personality disappeared or changed completely. In order to feel sane and make sense of the world, we need to perceive ourselves as continuous and coherent âselves.â How does the brain achieve this balance between a stable state that does not change and a highly sensitive and reactive flexibility that can react in milliseconds to sudden changes in the environment?
One possibility that neuroscientists are exploring is that the actual structure of the brain, how it is anatomically arranged and organized, actually establishes this metastability. The parts of the brain that make up the default mode network seem to be critical to the maintenance of an internal representation of ourselves.
We still do not fully understand the significance of the fact that the default mode network is formed from hub nodes. Because information is distributed throughout your brain, the hubs of your brain network are crucial to the efficient flow of this information to and from your consciousness. The hub structure of your brainâs network is what allows for memories to be almost instantaneously reconstructed as they enter your consciousness.
What appears to us as a single memory has to be reassembled from multiple brain regions every time we recall that memory. The short path-lengths through network hubs help this process to be so fast and automatic that we take it for granted.
In fact, recent evidence indicates that in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimerâs, the default node network is disrupted and shows less activation. This could be one reason why it becomes so difficult for Alzheimerâs patients to recall memories: the information stored in their brains cannot make its way through the network.
Conversely, people with schizophrenia show hyperactivity and hyperconnectivity in their default mode networks. If your default mode network is too active and its nodes have too many connections, you can have problems differentiating between reality and fantasy. There is a long history to the study of the relationship between genius and madness. Many scholars have argued that there is a fine line between the two.
The fact that abnormal activity in the default mode network is involved in debilitating mental illness illustrates its critical nature. However, as with Alzheimerâs disease, the disruption in default mode network activity may be a symptom rather than a cause. Between these ends of the spectrum lies an optimal level of default mode network activity which enhances our feeling of well-being, our physical health, and our creativity.
Fortunately, the only way to attain this optimal level of default mode activity is to put your feet up, find a nice pillow, lie back, and let go of task-oriented activity. Looking at great art, listening to your favorite music, and doodling may help facilitate this process.
Unfortunately, laziness is so stigmatized in America that everyone knows what it means. The trick is learning to embrace, defend, and demand the right to laziness as a prerequisite for a good life and a healthy society, and also recognizing that the astounding insights that may occur from those who have a particularly robust default mode network are not anomalies, but the norm.
3
AHA! MOMENTS AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE
âOn 15 April 1726 I paid a visit to Sir Isaac at his lodgings in Orbels buildings in Kensington, dined with him and spent the whole day with him alone ⦠After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank tea, under the shade of some apple trees, only he and myself. Amidst other discourse, he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasionâd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood.â
âWilliam Stuckley
âA genius is someone who discovers that the stone that falls and the moon that doesnât fall represent one and the same phenomenon.â
âErnesto
One possibility that neuroscientists are exploring is that the actual structure of the brain, how it is anatomically arranged and organized, actually establishes this metastability. The parts of the brain that make up the default mode network seem to be critical to the maintenance of an internal representation of ourselves.
We still do not fully understand the significance of the fact that the default mode network is formed from hub nodes. Because information is distributed throughout your brain, the hubs of your brain network are crucial to the efficient flow of this information to and from your consciousness. The hub structure of your brainâs network is what allows for memories to be almost instantaneously reconstructed as they enter your consciousness.
What appears to us as a single memory has to be reassembled from multiple brain regions every time we recall that memory. The short path-lengths through network hubs help this process to be so fast and automatic that we take it for granted.
In fact, recent evidence indicates that in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimerâs, the default node network is disrupted and shows less activation. This could be one reason why it becomes so difficult for Alzheimerâs patients to recall memories: the information stored in their brains cannot make its way through the network.
Conversely, people with schizophrenia show hyperactivity and hyperconnectivity in their default mode networks. If your default mode network is too active and its nodes have too many connections, you can have problems differentiating between reality and fantasy. There is a long history to the study of the relationship between genius and madness. Many scholars have argued that there is a fine line between the two.
The fact that abnormal activity in the default mode network is involved in debilitating mental illness illustrates its critical nature. However, as with Alzheimerâs disease, the disruption in default mode network activity may be a symptom rather than a cause. Between these ends of the spectrum lies an optimal level of default mode network activity which enhances our feeling of well-being, our physical health, and our creativity.
Fortunately, the only way to attain this optimal level of default mode activity is to put your feet up, find a nice pillow, lie back, and let go of task-oriented activity. Looking at great art, listening to your favorite music, and doodling may help facilitate this process.
Unfortunately, laziness is so stigmatized in America that everyone knows what it means. The trick is learning to embrace, defend, and demand the right to laziness as a prerequisite for a good life and a healthy society, and also recognizing that the astounding insights that may occur from those who have a particularly robust default mode network are not anomalies, but the norm.
3
AHA! MOMENTS AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE
âOn 15 April 1726 I paid a visit to Sir Isaac at his lodgings in Orbels buildings in Kensington, dined with him and spent the whole day with him alone ⦠After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank tea, under the shade of some apple trees, only he and myself. Amidst other discourse, he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasionâd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood.â
âWilliam Stuckley
âA genius is someone who discovers that the stone that falls and the moon that doesnât fall represent one and the same phenomenon.â
âErnesto
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