Sensation vs perception! Joan, it sounds like you got a glimpse of how basic processes (sensations of touch, smell, etc) are organized into more complex experiences (perception). That's one fundamental principle of brain function. And "meaning" is an even more complex, "higher" level of processing and organization.
Joan, I really appreciate your comment. You clearly "get it!" In this post we talk about associations at the level of conscious awareness. But the basis of all thoughts, memories, realizations, and so on... is activity in the brain itself. I don't want to simply say that "it's so complex" that it is too difficult to explain, although there would be much truth to that. I also don't want to simply say that there's a huge amount about this that is not yet understood, although there is truth to that for sure. So, here is a very over-simplified statement about the little we know about associations at the level of the brain. A multitude of neurons (nerve cells--though glial cells also participate) are linked all across the brain and synchronously fire when a particular memory is brought to mind (reconstructed really). One element of a complex memory such as a scene with, for example, visual, auditory, olfactory, emotional, spatial, etc. aspects might also be part of another complex memory (a feeling of alienation or the ringing of a doorbell...anything) and that commonality may elicit the other memory.
But...even something that seems as simple as the ringing of a doorbell involves a complex set of connections (brining back the sound itself to mind, knowledge that it's a doorbell and not a wake-up alarm, associations to who might be arriving, etc.)
Every neuron is linked to hundreds of other neurons and these links are constantly (and I mean constantly) being altered with experience; new links may be created; links may be strengthened so that a particular neuronal connection will be more efficient. This is occurring at a molecular level, for instance, at the level of alterations in the actual molecular structure of receptor sites at synapses.
I'm curious as to how much of this kind of information you and others would like to learn about from our newsletter. Discussing the actual mechanisms can be pretty "dry" without a narrative. That said, I'm so so glad that you "get it!"
This is an amazing dialogue. I’m not a writer so my entry point is to try to understand the process of making meaning. Reminds me of how I was first blown away as a young psychology student about the early exploration of sensation vs. perception.
This is a wonderful walk down the process of our mind-wandering superpowers. I'll often feel stuck on story continuity, or calling up a particular memory while I'm writing. I know then it's time to go for a walk or a drive, or soak in a long bath with nothing in my mind and, voilà! It will come to me.
As a science writer, writing about neuroscience, I've had the great good fortune to interview the researcher credited with finding the Default Mode Network (DMN) - which, in brief, says that our minds are most active when we aren't trained on a task or activity, but in a "resting" state. It is also when we can let these free associations go where they will to let connections bubble up. A key to creativity. Feels like, here, you've spotlighted ways to help take it deeper. Love it.
Robin, thank you so much for your comment. The story of how Marcus Raichle discovered the Default Mode Network is one of my favorite science stories of all time. For our readers...after computer and imaging technology had developed the ability to "visualize" which parts of the brain were active during a particular activity (functional imaging), researchers began to apply this to all different types of tasks. But all the studies required a comparison "control" for each subject--a time when the person was not performing the task. Marcus Raichle apparently —or so the story goes— just put all of the data from all the "controls" into a drawer. And then, one day, he looked at them and found that they were all "the same!" In the "off task" mode, a particular pattern of brain activity was found in everyone. This is the DMN—the Default Mode Network—and it is associated with mind-wandering or, as you said, "resting state." It sounds like you've found ways to take full advantage of your DMN!
Yep, I also love the DMN, Barbara. Shows there is so much we have to learn about the mechanisms of our minds. But, to me, it doesn't (yet) answer the ultimate question: where is mind--inside the brain? Or is it the ground state of being? (Also a big Deepak Chopra fan. If you haven't read his book, You Are the Universe, I highly recommend!)
Going from brain to mind does feel quite mysterious and impossible to grasp. I suppose that people have to draw their own conclusions about "mind." For me, chaos theory is extremely persuasive — very complex systems give rise to emergent phenomena. While these cannot be predicted with certainty as yet, they can be explained and studied. Brain (a complex system) gives rise to mind (an emergent phenomenon). To get a sense of how this might be possible, consider that large language models which only produce a statistically likely "next word," one after another, end up creating meaningful essays that seem to have been written by a human "mind." I'm wondering what you think about this, Robin. And others! So happy to have this conversation.
This was a great way to document how free association works using Elizabeth’s process. I still wish there was more about how this happens in the brain in addition to the psyche.
Sensation vs perception! Joan, it sounds like you got a glimpse of how basic processes (sensations of touch, smell, etc) are organized into more complex experiences (perception). That's one fundamental principle of brain function. And "meaning" is an even more complex, "higher" level of processing and organization.
Joan, I really appreciate your comment. You clearly "get it!" In this post we talk about associations at the level of conscious awareness. But the basis of all thoughts, memories, realizations, and so on... is activity in the brain itself. I don't want to simply say that "it's so complex" that it is too difficult to explain, although there would be much truth to that. I also don't want to simply say that there's a huge amount about this that is not yet understood, although there is truth to that for sure. So, here is a very over-simplified statement about the little we know about associations at the level of the brain. A multitude of neurons (nerve cells--though glial cells also participate) are linked all across the brain and synchronously fire when a particular memory is brought to mind (reconstructed really). One element of a complex memory such as a scene with, for example, visual, auditory, olfactory, emotional, spatial, etc. aspects might also be part of another complex memory (a feeling of alienation or the ringing of a doorbell...anything) and that commonality may elicit the other memory.
But...even something that seems as simple as the ringing of a doorbell involves a complex set of connections (brining back the sound itself to mind, knowledge that it's a doorbell and not a wake-up alarm, associations to who might be arriving, etc.)
Every neuron is linked to hundreds of other neurons and these links are constantly (and I mean constantly) being altered with experience; new links may be created; links may be strengthened so that a particular neuronal connection will be more efficient. This is occurring at a molecular level, for instance, at the level of alterations in the actual molecular structure of receptor sites at synapses.
I'm curious as to how much of this kind of information you and others would like to learn about from our newsletter. Discussing the actual mechanisms can be pretty "dry" without a narrative. That said, I'm so so glad that you "get it!"
This is an amazing dialogue. I’m not a writer so my entry point is to try to understand the process of making meaning. Reminds me of how I was first blown away as a young psychology student about the early exploration of sensation vs. perception.
This is a wonderful walk down the process of our mind-wandering superpowers. I'll often feel stuck on story continuity, or calling up a particular memory while I'm writing. I know then it's time to go for a walk or a drive, or soak in a long bath with nothing in my mind and, voilà! It will come to me.
As a science writer, writing about neuroscience, I've had the great good fortune to interview the researcher credited with finding the Default Mode Network (DMN) - which, in brief, says that our minds are most active when we aren't trained on a task or activity, but in a "resting" state. It is also when we can let these free associations go where they will to let connections bubble up. A key to creativity. Feels like, here, you've spotlighted ways to help take it deeper. Love it.
Robin, thank you so much for your comment. The story of how Marcus Raichle discovered the Default Mode Network is one of my favorite science stories of all time. For our readers...after computer and imaging technology had developed the ability to "visualize" which parts of the brain were active during a particular activity (functional imaging), researchers began to apply this to all different types of tasks. But all the studies required a comparison "control" for each subject--a time when the person was not performing the task. Marcus Raichle apparently —or so the story goes— just put all of the data from all the "controls" into a drawer. And then, one day, he looked at them and found that they were all "the same!" In the "off task" mode, a particular pattern of brain activity was found in everyone. This is the DMN—the Default Mode Network—and it is associated with mind-wandering or, as you said, "resting state." It sounds like you've found ways to take full advantage of your DMN!
Yep, I also love the DMN, Barbara. Shows there is so much we have to learn about the mechanisms of our minds. But, to me, it doesn't (yet) answer the ultimate question: where is mind--inside the brain? Or is it the ground state of being? (Also a big Deepak Chopra fan. If you haven't read his book, You Are the Universe, I highly recommend!)
Going from brain to mind does feel quite mysterious and impossible to grasp. I suppose that people have to draw their own conclusions about "mind." For me, chaos theory is extremely persuasive — very complex systems give rise to emergent phenomena. While these cannot be predicted with certainty as yet, they can be explained and studied. Brain (a complex system) gives rise to mind (an emergent phenomenon). To get a sense of how this might be possible, consider that large language models which only produce a statistically likely "next word," one after another, end up creating meaningful essays that seem to have been written by a human "mind." I'm wondering what you think about this, Robin. And others! So happy to have this conversation.
This was a great way to document how free association works using Elizabeth’s process. I still wish there was more about how this happens in the brain in addition to the psyche.