Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Our two ways of thinking and the inhibition of the frontal cortex
The human brain is often described as having two main ways of thinking: one of them fast, automatic and unconscious, the other slower, more flexible and requiring conscious control. Each of them has its own benefits and drawbacks. The first—let’s call it “System 1”—is based on the sum of the habits, stereotypes and received ideas that we have acquired since childhood. System 1 doesn’t provide us with any ready-made solutions, but instead sends us down paths to possible or likely ones. In contrast, System 2, with its logical, rational thinking, is slower and more careful. It proceeds by deduction, inference and comparison. System 2 is what lets us see past our conditioning and beyond appearances.
But it’s really hard to apply this kind of critical thinking unless we first overcome the strong instinct to choose the first quick answer that inevitably comes to mind. Here’s a classic example: you’re on a cafeteria line, you’ve reached the desserts and you have to choose between an apple and a piece of chocolate cake. Obviously, you’re going to be very tempted by that cake, but if you have good self-control, you’ll end up taking the damn apple. You will have thus heroically resisted your instinctive attraction to sugar, which was an evolutionary advantage for your hunter-gatherer ancestors in an environment where calories were scarce, but can harm your health in today’s environment where foods with high concentrations of refined sugar are on offer everywhere.
The more general question that we may now ask ourselves as a society is whether we can collectively inhibit our instinct to consume as much as we can right away, and instead secure a pretty important longer-term benefit: a planet that can sustain life for generations to come.
From Thought to Language | Comments Closed
Monday, 17 March 2025
Frans de Waal’s legacy on “human nature”
I have just learned the sad news that the great Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal died in March 2024, at the age of 75. De Waal was both a fine researcher and a peerless communicator about his discipline to the general public.
As the United States continues its descent into techno-fascist oligarchy, many people are now rightly wondering what “human nature” is all about. De Waal did much to show that contrary to the theory of philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, that human beings are fundamentally selfish and human morality is just a thin cultural veneer, human nature actually has deep evolutionary roots in empathy and reciprocity that are abundantly demonstrated by the behaviour of non-human primates and even of other mammals. The quote from de Waal that I was looking for this morning reveals that “human nature” is more complex and nuanced. We humans, with our brains three times the size of those of the chimpanzees and bonobos who are our closest living cousins, can be both more aggressive than the former (who sometimes gang up to kill isolated members of other groups) and more altruistic than the latter (who are well known for using sex to settle conflicts). (more…)
Uncategorized | Comments Closed
Monday, 24 February 2025
Truly amazing videos about the hippocampus
This week I want to encourage you to watch a video entitled “How Your Brain Chooses What To Remember”, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceFFEmkxTLg. This video is one of many posted on the YouTube channel of computational neuroscientist Arsem Kirsanov. Kirsanov worked in the laboratory of neurologist Gyorgy Buzsaki , and Kirsanov’s videos about the hippocampus are truly amazing—in particular the one that I just mentioned. Not only does it present the content and methodology of a recent scientific article that is fascinating in itself, but it does so using a brilliant instructional approach with outstanding visuals. (more…)
Memory and the Brain | Comments Closed
Friday, 31 January 2025
Humans: The species built on interdependence among its members
For we humans, the most important part of the ecosystem that we live in is definitely the other human beings who live in it. We have thus developed a strong interdependence by discovering, at a very early age, our need to cooperate with one another and the benefits that this cooperation brings. If you need any proof how much human children are naturally inclined to help one another, all you need do is watch the videos shot by psychologist Michael Tomasello . (more…)
Emotions and the Brain, From Thought to Language | Comments Closed
Monday, 23 December 2024
Us versus them: between hope and hopelessness
Phenomena such as racism, sexism and ageism become more understandable in light of our strong biological tendency to divide the world into two groups: the one we belong to, and everyone else. In all primates, including humans, the sight of a stranger causes the brain to activate its “danger” pattern in less than a tenth of a second, especially if that stranger’s skin is a different colour from our own. As humans, we can use language to rationalize why any given group is inferior to our own, and we can attack its members in a wide variety of ways, ranging from verbal microaggression to genocide. The opposite is also true. As many studies on intra-group favoritism have shown, if you get into trouble while attending a sporting event and you’re wearing one of the competing team’s jerseys, that team’s fans are the ones most likely to help you. (more…)
From Thought to Language | Comments Closed
