Bio-wise and otherwise

How the mind works

I watched a fantastic program on Discovery channel last week. The human brain is said to be made of millions of neurons, which connect at junctions called 'synapses'. Our every response, gesture, word, thought is because of specific neuronal connections. The brain has the ability to remember and recall specific patterns of neuronal firing, which forms the memory system.

Apparently, as soon as a baby is born, specific neurons in the baby's brain connect to recognize the mother and father. One look at the mother and the baby actually recognizes her face.

Cut to adulthood.

Let's say a monkey (a primate) peers at you through a glass window. You'd probably acknowledge its presence and move on in life. Now let's say another monkey of the same species makes way to your window, edging out the first guy. Would you be able to differentiate between the two monkeys? Apparently not! That's because your neurons fire in the same manner, and link in the same manner when you see both the monkeys.

Scientists have conducted a very interesting experiment. They showed babies below 9 months a picture of a monkey. The babies laughed, since they saw a something new. Then the scientists showed a picture of a different monkey. The babies did not laugh this time.

The same set of pictures in the same sequence, were also shown to babies who were below 9 months of age. Interestingly, unlike the older babies, they laughed at both the pictures.

The reason, scientists say, is because babies below 9 months of age can differentiate faces much better than older babies, and even adults. So like a freshly sown corn field where seeds begin to sprout wildly, the neurons of the younger babies are working overtime, making those important links, to absorb the world.

But Nature has a different plan, which is actually geared towards survival. If the baby were to keep all these neuronal mapping database, then it would be difficult to keep in focus, those very important connections. And what are these important connections, according to Nature? They are the neuronal maps that recognize human faces. So in essence, what happens as the babies grows, is that some neuron maps are actually dropped from memory (so as adults when we see a different monkey at the window, we cannot distinguish it from the previous one). What remains as the baby grows older, are the critical maps which recognize important humans who matter to the life of the baby.

Many times we see a person smile, but are not quite convinced that the smile is indeed a genuine one. That's because the human neurons in the brain actually connect differently when an individual smiles through emotion or through an acquired social habit. As a result of unique neuron mapping during a 'smile session', the facial muscles that go into action will be different in both the cases. Here's a secret brought out of this study. A person who smiles from the heart will have muscles working around the eyes (say wrinkles or crinkles appear around the edges of the eyes). This is in addition to the muscles working around the mouth. A person with a fake smile will only have muscles around the mouth working. The eyes will display no crinkling.

One last word on mind reading. Apparently, you can read a person's mind by virtue of your own neurons firing in the same manner as the person you are interacting with. The example given in Discovery channel was a rowing competition. The faces of the rowers displayed grit, determination and resolve. The judge too could react 'sympathetically' to those very same emotions. This is because mirror neurons fire in pretty much the same manner. So if a person displays positive emotions, the viewer will respond in the same manner.

Let's see what happens when you sit to talk to a distrustful person and a trustworthy person. The study reveals that you mimic the trustworthy person's gestures, while you do not mimic the gestures of the person who appears distrustful. So body language is indeed related to the mind.

Studies in neurobiology are really intriguing. Sometimes scientists go to the lowest level of organisms like the fruit fly to find answers to neuronal activity. Then they work their way upto the human species to compare answers. Genes that relate to brain activity are often first identified in lower species, Then 'tags' or 'probes' generated from these genes which are used to fish out the genes in higher order species, like man. More often than not, the gene composition in humans bears an uncanny resemblance to that found in lower organisms like the fruit flies.

So the next time you smile (and hopefully it's a genuine one) thank those millions of neurons that work overtime to make you the person you are.

What one wonders then is if a fruitfly can smile too...and if it does, whether it's a genuine one or not...

Posted at 08:41PM Oct 29, 2006 by Manju in Sun  |  Comments[1]