Hanson, Rick

Question 1

What does your brain contain?

Buddha’s brain

Answer 1

Your brain is three pounds of tofu-like tissue containing 1.1 trillion cells, including 100 billion neurons.

On average, each neuron receives about five thousand connections, called synapses, from other neurons.

Question 2

How does the firing of a neuron work?

Answer 2

At its receiving synapses, a neuron gets signals—usually as a burst of chemicals called neurotransmitters—from other neurons.

Signals tell a neuron either to fire or not; whether it fires depends mainly on the combination of signals it receives each moment.

In turn, when a neuron fires, it sends signals to other neurons through its transmitting synapses, telling them to fire or not.

Question 3

How many times a second does a typical neuron fires?

Buddha’s brain

Answer 3

A typical neuron fires 5– 50 times a second.

In the time it takes you to read the bullet points in this box, literally quadrillions of signals will travel inside your head.

Question 4

How do we use the term “mind”?

Buddha’s brain

Answer 4

Each neural signal is a bit of information; your nervous system moves information around like your heart moves blood around.

All that information is what we define broadly as the mind, most of which is forever outside your awareness.

In our use of the term, the “mind” includes the signals that regulate the stress response, the knowledge of how to ride a bike, personality tendencies, hopes and dreams, and the meaning of the words you’re reading here.

Question 5

How much energy does the mind use?

Buddha’s brain

Answer 5

The brain is the primary mover and shaper of the mind. It’s so busy that, even though it’s only 2 percent of the body’s weight, it uses 20– 25 percent of its oxygen and glucose (Lammert 2008).

Like a refrigerator, it’s always humming away, performing its functions; consequently, it uses about the same amount of energy whether you’re deep asleep or thinking hard (Raichle and Gusnard 2002).

Question 6

What is the number of possible states of your brain?

Buddha’s brain

Answer 6

The number of possible combinations of 100 billion neurons firing or not is approximately 10 to the millionth power, or 1 followed by a million zeros, in principle; this is the number of possible states of your brain.

To put this quantity in perspective, the number of atoms in the universe is estimated to be “only” about 10 to the eightieth power.

Question 7

What are conscious mental events based on?

Buddha’s brain

Answer 7

Conscious mental events are based on temporary coalitions of synapses that form and disperse—usually within seconds—like eddies in a stream (Rabinovich, Huerta, and Laurent 2008).

Note:
Neurons can also make lasting circuits, strengthening their connections to each other as a result of mental activity.

Question 8

How does the brain/mind system work?

Buddha’s brain

Answer 8

The brain works as a whole system; thus, attributing some function—such as attention or emotion—to just one part of it is usually a simplification.

Your brain interacts with other systems in your body—which in turn interact with the world—plus it’s shaped by the mind as well.

In the largest sense, your mind is made by your brain, body, natural world, and human culture—as well as by the mind itself (Thompson and Varela 2001).

We’re simplifying things when we refer to the brain as the basis of the mind.

The mind and brain interact with each other so profoundly that they’re best understood as a single, co-dependent, mind/brain system.

Question 9

Buddha’s brain

Answer 9

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Question 10

What is the saying from the psychologist Donald Hebb?

Buddha’s brain

Answer 10

When neurons fire together, they wire together—mental activity actually creates new neural structures.

Question 11

Which three functions operate at all levels of the nervous system?

Answer 11

Regulation, learning, and selection—operate at all levels of the nervous system, from the intricate molecular dance at the tip of a synapse to the whole-brain integration of control, competence, and discernment.

All three functions are involved in any important mental activity.

Question 12

Which are the three pillars of Buddhist practice, as well as the wellsprings of everyday well-being, psychological growth, and spiritual realization?

Answer 12

1) virtue
Cool the fires of greed and hatred to live with integrity.

2) mindfulness (also called concentration)
Steady and concentrate the mind to see through its confusions.

3) wisdom
Develop liberating insight.

Question 13

What does virtue involve?

Answer 13

It involves regulating your actions, words, and thoughts to create benefits rather than harms for yourself and others.

In your brain, virtue draws on top-down direction from the prefrontal cortex.

Virtue also relies on bottom-up calming from the parasympathetic nervous system and positive emotions from the limbic system.

Question 14

What does Mindfulness involve?

Answer 14

Mindfulness involves the skillful use of attention to both your inner and outer worlds.

Since your brain learns mainly from what you attend to, mindfulness is the doorway to taking in good experiences and making them a part of yourself.

Question 15

How do you acquire Wisdom?

Answer 15

Wisdom is applied common sense, which you acquire in two steps.

First, you come to understand what hurts and what helps—in other words, the causes of suffering and the path to its end

Then, based on this understanding, you let go of those things that hurt and strengthen those that help.

As a result, over time you’ll feel more connected with everything, more serene about how all things change and end, and more able to meet pleasure and pain without grasping after the one and struggling with the other.

Question 16

How does the brain regulate itself?

Answer 16

Your brain regulates itself—and other bodily systems—through a combination of excitatory and inhibitory activity: green lights and red lights.

Question 17

How does the brain learn?

Answer 17

It learns through forming new circuits and strengthening or weakening existing ones.

Question 18

How does the brain select?

Answer 18

It selects whatever experience has taught it to value.

For example, even an earthworm can be trained to pick a particular path to avoid an electric shock.

Question 19

Which Buddhist pillar goes with wich mind function?

Answer 19

Virtue relies heavily on regulation, both to excite positive inclinations and to inhibit negative ones.

Mindfulness leads to new learning—since attention shapes neural circuits—and draws upon past learning to develop a steadier and more concentrated awareness.

Wisdom is a matter of making choices, such as letting go of lesser pleasures for the sake of greater ones.

Consequently, developing virtue, mindfulness, and wisdom in your mind depends on improving regulation, learning, and selection in your brain. Strengthening the three neural functions thus buttresses the pillars of practice.

Question 20

What is your true mind?

Answer 20

The uncovering of the true nature that was always present; others frame it as a transformation of your mind and body, starts when you set out on the path of awakening and you begin wherever you are. Virtue, mindfulness, and wisdom gradually strengthen and you feel happier and more loving.

Your true nature is both a refuge and a resource for the sometimes difficult work of psychological growth and spiritual practice.

Your fundamental nature is pure, conscious, peaceful, radiant, loving, and wise, and it is joined in mysterious ways with the ultimate underpinnings of reality, by whatever name we give That.

Although your true nature may be hidden momentarily by stress and worry, anger and unfulfilled longings, it still continues to exist.

Question 21

What changes do we need?

Answer 21

Small positive actions every day will add up to large changes over time, as you gradually build new neural structures.

To keep at it, you need to be on your own side.

Wholesome changes in the brains of many people could help tip the world in a better direction.

Question 22

What did Buddha in his Four Noble Truths understand?

Answer 22

Buddha identified an ailment (suffering), diagnosed its cause (craving: a compelling sense of need for something), specified its cure (freedom from craving), and prescribed a treatment (the Eightfold Path).

Question 23

How did the brain evolve?

Answer 23

Life began around 3.5 billion years ago.

Multicelled creatures first appeared about 650 million years ago.

By the time the earliest jellyfish arose about 600 million years ago, animals had grown complex enough that their sensory and motor systems needed to communicate with each other; thus the beginnings of neural tissue.

As animals evolved, so did their nervous systems, which slowly developed a central headquarters in the form of a brain.

Question 24

Evolution builds on what?

How can this be seen inside your brain?

Answer 24

Evolution builds on preexisting capabilities.

Life’s progression can be seen inside your own brain, in terms of the reptilian, paleomammalian, and neomammalian levels of development.

Question 25

Explain how you go through your day, with a kind of lizard-squirrel-monkey brain in your head shaping your reactions from the bottom up.

Answer 25

Cortical tissues that are relatively recent, complex, conceptualizing, slow, and motivationally diffuse sit atop subcortical and brain-stem structures that are ancient, simplistic, concrete, fast, and motivationally intense.

The subcortical region lies in the center of your brain, beneath the cortex and on top of the brain stem.

Note:
The brain stem roughly corresponds to the “reptilian brain”.

Question 26

How has the modern cortex, which has great influence over the rest of the brain, been shaped?

Answer 26

It’s been shaped by evolutionary pressures to develop ever-improving abilities to parent, bond, communicate, cooperate, and love.

Question 27

Explain the cortex.

Answer 27

The cortex is divided into two “hemispheres” connected by the corpus callosum.

As we evolved, the left hemisphere (in most people) came to focus on sequential and linguistic processing while the right hemisphere specialized in holistic and visual-spatial processing; of course, the two halves of your brain work closely together.

Note:
Many neural structures are duplicated so that there is one in each hemisphere; nonetheless, the usual convention is to refer to a structure in the singular (e.g., the hippocampus).

Question 28

Explain how your body is made of stardust.

Answer 28

You’re here because a lot of stars blew up.

Most of the atoms in your body—including the oxygen in your lungs and the iron in your blood—were born inside a star.

In the early universe, hydrogen was just about the only element.

Stars are giant fusion reactors that pound together hydrogen atoms, making heavier elements and releasing lots of energy in the process.

The ones that went nova spewed their contents far and wide.

By the time our solar system started to form, roughly nine billion years after the universe began, enough large atoms existed to make our planet, to make the hands that hold this book and the brain that understands these words.

Question 29

What are the basic building blocks of the nervous system?

Answer 29

Neurons are the basic building blocks of the nervous system; their main function is to communicate with each other across tiny junctions called synapses.

While there are many sorts of neurons, their basic design is pretty similar.

Question 30

How are the spikes called which receive neurotransmitters from other neurons?

Answer 30

The cell body sends out spikes called dendrites which receive neurotransmitters from other neurons. (Some neurons communicate directly with each other through electrical impulses.)

Question 31

What happens when a neuron fires?

Answer 31

When a neuron fires, an electrochemical wave ripples its axon, the fiber extending toward the neurons it sends signals to.

This releases neurotransmitters into its synapses with receiving neurons, either inhibiting them or exciting them to fire in turn.

Question 32

To stay healthy, each system in your body and mind must find balance between which two conflicting needs?

Answer 32

1) It must remain open to inputs during ongoing transactions with its local environment; closed systems are dead systems.
2) Each system must also preserve a fundamental stability, staying centered around a good set-point and within certain ranges—not too hot, nor too cold.

For example, inhibition from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and arousal from the limbic system must balance each other: too much inhibition and you feel numb inside, too much arousal and you feel overwhelmed.

Question 33

What is the feeling tone (in buddism) or the hedonic tone (in Western psychology)?

Answer 33

The aspect of experience—whether it is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral—is called, in Buddhism, its feeling tone (or, in Western psychology, its hedonic tone).

The feeling tone is produced mainly by your amygdala.

It’s a simple but effective way to tell your brain as a whole what to do each moment.

Question 34

Name 2 Primary Neurotransmitters.

Answer 34

Primary Neurotransmitters

Glutamate—excites receiving neurons.

GABA—inhibits receiving neurons.

Question 35

Name 4 Neuromodulators

These substances—sometimes also called neurotransmitters—influence the primary neurotransmitters. Because they’re released widely within the brain, they have a powerful effect.

Answer 35

1) Serotonin—regulates mood, sleep, and digestion; most antidepressants aim at increasing its effects.

2 ) Dopamine—involved with rewards and attention; promotes approach behaviors.

3) Norepinephrine—alerts and arouses.
4) Acetylcholine—promotes wakefulness and learning.

Question 36

Name 3 Neuropeptides

These neuromodulators are built from peptides, a particular kind of organic molecule.

Answer 36

1) Opioids—buffer stress, provide soothing and reduce pain, and produce pleasure (e.g., runner’s high); these include endorphins.
2) Oxytocin—promotes nurturing behaviors toward children and bonding in couples; associated with blissful closeness and love; women have more oxytocin than men.
3) Vasopressin—supports pair bonding; in men it may promote aggressiveness toward sexual rivals.

Question 37

Explain the function of Cortisol.

Answer 37

Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands during the stress response; stimulates the amygdala and inhibits the hippocampus.

Question 38

Explain the Estrogen.

Answer 38

The brains of both men and women contain estrogen receptors; affects libido, mood, and memory.

Question 39

Which are the two neural systems necessary for survival?

Answer 39

1) The first system is based on the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine-releasing neurons become more active when you encounter things that are linked to rewards in the past. These neurons also rev up when you encounter something that could offer rewards in the future.
2) Based on several other neuromodulators, the “pleasure chemicals”—natural opioids (including endorphins), oxytocin, and norepinephrine—surge into your synapses, they strengthen the neural circuits that are active, making them more likely to fire together in the future.

In essence, this pleasure system highlights whatever triggered it, prompts you to pursue those rewards again, and strengthens the behaviors that make you successful in getting them. It works hand in hand with the dopamine-based system.

Question 40

How does the cingulate cortex work?

Answer 40

The cingulate cortex (about the size of your finger, on the interior edge of each hemisphere) tracks whether the rewards you expected actually arrive.

If they do, dopamine levels stay steady.

But if you’re disappointed the cingulate sends out a signal that lowers dopamine levels. Falling dopamine registers in subjective experience as an unpleasant feeling tone—a dissatisfaction and discontent—that stimulates craving(broadly defined) for something that will restore its levels.

Question 41

Explore explore six ways your brain keeps looking for negative:

Answer 41

1) VIGILANCE AND ANXIETY
A basic awareness with a background feeling of anxiety that keeps you vigilant.

2) SENSITIVITY TO NEGATIVE INFORMATION
The brain typically detects negative information faster than positive information.

3) HIGH-PRIORITY STORAGE
When an event is flagged as negative, the hippocampus makes sure it’s stored carefully for future reference.

4) NEGATIVE TRUMPS POSITIVE
Negative events generally have more impact than positive ones.

5) LINGERING TRACES
Even if you’ve unlearned a negative experience, it still leaves an indelible trace in your brain.

6) VICIOUS CYCLES
Negative experiences create vicious cycles by making you pessimistic, overreactive, and inclined to go negative yourself.

Question 42

Give some examples for negative trumps positive experience.

Answer 42

It’s easy to acquire feelings of learned helplessness from a few failures, but hard to undo those feelings, even with many successes.

People will do more to avoid a loss than to acquire a comparable gain.

Compared to lottery winners, accident victims usually take longer to return to their original baseline of happiness.

Bad information about a person carries more weight than good information.

In relationships, it typically takes about five positive interactions to overcome the effects of a single negative one.

Question 43

How does the “negativity bias” prime you for avoidance?

Answer 43

• It generates an unpleasant background of anxiety.
• Anxiety also makes it harder to bring attention inward for self-awareness or contemplative practice,
• The negativity bias fosters or intensifies other unpleasant emotions, such as anger, sorrow, depression, guilt, and shame.
• It highlights past losses and failures, it downplays present abilities, and it exaggerates future obstacles.
• The mind continually tends to render unfair verdicts about a person’s character, conduct, and possibilities.