The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning
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A.F.T. Arnsten, Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nat Rev Neurosci, 2009. 10(6): 410–422.
260 Depressive or anxious patients . . . fearful stimuli in the scanner
J. S. Greg et al., Increased amygdala and decreased dorsolateral prefrontal BOLD responses in unipolar depression: related and independent features. Biol Psychiatry, 2007. 61(2): 198–209.
S. J. Bishop, Trait anxiety and impoverished prefrontal control of attention. Nat Neurosci, 2009. 12(1): 92–98.
260 Period of stress . . . turn off prefrontal function
Arnsten, Stress signalling pathways.
262 Meditative state increases activity in the prefrontal parietal network
B. R. Cahn and J. Polich, Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies. Psychol Bull, 2006. 132(2): 180–211.
262 Regular meditation . . . permanently change the prefrontal parietal network
J. A. Brefczynski-Lewis et al., Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2007. 104(27): 11483–11488.
262 Long-term meditation shifts the see-saw battles
Ibid.
262 Long-term meditation increases the thickness of the prefrontal cortex
S. W. Lazar et al., Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. Neuroreport, 2005. 16(17): 1893–1897.
262 Two months of meditation . . . shrink the . . . amygdala
B. K. Holzel et al., Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 2010. 5(1): 11–17.
262 Long-term meditation does improve a range of . . . tasks
M. Kozhevnikov et al., The enhancement of visuospatial processing efficiency through Buddhist deity meditation. Psychol Sci, 2009. 20(5): 645–653. A. Moore and P. Malinowski, Meditation, mindfulness and cognitive flexibility. Conscious Cogn, 2009. 18(1): 176–186.
H. A. Slagter et al., Mental training affects distribution of limited brain resources. PLoS Biol, 2007. 5(6): e138.
262 Meditation . . . reduce a person’s need for sleep
P. Kaul et al., Meditation acutely improves psychomotor vigilance, and may decrease sleep need. Behav Brain Funct, 2010. 6: 47.
263 Four meditation sessions . . . reduce . . . tiredness . . . increase working memory
F. Zeidan et al., Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: evidence of brief mental training. Conscious Cogn, 2010. 19(2): 597–605.
263 Yi-Yuan Tang . . . five days were needed . . . improve on an attentional task
Y. Y. Tang et al., Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2007. 104(43): 17152–17156.
263 Meditation . . . effective weapon against . . . a host of . . . conditions
J. N. Teasdale et al., Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. J Consulting Clin Psychol, 2000. 68(4):615–623.
J. Kabat-Zinn et al., Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Am J Psychiatry, 1992. 149(7): 936–943.
J. Kabat-Zinn, L. Lipworth, and R. Burney, The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain. J Behav Med, 1985. 8(2): 163–190.
D. P. Johnson et al., Loving-kindness meditation to enhance recovery from negative symptoms of schizophrenia. J Clin Psychol, 2009. 65 (5): 499–509. Z. V. Segal et al., Antidepressant monotherapy vs sequential pharmacotherapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, or placebo, for relapse prophylaxis in recurrent depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 2010. 67(12): 1256–1264.
Illustration Credits
Illustrations follow page 158.
Figure 1 Phineas Gage’s skull and brain: Wikimedia Commons. Image originally appeared in John Martyn Harlow, “Recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head,” Publications of the Massachusetts Medical Society 2 (1868): 327–347.
Figure 2 Examples of complexity: Dow Jones, Wikimedia Commons, permission granted under GNU Free Documentation License by K. Boroshko, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Finance-dow jones-chart1.jpg.Ants, Jacinda Brown, used with permission. Galaxy, courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Fractal, Wikimedia Commons.
Figure 3 Schematic of the human brain (base image): istockphoto.com.
Figure 4 The four lobes of the human brain: Centre for Neuro Skills, Neuroskills.com, used with permission.
Figure 5 An example of change blindness: Copyright Ronald Rensink, used with permission.
Figure 6 Examples of stimuli that induce repeated switches in visual perception : Reprinted from Neuron, vol. 21(4), F. Tong, K. Nakayama, J. T. Vaughan, and N. Kanwisher, Binocular rivalry and visual awareness in human extrastriate cortex, 753–759, copyright (1998), with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 7 Three types of cup assembly: Reprinted from Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 5(12), Christopher M. Conway and Morten H. Christiansen, Sequential learning in non-human primates, 539–546, copyright (2001), with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 8 In the fMRI scanner: Reprinted from Neuron, vol. 37(2), Daniel Bor, John Duncan, Richard J. Wiseman, and Adrian M. Owen, Encoding strategies dissociate prefrontal activity from working memory demand, 361–367, copyright (2003), with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 9 CT scan comparison of a normal brain and Terri Schiavo’s brain: Originally released to the public domain by Terri Schiavo’s doctor, Dr. Robert Cranford.
Index
Abnormalities
brain anatomy
genetic
sleep
Absentmindedness
Aczel, Balazs
Adaptability, complexity and
Algorithms
Alzheimer’s disease. See also Dementia
Amino acids
Amygdala
stress and
prefrontal cortex and
Anesthesia
learning and
unconsciousness and
Animal
chunking
consciousness
ethics
intelligence
self-knowledge
self-recognition
tool use
Antipsychotics
Anxiety
Apes
Arbaclofen
Artificial intelligence
Asperger’s Syndrome. See also Autism
Attention
boosting
brain and
consciousness and
filtering
focus
information processing and
working memory and
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
cognitive training and
prefrontal parietal network and
Ritalin treatment for
working memory and
Autism
behavior therapy
neurotransmitters and
opposite of schizophrenia
over-consciousness and
Awareness. See Consciousness
Baars, Bernard
Bacteria
absence of consciousness and
antibiotic resistance in
evolution and
information processing by
innovations in
natural selection and
Bálint’s syndrome
Baron-Cohen, Simon
Barrett, Adam
Bauby, Jean-Dominique
Behavior
animal
assessment of in vegetative state
chemical signaling and
consciousness and
controlling
emergent
enhancing
flaws in
information and
modifying
movement and
repetitive
stress and
subliminal messages and
treatment
Beilock, Sian
Beliefs
brain-based
evolutionary equivalent of
irrational or superstitious
Binocular rivalry
Biological machines
Bipolar disorder
Bisiach, Edoardo
Blade Runner (film)
Blindsight
Blindtouch
Boly, Melanie
Bonobos
Born on a Blue Day (Tammet)
Braille-reading, visual cortex activated
Brain
anatomy of
artificial
attention and
chemistry
complex
computational landscape of
computers and
consciousness and
development of
evolution and
function of
information processing and
interconnections of
language and
mapping
mind and
parallel/probabilistic nature of
processing by
recovery of
reptilian
rhythms/waves
sensory regions of
silicon
size of
specialized regions of
structure of
training
tumors
visual
weight of
Brain activity
chunking and
communication by
Brain damage
consciousness and
risk of
Brain network
Brain-scanning. See also Brain activity; fMRI
Brain stem
Breathing
Bulimia
Bush, George W.
Bush, Jeb
Byron, Lord
Caenorhabditis elegans
Cancer
Cardiovascular disease
Cerebellum
Chabris, Christopher
Change blindness
Changeux, Jean-Pierre
Chaos
misinterpreting
stability and
Chee, Michael
Chelazzi, Leonardo
Chemical
brain See also Neurotransmitters
complexity, breeding
constituents of life
imbalances, consciousness and
signaling
Chimpanzees
brain of
Chinese Room argument
Choices. See Decision Making/decisions
Choo, Wei Chieh
Chromosomes
Chunking See also Chunks; Strategies; Structure
animal
arts, use of
brain activity and
consciousness and
destructive form of
fruits of
hierarchical
language and
learning improvement and
levels of
mathematical
memory-based
prefrontal parietal network and
process of
propensity for
strategies for
visual
Chunks
building
deep-seated
detecting
information
innovative
language
mathematical
memory
mental
questioning
spotting
unconscious mind and
Claus, Ralf
Clayton, Nicky
Coffee: protection against depression
Cognition. See also Thought
consciousness and
Cognitive training
Cohen, Michael
Coma
Communication
brain activity and
information
language
neural
two-way brain
Complexity
adaptability and
flexibility and
neural
Computation
biological
Computers
biological
brain and
Chinese Room argument and
consciousness and
emotions/sensations and
evil
impact of
language and
meaning, ability to process
probabilistic parallel
serial deterministic
silicon
thoughts and
Concept of Mind, The (Ryle)
Concepts
layering of
hierarchical
Concussions
Conjoined twins
Consciousness
anesthesia and
animal
artificial
attention and. See also Attention
attentional enhancement of
biological form of
blindsight and
brain damage and
brain damage, detecting in
brain damage, repairing
brain regions for. See also Prefrontal parietal network; Thalamus
brain waves/rhythms for
building
capacity for
changes in
characteristics of
chunking and
complexity of
components of
computational nature of. See also Chinese Room argument
contents of
continuum
decision making and
driving force of
dysfunctional
early
emotions/sensations and
engaging
essence of
evolutionary advantage of
evolutionary expansion in humans
explaining
extensive
fetus and questions of
fragility of
forms of
healing
higher-order
human compared with other species
infant
layers of
level of
limits of
location of. See Consciousness: brain regions for
loss of
meaning and
measuring
meditation and
mental illness and