William Blake

"To see a world grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand an eternity in an hour..."

Το πάθος της δημιουργίας Του Χαριδημου Κ. Τσουκα*

Το πάθος της δημιουργίας

Του Χαριδημου Κ. Τσουκα*

«Να δώσεις ύφος στον χαρακτήρα σου – μια μεγάλη και σπάνια τέχνη.»
Φ. ΝΙΤΣΕ

Αν και είχα προετοιμαστεί για το θάνατό του, εν τούτοις ένιωσα σαν να έχανα έναν κοντινό μου άνθρωπο. Ηταν το ίδιο συναίσθημα που ένιωσα με τον θάνατο του Τζον Λένον, του Μάνου Χατζιδάκι, και του Κορνήλιου Καστοριάδη. Δεν χρειάζεται να ξέρεις έναν δημιουργό προσωπικά, είναι αρκετό να συνδεθείς με το έργο του.

Ο πρόωρος θάνατος του Στιβ Τζομπς τερμάτισε τη ζωή ενός παθιασμένου οραματιστή, που μετασχημάτισε αρκετές βιομηχανίες και άλλαξε την καθημερινότητα της ζωής μας. Πέρα από τα υπέροχα προϊόντα του, αυτό που εντυπωσιάζει είναι η προσωπικότητά του. Τα τεχνουργήματά του ήταν το αποτύπωμα μιας πολυσχιδούς, ενθουσιώδους, χαρισματικής, ευφάνταστης, βουλησιαρχικής, εποικοδομητικά ναρκισσιστικής προσωπικότητας. Δεν θα κατανοήσουμε αυτή την προσωπικότητα, αν δεν καταλάβουμε την πορεία της διαμόρφωσής της.

Ο Τζομπς ήταν παιδί των σίξτις, των καλιφορνέζικων σίξτις. Ο απόηχος της αντικουλτούρας –η αναζήτηση αυθεντικής ατομικότητας, η αυτοπραγμάτωση, η αντισυμβατικότητα, ο συγκρητισμός– τον επηρέασε καθοριστικά. Η ατμόσφαιρα πειραματισμού της Σίλικον Βάλεϊ, η διαρκής αναζήτηση της καινοτομίας και η ριψοκίνδυνη επιχειρηματικότητα διαμόρφωσαν τον ορίζοντά του. Μέσα σε αυτό το περιβάλλον αναζήτησε τις συντεταγμένες της ζωής του. Παράτησε τις σπουδές του στο πανεπιστήμιο, παρακολούθησε στη συνέχεια, ανεπίσημα, μόνο μαθήματα που τον ενδιέφεραν (όπως η καλλιγραφία), πειραματίστηκε με ψυχεδελικά ναρκωτικά, ταξίδεψε στην Ινδία, έγινε βουδιστής, ήταν φανατικός χορτοφάγος. Στις άπειρες διακλαδώσεις του βίου, οι «υπόγειες διαδρομές» του συναντήθηκαν απρόβλεπτα (όπως συνήθως συμβαίνει) και ανέδειξαν έναν ασυνήθιστο επιχειρηματία: συγκέρασε ψηφιακή τεχνολογία, επιχειρηματικότητα, και αντικουλτούρα. Κάποτε είπε ότι οι άνθρωποι στη βιομηχανία των υπολογιστών «δεν είχαν πολύ διαφορετικές εμπειρίες στη ζωή τους, οπότε δεν έχουν πολλές τελείες να ενώσουν, και καταλήγουν σε πολύ γραμμικές λύσεις».

Ο ανήσυχος χαρακτήρας του σχετίζεται με την ασυνήθιστη ανατροφή του. Οταν γεννήθηκε, οι βιολογικοί γονείς του τον έδωσαν για υιοθεσία. Ανθρωποι της εργατικής τάξης, ευπρεπείς και στοργικοί, οι θετοί του γονείς είχαν υποσχεθεί στους βιολογικούς του γονείς, που το ζητούσαν επιμόνως, ότι θα τον έστελναν στο πανεπιστήμιο. Το έκαναν. Διακόπτοντας τις σπουδές του, όμως, ο νεαρός Στιβ ήταν σαν να εξεγείρεται κατά των γονιών του. Κόβει συμβολικά τον ομφάλιο λώρο, αναζητώντας την αυτοπραγμάτωσή του. Η γνωστή τελειομανία του, που τον οδήγησε κάποτε στα όρια διατροφικής διαταραχής, εξέφραζε τη βούληση να ελέγχει το πεπρωμένο του. Ηθελε να γίνει όπως αυτός ήθελε – τέλειος. Η υιοθεσία του υπογράμμιζε την τυχαιότητα της ζωής και αναδείκνυε την ψυχική ανάγκη του να γίνει αποδεκτός από τους άλλους, κυρίως μέσα από τα έργα του. Η ισχυρή θεληματικότητά του απέρρεε από τη βαθιά επιθυμία να ορίσει ο ίδιος τη ζωή του. Οι ενδοψυχικές συγκρούσεις του δραματοποιήθηκαν στη δημόσια σκηνή – μετουσιώθηκαν σε επιχειρηματικά - τεχνολογικά ενδιαφέρουσα πράξη.

Η διαίσθησή του, ο εκρηκτικός χαρακτήρας του και η αυτοπεποίθησή του ήταν παροιμιώδεις. Εμπιστευόταν το ένστικτό του και χρησιμοποιούσε τη διευθυντική ισχύ του για να το επιβάλει. Οι έρευνες αγοράς ήταν για τους μέτριους, τους «νερόβραστους», όχι γι’ αυτόν. Αυτός ήξερε τι ήθελε και, κυρίως, ήξερε τι θα ήθελαν οι πελάτες του αν μπορούσαν να το εκφράσουν. «Συχνά οι άνθρωποι δεν ξέρουν τι θέλουν μέχρι να τους το δείξεις», έλεγε.

Τα πολυσχιδή ενδιαφέροντά του ήρθαν σε ώσμωση μεταξύ τους: κατάφερε να συμβιβάσει τις αξίες της επιχείρησης με τις αξίες της αντικουλτούρας, την τεχνολογία με την αισθητική, τη λειτουργικότητα με το ντιζάιν. Ο Τζομπς ήταν στον αντίποδα του τεχνοκράτη. Καταλάβαινε καλά την τεχνολογία, αλλά έβλεπε πολύ πιο πέρα από αυτή. Στα μαθήματα καλλιγραφίας βρήκε «ομορφιά, ιστορικότητα και καλλιτεχνική λεπτότητα με έναν τρόπο που η επιστήμη αδυνατεί να συλλάβει». Είχε το μυαλό του μηχανικού, αλλά την αισθητική του καλλιτέχνη.

Η δημιουργία δεν εξηγείται αιτιακά, ούτε παράγεται μηχανικά, λέει ο Καστοριάδης. Το πλήρες νόημα των πράξεών μας δεν μας είναι γνωστό τη στιγμή που συμβαίνουν. Αν και δημιουργούμε τον εαυτό μας μέσα από τις πράξεις μας, δεν γνωρίζουμε εκ των προτέρων τις βιωματικές συνέπειές τους. Η πράξη μετασχηματίζει τον δρώντα, συχνά με απρόβλεπτο τρόπο. Δίνουμε συνοχή στη ζωή μας αναζητώντας αφηγηματικά, εκ των υστέρων, το νήμα που συνδέει τις εμπειρίες μας. Συνδέοντας τις εμπειρίες –τις τελείες– σε κάθε φορά διαφορετικά συμφραζόμενα, δημιουργούμε βαθμιαία τον εαυτό μας – το προσωπικό ύφος μας. Τα μαθήματα καλλιγραφίας του Τζομπς βρήκαν αργότερα τον δρόμο τους στις γραμματοσειρές του Macintosh. Τίποτα δεν πάει χαμένο.

Στην περίφημη ομιλία του στους αποφοίτους του Στάνφορντ, το 2005, απηχώντας τον Σοπενάουερ, είπε: «Δεν μπορείς να δεις όλη την εικόνα κοιτάζοντας μπροστά. Τη βλέπεις μόνο κοιτάζοντας πίσω. (…) Πρέπει να πιστεύεις σε κάτι – στο ένστικτό σου, στο πεπρωμένο, στη ζωή, στο κάρμα, σε κάτι». Η πίστη σού δίνει ώθηση για δημιουργία. Τη σημασία της δημιουργίας ποτέ δεν μπορείς να την ξέρεις εκ των προτέρων, την ανακαλύπτεις αργότερα. Δρούμε κάθε φορά μέσα στην ομίχλη, βλέπουμε καθαρά από απόσταση. Να αποδέχεσαι την αβεβαιότητα, να δρας γνωρίζοντας την ανοιχτότητα του νοήματος των όσων κάνεις, να διαθέτεις εσωτερική ορμή, πάθος για αξίες, νιτσεϊκή «υπερχείλιση», να πασχίζεις να συνθέτεις τις εμπειρίες σου – αυτά συνιστούν τα σημαντικότερα γνωρίσματα του δημιουργικού ανθρώπου.

Σε ευχαριστούμε, Στιβ, για ό,τι μας έδωσες και για ό,τι ενσάρκωσες.

* Ο κ. Χ. Κ. Τσούκας (htsoukas@gmail.com) είναι καθηγητής στα Πανεπιστήμια Κύπρου και Warwick.

2010 Q4

entries 29
times 14
speed 18.6
miles -78

Does belief in free will lead to action?

Free will may be an illusion. Yet we persist in believing we are the masters of our fates—and that belief affects how we act. Think you determine the course of your life and you're likely to work harder toward your goals and feel better about yourself too. Think you don't, and you're likelier to behave in ways that fulfill that prophesy.

"Folk psychology tells us if you feel in control, you perform better," says Davide Rigoni, an experimental psychologist now at the University of Marseille. "What is crucial is that these effects are present at a very basic motor level, a deep level of brain activity."

Working with Marcel Brass and Simone Kuhn of the University of Gent and the University of Padova's Giuseppe Sartori, Rigoni showed that shaking people's belief in self-mastery impairs their brains' readiness to act, even before they're aware of the intention to move. The study is published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

To see how free-will beliefs affect pre-conscious aspects of motor control, the team observed a well-known brain marker of voluntary action: the negative electrical wave of "readiness potential," which first fires in preparation to move and then, milliseconds later, activates as the brain sends signals to the muscles. Because the first part is not conscious but is modulated by intention, the researchers thought its strength might reflect belief—or disbelief—in free will.

The study divided 30 men and women ages 18 to 24 into two groups. The experimental group read a text stating that scientists had discovered free will to be an illusion. The control group read about consciousness with no mention of free will. They were instructed to read carefully in preparation for a quiz.

Then the participants performed a "Libet task": pressing a button whenever and however many times they chose, while indicating on a screen the time they became aware of the intention to act. Meanwhile, an EEG recorded their brain activity.

Finally, participants answered questions assessing their beliefs in free will and determinism, both regarding people in general and themselves in particular.

The questionnaires showed the text worked: the first group's belief in their own self-determination was weaker than that of the control group's.

The same effect showed up in the Libet test. The no-free-will group's EEGs measured brain activity far lower than the control group's during that first, unconscious phase of readiness potential. Deep in the brain, the gumption to act flagged along with the belief in self-determination.

Impatient with the biological deterministic bent of science—"that genes and brains control us and we have no control," Rigoni was motivated by a more philosophical question: "Is it better to believe or not believe we are free? What if we all disbelieved in free will?" The study gives scientific support to his intuition that it is better to believe. "If we are not free," he says, "it makes no sense to put effort into actions and to be motivated."

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Ως έλλογο ον, ο άνθρωπος

Ως έλλογο ον, ο άνθρωπος αντιμετωπίζει έναντι των αλόγων όντων ένα αξεπέραστο πρόβλημα: ταυτόχρονα είναι δρων υποκείμενο και κριτής των αποτελεσμάτων της δράσεώς του. Αυτός ο κάθετος - και συχνά εξουθενωτικός - διαχωρισμός αποτέλεσε τη γενεσιουργό αιτία της Ηθικής. Όταν δεν περιορίζεσαι να δρας βάσει απλών εικασιών και επαναλαμβανόμενων αποτελεσμάτων, αλλά την ίδια τη δράση σου καθορίζει η ψυχαναγκαστική ικανότητά σου να διακρίνεις και να αξιολογείς τις ποικίλες συνέπειες των διαθέσιμων επιλογών σου, τότε εισάγεις εσύ ο ίδιος τη διάκριση, τον εσωτερικό διχασμό, τη μανιχαϊστική αντίληψη του κόσμου στο οικοσύστημά σου και εδραιώνεις στάσεις και πεποιθήσεις πάνω στη διαρκή αδυναμία μιας βέβαιης επιλογής. Τα ακαταπαύστως προβαλλόμενα στη συνείδηση αντιθετικά ζεύγη του τύπου "φως-σκότος" σχηματοποιούν αυτή τη βαθύτερη ψυχολογική ιδιαιτερότητα της διάκρισης και εξεικονίζουν με τον πλέον καταληπτό τρόπο βεβαιότητες και αβεβαιότητες, διάρκειες και στιγμές, επιτεύγματα και οδυνηρές εγκαταλείψεις.

Τούτο το χαρακτηριστικό γνώρισμα της διάκρισης καθορίζει και τις συλλογικότερες παραμέτρους της ανθρώπινης σύμβασης. Ανατρέποντας τη βασική "γεωμετρική" ή "μηχανιστική" αντίληψη της μαρξικής θεωρίας περί εποικοδομήματος, ο Max Weber απέδειξε - στο μνημειώδες σύγγραμμά του "Η γένεση του καπιταλισμού στα χρόνια της θρησκευτικής μεταρρύθμισης" - ότι ο οριακός και αδιαμόρφωτος χώρος της ανθρώπινης ψυχής και ο πολυπρόσωπος μηχανισμός της διάκρισης διαμορφώνουν όχι μόνο τις ατομικές αλλά και τις ευρύτερες κοινωνικές συνθήκες του ανθρώπινου βίου. Συγκεκριμένα, μια ορισμένη θρησκευτική δοξασία - η προτεσταντική - που είχε οικοδομηθεί πάνω στην ηθική αγωνία της ενοχής και την ηθική αναγνώριση της χάρης επέτρεψε και εν συνεχεία επέβαλε τη συγκέντρωση και την επένδυση του κεφαλαίου. Έτσι, ένα ηθικό πρόβλημα μιας ορισμένης κοινωνίας και μιας ορισμένης αντίληψης του ατόμου μέσα στον κόσμο καθόρισε τη φυσιογνωμία της νεοτερικής και της μετανεοτερικής εποχής, στην οποία εμείς σήμερα ζούμε...

Ας μη υποτιμούμε αυτό που κάπως αδόκιμα και σχηματικά ονομάζουν οι αναλυτές των αγορών "ψυχολογία". Διότι πρόκειται ακριβώς για το αποτέλεσμα της αυτόματης επενέργειας της διάκρισης πάνω στην πραγματικότητα. Η "ψυχολογία" δεν είναι τίποτε περισσότερο από μια μικρή ή μεγάλη παραμόρφωση της πραγματικότητας - μια υπερβολή. Μια υπερβολή όμως που αντιστοιχεί σε ορισμένη ψυχική αναγκαιότητα και εκδηλώνεται ως συναισθηματική υπερεκχείλιση της κοίτης στην οποία κυλούμε. Μια υπερβολή που έχει τραφεί με μετρήσιμα δεδομένα και γι' αυτόν ακριβώς τον λόγο τα προεκτείνει προς το άμετρο, τον αβέβαιο χώρο της ηθικής και ψυχικής ελευθερίας που νιώθουμε την ανάγκη να διατηρούμε μέσα μας ως διέξοδο των ίδιων των λογικών πράξεων και εκτιμήσεων που εξωτερικά τουλάχιστον προσδιορίζουν - και καταπιέζουν - την ύπαρξή μας.

Τέτοιες προεκτάσεις και υπερβολές εκτός από συνήθεις και πολλάκις παρατηρημένες είναι και επιβεβλημένες. Διότι κατ' εξοχήν μ' αυτές ανατρέπονται πάγιες αντιλήψεις, στερεότυπα, αξιακά συστήματα, οριακές επιβαρύνσεις της ατομικής ζωής από τις συλλογικές εκφάνσεις της. Τέτοιες προεκτάσεις και υπερβολές γεννούν θρησκευτικά συστήματα, επαναστάσεις, κύκλους οικονομικού και πολιτισμικού ζόφου ή άνθησης. Τέτοιες υπερβολές - "αδικαιολόγητες" με βάση μια αλγεβρική αντίληψη της πραγματικότητας - δεν κινούν μήπως και την απρόβλεπτη ακίδα των χρηματιστηριακών δεικτών;

Στον πατέρα μου οφείλω ό,τι κατάφερα στη ζωή μου.

Στον πατέρα μου οφείλω ό,τι κατάφερα στη ζωή μου. Αυτό που είμαι και - σε καθοριστικό βαθμό - αυτό που έγινα. Από πολύ νωρίς προσπάθησε να μου εμφυσήσει την πεποίθηση ότι η μόνη πραγματική περιουσία μου είναι τα βιβλία που έχω διαβάσει, η μουσική που έχω ακούσει ως ύψιστο μέσο διαισθητικής κατανόησης του κόσμου και της θέσης μου σ' αυτόν και η αγάπη που θα επιτρέψω στον εαυτό μου να δώσει αφειδώλευτα και χωρίς ανταλλάγματα στους άλλους. Ένα χαμόγελο ως απάντηση στη δική μου ή την ξένη θλίψη, μια θερμή χειραψία, μια αγκαλιά, ένα ξόρκι διάσημου προγόνου στα χείλια που θα διώξει τον φόβο της αύριον, μια γλυκιά μελαγχολία που θ' αποτελέσει τ' αναγκαίο αντιστάθμισμα στην υπερβολική χαρά μιας απρόσμενης επιτυχίας... Αυτά - και τόσα άλλα, μικρά, ανθρώπινα, που δεν τα πιάνει το μάτι, που δεν αποτιμώνται σε χρήμα ή "επιφάνεια" κοινωνική και τα τοιαύτα - υπήρξαν η μεγαλύτερη κληρονομιά, η ισχυρότερη αντίσταση, το αβύθιστο εκτόπισμα της μέχρι τώρα ζωής μου. Διότι η θειότητα - αυτό που κυριαρχεί στη στάση μας απέναντι στα πράγματα και μας εμπνέει - δεν υπάρχει στις απεικονίσεις του Θείου, στα κάθε λογής είδωλα, στα "χρυσά μοσχάρια". Υπάρχει μέσα μας. Είναι ενδιάθετη. Δεν φανερώνεται στα ποικίλα και κατά κανόνα άχρηστα αποκτήματα, αλλά στην καλλιέργεια της ικανότητας του καθενός από μας να κατανοεί και να νιώθει...

Thoughts of Hopes, Opportunities Keep People From Clinging to Failing Investments

It’s a common problem in the business world—throwing good money after bad. People cling to bad investments, hoping that more time, effort, and money will rescue their turkey of a project. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that changing people’s mindsets can make them more likely to abandon a failing investment.

“These situations happen all the time,” says Assistant Professor Daniel C. Molden, of Northwestern University, who conducted the study with his graduate student Chin Ming Hui. “They happen with businesses; they happen in the Pentagon with weapons systems.” The producers of Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark are making the most expensive musical of all time, plagued with cost overruns and cast injuries. “If they had at any point objectively reevaluated their position and thought, ‘What is the probability that this is going to make money?’ they might have just pulled the plug,” Molden says. Now the musical will have to be wildly successful to make back the estimated $65 million that went into its production.

Molden and Hui devised an experiment to find out if they could change how people dealt with the “sunk costs” from their previous investments. Volunteers were first asked to write generally about either their personal duties and obligations or their personal hopes and aspirations. Then they were asked to imagine that they were the president of an aviation company who had committed $10 million to building a special kind of airplane. But with $9 million already spent and the project nearly done, another company had announced they had made a better, cheaper plane. They were asked whether they would spend the last $1 million or cancel the project.

People who had thought about their hopes and aspirations were more likely to say they would abandon the project. On the other hand, people who had written about their duties and obligations felt it was their responsibility to finish the project—thus throwing good money after bad. Molden suggests that this is because people who focus on their own hopes are thinking positively about opportunities for growth, and are therefore more likely to appreciate what else might be accomplished with the remaining $1 million, whereas people who focus on duties and obligations are feeling anxious and thinking about how abandoning the project would be accepting complete failure.

“At the very least, when things start to go wrong, people should stop and evaluate the costs and benefits of going forward,” Molden says. Instead, it seems that people think, “I’ve already committed so much to this, I can’t quit now.”

Of course, not everything that appears to be going badly will fail. Buildings, movies, or government programs that run over cost could still be a success in the end. Spider-Man could turn out to be the best musical of all time. “Things can work out,” says Molden. “The problem is that when people decide to push ahead because of what has already been invested versus some reasonable expectations of what will happen next, more often than not, they don’t.”
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Neurobiologists find that weak electrical fields in the brain help neurons fire together

Coordinated behavior occurs whether or not neurons are actually connected via synapses



IMAGE: Ephaptic coupling leads to coordinated spiking of nearby neurons, as measured using a 12-pipette electrophysiology setup developed in the laboratory of coauthor Henry Markram.
Click here for more information.




Pasadena, Calif.—The brain—awake and sleeping—is awash in electrical activity, and not just from the individual pings of single neurons communicating with each other. In fact, the brain is enveloped in countless overlapping electric fields, generated by the neural circuits of scores of communicating neurons. The fields were once thought to be an "epiphenomenon, a 'bug' of sorts, occurring during neural communication," says neuroscientist Costas Anastassiou, a postdoctoral scholar in biology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

New work by Anastassiou and his colleagues, however, suggests that the fields do much more—and that they may, in fact, represent an additional form of neural communication.

"In other words," says Anastassiou, the lead author of a paper about the work appearing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, "while active neurons give rise to extracellular fields, the same fields feed back to the neurons and alter their behavior," even though the neurons are not physically connected—a phenomenon known as ephaptic coupling. "So far, neural communication has been thought to occur at localized machines, termed synapses. Our work suggests an additional means of neural communication through the extracellular space independent of synapses."

Extracellular electric fields exist throughout the living brain, though they are particularly strong and robustly repetitive in specific brain regions such as the hippocampus, which is involved in memory formation, and the neocortex, the area where long-term memories are held. "The perpetual fluctuations of these extracellular fields are the hallmark of the living and behaving brain in all organisms, and their absence is a strong indicator of a deeply comatose, or even dead, brain," Anastassiou explains.

Previously, neurobiologists assumed that the fields were capable of affecting—and even controlling—neural activity only during severe pathological conditions such as epileptic seizures, which induce very strong fields. Few studies, however, had actually assessed the impact of far weaker—but very common—non-epileptic fields. "The reason is simple," Anastassiou says. "It is very hard to conduct an in vivo experiment in the absence of extracellular fields," to observe what changes when the fields are not around.

To tease out those effects, Anastassiou and his colleagues, including Caltech neuroscientist Christof Koch, the Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology and professor of computation and neural systems, focused on strong but slowly oscillating fields, called local field potentials (LFP), that arise from neural circuits composed of just a few rat brain cells. Measuring those fields and their effects required positioning a cluster of tiny electrodes within a volume equivalent to that of a single cell body—and at distances of less than 50 millionths of a meter from one another.

"Because it had been so hard to position that many electrodes within such a small volume of brain tissue, the findings of our research are truly novel," Anastassiou says. Previously, he explains, "nobody had been able to attain this level of spatial and temporal resolution."

An "unexpected and surprising finding was how already very weak extracellular fields can alter neural activity," he says. "For example, we observed that fields as weak as one millivolt per millimeter robustly alter the firing of individual neurons, and increase the so-called "spike-field coherence"—the synchronicity with which neurons fire with relationship to the field."In the mammalian brain, we know that extracellular fields may easily exceed two to three millivolts per millimeter. Our findings suggest that under such conditions, this effect becomes significant."

What does that mean for brain computation? "Neuroscientists have long speculated about this," Anastassiou says. "Increased spike-field coherency may substantially enhance the amount of information transmitted between neurons as well as increase its reliability. Moreover, it has been long known that brain activity patterns related to memory and navigation give rise to a robust LFP and enhanced spike-field coherency. We believe ephaptic coupling does not have one major effect, but instead contributes on many levels during intense brain processing."

Can external electric fields have similar effects on the brain? "This is an interesting question," Anastassiou says. "Indeed, physics dictates that any external field will impact the neural membrane. Importantly, though, the effect of externally imposed fields will also depend on the brain state. One could think of the brain as a distributed computer—not all brain areas show the same level of activation at all times.

"Whether an externally imposed field will impact the brain also depends on which brain area is targeted. During epileptic seizures, pathological fields can be as strong as 100 millivolts per millimeter¬—such fields strongly entrain neural firing and give rise to super-synchronized states." And that, he adds, suggests that electric field activity—even from external fields—in certain brain areas, during specific brain states, may have strong cognitive and behavioral effects.

Ultimately, Anastassiou, Koch, and their colleagues would like to test whether ephaptic coupling affects human cognitive processing, and under which circumstances. "I firmly believe that understanding the origin and functionality of endogenous brain fields will lead to several revelations regarding information processing at the circuit level, which, in my opinion, is the level at which percepts and concepts arise," Anastassiou says. "This, in turn, will lead us to address how biophysics gives rise to cognition in a mechanistic manner—and that, I think, is the holy grail of neuroscience."

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The work in the paper, "Ephaptic coupling of cortical neurons," published January 16 in the advance online edition of the journal, was supported by the Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council, the Sloan-Swartz Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation, EU Synapse, the National Science Foundation, the Mathers Foundation, and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Flash of fresh insight by electrical brain stimulation

Are we on the verge of being able to stimulate the brain to see the world anew - an electric thinking cap? Research by Richard Chi and Allan Snyder from the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney suggests that this could be the case.

They found that participants who received electrical stimulation of the anterior temporal lobes were three times as likely to reach the fresh insight necessary to solve a difficult, unfamiliar problem than those in the control group. The study published on February 2 in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.

According to the authors, our propensity to rigidly apply strategies and insights that have had previous success is a major bottleneck to making creative leaps in solving new problems. There is normally a cognitive tradeoff between the necessity of being fast at the familiar on one hand and being receptive to novelty on the other.

Chi and Snyder argue that we can modulate this tradeoff to our advantage by applying transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a safe, non-invasive technique that temporarily increases or decreases excitability of populations of neurons. In particular, tDCS can be used to manipulate the competition between the left and right hemisphere by inhibiting and/or disinhibiting certain networks. Their findings are consistent with evidence that the right anterior temporal lobe is associated with insight or novel meaning and that inhibition of the left anterior temporal lobe can induce a cognitive style that is less top-down, less influenced by preconceptions.

While further studies involving brain stimulation in combination with neuroimaging are needed to elucidate the exact mechanisms leading to insight, Chi and Snyder can imagine a future when non-invasive brain stimulation is briefly employed for solving problems that have evaded traditional cognitive approaches.

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Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in 8 weeks

General-led study shows changes over time in areas associated with awareness, empathy, stress

Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter.

"Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day," says Sara Lazar, PhD, of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, the study's senior author. "This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing."

Previous studies from Lazar's group and others found structural differences between the brains of experienced mediation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation, observing thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration. But those investigations could not document that those differences were actually produced by meditation.

For the current study, MR images were take of the brain structure of 16 study participants two weeks before and after they took part in the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness. In addition to weekly meetings that included practice of mindfulness meditation – which focuses on nonjudgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind – participants received audio recordings for guided meditation practice and were asked to keep track of how much time they practiced each day. A set of MR brain images were also taken of a control group of non-meditators over a similar time interval.

Meditation group participants reported spending an average of 27 minutes each day practicing mindfulness exercises, and their responses to a mindfulness questionnaire indicated significant improvements compared with pre-participation responses. The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection. Participant-reported reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress. Although no change was seen in a self-awareness-associated structure called the insula, which had been identified in earlier studies, the authors suggest that longer-term meditation practice might be needed to produce changes in that area. None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time.

"It is fascinating to see the brain's plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life." says Britta Hölzel, PhD, first author of the paper and a research fellow at MGH and Giessen University in Germany. "Other studies in different patient populations have shown that meditation can make significant improvements in a variety of symptoms, and we are now investigating the underlying mechanisms in the brain that facilitate this change."

Amishi Jha, PhD, a University of Miami neuroscientist who investigates mindfulness-training's effects on individuals in high-stress situations, says, "These results shed light on the mechanisms of action of mindfulness-based training. They demonstrate that the first-person experience of stress can not only be reduced with an 8-week mindfulness training program but that this experiential change corresponds with structural changes in the amydala, a finding that opens doors to many possibilities for further research on MBSR's potential to protect against stress-related disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder." Jha was not one of the study investigators.

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Trust Your Gut…but Only Sometimes

When faced with decisions, we often follow our intuition—our self-described “gut feelings”—without understanding why. Our ability to make hunch decisions varies considerably: Intuition can either be a useful ally or it can lead to costly and dangerous mistakes. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that the trustworthiness of our intuition is really influenced by what is happening physically in our bodies.

“We often talk about intuition coming from the body—following our gut instincts and trusting our hearts”, says Barnaby D. Dunn, of the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, U.K., first author of the new paper. What isn’t certain is whether we should follow, or be suspicious of, what our bodies are telling us. And do we differ in the influence that our gut feelings have on how we make decisions?

To investigate how different bodily reactions can influence decision making, Dunn and his co-authors asked study participants to try to learn how to win at a card game they had never played before. The game was designed so that there was no obvious strategy to follow and instead players had to follow their hunches. While playing the game, each participant wore a heart rate monitor and a sensor that measured the amount of sweat on their fingertips.

Most players gradually found a way to win at the card game and they reported having relied on intuition rather than reason. Subtle changes in the players’ heart rates and sweat responses affected how quickly they learned to make the best choices during the game.

Interestingly, the quality of the advice that people’s bodies gave them varied. Some people’s gut feelings were spot on, meaning they mastered the card game quickly. Other people’s bodies told them exactly the wrong moves to make, so they learned slowly or never found a way to win.

Dunn and his co-authors found this link between gut feelings and intuitive decision making to be stronger in people who were more aware of their own heartbeat. So for some individuals being able to ‘listen to their heart’ helped them make wise choices, whereas for others it led to costly mistakes.

“What happens in our bodies really does appear to influence what goes in our minds. We should be careful about following these gut instincts, however, as sometimes they help and sometimes they hinder our decision making,” says Dunn.