Brain Science Quotes

“Smell was our first sense, and it was so successful that in time the small lump of olfactory tissue atop the nerve cord grew into a brain. Our cerebral hemispheres were originally buds from our olfactory stalks. We think because we smelled.”
― Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

“Everyone is creative. If we were'nt capable of creativity, we wouldn't have the creative hemisphere in our brain.”
― Janna Cachola

“The extension of minds into the world through the use of artifacts was perhaps the last vital step in the evolution of culture that underlies the modern mind. Written symbols, alphabets and number systems, are ways of using the world to hold ideas. These external symbols allow a society a capacity for systematic thinking that would be impossible otherwise, a process we have referred to earlier as progressive externalization. Indeed, these external devices are not just static devices for memory storage. We have built external devices that process information, mirroring the process of thought inside our heads, at least loosely. Consider numerical calculation. You are limited in the amount of numbers you can easily add in your head. A paper and pencil increase this ability tremendously by letting you manipulate external symbols and hold intermediate steps in the calculation. By using artifacts that themselves process symbols, such as a handheld calculator, however, you can dramatically extend the realm of thought.”
― Steven R. Quartz, Liars, Lovers, and Heroes: What the New Brain Science Reveals About How We Become Who We Are

“To a large extent, the brain doesn’t distinguish real from imaginary, and this underpins some aspects of the placebo effect. When you imagine that something is happening, it really is happening as far as your brain is concerned, and it releases the chemical substances necessary to confirm that what you’re imagining is indeed real.”
― David R. Hamilton, Why Woo-Woo Works: The Surprising Science Behind Meditation, Reiki, Crystals, and Other AlternativePractices

“Meditation is an example of how a mystical practice becomes mainstream once the science is known and enough people are doing it.”
― David R. Hamilton, Why Woo-Woo Works: The Surprising Science Behind Meditation, Reiki, Crystals, and Other AlternativePractices

“One of the key findings over the past decades is that our number faculty is deeply rooted in our biological ancestry, and not based on our ability to use language.”
― Andreas Nieder, A Brain for Numbers: The Biology of the Number Instinct

“Neuroplasticity isn't just a scientific concept; it’s the foundation of change. The brain is capable of re-writing its own script.”
― Aram

“You can't achieve success by avoiding failure.”
― Stanislav Vyshnevskyi

“Understanding this brain‑based battle can be empowering.”
― Kevin L. Michel, The Council of Gods