Re: Some brain questions i need help with

From: dan michaels (feedbackdroids_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 09/28/04 

Date: 28 Sep 2004 10:47:01 -0700

"John Hasenkam" <johnh@faraway.> wrote in message news:<4156882d@dnews.tpgi.com.au>...
> "dan michaels" <feedbackdroids@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:8d8494cf.0409250853.21c606e@posting.google.com...
> > "John Hasenkam" <johnh@faraway.> wrote in message
> news:<4154eeff@dnews.tpgi.com.au>...
> >
> > Strange that there are life and death situations but no "emotion".
>
> Not if you faced death a number of times. Anyway, I'm Australian, convict
> stock, we're not going to let a little death worry us. I have watched people
> die and it didn't bother me too much. It's true what they say, when you
> dance with death you delight in standing on its toes.
>
> > my dreams, what usually wakes me up in a lurch is the high emotional
> > content. This week in one, someone I knew fell off a cliff to their
> > death, and it was such a shock that I immediately awoke in a sweat,
> > and somewhat shaken. Sounds pretty emotional to me. I think that's why
> > they call them nitemares.
> > =============
>
> We are at opposite ends of the spectrum? Or is this another affirmation of
> my freak status?
>

I suspect everyone is a little different, but it's obvious from the
citations on the other post, that emotions are a large part of
dreaming.
=================

> > "... The interpreter-charged LB remembers the gist of the story line,
> > and fills in the details by using logic, not real memories. The RB,
> > without an interpreter, regurgitates the literal story, not one
> > embellished by the interpreter ... Apparently the problem with false
> > memories comes from the interpreter ..."
> > =============
>
> Familiar with the idea. How does he handle cases of early childhood injuries
> and transfer of language function to the right? Is the interpreter still on
> the left and if so what is then doing the filling in?
>

Don't know all the details. This is aparently for the common
situation. There have been situations where there is some crossover
and hemispheric compensation. The "interpreter" is obviously related
to the speech areas, and Broca's area is usually found in LHB.
=================

> > Yes, this bit about dream emotion is what I've been trying to get
> > across. This does not seem to be commensurate with a dead soul
> > hypothesis.
> > =================
>
> Not a hypothesis but a description of the people in my dreams, including
> myself. Everyone behaves differently than in real life, the physical
> environments are rarely the same as that which I encounter those people, and
> thankfully in my dreams I don't have to deal with emotionality. Reminds
> me of the Greek root for person: the mask worn by actors in a play. For
> example, the types of events that happen in your dreams, are these
> reflections of real life? What is missing in dream analysis is cross
> cultural comparisons.
>

Yes, I would say dream characters in general tend not to show
excessive emotion, but still some "situations" become very emotional,
and in my case these tend to wake me up in a sweat.

There may be cross-cultural differences, but I also imagine every
person is a little different. Also, some of my dream events run
parallel to my daily events, but usually not the more bizarre ones.
Those typically don't correlate with waking life. Rarely do people I
know fall off of cliffs, nor do I fly, in waking life. OTOH, a coupla
days ago I had a rather mundane dream about putting out mouse traps
[and hearing the snaps], which I actually did last week.
==================

> > Ha .... each to his own, I say. If your dreams are truly dull, well
> > life isn't fair, is it ;-). Some of us lucky ones were born with our
> > own internal cinemas. We have the music. Ha!
>
> Half your luck, my dreams are usually tedious things. I will never hear the
> sound of mermaids singing. Alas poor Prufrock, I never knew him. Raises an
> interesting question for me. I never hear music in my dreams. Does anyone?
>

Normally, I would say I don't hear sounds in my dreams, but as just
mentioned, I did actually "hear" mousetraps snapping in a dream this
week.

My music comment was kind of a non-sequitor. My dreams aren't really
musical, but I clearly have more internal mental music than most
around here it seems. There are 2 types of people in the world, and
people like this don't get bored easily.
================

> > > 9) There is near universal suppression of REM sleep in humans by acute
> > > dosage of serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake-inhibiting
> > > antidepressants (Gaillard et al. 1994; Nicholson et al. 1989; Vogel
> 1975;
> > > Vogel et al. 1990).
> > > ---
> > > The SSRI I am taking is also a nore reuptake inhibitor ... .
> > > ...
> > >
> >
> > Ha, says he, who wrote his previous comments about serotonin before
> > reading this.
> > ==================
>
> The drug is called an SSRI but when I checked the literature ... . Damned
> doctors, don't even know what they are prescribing.
>

Checked on this .... Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI).
Good to see it at least says "selective". Mental medicine is empirical
medicine. If it works .... [still better than a lobotomy, which they
still used just 50-60 years ago].

Interesting, the father of Walter J. Freeman [who has been attempting
to apply systems and chaos theory to brain operation] was a
lobotomist.
===============

 
> >
> > Hmmm, substrate for many FB loops. Making stable is all the more
> > curious.
> > ==============
>
> I'm not interested in FB between gross anatomical regions because we have no
> idea what is being transmitted. Another cog. sci. red herring.

Well .... this just means it's an open area of research, doesn't it.
One small step at a time.

First the hypothesis, then the test, then the theory which is adopted
by the peers. Then the revisions. That's how it all works. Right.
=============

There are
> obvious and fundamental differences between feedback in the brain and
> artificial feedback. The only FB I'm interested is at the molecular level.
>

Each to his own interests. Yes.
===========

> If only I could dream about molecules, much more interesting than people.
>
>
> John.

Relevant Pages

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