Brain Behavior Institute - Session 17

This morning's session emphasized for me (once again) the need for time for our minds to process new information, organize it and re-organize it until it can be fit into our existing "spaces" . . . or until it can create new spaces (or boxes) or connections so that it can "be made sense of." My mind will be reading this morning's notes and the links on the page . . . and playing the games (of course) for a day or 2 (or more) to enable my mind to "get a handle on" what was presented. At this point I feel that digestion takes longer than it used to. Maybe my "hard drive" is closer to its capacity than it used to be. More than likely, tho, it's just that the old central processor doesn't function as rapidly as it used to. Maybe it never really did. Maybe the "once faster processing speed" is just a story I made up because it makes me feel better.

Maybe that statement shows that I am beginning to understand some of the material that was presented this morning.

Now where are the rest of those games . . . ???

This whole thing about reading by taking note of only the first and the last letters must have given birth to the idea of text messaging which is very common among students nowadays.

One thing I'm really worried about is the potential it has to ruin our students' ability to write properly. In my adult night school, students turn in essays to me in text messaging format!!! and they don't see anything wrong with it.

Even though it's fun to engage in this habit, there's need let the incoming generation be aware of the danger inherent in encouraging it without some limitations.

I wonder about all that gets in the way of our accessing/utilizing what our cognitive unconscious knows. It's clear that there are many times that I function activity interferes with, rather than enhances, information coming from the unconscious. In a society like ours that very much values I function activity, I wonder how to 'celebrate' the unconscious, without striking fear into us all (including me) I guess the way is to continually talk about the need for both systems to be strong and healthy.

As for feelings, we've defined them as I function activity based upon input from the cognitive unconscious. I've heard people dismiss the value of discussing feelings, or rather, see feelings as getting in the way of real thinking. I've always known that feelings were important to pay attention to, that they were clues/cues to something important going on inside of us. I kind of like the idea of considering feelings as a 'primary story' because dismissing a primary story is dismissing an incredibly important source of information into the nervous system, and would seriously handicap our ability to think, i.e. our I function.

One more thought: Are there developmental differences in the I function? Given that we know (or think we know) that the frontal cortex of a teenager is not as fully developed as that of an adult, and given what we know about what the frontal cortex does, in terms of assesing consequences, delaying gratification, etc,, can we say that the I function of a teenager is not the same, or rather, does not have all the same abilities, or, does not have such developed abilities, as an adults I function?

I keep going back to this post and adding things!

Don't people usually refer to the amygdala as the emotion center/regulator in the brain? Isn't the amygdala in the unconscious part of our nervous system, i.e. not the I function part? How can feelings be conscious, then? Or is what is conscious our experience of our feelings, which would locate feelings in both the I function and the unconscious?