Brain and Bias, 2

The brain appears to be born with a “built-in bias” related to safety. Some say this built-in bias constitutes the fastest decision the brain every makes. It appears that no brain is completely unbiased, notwithstanding that many brains claim they have no bias or are completely unbiased. Indeed it is what you don’t even know you don’t know that can cause you problems. When does the brain activate this bias? It makes a lightning fast decision about safety every time it encounters someone or something for the first time

If it is a person, the brain evaluates:

1.   Is this person like me? If “no,” what are the differences and am I SAFE?

If it is a thing, the brain evaluates:

2.   Have I seen this something before and am I SAFE?

More tomorrow.

Brain and Bias

Recently I’ve had several questions about “Bias” and how the brain manages it, prompted reportedly by the racial and gender unrest not only nationally but internationally. First of all, how do you define “bias?” Merriam-Webster dictionary describes the noun “bias” as a tendency to believe that some people, some ideas, etc., are better than others, which usually results in treating some people unfairly. Wikipedia puts it this way:  Bias is an inclination or outlook to present or hold a partial perspective, often accompanied by a refusal to consider the possible merits of alternative points of view. When the word bias is used as a verb, one definition puts it this way: to feel or show inclination or prejudice for or against someone or something. Interestingly enough, it appears that the human brain comes with a built-in bias. More tomorrow.

Bumper Stickers

• I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

• The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

• Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.

• Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

• I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.

• Money Isn't Everything... But it Sure Keeps the Kids Calling

• You have the right to remain silent—anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.

• I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

• The bird’s not dead—but it is electroencephalographically challenged. 

• Saw it... Wanted it... Threw a fit... Got it!... Now what?

Zoned Out – 3

In this recent study of cognitive lapses due to sleep deprivation, Dr. Yuval Nir, the study’s first author, reportedly said: “We were fascinated to observe how sleep deprivation dampened brain cell activity. Unlike the usual rapid reaction, the neurons responded slowly, fired more weakly and their transmissions dragged on longer than usual.” The cellular communication slowdown was one of the observed results, but overall brain wave activity slowed, as well. Professor Itzhak Fried, who led the study, said: “We discovered that starving the body of sleep also robs neurons of the ability to function properly. This paves the way for cognitive lapses in how we perceive and react to the world around us… Slow sleep-like waves disrupted the patients’ brain activity and performance of tasks. This phenomenon suggests that select regions of the patients’ brains were dozing, causing mental lapses, while the rest of the brain was awake and running as usual.” Bottom line conclusion? Inadequate sleep exerts a similar influence on our brain as drinking too much.

http://www.nature.com/articles/nm.4433

Zoned Out – 2

When the brain lacks sufficient sleep, processes in the brain interact in ways that slow what researchers call “slow behavioral performance” or cognitive lapses. Researchers studied program participants in a variety of situations including after a full night of sleep deprivation. The results showed that just before one of the so-called cognitive lapses (and fortunately none of the participants were driving a vehicle during the study!), “the selective spiking responses of individual neurons in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) are attenuated, delayed, and lengthened.” So no wonder that drivers don’t even realize at times that they are tired and yet can “zone out” enough to result in a vehicle accident. More tomorrow.

Zoned Out

A article entitled “ Selective neuronal lapses precede human cognitive neuronal lapses in sleep deprivation” and published in the journal Nature Medicine, reported findings indicating that getting insufficient sleep influences the brain in much the same way as drinking too much. Most states have a “test” to identify when a driver has a blood alcohol level over the legal limit, but no test yet exists to identify drivers that are sleep deprived. Too bad, since sleep deprivation contributes to vehicle accidents and medical errors to say nothing of being linked to morbidity with widespread health effects. These effects include an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart attack and stroke, depression, diabetes, obesity, heart attack, and stroke. More tomorrow.

Intellectual Humility, 10

Speaking of Thanksgiving, several reported that “Thanksgiving was awful this year. Once again, my aunt and brother went at it with tongs and pitchforks. I think next year we’ll have dinner at our house and it will be ‘by personal invitation only!’” Aside from politics, religion, and gender-relationships, most of the disagreements even related to interpersonal relationships, likely boil down to things that really do not matter. They reflect one’s own belief that our view of the situation is right and theirs is wrong. Brain function research indicates that each brain ONLY HAS IS OWN OPINION. Sometimes that is a unilateral view; sometimes it is a view that has been adopted from someone else. Several years ago I began using the phrase, “In my brain’s opinion,” or “My brain’s opinion is …” They were meant to reflect that no brain can “know” everything much less “know” what it knows with infallible accuracy. And what a brain doesn’t even know it doesn’t know can be lethal. In the light of this new research I have a new respect for this phrase: the words are meant to reflect personal Intellectual Humility . . .