Week 7 | Neuroscience, Creativity & Healing

The brain is a highly fascinating structure, and intricate studies of the brain have developed through technologies such as the microscope, fluorescent proteins, and MRI scans. Christopher deCharms, for example, demonstrated how fMRI could display brain activity in real time and help patients control pain.

 

Vilayanur Ramachandran also helps patients relieve pain in the form of unlearning paralysis in phantom limbs. The treatment only requires a cheap mirror.

The emergence of advanced tech and equipment has altered our perception of human nature and the connection between mind and creativity. Ancient philosophers, and even theorists after the scientific revolution, posed a variety of perspectives about the brain. Aristotle believed that humans produced thought from the heart, and the brain was a merely mechanical cog in the human machine. Sigmund Freud postulated notions of sexuality and repression within one’s unconsciousness which formed theories such as the Oedipus complex.

A Freudian mode of reasoning was used to explain why a patient formed delusions about his “fake” mom after an accident. Doctors supposed that the patient could recognize the image of his mother’s face, but was convinced that she was an imposter due to unsuppressed, latent sexual attraction. However, Ramachandran contradicts this logic with a more likely theory. He claims that a connection in the brain between visual recognition and emotion was severed. Through the use of brain imaging, he was able to locate the exact area of the brain to prove his theory. Cross connections within the brain affects our emotions and can lead to higher creativity. Thus poets and artists have a greater skill at creating metaphorical relations between seemingly unrelated objects.

Creativity is useful beyond art. In a TED talk with David Deutsch, he argues how the brain must be capable of induction in order to analyze the unseen. This requires creativity to fill in the blanks for what we cannot observe with our eyes. Empiricism alone forms restrictions around scientific development and inhibits innovation. We can discover so much more with further research in neuroscience to increase our capability to create and heal.

Sources

Christopher deCharms. "A Look Inside the Brain Real Time". TED Talk. 2008.  https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_decharms_a_look_inside_the_brain_in_real_time. 

Deutsch, David. "A new way to explain explanation". TED Talk. 2009.  https://www.ted.com/talks/david_deutsch_a_new_way_to_explain_explanation. 

Ramachandran, Vilayanur. "3 clues to understanding your brain". TED Talk. 2007. https://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_3_clues_to_understanding_your_brain#t-628109

"Sigmund Freud Psychoanalytic Theory". PSYCH-MENTAL HEALTH NP. 2021. 

https://pmhealthnp.com/pmhnp-topics/sigmund-freud-psychoanalytic-theory/. 

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience-pt1.mov". UC Online. YouTube 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzXjNbKDkYI. 

Yildirim, Meltem. "The effect of mirror therapy on the management of phantom limb pain". AGRI. July 2016. https://jag.journalagent.com/agri/pdfs/AGRI-48343-EXPERIMENTAL_AND_CLINICAL_STUDIES-YILDIRIM.pdf