The Brain That Changes Itself - Abhay & Pranjali

[Pranjali]

okay, start whenever you want :)

[Pranjali]

okay, finish it fast so that we can move on to next chapter :)

[Pranjali]

yes have completed chapter 5.

what do you think about PETA's involvement?

[Pranjali]

I'll read 6th chapter today.

[Pranjali]

Abhay wrote: "About PETA, was thinking about that. Its unfortunate that it has to be this way. Because we need to study lab rats or monkeys to understand the wirings and discover new ways. Without that our resea..."

Exactly!
In India, we have 'cpcsea' (Committee for the Purpose of Control And Supervision of Experiments on animals), which governs and have guidelines for the treatment of experimental animals.
Infact we had a whole new subject dedicated to this topic in collage.

[Pranjali]

have finished 6th chapter and again it was not very satisfying :(

[Pranjali]

Therapies are provided to make life easier for such patients, but it cannot be fully cured.

how much have you read?

[Pranjali]

completed chapter 7!
this was a good one. helped understand better how phantom pain works.
whenever I had headaches, my grandmother used to tell me to think that there is no pain and repeat no. of times that you are not in pain and everything is normal. I used to and still do that and after a time the pain would miraculously go away!!

loved Ramchandran's quote that " humans are susceptible to self-deception.

[Pranjali]

will star chapter 8 now.

[Pranjali]

completed chapter 8.
interesting chapter with surprisingly shocking discoveries!

[Pranjali]

did you finished this? what did you thought?

[Pranjali]

Ok

[Pranjali]

chapter 9 completed
(view spoiler)[ the chapter was not up to the mark. It did had a nice insight on dreams and its interpretation. reminded me of a book I read long ago about dream interpretation and hypnosis. I also want to check out The Interpretation of Dreams, Book by Sigmund Freud. (hide spoiler)]

the author does mentions a lot of Freud's work in this book, guess he's a fan!

[Pranjali]

a direct quote from this chapter :
(view spoiler)[" REM sleep seems necessary for neurons to grow normally. REM sleep has also been shown to be particularly important for enhancing our ability to retain emotional memories and for allowing the hippocampus to turn short-term memories of the day before into long-term ones (i.e., it helps make memories more permanent, leading to structural change in the brain).”
see didn't I told you so....... huh...huh, you should sleep a lot, its good for you *-* (hide spoiler)]

[Pranjali]

the chapter talks about a patient H.M, reminded me of movie, 'Memento'. have you seen it?

[[deleted user]]

Can anyone comment their thoughts here?

[Pranjali]

Ganesh wrote: "Can anyone comment their thoughts here?"

ofcourse, its a free country! :p

do share your thoughts!

[[deleted user]]

:D Great! I've been reading the comments in this thread and I accept what your grandmother told about pain. Whenever I get a headache or something I think that pain is also a feeling which we don't fully understand.

Regarding sleep, the circadian cycle in every humans may differ and have you read polyphasic and biphasic sleep patterns? Sleep is still a very essential thing for humans.

[Pranjali]

I have. personally I prefer biphasic sleep type.
scientifically sleep is divided into REM and non- REM cycles, for a healthy, refreshed output good amount of REM sleep is essential. this is the part of the sleep where we dreams.

[[deleted user]]

Could you give a brief explanation about REM?

I read it in a book that light is a very important thing in provoking certain emotions in us and it is said that stroke patients see a white light emerging from their brain before they lose their consciousness.

[Pranjali]

when we sleep our sleep cycle happens in two forms REM (rapid eye movement) and non- REM (have 4 stages)
stage 1- the first 5 to 10 minutes as soon as you go to sleep.
stage 2- body is getting ready for deep sleep.
stage 3- deep sleep stage. slow heart rate and body temprature drops.
REM Sleep- dreams and nightmares occur. body movement. faster pulse and breathing. difficult to wake people from this stage. Brain is very active during this stage. Most of the people having stroke or cardiac arrest while sleeping, happens in this stage.
lack of REM sleep can cause irritability, stress, anxiety, depression and other psychological problems.
stage 4- occurs 30 to 40 mins before waking up.

[Pranjali]

light does have important role in human emotions and biological clock. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a disorder which mostly occurs in winter, when we get little sunlight.
Didn't knew about stroke patients seeing a white light.

[[deleted user]]

Nice! Thanks!

[[deleted user]]

I came to know about Phantom Limb after playing Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain. Researched a bit about it at that time. (If you're into gaming you should try it. Mind boggling video game)

Actually, I can sleep only when my feet are outside the blanket. :D

[Pranjali]

finished with chapter 10. small one and it seemed a little repetitive to me.

Rushing because I wont be available between 8th to 12th, so wanted to finish the book before that.

[Pranjali]

Is it true that girls start talking earlier than boys?

hmm...don't know for real but I did started talking early in 1-1.5 years so maybe it's true :p

[Pranjali]

I have read few articles by Freud, and some of his works in academic books, but have not yet read any of his books.

[Pranjali]

about the level of Neurogenesis talked in this chapter seemed a little far fetched to me also it was not properly explained. more emphasis was on the physical and mental exercise for healthy non-deteriorating brain.

[[deleted user]]

@Abhay: Just now saw your comment, Abhay. Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain is available for all the consoles and PC. It's the best game I've ever played.

[Pranjali]

have finished chapter 11, great chapter.

yes there are several theories about acquired savants, but not a solid explanation on how and why this happens. This chapter did shed some light on the subject......

[Pranjali]

It's more than fine :)
I have completed all the chapters, yet to read appendix and notes, will resume it on Thursday......

Happy holidays :)

[Pranjali]

we had this whole extended family get together, it was great :)
came back this morning.

yes, that's he last chapter. I'll resume from tomorrow.
how about you?

[Pranjali]

completed appendix 1, found it more interesting than some of the chapters!

[Pranjali]

Finished both appendices and acknowledgments,. Will start the notes tonight

Found it interesting in as diff Human nature such as cultural beliefs, interpretation of world, civilisation, brutal animal instinct in humans etc is explained in terms of neuroplasticity
Some of the disadvantages of neuroplasticity such as social rigidity sounds like a plot of scary sci if

In appendix 2, author had explained his opinion on sexuality as plastic which contradicts with libreal view of it. What do you think about it?

[Pranjali]

How much have you finished?

[Pranjali]

I've finished the book. the notes are more or less bibliography for the book.

[Pranjali]

No worries, finish whenever you can :)
appendices are small, will hardly take an hour.

[Pranjali]

gave it a 4 star rating. few chapters were not so good compared to other chapters but all in all was a interesting read.

[Pranjali]

fiction or non- fiction?

[Pranjali]

did you finish?

[Pranjali]

umm Military documentaries-ish, I don't think so :\

you finish this, meanwhile let me browse a bit.......

[Pranjali]

okay here are some non-fic I want to read

84, Charing Cross Road

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

The Prophet

and this one is not a non-fic but more on a philosophical side Steppenwolf.

want to read any of these? your suggestions?

[Pranjali]

watching too much can affect your brain, have heard and read this a lot!
Personally idk my Maa was very strict and she wouldn't allow as to watch tv more than 2 hrs, so.....

Have read the initial few pages of notes and skipped the rest ;)

[Pranjali]

Abhay wrote: "Went throught your book suggestions. Interesting ones. Charing cross is on my list too and steppenwolf looks interesting. Will tell you tmrw kinda half sleepy now :P

You dont read fantasy?"

Okay, yeah no problem and yes I read and love fantasy!any suggestions in that?

[Pranjali]

Few episodes from first season. don't remember why I stopped.

[Pranjali]

Hmm yeah I will :)

[Pranjali]

Abhay wrote: " Anything and everything Brandon Sanderson! Esp Stormlight Archives and Mistborn. Eragon is enjoyab..."

read and loved Mistborn. have read Eragon, didn't liked it much :/
Stromlight is in my tbr, will read it soon

[Pranjali]

Okay, good with me :)

About Eragon, don't remember much now have read it few years back. In fact that was the last fantasy book I read before started reading the genre again last year. It made me think that maybe I have outgrown my fantasy loving phase -_-
I still have a copy of it somewhere laying around, maybe will give it another try...

[Pranjali]

I have pdf of 84, Charing Cross Road, have mailed you just now. got a epub version too but its unreadable :/
if you want I'll send that too....

[Pranjali]

okay no problem :)
I checked, its a small book maybe we can finish it on weekend itself!