Brodamann’ area 19 is a region in the visual cortex that registers images when they are first delivered to the brain. The image is then passed on to the right hemisphere for visual communication and drawing (Van der Kolk, 2014). Neurophysiological studies have proved that top-down attention can enhance the baseline of firing rates, fast forward neuronal tuning towards task-relevant stimulus features. In this way the neuronal response curves can be scaled up (Summerfield, 2009). It is suggested that attention could impinge on perceptual decision-makings. In this way, one might anticipate that attention and expectation have a similar facilitatory effect on visual cortex recognition. The expected stimuli would also be associated with enhanced sensory responses (Summerfield, 2009).
Recognition of a letter and storage in the brain require repetitive visual stimulations. Each time the pictograph enhances the concept of its original meaning through visual cortex processing. If we show the individual a red apple ten thousand times, the individual automatically associates apple with the color red. The social expectations in Chinese culture were being repeatedly reinforced through the Chinese characters. An individual’s concepts were informed by the characters. These concepts, in turn, were closely aligned with and influenced one’s behavior and decision making. Thus, one’s belief and behavior can be hugely influenced by the script of a nation.
Fear and Status
Jung (1989) suggested that an individual could dream of something that serves as a prototype of the collective human unconscious. To illustrate this, I am going to present a dream I had a few years ago, I was not aware of the Oracle bone script back then. In this dream, there are many women lined up, they are all naked, their hands are tied up with rope. They kneel sitting in a line. I did not see their faces, but they were bound to a long stick. Between each woman there is an almond. This line is called Zhu Zhen which means Pig Line. To further associate, almond in Chinese sounds like Xingren. If we redistribute the letters, it is Renxing which means Human Nature. The sound Xingren is also similar as Xinren, which means Trust.
If we see this dream as a sign of collective unconscious, then we may also turn to see how this fear was created for the past 36 years. In 2015, China removed the One Child Policy. This was the first time that families can raise a second child since 1979. There are over 1.5 hundred million people who were born as the ‘one child generation’. By the year 2017, the scale of male versus female was 117:100. In some provinces like JiangXi province, the scale reached 140:100.
Inevitably, one could see that under the one-child policy more male infants were born. How did this happen? In feudal society, people valued boys more than girls. As a consequence, some families would continue giving birth to children until they had one or two boy babies. Similarly, the one-child policy implementation did not reduce the gender imbalance, rather, it increased the pressure for women to give birth to boy child. The One Child Policy states that under two circumstances that family could apply for permission to have a second child.
