Making sense of your mind
I first published this article in Feb 2010. A lot has changed since then...
The human brain has long been called the last frontier of science, and by most accounts the mind remains a mystery.
Given that our brain regulate every aspect of our life experience and our mind is at a loss without it you may be surprised to know that until recently we knew very little about it.
Given that technology has advanced to the level that we can study it in action you may think we know more, but it seems we're more at a loss than ever before.
From understanding the difference between emotional and neutral memories, to finding why people in a happy mood will almost always choose the first of any available choices given, all the way through to the role of emotions in determining self bias and the recent shocking discovery that morals are nothing less than conclusions and deductions to defend our actions.
Take the recent discovery that imagination takes place in the same region of the brain that involves memory. Not only does it challenge the general convention that there is a difference between fact and fiction, but apparently our brain is perfectly willing and able to ignore the absence of memory references to sensory and kinesthetic memory patterns in it's effort towards a coherence and efficiency.
Another discovery that sent shock waves through the ranks of philosophers and religious leaders alike is that we seem to make choices before we arrive at a "conscious" decision.
Without any scientific understanding of consciousness it may be nothing more than assumption, but through the use of fMRI it was shown that brain activity indicate what a respondent would choose up to 7 seconds before the respondent indicated that he has made up his mind on a choice.
This has resulted in the development of a range of applications to "read" the mind without conscious interference. Both the discovery, and the applications that develop from this new and improved understanding are raising serious questions about such time honored concepts as moral values, free choice and accountability.
Until we find a way to collect, combine and cross reference what we find to present sense and mutual relevance, the working of the mind will remain a mystery to most. In the meantime we continue our headlong rush to new discovery and learning more about the brain and its ability.
With the help of modern technology we are finally lifting the veil of mystery that shrouded our mind and learning more about why we think the way we do, and understanding what and who we are...
Check out what Tom Shadyac says...
Given that our brain regulate every aspect of our life experience and our mind is at a loss without it you may be surprised to know that until recently we knew very little about it.
Given that technology has advanced to the level that we can study it in action you may think we know more, but it seems we're more at a loss than ever before.
From understanding the difference between emotional and neutral memories, to finding why people in a happy mood will almost always choose the first of any available choices given, all the way through to the role of emotions in determining self bias and the recent shocking discovery that morals are nothing less than conclusions and deductions to defend our actions.
Take the recent discovery that imagination takes place in the same region of the brain that involves memory. Not only does it challenge the general convention that there is a difference between fact and fiction, but apparently our brain is perfectly willing and able to ignore the absence of memory references to sensory and kinesthetic memory patterns in it's effort towards a coherence and efficiency.
Another discovery that sent shock waves through the ranks of philosophers and religious leaders alike is that we seem to make choices before we arrive at a "conscious" decision.
Without any scientific understanding of consciousness it may be nothing more than assumption, but through the use of fMRI it was shown that brain activity indicate what a respondent would choose up to 7 seconds before the respondent indicated that he has made up his mind on a choice.
This has resulted in the development of a range of applications to "read" the mind without conscious interference. Both the discovery, and the applications that develop from this new and improved understanding are raising serious questions about such time honored concepts as moral values, free choice and accountability.
Until we find a way to collect, combine and cross reference what we find to present sense and mutual relevance, the working of the mind will remain a mystery to most. In the meantime we continue our headlong rush to new discovery and learning more about the brain and its ability.
With the help of modern technology we are finally lifting the veil of mystery that shrouded our mind and learning more about why we think the way we do, and understanding what and who we are...
Check out what Tom Shadyac says...
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