Path of Least Resistance, 15 Mar 2016

 Path of Least Resistance, 15 Mar 2016

This is a note from last year that was sitting in my drafts.

Recently heard a fascinating talk on "Change and The Brain" by neuroscientist David Eagleman*.  He was a really good speaker who gave a well-polished, well-practiced speech on his own research. It was impactful. Kind of like listening to a singer singing his trademark super hit song in a concert - Pankaj Udhas singing "Chitthi aayi hai" or Bryam Adams singing "Heaven".  

We are used to thinking of brain as consisting of two parts - right and left or emotional vs logical or irrational vs rational; , which govern our behavior. Those of you who have read my previous notes will remember my attempts to understand their workings and live harmoniously with these often contradictory aspects.  That was 4 years ago. A lot has changed since then. I had to give my brain a "restart", sort of.  Similar to how it happens when a computer hangs. We have to shut down everything and restart hoping that the crap that was taking up all the memory is gone but important stuff is still saved. Fortunately my cleanup worked reasonably well. And although I haven't had a chance to reflect much on my favorite topic of right.v.left brain, they seem to have been working in a decent harmony**.  

Going back to the talk.

One of the quotes he started with was  - "There's someone in my head but it's not me.."  (Pink Floyd). We all know how that feels!! :)   Like they show in the movies - black angel on one shoulder & white angel on the other battling it out. Sometimes it is not just two people, but a big crowded party!  He went on to explain basic brain structure with its intense neural network, the infinite amount of automatic/subconscious activity that takes place behind our every small action such as filling a glass of water, cognitive flexibility and brain plasticity and other intriguing ideas (you have probably heard of them at corporate seminars on EQ!).   The most interesting to me was the statement that "Our brain in wired to take a path of least resistance". When the external stimuli come, our brain has almost infinite options of thinking about it, but it will avoid the complex and less traveled paths on the neural network, and take that path which is the easiest. A similar idea was presented by psychologist Tom Ward who said that when we think about anything, we follow the path of least resistance. Without realizing it, we instantly and automatically categorize every situation we see based on our previous experience.  

Hmm...What a lazy bugger our brain is! Here we have this fantastic machinery that can do anything & everything but all it chooses to do is - well, act like a broken record. It is like someone has a Boeing 777 plane but instead of flying it, he only uses it to taxi from one gate to the other.   

For the most part, we live life following the paths generated by our brain when we were really young. We either picked them from our parents/surroundings or they were formed by our instinctive response to external stimuli. We use them even now without questioning as to whether they make sense anymore. We let these "paths (aka thoughts or habits)"  define "us" without even realizing. Our neural network consists of millions of associations in general. For any specific object, there are at least thousands. For example, a simple thought like "I am hungry" can trigger a cascade of associations - all the foods I like/dislike, restaurants, cooking, diet, nutrition,mom's food, yelp, French Laundry, Dosa on valencia is not as good, Fillmore is better, I can't go the city anymore just to eat dosa (sigh!),...on and on***.  

 Even if we want to change them, it is not easy. The way our brain functions, it will automatically choose the path of least resistance and say "pizza", it won't say "salad" because that will trigger the wrath of emotional brain. 

But what if we tried to rise above the patterns in our head and carve out new possibilities? Slowly. One step at a time..

* A summary of his talk is given here: http://indianajen.com/2012/02/03/the-neuroscience-of-teaching-and-learning-david-eagleman/ He talks about it in detail in his book: http://www.amazon.com/Incognito-The-Secret-Lives-Brain/dp/0307389928 or

http://www.eagleman.com/thebrain 

** All it means is that the occasions where one overpowered the other leaving the other helpless and angry, have lessened. e.g. I really really wanted to eat that pistachio/coffee ice-cream to celebrate first week back at work. Right brain. Left brain strongly reminded me that ice-cream is not my friend since it makes me very nauseous. I acknowledged it fully. Still ate it. Body suffering but both brains happy! 

*** A friend posted this article today which nicely captures the chatter generated by going down random neural pathways: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bunmi-laditan/5-minutes-in-a-moms-head_b_5445948.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000037

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