Your “Self” Has a Toggle-Switch
Watching the brain switch off 'self'
Everybody has experienced a sense of "losing oneself" in an activity--whether a movie, sport, sex, or meditation. Now, researchers have caught the brain in the act of losing "self" as it shuts down introspection during a demanding sensory task. The researchers--led by Rafael Malach and Ilan Goldberg of the Weizmann Institute of Science reporting in the April 20, 2006, issue of Neuron--say their findings show that self-related functions actually shuts down during such intense sensory tasks…
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Experimental subjects got the same sensory inputs but were performing different tasks. One task was a sensory judgment about the content. The other task was an introspective judgment about the subject’s reaction to the sensory input. Observation was by fMRI. Introspective judgments activated the prefrontal cortex (known to play a role in such judgments). Sensory judgments activated the sensory cortex and related structures. Importantly, the prefrontal cortex was inactive during the intense sensory processing.
The researchers wrote: "… the picture that emerges from the present results is that, during intense perceptual engagement, all neuronal resources are focused on sensory cortex, and the distracting self-related cortex is inactive.” They also cite “Eastern philosophies such as Zen teachings, which emphasize the need to enter into a 'mindless,' selfless mental state to achieve a true sense of reality."
Oh, yes. The music of the modules. The sense of “I” is lost in the union with reality. You can see it in the fMRI. But don’t expect to hear it from your verbal system. It is clueless about what was happening. What the researchers were observing was obviously an “altered state of consciousness.” The power of focus. The power of the Hunter. My speculation is that the power of the Hunter is very much the same as the power of cocaine. Just better controlled and more effectively focused on goals.
Getting the power of the Hunter to work on long-term goals, however, also requires contributions from that prefrontal cortex. It is a matter of timing. “There is a time for everything. A time for planning. A tine for doing. And a time for knowing what time it is.”
About that toggle-switch for your “Self.” The power is not in which but in when.
Everybody has experienced a sense of "losing oneself" in an activity--whether a movie, sport, sex, or meditation. Now, researchers have caught the brain in the act of losing "self" as it shuts down introspection during a demanding sensory task. The researchers--led by Rafael Malach and Ilan Goldberg of the Weizmann Institute of Science reporting in the April 20, 2006, issue of Neuron--say their findings show that self-related functions actually shuts down during such intense sensory tasks…
----
Experimental subjects got the same sensory inputs but were performing different tasks. One task was a sensory judgment about the content. The other task was an introspective judgment about the subject’s reaction to the sensory input. Observation was by fMRI. Introspective judgments activated the prefrontal cortex (known to play a role in such judgments). Sensory judgments activated the sensory cortex and related structures. Importantly, the prefrontal cortex was inactive during the intense sensory processing.
The researchers wrote: "… the picture that emerges from the present results is that, during intense perceptual engagement, all neuronal resources are focused on sensory cortex, and the distracting self-related cortex is inactive.” They also cite “Eastern philosophies such as Zen teachings, which emphasize the need to enter into a 'mindless,' selfless mental state to achieve a true sense of reality."
Oh, yes. The music of the modules. The sense of “I” is lost in the union with reality. You can see it in the fMRI. But don’t expect to hear it from your verbal system. It is clueless about what was happening. What the researchers were observing was obviously an “altered state of consciousness.” The power of focus. The power of the Hunter. My speculation is that the power of the Hunter is very much the same as the power of cocaine. Just better controlled and more effectively focused on goals.
Getting the power of the Hunter to work on long-term goals, however, also requires contributions from that prefrontal cortex. It is a matter of timing. “There is a time for everything. A time for planning. A tine for doing. And a time for knowing what time it is.”
About that toggle-switch for your “Self.” The power is not in which but in when.
posted by Selby Evans at 3:10 PM
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