The Enchanted LoomTeasing sturdy threads from

neuroscience masterworks

Teasing 10 threads fromMarc Lewis’s…

Thread 1:

The brain grows through the bountiful heart of the feedback loop. Feedback loops are just about the most pow- erful things in the world. Feedback makes things grow. It cares not what.(pg. 35)

Thread 2:

A major upgrade to the geography of the brain was the circuits for wanting and liking. Most of the striatum is in the business of wanting. Only a small area produces the sensation of liking.(pg. 58)

Thread 3:

Brain flesh remains mutable throughout our lives. After 6 months of abstinence gray matter lost to addiction returns to baseline levels. Gray matter then grows beyond baseline com- pared to non- addicts !(pg. 137)

Thread 4:

The cornerstone of addiction is “now” appeal in relation to narrowly defined rewards; ego fatigue arising from attempts to resist tempt- ation; and the ongoing stream of change and stability in individual minds.

(pg. 198)

Thread 5:

Cognitive control is a regulating signal that emerges from many parts of the brain. Ego fatigue disrupts that signal and results in the loss of volitional behavior.(pg. 156)

Thread 6:

Experiences that actually change synapses are those that are most compelling. Desire is evolution’s agent for getting us to pursue goals repeatedly.(pg. 208)

Thread 7:

Real-life narratives can’t be held in mind without the feelings that give them shape. Desire is the most potent of those feelings.(pg. 178)

Thread 8:

To me the message is clear: humans need to be able to see their own lives progressing, moving, from a meaningful past to a viable fu- ture. They need to see themselves as going somewhere.(pg. 204)

Thread 9:

Personality is little more than the laying down of habits for getting along in the world: habits of attraction, habits of self- regulation, habits for avoiding the rough edges of our lives.(pg. 178)

Thread 10:

The take home message here is simple: recovery involves major changes in thought and be- havior, and such changes require ongoing neural development – a change in synaptic patterns.(pg. 197)

Image Credits:

Title Page: http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/23193-personality-traits-brain-scans

Slide 3 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Feedback-Loop-68547735

Slide 12 - http://bit.ly/1g5i1cW

Slide 2 - http://www.thefix.com/content/interview-Marc-Lewis-addicted-brain8090?page=all

Slide 6 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Temptation-77022062

Slide 5 - http://rachapunk.deviantart.com/art/Vegetation-II-84456285

Slide 11 - http://bit.ly/1foqgjf

Slide 10 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/The-Journey-147082257

Slide 14 - http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/23193-personality-traits-brain-scans

Slide 9 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/DESIRE-149145056

Slide 8 - http://www.deviantart.com/art/Desire-302267921

Slide 7 - http://bit.ly/1CVmmct

Slide 4 - http://meditationtime.grou.ps/talks/6525601

Mark Brady, PhDTheEnchantedLoom@gmail.com

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