From Amanda's very early writing (1990s to early 2000s), shared as it was originally written.
Our Amazing Brains
Next time you are feeling a little stupid re read this article. One of the hottest new fields of science is an area called neuroscience which studies the brain and the central nervous system.And according to the leading lights in this field (very simplistically translated by me !) they are about to explode into modern thinking by shattering many 'myths' by which we have been livign our lives for years.
One of these bombs is that we are all genetically 'hardwired' for many of our behaviors from birth. Which of course leads to huge controversy in many life areas , as it provides anyone with a ready made excuse -' I can't help myself , I was wired that way!'.
We can in threory, according to the neuroscientists, blame our temperament, our intelligence, role preferences, emotional responses, levels of aggression and many of our 'moral choices', which turn out to be not free will choices, but tendancies imprinted in the hypothalamus and limbic systems of the brain, on our genetic makeup. These scientists question the validity of 'a self', 'the soul',the mind' and 'free will'.
A man called Edward O Wilson is seen as a leader in this field and he teaches at Harvard in zoology. He has created a new field called sociobiology . (There is a comprehensive arrticle on all of this by Tom Wolfe , in the Independent on Sunday 2nd February, 1997.) He suggests that every human brain is born not as a blank tablet waiting to be filled in by experience, but as an 'exposed negative waiting to be slipped into developer fluid' . It can be poorly or well developed - either way little will appear that is not already imprinted on the film. The imprinting comes from genetic history. Just when you thought
So stay tuned to various outlets as they make themselves heard over the next few years to see if you really can blame your parents for everything that has happened to you!
However, that is not the point of this article. The real reason for writing htis is to alert us to the incredible potential of our brain for developing 'connections'. Even the neuroscientists can't question this one!
teaches at Harvard in zoology and 'Oh Oh' I hear you tthinking as you slump (no doubt genetically) into the chair.
But maybe there is more to this idea of the quality of developing than meets our simple, genetically induced non scientific thinking. What about that study where teachers were told that testing of the children in their classes revealed two or three exceptional potential children - when in fact there was no such thing. Student's names were selected randomly. At the end of the year - guess what? Those students fared exceptionally well. What was expexted of them; or whether the teacher unconsciously paid more attention - whatever the reason, the children excelled. Is that just high quality development chemicals? Or is there more to it than just being hard wired?
s as the neuroscientistsevolution and our parents for everything that are and do
Our brain is full of wonderful cells called neurons. It's unusual because of it's shape, it's electrical and chemical function and mostly because of it's connectivity. In other words, how it links up with other neurons in networks. Each nerve cell receives connections (usually chemically) fromother nerve cells at sites called synapses. Just in the cortex of the brain (the big flap that covers the inside squishy stuff of the brain) there are about one million billion connections! According to Gerald Edelman (a Nobel prize winning scientist) in his book Bright Air , Brilliant Fire, it would take us thirty two million years to count all these connections!
Then he says that in a piece of our brain the size of a large matchhead, there are more potential connections than all the particles in the whole known universe. Whew! I reckon we must all be pretty smart.
Anyway, the point of this article is to suggest that I think it's healthier to believe that we all have phenomonal capacity in our brains - wejust have to know how to develop it so we can have the maximum number of connections. Maybe we do have a negative already imprinted - but maybe our technology isn't yet sophisticated enough to see everything that is imprinted on it?
So how to maximize the number of possible connections - which keeps our brains ticking over for a long time , keeps our memory intact and keeps us interested in life and interesting to be with?
You guessed it! Exercise. Exercising and using our minds in as many different ways as possible. From learning new languages, to singing and playing musical instruments, roller blading or any form of coordinated activities, to playing games like diablo (don't you hate the way kids make it look so easy ?) , to juggling, to crosswords, to puzzles, to gardening and cooking and reading poetry; to touch and physical stimulation.
These concepts came ot me in a flash of brilliance at Kangaroo Island - a paradise retreat where my generous and intelligent cousins have a holiday home. David is a physiotherapist who is rewriting many of hte traditional ways of thinking about treatment and managemnt of pain. He has squilllions of brain connections around everything to do with the brainandhow it works. He expands an already huge brain with fishing and rollerblading! Juliet is a genius of equal proportions. An ex teacher
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Juliet is a genius of equal art , and qualified art therapist, she is a fabulous cook; can play flamenco guitar; speaks two languages and is learning Spanish and a smattering of Japanese currently; she is a skilled and creative gardener; reads a great variety of novels and poetry; has embarked on the role of business manager for their business so she is now learning MYOB - an accounting computer program and how to do business plans and implement systems; she sings with a Greek choir and is aware of every environmentally sound product around! Wow, I reckon she is creating more connections than anyone I know!
I'm glad that somewhere I share some of the same gene pool! Now, I just have to start the connection process by learning how to play the piano, paint those gum trees I've been meaning to do; read poetry; garden; cook; speak languages; play games; sing more; play more tennis; learn new computer programs; think critically and.... . Better stop writing about them and start doing them! I've already bought a book on how to do cryptic crossword puzzles! (The Mensa puzzle books stink. They give you the answers but don't tell you how they came to that conclusion. It's like trying to read Martian but more frustrating! ) What about you - what will you do?
PS it seems that babies are born with brains of limitless potential and the more stimulation they have the more the connections are 'fired'. The number of possible connections is culled if they are not used. So the trick to creating the best possible product from the ' film negative' with which we are born, is an early start to lifelong learning - making sure it's fun along the way.
