"The worst thing for the brain is boredom"
Reassure cognitive neurology specialist, born in Istanbul, who for thirty years studying its operation.
The Nation, March 19, 2006 Nora Bär
often said that the brain is the most complex object in the universe and the great poem of matter. Marsel Mesulam certainly would agree with these definitions: captivated by mathematics and literature in his time as a student, for three decades exploring the intricate pathways of the mind. The director of the Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer Northwestern University, who was in Buenos Aires to attend the meeting of the Research Group on Aphasia and Cognitive Disorders of the World Federation of Neurology, coordinated by Ineco-born in Istanbul, but lives in the United States since he was 18 in 1964.
When I was about to graduate, "she recalls, I decided to enter medicine and psychology. I was fortunate to have as a mentor to Norman Geschwind (father of modern behavioral neurology) and since then research has been a wonderful journey through neurology, neuroanatomy and functional imaging. Since I do not plan to devote to mathematics, but still enjoy a good book .
Mesulam
-Doctor, can you explain in a paragraph how the mind works?
"Well, the problem is complicated. Only on the surface of the brain we have 20 billion neurons, each of which is about ten thousand connections. This body can do absolutely amazing things that no machine is able to emulate such as calculations that makes a tennis player, a poet or an athlete. In the last 150 years we tried to find out what part of the brain does what task. And we know one thing: that different parts of the brain do different things, and that they are not confined within individual boundaries. Brain functions are organized into distributed networks and interconnected. For example, it is that words are in a special part of the brain. Are all over the brain, but there is a critical area that knows where it operates like a computer directory. If you lose the directory ... forget it, never going to find, not because the directory containing the files, but because he is missing. We are beginning to describe the brain functions as an incredibly mosaic complex in which there are different areas of expertise, areas that can relate the information being disseminated. We made really great progress, but we are still in the beginning.
"But some think that will never be able to fully understand the brain?
"I think the twenty-first century neuroscience will have to define the meaning of the words we use to ask. For example, when we say we will not understand how the brain works, I have to turn the question: what is meant to understand? Because if it is meant to understand that when you look at this and called "clock" can handle it, you can functional imaging can tell what part does what, then yes we will understand. But if the question is whether I can explain what the essence of a watch, I have to answer I do not know. I think we can describe as income and information graduates, but if we go to more complex, for example if we ask what is consciousness, then ....
- Is it impossible to understand what is consciousness?
"Personally, I do not know what consciousness is. I can say that being conscious is to verbalize something internally, but also there are instances where one does not need to verbalize. The whole of consciousness is beyond logical analysis. If we explain, we will encounter problems because the answers you find will be trivial. So we must be very careful in how we define our questions.
"They say it's an" agnostic "in the neurosciences ...
"Maybe, but think of astronomy: If you ask how the universe began, they respond" to the Big Bang, "but the Big Bang is something called a" singularity ", which has no explanation. Astronomy is smarter than neuroscience, because it defined the question with no answer. I think we accept that some questions, when we in some way, can not be answered. But we have so many questions can be answered yes, do not think you have to waste time with those who did not have.
- Do you think that hypotheses such as Marvin Minsky, who spoke of a "society of mind" in which consciousness arises from the interaction of processes that individually are not aware, are not an explanation right?
"I think it's a very reasonable idea, because what it says is that scale levels of complexity. For example, we have many synapses that much of mental functions could be handled in a probabilistic way. You could say that when we call this "clock", the visual stimulus activates thousands of possible words, but in a Darwinian sense the fittest survive because they agree more with what you see. I have no problem with that approach, but my research does not deal with that level of complexity. I'm just a neurologist who is trying to discover what are the elements so that, someday, someone will see how they work.
- How would you explain the pendulum motion describing the mind either as something unknowable or a simple chemical gear?
- Just a chemical gear? A quartet of Beethoven is just sound? Most would answer yes, but otherwise it sounds very complex and very special. Another example is the life is just a combination of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen? But when they come together in complex ways, the same happens as with biological systems, two plus two equals five. Even though the brain is basically "just a chemical machine," when these substances are combined in a certain order result in something else.
- What matters most development of mind, inheritance or experience?
"Both. In each function there are instances in which checks a genetic predisposition, in which experience plays a role and in which there are interactions. I like to think of the brain like a boat (genetic predisposition) on accumulating experience as a painting, if genetic predisposition is correct, this painting will be much more colorful. But you have to have both. One can not only develop language possessing the genes, however, if you have the genes, experience alone will not cause you to have language skills. Now if a guy is not exposed to language, nor develop.
- What is the bridge between the anatomical and symbolic?
-language. Humans have created this system whose sole purpose is to create a symbol that we call "word" for specific objects, ideas, feelings. You could say that the network of language is the best system known to date for the creation of symbols and no other animal that has it. We have worked years for chimpanzees and gorillas and create symbols to communicate, and has only been able to learn one or two words. In my opinion, the reason is that the brain Man has developed to a point where you have a luxury: more neurons (relative to body size) of which are necessary for survival. That "luxury" allows neural systems whose main job is not just escape danger and find food, but think about the experience through symbols. This interface token is a uniquely human trait. The advantage of this system is really incredible. Another unique feature of the human mind is its desire for diversity, if not, why humans create thousands of languages \u200b\u200bto say the same things?
- Why?
- What why there are so many ways to prepare food? The monkeys like bananas? The secret of the human brain is the pursuit of diversity. We feel an urgency inherent novelty seeking. If one takes a neuron and shows the same thing twice, immediately decreases its activity. Bored. The worst thing for the human brain is boredom and that has created the fuel for the development of mankind. The problem is that novelty seeking is not always good, therefore the brain has the potential for better and for worse.
- What can we do to cultivate the child's mind?
"All kids are different. Some are curious and want to know why things are the way they are. Others are more interested in personal relationships. It is important to be very sensitive to the particular talents and enable them to develop in a stimulating environment. It makes no sense to claim that mathematics is a guy who has no inclination toward math, that would be frustrating for everyone. I think you first have to find out what skills the boy and then give you the best possible chance to develop. And make sure you have a curious mind in any area. When I was in elementary school, there was a pattern for everyone. All learned the same, we read the same. I hope we increasingly sensitive to differences and we can feed them.
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