Brain and
Consciousness
Your Brain Is a
Work in Progress
o1
Timeline: 7:45 – 9:00
Sun
Sept
Sept
Monday
Tuesday
11: Paradigms
Wed
Thursday
Friday
13: Brain
Development
Mongolia Conference
Sept
Yom Kippur
27:
Sleeping
Oct
2: Science and
Pseudoscience
4: Other
Meditations
Oct
9: Cosmic
Consciousness
28: TM
and TC
Drfredtravis.com for copy of lecture
power points
Sat
Our Brain Is
Unassembled at Birth
Dendrites, Dendritic spines
Synaptic connections naturally
increase during first 3 years of life.
Number of Connections Increases
and then Decreases
oYears
Why High Synaptic Density
from 2-9 Years?
– This is a physiological
counterpart of all
possibilities. This sets the
stage for ongoing experience
to enliven specific cortical
circuits to deal with current
experiences.
Why Synaptic Pruning from
10-18 Years?
– Pruning is not bad (garden
analogy)
– Pruning eliminates
connections that are not used,
and strengthens brain
connections that are used.
• This optimizes our ability to
interact with the environment.
Glial: Myelination—speed up the
action potential 20 times
Schwann Cell
(body)
Oligodendroglia (brain)
Notice the Orderliness of
Axonal Connections
1. Development
Why might we learn Word of Wisdom at age 5, TM
at 10, and TM-Sidhis at 15 years?
Amount of Influence
Experience Interacts with
Natural Maturation
0
5
10
15
20
25
Years
30
35
40+
Neuroplasticity: Experiences
changes the brain
Buonomano, D.V., Merzenich, M.M., 1998. Cortical plasticity:
from synapses to maps. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 21,
Dendritic Spines change
Minute-by-Minute
Exercise:
Let’s pretend we
are neurons.
Neurons cannot
move, but they can
move their arms
around, and even
grow new arms….
I’ll signal a person in front, who will tap people
behind them and so on….let’s see how quickly
the “tap” makes it to the back.
Your Brain is a River,
Not a Rock
70% of connections change
every day….
London Taxi Cab Drivers
It’s our Choice: Reinforce Old
Habits or Make New ones
Same decisions
= Same brain
patterns
New decisions
= New brain
patterns
Reduced frontal
(executive center)
and hippocampal
(memory) volume.
Evans & Schamberg
(2009) Childhood poverty,
chronic stress, and adult
working memory,
Proceedings of the
National Academy of
Sciences, 106(16) 6545–
Negative Experiences
Number of violent films
Behavioral Data: After watching violent
movies, you are less likely to help others.
“The Brain That Repairs Itself”
• Antibiotic led to
dizziness
• Restricted Mitt Technology
for stroke victims
Education:
Encounter New Ideas
When Law Students Study:
Increased Myelination
in frontal executive
circuits.
Mackey et al, 2012, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
It’s our Choice: Reinforce Old
Habits or Make New ones
 FEED
• Focus
• Effort
• Effortlessness
• Determination
Arden, Rewire Your Brain
Transcending thought is
infinitely more valuable
than thinking.
--Maharishi
Four Months TM Practice
Front
Center
Back
TM
Eyes Open
Travis, 1991
Eight Years TM Practice
Front
Center
Back
TM
Eyes Open
Travis, 1991
Main Point
Biologically driven processes
sculpt the number of connections
(synapses) and nature of the output
fibers (myelination).
The maturation of brain structure
and functioning allows increasingly
abstract levels of inner experience
to be maintained in a stable way
including growth towards
enlightenment.
Group Discussion
 Why does it take time to
evolve?
Brain Activity Associated
with General Intelligence