March 2, 2004
Mapping the Modern Brain
GW Clinical Professor Richard Restak Explores the Impact
of Technology on Brain Function
By Rachel
Muir
The quest to unlock the mysteries of the human brain is not a new one.
But for much of human history, peoples struggle to comprehend the
workings of the mind has been hampered by the crude and perilous nature
of brain exploration. That is until now. In the past few decades with
the aid of sophisticated new research techniques and technologies, researchers
have fundamentally and irrevocably changed their understanding of the
human brain.
Its a change thats nothing short of revolutionary,
opening up a host of possibilities that were the stuff of science fiction
20 years ago, according to Richard Restak, MD, a clinical professor of
neurology at the GW Medical Center and author of the recently published
The New Brain: How the Modern Age Is Rewiring Your Mind.
Whats more, said Restak in his book, as researchers are dramatically
improving their understanding of the brain, the brain is changing just
as dramatically racing to adapt to the abundance of stimulation
thrust on it by the modern world.
In The New Brain, Restak explored both how
modern technology has affected our processing, comprehension, and brain
functioning and how it has enabled us to vastly improve our knowledge
of the brain. He also outlined the tremendous potential as well as the
ethical dilemmas that are part and parcel of this new era in neuroscience.
Everyday Genius
Just decades ago probing the brain was only possible through hazardous,
invasive procedures essentially too risky to undertake on anyone not suffering
from a severe mental disorder. The biggest shift in brain research
is the study of the normal brain with the result that rather
than focusing on diseases and dysfunctions, neuroscientists are probing
and examining everyday brain functioning, Restak said.
Thanks to technologies utilizing computer-driven imaging, such as MRIs
and CAT and PET scans, researchers have been able to study the normal
brain in real time. Such studies have provided new insights
into how the mind functions when thinking, performing tasks, experiencing
emotions and making decisions. The results are potentially as far-ranging
as psychopharmacological drugs tailored to individual needs, accurate
lie detector tests based on brain waves, memory-enhancing pharmaceuticals,
brain fingerprinting that detects changes in electrical activity
and direct repair of brain and other neurological damage.
And, Restak said, the research already has implications for everyday life.
For example, the new technologies have made possible the comparison of
brain functioning of geniuses with that of average people.
Restak explained that study after study documents a pattern of intense
solitary, deliberate practice among superior performing athletes, chess
players, mathematicians and others considered geniuses in their fields.
This pattern and an ability to store and rapidly retrieve vast
quantities of information in long-term memory appears to account
for far more than any difference in brain functioning.
While genetics may be a factor in those select few who reach the top echelons
of performers, the findings dispel the fantasy that a select few
are born with innate talents, said Restak, asserting that Thomas
Edisons famous quote that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99
percent perspiration is true. The implication is that dramatically improving
performance if not reaching the very highest levels is within
our reach, he said.
Information Overload
Technology is changing more than our knowledge about the brain: its
changing the brain itself. Restak explained that the human brains
organization and function are literally shifting to adapt to increased
demands placed on it by media and technology, including TV, cell phones,
E-mail and the Internet, among others. According to him, this technologically
driven change in the brain is the biggest modification in the last 200,000
years the time when the brain volume of homo sapiens reached the
modern level.
Our brains are now being forced to manage increasing amounts of
information within shorter and shorter intervals, Restak stressed.
He added that technology also has made possible a multilevel reality that
hasnt been experienced before, enabling people to reach from
one end of the world to another and wipe out differences in time, space
and place. One of the most serious consequences, he said, is the
constant challenges to our ability to focus our attention, forcing people
to do more than one thing at a time and often to juggle competing and/or
conflicting interests.
Restak cautioned that our ability to multitask at the degree demanded
by modern technology often comes at a price, pointing to the dramatic
increase in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD). He suggested the probability of culturally induced
ADD/ADHD brought on constant over stimulation.
Another dangerous byproduct of our media-driven age, Restak warned, concerns
the effects of the disturbing images of violence and death that have become
commonplace in the media on emotional expressions and perceptions. More
than a thousand studies have documented a relationship in brain activity
between watching violent images, thinking about acting violently, and
subsequent violent behavior, he said. Other hazards of our new knowledge
and environment include the potential for misuse and abuse of mind-altering
drugs, for example, by those with essentially normal personalities to
escape or endure difficult situations.
While its impossible to predict exactly where neuroscience will
take us in the next century, Restak doesnt see any immediate end
to changes in brain functioning or technologys role in instigating
them.
The brains organization will undergo greater changes during
the next several decades than at any time in our history, he said.
And technology will continue to be the compelling force behind those
modifications. Most important, the changes in our brains brought about
by technology will continue to provide us with the challenge of retaining
our freedom and sense of identity while simultaneously utilizing soon-to-be-available
techniques to vastly expand our mental horizons.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
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