Brain, heal thyself
Sara Kimmich
Sara Kimmich
Quote:How? Armed with a trace of an individual’s pattern for ‘spider’, it’s now possible to give patients positive reinforcement when they manage to reduce activity in the areas of the brain that correspond to the experience of overwhelming fear of spiders. Crucially, we can do this without ever showing them any eight-legged nasties. Instead, using the cue of a circle or a pleasant tone, and the reward of watching it change shape or pitch, the person themselves finds alternative means of subduing neural activity in these regions. In this way, the brain begins to modify its own internal states, and the phobia will subside as if by magic.
Not only is neurofeedback non-invasive; a number of high-profile research projects have also shown that it can be effective even when participants aren’t aware of the goal of the procedure. This new, unconscious reprogramming has far-reaching implications for research on human cognition, tapping into the crux of the mind-body connection, and opening up many new opportunities for novel clinical treatments. But it also has a potential dark side: the risk that neurofeedback could become a back-door for manipulating our brain states, without us even realising it.
'Historically, we may regard materialism as a system of dogma set up to combat orthodox dogma...Accordingly we find that, as ancient orthodoxies disintegrate, materialism more and more gives way to scepticism.'
- Bertrand Russell
- Bertrand Russell
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