{"id":1963,"date":"2017-01-07T03:22:57","date_gmt":"2017-01-07T11:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/?p=1963"},"modified":"2017-01-14T00:45:42","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T08:45:42","slug":"the-realness-of-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/the-realness-of-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"The realness of thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

I sometimes wonder why our culture finds brain physiology so compelling. For example, I often see\u00a0science writing that goes something like this: “After performing [some mental or physical task], subjects displayed improved [memory, cognition, sleep, mood]. But not only that, MRI scans showed that their brains\u00a0literally changed size and shape!<\/em>”<\/p>\n

That’s like saying: “After [some exercise\u00a0program], subjects were able to lift on average 20 more pounds than they were at the start of the program. But not only that,\u00a0their muscles literally changed size and shape!<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Issue 1: If the goal is to lift more weight, then the details of what happened physiologically\u00a0are irrelevant to whether or not the intervention was a success. (Either the participants\u00a0got\u00a0stronger or they didn’t.)<\/p>\n

Issue 2: The fact that physiological\u00a0change occurred should have been\u00a0obvious, since\u00a0any change in behavior or ability\u00a0must be reflected in our physical bodies.<\/p>\n

Similarly in the brain-training studies, if the goal is to achieve improved cognition, sleep, mood, etc., then the details of what happened physiologically don’t\u00a0have any bearing (positive or negative) on whether the intervention was a success.\u00a0(If\u00a0cognition\/sleep\/mood had not<\/em> been affected, even a radical observed change in brain size\u00a0would not change the fact that the intervention failed. Conversely, if no brain\u00a0changes had been observed, that wouldn’t detract from any success the\u00a0intervention enjoyed \u2014 it just means that the anatomical aspect\u00a0of the change has not yet been discovered.)<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0the fact that a\u00a0physiological change occurred should not have been surprising. Unless you believe that minds\u00a0somehow avoid\u00a0the laws of physics, they must have a physical representation in the body. So any change in thinking or behavior must be represented physiologically\u00a0somewhere<\/em>. While it is indeed exciting<\/em> that neuroscientists are able to see\u00a0some of these changes in brain scans, their existence is expected \u2014 it confirms the known laws of physics.<\/p>\n

Yet it seems to be a continuing\u00a0source of surprise that\u00a0just by thinking, you can change the physical structure of your brain.<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps it’s a surprise\u00a0that thinking is\u00a0that real<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As more of us learn how to observe and change our own patterns of thought \u2014 and witness the very real effects on our emotions, behaviors, and psychosomatic\u00a0physical illnesses \u2014 maybe then the realness\u00a0of thinking\u00a0will become less of a surprise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sometimes wonder why our culture finds brain physiology so compelling. For example, I often see\u00a0science writing that goes something like this: “After performing [some mental or physical task], subjects displayed improved [memory, cognition, sleep, mood]. But not only that, MRI scans showed that their brains\u00a0literally changed size and shape!” That’s like saying: “After [some … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The realness of thinking”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1963"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2010,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963\/revisions\/2010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robinstewart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}