built-in assumptions about the world

[keannu]

source : Korean 12 graders' mock test - 2022. April, No 32
When you are born, your neocortex knows almost nothing. It doesn’t know any words, what buildings are like, how to use a computer, or what a door is and how it moves on hinges. It has to learn countless things. The overall structure of the neocortex is not random. Its size, the number of regions it has, and how they are connected together is largely determined by our genes. For example, genes determine what parts of the neocortex are connected to the eyes, what other parts are connected to the ears, and how those parts connect to each other. Therefore, we can say that the neocortex is structured at birth to see, hear, and even learn language. But it is also true that the neocortex doesn’t know what it will see, what it will hear, and what specific languages it might learn. We can think of the neocortex as starting life having some built-in assumptions about the world but knowing nothing in particular. Through experience, it learns a rich and complicated model of the world.
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What does the underlined assumptions mean between the following two? The translation goes for 1, but it sounds awkward, so I'd go for 2.
1.to think that something is true or probably true without knowing that it is true
2.to begin (a role, duty, etc.) as a job or responsibility
3. to take or begin to have (power, control, etc.) in a job or situation

 

[Skrej]

Only #1 makes sense in this context. What do you consider awkward about it?

 

[keannu]

Can each part of the brain assume what to do in the world? Is this what the sentence means?

 

[probus]

Can each part of the brain assume what to do in the world? Is this what the sentence means?

What each part of the brain can or cannot do is far beyond my knowlege and beyond the scope of this forum. Secondly, whether something sounds awkward has little or nothing to do with whether it is factually correct. @Skrej has confirmed that number 1 is the correct answer.

 

[jutfrank]

We can think of the neocortex as starting life having some built-in assumptions about the world but knowing nothing in particular.

The blue bit suggests you imagine that the neocortex is like a person, with assumptions and knowledge about the world.

 

[Skrej]

Chomsky's theory of universal grammar is founded on this same concept. He argued that the human brain is pre-wired with a basic understanding of how languages work in general. Thus we can acquire language easily because we already have a framework of how languages function. The ability is innate, and the acquisition process is merely us learning the specifics.

The same child who grew up speaking Mandarin could have just as easily learned Navajo, Finnish, Sanskrit or Xhosa, if they'd been born under different circumstances.