Michael Shermer: The pattern behind self-deception
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Tag Archives: human brain
It Wasn’t Me!
T. gondii bacteria directed the behavior of mice to help the bacteria complete their life cycle. T. gondii is found in as many as 20% of humans.
A research group from the University of Leeds was able to show that a bacterium, Toxoplasma gondii, found in a large percentage of humans, affects the brains of mice in such a way as to direct the actions and behaviors of the infected rodents.
The researchers were able to show that the bacteria cause the mice to lose their fear of cats and thus make it far more likely they would get eaten, helping the parasitic bacteria to complete their life cycle in their main host.
A Discovery Channel program, The World’s Dirtiest Man, made an interesting statement in this regard (paraphrasing): as many as 90 percent of the cells on our body are actually bacteria, leaving only 10% human.* I was shocked! I had to rewind the old Tivo and catch that again.
How Much Do You Trust Your Senses?
Out of body experiences can be created artificially now in the lab. Cool!
Normally, I see what I see and feel what I feel – and that is that. But recently, a university in Stockholm has created a method for consistently fooling the senses in such a way as to trick the person into believing they are out of their own body. We call it “out of body experience” (OOBE). This is SO cool!
People who have come close to death sometimes report what are known as out of body experiences, in which they have seen themselves from somewhere else in the room – usually from above their body. Scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now come up with a technique that recreates this sensation in fully conscious healthy volunteers (I told you this was cool!). They hope that this technique will enable them to study the relationship between the body and the ‘self’ in the laboratory environment – allowing for more consistent results.
“The idea for the study came to me several years ago”, says Dr Henrik Ehrsson, research leader in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience. “I wondered what would happen if you moved a person’s eyes to somewhere else in the room. It has been found that the visual perspective is crucial in determining how the ego is experienced.”
Memory Access Technique
Memories – such fleeting things sometimes. And yet, other memories seem to last and last – flush with details. Researchers at Duke University led by neuroscientist Roberto Cabeza, Ph.D. have discovered that information retrieved from memory is simultaneously processed in two specific regions of the brain, each of which focuses on a different aspect of a past event. The medial temporal lobe (MTL), located at the base of the brain, focuses on specific facts about the event. The frontal parietal network (FPN), located at the top of the brain, is more likely to process the global gist of the event.
What does this mean for us "ordinary folks?"
It's back to the eyes. When you move your eyes, you tend to focus attention in your brain in an opposite direction. For example, when you look to the left, you tend to activate right hemisphere areas of your brain; when you look up, you tend to focus attention on lower brain areas, etc. It is as though you have a line-of-sight fulcrum inside your head with the fulcrum center-point in the very center of your brain (at eye level, of course). When you swing your gaze to the left, the other end of the fulcrum swings right, etc.
Consider this process to fully recall a memory:
First, look down, activating the FPN to get the gist of the memory. Cast your eyes side to side while looking downward to gain further information from the cerebral hemispheres associated with the FPN. When you feel ready to recall the details of that memory, swing your eyes upward and side-to-side. The upward gaze will tend to activate the MTL portion of your brain while the side-to-side action will tend to activate right and left hemispheres associated with the MTL.
Now, one more thing…
When you access a brain region, it wants something to DO. I recommend that you consider blinking – it's a simple and easy thing to do that creates huge fluctuations in light (from all to nothing and back). What you'll probably find is that by looking up and blinking, you'll activate the details-oriented MTL – and you'll stop blinking automatically as the details of a memory come to mind. Same goes for the FPN. And my guess is that if someone were to be looking at your eyes while you do this, they'd see small but perceptible jumps in the size of your pupils as memory gist and details come to mind.
Perhaps someday some curious scientist will seek to investigate my theory that one can consciously access memory aspects better with eye movement and blinking. Rapid Eye Technicians and their clients are already aware of the connection between eye movement, blinking, and memory – and the discharge of emotional energy tied up in certain types of memories.
Although some consider Rapid Eye Technology to be a spiritual process, the movement and blinking of the eyes is a physical aspect of a psychological process of memory that can be personally experienced by anyone – and when done in a controlled fashion can enhance memory while separating memories from their emotional charge. Further, the basic processes and techniques of Rapid Eye Technology take advantage of the connection between physical, emotional, and mental aspects of memory.
Gifts from Our Ancestors
In the course of evolution, people with certain genes fared better than others – and because they survived, they passed on their genes, making the general population more like them. For example, Europeans who came into contact with and yet survived the great plague did so because they had a genetic advantage over their neighbors. Because more of them survived to pass on their genes, their descendants tend to show that same genetic factor.
Unfortunately, a genetic advantage in one era or age (like the Ice Age) may be a killer in another (like now). More body fat in an Ice Age man made him more likely to pass on his genes; whereas today it could prevent him from doing so.
What genetic factors are a problem in your life? Do you have a predisposition for certain diseases or conditions (physically and psychologically)? How can you know which conditions or diseases are genetically affecting you? How can you make a change that has a higher probability of success on a genetic level – if it is possible at all?
There is a fundamental interaction between genetics and how our brains process the genetic information. We create and maintain brain circuitry based on a genetic blueprint modified by experience/learning (environmental factors). It's a delicate balance between nature and nurture. Neither genetics nor conditioning completely rule our life experience – rather, we experience the result of an interweaving between the two – kind of like the weaving of DNA.