The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning (55 page)

BOOK: The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning
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255
Cognitive training is useful in staving off dementia
R. S. Wilson et al., Cognitive activity and the cognitive morbidity of Alzheimer disease.
Neurol
, 2010. 75(11): 990–996.
 
255
Torkel Klingberg . . . gave ADHD children . . . tasks to practice
T. Klingberg, H. Forssberg, and H. Westerberg, Training of working memory in children with ADHD.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol
, 2002. 24(6): 781–79 1.
 
255
Training in the scanner . . . boost prefrontal parietal . . . activity
P. J. Olesen, H. Westerberg, and T. Klingberg, Increased prefrontal and parietal activity after training of working memory.
Nat Neurosci
, 2004. 7(1): 75–79.
 
255
Joni Holmes . . . compared . . . Ritalin . . . to working memory training
J. Holmes et al., Working memory deficits can be overcome: impacts of training and medication on working memory in children with ADHD.
Appl Cogn Psychol
, 2010. 24(6): 827–836.
 
255
Melissa Fisher . . . cognitive-training program . . . schizophrenic patients improved
M. Fisher et al., Neuroplasticity-based cognitive training in schizophrenia: an interim report on the effects 6 months later.
Schizophr Bull
, 2010. 36(4): 869–879.
 
256
Sylvia Nasar’s book
S. Nasar,
A beautiful mind: a biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr.
1998, New York: Simon & Schuster.
 
257
Half-strangled prefrontal cortex can . . . suppress amygdala activity
S. J. Bishop, Neurocognitive mechanisms of anxiety: an integrative account.
Trends Cogn Sci
, 2007. 11(7): 307–316.
A.F.T. Arnsten, Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function.
Nat Rev Neurosci
, 2009. 10(6): 410–422.
 
260
Depressive or anxious patients . . . fearful stimuli in the scanner
J. S. Greg et al., Increased amygdala and decreased dorsolateral prefrontal BOLD responses in unipolar depression: related and independent features.
Biol Psychiatry
, 2007. 61(2): 198–209.
S. J. Bishop, Trait anxiety and impoverished prefrontal control of attention.
Nat Neurosci
, 2009. 12(1): 92–98.
 
260
Period of stress . . . turn off prefrontal function
Arnsten, Stress signalling pathways.
 
262
Meditative state increases activity in the prefrontal parietal network
B. R. Cahn and J. Polich, Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies.
Psychol Bull
, 2006. 132(2): 180–211.
 
262
Regular meditation . . . permanently change the prefrontal parietal network
J. A. Brefczynski-Lewis et al., Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
, 2007. 104(27): 11483–11488.
 
262
Long-term meditation shifts the see-saw battles
Ibid.
 
262
Long-term meditation increases the thickness of the prefrontal cortex
S. W. Lazar et al., Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness.
Neuroreport
, 2005. 16(17): 1893–1897.
 
262
Two months of meditation . . . shrink the . . . amygdala
B. K. Holzel et al., Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci
, 2010. 5(1): 11–17.
 
262
Long-term meditation does improve a range of . . . tasks
M. Kozhevnikov et al., The enhancement of visuospatial processing efficiency through Buddhist deity meditation.
Psychol Sci
, 2009. 20(5): 645–653. A. Moore and P. Malinowski, Meditation, mindfulness and cognitive flexibility.
Conscious Cogn
, 2009. 18(1): 176–186.
H. A. Slagter et al., Mental training affects distribution of limited brain resources. PLoS Biol, 2007. 5(6): e138.
 
262
Meditation . . . reduce a person’s need for sleep
P. Kaul et al., Meditation acutely improves psychomotor vigilance, and may decrease sleep need.
Behav Brain Funct
, 2010. 6: 47.
 
263
Four meditation sessions . . . reduce . . . tiredness . . . increase working memory
F. Zeidan et al., Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: evidence of brief mental training.
Conscious Cogn
, 2010. 19(2): 597–605.
 
263
Yi-Yuan Tang . . . five days were needed . . . improve on an attentional task
Y. Y. Tang et al., Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
, 2007. 104(43): 17152–17156.
 
263
Meditation . . . effective weapon against . . . a host of . . . conditions
J. N. Teasdale et al., Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.
J Consulting Clin Psychol
, 2000. 68(4):615–623.
J. Kabat-Zinn et al., Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders.
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, 1992. 149(7): 936–943.
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, 1985. 8(2): 163–190.
D. P. Johnson et al., Loving-kindness meditation to enhance recovery from negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
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, 2009. 65 (5): 499–509. Z. V. Segal et al., Antidepressant monotherapy vs sequential pharmacotherapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, or placebo, for relapse prophylaxis in recurrent depression.
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Illustration Credits
 
Illustrations follow page 158.
 
Figure 1
Phineas Gage’s skull and brain: Wikimedia Commons. Image originally appeared in John Martyn Harlow, “Recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head,”
Publications of the Massachusetts Medical Society
2 (1868): 327–347.
Figure 2
Examples of complexity: Dow Jones, Wikimedia Commons, permission granted under GNU Free Documentation License by K. Boroshko,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Finance-dow jones-chart1.jpg.Ants
, Jacinda Brown, used with permission. Galaxy, courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Fractal, Wikimedia Commons.
Figure 3
Schematic of the human brain (base image):
istockphoto.com
.
Figure 4
The four lobes of the human brain: Centre for Neuro Skills,
Neuroskills.com
, used with permission.
Figure 5
An example of change blindness: Copyright Ronald Rensink, used with permission.
Figure 6
Examples of stimuli that induce repeated switches in visual perception : Reprinted from
Neuron
, vol. 21(4), F. Tong, K. Nakayama, J. T. Vaughan, and N. Kanwisher, Binocular rivalry and visual awareness in human extrastriate cortex, 753–759, copyright (1998), with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 7
Three types of cup assembly: Reprinted from
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
, vol. 5(12), Christopher M. Conway and Morten H. Christiansen, Sequential learning in non-human primates, 539–546, copyright (2001), with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 8
In the fMRI scanner: Reprinted from
Neuron
, vol. 37(2), Daniel Bor, John Duncan, Richard J. Wiseman, and Adrian M. Owen, Encoding strategies dissociate prefrontal activity from working memory demand, 361–367, copyright (2003), with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 9
CT scan comparison of a normal brain and Terri Schiavo’s brain: Originally released to the public domain by Terri Schiavo’s doctor, Dr. Robert Cranford.
 
 
Index
 
 
Abnormalities
 
brain anatomy
 
genetic
 
sleep
 
Absentmindedness
 
Aczel, Balazs
 
Adaptability, complexity and
 
Algorithms
 
Alzheimer’s disease
. See also
Dementia
 
Amino acids
 
Amygdala
 
stress and
 
prefrontal cortex and
 
Anesthesia
 
learning and
 
unconsciousness and
 
Animal
 
chunking
 
consciousness
 
ethics
 
intelligence
 
self-knowledge
 
self-recognition
 
tool use
 
Antipsychotics
 
Anxiety
 
Apes
 
Arbaclofen
 
Artificial intelligence
 
Asperger’s Syndrome.
See also
Autism
 
Attention
 
boosting
 
brain and
 
consciousness and
 
filtering
 
focus
 
information processing and
 
working memory and
 
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
 
cognitive training and
 
prefrontal parietal network and
 
Ritalin treatment for
 
working memory and
 
Autism
 
behavior therapy
 
neurotransmitters and
 
opposite of schizophrenia
 
over-consciousness and
 
Awareness.
See
Consciousness
 
 
Baars, Bernard
 
Bacteria
 
absence of consciousness and
 
antibiotic resistance in
 
evolution and
 
information processing by
 
innovations in
 
natural selection and
 
Bálint’s syndrome
 
Baron-Cohen, Simon
 
Barrett, Adam
 
Bauby, Jean-Dominique
 
Behavior
 
animal
 
assessment of in vegetative state
 
chemical signaling and
 
consciousness and
 

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