Science of the Spirit
Prognostic factors for psychopathy and schizophrenia can be observed in human brain cells already in the second trimester of pregnancy. In principle, newborns could be tested and their risk of developing a disorder assessed. Whether such testing would engender too much suffering is another matter.
"Regardless of the disease, the easiest and least expensive way of reducing suffering is prevention or alleviation in advance," says Professor Jari Koistinaho, director of the Neuroscience Center.
Nevertheless, testing would be associated with risks and difficult questions.
As it turns out, however, I was a bit optimistic on fear fatigue. I've been reading Robert Sapolsky's newest book, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best And Worst, and was disappointed to learn what the best new research shows on the long-term application of fear. (Or, in the academic terminology, sustained stress.)
My disappointment, however, was soon tempered by two things:
- I gained information on how fear poisoning works.
- That human neurology is immensely variable, that there are exceptions to everything, and that if the whole picture were actually as dark as the most troubling findings, we'd have devolved into nothing but murderous monkeys long ago.
This is more destructive than people realize.
Comment: See also:
- The Health & Wellness Show: Avoiding the amygdala hijack - Strategies for surviving the signs of the times
- Limbic Warfare and Martha Stout's "Paranoia Switch"
- Operation COVID-19: Testing the degree of "people's submission" and activating our "paranoia switches"
In our discussion with John we discuss Whitehead, some of the things that made his philosophy so revolutionary, why he isn't more well known today, and why he should be. His philosophy rejects the atheism and materialism of the current 'scientific' worldview, making room for the entire range of human experience. Another advantage is that Whitehead as a mathematician was well versed in the relativity and quantum theories that have come to characterize our contemporary science and technology, and his philosophy accounts for them too. We also discuss the intriguing parallels with first sight theory and its implications for a philosophy of perception and consciousness, and the nature of reality.
Running Time: 01:34:03
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Examples of individual activation maps in each of the age groups. Strong activation in right-hemisphere homologs of the left-hemisphere language areas is evident in the youngest children, declines over age, and is entirely absent in most adults.
The study, published Sept. 7, 2020, in PNAS, focuses on one task — language — and finds that to understand language (more specifically, processing spoken sentences), children use both hemispheres. This finding fits with previous and ongoing research led by Georgetown neurology professor Elissa L. Newport, PhD, a former postdoctoral fellow Olumide Olulade, MD, PhD, and neurology assistant professor Anna Greenwald, PhD.
"This is very good news for young children who experience a neural injury," says Newport, director of the Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, a joint enterprise of Georgetown University and MedStar National Rehabilitation Network. "Use of both hemispheres provides a mechanism to compensate after a neural injury. For example, if the left hemisphere is damaged from a perinatal stroke — one that occurs right after birth — a child will learn language using the right hemisphere. A child born with cerebral palsy that damages only one hemisphere can develop needed cognitive abilities in the other hemisphere. Our study demonstrates how that is possible."
Their study solves a mystery that has puzzled clinicians and neuroscientists for a long time, says Newport.
In almost all adults, sentence processing is possible only in the left hemisphere, according to both brain scanning research and clinical findings of language loss in patients who suffered a left hemisphere stroke.
But in very young children, damage to either hemisphere is unlikely to result in language deficits; language can be recovered in many patients even if the left hemisphere is severely damaged. These facts suggest that language is distributed to both hemispheres early in life, Newport says. However, traditional scanning had not revealed the details of these phenomena until now. "It was unclear whether strong left dominance for language is present at birth or appears gradually during development," explains Newport.
However, we seem to be imprisoned by the force of social disapproval just as surely as Winston was imprisoned by the threat of instant death. Millions of lockdown opponents won't make their position known even to their closest family and friends; taking a position publicly is unthinkable — they would lose social standing, clients, and possibly even their jobs. Thanks to this dynamic, the pro-lockdown crowd enjoys the appearance of majority consensus, and everyone gets...more lockdown.
"I am interested in placebos generally and in particular in maximizing their effects. When I was reading clinical trials of psychedelic drugs, I was surprised by the low placebo effects reported in many studies," said study author Jay Olson, who recently earned his PhD in psychiatry from McGill University.
"We have other evidence that people can have psychedelic-like effects without taking the drug. For example, in the case of 'contact highs' in which people feel the effects of drugs merely by being around people who have consumed the drug. Or, other people have reported having experiences after taking fake drugs, such as after consuming empty blotter paper rather than LSD. We thus thought that with the right context, we may be able to promote strong placebo psychedelic effects."
Comment: Notably the percentage of people who experienced some placebo effect correlates with studies on placebos more generally that show around 50% of people report effects experiencing some effect:
- Hypochondriacs and the placebo effect
- Nocebo: The evil twin of the placebo effect
- Placebo's effect may depend on your genes
- Objective:Health - When Placebos Aren't Placebos
- The Health & Wellness Show: Placebos: When Nothing Really Matters
But what about when we suffer because of bad luck, rather someone else's actions? In that case it would seem to make little sense to get mad. And yet, a new study in Personality and Individual Differences finds that a certain group of people are more likely to show anger in such situations: those who feel like they are particularly entitled in the first place.
Psychological entitlement is essentially a belief that you deserve more than others. People who score highly in entitlement tend to think that others should be accommodating of their own needs and schedules, for instance, and are more likely to see themselves as being mistreated. When their high expectations aren't met, they can experience reduced wellbeing and feelings of anger.
Comment: Here we see a direct connection between high expectations and entitlement, and the natural reaction of anger when the world doesn't conform to unrealistic expectations. Everyone experiences entitlement and high expectations to varying degrees, but these things can be managed with just a bit of self reflection and observation about the world. And as far as good luck goes, fortune favors the prepared mind.
Alan's Facebook group is accessible here.
Running Time: 01:42:06
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Whereas ancient civilisations may have interpreted dreams as having supernatural or spiritual origins, in modern society, we're more likely to analyse our dreams in terms of our waking life, looking for meaningful connections linking the content of dreams with lived experiences from our day-to-day existence.
"Research has repeatedly provided strong support for what sleep scientists refer to as the 'continuity hypothesis of dreams': most dreams are a continuation of what is happening in everyday life," researchers led by computer scientist Alessandro Fogli from Roma Tre University in Italy explain in a new study.
"It turns out that everyday life impacts dreaming (e.g. anxiety in life leads to dreams with negative affect) and vice versa (e.g. dreaming impacts problem-solving skills)."
These psychological theories date back to the work of Sigmund Freud and others in the 20th century, who spearheaded the notion that the hidden meanings of dreams could be unlocked when examined within the context of a person's real-world experiences.
In contemporary dream analysis, therapists attempt to help patients interpret their dreams, via the use of dream reports, looking for clues, symbols, and structures that might correspond with other parts of the dreamer's life.
This week on MindMatters we delve into the world of extremist politics and entitlement to examine what really lies behind the righteous curtain of political ideology on the left and the right, and how more moderate voices are co-opted and exploited by their more radical confrères. 'Politically correct liberals', 'politically correct authoritarians', 'white identitarians': whatever the ideological mask, the root problem is the psychopathic element who influence and distort every type of belief system. When we realize that, perhaps we'll be able to get somewhere.
For the paper discussed, see here.
Running Time: 01:08:18
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Comment: First and foremost, society needs to educate itself on psychopathy, this would also go some way to providing itself with a defense from the damage caused by it: