Super Brain

Super Brain explores the idea that through increased self-awareness and conscious intention we can teach our brain to perform at a higher level than we thought possible.

Sometimes we think of the mind and body as two separate things, but upon closer inspection, their entanglement is obvious. Every cell of your body connects to the brain. It communicates with the body through feedback loops. This is when the brain responds to outside stimuli by sending messages to the body to react in a way that maintain homeostasis. Sure, that’s all fine, but why is it important? We actually have the power to control feedback loops!

An example of this is Tibetan monks, who practice finding a balance between the body and the mind. When they focus intensely, they control what messages the brain sends to the body. When the temperature gets below freezing, through meditation, a monk can send the message to raise his body temperature to a level that is comfortable.

It’s also a technique that has more recently been used to treat survivors of stroke. Trauma from a stroke can sever pathways once used for messages, and therapists have started trying to train the brain by sending messages repetitively to all the areas that are affected. At the same time, the patient does simple tasks with a lot of focus. Over time, and with a lot of focus, the pathways begin to repair themselves from the damage.

Have you ever had that feeling you should check one more time that you have your keys, or that maybe you shouldn’t stand so close to that person in a crowded room because they seemed dangerous? We call these feelings intuition. Recent studies have shown that snap judgement can often be better than taking the time to think things over rationally. They also show that people are better at recognizing other’s faces when they are just using intuition instead of being analytical. In a study, the participants were shown faces and asked to identify if one particular face came up. The first time around, they saw the pictures for a split second. The second, they had more time. Surprisingly, people did a better job at recognizing the face they were supposed to watch out for when they just saw it only quickly. Our intuition can be strong enough it may even help us predict events before they happen. In a study, participants were shown random photos, some of which showed violent images. The researchers monitored the participants’ heart rate, sweat, and blood pressure to measure stress levels. Whenever the participants saw the violent images, their stress levels went up. After doing this for a while, oddly enough, the participants started to…