Tag: "neuroscience"

Director Joe Wright on His Dyslexia

Director Joe Wright on His Dyslexia

“Because I think visually, not being able to read meant that other parts of my brain were pushed further…” That is a comment by movie director Joe Wright about being dyslexic, from an NPR / All Things Considered show which I found thanks to the Dyslexic Advantage Facebook page of Brock Eide, MD, MA, and [...]

Anxiety and the Amygdala

Anxiety and the Amygdala

A research news article reports, “The amygdala is known to be involved in social anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and obsessions and compulsions, and is now being linked with separation anxiety and general anxiety.” // Excerpt from lyrics (based on Emily Dickinson) in video: Fearing – by The Amygdaloids While I was fearing it came But with [...]

Music Lives in a Different Part of the Brain

Music Lives in a Different Part of the Brain

“I think it’s true of all stammerers. They can’t stammer when they sing.” Carly Simon As a child, Carly Simon suffered from stuttering, and found that singing helped. She commented, “There’s something about the mind connecting differently to the vocal cords when you apply either rhythm or melody.” Glen Campbell, 75, recently made public the [...]

Brain Differences and Creativity

Brain Differences and Creativity

Notable creative ability and expression can be related to changes in brain structure and function from disease, stroke, injury, disability or other conditions. Darold Treffert, M.D. notes, “Savant syndrome is a rare but remarkable condition in which people with developmental disabilities, including autism or other central nervous system disorders, have some remarkable islands of genius [...]

Achievement, Anxiety, Amygdala

Achievement, Anxiety, Amygdala

After he saw his parents go from winning a state lottery to being bankrupt and on the verge of divorce, Dean Whittingham researched what led them from “utter bliss to despair and depression” – and strategies to help other people stay successful. At least part of the answer is in terms of brain function. “How [...]

Shyness, the amygdala and anxiety

Shyness, the amygdala and anxiety

Being shy may not be uncommon for children, but when it endures for us as teens and adults, shyness impedes the kinds of social connections that can enhance our talents and creative expression. Research is helping explain shyness in terms of brain physiology, particularly involving the amygdala (technically amygdalae) – a pair of structures in [...]

Giftedness, sensitivity and psychiatric drugs: why do we take them and why do we quit?

Giftedness, sensitivity and psychiatric drugs: why do we take them and why do we quit?

What are some of the considerations that lead sensitive and gifted adults to take psychiatric medications? What are some of the reasons people stop taking medications?? What are the alternatives? My inner life, and sometimes my outer life, is painful/chaotic/confusing. The DSM symptoms list for certain mental illnesses seem to fit me so I must [...]

Woman interrupted: misdiagnosis and medication of sensitivity and giftedness

Woman interrupted: misdiagnosis and medication of sensitivity and giftedness

What makes creative and highly sensitive people accept, and even welcome, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or other mental illness? Are psychiatrists equipped to recognize and support creativity, high sensitivity and giftedness? Who determines where creative intensity ends and mental illness begins? Do medications put our creativity and sensitivity at risk? Over a year and [...]

Performance anxiety: Biofeedback relieves stage fright

Performance anxiety: Biofeedback relieves stage fright

When I was acting, I had recurring nightmares of being in unknown plays without a clue of my role, and paralyzing real-life panic right before the curtain came up. Many talented musicians, actors, speakers and others experience performance anxiety, often called stage fright. A new study shows that biofeedback can be highly effective in decreasing [...]

Highly creative people have brains similar to those with schizophrenia

Highly creative people have brains similar to those with schizophrenia

New research provides more neuroscientific explanation for the link between mental health/illness and creativity. A press release reports: “By studying receptors in the brain, researchers at Karolinska Institute have managed to show that the dopamine system in healthy, highly creative people is similar in some respects to that seen in people with schizophrenia. “High creative [...]

Brainwave entrainment: Rest for the gifted brain

Brainwave entrainment: Rest for the gifted brain

On her Gifted Universe site, Elisa provides a good summary of brainwave entrainment. Here is an excerpt: How to shut or slow down the hamster wheel of a gifted mind? This is question I’ve been asked and have sometimes asked myself. Truthfully, it’s only recently that I’ve become aware of the potential for my brain [...]

Allan Snyder on savant syndrome and creativity

Allan Snyder on savant syndrome and creativity

Darold Treffert, MD explains, “Savant Syndrome is a rare, but spectacular, condition in which persons with various developmental disabilities, including Autistic Disorder, have astonishing islands of ability or brilliance that stand in stark, markedly incongruous contrast to the over-all handicap.” From his article The Savant Syndrome: Islands of Genius. Daniel Tammet , as one example, [...]

Mystical Brain: Exploring our potential for physical & spiritual healing

Mystical Brain: Exploring our potential for physical & spiritual healing

The film Mystical Brain reveals the exploratory work of a team from the University of Montreal who seek to understand the states of grace experienced by mystics and those who meditate. Filmmaker Isabelle Raynauld offers up scientific research, which proposes that mystical ecstasy is a transformative experience and could to contribute to people’s psychic and [...]

Healing anxiety – Dr. Mercola on “Dark Chocolate: The New Antianxiety Drug”

Chocolate could be more than just a welcome distraction, especially from holiday stress. It may have a calming effect on our anxiety. An ounce and a half a day keeps the stress away According to Dark Chocolate: The New Antianxiety Drug, by Dr. Mercola, “the use of chocolate as a cure for emotional stress has [...]

Can Tetris or other games enhance your brain?

From Your brain on Tetris, The Week magazine, Sep 25, 2009 Playing Tetris, the classic computer game, actually enlarges your brain, scientists say. The game, which turns 25 this year, calls on players to rapidly fit together colored puzzle pieces as they fall from the top of the screen. In a recent study, neuroscientists asked [...]

Nancy Andreasen on the importance of both arts and sciences for developing creativity

[From a Dana Press Blog:] At the recent Learning and the Brain Conference in Washington D.C., Nancy C. Andreasen, M.D., Ph.D., discussed the importance of providing students with a “liberal education” that combines the study of the arts and the sciences. She asked: How important are the arts for optimal development of the mind and [...]

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