Wij zijn ons brein Quotes

“As a boy, Picasso struggled with reading, writing, and arithmetic. Einstein was slow to talk and would apply picture thinking to complex problems in the field of physics. The dividing line between psychiatric disorders and great gifts is often a very narrow one and strongly depends on how someone is viewed by their surroundings.”
― Dick Swaab, We Are Our Brains: From the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Cannabis affects the brain because brain cells themselves produce cannabis-like neurotransmitters. The first such compound to be identified was christened anandamide, ananda being Sanskrit for “bliss.” The proteins that transmit anandamide’s message to the brain, the receptors, are mainly located in the striatum (hence the blissful feeling) and in the cerebellum (hence the unsteady gait after taking marijuana), in the cerebral cortex (hence the problems with association, the fragmented thoughts and confusion), and in the hippocampus (hence the memory impairment). But there are no receptors in the brain stem areas that regulate blood pressure and breathing. That’s why it’s impossible to take an overdose of cannabis, as opposed to opiates.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Als je niet meer kunt denken omdat je hersenen niet meer functioneren, dan besta je als persoon ook niet meer.”
― Dick Swaab, Wij zijn ons brein: van baarmoeder tot Alzheimer

“De huidige kennis van de neurobiologie maakt duidelijk dat van een volledige vrijheid geen sprake kan zijn. Vele erfelijke factoren en omgevingsinvloeden tijdens de vroege ontwikkeling hebben door hun inwerking op onze hersenontwikkeling de structuur en zo de functie van de hersenen voor de rest van ons leven vastgelegd. Hierdoor hebben wij niet alleen allerlei mogelijkheden en talenten, maar ook vele beperkingen meegekregen, zoals de aangeboren basis voor de kans op verslaving, de mate van agressie, onze genderidentiteit, seksuele oriëntatie en de aanleg voor ADHD, borderline-persoonlijkheidsstoornis, depressie en schizofrenie. Dit maakt duidelijk dat ons gedrag bij de geboorte al in belangrijke mate vastligt. Deze opvatting, die lijnrecht staat tegenover het maakbaarheidsgeloof van de jaren zestig, wordt ook wel ‘neurocalvinisme’ genoemd.”
― Dick Swaab, Wij zijn ons brein

“De kleine Rainman schuilt in ieder z'n brein.”
― Dick Swaab, Wij zijn ons brein: van baarmoeder tot Alzheimer

“Mountaineers, especially when alone, sometimes have very vivid hallucinations [...]. So it is interesting that the revelations received by the leaders of the world's three main religions were preceded by a period of isolation in the mountains.”
― Dick Swaab, Wij zijn ons brein: van baarmoeder tot Alzheimer

“The PFC plays a central role in regulating other brain areas and is responsible, among other things, for the control of our impulses, complex actions, planning, and organization.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Altering the course of rivers and moving mountains is easy. Changing someone’s character is impossible. Chinese saying”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“We drink water that once came from rivers. It leaves our bodies as urine, is purified, travels to the sea, evaporates, and then returns to our taps via rain and rivers.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Be nice to your kids, they’ll choose your nursing home. Text on a mug my daughter gave me”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“These hormonal extracts, which probably come from Russia, are sometimes still found in gyms, where they are used by bodybuilders who want to increase muscle mass.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“In 2004 Fox News reported that the widow married the man who’d been given her first husband’s heart. Her new husband went on to kill himself in the same way as the heart’s first “owner.” At the age of thirty-nine, Cheryl was widowed for the second time. De Telegraaf didn’t conclude from this that it might not have been easy to live with Cheryl.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“So De Waal might do well to ask God if he could also curb our tendency to take our lead from charismatic alpha males. Not only might this prevent future genocides and cultural revolutions, it might also reduce the likelihood of another disaster caused by corporate greed.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Although tests show no significant difference in the moral choices made by atheists and believers, the Intelligent Design movement claims that moral behavior is unique to man and derives from religion, especially Christianity.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“In addition, you’re more at risk of developing schizophrenia if you were born in the winter or if your mother was exposed to flu during the sixth month of pregnancy.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Paternal age plays a role in autism, too: The syndrome occurs ten times more frequently in people born to fathers in their fifties than in those whose fathers were in their twenties when they were conceived.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“The functioning of the prefrontal cortex is inhibited by alcohol, which can lead to sudden, mindless violence after a night out.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Men are five times more likely than women to commit a murder. Moreover, men murder a relative or acquaintance only in 20 percent of cases, as opposed to 60 percent of cases for women.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Since under the circumstances a person is no longer conscious of their own body, we of course shouldn’t interpret the reflex reactions of the spinal cord that occur when a surgeon removes organs from a brain-dead patient as an expression of pain. That’s easily said, but it’s quite a different thing for the surgeon who sees the body respond when he makes an incision to remove its organs. In the United Kingdom, anesthesia is administered for this procedure. The Dutch association of anesthetists finds this nonsensical, and scientifically speaking they’re right. In such cases an anesthetic is given to preserve not brain-dead patients but rather transplant surgeons from discomfort.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“A hereditary defect in the DNA for ADH makes this hormone’s function immediately apparent. People who inherit this condition produce fifteen liters of urine a day. I have followed a family that has had the condition for five generations. It was during my internship in 1968 in Amsterdam’s Binnengasthuis Hospital that I first met them. At that time, the family’s life was largely dominated by urinating and drinking.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Another woman with an epileptic focus in the cerebral cortex refused both medication and the option of an operation, as she enjoyed the feeling of orgasm that preceded her epileptic attacks.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Whether abuse as a child is a causal factor in the development of pedophilia in adulthood, or whether there’s a genetic factor in such families, still needs to be investigated.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“The differentiation of our sex organs takes place in the first months of pregnancy, while the sexual differentiation of the brain occurs in the second half of pregnancy. Since these two processes take place at different times, the theory is that in the case of transsexuality, they have been influenced independently of one another.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Brain operations have also been performed on homosexual prisoners with a view to reducing their sentences if the treatment proved effective. Naturally, the men all said that it was effective.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“The more older brothers a boy has, the greater the chance that he will be homosexual. This is due to a mother’s immune response to male substances produced by boy babies in the womb, a response that becomes stronger with each pregnancy.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Pre-birth exposure to nicotine or amphetamines also increases the likelihood of lesbian daughters.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“It is curious that a genetic predisposition for homosexuality should persist in populations over the course of evolution, given that this group reproduces so much less.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“Some gender-based differences in our behavior emerge so early on that they can only have arisen in the womb. As early as the first day after birth, girl babies prefer to look at faces, while boy babies prefer to look at mechanical moving objects.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“A child with BIID cut dolls out of a magazine and then snipped off the leg that he himself didn’t want.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's

“EEG measurements in newborns show a difference between the response to touch and the response to the pain of a heel prick only as of thirty-five to thirty-seven weeks.”
― D.F. Swaab, We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer's