all honesty, it certainly fits!

To simplify it further, when we experience an object, person, or anything else, we gather information about what we experience, and find connections with similar past experiences.

These experiences can be obvious or subtle, intentional or unintentional.

But nevertheless the brain is on the move to detect a connection.

It is curious on autopilot.

For example if you come across an activist group for the first time who uses a certain communication tone, the brain stores the overall experience to memory, taking into account any specific features. Weeks or months later, you experience a different activist group but uses a similar communication tone. The sensation of similarity hits the brain, and digs deep for any past experiences that the tone was used. It recalls one, and makes a connection.

This is pattern recognition at its finest.

Attention and intention are obvious factors in this process, but that can be saved for another piece.

All humans have pattern recognition and practice it

Only a few are aware of it.

And a further few aim to harness it for a brighter future, particularly for the modern polymaths of the future.

If you are aspiring to become one, this article is a great starting point 😉.

What is the Neuroscience behind Pattern Recognition?

We come to the point where everything is revealed about how an aspect of the brain works.

Though we don’t have a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of how the brain recognises patterns, the exploration of the neuroscience is still an exciting venture. And it put a smile on my face when I started reading the research behind this.

But before we begin, I would like to emphasise that I’m not an official cognitive neuroscientist (yet), I’m only an aspiring polymath but overall a mere human with unending curiosities and excitement in the neuroscience space, and to share the neuroscience behind how our brains perceive the world in a simple and story-filled manner to appreciate the mysteries of the human mind. So what I mention here will be from what I have understood and learned, and will continue to learn and correct any misunderstandings I may have on the topic. *I appreciate any feedback or clarification you provide for this piece. You can contact me at mark@patternsperspectives.com. Would love to hear your feedback!

With this aside, let’s get stuck in…

We will focus on a highly-cited review article by Mark P. Matteson, a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

He emphasises the term “superior pattern processing” more than “pattern recognition.” Though there is no confirmation of this supposed interchange, we will assume they are similar but with the former term describing more detail of the cognitive process.

Matteson highlights the cerebral cortex as the main brain area of focus. Within this area, he states three areas:

Prefrontal Cortex

This is the area involved in our executive functions. The control centre behind our decisions, both on the macro and micro scales, as well as possessing the information required to make these decisions, acting as a prediction machine.

It is also the major site where encoding takes place, and this is what processing patterns involve - the conversion of information into an understandable cognitive structure to obtain meaningful context, to be stored in long-term memory.

​Original research has shown how parts of the prefrontal cortex have been able to obtain such context from ambiguous and confusing stimuli.

This is a process called “pattern separation,” wherein a sea of information stored in working memory is distinguished by context or groups to assign meaning and make it more relevant.

But the prefrontal cortex is not the only area involved in pattern separation, and we will come to this in a bit.

Parietal-Occipital-Temporal Cortex (PTO)

This is a combination of three lobes that are involved in object recognition and perception of the physical world.

It even includes the perception of language, such as the shape of letters and syntax.

Visual Cortex

As the name suggests, this area emphasises more on object recognition, such as the location and shape of the object.

As promised here is a bonus area:

Hippocampus

Most of you will have heard of this area and how important it is in memory.

But what you may not have heard is the pattern separation capability from within.

It is the key area where the context-making takes place. This takes place in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.

The paper also states that pattern separation is enhanced through endurance running and intermittent fasting. The latter of which is a speciality of Matteson’s research.

Once the patterns are separated and encoded with context, they can now be retrieved from memory when a stimulus triggering the same pattern is re-experienced. This is known as pattern completion.

To conclude, this review article appreciates that the cerebral cortex has evolved over centuries, and will continue to adapt to changing environments to improve the processing of patterns:

As our world evolves into different eras, so does our ability to recognise patterns.

Each of the brain areas have expanded their respective capabilities stemming from pattern recognition.

Learning about the neuroscience is exciting and interesting, but like all research, it is still ongoing, and we’re talking about another couple of decades.

What you may have noticed is that there doesn’t seem to be a sequence, but rather interactions between different areas.

References

Mattson, M. P. (2014). Superior pattern processing is the essence of the evolved human brain. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2014.00265

Bartel, G., Marko, M., Rameses, I., Lamm, C., & Riečanský, I. (2020). Left Prefrontal Cortex Supports the Recognition of Meaningful Patterns in Ambiguous Stimuli. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 512120. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.00152

Tarek Amer, Lila Davachi (2023) Extra-hippocampal contributions to pattern separation eLife 12:e82250 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.82250