Objective To understand the cognitive synapses also called neural pathways .
Our mind is engaged in its normal function which is a process of thinking about past memories and future worries, but we have to consciously engage it in the present moment repeatedly. When the mind comes in present moment to do the current task that requires multitasking and more time to select the cognitive priority task, and if these cognitive priority tasks are already stored in the brain then we don’t need time to select the complex cognitive priority task, because we have formed strong neural pathway and the brain is in automatic reaction mode. We have stored driving activities in the brain memory, strengthened the neural pathways which are also called strong synapses and brain picks the priority task automatically.
In general the brain reaction time has two components, one is stimulus time and other is response time. Stimulus time plays a role in various cognitive processes, including attention, memory, and decision-making. The stimulus time is the amount of available time to present the detailed and accurate information by your sensory system to the brain to process and send message to your muscles. The time from the stimulus presented to the brain, and the time taken by the brain to respond is called as brain reaction time.
Weak or less efficient neural pathways lead to slower reaction time, because the time it takes for signals to travel through these pathways is increased. Strong and more efficient neural pathways lead to faster reaction time. The image below shows that the repetition process strengthened the neural pathway.
When driving activities are stored in the brain memory, you have strong neural pathways, you don’t need stimulus, you don’t need dedicated attention, with minimal attention you can perform driving activities. When driving activities are not stored in the brain memory, you have weak neural pathways, you need stimulus and you need more attention to perform driving activities.
When cognitive activities are not stored in the brain memory, you have weak neural pathways, you need stimulus and you need more attention to perform cognitive activities. When cognitive activities are stored in the brain memory, you have strong neural pathways, you don’t need stimulus, you don’t need dedicated attention, with minimal attention you can perform cognitive activities.
It is an established fact that new neurons are being formed which is called neurogenesis and neurons make new connections and strengthen or weaken them and the formation of these new connections is called synapse formation. Neurons are fired together are wired together. The neural connections are reinforced and refined through repetition and practice, and the involvement of the mind is essential for memory retention. Without the involvement of the mind, the memory will remain for a short period and will be inefficient.
In road safety complex cognitive task - CCT, we scan the road, moving traffic and the surrounding environment preconsciously, and during the cognition process, search time, decision making time, brain reaction time, and action taking time, all forms the total duration of the cognitive cycle, which is a crucial factor in managing cognitive situations continually, repeatedly, proactively and intelligently. The total duration of a cognitive cycle is crucial and we must be cautious and conscious and remember that even a second’s delay can cost lives.
Whether the complex cognitive tasks of road safety are stored in the brain memory of road users, the answer is no, because road users have left to learn about it from their own experience on roads and no institution or school is providing education of complex cognitive tasks of road safety to road users. Road users are faced with new and different complex cognitive situations every day and in the absence of repetition these are not stored in the brain's memory.
Self-learning is a mind guided learning and mind always encourage us to do easy things in place of right things. But all the road users have a strong belief that their mind guided is their ultimate intelligence and this ultimate intelligence is proving to be fatal as more than 500 road users are dying because of this belief. Self taught person is a poor teacher and a worst student. If self-learning is sufficient, then all educational institutions should be closed.
This means our intelligence is falling short and road users need additional intelligence. It is important that the additional intelligence originates from Knowledge, Understanding, Belief is stored in the brain Memory, not just on the superficial level. We should understand the crucial factor of cognitive cycle timing properly, how its accuracy is responsible for the prevention of all road crashes.