My Plastic Brain

  “One of my main interests is expanding our perception so we’re seeing infrared and ultraviolet and we’re hearing ultrasonic noise. The world is full of all kinds of interesting signals.” He points out that we are aware of a miniscule part of the spectrum of light that is around us. “Even if we add on infrared and ultraviolet, we are still essentially at one ten-trillionths of it. So one of my interests is all these other giant parts of the spectrum that we don’t see at all, but they are light, just not visible light.”

  When we talk, the vest is in the final stages of design and planned for commercial release in late 2016. After that, he says, it's over to the hive mind to come up with new and interesting uses for it. “That's going to be a big research project undertaken by thousands of people to just walk around for a while tapped into some piece of the electromagnetic spectrum and just figure out in their daily life what that gives them.”

  The vest comes with an open programmer's interface so that anyone who wants to try it out on a different data stream, and has the skills to do so, can. “We’ve thought of lots of interesting things, pilots, astronauts, prosthetic legs…. But we haven’t even thought about what we haven’t thought of yet. So there are lots of interesting opportunities for people to try data streams,” says Eagleman.

  As for whether there are any limits to what can be added to the brain, I guess we’ll see. There is only so much real estate inside the locked box after all, I point out. Eagleman doesn’t think we’re going to run out of room anytime soon, though. In a similar way to other areas of neuroscience that are starting to think of the brain less as a patchwork of areas with a particular job and more as an intricate wiring diagram, if you think of the way the brain stores information as a network, then the possibilities are endless.

  “Medical students often worry that ‘if I learn one more thing, something is going to fall out,’” says Eagleman. “But, in fact, it doesn’t work that way, because you start putting things into bigger patterns—like, ‘Oh, I see, this is the same as that, and these are all examples of a bigger principle.’ These are all ways that your brain saves a heck of a lot of room and energy, because it gathers the bigger picture.”

  Which means that you might not need brain space to store new sensory information; you can store it as learned factual knowledge instead. The upshot of all of this, and in fact everything that I have explored so far, is that the brain might be capable of things that we haven’t even begun to consider let alone try out in real life.

  As an adult in 2016, I have been able to tweak the workings of the brain that were built through my genetic inheritance and life so far, and get it into much better shape for the life I now live. If these technologies, and the ones that no one has thought of yet, reach the masses, though, mine may be the last generation that will have to wonder whether we can improve on what nature and experience has provided. Whether you have to put up with your adult brain, warts and all, will cease to be a relevant question when you can zap, train, or otherwise whisk away the bad stuff while bolting on as many optional extras as you like. For now, though, what I can tell you for sure is that the human brain is an amazing thing to play with—and, no matter what your plans for it might be, it can almost certainly do more than you think.

  INTERVIEWS/CONVERSATIONS:

  Roi Cohen Cadosh, Skype interview, March 4, 2016.

  Lila Chrysikou, interview and conversations during lab visit, January 12–15, 2016.

  Amar Sarkar, conversations and interview during lab visit, February 15–19, 2016, and email conversation, March 23, 2016.

  Susanne Jaeggi, Skype interview, November 24, 2015.

  David Eagleman, phone interview, March 30, 2016.

  So many people have helped this project along the way that I barely know where to start. I do know that without Richard Fisher, editor at BBC Future, who commissioned the article on attention that led to the proposal for this book, the rest of it might never have happened. So thank you, Richard, for a crucial vote of confidence that got the ball rolling.

  I am, of course, hugely grateful to the many scientists and their students who gave up their time, labs, and resources to help me experiment on myself, and who endured long periods of questioning and requests for information and research papers. Particular thanks go to Joe DeGutis and Mike Esterman at the Boston Attention and Learning Lab; Elaine Fox and her research team at Oxford University; Ernst Koster at Ghent University; Lila Chrysikou at the University of Kansas; Susan Wache, Peter König, and the feelSpace team; Klaus Gramann at TU Berlin; Russell Epstein, Steve Marchette, and the team at UPenn; John Wearden at Keele University; Marc Wittmann at the Institute for Frontier Areas in Psychology and Mental Health in Freiburg; and Amar Sarkar and Roi Cohen Kadosh at Oxford University for their help with my experiments. I had an absolute ball with you, and I hope that I have done justice to your research. Thanks, too, to Heidi Johansen-Berg at Oxford University, Martijn van den Heuvel from Utrecht University, Sara Lazar at Harvard University, and David Eagleman of Stanford University for some illuminating conversations along the way.

  I feel very fortunate to have so many lovely friends around the world who were willing to put me up on my many research trips and allowed me to bang on about brains of an evening. To the Gosline-Knights in Boston, Neil Calderwood and Jessilyn Yoo in Berlin, Jolyon Bennett and Joanna Haigh in Oxford, and Valerie Jamieson in Didcot, thank you so much for having me, feeding me, and plying me with wine on the evenings when I wasn’t having my brain zapped the next day.

  Thanks also to my lovely, patient, and supportive friends and family at home for putting up with me, from the planning stages to the final written word. Special mentions must go to Cate for an incredibly well-timed mug purchase, and to Sally, Sole, Vanessa, and Ness for dangling cocktails in front of me at strategic points in the writing process.

  I’d also like to thank Jeannie Campbell for sharing her experiences with me and for many fascinating discussions about her experience of rebuilding her brain. I am also grateful to Gill Johnson for introducing me to meditation “without worrying if you are doing it right.”

  I am hugely indebted to Peter Tallack and Tisse Takagi at the Science Factory, for believing in the project from the start and for brokering the deal that got the book written. To all at Scribe, particularly Philip Gwyn Jones and Lesley Halm, thank you for the opportunity to do this, and for asking all the right questions at all the right times.

  And finally, to my wonderful husband, Jon. Without your support, encouragement, and incredible generosity with your air miles, none of this would have been possible. Thank you for your faith in me and your patience in allowing me what amounted to a second maternity leave. And to Sam, for proudly telling everyone that Mummy is an author, even when I didn’t feel like one: thank you. I love you both.

  INTRODUCTION

  1. The Discourses of Epictetus, book 3, chapter 23.

  2. “Lumosity to Pay $2 Million to Settle FTC Deceptive Advertising Charges for Its ‘Brain Training’ Program,” Federal Trade Commission, 5 January 2016, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/01/lumosity-pay-2-million-settle-ftc-deceptive-advertising-charges.

  3. Owen AM et al., (2010) “Putting Brain Training to the Test,” Nature, vol. 465, pp. 775–78.

  4. “Brain Training and Cognitive Assessment Market Surpassed $1.3 Billion in 2013,” SharpBrains, 23 January 2014, https://sharpbrains.com/blog/2014/01/23/brain-training-and-cognitive-assessment-market-surpassed-1-3-billion-in-2013/#more-15378.

  5. “A Consensus on the Brain Training Industry from the Scientific Community,” Stanford Center on Longevity, 20 October 2014, http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-consensus-on-the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community-2/.

  6. Shapiro DH, (1992) “Adverse Effects of Meditation: A Preliminary Investigation of Long-Term Meditators,” International Journal of Psychosomatics, vol. 39, pp. 62–67.

  7. Creswell JD et al., (2014) “Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training Alte
rs Psychological and Neuroendocrine Responses to Social Evaluative Stress,” Psychoneuroendocrinology, vol. 44, pp. 1–12.

  8. Heijnen S et al., (2016) “Neuromodulation of Aerobic Exercise—A Review,” Frontiers in Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01890.

  9. Arem H et al., (2015) “Leisure Time Physical Activity and Mortality: A Detailed Pooled Analysis of the Dose-Response Relationship,” JAMA Internal Medicine, vol. 175, pp. 959–67.

  10. Hao S et al., (2016) “Dietary Obesity Reversibly Induces Synaptic Stripping by Microglia and Impairs Hippocampal Plasticity,” Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, vol. 51, pp. 230–39.

  11. Hargrave SL et al., (2016) “The Outward Spiral: A Vicious Cycle Model of Obesity and Cognitive Dysfunction,” Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, vol. 9, pp. 40–46.

  12. Alvarez-Crespo M et al., (2012) “The Amygdala as a Neurobiological Target for Ghrelin in Rats: Neuroanatomical, Electrophysiological, and Behavioral Evidence,” PLoS One, vol. 7, p. e46321.

  13. Pariante C, (2017) “Why Are Depressed Patients Inflamed? A Reflection on 20 Years of Research on Depression, Glucocorticoid Resistance and Inflammation,” European Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 27, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2017.04.001.

  14. Dalton A et al., (2009) “A Randomised Control Trial in School- Children Showed Improvement in Cognitive Function after Consuming a Bread Spread, Containing Fish Flour from a Marine Source,” Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids, vol. 80, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2008.12.006.

  15. Rendeiro C et al., (2015) “The Mechanisms of Action of Flavonoids in the Brain: Direct Versus Indirect Effects,” Neurochemistry International, vol. 89, pp. 126–39.

  16. Stilling R et al., (2016) “The Brain's Geppetto: Microbes as Puppeteers of Neural Function and Behavior?,” Journal of NeuroVirology, vol. 22, pp. 14–21.

  17. Allen AP et al., (2016) “Bifidobacterium longum 1714 as a Translational Psychobiotic: Modulation of Stress, Electrophysiology and Neurocognition in Healthy Volunteers,” Translational Psychiatry, vol. 6, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/tp.2016.191.

  18. Klarer M et al., (2014) “Gut Vagal Afferents Differentially Modulate Innate Anxiety and Learned Fear,” Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 34, pp. 7067–76.

  19. “Assess Your Sleep Needs,” Get Sleep, http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/need-sleep/what-can-you-do/assess-needs.

  20. Hebb D, (1949) The Organization of Behavior, Wiley & Sons, p. 62.

  21. Woollett K & Maguire E, (2011) “Acquiring ‘the Knowledge’ of London's Layout Drives Structural Brain Changes,” Current Biology, vol. 21, pp. 2109–14.

  22. Draganski B et al., (2004) “Neuroplasticity: Changes in Grey Matter Induced by Training,” Nature, vol. 427, pp. 311–12.

  23. Zatorre RJ et al., (2012) “Plasticity in Gray and White: Neuroimaging Changes in Brain Structure during Learning,” Nature Neuroscience, vol. 15, p. 528.

  24. Zhang Y & Barres BA, (2013) “A Smarter Mouse with Human Astrocytes,” Bioessays, vol. 35, pp. 876–80.

  25. Jacobs B et al., (1993) “A Quantitative Dendritic Analysis of Wernicke's Area in Humans. II. Gender, Hemispheric, and Environmental Factors,” Journal of Comparative Neurology, vol. 327, pp. 97–111.

  26. Johansen-Berg H, (2007) “Structural Plasticity: Rewiring the Brain,” Current Biology, vol. 17, pp. R141–R144.

  27. Melby-Lervåg M et al., (2016) “Working Memory Training Does Not Improve Performance on Measures of Intelligence or Other Measures of ‘Far Transfer’: Evidence from a Meta-Analytic Review,” Perspectives on Psychological Science, vol. 11, pp. 512–34.

  28. Au J et al., (2015) “Improving Fluid Intelligence with Training on Working Memory: a Meta-Analysis,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, vol. 22, pp. 366–77.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Ibid.

  CHAPTER 1 – THE TAMING OF THE BUTTERFLY

  1. Steel P, (2007) “The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure,” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 133, pp. 65–94; Ferrari J, (2011) Time Management, Nova Science Publishers, pp. 83–91.

  2. Killingsworth MA & Gilbert DT, (2010) “A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind,” Science, vol. 330, p. 932.

  3. Lavie N, (2010) “Attention, Distraction, and Cognitive Control under Load,” Sage Journals, vol. 19, pp. 143–48.

  4. Cheyne A et al., (2009) “Anatomy of an Error: A Bidirectional State Model of Task Engagement/Disengagement and Attention-Related Errors,” Cognition, vol. 111, pp. 98–113.

  5. Esterman M et al., (2013) “In the Zone or Zoning Out?: Tracking Behavioral and Neural Fluctuations during Sustained Attention,” Cerebral Cortex, vol. 23, pp. 2712–23.

  6. Creswell JD et al., (2016) “Alterations in Resting-State Functional Connectivity Link Mindfulness Meditation with Reduced Interleukin-6: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Biological Psychiatry, vol. 80, pp. 53–61.

  CHAPTER 2 – ANXIOUS ALL AREAS

  1. Russ TC et al., (2012) “Association between Psychological Distress and Mortality: Individual Participant Pooled Analysis of 10 Prospective Cohort Studies,” BMJ, vol. 345, p. e4933.

  2. Fuhrmann D et al., (2015) “Adolescence as a Sensitive Period of Brain Development,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 19, pp. 558–66.

  3. “Optimism Test,” Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, http://www.rainybrainsunnybrain.com/optimism-test/. Elaine Fox is a professor of Cognitive and Affective Psychology at Oxford University and author of Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain: The New Science of Optimism and Pessimism. Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, www.rainybrainsunnybrain.com.

  4. Yoon KL & Zinbarg RE, (2008) “Interpreting Neutral Faces as Threatening Is a Default Mode for Socially Anxious Individuals,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 117, pp. 680–85.

  5. “Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England—2007, Results of a Household Survey,” NHS Digital, 2009, https://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB02931.

  6. In China, Korea, and Japan, for example, the SS-version of the transporter gene is the most common. Noskova T et al., (2008) “Ethnic Differences in the Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) in Several European Populations,” Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, vol. 32, pp. 1735–39.

  7. Pezawas L et al., (2005) “5-HTTLPR Polymorphism Impacts Human Cingulate-Amygdala Interactions: A Genetic Susceptibility Mechanism for Depression,” Nature Neuroscience, vol. 8, pp. 828–34.

  8. Caspi A et al., (2003) “Influence of Life Stress on Depression: Moderation by a Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene,” Science, vol. 301, pp. 386–89.

  9. LeDoux J, (2015) Anxious: The Modern Mind in the Age of Anxiety, Oneworld, pp. 105–106.

  10. Ibid.

  11. You can try the version Elaine Fox uses in her studies—visit the Baldwin Social Cognition Lab website: http://baldwinlab.mcgill.ca/labmaterials/materials_BBC.html.

  12. “Training Attention to Help Deal with Stress,” http://baldwinlab.mcgill.ca/labmaterials/materials_BBC.html.

  13. Koster EHW et al., (2006) “Attention to Threat in Anxiety-prone Individuals: mechanisms underlying attentional bias,” Cognitive Therapy and Research, vol. 30, pp. 635–43.

  14. For this information visit http://psc.dss.ucdavis.edu/faculty_sites/sommerb/sommerdemo/stantests/norms.htm.

  CHAPTER 3 – LET THE CREATIVITY FLOW

  1. Kounios J & Beeman M, (2015) The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain, Random House.

  2. McCaffrey T, (2012) “Innovation Relies on the Obscure: A Key to Overcoming the Classic Problem of Functional Fixedness,” Psychological Science, vol. 23, pp. 215–18.

  3. Micah Allen (@neuroconscience), Twitter, 8 April 2015, https://twitter.com/neuroconscience.

  4. Kounios J & Beeman M, (2009) “The Aha! Moment: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Insight,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol. 18, pp. 210–16.

  5. McPherson M et al., (2016) “Emotional Intent Modulates the Neural Substrates of Creativity: An
FMRI Study of Emotionally Targeted Improvisation in Jazz Musicians,” Scientific Reports, vol. 6, article 18460.

  6. Baas M et al., (2008) “A Meta-Analysis of 25 Years of Mood-Creativity Research: Hedonic Tone, Activation, or Regulatory Focus?,” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 134, p. 779–806.

  7. Chermahini SA & Hommel B, (2010) “The (B)link between Creativity and Dopamine: Spontaneous Eye Blink Rates Predict and Dissociate Divergent and Convergent Thinking,” Cognition, vol. 115, pp. 458–65.

  8. Bentivoglio AR et al., (1997) “Analysis of Blink Rate Patterns in Normal Subjects,” Movement Disorders, vol. 12, pp. 1028–34.

  9. Doughty MJ & Naase T, (2006) “Further Analysis of the Human Spontaneous Eye Blink Rate by a Cluster Analysis-based Approach to Categorize Individuals with ‘Normal’ Versus ‘Frequent’ Eye Blink Activity,” Eye Contact Lens, vol. 32, pp. 294–99.

  10. Colzato L et al., (2015) “Food for Creativity: Tyrosine Promotes Deep Thinking,” Psychological Research, vol. 79, pp. 709–14.

  11. Dietrich A, (2004) “The Cognitive Neuroscience of Creativity,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, vol. 11, p. 1011.

  CHAPTER 4 – LOST IN SPACE

  1. Silverman I et al., (2007) “The Hunter-Gatherer Theory of Sex Differences in Spatial Abilities: Data from 40 Countries,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 36, p. 261.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Hausmann M et al., (2000) “Sex Hormones Affect Spatial Abilities during the Menstrual Cycle,” Behavioral Neuroscience, vol 114, pp. 1245–50.

  4. For this information visit http://spatiallearning.org/resource-info/Spatial_Ability_Tests/sbsod_scale.pdf.

  5. Hartley T & Harlow R, (2012) “An Association between Human Hippocampal Volume and Topographical Memory in Healthy Young Adults,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 6, p. 338.