FIFTH DAY REASONS FOR OPTIMISM
On March 24, 2000
13. THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The fifth day of the meeting reminded us that interest in the destructive emotions was part of a much broader agenda, to explore possible collaboration between Buddhism and modern science and to enrich our understanding of the mind, a collaboration in which, in view of the Dalai Lama, Buddhism can provide the software that best suits the hardware of brain science. As I said, Buddhism could greatly benefit from the neurobiological underpinnings of mental states, while brain science, in turn, could corroborate-or refute the Buddhist view of mind.
establishing a Buddhist Epistemology clear distinction between what has not been discovered and what can not be detected. And, as I said the Dalai Lama, the findings made by the neuroscience seem to corroborate the claims made by Buddhism, which increased its interest in the results of scientific research of the mind.
When that last day, the Dalai Lama arrived, we were all still standing and was waving one after another, to sit, finally, the emotional climate was very positive. Overnight rain had been falling a fine and peaceful, and the day had dawned with a cloudless sky.
Today we had to leave behind the practical applications and return to our scientific agenda. Francisco Varela was the first of the speakers and then talk Richie Davidson. The Dalai Lama knew so well that I just said Francisco, with a smile:
As you know, Francisco Varela worked as a researcher in many very prestigious French institutions that I will not repeat now, to save the bitter swill of having to hear my terrible French. I will limit myself therefore to introduce Francisco.
A radical theory
Of all the scientists involved in this dialogue may have been Francisco Varela, who has made longer life journey, not only in space but also in time. Francis was born in Talcahuano, in southern Chile, in which port his father worked as an engineer and was vacationing in Monte Grande, a remote village of about fifty people-which he regarded as his spiritual home located in the Chilean Andes that his grandfather lived and where life-no roads, no radio and no television seemed to be still anchored in the nineteenth century.
voracious reader with a special knack for science, Francisco was bored in school and was a mediocre student until he entered college, where his mentor Humberto Maturana aroused in him such an interest in biology that eventually getting a doctorate scholarship to Harvard. That was in 1968, riding the wave of the transformation of social institutions that, at that time, was sweeping the world.
In his time as an undergraduate, made Francisco kept the deeper philosophical question of neuroscience: "What is the relationship between mind and brain?". Completely immersed in the spirit of his time, Varela was highly critical of the dominant paradigm, whereby the human brain works like a computer. But like any good scientist should, Francisco began with the basics and focused its research on the eye of the bee, a very different complex visual system of a vertebrate eye, let alone the human eye. It is also noted that the director of research, Thorsten Wiesel, was later awarded a Nobel prize for his studies of the visual system.
In 1970, Francisco declined a job offer from Harvard to take another at the University of Santiago, a decision partially motivated by the election to the presidency of his country of Salvador Allende, whom Francis, leftist political orientation, unconditional support . It was a time of hope and openness in which socialism promised a new social and economic order more egalitarian in Chile.
The optimism of the moment was also reflected in the opening that showed the climate of the university. Then embarked, with Humberto Maturana, his old mentor and later colleague, a groundbreaking research at the frontiers of biology that ultimately led them to outline the theory of "autopoiesis" (ie self-generation), which explains the emergence and how a living system maintains its identity even when all components are in continuous movimiento.1 As he himself said, a cell "is self in the soup which is physicochemical in immersed "in the form of a self-organizing network of biochemical reactions that produce molecules that make their own fronteras.2 Thus, in other words, as the cell itself generates.
The hypothesis of autopoiesis does not reduce life to the molecules that compose it and sees the body as something more than the sum of its parts. It is true that all properties emerge from the dynamic between the various elements of composition, but in no way can be explained in terms of them. As Varela and Maturana said later in his book The Tree of Knowledge, published in 1984, this is a hypothesis applicable to all levels of life, from the single cell to the immune system, mind and even comunidades.5 Although, in the early seventies, the theory of autopoiesis was dismissed as heretical, today continues to influence thinkers in fields as diverse as philosophy of mind, cognitive science and theories of complexity.
soon came the dark days of 1973 and the coup led by Pinochet, when the university came under the control of the police and Francisco was faced with the alternative of closing the laboratory or terminate your friends related to Allende. That was when Francisco Maturana had to put an end to his work in Chile. And what was worse, the police began arresting many of their friends and colleagues. He himself had participated actively in politics and knew it was only a matter of time that the police just going for it. By then fled with his first wife and their three children to Costa Rica, the farthest point at which they could still get accepted Chilean political refugees. Landed there with a hundred dollars and was forced to work for a time as a tour guide until finally landed a position as professor of biology at the university.
A meeting that paralyzed his mind
The next stage of his life began a few months later, when he received a job offer from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he arrived in 1974. Once there, Francisco reestablished contact with Jeremy Hayward, a physicist educated at Cambridge, he had met at Harvard and had just left his scientific career to study with Tibetan lama Chogyam Trungpa. At that time, Trungpa, a highly respected lama who had escaped from Tibet with the Dalai Lama in 1959 and was educated at Oxford, was a true rara avis, one of the first teachers of Tibetan Buddhism in the West at a time when was very strange find a Tibetan lama in the U.S..
Francisco was going through a period where I felt I had to start his life again. The horror of the violent coup in Chile and the inability to explain the brutality he witnessed led to a sudden loss of consciousness that left him completely adrift. All the years of philosophy, rationality, Marxism and Science not helped him to understand what had happened, and his feeling that the universe had some sense left in tatters. So, when Hayward asked, "Do you know Trungpa?" Francisco did not hesitate a moment: "Why Why not? "To hell with everything" and went with him.
Although Francis was very rational and I had no interest in Eastern philosophies and religions, he was very intrigued by the wit, sense of humor and uniqueness of Trungpa. As had the opportunity to talk to him, expressed his confusion and said he did not know what to do, what Trungpa, after staring hard at him, he replied: "Why would you do something? How would you feel if on this occasion, did nothing? ".
That response completely baffled Francisco. "Doing nothing" was unheard of for someone accustomed, like him, to continually analyze everything. Like life itself palpably showed him well, there are times when the action only serves to create more confusion and now, suddenly, he opened a new possibility, mental silence, which seemed to make much sense. "But how do that?" Asked Francis to Trungpa. And he replied: "I'll show you"-and, immediately afterwards, taught him to meditate.
Meditation soon turned to Francisco, in an exciting adventure, and shortly after attended a meditation retreat one month in a facility in the Rocky Mountains. Meditation seemed to quench the thirst that had felt for a long time. It was then realized that, beyond ego and scientific rationalism, the very foundation of their existence was foreign. Meditation taught him to settle on the basis of his being without the need to articulate or express in any way. The simple and natural being allowed to discover a joy and a pleasure simple and fascinating. Not without overcoming some initial resistance, Francisco began reading the classic texts of Buddhism and their comments, which led him to discover the beauty of Buddhism, not only practice but also as a philosophy and even as the science of the mind. When he reached a certain understanding, began to rethink their view of science from a new perspective. Trungpa
he founded the Naropa Institute, a Buddhist university located in Boulder (Colorado), and Francis, along with Jeremy Hayward and others, outlined a summer program that would deal with science and Buddhism. So began contrasting Perspectives in Cognitive Science, bringing together a diverse group and twenty-five high-level specialists in Buddhist and scientific visions of the mind. But this early foray into the dialogue between Buddhism and science was a disaster, because the debate ended up becoming a heated confrontation fraught with misunderstandings in which no one listened to anyone. There was throughout the encounter the slightest indication of openness required by this type of dialogue, much less of the warmth that should characterize. Ironically
that failure to lay the foundation for outlining the subsequent meetings organized by the Mind and Life Institute. For Francis it was a clear lesson that is not enough to bring together scientists and Buddhists ... but that it must be scientific, and of course Buddhists were really open to dialogue. Then he met
a Buddhist who was perfect for that kind of dialogue, the Dalai Lama. In 1983, Francisco was invited to a conference in Austria on spirituality and science also attended by the Dalai Lama. In one of the first lunch of the conference, Francis sat next to His Holiness, when he learned that she specialized in neuroscience, he immediately launched into a barrage of questions to ask about how the brain works in a conversation that continued for throughout the conference and they both knew a little.
Francis returned to teach in Chile in 1980, in 1984, went to work at the Max Planck Institute, located in Germany, a year later, moved to the Center for Research on Applied Epistemology, a group of experts from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and in 1988 became director of research at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
For a while, Francis took his new responsibilities in Paris and did not meet the Dalai Lama, but in the spring of 1985, spoke with her friend Joan Halifax and learned that a group led by Adam Engle, which also knew the Dalai Lama's interest in science was organizing a meeting on Buddhism and science. Then he immediately called Adam, and he said that the planned meeting with the Dalai Lama was to focus in the relationship between Buddhism and physics. Francisco said, then his opinion that it would be much more fruitful if it focused on the relationship between Buddhism and cognitive science and join the team requested that he would organize such encuentro.4 That phone call was punctuated by the beginning of what, finally finished becoming the Mind and Life Institute, which Francis and Adam have been founding members in the scientific and administrative, respectively.
This is the fourth of the Mind and Life meetings in participating Francisco, from his base in Paris, is now recognized worldwide as an expert the interface between neuroscience, psychoneuroimmunology, phenomenology and cognitive science. In addition to his academic posts, Francisco have written about two hundred articles for various scientific publications dealing mostly on the biological mechanisms of cognition and consciousness and has also written and edited over fifteen books, many of whom have been translated into several languages. Francisco is a scientist difficult to classify because their interests are very easy to immunology neuroscience, cognitive science, philosophy of mind and theoretical biology. His scholarship is extensive and combines precision fertility research and theory. "
Today, just be of a liver transplant after a long battle with hepatitis C and a tense wait the time of transplantation. Thus until the last moment, could not confirm his attendance at Dharamsala. With him was his wife, Amy Cohen, an American psychoanalyst who was unable to meet the Mind and Life, 1991, because she became pregnant with their son Gabriel and was forced to stay in Paris. During our meeting, Francis was forced to take a cocktail of drugs that Amy managed carefully. Now, the last day of the eighth meeting organized by the Mind and Life Institute, Francisco was about to start that would become his last scientific presentation to the Dalai Lama.
A gift of life
"As they have done all my colleagues, let me start," he began with a brief reflection Francisco addressed to His Holiness. I am very happy to enjoy this new opportunity to chat with you. It seems surprising that, over the years, we have continued our dialogue and especially on this occasion, I believe that life has offered me the gift of having a new opportunity. Their support and understanding in difficult times, "he added, almost with tears in their eyes have been very important to me."
In a way, one could say that the Dalai Lama was responsible for that Francis was still alive. In the spring of 1997 he was diagnosed with liver cancer caused by hepatitis C. After surgery, he was told he would have to sign up on the waiting list for a liver transplant, but Francis was not sure how far they should reach their struggle for life and considered very seriously the possibility that transplantation does not undergo the which undoubtedly would have led to a quicker death.
While pondering this decision, Francisco received a fax from the Dalai Lama said he had learned of her illness and hoped to do the impossible to recover, a sign of the blue which provided the emotional support needed to keep forward. It was then decided to take a dangerous liver transplant took place the year before our meeting. After this operation, her body seemed to reject the new liver and was forced to spend three hard months in the intensive care unit. When he arrived in Dharamsala, however, seemed to have recovered.
Francisco was the largest of all the speakers and not was the first time I should talk to the Dalai Lama, but in that occasion, as I said, things were very different because, just started talking, he was overcome with emotion when he realized that his presence was a real miracle .
At the same time he held the chair of the presenter, Francisco experienced a wave of gratitude for the understanding they had shown him the Dalai Lama. During the tea break that occurred on the first day of this dialogue, their first meeting after the operation, "in which the Dalai Lama held his head and his hand in a long silence and affectionate, he was overwhelmed by Francisco the warmth and respect shown by His Holiness and felt their appreciation in a very tangible. For him, this meeting was not so much a scientific dialogue as a gathering of old friends.
But the feeling of dejection vanished Francisco just launched his laptop and opened the first PowerPoint presentation throughout the game and, apparently, the first that I saw the Dalai Lama. When the first image appeared on the LCD, the Dalai Lama said: "What a rush!" Then came the first graphic and a title animation swept across the screen, at which point there was applause spontaneous and His Holiness gave the Tibetan equivalent of "-Vaaaya!".
"I thought he would like this, Your Holiness," said Francisco with a smile and then continued. Let me begin by talking about how we can expand our project, ie the way in which we can collaborate for the Mind and Life Institute will develop. To do this start by saying what we have done in this regard, and Richie will continue later in the same line. This is an opportunity to clarify a really fundamental question: How can we reconcile the neuroscientific study of consciousness with tradition meditation?
Breaking the taboo of subjectivity
"I know that His Holiness has always shown great interest in the relationship between consciousness and the brain, an area that, like many of my colleagues here, I find fascinating. This is a dimension that science has evolved greatly since, without going any further, only ten or fifteen years ago, the very term "consciousness" was problematic, and today, however, held meetings to respect and there are many people working in his studio. "
"And two, in my opinion, the reasons for this change. One has to do with the development of new, non-intrusive methods to study human consciousness and the second is tied to the change of attitude with which science deals with the study of consciousness, two factors combine to make possible our cooperative effort. "He said
Francisco, one of the highlights of this change in perspective during the celebration occurred in 1994, a congress held in Tucson (Arizona), where a young philosopher California named David Chalmers presented a paper on what he called "the core of the problem of consciousness ", in which he argued the impossibility of studying consciousness experimental subject without asking what I was experiencing, a proposal full of common sense that was a real revolution for neuroscientists who, until then, had only paid attention to the data provided by technology.
At that time, Francisco had several decades to face the hard core of the problem of consciousness. Recall that in the middle of last century, the behaviorists had banished the personal testimony of the field of scientific research, dismissing it as a fact essentially distorted, a rejection that Francisco had actively refuted many of its publications. In his book The Embodied Mind, published in 1991, but started a decade earlier, for example, Francisco said that the Buddhist practice of mindfulness meditation provides the study of consciousness a method for the experimental subject can become a partner in "first person" and to report authoritatively on their own experiencia.7 in 1996 said that approach "which he described as neuro-and explored in detail in his 1999 anthology entitled The Viewfrom Within offers a method to cope hard problem conciencia.8 In his latest book, On Becoming Aware: The Pragmatics of Experiencing, published in 2002 showed palpably the scientific usefulness of this approach. "
" Although this renewal of interest in the study of consciousness, "continued Francisco-not be patent from outside that unique thing that we call scientific community is becoming increasingly evident that possess extremely important data that can provide the experimental subject. Some people would call this method of phenomenology, personal experience or experience in first person, names them all, in my opinion, equally valid. But regardless the terminology used, science seems to be starting to change attitudes concerning the scope of the subjective.
"Today there is a wide variety of first-person methods are more or less sophisticated to the point that some of the current debate revolves around the most appropriate methods for each circumstance. In this sense, meditation is exceptionally important, but there are many other approaches that would examine in a broader context. "
The other half of the story
To illustrate the Held utility data in the first person to neuroscience, Francisco was raised what happens in the brain when you have a mental image.
"Suppose, for example, show them this sheet of paper," he said, holding his hands a blank page then I suggest you close your eyes and imagine it. The question is whether the mental image displayed is of the same nature than the image. This is a question that began to be sought in the activity or inactivity of the visual cortex. But the answer we provided the research in the lab was very interesting because in some forms of visual imagery, the visual cortex remains as active as when you see the image while in other cases, remains largely inactive.
"When, for example, I propose to close their eyes and imagine you are drawing the map of the road that leads from here to our hotel, Chonor House and from there, to Dharamsala, the visual cortex is very active but it is when you wield this map. There are also individual differences in brain function because, for the same task, half of the population remains active in the visual cortex, which does not happen with the other half. This research seems to answer the question posed this morning by His Holiness on if everyone has the same type of brain patterns, as it highlights the existence of a personal style that generates display very different patterns of activation. "
This discovery, according to Francisco, seems to suggest the need for data from the first party. And, for more coherent than the methods used by the neuroscience to the study of the mind, its interpretation may be completely wrong if they are accompanied by the information provided by the subject that has been submitted to experiment. If research now listed on mental images had been based solely on brain imaging techniques, eg the results would have been very confusing because in this case, we would have been forced to conclude that half the time, the visual cortex remains active and half inactive, depending on the experimental paradigm used.
Thus, if the only possible analysis of the data would have been the statistical processing, we would have left empty-handed because that way, "said Francis, we had not noticed the different effects on visual cortex induced by different display styles that people use. The only way to understand what is happening is to ask people to tell us, the most concrete way possible, what they were doing mentally while recording their brain activity. And, in the absence of such data from first-person neuroscience is no eye.
An expert in the inner world
"A fundamental aspect of this approach (which still, incidentally, is in its infancy)-continued Francisco is about the skill of the subject made the observation. It is to be able to walk through a garden and watch the plants do not make us good botanists since to do so, it requires adequate training.
"Perhaps His Holiness will be obvious large interpersonal differences that exist in the ability to observe the experience, but the fact is that this is very new, and revolutionary to say that western scientific research. I find it very interesting that everyone so readily admit that one has to train to become a good athlete, a good musician or a good mathematician, but at the same time believes that, with respect to the observation itself experience, there is nothing to learn. It is difficult to underestimate the blindness of our culture in this regard. "
why Francis was proposed to correct the bias of the subjective methods provided by the first person using objective methods (which methods called second and third person). Thus, data from the "first person" are providing us with the subject having the experience, the "second person" from a properly trained observer and the "third person" are linked to objective measures used by science.
"The idea would be to combine the method of first person (which requires proper training) with the empirical approach of the third person (which is the current neuroscience using). Consider, if so, what would happen an electroencephalographic investigation that allows us to identify types of electrical activity that take place in the brain. The new approach we propose would provide two different versions of the same story, the EEG data (from the third-person approach) and the account provided by the subject that tells us, for example, was experiencing surprise (from the first person). The question then would be to combine both sources and to understand not only experience but also the biological basis and organic.
"In summary, then, the question would be to rediscover the importance vision of the first person, and the working hypothesis would be to use the empirical approach to corroborate the description given by the first party. But that would require us, of course, to develop a sustained discipline of observation, a seemingly novel idea in the West. "
This idea attracted much attention of His Holiness, who saw that meditation practitioners could play a role important in this regard.
A false start
- Do you remember, "said Francis, addressing the Dalai Lama the visit in 1992, held in Dharamsala a group of scientists, among whom was Richie, with the intention to investigate how some monks and yogis?
Franciscoreferred to an investigation that followed the third meeting of the Mind and Life, when the Dalai Lama invited scientists to study brain activity in advanced meditators, yogis living in small huts located in the mountains near Dharamsala . In this research included Francisco, Richie Davidson, Cliff Saron (Mr Davidson) and Greg Simpson, and Alan Wallace acted as interpreter.
Every day for several weeks the research team, armed with a letter from the Dalai Lama painfully climbed the EEG and other sophisticated instruments at the top of the mountain to meet with some other Yogi. And every day faced with the same skepticism and the same problems, most notably the refusal of the yogis to let them register their brain function. As rightly said one of them: "I do not think that these devices can measure has much to do with what happens during my meditation. Furthermore, if the conclusions reached was that nothing happens, it could sow doubt in the minds of practitioners. " That was how, for one reason or another, most yogis ended up declining the invitation.
Francisco The conclusions drawn from this failure were many. One is that naive to ask for assistance to participate in a scientific experiment to a yogi who spent twenty years meditating and do not have the slightest interest in science. This type of collaboration is only possible with Western or Westernized Tibetan far advanced in the practice of meditation. The second conclusion was that the conditions of such research are too poor when compared with the rigor and precision that allows us to research centers. It is much more convenient, therefore, Yogi bring the lab to the laboratory to the yogi.
"That was an interesting experience - went to Francisco that served us realize that in order to investigate the skills that really interest us, we need the right technology. Not enough, then, the rudimentary psychological measures used in this early time, as the reaction time. Today we have a much more sophisticated electrical technology. The experience is very brief and, therefore, escapes metabolic study techniques such as blood flow, while very useful for other cases, are too slow for that concerns us, because it takes several minutes to record an increase in blood flow in this or that part of the brain.
"The time it happens is experience and she said, snapping his fingers, and we have to consider is thousands of times faster, something that does not occur in the order of seconds, but the milliseconds. Therefore, measurement techniques must be either electrical or, occasionally, magnetic. And to do so, we must focus our attention on mental states very, very simple and record the electrical changes that take place at the surface of the brain using an electroencephalograph or a very sophisticated device that allows us to quantum-register magnetic fields and, in any way we could bring to Dharamsala. In addition, it must be said that the matter not only to measure, but analytically processed data, a field in which we have come a long way, and today we have techniques that allow us to extract large amounts of information data very simple. "
The melody of the brain Francisco
then outlined two complementary objectives of the research program undertaken by the Mind and Life Institute. Their work would focus on the dynamics mental activity of a given moment, while Richie Davidson research be devoted to exploring the constant changes that occur in the brain during an interval of months or even years.
"The appearance of anger, for example, is accompanied by a refractory period during which one has time to notice the emergence of anger and trying to suppress the action that usually accompanies it. But to do this, you need to understand very well the dynamic performance of a moment of experience. How it creates a moment of consciousness, a moment of cognitive, perception or emotion, for example? Only when understand, we can see the potential applications of this understanding and working with her ... but for the moment, we do not know much about it. "
At that time, the Dalai Lama seemed to revive. That was a subject that interested him greatly, and though what followed was quite esoteric to most present to the Dalai Lama was one of the most substantial of the entire match.
"When a cognitive act, when, for example, have a visual-perception, that perception is not limited to generate a retinal image, since many brain areas at that time was put into operation. The problem, His Holiness, is the way we all live parts are unified into a coherent whole. And that is when, for example, I see you, the rest of my experience, my position and my emotional tone-not disintegrating, but still forming a whole.
"How is all this happening? I conceive that each of the different regions of the brain is a kind of musical note, meaning that each has a certain tone. Why talk about tone? Because, empirically speaking, the different neurons of the brain are in a process of continuous oscillation. It is as if each did whomp (swell) and then puff (deflates) Said, while illustrating his comments with an extension and contraction of their arms and, at the time of whomp, is when the waves from different regions of the brain are synchronized and begin to oscillate simultaneously.
"It is precisely when the various oscillations are harmonized and oscillate synchronously (which is called into being) that the brain provides a specific course, ie we have a perception," or carry out a particular movement. "
I do not know if I understand well the metaphor then asked the Dalai Lama Are you saying that each of these oscillations is a different kind of musical note that, when combined, create the music?
"Exactly," agreed Francisco. At that time is when the different kinds of swing from the whole brain spontaneously merge to create the melody, ie the time of the experience. That is the whomp. And I underline what I think is fundamental is that all that music is created without requiring the presence of any conductor.
There is, within, any man who says: "Now it's your turn now to you and now you," Francisco said, waving his arms in the air as if he were a director orchestra. Things did not work that way. The basic mechanism of brain integration is provisional timing of neuronal groups that are scattered throughout the brain. It seems a beautiful way to describe our findings on the dynamics of appearance of an instant of
experiencia.10
Families brain
Then, the Dalai Lama once again became known role as polemicist familiar with the scientific discourse and said:
- Are there inter-individual differences in this regard? What are the variables that determine their degree of speed? Do we mean a process stable? Does it depend on age?
"All these questions seem very interesting, His Holiness," said Francisco. It is probably something very consistent, because it seems that the brain is consistent with a universal law that affects even animals. But different specific patterns seem to vary from one individual to another depending on their learning and personal history. Or, in short, we have no very clear things about it.
If you put electrodes in different parts of the brain can register the presence of a particular swing. If another electrode placed in another brain region, noting the presence of another oscillation (third whomp). And there is a time when both oscillations come into synchrony, ie, starting and ending at the same time. That is the basic mechanism.
- what we can detect in a given region depends then asked the Dalai Lamade the distance at which to place the electrodes? "Absolutely," said Francisco. We use an electrode cap that covers the entire skull. And if we care about what happens between widely separated regions, it is because we are interested in large-scale integration. When neurons are close together-that is, when it comes to small-scale integration, is almost inevitable to be synchronized because, in fact, are connected together and form what we might call a neuronal family. What interests us, following the same analogy, if a family of Dharamsala is synchronized with a family in Delhi because, in this case, it would unquestionably the presence of an interneuronal synchronization mechanism.
Then slide Francisco projected an image in high contrast black and white, at first sight, seemed mere spots, but upon closer scrutiny, evidenced by the face of a woman.
- Do you see now? He asked. Once you have seen it almost impossible not to see, is not it? These are called moon face (as the faces that can be seen on the surface of the moon) or, in other words, faces a stark contrast. They are easy to see, but almost everyone can see them quite easily if you pay attention.
These faces are easily recognized when presented right. But did you see it too now? He said, projecting the same image then inverted. Very few people can see it, because now invested stimuli are more difficult to recognize. For the purpose of our study, we call the first image "condition of perception (that people are quick to recognize) and the other" condition of perception "(because they are seldom recognized.)
The anatomy of a mental moment
Then Francisco designed a chart showing the sequence and timing of its inquiry into the deconstruction of a mental moment. "In a given experiment, Francisco and his team asked the volunteers of the laboratory of Paris that were being controlled EEG to pressure a button at the very moment that recognize an image. The entire sequence runs an extraordinarily rapid rate to be measured in milliseconds, ie, in milliseconds.
As evidenced by the graph, the mind is activated during the first 180 milliseconds after presentation of the standard black and white. The act of recognition occurs between 180 and 360 milliseconds following the presentation, ie, near the end of the first third of a second. The following sixth second, the brain of the person back to rest of the act of recognition. The motion-action-button is held during the forthcoming sixth second. And the whole sequence ends before having spent three quarters of a second.
"During the first split second nothing happens, something I usually think of as the brain is trying to put into operation," he said, making brrommbrrrooomm, as if implementing a motor, as if all the neuronal groups were trying to establish links to synchronize said, pointing to the first head of the diagram, in which there is hardly any connection lines and the image has not yet been recognized.
"In The crowd suddenly appear next head of connections (represented by solid lines) that are establishing links between brain cells located in different regions. Then begin to form groups and a different pattern emerges. And I must stress that this is indeed an emergency, because nobody said there must be a synchronization between it and the one electrode, for instance. The timing, therefore, there is a completely independent way. And we know from other evidence that such a thing happens about a third of a second after the onset of the stimulus, ie when the person recognizes the presence of a face.
"After the moment of recognition can see the presence of many other lines representing precisely the opposite of sync. And, at that time, the brain is out of sync and each part works at your leisure. That's when the whomp becomes he said, shaking hands vigorously around your head or, in other words, then the brain says "Delete This pattern of oscillation."
Tracking the subtle movements of the mind
The Dalai Lama had been listening very attentively, while rocking gently on his chair forward and backward. Then he asked:
- Is it possible to conduct a study did not focus so much on visual stimuli and in the hearing, the sounds? Would caution "then the presence of the same synchronization and desynchronization processes typical of the second and third phase? And could then compare these dynamics with the visual stimulus itself to see if, in both, the same pattern appears in the third stage?
"We've done that experiment," said Francisco and we have also discovered the presence of the same pattern. This is an experiment that we conducted with hearing with memory and attentional conflict between the visual and auditory, and in all cases, we obtain the same results, the presence of a specific course at the time of emergence of the perception, followed by a moment of recognition and following a pattern that accompanies the moment of action (ie when you press the button.)
When the person remembers to press the button produces a new synchronization between a new set of neurons. Thus, there is recognition, then puff, desynchronization, and when the person remembers to press a button, we need a new pattern or synchrony between a new set of neurons.
"It seems, then, that the role of these neurons concludes once the sync-he said the Dalai Lama.
"Yes," said Francisco, his is a purely provisional. And that is precisely what is most interesting because it is a kind of demonstration of provisional mental factors, "concluded Francisco, referring to the basic elements that, depending on the model of mind supported by the Abhidharma Buddhist, make up each moment of consciousness.
come and go and are linked to neural interim guidelines. This was my great discovery. It is as if the brain actively unravel and provide an opening that allowed the change from one moment to the next. First there is an acknowledgment and then an action, but the passage from one to another is rated. It is not, therefore, a continuous flow, but something like "perception ... coma ... action. " And this is something that occurs routinely in all conditions.
timing mind
The results of the investigation led by Francisco agree with those obtained by other researchers who have addressed temporalize subtle movements mind. The neurosurgeon at the medical school of the University of California, San Francisco Benjamin Libet, for example, found that the electrical activity of the motor cortex originates about one quarter of a second before the person is aware of his attempt to lifting a finger. And another quarter of a second separates the consciousness of the intention to move your finger from the beginning of the movement. Thus, the investigations led by Francisco Libet and highlight the presence of elements, otherwise invisible in our experience, is presented as a single event, like recognizing a face or the movement of a finger. The Dalai Lama
stressed again detailed analysis of mental activity by asking: "It seems
measuring instruments are very sensitive, enabling them to record what happens in the order of milliseconds. But is there perhaps also some data between initial exposure and recognition in the event to be shown to the subjects a photograph of a familiar face recognition occurs in an immediate way without thinking about it or remember it?
"This is an experiment we have also carried out and again the answer is affirmative since, although the gap is smaller in this case, it is still however, so when they appear," said Francisco.
At that point began a heated discussion in Tibetan on the existence of an initial phase of non-conceptual awareness before the memory and other aspects of cognition believe the whomp of the speaker Francisco. The Dalai Lama, determined not to waste this opportunity to learn the vision of science on a subject that interested him personally, "the distinction between mental processes and not conceptual conceptual insisted
- Would you agree that this would suggest is the first time in non-conceptual (ie, a mere visual perception that apprehends the form in question) and the second moment is proof of concept (in which the subject recognizes, "Aha! "So this is it!")? Because I say that this would corroborate the claims of Buddhist psychology.
"That is precisely what it takes to press the button," said Francisco. Remember that first says, "Aha. I recognize this "and that only after you press the button. And frankly this is a time concept, while the former is that the perception of a pattern without any conceptual mediation.
- perhaps you would agree with me, "asked the Dalai Lama, intrigued by the implications of this in that it corroborates the claim that Buddhist psychology is the first time and not merely visual perception conceptual and the second, regardless of its duration, is proof of concept? Is that really so? When I look, for example, Alan Wallace, I recognize his face immediately without having any need to imagine. It seems to be something that happens instantaneously but in reality ...
"Actually, the process takes less than two hundred milliseconds pointed Francisco.
"And that is precisely what Buddhism says," the Dalai Lama. Speaking in very general terms, it seems to be in an instant process, but actually is not. First the printing and labeling occurs later, ie, the conceptual recognition.
"Perfectly," agreed Francisco. Even if it's something that seems immediately is impossible under normal conditions, compress an instant mental consciousness within less than one hundred fifty milliseconds.
In fact, this is a really key point of Buddhist epistemology. The first moment of visual cognition, for instance, is pure perception, ie the perception devoid of any label, but shortly after, there is a cognition mental, the whisper of a thought that originates in memory and enables us to label and recognize the object perceived visually. According to Buddhism, then, the realization that the first moment of conceptual cognition is not, and that the aftermath is conceptual is the gateway to the inner liberation. And it is that understanding the nature of the ongoing construction of reality is a necessary (though in itself not sufficient) to liberate ourselves from the inertia of mental habits.
were present, including many scientists, who have not followed this debate in detail. But the Dalai Lama was interested in knowing what science has discovered about what happens in the mind for the emergence of a moment of conscience and also know the degree of concordance between these findings and the model described in Buddhist texts that are familiar. It was, in short, an excellent opportunity to hear a detailed scientific description of this process that reveals the existence of a strong similarity between science and Buddhism.
The modern evidence of an old debate
In Buddhist epistemology, "said the Dalai Lama, there is debate about the two thousandth anniversary the nature of perception and the relationship it has with the object. One school argues that the perceived visual experience pure object, without the intervention of a mental representation, and from that perspective, the eye provides a direct contact with the object. This view has been criticized by other epistemologists who claim the existence of a kind of mental representation, which he calls namba (which could be translated roughly as "appearance") - or in this case, a visual image partly created by the mind that is really organized the random data of the senses in a sensory coherent whole. Then is when a sensory image that has nothing to do with the simple representation, with a mere reflection of an image.
According to the Tibetan philosophical view, there are four major schools of thought of Indian Buddhism. The first is Vaibhashika school, the only support that perception is a case of mirror representation. The other three schools argue that it is a more active process that plays an organizing role namba subjective.
He added that all schools agree on the existence of two different modes of cognition, conceptual and non conceptual, and that their differences are centered on the fact if the perception is necessarily distorted or
no.12 This is a debate that goes back over a thousand years old. The question, said in a nutshell, revolves around the question of whether visually perceive objects in themselves (without the mediation of any image "inside"), or visually perceive objects in the external world through the intermediation of mental representation "internal." The latter is the view held by the philosophical schools of Buddhism indotibetano more sophisticated. "
The Dalai Lama was very happy that science had begun to discover methods to dissect different stages of the same experience and can thus establish the relationship between these findings and specific aspects of Buddhist thought. Then there was a lively debate in Tibetan on whether it made sense to postulate that the initial stage of a sensory experience is determined by thought or mental image, as claimed Jinpa. But in this sense, Jinpa was a voice in the desert and the Dalai Lama did not support his motion.
"According to neuroscience," continued Francis, the internal active organization is not only carried out within the domain of perception, but also in the broader context of other instances mind as memory, expectation, posture, movement and intention. The vision, for example, takes into account what we perceive through the senses, but articulates these data in terms of all other instances.
"To say, for example," Francisco said then, referring to a scientific debate that paralleled that reported by His Holiness, the emotions distort the perception is an interpretation which I am very satisfied, because it suggests the existence of a perception and emotion that is superimposed later. From another point of view, however, emotion-that is, the tendency to move is a kind of predisposition to meet the world body. It is not, therefore, that one has a perception and then the itch with an emotion, but the very act of meeting with the world-the perception, and is essentially made up of emotion or, put another way, perception that there is no emotional component. I reserve the term only for those illusory perceptions distortion in which the excitement lasts much who becomes dysfunctional or pathological. Under normal conditions, however, all perception is accompanied by an emotion. "
CONTINUED ... ..
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