We know that brain functions that are trained will develop, whereas those that are less used may be impaired or fade away. I speculate that some brain functions may be impossible to develop at the same level, partly because the processes may disturb each other, and partly because they may utilize the same areas of the brain.
As the brain processes information in parallell, I conjecture that different processes can interfere with each other. Because of learning and disposition, some brain processes may be more dominant and inhibit other processes. In most people, for instance, the left brain hemisphere's processes is more dominant than the right brain hemisphere's processes. This dominance of some brain processes over others may also be seen in cases of addiction, where the dopamine system is "hi-jacked" by the craving for a certain drug or activity so that nothing else matters. Obsessions or compulsions are similar to addiction in the way that a certain idea or behavior dominates a person's thinking or behavior. It also makes sense that inner attention (conscious thinking) will inhibit a person's body movements. For instance, if you think too much while playing sports, you will underperform. It is possible, that in order for some brain processes to be highly active, others need to be inhibited. This may explain why some highly intelligent people have had obvious problem making good decisions or have had problems in their social life. For instance, the economist Keynes had personal financial problems and it is suggested that the philosopher Plato was poor at playing the macchiavellian game of politics of his time (even though he knew a lot on politics). Savants are other examples; these are individuals with developmental disability who are highly talented in one area but have high impairment in other areas, usually for social and communicative skills. The brain system deciding which brain processes to inhibit and which to increase may be the executive functions. The executive functions are the common name for our attention, ability to multi-task, make decisions and monitor our own actions. In other words, it is our "free will". The executive system utilizes working memory to perform its' actions and it is usually what we refer to when we speak of consciousness. Damage to the executive functions can lead to poor decision making. It has been suggested that individuals with the ADHD syndrome have impaired executive functions. It is essential that the executive functions inhibit some brain processes and increase others while we are making decisions, otherwise we may be filled with a lot of doubt for any action we do or act paradoxically. We all know that it is impossible to both eat a cake and have it; once we have made a decision (or even before) we need to persuade ourselves that the action we are undertaking is the best option. We cannot be two-faced for long because of the cognitive conflict it will cause (compare with cognitive dissonance theory). Soon we will have to harmonize our thoughts, perhaps through an obsession. Psychoanalytic theory, however, suggests that repressed cognitive processes (ideas) may constantly struggle to find ways of being expressed. If this is true, inhibition of a brain process does not not necessarily have to mean the extinction of it.
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AuthorThis is my class blog for IB Psychology. Here I will publish reflections on psychology, reviews of psychology books, recommended links, lecture notes, and information on psychology topics that are not covered by the syllabus. You are free to add comments or ask me questions. Archives
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