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"quack's" table—all without the use of drugs. And most cetaceans (porpoises and dolphins) have greater cerebral surface importantly, I was introduced to the "man behind the curtain", my _area packed into their cranium than we do. subconscious mind! The findings of British neurologist Dr John Lorber, highlighted As I left the campus, my conscious mind was awhirl over the in a 1980 article in Science titled "Is Your Brain Really implications of the superior power of my formerly hidden Necessary?", also call into question the notion that the size of the subconscious mind. I also coupled those musings with my study brain is the most important consideration for human intelligence. of quantum physics, which taught me that thoughts could propel (Lewin, 1980) Lorber studied many cases of hydrocephalus behaviour more efficiently than physical molecules. My ("water on the brain") and concluded that even when most of the subconscious "knew" that my name was not Mary and baulked at brain's cerebral cortex (the brain's outer layer) is missing, patients my insistence that it was. What else did my subconscious mind can live normal lives. Science writer Roger Lewin quotes Lorber "know" and how had it learned it? in his article: To understand better what had happened in that chiropractor's "There's a young student at this university [Sheffield office, I first turned to comparative neuroanatomy—which reveals University] who has an IQ of 126, has gained a first-class honours that the lower an organism is on the tree of evolution, the less degree in mathematics and is socially completely normal. And developed its nervous system and thus the more it relies on pre- yet the boy has virtually no brain... When we did a brain scan on programmed behaviour (nature). Moths fly toward the light, sea him, we saw that instead of the normal 4.5-centimetre thickness of turtles return to specific islands and lay their eggs on the beach at brain tissue between the ventricles and the cortical surface, there the appropriate time, and the swallows return to Capistrano on a was just a thin layer of mantle measuring a millimetre or so. His specific date, yet, as far as we know, none of these organisms has cranium is filled mainly with cerebrospinal fluid." any knowledge of why they engage in those behaviours. The Lorber's provocative findings suggest that we need to behaviours are innate; they are genetically built into the organism _ reconsider our long-held beliefs about how the brain works and and are classified as "instincts". about the physical foundation of human intelligence. I submit in Organisms higher in the tree have more complexly integrated the epilogue of this book that human intelligence can only be fully nervous systems headed by bigger and understood when we include spirit bigger brains that allow them to ("energy"), or what quantum-physics- acquire intricate behavioural patterns savvy psychologists call the through experiential learning (nurture). Researchers have noted that "superconscious" mind. But for the The complexity of this environmental moment, I'd like to stick to the learning mechanism presumably cul- EEG [electroencephalogram] conscious and subconscious minds— top orat leat nea the top of he wee, | _ @CtiVity in children reveals, oe hove tons sapped with To quote anthropologists Emily A. at every developmental stage, I'm grappling with them here to Schultz and Robert H. Lavenda: i provide the biological foundation for "Human beings are more dependent on the predominance of a conscious parenting as well as energy- learning for survival than other specific brainwave. based psychological healing methods. species. We have no instincts that automatically protect us and find us Human Programming: When Good Mechanisms Go Bad Let's go back to the evolutionary food and shelter, for example." (Schultz and Lavenda, 1987) We do have, of course, behavioural instincts that are innate: challenge for human beings, who have to learn so much so consider the infant's instinct to suckle, to move his hand quickly quickly to survive and become a part of their social community. away from fire, and to swim automatically when placed in water. Evolution has endowed our brains with the ability to download Instincts are built-in behaviours that are fundamental to the rapidly an unimaginable number of behaviours and beliefs into survival of all humans, independent of what culture they belong to our memory. or what time in human history they are born. We are born with Ongoing research suggests that a key to understanding how this the ability to swim. Infants can swim like graceful porpoises rapid downloading of information works is the brain's fluctuating moments after they are born, but children quickly acquire a fear of __ electrical activity as measured by electroencephalograms (EEGs). water from their parents. The literal definition of EEGs is "electric head pictures". These Observe the response of parents when their unattended child increasingly sophisticated head pictures reveal a graded range of ventures near a pool or other open water. Children learn from brain activity in human beings. Both adults and children display their parents that water is dangerous. Parents must later struggle EEG variations that range from low-frequency delta waves to teach Johnny how to swim. Their first big effort is focused on through high-frequency beta waves. However, researchers have overcoming the fear of water they instilled in earlier years. But noted that EEG activity in children reveals, at every developmen- through evolution, our /earned perceptions have become more tal stage, the predominance of a specific brainwave. powerful, especially because they can override genetically Dr Rima Laibow, in Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback, programmed instincts. The body's physiologic mechanisms (e.g., describes the progression of these developmental stages in brain heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow/bleeding patterns, body activity. (Laibow, 1999, 2002) Between birth and two years of temperature) are, by their nature, programmed instincts. age, the human brain predominantly operates at the lowest EEG However, yogis as well as everyday people using biofeedback can frequency, 0.5 to 4 cycles per second (Hz), known as delta waves. learn to regulate these "innate" functions c Though delta is their predominant wave activity, babies can Scientists have focused on our big brains as the reason for our _— exhibit periodic short bursts of higher EEG activity. A child ability to learn such complex behaviour. However, we should begins to spend more time at a higher level of EEG activity char- temper our enthusiasm for the big brain theory by considering that acterised as theta (4-8 Hz) between two and six years of age. EEG [electroencephalogram] activity in children reveals, at every developmental stage, the predominance of a eRe: f= enn erat a NEXUS + 27 Researchers have noted that specific brainwave. FEBRUARY — MARCH 2006 www.nexusmagazine.com