One of the most mind-blowing things that I realized recently that sounds super silly as it leaves my head, is that my brain isn’t special. My brain is just like everybody else’s. Just a human brain thinking human brain thoughts.
What does that mean?
It means we’re not alone. We’re not alone in fear and anger and sadness. We’re not alone in overwhelm and confusion and doubt.
I’m not the only one on the planet who experiences fear when trying something new. I’m not the only one who has ideas but then doubts my abilities. I’m not the only one. These reactions are completely normal.
The beauty of the human brain, of course, is in our ability to choose. To transform an instinctual reaction into an intentional response.
Brains
Three areas of science that have always fascinated me are psychology, physics, and neuroscience (i.e. brain science). Somewhere within these three fields, I believe, are the secrets to human consciousness and the matter-transcending properties that come with it.
Since I’m being completely open and honest with you, I have to admit that I’ve spent the past decade avoiding diving too deeply into these three areas – out of fear. Fear that what I’ll find won’t be the answer to the consciousness question. What an interesting thing our brains do, right? They tell us to avoid fear to protect us, often at the expense of our dreams.
Not this time.
This time, I’m ready for it. My commitment to you and this website is propelling us right on through the fear. Let’s do this.
First up: neuroscience. Let’s take a shallow dive into the brain.
Clearly, the brain is where we think. I don’t need a neuroscientist to tell me that. I can feel the thoughts in my head as they’re created. That’s about as far as I get before needing some help.
What We Don’t Know
One thing that fascinated me as I was researching the human brain this week is how we really don’t understand what’s going on up there.
One example of this that really surprised me is that scientists still aren’t sure why we sleep. Crazy, right. Such a basic, critical human function. Obviously it’s required to rest and recharge, but scientists still don’t fully understand why.
In almost every text I came across on the brain this week, there was a sentence something like, “Still unknown is how the brain…” from an article on a brain wave study in Science News by Laura Sanders; or, “Though there is much still to be discovered about the brain…” from Blinkist’s final summary of Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon by Rahul Jandial.
I actually love this though. The brain is such a complex and fascinating organ — the fact that there’s so much yet to learn about it is really exciting.
What We Do Know
So what do neuroscientists know about the brain?
I can be guilty of digging way too far into the weeds – especially if I’m not super familiar with a topic. I can’t stand not completely understanding everything there is to know the minute I start studying a new subject (shocking that I never started right…). I will refrain from doing that here (you’re welcome) and will keep this article to the very basics.
Four Main Parts of the Brain
There are four main parts of the brain, which is consistent for all animals – the spinal cord, the hindbrain, the midbrain, and the forebrain. The closer to the base of the brain (spinal cord), the more basic the function.
A shark brain is used as a clear example of an animal brain. Each of the four sections of a shark’s brain is about the same size. Human embryos are similar. Fast forward to a fully grown human brain – guys, our forebrains are MASSIVE.
Triune Brain Theory
Though today’s neuroscientists have moved away from this theory, I think it does a great job of simplifying the brain into three main regions and associated functions so we can start to get a grasp on things.
Scientists now know that thoughts and emotions can’t be attributed to any one place in the brain. In the words of neuroscientist Steven Rose, “To seek localisation of thought, emotion or action in specific areas of the cortex is… to commit a category mistake, for such processes are held not in one location but in a pattern of dynamic interactions between multiple brain regions.”
Basically, our thoughts are all over the place and triune brain theory is an over-simplification. But it serves to illustrate the evolution of the brain and starts to paint the picture of where some of our thoughts come from.
American neuroscientist Paul MacLean formulated the Triune Brain model in the 1960s, which was used through the 1990’s. It divides the brain into three regions, each with distinct functions (today, scientists know that these regions are inter-connected). In MacLean’s model, the brain is an evolutionary hierarchy.
The hierarchy helps us understand that there are parts of our brain that are remnants of the earliest days of our evolution, which is kind of cool to think about. Let’s step through MacLean’s hierarchy, starting with the Primal brain.
The Primal Brain
True to its name, the Primal Brain, or hindbrain, incorporates our primal instincts. You may have also heard this referred to as the Reptilian Brain, aptly named after its resemblance to lizard brains and other reptiles.
Its main concern is with survival – of you and your species. The primal brain is the hub for functions like breathing, eating, fighting, and fleeing. It’s reliable, but pretty basic.
And there’s a catch – the primal brain is subconscious, meaning it runs in the background, and it isn’t rational. So when you’re operating from your primal brain, you aren’t consciously thinking about your actions – you’re just reacting to stimulus. This is great when we’re talking about breathing and heart-beating. This isn’t so great when we’re reacting to a perceived threat that isn’t actually threatening.
I find it really helpful to know that I have a primal brain. It helps me understand that there’s nothing wrong with me for feeling possessive or being afraid to try something new. This is all just part of the primal brain doing its job to keep me alive. Not a big deal.
Now that we know we have these instincts and that they’re all geared towards survival, we can turn to the conscious mind to help us out. All of our actions are observable to our conscious mind. Observing is the first step towards intercepting the primal responses we want to redirect to the rational brain for further processing before doing something we may later wonder — “What the hell was I thinking?”
The Emotional Brain
Part of the forebrain (the big part), the emotional brain evolved next. It’s also called the Paleomammalian brain because it evolved in mammals. MacLean coined this grouping of brain parts the Limbic System. The limbic system is associated with emotions and motivation. It’s usually under the control of the rational brain, but it does have the ability to respond on its own (yay).
You may have heard of the “amygdala hijack.” The amygdala, part of the limbic system, largely controls our response to stress and anxiety, particularly when we feel threatened. If left unchecked by the rational brain, the amygdala can lead to embarrassing outbursts or actions we later regret.
I, personally, have been a victim of my own amygdala hijack. In some not-as-proud moments, I’ve let my anger get the better of me. Now that I’ve developed some awareness of it, I can usually feel when it’s coming.
My whole body gets hot and I can feel the anger start to swell – maybe someone said something, which sparked a threat response from my primal brain. In times past, I’ve let my amygdala have its way with people – usually in the form of an aggressive verbal attack. Like I said, not-so-proud moments…
We have little power to choose what happens, but we have complete power over how to respond.
Arianna Huffington
The beauty of the brain, as neuroscientists are discovering, is that it’s all interconnected. Which gives me hope that my conscious, rational brain, has a shot at learning to manage my limbic system and its deeply-rooted thought processes.
The Rational Brain
Here’s where things get really interesting. Scientifically referred to as the Neocortex, this part of the brain is in charge of our rational thought.
This is where the higher functions we associate with mammals take place – like interpreting information from our senses, our capacity to reason and think about objects in multiple dimensions, conscious thought, and language. The skills and abilities quintessentially associated with being human.
On a random side note, I developed an unexpected compassion for lizards this week – poor little guys don’t have rational brains. The next time one gets stuck inside our screened patio, I’ll be less annoyed at its inability to quickly navigate to the open door.
There’s so much still to learn about the neocortex! Neuroscientists are still piecing together the puzzle.
My Initial Dive into Neuroscience
In my shallow dive this week into neuroscience, I learned that we’ve studied a bunch of stuff and we’ve broken down the anatomy of the brain, but neuroscientists still have no clue how it all fits together to create the human mind that produces conscious thought.
But they do know that they don’t know, and they’re working on it.
Along with psychology and physics (and any other science that offers up clues!), I’ll keep sharing my discoveries with you as we carry on with our search to uncover the mystery of consciousness and what it means to our everyday lives.