1. Happiness
“Attention is a limited-capacity resource… The last twenty years in neuroscience have revealed an enormous amount about how paying attention actually happens… to pay attention to one thing means that we don’t pay attention to something else. Attention is created by networks of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (just behind your forehead) that are sensitive only to dopamine. When dopamine is released, it unlocks them, like a key in your front door, and they start firing tiny electrical impulses that stimulate other neurons in their network. But what causes that initial release of dopamine? Something can grab your attention automatically, usually something that is salient to your survival, with evolutionary origins. This vigilance system incorporating the attentional filter is always at work, even when you’re asleep, monitoring the environment for important events. You effectively will yourself to focus only on that which is relevant to a search or scan of the environment. This deliberate filtering has been shown in the laboratory to actually change the sensitivity of neurons in the brain…But overall, as Dennis Overbye put it, “from traffic jams in Singapore to the weather on Mars,” we are just getting so much more information shot at us…Our brains are hungrily soaking all this in because that is what they’re designed to do, but at the same time, all this stuff is competing for neuroattentional resources with the things we need to know to live our lives.” —Daniel J. Levitin, The Organized Mind
2. Paying Attention
“Attention is a limited-capacity resource... The last twenty years in neuroscience have revealed an enormous amount about how paying attention actually happens... to pay attention to one thing means that we don’t pay attention to something else. Attention is created by networks of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (just behind your forehead) that are sensitive only to dopamine. When dopamine is released, it unlocks them, like a key in your front door, and they start firing tiny electrical impulses that stimulate other neurons in their network. But what causes that initial release of dopamine? Something can grab your attention automatically, usually something that is salient to your survival, with evolutionary origins. This vigilance system incorporating the attentional filter is always at work, even when you’re asleep, monitoring the environment for important events. You effectively will yourself to focus only on that which is relevant to a search or scan of the environment. This deliberate filtering has been shown in the laboratory to actually change the sensitivity of neurons in the brain...But overall, as Dennis Overbye put it, “from traffic jams in Singapore to the weather on Mars,” we are just getting so much more information shot at us... Our brains are hungrily soaking all this in because that is what they’re designed to do, but at the same time, all this stuff is competing for neuroattentional resources with the things we need to know to live our lives.” —Daniel J. Levitin, The Organized Mind
3. Making Decisions
The increasing complexity and pace of change in daily life has generated “decision sciences,” a multi-disciplinary way of thinking about how and why we choose certain options and not others. Not all of it is rational, or reasonable, as Dan Ariely and other emerging experts have pointed out. For example, optimism bias is common. We have difficulty with transference and generalizing. Our ability to assess risk and reward is unreliable, as is our clarity of understanding of facts, beliefs, external factors, probability, statistics, impact of emotions and relationships. As we try to “do the right thing,” we often generate unintended consequences. Freedom relies upon reasonable choices, but abundant freedom is not always desirable (as in pre-Putin Russia), and may add unwanted complexity to basic life decisions. Too few choices results in, for example, only one kind of banana for breakfast (the Cavendish) when so many more could be made available.
4. Intelligence
Howard Gardner theorizes: there are many types of intelligence—kinetic, musical, logical-mathematical, etc.—but the concept of “intelligence” remains difficult to define. Intelligence more than talent, skills, ease of learning, depth of understanding, inclinations toward or against certain types of learning, or natural brain power. (It’s all of these things, more and less.) Mostly, intelligence seems to reside at the intersection of attention and passion, in a neighborhood that, at least, does not discourage curiosity and exploration. Access to the work of others, and the time to cultivate ideas are also vital. Apart from the most esteemed institutions, most schools aren’t sure how to deal with intelligence, the promise of it, or the need for its nourishment. Schools tend to measure it, and to track students on the basis of a very flimsy understanding of highly imperfect measurement. While schooling contributes to the whole, each of us finds our own personal way to strengthen our intelligence by pursuing the endeavors that make us happy (back to Seligman’s theories). We integrate economic circumstances, observe and mimic others, hire mentors, read a lot, observe even more, process and engage in sense-making, wonder whether we’re smart, stupid or something else entirely, and make the best of what we’ve got. As intelligence goes, we’ve got a lot to learn.
5. Memory
We don’t attempt to remember everything—we write things down, or record them for later. How much do we—and don’t we—perceive or recall? What do we recall, and why? With better brains available—the powerful computer in your cell phone is one of them—we can outsource some processing and a lot of memorization to a more powerful, less distractible information processor. For most of our existence on earth, life was relatively simple—then, we shifted from nomadic to agricultural life, and developed very different needs. Planning, remembering, commerce, scholarly studies, increased specialization, economic benefits of developed expertise and knowledge—all of these contributed to external systems for noting, analyzing, processing, etc. We’re now developing technology that will allow us to store and forward electrical impulses from human brains to digital devices—as Ray Kurzweil describes on our path to a singularity, and Sebastian Seung promises as he envisions transportable thoughts, ideas and memories as stored electrical impulses that can be passed from one brain to another. This approach is not without its gaps: most of what humans have created, or understood, is gone, never to return. Our reliance upon technology is not making much of a difference.
6. Empathy, Sympathy & Compassion
Some primates, and all humans, are soft wired with mirror neurons. As I observe you—your anger, joy, your happiness, your sadness, your rage—the same neurons light up in my brain. Initially, and at a fundamental level, we share the emotion. Then, our other cognitive systems kick-in as we process the information based upon logic and reason. It’s as if we’re all connected in the most basic ways: by the energy that flows between us, and through other living (and, perhaps, less animate) forms in the biosphere. We rely upon visual clues, nuances in facial expressions and vocal tone; situational analysis and time spent together, learning how one another communicates. (This is one of the failings of digital communication, such as texting: many of these inputs are simply unavailable, so personal connections become more challenging and less reliable.) Psychology Today defines empathy as “the experience of understanding another person's condition from their perspective.” Merriam-Webster connects compassion with another’s distress and a desire to make thing better (it grows from the same root as patient). With its relationship to harmony, sympathy is also kin to feeling what others feel, supporting what others believe. These are defining characters of humans—some more than others. For those who are highly attuned to the nonverbal cues that carry information about emotion, Emotional Intelligence author Daniel Goleman offers a path to altruism, happy relationships, popularity and economic success. Those who struggle with empathy are not only deprived of happiness, but normal behaviors and relationships.
7. Stress
Although stress may originate in the physical body, much of modern stress is the result of emotional and mental puzzles related to the search for meaning, relationship or job issues, overspending, overeating, substance abuse, resource management, medical or emotional problems experienced by loved ones, and an inability to control circumstances. Stress may be related to a difficult work or personal situation, or the threat of real physical danger. Nobody lives without mental or emotional stress, but few people understand the physiology or biochemistry of a force that is both common and potentially devastating (excessive stress may led to bodily harm in the form of ulcers, stroke, heart attack, etc.) As with so many aspects of human existence, stress is also a positive, but only in manageable doses: it’s a necessary ingredient in performance, competition, urgency, prioritization and response to environment. Some of us cope quite naturally with stress; we incorporate its positive aspects and its management in our daily routines. Others learn solutions, such as yoga, relaxation, tai chi, exercise, simply taking a walk, or developing formal skills that minimize day-to-day stress such as time management. Humans also retain systems and processes from long ago; our brains, our minds seem to be wired to handle real and present danger, and emergencies, in ways that may be very different from our day-to-day approach to stress management. Human life has always been stressful, but we sense that it’s more stressful in our lifetimes than it was in the past. That seems very unlikely; the cultivation of this mythology may increase stress levels by confirming the severity of a condition that does not exist. Which is to say, often, we become very wrapped up in the cultivation and appreciation of our own stress.
8. Dreaming (Night and Day)
There are pleasant dreams and night terrors, erotic dreams and nightmares, dreams that make sense of the day, dreams make no sense at all. Some dreams are remembered for a lifetime; others fade in the haze of waking up. Despite neurological and psychological theories, historical interpretations and insights from fortunetellers, the common phenomenon of dreams remains both mystifying and nearly impossible to study or understand. We do know that dreams are successions of ideas, emotions, sensations and memories that occur involuntarily. When circumstances are right, we “check out” of the day, and get lost in a daydream. Why do we dream? Perhaps the mind is continuing to do the work of the day: assigning meaning, adding associations, building coherence, storing memories, repairing and rebuilding itself, building coherence between fuzzy ideas, organizing and storing details. Maybe there is a greater scientific, religious, mythical explanation. We may report what we recall to one another, and we may even appear in one another’s dreams, and, from time to time, a dream manifests into real world action. We may recall frighteningly or enlighteningly vivid details, but most dreams are made of flimsier stuff.
Although advances in cognitive science have greatly clarified the roles of the pre-frontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala in perception, sensation, responses, emotion and memory, the functions and capacity of the human brain remain mysterious. At least we can see the brain—we have good pictures, and we know that scientists and medical professionals have touched, probed, even repaired its soft tissue, followed its electrical patterns, and taken a close look at its cellular structure. The mind is more difficult to study because it is not a physical object. Instead, it’s a collection of intentions and behaviors, ideas and images, conceptual relationships and memories. We collect and evaluate ideas by observing behavior and developing psychological or sociological theories. We find ourselves fascinating, so it’s easy to lose our grasp on just how silly a mind studying a mind might be. We’re only human; we do the best we can.
2. Your Mind