The Enchanted LoomTeasing sturdy threads from
neuroscience masterworks
Teasing 10 threads fromMarc Lewis’s…
Thread 1:
The brain grows through the bountiful heart of the feedback loop. Feedback loops are just about the most pow- erful things in the world. Feedback makes things grow. It cares not what.(pg. 35)
Thread 2:
A major upgrade to the geography of the brain was the circuits for wanting and liking. Most of the striatum is in the business of wanting. Only a small area produces the sensation of liking.(pg. 58)
Thread 3:
Brain flesh remains mutable throughout our lives. After 6 months of abstinence gray matter lost to addiction returns to baseline levels. Gray matter then grows beyond baseline com- pared to non- addicts !(pg. 137)
Thread 4:
The cornerstone of addiction is “now” appeal in relation to narrowly defined rewards; ego fatigue arising from attempts to resist tempt- ation; and the ongoing stream of change and stability in individual minds.
(pg. 198)
Thread 5:
Cognitive control is a regulating signal that emerges from many parts of the brain. Ego fatigue disrupts that signal and results in the loss of volitional behavior.(pg. 156)
Thread 6:
Experiences that actually change synapses are those that are most compelling. Desire is evolution’s agent for getting us to pursue goals repeatedly.(pg. 208)
Thread 7:
Real-life narratives can’t be held in mind without the feelings that give them shape. Desire is the most potent of those feelings.(pg. 178)
Thread 8:
To me the message is clear: humans need to be able to see their own lives progressing, moving, from a meaningful past to a viable fu- ture. They need to see themselves as going somewhere.(pg. 204)
Thread 9:
Personality is little more than the laying down of habits for getting along in the world: habits of attraction, habits of self- regulation, habits for avoiding the rough edges of our lives.(pg. 178)
Thread 10:
The take home message here is simple: recovery involves major changes in thought and be- havior, and such changes require ongoing neural development – a change in synaptic patterns.(pg. 197)
Image Credits:
Title Page: http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/23193-personality-traits-brain-scans
Slide 3 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Feedback-Loop-68547735
Slide 12 - http://bit.ly/1g5i1cW
Slide 2 - http://www.thefix.com/content/interview-Marc-Lewis-addicted-brain8090?page=all
Slide 6 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Temptation-77022062
Slide 5 - http://rachapunk.deviantart.com/art/Vegetation-II-84456285
Slide 11 - http://bit.ly/1foqgjf
Slide 10 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/The-Journey-147082257
Slide 14 - http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/23193-personality-traits-brain-scans
Slide 9 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/DESIRE-149145056
Slide 8 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Desire-302267921
Slide 7 - http://bit.ly/1CVmmct
Slide 4 - http://meditationtime.grou.ps/talks/6525601
Mark Brady, [email protected]
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