<p>Of course the mind is not independent of the brain.  Otherwise, nobody would do recreational drugs, psychiatric drugs would be useless, and our whole theory of light and color perception, sound perception, and every other sensory perception would be useless and make no predictions.  All of these things tell us how signal in the environment are transduced into electrical signals and processed in the brain.  And while we don't know exactly how it becomes a mental experience (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness">The Hard Problem</a>), we know that there are many direct relationships between activity in the brain and perceptions and states in the mind.</p>

<p>The mind isn't just memories and experiences stored in the brain though, it's also active processing of current stimuli, which includes <a href="http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v16/n10/full/nn.3499.html">spontaneous activity</a> that may randomly draw on memories and experiences, but not in a sensible or meaningful way.  That is to say, there are biological processes that aren't really necessary to brain/mind, but to metabolism or long-term evolutionary benefit, yet they still influence brain/mind and we sometimes ascribe meaning to them without merit.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-05T13:53:21.053Z
2014-05-05T13:53:21.053Z
Keegan Keplinger
<p>or the mind is a mere collection of memories, experiences stored in the brain?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-06T02:52:15.977Z
I voted to leave this question open since it's such a common question from the public, but as the close votes indicate, you might consider doing some initial research and try formulating more specific questions based on that and let this one go.
Keegan Keplinger
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-05T14:16:08.627Z
See also [Where do our memories get stored and how are they retrieved again?](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/6545/where-do-our-memories-get-stored-and-how-are-they-retrieved-again)
kenorb
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-05T15:21:10.690Z
Also: [Is there evidence that brain and mind are separate?](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/1498/is-there-evidence-that-brain-and-mind-are-separate)
kenorb
<philosophy-of-mind>
is the mind independent of the brain?
felino
# is the mind independent of the brain?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-05-05)

or the mind is a mere collection of memories, experiences stored in the brain?

**Tags:** philosophy-of-mind

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I voted to leave this question open since it's such a common question from the public, but as the close votes indicate, you might consider doing some initial research and try formulating more specific questions based on that and let this one go.  
> **username_2**: See also [Where do our memories get stored and how are they retrieved again?](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/6545/where-do-our-memories-get-stored-and-how-are-they-retrieved-again)  
> **username_2**: Also: [Is there evidence that brain and mind are separate?](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/1498/is-there-evidence-that-brain-and-mind-are-separate)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-05-05. Score: 5

Of course the mind is not independent of the brain. Otherwise, nobody would do recreational drugs, psychiatric drugs would be useless, and our whole theory of light and color perception, sound perception, and every other sensory perception would be useless and make no predictions. All of these things tell us how signal in the environment are transduced into electrical signals and processed in the brain. And while we don't know exactly how it becomes a mental experience ([The Hard Problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness)), we know that there are many direct relationships between activity in the brain and perceptions and states in the mind.

The mind isn't just memories and experiences stored in the brain though, it's also active processing of current stimuli, which includes [spontaneous activity](http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v16/n10/full/nn.3499.html) that may randomly draw on memories and experiences, but not in a sensible or meaningful way. That is to say, there are biological processes that aren't really necessary to brain/mind, but to metabolism or long-term evolutionary benefit, yet they still influence brain/mind and we sometimes ascribe meaning to them without merit.


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