What do we already know about the brain and how it should change our lives? Abstract of a lecture by the Dutch neuroscientist Dick Swaab.
On November 28, Psychologies magazine held a roundtable discussion with Dutch neuroscientist Dick Swaab, author of the bestselling book We Are Our Brains (Ivan Limbach Publishing, 2013), which was recently published in Russian. Together with him, the book was discussed by Russian experts — cognitive psychologist Vladimir Spiridonov and psychophysiologist Alexander Kaplan. They talked about what scientists know today about how the brain works, what the most important discoveries have been made in recent years in this area, and how important they are for us.
The brain determines the entire trajectory of our life. Personal inclinations, choice of profession, sexual partner, even religious and political preferences – all this depends on the structure of our brain. In that sense, we don’t have free will, argues Professor Swaab. We can only understand how best to fulfill the “program” that was compiled in our head before birth. But we cannot change it.
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The male brain is really different from the female. It is larger in volume and better able to concentrate on a specific task. But the female more actively forms new connections and can better see the situation as a whole, attract different areas to solve problems. But this does not mean that men and women are not able to understand each other. After all, such a division is conditional, and in each brain there are features of a “female” and “male” way of thinking to a different extent.
Sexual orientation is formed along with the brain. It depends half on genetics, and half on how the pregnancy proceeded. For example, severe stress, alcohol, smoking can lead to changes in the hypothalamus – the area of the brain that is responsible for our sexual preferences and whether we consider ourselves a man or a woman. And then the child can be born with an orientation to homosexuality or bisexuality. At the same time, this attitude persists for life, regardless of upbringing and environment.
It is already possible to read minds. For this, a special system is used, which is called the “brain-computer”. A tomograph measures electrical activity in different parts of the brain. Their frequency and location show what we are feeling and what we are thinking at the moment. With the help of this system, it has already been possible to establish contact with patients who are in a hopeless coma. In 10% of cases, it turned out that the brain continues to live and send signals. Of course, it is not yet possible to completely decipher them. But in general terms, it is already possible to understand what is happening in a person’s head. So, in the future, this gives hope for the restoration of communication with the outside world, even for completely paralyzed patients.