Unveiling the Mystery: The Commander in our Head
Sit down, relax. I’m about to introduce you the most mind-blowing machine that has ever existed. This incredible machine can travel through all lived experiences and create new sentences, thoughts, formulas, and even musical pieces that are completely original. It can suggest opinions on any topic, can create strategies to cope with problems encountered in daily life, it can feel emotions and it can even contemplate about itself.
As amazing as these features sound, this machine cannot be bought - even by billionaires. The good news is you already have one!
The brain has been a mystery to many in the history, and although we have made quite a bit of a progress in understanding it, we still have a long way to go. Considering that we use our brains to try to understand our brains, the progress that has been made is still remarkable. Aristotle, in the fourth century BC, suggested that the heart is superior to the brain. He put forward that the brain served to cool the hot blood, and the heart was where we felt emotions. It is true that during certain circumstances such as falling in love, a rushing heartbeat can provide an insight to what we are feeling. However, we now know that what Aristotle had suggested does not cover the real story about the brain.
It is extremely difficult to comprehend how the brain, a tangible organ, can create ideas, thoughts and emotions that are completely impalpable. I used to imagine as a child that the thoughts would probably “fly away” from the brain, because they would not be able to “hold on” to it. As I started learning how the thinking processes are carried out in the brain, I was astonished by how complex but also beautifully designed the brain is. This made me want to show you, too, how truly incredible things are happening in your head as you are reading these words.
The brain is like a network of electrical storms. Each time you think about something, somewhere in your head, a cell delivers an electrical signal, which is often referred to as “firing”. Each situation or thought is associated with the firing of a particular neuron or a network. When that particular neuron or network is stimulated we experience the thoughts and emotions associated with it.
The networks which consist of many connected cells that fire together, help us make associations between different states and ideas. As we grow up and gain experience through various situations, these networks are enriched and become further connected. There is always change when it comes to the brain, because whenever two cells fire together, a connection is formed and the network is altered. This means that as long as we are alive, there is not a single moment that we are not changing and developing. With the new connections that are formed in our brains, we become more mature thinkers, we excel at understanding both ourselves and others, and we see the world differently with the new perspectives we gain from our life experiences.
From another perspective, the networks in the brain also somehow resemble pathways. Whenever you need a piece of information, the brain has to go through a massive source of knowledge to find out the one piece of information you need. When you repeatedly ask the brain to find that information, it learns well where that information is and even finds shortcuts to get there. This makes it easy for us to remember or retrieve something that we had encountered many times before. This is the brain’s way of saying that practice really does make perfect.
When the piece of information that we are looking for is one from a long time ago, the shortcut is often forgotten just the way footprints on an unused pathway disappear over time. It becomes really difficult to consciously remember that piece of information. The brain has to get rid of the information that is not used for a long time to open up more space for the new ones to come. This is what we experience as forgetting, and although it can be frustrating at times, it is actually very beneficial for our sanity. This way, brain eliminates the information overload which allows us to use our energy for more vital bodily functions.
The brain is often compared to computers which is referred to as the Computational Metaphor in psychology. There really are many similarities between the brain and computers such as the way they encode information, and the separation between the brain and mind like hardware and softwares of computers. However, the mind is much more complex as it entails more philosophical, emotional and existential elements that are idiosyncratic to humans. When it comes to us, thinking has never even been close to “rational”. We are highly affected by emotions, and this makes us dramatically different to animals that also possess similar brains.
This is a very simplified explanation of the basics of the brain’s mechanisms, and there are many more different and much complex aspects to it that manage to surprise me every time I explore a new one. As the brain commands, we should keep learning, practicing our knowledge and investigating, but do remember: we aren’t computers, so take it easy!
By featured writer, Ilgin Cebioglu. See ‘Team’ for more information and contact details.