Brain Organizes Itself for Introspection as Children Age
November 15th 2010 19:55
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As children mature, increased synchronization between specific areas of the brain alter how they view themselves and others, a new study suggests.
This includes an increasing aptitude for introspection, researchers say.
Georgetown University Medical Center researchers used functional MRI to examine the activity of the five scattered brain regions that comprise what's known as the default-mode network (DMN).
It's believed that the DMN -- which is only active when the mind is at rest and allowed to wander or daydream -- plays an important role in a person's introspective understanding of themselves and others, and in the formation of beliefs, intentions and desires through autobiographical memory, the study authors explained.
The researchers found that the DMN regions don't yet work together in children ages 6 to 9. These areas light up in an fMRI scan (which tracks brain activity in real time), but they do not do so simultaneously. However, by ages 10 to 12, the regions begin to function together and at ages 13 to 19 they're fully coordinated.
"These results suggest that children develop introspection over time as their brains develop," first author and neuroscientist Stuart Washington said in a GUMC news release. "Before then they are somewhat egocentric, which is not to mean that they are negatively self-centered, but they think that everyone views the world in the same way they do. They lack perspective in that way."
The study was to be presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in San Diego.
The team also pointed out that previous research has suggested that the DMN is not well synchronized in many people with autism.
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Comment by Quintin J. Watt
... Well, it is for me! Makes a lot of sense - within the context of my own research. I do say a bit about this kind of subject area in the 'seven ages' section of my forthcoming PhD thesis/publication 'Dionysus, Apollo and the Psychic Swan' ... which I keep plugging, of course! Watch out for it on my pro website as a donwnload when I have this up and running!
You will have to be a subscribing member, though!
Some of the work of Vygotsky, educational psychologist, is relevant here. Check it out! Also: interesting point about the development of the ability to see the world from another's viewpoint - actually I do say A LOT about this in my thesis, discussing what I call every individual's 'internal mental model of the universe' .. and for each of us this is uniquley different. But - philosophical point here ... well I AM a philosoher of the human mind! - what we call 'reality' i.e. the 'actual' universe is only what we all agree is there ... and only what we all AGREE is the way it is
.. this can only be by way of, and insofar as, our different 'internal mental models of the universe', as it were, overlap. This 'reality' is subjective, therefore, and can and does change - from subculture to subculture and throughout the course of human history and pre-history. As you know, I am aslo a cultural historian. It is an interesting philosophical debate - and a favourite phliosophical question of mine ... it even goes down well, sometimes, at dinner parties - given the right company! : -
IS THE UNIVERSE THE WAY IT IS BECAUSE IT IS ***end of!*** - OR - IS IT ONLY THAT WAY BECAUSE WE ALL AGREE IT IS LIKE THAT ?
I say the latter, and, to me, this is important. Why? Because this means that the universe CAN and DOES change!
Watch out , if you will, everybody, for what will be my next offering after that: 'The Philosophy of Western History' [NB: NOT 'The history of Western Philosophy' - big, big difference!] I take up this idea in much more depth there.
Also, in 'Dionysus, Apolllo and the Psychic Swan' I seek to show how, in childhood, the human composite of mind, body ... including brain ... and soul, through the stages of growth and development which we call 'growing up' or maturing, seeks to adjust and 'temper' this balance, - which I call 'Cygnus', the 'psychic swan' - between, essentally passion and impulse on the one hand [i.e. Dionysus] .... and reason and intellect on the other [i.e. Apollo].
At first, we do this balancing and 'tempering' or strive to, in childhood, through creative play - which all good cultures and education systems encourage at this stage ... but giving way, by stages, as we 'grow up', in its stead, to 'introspection' . This is a far more complex and intellectually and spiritually demading process ...
... some adults do this more, and better, than others! There is also, in this, the difference between what I call the 'once born' and 'twice born' personality. These, by the way, are psychology terms - which have somehwat falllen out of use - but not by me! They have no religious overtones. Want to know what I mean by these terms? Read my thesis!!
And then; the fascinating question of what happens in autism - and I have done a little work, as a Mental and Spiritual Healer, with autistic children and adolescents. One feature of some kinds of autism, of course, is the INABILITY to see anything from another person's viewpoint; in some kinds of extreme autism, even visually and literally.
Can there possibly be a link to this, admittedly brain-centred, research which you post here .... regarding, perhaps, a DIS-function or failure to develop this 'introsepctive' ability altogether... which is especially pronounced in these kinds of autism? If so, of course, this might explain why certain kinds of very specific 'creative play' and creative therapies, including art and music, for example, can help sufferers from autism. Lovaas, I believe, developed some theories around this, although I have researched and developed some techniques of my own also.
I should be fascinated to hear from any contributors to this thread about all this!
PLEASE DO SPEAK FORTH AND POST!!!
Jeff Watt, Mental and Spiritual Healer.
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