The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind
The brain weighs only three pounds, yet it is the most complex object in the solar system (View Highlight)
The most valuable insights into the human mind to emerge during this period did not come from the disciplines traditionally concerned with the mind—philosophy, psychology, or psycho-analysis. Instead they came from a merger of these disciplines with the biology of the brain (View Highlight)
I didn’t know it at the time, but sodium-22 would soon become instrumental in a new technology, called PET (positron emission tomography), which has since given us startling new insights into the thinking brain (View Highlight)
The mathematical equations of James Clerk Maxwell, which are used to calculate the physics of antennas, radar, radio receivers, and microwave towers, form the very cornerstone of MRI technology. (View Highlight)
It takes almost a full second to follow the path of blood in the brain, which may not sound like a lot, but remember that electrical signals travel almost instantly throughout the brain, and hence MRI scans can miss some of the intricate details of thought patterns.
Some philosophers doubt that a theory of consciousness is even possible. They claim that consciousness can never be explained since an object can never understand itself, so we don’t even have the mental firepower to solve this perplexing question (View Highlight)
Behaviorism is based on the idea that only the objective behavior of animals and people is worthy of study, not the subjective, internal states of the mind. (View Highlight)
Consciousness is the process of creating a model of the world using multiple feedback loops in various parameters (e.g., in temperature, space, time, and in relation to others), in order to accomplish a goal (e.g., find mates, food, shelter). (View Highlight)
Each feedback loop registers “one unit of consciousness,” so a thermostat would have a single unit of Level 0 consciousness, that is, Level 0:1.
The reptilian brain would have perhaps one hundred or more feedback loops (governing their sense of smell, balance, touch, sound, sight, blood pressure, etc., and each of these contains more feedback loops). For example, eyesight alone involves a large number of feedback loops, since the eye can recognize color, movement, shapes, light intensity, and shadows. Similarly, the reptile’s other senses, such as hearing and taste, require additional feedback loops. The totality of these numerous feedback loops creates a mental picture of where the reptile is located in the world, and where other animals (e.g., prey) are located as well. Level I consciousness, in turn, is governed mainly by the reptilian brain, located in the back and center of the human head. (View Highlight)
Next we have Level II consciousness, where organisms create a model of their place not only in space but also with respect to others (i.e., they are social animals with emotions). The number of feedback loops for Level II consciousness explodes exponentially, so it is useful to introduce a new numerical ranking for this type of consciousness. Forming allies, detecting enemies, serving the alpha male, etc., are all very complex behaviors requiring a vastly expanded brain, so Level II consciousness coincides with the formation of new structures of the brain in the form of the limbic system. As noted earlier, the limbic system includes the hippocampus (for memories), amygdala (for emotions), and the thalamus (for sensory information), all of which provide new parameters for creating models in relation to others. The number and type of feedback loops therefore change.
Human consciousness is a specific form of consciousness that creates a model of the world and then simulates it in time, by evaluating the past to simulate the future. This requires mediating and evaluating many feedback loops in order to make a decision to achieve a goal. (View Highlight)
Using brain scans, we can even propose a candidate for the precise area of the brain where simulation of the future takes place. Neurologist Michael Gazzaniga notes that “area 10 (the internal granular layer IV), in the lateral prefrontal cortex, is almost twice as large in humans as in apes. Area 10 is involved with memory and planning, cognitive flexibility, abstract thinking, initiating appropriate behavior, and inhibiting inappropriate behavior, learning rules, and picking out relevant information from what is perceived through the senses.” (View Highlight)
When hearing a joke, we can’t help but simulate the future and complete the story ourselves (even if we’re unaware that we’re doing so). We know enough about the physical and social world that we can anticipate the ending, so we burst out with laughter when the punch line gives us a totally unexpected conclusion. The essence of humor is when our simulation of the future is suddenly disrupted in surprising ways. (This was historically important for our evolution since success depends, in part, on our ability to simulate future events. Since life in the jungle is full of unanticipated events, anyone who can foresee unexpected outcomes has a better chance at survival. In this way, having a well-developed sense of humor is actually one indication of our Level III consciousness and intelligence; that is, the ability to simulate the future.) (View Highlight)
This also explains what every comedian knows: timing is the key to humor. If the punch line is delivered too quickly, then the brain hasn’t had time to simulate the future, so there is no experience of the unanticipated. If the punch line is delivered too late, the brain has already had time to simulate various possible futures, so again the punch line loses the element of surprise. (View Highlight)
Actually, when children play, they are often trying to reenact complex human interactions in simplified form. (View Highlight)
Human society is extremely sophisticated, much too involved for the developing brains of young children, so children run simplified simulations of adult society, playing games such as doctor, cops and robber, and school. Each game is a model that allows children to experiment with a small segment of adult behavior and then run simulations into the future (View Highlight)
(Similarly, when adults engage in play, such as a game of poker, the brain constantly creates a model of what cards the various players possess, and then projects that model into the future, using previous data about people’s personality, ability to bluff, etc. The key to games like chess, cards, and gambling is the ability to simulate the future. (View Highlight)
I predict that mirror neurons will do for psychology what DNA did for biology: they will provide a unifying framework and help explain a host of mental abilities that have hitherto remained mysterious and inaccessible to experiments. (View Highlight)
Impulses from the senses pass through the brain stem, to the thalamus, out to the various cortices, and then to the prefrontal cortex. They then pass to the hippocampus to form long-term memories (View Highlight)
There are roughly 130 million cells in the eye’s retina, called cones and rods; they process and record 100 million bits of information from the landscape at any time. (View Highlight)
This vast amount of data is then collected and sent down the optic nerve, which transports 9 million bits of information per second, and on to the thalamus. From there, the information reaches the occipital lobe, at the very back of the brain. This visual cortex, in turn, begins the arduous process of analyzing this mountain of data. The visual cortex consists of several patches at the back of the brain, each of which is designed for a specific task. They are labeled V1 to V8. (View Highlight)
The hippocampus has four basic divisions, CA1 to CA4 (View Highlight)
The second step involves the subject performing certain tasks, after which scientists will record the impulses that flow across the various regions of the hippocampus, thereby recording the memory. For example, the memory of learning a certain task, such as jumping through a hoop, will create electrical activity in the hippocampus that can be recorded and carefully analyzed. Then a dictionary can be created matching the memory with the flow of information across the hippocampus. (View Highlight)
Remarkably, the area called V1 is like a screen; it actually creates a pattern on the back of your brain very similar in shape and form to the original image. This image bears a striking resemblance to the original, except that the very center of your eye, the fovea, occupies a much larger area in V1 (since the fovea has the highest concentration of neurons). The image cast on V1 is therefore not a perfect replica of the landscape but is distorted, with the central region of the image taking up most of the space. (View Highlight)
In the future, people may be hired to create certain memories, like a luxury vacation or a fictitious battle. (View Highlight)
The purpose of memory is to predict the future,” which raises an interesting possibility. Perhaps long-term memory evolved because it was useful for simulating the future. In other words, the fact that we can remember back into the distant past is due to the demands and advantages of simulating the future. (View Highlight)
In particular, the link between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus lights up when a person is engaged in planning for the future and remembering the past. In some sense, the brain is trying to “recall the future,” drawing upon memories of the past in order to determine how something will evolve into the future. (View Highlight)
It will likely take us several decades to get there, but my bet is that specific, well-organized brain parts such as the hippocampus or the visual cortex will have synthetic correlates before the end of the century (View Highlight)
In the early stages of Alzheimer’s, the hippocampus, the part of the brain through which memories are processed, begins to deteriorate. Indeed, brain scans clearly show that the hippocampus shrinks in Alzheimer’s patients, but the wiring linking the prefrontal cortex to the hippocampus also thins, leaving the brain unable to properly process short-term memories. Long-term memories already stored throughout the cortices of the brain remain relatively intact, at least at first. This creates a situation where you may not remember what you just did a few minutes ago but can clearly recall events that took place decades ago. (View Highlight)
Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see. (View Highlight)
A certain part of his brain, called the angular gyri, was larger than normal, with the inferior parietal regions of both hemispheres 15 percent wider than average. Notably, these parts of the brain are involved in abstract thought, in the manipulation of symbols such as writing and mathematics, and in visual-spatial processing (View Highlight)
First, Einstein spent most of his time thinking via “thought experiments.” He was a theoretical physicist, not an experimental one, so he was continually running sophisticated simulations of the future in his head. In other words, his laboratory was his mind. (View Highlight)
Charles Darwin himself once wrote, “I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal and hard work.” (View Highlight)
According to psychologist Dr. K. Anders Ericsson and colleagues, who studied master violinists at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music, top concert violinists could easily rack up ten thousand hours of grueling practice by the time they were twenty years old, practicing more than thirty hours per week. By contrast, he found that students who were merely exceptional studied only eight thousand hours or fewer, and future music teachers practiced only a total of four thousand hours (View Highlight)
Using brain scans, it is possible to show that certain animals exhibit dreamlike brain activity. If deprived of dreams, these animals would often die faster than they would by starvation, because such deprivation severely disrupts their metabolism. Unfortunately, science does not know exactly why this is the case. (View Highlight)
Tags: #neuroscience
Dreaming is an essential feature of our sleep cycle as well. We spend roughly two hours a night dreaming when we sleep, with each dream lasting five to twenty minutes. In fact, we spend about six years dreaming during an average lifetime. (View Highlight)
However, animals apparently dream differently than we do. In the dolphin, for example, only one hemisphere at a time sleeps in order to prevent drowning, because they are air-breathing mammals, not fish. So if they dream, it is probably in only one hemisphere at a time (View Highlight)
But dreams mostly incorporate memories that are a few days old. For example, experiments have shown that if you put rose-colored glasses on a person, it takes a few days before the dreams become rose-colored as well. (View Highlight)
The hippocampus is active when we dream, suggesting that dreams draw upon our storehouse of memories. The amygdala and anterior cingulate are also active, meaning that dreams can be highly emotional, often involving fear. (View Highlight)
But more revealing are the areas of the brain that are shut down, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (which is the command center of the brain), the orbitofrontal cortex (which can act like a censor or fact-checker), and the temporoparietal region (which processes sensory motor signals and spatial awareness). (View Highlight)
When the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is shut down, we can’t count on the rational, planning center of the brain. Instead, we drift aimlessly in our dreams, with the visual center giving us images without rational control. The orbitofrontal cortex, or the fact-checker, is also inactive. Hence dreams are allowed to blissfully evolve without any constraints from the laws of physics or common sense. And the temporoparietal lobe, which helps coordinate our sense of where we are located using signals from our eyes and inner ear, is also shut down, which may explain our out-of-body experiences while we dream. (View Highlight)
When I interviewed him, he told me that after many decades of cataloging dreams, he found five basic characteristics:
As we dream, cholinergic neurons in the brain stem begin to fire, setting off erratic pulses of electrical energy called PGO (pontine-geniculate-occipital) waves. These waves travel up the brain stem into the visual cortex, stimulating it to create dreams. (View Highlight)
Studies have shown that it is possible to enter the cholinergic state without sleep. Dr. Edgar Garcia-Rill of the University of Arkansas claims that meditation, worrying, or being placed in an isolation tank can induce this cholinergic state. Pilots and drivers facing the monotony of a blank windshield for many hours may also enter this state. In his research, he has found that schizophrenics have an unusually large number of cholinergic neurons in their brain stem, which may explain some of their hallucinations. (View Highlight)