'The Naked Brain'

I remember reading somewhere that the normal human brain uses about 10-15% of its capability, and so I decided I would figure out a way to make that 80-90%.... Well, in my defence, I was 12.

However, that one sentence did spark a lifelong interest in the human brain and hence, psychology in me. Over the years, I did find myself reading research papers and articles, mainly out of curiosity. And with the recent purchase of my Kindle (did I not tell you about it?! ;-) ) , I have to say I did go on a spree. The one that stands out is ‘The Naked Brain’ by Richard Restak . It is by far the best neuroscience book I have ever read.

A simple book, it takes the reader on a journey through the complex neuro pathways of the brain. And just so we don’t lose our way, it clearly lays out a hypothesis, followed by some incredibly interesting experiments, and finally a conclusion of what it means in our every day lives.

What kept me hooked was the clever use of experiments to prove concepts we knew instinctively. In a powerful chapter on ‘Thinking is Doing’ Richard talks about how merely thinking about doing something increases the likelihood of our doing it. [Hence, the ‘Imagine yourself in front of the audience’ tip before a public speech, I figged.] However, taking this a step ahead, he scans the brain and through an fMRI actually detects that the exact same areas of the brain being activated when you are ‘thinking’ of doing something as while actually doing it.

However, going beyond the obvious, the book also lays out some exceedingly interesting experiments and thoughts. Consider this for a moment, “ We are continuously in the process of trying to explain ourselves to ourselves by coming up with plausible causes of our activities.” Remember how you did something stupid and then blamed it on everything from the planetary alignment to an ad you saw on your way to work! … Well, now, you can blame it on the way your brain is wired. Richard claims that the left hemisphere, that is the ‘speech’ centre, automatically rationalizes emotions that sit in the right hemisphere of the brain. He describes a bizarre experiment conducted on a patient with a rare medical condition – her brain hemispheres weren’t able to communicate with each other. In the experiment, she was shown a grisly video targeted to her right hemisphere. When later questioned, she expresses her feeling correctly (fear) but in the absence of the communication, she rationalizes it with a ‘It must be the room ‘and a ‘You make me nervous.’

I find this particular insight very fascinating. It is almost as if nature wants us to justify actions and emotions that take less than micro seconds to register within our brains. Is this a survival technique for the sensitive homo sapiens? What would we be like if our verbal system would not note our emotions and automatically assign a cause to it. Something tells me we would be able to experience emotions more fully. But would that necessarily be a good thing? Especially for me who literally lives her life by ‘Don’t judge emotions,’ this is definitely something I know my mind will keep returning to.