EDUC10057 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Mind-Wandering, Biological Neural Network
13 Jun 2018
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Lecture 2: Neuroplasticity & mindfulness
Changing emotional mind (subconscious, automatic, based
on past experiences, intuition and feel)
●focused attention: mindfulness & meditation
●CBT
●medication (to change affective style)
●interventions promoting self reflection and
awareness
Neuroplasticity: a property of the brain that allows it to
change its own structure and functioning in response to
activity and mental experience; positive or negative; as
learning occurs, connections among nerve cells increase
Myelination: increases speed and efficiency of nerve
communication
Brain measurement technology:
●EEG: electroencephalography: measures voltage
on brain surface
●fMRI: functional magnetic resonance imaging:
measures blood flow via oxygen in brain
Nervous system:
●Autonomic: sympathetic (fight or flight) &
parasympathetic (rest and digest)
Types of neuronal cells:
●Microglia : bring blood
●Astrocyte
●Oligodendrocyte
Neurons only firing or not, no in between; on or off
What the mind attends to and does repeatedly can alter its
neural structure; if certain neural networks are not used,
those nerve cells will be pruned
Brain develops bottom up and back to front
●Brain stem: survival, breathing, fight or flight
●Limbic system: mammalian brain, emotional, social
●Neocortex: problem solving
○Prefrontal cortex: higher level thinking,
decision making, executive function
Mindsight : shifting the inner mind to promote self
awareness
●autobiographical journalling promotes integration
of whole brain
●left brain: language, right: autobiographical
memory
Biology behind the NB: natural selection two
→
motivational systems: approach and withdrawal
→
amygdala is a short cut neural circuit in the brain
Offset NB: taking in the good greater satisfaction,
→
increase in positive emotions etc.
1. Positive fact positive experiences
→
2. Savour (intense, multimodal/duration)
3. Intent to let positive experiences sink in
→
Neuroplasticity & wellbeing:
●meditation
●diet: serotonin: neurotransmitter responsible for
mood, emotional stability and sleep; 90%
produced in gut; B-vitamins: build serotonin, build
GABA (anti-anxiety) neurotransmitter
●physical exercise: improves cognitive performance
and hippocampus size; long lasting effects,
potentially in epigenetics (changing gene function);
increases inhibitory control, working memory, and
cognitive flexibility
LKM: loving kindness meditation
Constituents of wellbeing: empirically shown to be
evidence consequent to meditation:
1. resilience
2. savour positive emotion
3. attention
4. generosity
Middle insula: part of brain responsible for empathy
Mindfulness: paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally; knowing what
you are doing while you are doing it
Process:
●mind rests on stable focus eg. breath
●strengthens awareness; becomes steadier, clearer, deeper
●present: less reactivity, better choices, deeper experience
Social media is both a cause and a means of managing stress
We live in an age of chronic distractibility: mind wandering: ruminate about past or thinking about future; a wandering mind
is an unhappy mind; generally people find sitting with just your thoughts unpleasant
Document Summary
Changing emotional mind (cid:840)subconscious, automatic, based on past experiences, intuition and feel(cid:841) Neuroplasticity: a property of the brain that allows it to change its own structure and functioning in response to activity and mental experience; positive or negative; as learning occurs, connections among nerve cells increase. Myelination: increases speed and e ciency of nerve communication. Eeg: electroencephalography: measures voltage on brain surface. Fmri: functional magnetic resonance imaging: measures blood ow via oxygen in brain. Autonomic: sympathetic (cid:840) ght or ight(cid:841) & parasympathetic (cid:840)rest and digest(cid:841) Neurons only ring or not, no in between; on or o . )hat the mind attends to and does repeatedly can alter its neural structure; if certain neural networks are not used, those nerve cells will be pruned. Brain develops bottom up and back to front. Brain stem: survival, breathing, ght or ight. Prefrontal cortex: higher level thinking, decision making, executive function. Mindsight : shifting the inner mind to promote self awareness.
