The two main parts of the super brain

First of all, this book provides us with a new perspective. That is to say, almost all positive qualities can be explained from the perspective of brain science. For example, why do some people have special self-control This is not only the acquired will, but also depends on an area of his brain called the prefrontal cortex.

So, since these excellent qualities are the result of the brain, how should we strengthen these qualities by improving the brain? This is the second value of this book. Dr. Amon has made a complete brain improvement plan for us. Moreover, these schemes are summarized by him from a large number of treatment cases. Tested by Dr. Amon himself, it can be said to be effective.

Next, I will interpret this book for you from these two topics. In the first part, let's learn more about the brain and see how it works. Passion, self-control and concentration, these precious qualities, how are they produced in the brain? In the second part, based on these findings, let's talk about how to improve our brains.

First, in the first part, let's talk about how the brain works. This is probably one of the most fundamental and difficult problems in the field of brain science. You know, it is said that the brain is the most complex organ in the universe. It has 654.38+000 billion brain cells. If you take out a piece of tissue the size of sand, it contains100000 neurons. These neurons communicate with each other and form a billion neural connections. The speed of information transmission in the brain is 43 1 km per hour, which is more than 1.5 times that of high-speed rail.

For this complex organ, we are far from mastering all its mysteries. In the field of brain science, you may often hear a word called relevance. I will often use this word when I talk about this book today. For example, an emotion is related to a certain area of the brain. You see, this expression sounds a little opaque. What it says is not what causes what, and there is no relevant calculation formula. It says that a certain function is related to a certain area of the brain. For example, in the beginning, the prefrontal cortex was related to self-control. It just shows that the prefrontal cortex has assumed the function of self-control to a great extent. As for self-control, how is it done? This is still a problem to be further studied and solved.

So much for the background information. Back to the topic, based on the current findings, how should we describe the working principle of the brain? In the book, Dr. Amon made a lot of descriptions and materials. I found that the brain described by Dr. Amon works in a very similar way to a car. Every brain region is like a part of a car. So, for convenience. Next, we borrow this model and think of the brain as a car to see how it works.

First, to drive a car, you must have enough fuel. The brain must have enough fuel if it wants to think, operate and act actively. These fuels are passion, longing, expectation for the future and a series of positive emotions. To put it bluntly, it is a gesture full of positive energy. So where do these feelings come from? Please remember this name. The area that produces these emotions is called the deep limbic system. You can think of it as the fuel tank of a car. It provides you with emotional fuel.

The deep edge system can give a neutral event a different emotional tone. For example, I suddenly got an urgent job. The matter itself is not emotional, just a job. However, people with unhealthy deep limbic system are more likely to be pessimistic, feel stressed and irritable. However, people who have a healthy deep limbic system are often practical and just regard it as their daily work. Or more optimistic, regard it as a challenge and an opportunity to show yourself. Simply put, the health of the deep limbic system largely determines whether you are a positive person. Of course, there are many kinds of emotions produced by the deep-seated system, both positive and negative, so I won't say much here.

Many brain scientists believe that people can be called human beings because we have the most developed prefrontal cortex on earth. Among all animals, the human prefrontal cortex is the largest, accounting for 30% of the human brain. In chimpanzee's brain, the prefrontal cortex only accounts for 1 1% of the whole brain, the dog's brain accounts for 7%, and the cat's brain accounts for 3%.

For humans, if the prefrontal cortex is unhealthy, it is equivalent to brake failure, and this person will become particularly impulsive and out of control. Just like a company, employees can do whatever they want without the boss and supervision, and nothing can be done as a result. Of course, the prefrontal cortex is too active. It's like driving, stepping on the accelerator and braking at the same time, and the car can't drive fast. In other words, the extremely active prefrontal cortex, like a particularly nosy boss, takes care of everything, making employees nervous every day and finally unable to do anything. For example, some people are overly sensitive and anxious about the slightest sign of trouble. It may be that the frontal lobe is too active to a large extent. So our goal is not to keep the prefrontal cortex in the most active state, but to maintain a healthy and normal level. How to do it specifically, let's talk about it later.

This is the brain. The braking system of this car is called the prefrontal cortex. Of course, if a car wants to run normally, you can't just keep a constant speed. You have to adjust the speed at any time according to the road conditions. This requires you to have a flexible shift lever, which allows you to switch between various gears freely. In our brain, there is also such a shift lever, which is called the front buckle belt.

The anterior cingulate gyrus controls the cognitive flexibility of the brain. In other words, it gives you the ability to divert your attention. Be able to shift your attention from one thing to another at any time. Once something goes wrong in this part, this person will especially like to get stuck in one thing.

The symptoms are a little mild, which is the most common manifestation, that is, instinctively saying no. Because it's hard for you to take your attention off one thing. This means that once other information comes in, you will instinctively refuse. When people talk to you, you will habitually sayno. Of course, you may not really refuse, but your first reaction is to say no instinctively.

Dr. Amon also found from his patients that many people are afraid to try to innovate in the company, not because they lack creativity, but because their anterior cingulate gyrus is not healthy enough and lacks cognitive flexibility. As a result, they are always staring at stocks and cannot turn their attention to new things.

This is the shift lever of the locomotive, which is called the front buckle belt. Having said that, we have talked about the power source of the brain, which is the deep edge system of the fuel tank; The braking system, namely the prefrontal cortex, is used as a brake; There is also a shift lever, which is the front button and the back button. Of course, these are not enough, because it is impossible to run only one car on any road. If you want to run fast and steadily, you must also coordinate with other cars and keep a reasonable distance between them. This requires this car to be equipped with a full set of rearview mirrors, so that you can see other vehicles in the front, back, left and right.

In the field of neuroscience, the temporal lobe is also called the armrest of the brain. Just like the armrest of a chair. Can help us detect some auxiliary social clues. For example, speaking, other brain regions will help you understand the literal information of these words. However, the temporal lobe will help you understand the subtle emotions hidden in the information, such as tone, tone, volume and so on. To put it bluntly, it is to make you more discerning.

If there is a problem with the temporal lobe, this person may have social barriers, be unable to read other people's facial expressions, or be insensitive to emotional information such as pronunciation and intonation. Similarly, you can't accurately express your social intentions. Just like when driving, without rearview mirror, you can't observe the front, rear, left and right cars, which will inevitably lead to some friction.

This is the rearview mirror of the brain car, called the temporal lobe. It allows us to better identify social clues and deal with interpersonal relationships.

Of course, if a car wants to run steadily, it must not only deal with the relationship with the surrounding vehicles, but also have a good driving experience, that is, self-coordination ability. When you step on the accelerator, accelerate quickly. When you step on the brake, you can stop immediately. This requires that the car must have a good transmission device, including gears, bearings and so on. In our brains, there is also such a transmission device to make all parts of the body work in harmony. This is the cerebellum.

The cerebellum only accounts for 10% of the brain volume, but the number of its neurons accounts for 50% of the whole brain. It is a transmission device that coordinates brain activity and body behavior. For example, when you have an idea in your head, you can make it clear. For example, when you exercise and play ball, you can coordinate your body movements reasonably. These processes of transforming brain thoughts into physical behaviors depend on the cerebellum. If the activity level of cerebellum is low, this person may become clumsy and the coordination between body and brain will become worse, such as walking straight, writing crooked, doing things disorganized and so on.

Ok, this is the cerebellum, which is responsible for the coordination between the body and the brain. Speaking of which, the main parts of this car are almost assembled. It only lacks the last thing, that is, the pressure mechanism. Such as airbags, automatic braking and so on. In an emergency, they can protect the safety of drivers. In our brain, there is also such an area responsible for stress response, called basal ganglia.

If the basal ganglia is overactive, this person will become overly sensitive. For example, when chatting with someone, the other person obviously only shows a little disagreement, and he will feel that the other person is hostile to himself, and then he will enter a state of vigilance and even cause anxiety. For example, if you get a little praise, you will be too excited and immersed in small achievements. These emotional overreactions are largely due to the hyperactivity of basal ganglia. This situation is a bit like when driving, the car encounters a little bump and the airbag suddenly pops up. To put it bluntly, it's just a bit of a fuss. So, how to maintain this area? Let's talk about it later.

This is the first part. We learned about the six most important brain regions through car models. This is all the brain regions mentioned in this book, without any omission. If the brain is regarded as a car, the deep limbic system is its fuel tank, which provides emotional driving fuel for passion, desire and expectation. The prefrontal cortex is the braking system of this car, which gives us stronger self-control. The front buckle is a shift lever, which makes our thinking more flexible and can switch our attention at any time. The temporal lobe is a rearview mirror, which helps us identify social clues and deal with interpersonal relationships. The cerebellum is a coordination and transmission device, which helps us to coordinate our ideological activities and physical behaviors. The basal ganglia is similar to the stress system such as airbag, which allows us to launch a stress response reasonably. Of course, the real situation of the brain is much more complicated. Today, we just adopted this model temporarily for the convenience of telling.

Having said that, we naturally lead to a question. To make this car durable, we should not only finish the car, but also pay attention to daily maintenance. Next, in the second part, we will talk about how to maintain the brain.

Before we begin, let's introduce an idea. In the field of psychology, there has always been a saying that psychology, as a discipline, has philosophy as its mother and natural science as its father. It means that many problems in psychology come from philosophy, but the research methods should rely on natural science, especially brain science. From this passage, you should be able to see that psychology, philosophy and brain science are inextricably linked. Similarly, how to maintain the brain is also an interdisciplinary problem, involving brain science, psychology and philosophy.

In the book, Dr. Amon gives many schemes from different angles. To make it clearer, I integrated these plans into a one-day maintenance plan. That is, from morning till night, from getting up to going to bed, what you should do on this day.

First of all, you must eat three meals a day. You may be tired of hearing this sentence. However, Dr. Amon believes that eating is too important to be overemphasized. Because what you eat determines who you are. What do you mean? All the cells in our body are updated every five months. From this perspective, you will be a brand-new you in five months. So, what is this brand-new raw material for you? It's what you've been eating for the past five months.

At the same time, intestine is called the second brain of human body. Because it secretes an important chemical called neurotransmitter. Its function is to regulate energy and mood. And the intestine secretes more neurotransmitters than the brain. This means that the better food you eat, the more neurotransmitters your stomach can secrete. They will help you improve your brain better.

So, what exactly do you eat? There are several main categories. The first is high-quality protein, such as fish, chicken, lean pork and so on. Followed by complex low-sugar carbohydrates, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables. And healthy fats, such as avocados and nuts. Finally, antioxidant foods, such as blueberries, carrots and grapes. Because the color of antioxidant food is often bright, like a rainbow, it is also called rainbow food.

Let's talk about the second point of this maintenance plan after eating. In fact, this is also a commonplace topic, that is, we must exercise regularly. There are many benefits of physical exercise, but how to understand it from the perspective of brain science may be unknown to many people.

Exercise can not only strengthen the body, but also strengthen the brain. First of all, exercise will speed up the blood flow in the brain and deliver oxygen, glucose and other nutrients to the brain through blood. Secondly, exercise makes your body produce a substance called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which can nourish nerve development. More importantly, exercise can also promote the generation of new cells in the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe. However, these newly generated cells are a little fragile. If you don't stimulate them, they will only live for four weeks and then die. So, don't waste these brain cells that grow up through exercise. You must find a way to give them a little excitement. How exciting is it? It's simple. Study more and read more. In other words, learning and fitness are a group of partners who promote each other and achieve a win-win situation. Fitness can make us produce more brain cells and improve learning efficiency. Learning, in turn, activates these brain cells that grow for fitness and further improves the brain.

So, there are so many ways to exercise, which one has the greatest promoting effect on the brain? The first sport promoted by Dr. Amon was table tennis. First of all, it has no physical collision, and unlike football, it involves actions such as heading the ball and has obvious impact on the brain. It's very safe. Secondly, the offensive and defensive rhythm of table tennis is very fast, and when you play, all the limbs, including the brain and eyes, are mobilized together, and the exercise you get is very comprehensive. Dr. Amon once tested that his patient played table tennis for ten minutes in a row and then had a brain imaging scan. The results showed that the activity of prefrontal cortex and cerebellum increased obviously after playing the ball. Of course, besides table tennis, aerobic exercise such as jogging, brisk walking and skipping rope is also a good choice.

Well, this is the second point of brain maintenance. You should keep moderate exercise. Third, you should spend at least a little time every day thinking about things that make you happy.

At first glance, you may find it strange. After all, the brain is a physiological tissue. How much can psychological association play on it? To understand why this method is useful, we must first know what happens to your brain when you think. Simply put, this process is similar to practicing the ball.

You see, when you practice playing football, if you often exercise an action, you will become more and more proficient, and over time, it will become a conditioned reflex. Don't think about it, you will make this action subconsciously. And the muscle groups related to this action will become stronger and stronger.

Similarly, when thinking, the brain is like playing football. A certain kind of thinking corresponds to a specific neural circuit. Happy memories correspond to brain regions related to happiness. Sad memories correspond to brain regions related to sadness. This means that the more you recall happy experiences, the stronger the brain regions related to happiness will become, and the easier it will be for you to mobilize. In other words, happiness is actually an ability of the brain. The more you exercise, the stronger it becomes. This is why optimistic people are becoming more and more optimistic. On the contrary, pessimists tend to be more and more pessimistic.

This is the second part. How to maintain the brain? In fact, Dr. Amon's plan can be summed up in three sentences: eat more good food, exercise more and think more about happy memories. These methods themselves, it is estimated that you have long been tired of listening. However, the interesting thing about Dr. Amon is that he not only talks about the method, but also tells you the principle behind it. He believes that many people don't pay attention to maintaining their brains, not because they don't know the methods, but because they lack the belief in practice. How to strengthen this belief? Is to make people clearly aware of how the brain works. When you know it better, your awareness of maintenance will naturally improve.

abstract

At this point, the essence of this "super brain" has been interpreted for you. Looking back, we talked about two parts today. The first part is about the working principle of the brain. The brain is like a car, and each brain region plays its own role like different parts in the car. In the second part, we are talking about ways to maintain the brain. As soon as the details are finished, I won't go into details.

As an academic star in the field of brain science, Dr. Amon's representative work is called "Amon's five books on brain health". They are happy brain, female brain, healthy brain and brain warrior, and today's super brain. In the original work, there are many wonderful contents.