How the Body Knows Its Mind_The Surprising Power of the Physical Environment to Influence How You Think and Feel

by Sian Beilock

  15. For a review, see T. Blass, The Man Who Shocked the World: The Life and Legacy of Stanley Milgram (New York: Basic Books, 2009). See also T. Blass, “Understanding the Behavior in the Milgram Obedience Experiment: The Role of Personality, Situations, and Their Interactions,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60 (1991): 398–413.

  16. For example, midbrain regions such as periaqueductal gray, which “control fast reflexive behaviors (e.g., fight, flight, or freeze) as well as fear-induced analgesia.” D. Mobbs et al., “When Fear is Near: Threat Imminence Elicits Prefrontal-Periaqueductal Gray Shifts in Humans,” Science 317 (2007): 1079–83.

  17. Within the psychological community, there has been a recent debate about the strength of the connection between moral judgments and physical cleanliness. I present examples of current work in this area and invite interested readers to review the overviews. H. A. Chapman and A. K. Anderson, “Things Rank and Gross in Nature: A Review and Synthesis of Moral Disgust,” Psychological Bulletin 139 (2013): 300-27. See also B. D. Earp, J. A. C. Everett, E. N. Madva, and J. K. Hamlin, “Out, Damned Spot: Can the ‘Macbeth Effect’ Be Replicated?” Basic and Applied Social Psychology (in press).

  18. For a review, see S. Lee and N. Schwartz, “Wiping the Slate Clean: Psychological Consequences of Physical Cleansing,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 20 (2011): 307–11.

  19. D. Cohen and A. Leung, “The Hard Embodiment of Culture,” European Journal of Social Psychology 39 (2009): 1278–89.

  20. A. J. Xu, R. Zwick, and N. Schwarz, “Washing Away Your (Good or Bad) Luck: Physical Cleansing Affects Risk-Taking Behavior,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2011), doi:10.1037/a0023997.

  21. Though, for a great exception to this statement, readers might be interested in J. J. Ratey and E. Hagerman, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008).

  Chapter 9

  1. See C. W. Cotman et al., “Exercise Builds Brain Health: Key Roles of Growth Factor Cascades and Inflammation,” Trends in Cognitive Science (2007), doi:10.1016/j.tins.2007.06.011.

  2. H. van Praag et al., “Running Increases Cell Proliferation and Neurogenesis in the Adult Mouse Dentate Gyrus,” Nature Neuroscience 2 (1999): 266–70.

  3. L. Chaddock et al., “A Neuroimaging Investigation of the Association between Aerobic Fitness, Hippocampal Volume and Memory Performance in Preadolescent Children,” Brain Research 1358 (2010): 172–83. For related work, see L. B. Raine et al., “The Influence of Childhood Aerobic Fitness on Learning and Memory” (2013), PloS ONE 8: e72666, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072666.

  4. C. H. Hillman, M. B. Pontifex, L. B. Raine, D. M. Castelli, E. E. Hall, and A. F. Kramer, “The Effect of Acute Treadmill Walking on Cognitive Control and Academic Achievement in Preadolescent Children,” Neuroscience 159 (2009): 1044–54.

  5. F. W. Booth et al., “Exercise and Gene Expression: Physiological Regulation of the Human Genome through Physical Activity,” Journal of Physiology 543 (2002): 399–411.

  6. For a review of working memory and stress effects, see S. L. Beilock, Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal about Getting It Right When You Have To (New York: Free Press, 2010).

  7. B. A. Sibley and S. L. Beilock, “Exercise and Working Memory: An Individual Differences Investigation,” Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 29 (2007): 783–91.

  8. For a review of complex working memory span tasks, see A. R. A. Conway, M. J. Kane, M. F. Bunting, D. Z. Hambrick, O. Wilhelm, and R. W. Engle, “Working Memory Span Tasks: A Methodological Review and User’s Guide,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 12 (2005): 769–86. The problems provided are intended only to be illustrative of the types of problems one might see.

  9. A. D. Brown and J. R. Curhan, “The Polarizing Effect of Arousal on Negotiation,” Psychological Science (2013), doi:10.1177/0956797613480796. Some of the studies in this paper were not conducted with the exercise group on a treadmill but simply walking continuously, indoors or out, at a brisk pace.

  10. For a nice example of Jamieson’s work, see J. P. Jamieson, M. K. Nock, and W. B. Mendes, “Changing the Conceptualization of Stress in Social Anxiety Disorder: Affective and Physiological Consequences,” Clinical Psychological Science (2013), doi:10.1177/2167702613482119.

  11. As quoted in Matt Richtel, “Work Up a Sweat, and Bargain Better,” New York Times, November 9, 2013.

  12. M. Aberg et al., “Cardiovascular Fitness is Associated with Cognition in Young Adulthood,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (2009), doi:10.1073 pnas.0905307106.

  13. S. J. Colcombe et al., “Cardiovascular Fitness, Cortical Plasticity, and Aging,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 101 (2004): 3316–21. This study was with physically fit older adults.

  14. See D. M. Blanchette et al., “Aerobic Exercise and Cognitive Creativity: Immediate and Residual Effects,” Creativity Research Journal 17 (2005): 257–64.

  15. For a discussion of exercise and cognitive flexibility, see Y. Netz et al., “The Effect of a Single Aerobic Training Session on Cognitive Flexibility in Late Middle-Aged Adults,” International Journal of Sports Medicine 28 (2006): 82–87.

  16. See M. Bhalla and D. R. Proffitt, “Visual-Motor Recalibration in Geographical Slant Perception,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 25 (1999): 1076–96; J. K. Witt et al., “The Long Road of Pain: Chronic Pain Increases Perceived Distance,” Experimental Brain Research 192 (2008): 145–48; M. Sugovic and J. K. Witt, “An Older View on Distance Perception: Older Adults Perceive Walkable Extents as Farther,” Experimental Brain Research 226 (2013): 383–91.

  17. LaLanne’s achievements are recounted in R. Goldstein, “Jack LaLanne, Founder of Modern Fitness Movement, Dies at 96,” New York Times, January 23, 2011.

  18. Details of Kotelko’s life are described in Olga Kotelko, super great-grandmother with muscles of iron, Torino 2013: World Master’s Games, December 28, 2012, http://www.torino2013wmg.org/news/olga-kotelko-una-super-bisnonna-dai-muscoli-d%E2%80%99acciaio?lang=en; Bruce Grierson, “The Incredible Flying Nonagenarian,” New York Times, November 25, 2010.

  19. S. Colombe and S. F. Kramer, “Fitness Effects on the Cognitive Functioning of Older Adults: A Meta-Analytic Study,” Psychological Science 14 (2003): 125–30.

  20. See C. W. Cotman and N. C. Berchtold, “Exercise: A Behavioral Intervention to Enhance Brain Health and Plasticity,” Trends in Neuroscience 25 (2002): 295–301; C. H. Hillman, K. I. Erickson, and A. F. Kramer, “Be Smart, Exercise Your Heart: Exercise Effects on Brain and Cognition,” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9 (2008): 58–65.

  21. K. I. Erickson et al., “The Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Val66Met Polymorphism Moderates an Effect of Physical Activity,” Psychological Science (2013), doi:10.1177/0956797613480367.

  22. See A. D. Nation et al., “Stress, Exercise, and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Neurovascular Pathway,” Medical Hypotheses 76 (2011): 847–54.

  23. J. C. Smith et al., “Semantic Memory Functional MRI and Cognitive Function after Exercise Intervention in Mild Cognitive Impairment,” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (2013), doi:10.3233/JAD-130467.

  24. See Alzheimer’s disease in-depth report (n.d.), New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/alzheimers-disease/print.html; N. Scarmeas and Y. Stern, “Cognitive Reserve: Implications for Diagnosis and Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease,” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports 4 (2004): 374–80.

  25. T. Huang et al., “The Effects of Physical Activity and Exercise on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Healthy Humans: A Review,” Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports (2013), doi:10.1111/sms.12069.

  26. See K. I. Erickson et al., “Exercise Training Increases Size of Hippocampus and Improves Memory,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2010), www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1015950108.

  27. N. A. Mischel et al., “Physical (In)activity-Depend
ent Structural Plasticity in Bulbospinal Catecholaminergic Neurons of Rat Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla,” The Journal of Comparative Neurology 522 (2014): 499–513. See also http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/22/how-inactivity-changes-the-brain/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1.

  28. Pam Belluck, “Footprints to Cognitive Decline and Alzheimer’s Are Seen in Gait,” New York Times, July 17, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/health/research/signs-of-cognitive-decline-and-alzheimers-are-seen-in-gait.html?_r=0.

  29. See the Global Health Care Declaration at http://exerciseismedicine.org/documents/EIMhealthcaredeclaration.pdf.

  Chapter 10

  1. M. A. Killingsworth and D. T. Gilbert, “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind,” Science (2010), www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/330/6006/932/DC1.

  2. J. A. Brewer et al., “Meditation Experience Is Associated with Differences in Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 108 (2011), 20254–59. This citation also encompasses the instructions below and the description of the mindfulness study that follows. See also B. K. Holzel et al., “How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action from Conceptual and Neural Perspectives,” Perspectives on Psychological Science (2011), doi:10.1177/1745691611419671.

  3. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done to fully understand the efficacy of the variety of meditation practices that people employ and how such practices alter brain functioning. For a review of recent work, see Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience special issue on Mindfulness Neuroscience 8 (2013).

  4. B. Draganski, “Changes in Grey Matter Induced by Training: Newly Honed Juggling Skills Show Up as a Transient Feature on a Brain-Imaging Scan,” Nature 427 (2004): 311–12.

  5. K. A. MacLean et al., “Intensive Meditation Training Improves Perceptual Discrimination and Sustained Attention,” Psychological Science (2010), doi:10.1177/0956797610371339.

  6. T. L. Jacobs et al., “Intensive Meditation Training, Immune Cell Telomerase Activity, and Psychological Mediators,” Psychoneuroendocrinology (2010), doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.09.010. For related findings, see M. A. Rosenkranz et al., “A Comparison of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and an Active Control in Modulation of Neurogenic Inflammation,” Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 27 (2012): 174–84.

  7. Although note that there was a relationship between the amount of time spent in daily meditation and vigilance at follow-up. The more people meditated each day, the better their performance on the vigilance tasks.

  8. National Transportation Safety Board: Operational Factors/Human Performance, Group Chairman’s Factual Report, December 4, 2009, http://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms/search/document.cfm?docID=322735&docketID=48456&mkey=74940.

  9. Y. Tang and M. Posner, “Attention Training and Attention State Training,” Trends in Cognitive Science (2009), doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.01.009.

  10. Y. Tang et al., “Short-Term Meditation Induces White Matter Changes in the Anterior Cingulate,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (2010), www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1011043107.

  11. Y. Tang et al., “Brief Meditation Training Induces Smoking Reduction,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 11 (2013): 13971–75.

  12. Y. Tang et al., “Neural Correlates of Establishing, Maintaining, and Switching Brain States,” Trends in Cognitive Science 16 (2012): 330–37.

  13. Specifically the medial prefrontal cortex. For more details, see Y. Tang et al., “Neural Correlates of Establishing, Maintaining, and Switching Brain States,” Trends in Cognitive Science 16 (2012): 330–37.

  14. Y. Tang et al., “Short-Term Meditation Training Improves Attention and Self-Regulation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (2007): 17152–56.

  15. For a review, see A. E. Hernandez and P. Li, “Age of Acquisition: Its Neural and Computational Mechanisms,” Psychological Bulletin 133 (2007): 638–50.

  16. S. Kempter, How Muscles Learn: Teaching Violin with the Body in the Mind (Van Nuys, CA: Alfred Music Publishing, 2003).

  17. See http://alexandertechniqueknowledge.com/fmalexander.

  18. For a review of the Alexander technique and music, see E. R. Valentine et al., “The Effect of Lessons in the Alexander Technique on Music Performance in High and Low Stress Situations,” Psychology of Music (1995), doi:10.1177/0305735695232002. See also E. R. Valentine, “Alexander Technique,” in A. Williamon (ed.), Musical Excellence: Strategies and Techniques to Enhance Performance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

  19. See http://babettemarkus.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=21.

  20. This introduction to the Alexander technique is taken from http://www.alexandertechnique.com/fma.htm.

  21. P. Little et al., “Randomized Controlled Trial of Alexander Technique Lessons, Exercise, and Massage (ATEAM) for Chronic and Recurrent Back Pain,” British Medical Journal (2008), doi:10.1136/bmj.a884.

  22. W. M. McDonald, I. H. Richard, and M. R. DeLong, “Prevalence, Etiology, and Treatment of Depression in Parkinson’s Disease,” Biological Psychiatry 54 (2003): 363–75.

  23. C. Stallibrass et al., “Randomized Controlled Trial of the Alexander Technique for Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease,” Clinical Rehabilitation 16 (2002): 695–708.

  24. More research is needed in order to substantiate and expand the benefits of the Alexander technique to body and mind. Several neuroscientists are currently involved in projects to further understand the Alexander technique. See Henry Fagg, “The Alexander Technique and Neuroscience: Three Areas of Interest,” Statnews 7 (2012), January 7.

  25. See M. Forstmann et al., “ ‘The Mind Is Willing, but the Flesh Is Weak’: The Effects of Mind-Body Dualism on Health Behavior,” Psychological Science 23 (2012): 1239–45.

  Chapter 11

  1. For a review of how stress stemming from one situation can spill over and affect performance in another, see C. Liston, B. S. McEwen, and B. J. Casey, “Psychosocial Stress Reversibly Disrupts Prefrontal Processing and Attentional Control,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 106 (2009), 912–17.

  2. For a review of the incubation effect, a temporary shift away from an unsolved problem that leads to new solutions or insights, see U. N. Sio and T. C. Ormerod, “Does Incubation Enhance Problem Solving? A Meta-Analytic Review,” Psychological Bulletin 135 (2009): 94–120.

  3. M. Karlsson and L. Frank, “Awake Replay of Remote Experiences in the Hippocampus,” Nature Neuroscience (2009), doi:10.1038 /nn.2344.

  4. For more on the power of nature, see R. Louv, Last Child in the Woods. Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2008).

  5. F. E. Kuo and W. C. Sullivan, “Aggression and Violence in the Inner City: Effects of Environment Via Mental Fatigue,” Environment and Behavior 33 (2001): 543–71.

  6. C. M. Tennessen and B. Cimprich, “Views to Nature: Effects on Attention,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 15 (1995): 77–85.

  7. See T. Klingberg, The Overflowing Brain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

  8. As an example, see A. F. Taylor et al., “Coping with ADHD: The Surprising Connection to Green Play Settings,” Environment and Behavior 33 (2001): 54–77.

  9. W. James, The Principles of Psychology (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1890).

  10. P. Aspinall et al., “The Urban Brain: Analyzing Outdoor Physical Activity with Mobile EEG,” British Journal of Sports Medicine (2013), doi:10.1136/bjsports-2012-091877.

  11. S. Kaplan, “The Restorative Benefits of Nature: Toward an Integrative Framework,” Journal of Environmental Psychology 15 (1995): 169–82. See also S. Kaplan and M. Berman, “Directed Attention as a Common Resource for Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 5 (2010): 43.

  12. See M. G. Berman et al., “Interacting with Nature Improves Cognition and Affect in Depressed Individuals,” Journal
of Affective Disorders 140 (2012): 300–305. Mood improves after a nature walk but does not relate to memory gains seen after walking in nature. See also B. Cimprich and D. L. Ronis, “An Environmental Intervention to Restore Attention in Women with Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer,” Cancer Nursing 26 (2003): 284.

  13. The statistics regarding city living are taken from F. Lederbogen et al., “City Living and Urban Upbringing Affect Neural Social Stress Processing in Humans,” Nature (2011), doi:10.1038/nature10190. See this paper also for the original report of Meyer-Lindenberg’s results.

  14. K. C. Bickart et al., “Amygdala Volume and Social Network Size in Humans,” Nature Neuroscience (2010), doi:10.1038/nn.2724.

  15. S. Schnall et al., “Social Support and the Perception of Geographical Slant,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.04.011.

  16. B. P. Meier and M. D. Robinson, “Does ‘Feeling Down’ Mean Seeing Down? Depressive Symptoms and Vertical Selective Attention,” Journal of Research in Personality 40 (2005): 451–61.

  17. H. Davis et al., “fMRI BOLD Signal Changes in Elite Swimmers while Viewing Videos of Personal Failure,” Brain Imaging and Behavior 2 (2008): 84–93.

  Index

  A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.

  Page references in italics indicate illustrations.

  A

  ACC (anterior cingulate cortex), 158, 198, 222–23. See also cingulate cortex acetaminophen. See Tylenol

  acetylcholine, 17–18

  action therapy, 117–18

  actors, 13, 77–79