Each cell sends electrical pulses to other cells, up to hundreds of times per second. And each one contains the entire human genome and traffics billions of molecules in intricate economies.
Each one of these cells is as complicated as a city. Your brain is built of cells called neurons and glia - hundreds of billions of them. This is the mission control center that drives the whole operation, gathering dispatches through small portals in the armored bunker of the skull. Three pounds of the most complex material we've discovered in the universe. A sheet of high-tech self-healing sensory material that we call skin seamlessly covers your machinery in a pleasing package.Īnd then there's your brain. The machinery includes a sophisticated scaffolding of interlocking bones, a netting of sinewy muscles, a good deal of specialized fluid, and a collaboration of internal organs chugging away in darkness to keep you alive. Beneath your dashing good looks churns a hidden universe of networked machinery. Take a close look at yourself in the mirror. And the way that that battle tips, determines your behavior."Įagleman's new book, Incognito, examines the unconscious part of our brains - the complex neural networks that are constantly fighting one another and influencing how we act, the things we're attracted to, and the thoughts that we have.Ĭhapter 1: There's Someone In My Head, But It's Not Me What we're seeing here is that there are different parts of the brain that are battling it out. "And the issue is that we're always cussing at ourselves or getting angry at ourselves or cajoling ourselves. "You have competing populations in the brain - one part that wants to tell something and one part that doesn't," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. So when you have a secret to tell, the part of your brain that wants to tell the secret is constantly fighting with the part of your brain that wants to keep the information hidden, says neuroscientist David Eagleman.
Your brain also doesn't like stress hormones. Keeping a secret, meanwhile, does the opposite. Studies at the University of Texas, Austin, have shown that writing down secrets in a journal or telling a doctor your secrets actually decreases the level of stress hormones in your body. Science Oliver Sacks: A Neurologist Examines 'The Mind's Eye'
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