Minutes of a Monday #24

Brain Food > Doing nothing is good

“In other words, we treated the “resting state” as an experimental condition in its own right. When we did this, the results were not surprising. We found activations in multiple regions of association cortex, including frontal, temporal and parietal, as well as the retrosplenial cingulate. Essentially, we demonstrated that the process of “free association” allows the association cortices of the human brain to converse with one another in a free and uncensored manner!

When we systematically debriefed the subjects about their mental activity during this condition, we learned that they were engaged in random free-floating self-referential thoughts about the past, present and future… therefore, we suggested with a touch of irony that the “resting state” should be referred to as Random Episodic Silent Thought (REST), for which REST is an appropriate acronym. We were not visualising a passive silent brain during the “resting state,” but rather a brain that was actively connecting thoughts and experiences.”

Dr. Nancy C. Andreasen makes the case that our brains default to creativity while we are ‘doing nothing.’

Soul Food

"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." Eric Hoffer

LOL

A Romanian beats the Gong at the King Comedy store in London

Appendix

“The true spirit of conversation consists more in bringing out the cleverness of others than in showing a great deal of it yourself; he who goes away pleased with himself and his own wit is also greatly pleased with you, Most men seek less to be instructed, and even to be amused, than to be praised and applauded.” Jean de la Bruyere

AOB

Thanks for reading & see you next week.