# The Life of BRAIN



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Our brains seem to have a life of their own, whirring away while we're asleep and when we stir, popping into our head that word we were looking for earlier that was on 'the tip of our tongue'.

Or landing us in trouble by popping into our mouths something that should have stayed a thought, or indeed, something that we weren't even aware of.

Like the time at university when I was playing cards with a Hindu friend of mine, in her study-bedroom because she had a cold. I lost a trick and in annoyance with myself exclaimed, 'Holy cow!'

This exclamation was one I had *never used before* and *had never heard uttered* by anyone around me - I'd only ever heard it from kids in American films on TV. So why did Wicked Old Brain decide to embarrass me? 

This thread is *all about the brain *- its quirks, its Freudian slips, the way it litters a conversation with unpurposed puns, little stories of how it's surprised you.

Also, any *scientific research* into the brain's workings that you've come across. 
Yep, all those studies that show how music at an early age improves intelligence/ staves off dementia/ affects the personality/ has no effect whatsoever.

It can also be about things that go physically wrong with the brain - about mental illness - about how the brain affects other parts of the body, or vice versa - I've always felt bemused by stories of amputees feeling pain in phantom limbs etc.

Telepathy? Clairvoyance? - Fascinating!

Amazing feats of memory or forgetfulness? - Likewise!

Please tell us anything that can illuminate the secret (or public) *Life of* *BRAIN*. 
Thanks in advance for any replies. :tiphat:


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Oliver Sacks, who died in 2015, has written some very interesting books about how the brain works, which I'd like to recommend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Sacks

I have read and enjoyed both *The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat*, and *Musicophilia*.

What books about the brain and its workings would you recommend?


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

We all know those words that are just on the tip of the tongue ... but go missing.

Sometimes when we play word games*, we both think of words and then forget them until ... the other person come up with them. Or other times, when we both come up with an unusual word at the same time. What's even more annoying is that we get all the odd and unusual words but miss the obvious examples. Are they hiding in plain sight but we just don't see them because they're too ... well, obvious?

Brain is a strange creature.


*The sort where you make 30 words out of watermark with m as a required letter.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I remember when I was young seeing a piece on TV about an experiment - where people were shown a film of a traffic accident then afterwards asked to provide 'witness statements'. If they were asked about the speed of the car when it 'smashed' into the obstacle, they generally reported seeing a smashed windscreen - which hadn't happened, and which they didn't see if they were asked about the speed of the car when it 'bumped into' the article.

And oh the wonders of the internet - here it is! 
http://personal.kent.edu/~mzaragoz/publications/Zaragoza chapter 4 Garry Hayne.pdf

I have realised my own suggestibility sometimes when - having experienced a bit of aggro from a snippy poster - I treat some perfectly innocent poster to a bit of my own snippiness. I simply misread what they've written, expecting trouble where there is none.

* My bad. 

* (Brain loves to latch on to what it thinks is the latest slang - usually just at the point where it isn't...)


----------



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Suggestibility is a terrible thing. Think of the Invisible Gorilla or inattentional blindness. The rest of that wiki article is worth a read






Chabris and Simons have a whole website about this - called the Invisible Gorilla with more videos.

Nothing stranger than Brain.


----------



## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

My wife and me still have their fathers alive in the age of +90 years. My father has got Alzheimer and lives in an homely atmosphere together with six other Alzheimer patients. Her father still disposes of all his mind-faculties. One expects the differences to be huge. Two times a week my wife talks over Skype with her father in St Petersburg. I do not know Russian, but I've become so familiar with the way how her father steers the talk, that I may say I've come to know quite a lot of Pushkin and many Russian proverbs by heart. Her father loves to recite Pushkin. We know in advance that he takes this tack and my wife leaves it that way. So on the one side there exists a lot of pre-knowledge, which has a dimming effect on communication. With my own father on the other hand, there exists no pre-knowledge at all. My father has his good days and his bad times, but what will come out in words is a pure adventure and an highlight of communication. My father never was known to be funny or humorous. Now this is happening almost all the time. He knows that his mind is not able to sustain a longer thought anymore, but this awareness is not tragic or depressive: it is more the opposite. He is at peace and speaks freely. Her father is the one who is indeed tragic and depressive. He wants to control that he still able to recite all this poetry by heart, but one feels this self-medication to be weirdly non-communicative. My wife is present but he talks his talk. His hard-disk is OK and he is constantly re-initiating the disk-control. So tell me, what kind of old age is preferable?


----------



## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

A good project for retirement is to learn another language or a musical instrument (or another) it keeps the Brain active which is essential as you become older.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

TxllxT said:


> My wife and me still have their fathers alive in the age of +90 years. My father has got Alzheimer and lives in an homely atmosphere together with six other Alzheimer patients. Her father still disposes of all his mind-faculties. One expects the differences to be huge. Two times a week my wife talks over Skype with her father in St Petersburg. I do not know Russian, but I've become so familiar with the way how her father steers the talk, that I may say I've come to know quite a lot of Pushkin and many Russian proverbs by heart. Her father loves to recite Pushkin. We know in advance that he takes this tack and my wife leaves it that way. So on the one side there exists a lot of pre-knowledge, which has a dimming effect on communication. With my own father on the other hand, there exists no pre-knowledge at all. My father has his good days and his bad times, but what will come out in words is a pure adventure and an highlight of communication. My father never was known to be funny or humorous. Now this is happening almost all the time. He knows that his mind is not able to sustain a longer thought anymore, but this awareness is not tragic or depressive: it is more the opposite. He is at peace and speaks freely. Her father is the one who is indeed tragic and depressive. He wants to control that he still able to recite all this poetry by heart, but one feels this self-medication to be weirdly non-communicative. My wife is present but he talks his talk. His hard-disk is OK and he is constantly re-initiating the disk-control. So tell me, what kind of old age is preferable?


My mother had dementia for the last five years of her life, and spent the last year of her life in a dementia home near us which was very caring and well-designed and she was content there.

Dementia causes a lot of anxiety and her personality changed - she became aggressive and imagined that we were working against her or stealing from her. This changed when she went into the home and had some medication - memantine, a cognitive enhancer, and citalopram, an anti-depressant. I visited her four times a week and they were generally good visits. One thing that never changed was her love of poetry - I made up a book of poetry with pictures and we read this together regularly. She also loved singing - always had - and I made up a book of hymns and songs that she knew and she would sing them with her visitors.

Other things did change - she had no memory of a lot of her own history, so though she had never, by her own confession, been 'an animal person', she now thought she was, and made a big fuss of any visiting dog, and also responded well to some realistic dog toys that she kept on her bed.

During the years that the dementia was developing, she imagined that she had always been a huge fan of Elvis 'as you are when you're young' - she never had been a fan, and anyway, the dates were wrong, but it kept her happy for a while. But when the dementia was full-blown and then when she was in the home, she lost all interest in listening to music and had no idea who Elvis was.

If I had a choice, it would be not to get dementia, because it does dismay anybody who knows you well, and anxiety and aggression can be very harrowing. However, if I did get dementia, I would still be happy to be alive, if I could be looked after in such a lovely home as my mother had. The staff all loved her and did their best for her.


----------



## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Ingélou said:


> My mother had dementia for the last five years of her life, and spent the last year of her life in a dementia home near us which was very caring and well-designed and she was content there.
> 
> Dementia causes a lot of anxiety and her personality changed - she became aggressive and imagined that we were working against her or stealing from her. This changed when she went into the home and had some medication - memantine, a cognitive enhancer, and citalopram, an anti-depressant. I visited her four times a week and they were generally good visits. One thing that never changed was her love of poetry - I made up a book of poetry with pictures and we read this together regularly. She also loved singing - always had - and I made up a book of hymns and songs that she knew and she would sing them with her visitors.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your post. My father has in Holland also all the loving care one can wish for. I do not want to 'propagate' dementia, but there exist a lot of myths around it, that one doesn't need to take seriously. My father's character changed a bit in being more open, sometimes even blurting out words one would never associate with him. On the whole he's turned into a more amiable person. My father used to sail over the oceans as a captain of Shell Tankers. Now he's again the captain and he's complaining about the women crew. This is like a _live_ sketch of some British comic and the care taking personnel love these kinds of breaks. What they absolutely love is his praying at the beginning of the meals. Whereas his talk more and more may become in-understandable, his prayers (they accompany him all his life) are clear. This is again something for us to wonder about. Every week we take my father out for a walk in his wheelchair. The way he ravishes at the sight of the big trees around his home makes it a pure joy. And every time this is happening anew.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

TxllxT said:


> Thanks for your post. My father has in Holland also all the loving care one can wish for. I do not want to 'propagate' dementia, but there exist a lot of myths around it, that one doesn't need to take seriously. My father's character changed a bit in being more open, sometimes even blurting out words one would never associate with him. On the whole he's turned into a more amiable person. My father used to sail over the oceans as a captain of Shell Tankers. Now he's again the captain and he's complaining about the women crew. This is like a _live_ sketch of some British comic and the care taking personnel love these kinds of breaks. What they absolutely love is his praying at the beginning of the meals. Whereas his talk more and more may become in-understandable, his prayers (they accompany him all his life) are clear. This is again something for us to wonder about. Every week we take my father out for a walk in his wheelchair. The way he ravishes at the sight of the big trees around his home makes it a pure joy. And every time this is happening anew.


I am very glad that your father's experience has some positives, but the truth is, everyone's dementia is different.

I've been a member of Talking Point, the forum of the Alzheimer's Society, for over three years and there are many searing stories there, with some horrible experiences.

On that forum, the oft-repeated mantra is - 'If you've seen one person with dementia - then that's all you've seen...'

My mother's dementia could have been far worse, and I am very grateful for that - particularly when I read the sadder stories on Talking Point, which I am afraid do have to be taken seriously.

Now that my mother has gone, I can hardly bear to read of the ordeals that the carers and their loved ones are going through - but too often their only relief is to share their feelings with people who understand.

I do agree with you, though, that the problem of dementia and the realities of the condition - good and bad - do need more publicity. It does not do anyone any good to fear dementia. I understood so little before my mother was affected & I could have been much better prepared, and done some things better.


----------



## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

Did anyone else misread the thread title and think we were going to discuss a Monty Python movie?


----------



## Iota (Jun 20, 2018)

When I saw this thread I immediately thought of the quote from Paradise Lost which seems about as succinct an expression of the human condition as I know.

'The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.'

There are so many mind boggling statistics connected with the brain, I think it contains something like 100 billion neurons each one of which has thousands of interactions with other neurons, it's often cited as the most complex structure in the universe, and is still largely a great mystery to us, etc, etc. It's little surprise perhaps our brains are so boggled by our brains.

I remember seeing a documentary a long time ago about a musicologist called Clive Wearing, an authority on Lassus who was struck down with one of the most acute forms of amnesia known. He was a clearly intelligent and articulate guy who couldn't remember anything more than a few seconds old, but was still able to conduct choirs and play complex pieces of music on the piano (by memory as I remember). It was a fairly eye-opening introduction to me of the bizarre smorgasbord of experiences small changes in the brain can make.

Very interested to read others tales of dementia/Alzheimer's, the latter of which robbed my mother mercilessly of a great deal before she passed away, you have my sympathy. Though it's good to read of the small glimpses of sunshine in your father's experience, TxllxT, I wish you both well.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I heard of a professor who was ignoring his daily routine of buttoning his sweater until he noticed his sweater buttons were off by one loop. It was then that he realized how much of what we do is automatic until some wrench gets thrown in it to get us to wake up. Which is why I subconsciously misplace my cell phone and my glasses: it's my brain trying to get me to wake up.


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

One of the most interesting facts discovered about the brain in recent years is the reason for sleep. Because the blood-brain barrier prevents the cleansing of waste products from the brain that occurs in the rest of the body, the alternative for the brain: During sleep blood flow to the brain markedly decreases, the brain shrinks and cerebrospinal fluid floods into the space created and acts as a cleansing agent. So contrary to all the other theories in the past, the reason for sleep is brain cleanup. 

This process is so important that 12-13 days without sleep can be fatal. It also explains why we can feel crappy if we don’t get a good night sleep or if sleep is interrupted frequently.


----------



## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

As someone with schizoaffective disorder, or symptoms that somewhat fit the cluster of symptoms described by that diagnoses, my brain has done some pretty weird things. I remember at the height of my manic episode, I had so much energy and felt incredibly graceful on my feet, almost like I was possessed with otherworldly energy. I was also afraid that my out of control thoughts could influence others against my will and do harm, though I couldn't prove it or disprove it. And any number of conspiracy related rabbit holes could have sent me for a loop, even though I retained skepticism, just the fear that they COULD be true. 

Go from that to being overmedicated, and your worldview shifts to depressingly materialistic, nothing is exciting and everything simply is and isn't stimulating at all. They call these "negative symptoms" though I believe overmedication is partly or mostly responsible. I am now on a nice balance of medication. Took me a while to work it out. 

I do passingly wonder about things like synchronicity. Or what I can do to enhance my cognition, which I'm learning, there isn't a whole lot you can do other than exercise and other good habits.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Room2201974 said:


> Did anyone else misread the thread title and think we were going to discuss a Monty Python movie?


That is another brain quirk: seeing what we expect to see even when it is not there.


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Room2201974 said:


> Did anyone else misread the thread title and think we were going to discuss a Monty Python movie?


yes and they should be stoned


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

A new stunning twist on the famous rotating dancer optical illusion:

https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2018/10/01/illusion-went-viral-people-totally-bamboozled/


----------



## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

DaveM said:


> One of the most interesting facts discovered about the brain in recent years is the reason for sleep. Because the blood-brain barrier prevents the cleansing of waste products from the brain that occurs in the rest of the body, the alternative for the brain: During sleep blood flow to the brain markedly decreases, the brain shrinks and cerebrospinal fluid floods into the space created and acts as a cleansing agent. So contrary to all the other theories in the past, the reason for sleep is brain cleanup.
> 
> This process is so important that 12-13 days without sleep can be fatal. It also explains why we can feel crappy if we don't get a good night sleep or if sleep is interrupted frequently.


The main reason why my father had to be taken up in a special home were his nightly changes from dr. Jekyll into mr. Hide. We were once witness how he came running down the stairs as if he was a young man (which he clearly isn't) and running into the night of the garden. My mother used to lock the doors, but this happened before that time, so we were looking with torch-lights to find him. In his new home my father sometimes goes to bed during the day, and also it happened that he was tearing off his pajama clothes like a raging hulk. But mostly he is enjoying the pastime of reading a book or a newspaper. But a good night sleep does wonders to a person, as does a bad night cause the opposite. With Alzheimer these differences are magnified.
In the Czech Republic Alzheimer patients receive heavy doses of soporific, because of the shortage of personnel: they just have to drug everyone in order to survive. But heavy sleeping pills do not have a benevolent effect: many people start to fall / become instable and the mortality rate of Alzheimer patients in Eastern Europe is significantly higher than in the West. This is not only true with regard to Alzheimer patients, but also with regard to all elderly people with some health trouble. In the Iron Curtain times they just didn't treat elderly patients anymore above a certain age.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

TxllxT said:


> The main reason why my father had to be taken up in a special home were his nightly changes from dr. Jekyll into mr. Hide. We were once witness how he came running down the stairs as if he was a young man (which he clearly isn't) and running into the night of the garden. My mother used to lock the doors, but this happened before that time, so we were looking with torch-lights to find him. In his new home my father sometimes goes to bed during the day, and also it happened that he was tearing off his pajama clothes like a raging hulk. But mostly he is enjoying the pastime of reading a book or a newspaper. But a good night sleep does wonders to a person, as does a bad night cause the opposite. With Alzheimer these differences are magnified.
> In the Czech Republic Alzheimer patients receive heavy doses of soporific, because of the shortage of personnel: they just have to drug everyone in order to survive. But heavy sleeping pills do not have a benevolent effect: many people start to fall / become instable and the mortality rate of Alzheimer patients in Eastern Europe is significantly higher than in the West. This is not only true with regard to Alzheimer patients, but also with regard to all elderly people with some health trouble. In the Iron Curtain times they just didn't treat elderly patients anymore above a certain age.


I didn't want to put 'like' on this, because it's a sad situation, but I do appreciate the post. Thank you, TxllxT. :tiphat:

My sister is a nurse on a dementia ward and she too has told me that you have to offset tranquillisers and sleeping pills against the risk of disorientation and falls. For that reason, my mother wasn't offered any sleeping pills, even when she was in hospital - even though sometimes she spent the whole night trying to get out of the ward and having to be gently retrieved by the nurses.

In her care home, they had a sensor that would alert the night carers that she was wandering and they could comfort her and bring her back to bed.

Really, dementia is such a growing problem - because we're living long enough to get it - and I do so hope they find more effective treatments and even a cure - though the problem is that there are many different types of dementia and even brain scans can't always diagnose the exact problem. 
My mother was told she had 'mixed' Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, but later doctors told me that it was Alzheimer's and as she responded so well to memantine, that may have been the case.

But as you say, if they have enough people to look after those who have dementia, it is a huge plus. People with dementia need love and human contact more than ever.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Dementia is on the increase - there may be other reasons beside the fact that we are living longer. Maybe pollution, or unwise eating?

For all that, it's clear that senile dementia was recognised in ancient times - there are these verses in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, Chapter 3:

12. My child, support your father in his old age, do not grieve him during his life.
13 *Even if his mind should fail*, show him sympathy, do not despise him in your health and strength;
14 for kindness to a father will not be forgotten but will serve as reparation for your sins.


----------



## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/01/half-of-women-will-develop-dementia-or-parkinsons-or-have-a-stroke
The Guardian refers to a Dutch study, monitoring +12.000 people between 1990 and 2016. Women are more prone to get dementia than men. Why?


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Art Rock said:


> A new stunning twist on the famous rotating dancer optical illusion:
> 
> https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2018/10/01/illusion-went-viral-people-totally-bamboozled/


A great illusion. Here's another.


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

That is amazing. I had to look at the YouTube explanation to see how it could possibly work. I love some of the comments below the video - such as: *phones the Vatican Hello, could you put me through to the Inquisition department, please? Yes, it's an emergency.﻿* :lol:


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

This is an interesting article for the terminally-embarrassed, like me: how to survive 'cringe attacks'. 









How to Stop Reliving Embarrassing Memories


The science and psychology of the cringe attack.




www.thecut.com


----------



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

A recent article about how to help stave off dementia - though nothing is foolproof. But if we could really stave it off by 40% that would be a lot of human misery saved. 








‘It’s never too early and never too late to reduce your risk of dementia’


Public health expert Prof Sir Muir Gray thinks we’ve overemphasised the effects of ageing on the brain – and we need a dose of self-reliance




www.telegraph.co.uk





One interesting thing is that people who've become deaf with age have a higher risk of dementia - they can't follow conversations which hastens cognitive decline. I think this happened with my mother. We got her a hearing aid but she wouldn't use it and even, once, lost it on purpose. 

The man at the hospital, when he was reservicing Mum's aid, once told me of a woman at a care home whose behaviour was very bad. Once she was fitted with a hearing aid, there was no more trouble, because she was now part of what was going on & not feeling uneasy or anxious.


----------

