Brains On Purpose™

Being strong and silent, or meek and mild, may turn you weak and wild

Is it good to suppress or hide your feelings? Perhaps sometimes, but certainly not always, because voicing them seems to activate the brain's braking system and calm down the emotional response. I have blogged about labeling the affect in the past, but was reminded of that process's value when reading the article "The Brain’s Braking System (and how to ‘use your words’ to tap into it)" [pdf].

In the article, neuroscientist Matt Lieberman takes a look at self-control of several kinds: emotional, motor, perspective-taking, cognitive, and financial. He says all these kinds of self-control involve the same part of the brain, the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (RVLPFC), which he calls the "brain's braking system." An interesting point: Because of the RVLPFC commonality, when we engage in one kind of self-control, that braking system may cause other kinds of self-control to kick in, too.

Lieberman then writes that naming your feelings (labeling your affect) can regulate your emotions.

The affect labeling data suggests that putting feelings into words is a form of emotion regulation. The problem with this account is that affect labeling does not feel like emotion regulation. When you try to suppress your emotions you know you are doing it – it is quite conscious. Although people sometimes put their feelings into words in order to generate new insights and improve their emotional well-being, we often put our feelings into words without any expectation that mere affect labeling will have an emotional benefit.

Can you improve your ability to put feelings into words in order to regulate them? Although more research is being done by Lieberman, results so far seem to indicate that practicing mindfulness meditation can make that ability sharper. Another good addition to the growing list of benefits of mindfulness

He concludes:

We have ... demonstrated evidence suggesting that putting feelings into words serves as an unexpected

The brain for non-scientists: A 75-minute lesson in 12 short segments

Want to learn about

• Plasticity
• Imaging/Development
• Vision
• Hearing
• Motor System
• Language
• Music
• And more?

Then take a look at Changing Brains, a Web site created by University of Oregon. Click on "Watch Online" to see the videos that will give you information about your brain. Click on "References" for a list of readings. Clicking on "Resources" will take you to a long list of links. Thanks, U of Oregon.

Read more about the videos in "All About the Brain, in Just 75 Minutes" (Newswise):

It is the consistency of room-temperature butter, fits easily into two outstretched hands and contains a galaxy's worth of neurons. It is the human brain and the focus of a DVD -- "Changing Brains: Effects of Experience on Human Development" -- produced at the University of Oregon.
Did you ever wonder how everything we know, feel, and think is wired in this delicate organ? Did you ever wonder how children’s experiences shape their brain? Answers to these questions and more can be found the 75-minute program created for parents, teachers, caregivers, policymakers and anyone else interested in the mysteries of the brain.

Students, faculty and staff in the UO's Brain Development Lab produced the content for DVD, which is geared for non-scientists. There are 12 segments, including nine specific topics, all presented in mostly everyday language. ...

"The central theme of our production is that virtually every aspect of the development of the human brain and the sensory, cognitive, social and emotional skills that it supports is dependent on and shaped by experience -- input from our environment," said Helen Neville, a professor of psychology and neuroscience and holder of the Robert and Beverly Lewis Endowed Chair at the UO. "Every statement that is made in this DVD is supported by evidence from scientific studies."

The program begins with an introduction that describes the human brain, the central role it plays in human functioning, its fragility and the methods used to study its structure and function. Also detailed are mechanisms that allow experience to shape the brain's development. Its architecture is likened to a house: structurally sound if built appropriately or weak and subject to collapse if not.

"4 ways to keep your brain limber": People with rigid brains don't make good mediators

Of course, keeping the brain limber is very important for anyone who facilitates conflict resolution. Here's an article with some tips on how to attend to your brain so it does not get rigid. The four methods: insight, behavior, emotion, and focus. (The article includes a relaxation exercise I have tried in the past and appreciated.)

You will see that the article quotes Jeff. From "4 ways to keep your brain limber" (cnn.com):

Behavior: If a night out usually means dinner and a movie, buy tickets for a flamenco performance instead. Drive the slow, scenic road to work versus the highway. Take a class in a subject that interests you but has nothing to do with your job.

When you follow a routine, your brain can operate in low-energy mode, via relatively primitive structures known as the basal ganglia, says Jeffrey Schwartz, M.D., co-author of "The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force."

In contrast, new activities engage the prefrontal cortex, an evolutionarily younger area that needs more energy to function. That's why breaking a routine may feel hard -- but if you push past that effort, Schwartz says, new experiences can help stimulate fresh states of mind that leave you feeling both more focused and energized.

Now go do something new.

Why it's brain-friendly to clarify ideas through images

I have before urged you to make images a part of the conflict resolution process. Here's a TED video on why images assist in good communication. From the Web page of this video of Tom Wujec:

Information designer Tom Wujec talks through three areas of the brain that help us understand words, images, feelings, connections. In this short talk from TEDU, he asks: How can we best engage our brains to help us better understand big ideas?

The video is only 6 and 1/2 minutes long. And the presenter is a good speaker. Watching will be a good—and short—break for you.

On another note: Click to see the interview I posted today at idealawg of Sue Smalley, founder of UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Mistake making related to break taking: Time away from the conflict yields the best results

Want to increase the chances of going down the wrong alleys in conflict resolution? Don't take breaks. I have posted before about the need to put the problem out of your mind for a while to allow the brain to work on wise solutions. I was glad to see that Matt May guest-blogged about this process today at CNBC.

May writes in Why The Best Ideas Have Something Missing:

Neuroscientists now believe that the ability to engineer creative breakthroughs hinges on the capacity to synthesize and make connections between seemingly disparate things, and a key ingredient is time away from the problem. Experiments show that creative revelations come when the mind is engaged in an activity unrelated to the issue being addressed, and that pressure is not conducive to creative thought. Recent research demonstrates that the ultimate break — sleep — actually changes our mind’s perspective unconsciously. Information is consolidated by a process taking place in the hippocampus during sleep, enabling the brain to effectively clear itself and reboot, all the while forming new connections and associations. The result is new insight and the aha! feeling of the Eureka moment.

How might you incorporate sleep into your dispute resolution process? I doubt that naps would fly in most situations but how about scheduling so that a night or more occurs between sessions? If that is not possible, at least take some wake breaks. Don't you want to encourage "creative breakthroughs"?

Note: May's newest book was recently published; it's entitled In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing. I hope to read it soon and will tell you about it.

Fun overview of how the brain works

Let Dr. Steven Schlozman tell you about the brain here. Don't worry about the zombies. The information is about real, living people's brains, too.

Image credit: JTR.

More about the brain and decision making: Another interview with Jonah Lehrer

A number of people have told me that my recent posting of a Jonah Lehrer interview on how we make decisions was appreciated. Obviously the process of deciding is a foundation of conflict resolution so I am linking you to another interview of Lehrer about the brain and decisions, this one from the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. From the Web page of the interview "Jonah Lehrer: Brain Science for the Rest of Us":

[Lehrer's] new book How We Decide ... is a set of cautionary tales about the limits of the rational brain, that peculiarly human pre-frontal cortex, and by implication the limits of rational science. It is not reason — certainly not reason alone — that tells quarterback Tom Brady which receiver should get the pass, or that tells the pilot of a disabled plane how to land it. It’s not even reason that brings the best of our human gifts into balance. Lehrer quotes G. K. Chesterton: “The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”

Jonah Lehrer identifies himself with the modern doctor who tells you not to choose the MRI for your lower back pain but to study patience, or perhaps Yoga, instead. Not only have MRIs not solved the problem of back pain. “In fact, the new technology has probably made the problem worse. The machine simply sees too much. Doctors are overwhelmed with information and struggle to distinguish the significant from the irrelevant… This is the danger of too much information: it can actually interfere with understanding.”

In the interview, he talks about why neuroscience is becoming so popular and says it's because the science is becoming practical. He also says the way to avoid the consequences of the flaws in our

Some resources if you want to learn about your brain

At the Society for Neuroscience Web site, you will find educational resources including Brain Facts: A Primer on the Brain and Nervous System. You can download the book for free, either in part or the whole 74 pages. You also can access NERVE, Neuroscience Education Resources Virtual Encycloportal. About NERVE:

This dynamic online gateway offers a wide range of K-12 education resources, searchable by grade level and topic, including lesson plans, multimedia presentations, animations, games, and more. The materials you find on NERVE will equip you for your next public outreach activity!

Lots more to explore at the SfN site, too. Click on over.

And here is an extremely amusing way to memorize the major parts of the brain. Memorize the parts of the brain - part 2.

Image credit: jkt_de.

Want to learn how functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) works? Read this

Not infrequently, I will refer here to brain research that has used fMRI. If you want to read a very clear explanation of how this imaging works (as well as some of its misuses and limitations), I have a gem for you over at idealawg.

Play what you know and then play above that: The role of improvisation in mediation

A jazz saxophonist decided to see what his brain was doing when he was improvising. Luckily he was also a neuroscientist so he was able to cleverly set up and conduct the research. Watch a short video here about how they were able to allow musicians (jazz pianists) to improvise while undergoing fMRI scans. (Study link at the end of this post.) What did they find?

From "This Is Your Brain On Jazz: Researchers Use MRI To Study Spontaneity, Creativity" (Science Daily):

It appears, they conclude, that jazz musicians create their unique improvised riffs by turning off inhibition and turning up creativity.
...

... “It’s a remarkable frame of mind,” [Charles J. Limb, MD] adds, “during which, all of a sudden, the musician is generating music that has never been heard, thought, practiced or played before. What comes out is completely spontaneous.”
...

The scientists found that a region of the brain known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex ... showed a slowdown in activity during improvisation. This area has been linked to planned actions and self-censoring, such as carefully deciding what words you might say at a job interview. ...

The researchers also saw increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex ... .  This area has been linked with self-expression and activities that convey individuality, such as telling a story about yourself.
...

Limb notes that this type of brain activity may also be present during other types of improvisational behavior that are integral parts of life for artists and non-artists alike. For example, he notes, people are continually improvising words in conversations and improvising solutions to problems on the spot. ...

That improv place in the brain (actually it is probably more of a "frame of mind" as described above) could obviously be very helpful in both parties and mediators at many times in a mediation. Is improv welcome in your mediation sessions?

After many hours over the years of speaking with jazz trumpeter Hugh Ragin, I think jazz musicians have known for a long time much of what neuroscientists and other researchers are now showing. For example, Hugh summed up some of embodied cognition by saying, "Don't worry if you know the song; your fingers know it so get your head out of the way." (Of course, this assumes that the musicians have  practiced.) This get-your-head-out-of-the way advice is one reason why some mediations should be more whole-bodied but more about that another day.

Hugh also gives some advice to his musicians that I often follow in my non-musical endeavors. Here's Miles Davis giving the same advice to the musician in his band:

If you put a musician in a place where he has to do something different from what he does all the time, then he can do that—but he’s got to think differently in order to do it. He has to use his imagination, be more creative, more innovative; he’s got to take more risks. He’s got to play above what he knows—far above it—and what that might lead to might take him above the place where he finds himself right now—and to the next place he’s going and even above that!...I’ve always told the musicians in my band to play what they know and then play above that. Because then anything can happen, and that’s where great art and music happens.* [emphasis added]

And perhaps great mediations.

Click for "Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Performance: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation."

Be sure to read Geoff Sharp's post Jazz brings mediation alive in which he links to a great article from Los Angeles Daily Journal titled "Through Jazz, Bringing Mediation 'Fresh To Life'".

*Quoted in Sweet Dreams in America by Sharon D. Welch

Note (added August 3, 2008, 4:10 PM Mountain): "Bold look at the brain on jazz finds creativity soars when inhibition takes 5" (Article from The Associated Press)

Note (added August 22, 2008, 12:30 PM Mountain): "Mental illness 'at the root of jazz'" (BBC News).

Note (added November 25, 2008, 8:30 AM Mountain): "Jazz Musicians Lose Control" (Discover).

More words of caution: Are you a wise mediator or a woolly mystic?

Lots of pseudoscience being tossed around these days, sometimes by people you might likely assign credibility. Last month, I attended a talk by George Lakoff about his new book The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain and was appalled at how he used the science. After reading an article "Mind Games" (The National), I knew I was not alone. Jeremy Freeman writes:

In a typical argument, Lakoff starts by describing a fairly well-established neuro-scientific theory and then generalises it to apply to a highly abstract and unstudied context. That simply does not work in neuroscience. One of the central challenges of studying the brain is that an understanding at a particular level of analysis does not always translate to others. A theory about learning at the level of individual neurons may or may not apply to the learning of complex metaphorical relationships. A theory about how the brain binds simple visual features into complex objects may or may not apply to the way it binds simple emotional experiences into complex narratives. In making these leaps, Lakoff reveals himself as someone distinctly out of touch with neuroscience.

Unfortunately I see all too much of that leaping from neuroscience to the abstract. The leapers say something like this: "Well, we know this about the brain so we must know that about how businesses run or what employees need." Some of the leaps are astounding.

And these leaps would be laughable if so many people were not being misled.

How many of you have been e-mailed that Jill Bolte Taylor TED talk? At idealawg, I have posted the need for critical thinkng about Taylor's thoughts and "facts." Last week, I saw another

Mirror neurons: Some resources

Mirror neurons with their role in perceiving intent and emotions are important to the processes of conflict resolution, so I have discussed mirror neurons here before. Two new books on the topic were reviewed this weekend in The Wall Street Journal. "The Reflection Reflex" covers both Mirroring People:The New Science of How We Connect with Others by Marco Iacoboni and Mirrors in the Brain by Giacomo Rizzolatti and Corrado Sinigaglia. Reading the review is a quick way to brush up on mirror neurons. Or listening to a new interview of Iacoboni or of Rizzolatti at sciencepodcasters.org will also give you a good overview of these "smart cells."

Note (added September 20, 2008, 10:43 AM Mountain): An article by Iacoboni: "Mental Mirrors" (Natural History).

Image credit: Kevin Rosseel at morguefile