Notes from Bodyworks, a show at the Franklin Institute
Who am I?
It seems like such an easy question to answer- we imagine a coherent inner self, inhabiting and controlling our bodies. Yet there is no explanation for how this self receives information from he brain, nor how it exerts control over it.
We are not born with a sense of self; it emerges at around two as the neural networks develop in the brain. Later, our brains constantly interpret and create our feelings of self. For some, our sense of self is tied to a continuing substance, for example a non- material soul.
Some theories of self take memory as a criterion- out memories helping to define who we are, giving us a past to look back on and a basis for the future.
When we learn a fact, the brain actually creates a neural pathway, building a road of synapses to it. To remember, we then have to trigger that same route to the memory.
Neurologically love s about dopamine, a key neurotransmitter associated with pleasure. The neuro-chemical fireworks in our brains create neurological changes similar to addiction. Three states of love:
1. Normones, testosterone and estrogen. (the crush)
2. Nausea, insomnia, loss of appetite. (can last up to three years)
3. Oxytocin and Vasopressin; hormones related to bonding an social behavior.
The pineal gland controls sleep, it pumps in melatonin. When asleep the body is paralyzed except for eye movement. When sleeping you can still hear, and the brain sometimes tries to incorporate real time sounds into the dream. In this way, the forebrain creates a story in an attempt to make sense of the non-sensical information it receives.
Memory formation seems to involve the brain regions hippocampus and heocoutes. During sleep they can communicate with out interference from external stimuli.
