Modern Media Barn: Thoughts

The Brain That Changes Itself: Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science

By

Norman Doidge

Doidge provides an overview of what the brain can do and challenges normal assumptions of brain development after childhood.

Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to remap itself to accommodate changes in its needs.  Plasticity was developed in the shadow of a larger structuralism approach.  One may not think about the differences between the two  but the difference is striking in terms of potential. Structuralists would argue that the brain is formed as a child and stays consistently the same throughout ones’ life.  In effect, the areas of the brain do not change their basic purpose.  If an area of the brain is dedicated (mapped ) to feeling in one finger, it stays dedicated to that job throughout life.  The structural approach works well for the sake of predictability and probably for the sake of normality.  The brain normally remains fairly tied to its mapping.

However, the concept of plasticity maintains that the brain can change depending on its needs.  Plasticity becomes most important when the brain/body connection is broken.  Traumatic injury prevents the brain from receiving information from the eyes or ears can be circumvented.  If a path can be established, the brain can use the information.  Further, as the brain uses or fails to uses certain parts of the body, the brain devotes more or less resources to that function. The result is that the brain can be remapped.

While Doidge concentrates on the brain/body connection, I am left to consider the possibility that the social/emotional areas can be just as structured and just as plastic. Structure supplies the consistency of thought to choose paths for normal duties – buying bread and choosing political positions.  However, given an important enough event, the individual can be forced to reassign paths of thought.  As the brain can slowly reduce the space needed for certain physical tasks (e.g., basketball) for currently used tasks (e.g., typing).  The brain may also reassign certain thought connections as needs of the social/emotional changes.

Is it possible, for example, that the normal adoption groups can be altered?  Is it possible that that adoption of concepts is not predetermined by demographics but those demographics indicate people who tend toward a certain thought pattern?  With plasticity, those thought patterns can change.

Usually, I read just for work and sometimes just for fun. However, my idea of fun is sometimes not what others would think.

Recently, I have been wading slowly through the book Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger.  Undoubtedly, the book would have been headed for the academic backroom (and never hit my electronic bookshelf) had it not been for the fact that Ratzinger had not become Pope Benedict XVI.

To be honest, I am only about only about one-third of the way through the book.  It is not what most people would call “fun” reading so far. Since it is still early in the book for me, it is possible that the book will become a joyful romp through the life of Jesus but somehow I doubt it.

If I had thought about it, I would have expected what I found.  Ratzinger was a well known theologian and the book reflects his strong academic tradition.

Now most of you know that I am a quantitative researcher.  I have been lock in that tradition despite my respect for all means of research. However, I have never been able to understand the correct way to describe the methodology of a quantitative analysis.

Now, I have an excellent example.  Ratzinger lays out the parameters of his study including the relationship between the religious faith and the historical figure.  Further, he deals with the difficulty of nexus between the placing the original language of the Bible context and the belief in an everlasting meaning.  Naturally, he includes his major influences and how the book can be used.

If someone needs a similar discussion of qualitative analysis, I can suggest the introduction of the book.  Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by the academic rigor, thoughtful discussion, and realistic insight within the book.  It is not easy but worth it.

I remember, back in undergrad days, attending a lecture by Brian Wilson Key and his warning that hundreds of advertisers were practicing ‘’subliminal seduction.” Proponents of subliminal advertising believed that messages could be encoded below the threshold of recognition and still have an effect.
It might have started with cutting a single horrible frame (1/24 second) into a horror film to increase effect. The alternative was to cut an image of Coke and popcorn to increase sales. There were many others — most claiming some level of success. Of course, most doing the trials had a vested interest in its success. In the early 1990’s, an East Lansing, MI department store would randomly make non-subliminal but unexplained announcements which suggested store security was closing in on a shoplifter. A store employee admitted to me it was all theater.
Key took a different route. He tried to find subtle images worked into commercial advertising. His argument, “Why would advertisers do all this work if it did not pay?” In these pre-Photoshop days, if intentional, it would have been a lot of work.
The result placed Key squarely between a prophet and a dirty old man. He had to spend a LOT of time looking at images and seeing some pretty disturbing things: the orgy in a Denny’s placemat, skulls in ice cubes, and beautiful but subtly disfigured models. He maintained that the famous poster of Farrah Fawcett was made even more popular because her hair spelled out the word, “sex.” Funny, as a boy of a certain age at the time, I would have been sold by the swimsuit or the much less subtle nipple. For those reading this today, you must extrapolate to 1970’s standards.
As a student of broadcasting and psychology at the time, I tried to embrace the idea. However, I never could really get behind it. At that time, it was too difficult for the payoff. Today, it is difficult to see how the subtle images could compete with currently overt images. At best, I accepted that a subliminal message MIGHT cause a person to adopt a behavior they were inclined to do anyway (e.g., buy popcorn or not steal).
I go through this whole history lesson to set up my next entry — the new ‘’subliminal.” I would apologize for leaving you hanging but I have read this blog.