2. Brain Development: How Nature and Nurture Create

Brain and Consciousness Your Brain Is a Work in Progress o1

Timeline: 7:45 – 9:00 Sun

Sept

Sept

Monday

Tuesday

11: Paradigms

Wed

Thursday

Friday

13: Brain Development

Mongolia Conference

Sept

Yom Kippur

27: Sleeping

Oct

2: Science and Pseudoscience

4: Other Meditations

Oct

9: Cosmic Consciousness

28: TM and TC

Drfredtravis.com for copy of lecture power points

Sat

Our Brain Is Unassembled at Birth

Dendrites, Dendritic spines

Synaptic connections naturally increase during first 3 years of life.

Number of Connections Increases and then Decreases

oYears

Why High Synaptic Density from 2-9 Years? – This is a physiological counterpart of all possibilities. This sets the stage for ongoing experience to enliven specific cortical circuits to deal with current experiences.

Why Synaptic Pruning from 10-18 Years? – Pruning is not bad (garden analogy) – Pruning eliminates connections that are not used, and strengthens brain connections that are used. • This optimizes our ability to interact with the environment.

Glial: Myelination—speed up the action potential 20 times

Schwann Cell (body)

Oligodendroglia (brain)

Notice the Orderliness of Axonal Connections

1. Development

Why might we learn Word of Wisdom at age 5, TM at 10, and TM-Sidhis at 15 years?

Amount of Influence

Experience Interacts with Natural Maturation

0

5

10

15

20 25 Years

30

35

40+

Neuroplasticity: Experiences changes the brain

Buonomano, D.V., Merzenich, M.M., 1998. Cortical plasticity: from synapses to maps. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 21,

Dendritic Spines change Minute-by-Minute

Exercise: Let’s pretend we are neurons. Neurons cannot move, but they can move their arms around, and even grow new arms….

I’ll signal a person in front, who will tap people behind them and so on….let’s see how quickly the “tap” makes it to the back.

Your Brain is a River, Not a Rock

70% of connections change every day….

London Taxi Cab Drivers

It’s our Choice: Reinforce Old Habits or Make New ones

Same decisions = Same brain patterns

New decisions = New brain patterns

Reduced frontal (executive center) and hippocampal (memory) volume.

Evans & Schamberg (2009) Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(16) 6545–

Negative Experiences

Number of violent films

Behavioral Data: After watching violent movies, you are less likely to help others.

“The Brain That Repairs Itself”

• Antibiotic led to dizziness

• Restricted Mitt Technology for stroke victims

Education: Encounter New Ideas

When Law Students Study:

Increased Myelination in frontal executive circuits. Mackey et al, 2012, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy

It’s our Choice: Reinforce Old Habits or Make New ones

 FEED

• Focus • Effort • Effortlessness • Determination Arden, Rewire Your Brain

Transcending thought is infinitely more valuable than thinking. --Maharishi

Four Months TM Practice Front

Center

Back

TM

Eyes Open Travis, 1991

Eight Years TM Practice Front

Center

Back

TM

Eyes Open Travis, 1991

Main Point Biologically driven processes sculpt the number of connections (synapses) and nature of the output fibers (myelination). The maturation of brain structure and functioning allows increasingly abstract levels of inner experience to be maintained in a stable way including growth towards enlightenment.

Group Discussion  Why does it take time to evolve?

Brain Activity Associated with General Intelligence