test 2 Flashcards
meditation has been associated with changes in 4 parts of the brain
white matter
gray matter
cortical thickness
neuroplasticity
how does it translate to individual neutrons, neural networks, glia?
- potential changes in increased insulation and speed of neurotransmission (oligodendrocytes)
- increased neuropil (dendrites & axons)
- decreased neuronal loss
- enhanced neurogenesis (hippocampus, involved in learning and memory, emotion, stress, depression)
- neuropharmacological changes (NT Synthesis & release, NT uptake, receptor up and down regulation)
occipital lobe
decode visual information, form, color, and movement, visual cortex that lets you recognize and identify objects
temporal lobe
let you hear & distinguish the volume and frequency of sounds, understand speech
partial lobe
sensory perception- touch, temperature pain
auditory and visual signals
frontal lobe
responsible for reasoning planning, problem solving, modulation of emotions, speech
Amygdala
role in learning, in memory, regulation of emotions. fear and aggressive
Hippocampus
long term storage
helps us complete context associated with an event
corpus callous
thick band of axons from the two brain’s hemisphere to communicate with each other
cingulate gyrus
ANS in adjusting réponses that accompany emotional reactions
insula
awareness of body states pain perception regulation of autonomic function bodily self-awareness emotion, empathy
thalamus
visual, auditory and taste and touch information in the cortex
hypothalamus
ensures the balance of our internal environment by influencing our hunger, thirst and sex drive
cerebellum
integrates the information that it receives from other motor regions of the brain and coordinates the body’s movement to make them fluent and precise
also implicated in sensory, cognitive and emotional processing
brainstem
regulating heart rate, respiration, blood pressure.
sleep and attentiveness and enables us to concentrate in midst distraction
Lambda waves
are physiological, triangular shaped, sharp transients occurring over the occipital regions when eyes are open
epsilon wave
a small positive deflection buried in the end of the QRS complex. It is the characteristic finding in arehythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD)
mrs
the nuclei of some atoms behave like magnets, they line up with BO
When excited by a specific RF pulse they flip
the radio signal (echo) is what the scanner measures
Buddha taught:
- virtue
- mindfulness/meditation
- wisdom
virtue: cooling the fires of greed, hatred, living with integrity
- mindfulness/meditation: steady and concentrate the mind to see through its confusion
- wisdom: develop liberating insight
virtue 5 concepts
- i undertake to abstain from killingg living beings
- abstain from taking that which not given
- abstain from sexual misconduct
- abstain from false speech
- abstain from substance that confuse the mind
Eightfold path (3-5)
samma vaca:
samma-kammanta
samma ajiva
samma vaca: perfected or whole speech
samma kammanta: integral action,right action
samma ajiva: proper livelihood, right livelihood
virtue and the brain
top down- from the prefrontal cortex (including off, dlpf, vmpfc) to interconnected areas (ACC, Amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus) implicated in self-regulation/self-control
a) behavioural inhibition and impulse control - OFC - ORBITOFRONTAL or simply Orbital PFC
b) drive & motivation- VMPFC ventromedial or simply medial PFC
c) executive function (planning, problem solving, mental flexibility, evaluation of incentives ) DLPFC- dorsolateral or simply - lateral PFC
It requires level of caring which includes empathy & compassion associated
bottom up cooling of the sympathetic NS & engaging of the Parasympathetic NS
eightfold path 6-8
samma vayama
samma sati
samma samadhi
samma vayama - complete or full effort or virtuality
samma sati- complete or thorough awareness
samma samadhi- full integral or holistic samadhi
mindfullness and the brain
top down- prefrontal cortex ( associative cortex, depending on what we are attending to) will help in regulating our attention/awarness
body awareness (insula)
emotional awareness (portico-limbic)
awareness of thought (pfc and other associative cortex areas)
awareness/mindfulness of objects (temporal, occipital)
awareness/ mindfulness of space (parietal, occipital
bottom up- cooling of the sympathetic NS and engaging of the parasympathetic NS
wisdom
wisdom and insight develop naturally when you practice virtue and mindfulness/mediation (neural plasticity leading to the brain re-organization) the 3 are totally interconnected and interdependent
the 3 noble truth
- noble truth of dukkha : stress, dissatisfaction, suffering
- noble truth of the causal arising of dukkha - grasping, clinging, wanting, craving, liking/disliking
- noble truth of nirvana, the ending of dukkha, awakening, enlightenment
first you come to understand what hurts and what helps, to end the pain and suffering;3 noble truths
eightfold path (1-2)
- samma ditthi- complete or perfect vision- right view or understanding
- samma senkappa - perfect emotion or aspiration, right thought or attitude
3 levels within the framework of system neuroscience
- virtue: regulation of the motivational system (seeking pleasure-reward/ avoiding pain-punishment)
- mindfulness/ meditation: attention/awareness; sensation/ perception
- wisdom: some sort of elevated/ insightful form of consciousness that might be entirely different from a regular brain function or very similar
large scale neural networks
salience network (SN)- decides which information is most urgent, task relevant, and which sound receive priority; must suppress either DMN or CEN depending on the task at hand
default mode network- system for autobiographical, self-monitoring and social cognitive functions, typically activated during REST (rapid episodic spontaneous thinking) and deactivated during task performance
Central executive network- responsible for high-level cognitive functions- control of attention and working memory
