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Neuron Models
Have you ever dreamed of becoming smarter? Have you ever wondered how to perform better, feel better and get along better in the crazy world we are living? The truth is that you CAN become smarter and you CAN do better if you know how neurons in the brain are wired and how the brain works. There is more and more evidence that neurons in our brain are connected to each other to form CELL ASSEMBLIES as Hebb had proposed early in 1949. These cell assemblies represent objects and concepts, and they are interconnected with each other to form the internal model of the world. When we are born, the connections among neurons are weak and diffusive. By strengthening and weakening of the connections between neurons in a cell assembly and between cell assemblies through experiences, the interconnected neuron networks form and evolve as we learn. They also serve as memories and units of thoughts. And the mind emerges from neuron activities of the brain, which is a CAS itself. So the first point follows is that learning is supposed to be a slow process and repetition is the very basic rule for learning. Only by being exposed to many instances over time, we are able to establish cell assembles well representing generalized concepts and this GENERALIZATION is essential for us to get around in an overwhelming and changing environment. So to learn, you need to be patient. Now, you may ask, "Are there any tricks that can help us learn better?" I am about to show you one. It is ASSOCIATION. Imagine if you learn one thing, you save it in a box in your brain, then you learn another thing and you put it in another box and these boxes are separated by walls. It is not surprising that they will be forgotten easily! But when you learn a new thing, if you associate it with things you already know, the cell assembly for the new thing will be built around and connected to other cell assemblies, it is no more isolated. Whenever other cell assemblies are activated, it will get a chance to be activated too. As a result, not only will it be remembered better, your knowledge will also be organized in a more integrative way that facilitates problem solving. I bet you will fall in love with this trick of association because not only you learn faster and better by association, you also become more creative. When you associate things in the mind (especially those things that seem unrelated), a chain of neurons are firing like atom reactions in nuclear fission, generating sparks here and there. And these sparks are the very sources of original ideas. Be a scientist or artist, who doesn't want to be creative? Even for the most common people, the loveliness of everyday life much comes from this imagination. Have you ever had doubt about your major? Attention has much to say about this. What is happening in the world is overwhelming for our small brain. It is attention that enables us to focus on some things. There are two types of attentions, INVOLUNTARY ATTENTION and VOLUNTARY (DIRECTED) ATTTENTION. Those interesting things capture our involuntary attention while directed attention allows us to work on things uninteresting but important. Unfortunately directed attention is a limited resource of our brain - we can only attend very few things at a time and directed attention uses this very precious resource. You may already see the point here - choose your career carefully and choose a career that really excites you! If your work doesn't interest you, you will have to use directed attention all the time. Remember directed attention takes effort and it creates fatigue and stress! Is there any price higher than having a dull and stressful life?! Do you have difficulty getting focused? Don't blame yourself too much. Do you feel that your partner is drifting away from you? Don't simply blame him/her. Let it alone, the natural tendency of attention is ever moving to new things, and there are plenty of excitements around ready to capture the wandering attention. We need to keep renewing ourselves so we can be constantly refreshing and interesting to others, and it is also for the good of ourselves. We need to realize there are things in life that are so important that it is when we should use the precious directed attention and assert our will power. There are many other things I can write about neuron models, for example, what is clarity mechanism and how clarity mechanism together with directed attention can guide you in a confusing circumstance to achieve understandings about things at a new level. But I don't want to run the risk of loosing your attention. |
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