THE ART OF NEUROSCIENCE IN EVERYTHING The Art of Neuroscience in Everything was the first book by the celebrated Neuroscientist Abhijit Naskar. Beginning with this book, he has revealed to the world, the untapped potential of the human brain. Today the work of this self-educated scientist has made it possible for us to meet face to face with our inner selves. THE ART OF NEUROSCIENCE IN EVERYTHING ABHIJIT NASKAR Copyright © 2015 Abhijit Naskar This is a work of non-fiction All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. An Amazon Publishing Company, 2nd Edition, 2015 Printed in United States of America ISBN-13: 978-1511693233 Dedicated to all the young minds of the world with a burning desire to pursue science Table of Contents Preface. ................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 You Drive Me Crazy Like Hell - The Neurobiology of Lust, Attraction, Love and Attachment............................................................. 3 Chapter 2 Connectivity of Minds - Think of The Friend and The Friend Appears ................................................. Chapter 3 Science of Empathy & Learning - The Mirror Neurons .................................................................... Chapter 4 Meaning of Dreams ................................................. Chapter 5 Studies in Hysteria - Emotional Suppression and Its Dangerous Consequences................................... Chapter 6 Earth-Brain Bondage - Psychological & Physiological Changes during Fluctuations in Geophysical Parameters .......................................... Chapter 7 GOD is A Figment of Your Imagination – Experiencing GOD in The Brain............................ Bibliography ............................................................. Preface Mankind is the most mysterious of all species on our beloved planet earth. Its every behavior, every action and every single phrase it utters, undeniably show the excellence, with which Mother Earth has molded the human species throughout the entire evolutionary period. Modern man has come a long way, since he first learnt to control and create fire. He has advanced in various fields like science, arts and technology. Even so, it’s the privilege of only a neuroscientist to observe and explore the biological or more specifically neurological functions behind all those advancements. My work is to find out what makes the humans so special and unique among all the species on this planet. Humans are the only species on earth who can contemplate the vastness of the cosmos, the beauty of the sea, peacefulness of the full moon, the craftsmanship of Mother Nature and even contemplate itself contemplating. We can observe the craftsmanship of Mother Nature most significantly in the evolution of human brain. This 1 Abhijit Naskar 3 lbs. lump of jelly is the driving force, the alpha and the omega of all human excellence. With this tiny piece of biological instrument we are even able to see galaxies that are light-years away from our dearest Milky Way. Alongside such scientific excellence, most of humanity has also accepted the existence of a Supreme Being, which is usually referred to as GOD , based on faith and historical records of encounters. This gives us an amazing evolutionary trait or behavioral characteristic called Faith to explore. All experiences, behaviors, beliefs, feelings such as faith, love, attraction, lust, hatred, excitement, kindness, empathy, good and evil that make us humans, are the creation of various intricate and inexplicable molecular interaction within the brain. This book is about those interactions that impact over daily human activity and behaviors. In this book, I’ll open up to the reader, the beautiful maze of the brain that creates human experiences, feelings and beliefs in the most non-technical way possible. This book will elaborate on the biological or rather neurological foundation of human mind’s deepest instincts, emotions and mysteries, and make it coherently understandable even to the layman. 2 Chapter 1 You Drive Me Crazy Like Hell The Neurobiology of Lust, Attraction, Love and Attachment Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance ... love will last forever! Corinthians 13:4-8, Holy Bible These few lines from the Holy Bible are so beautiful and perfect. As if all the explanation you need for your overwhelming feeling towards the loved one is there. Love is really an amazing thing. 3 Abhijit Naskar Perhaps it is the most amazing essence of being a human. All animals do it. All of you definitely have fallen in love at least once in your lifetime. The first time, you laid eyes on your dearly beloved, you suddenly started to feel the soothing breeze brushing against your skin, hear the sweet chirping of the birds, even the time seemed to have ceased for you two. For those of you who have recently fallen in love, you’d know even more clearly what I’m saying. “s they say, there’s nothing crazier than love. “nd it’s really worth being crazy in love. Evolutionary speaking it works as a great motivator, as when you are in love more Oxygen rushes to the brain. And more Oxygen in the brain means more cerebral activity. ”ut there’s more to it than just increased O2 supply. Love is a really complex neurobiological phenomenon, involving lust, attraction, trust, belief and pleasure activities within the brain. But let’s keep it as much non-technical as possible and explore the chemistry of love as interestingly as making love. What is Love? 4 The Art of Neuroscience in Everything Do we really want to know! As long as it keeps us up on our feet, who cares!!! Every human being has his or her own perspective about love. A thousand people would define love in a thousand ways. Attachment, commitment, intimacy, passion, possessiveness, grief upon separation, and jealousy are but a few of the emotionally loaded terms used to describe the representation of love. In a lover’s words: love is as vast as the cosmos, it is endless, limitless and unconditional . Although, if we start exploring the neurobiological mechanism of love with science, it becomes even more exciting and multidimensional. If you observe closely enough the astounding neurobiology of love itself can make your brain filled with O2. This beautiful neurobiological mechanism critically involves various neurochemicals like oxytocin, vasopressin, dopamine, serotonin and endorphins. These neurochemicals make you love and feel loved. The concept of love involves having an emotional bond to someone for whom one yearns, as well as having sensory stimulation that one desires. The word love, however, derives etymologically 5 Abhijit Naskar from words meaning desire, yearning and satisfaction and shares a common root with libido sex drive . Figure 1.1 Neurobiology of Love Thus, the psychological sense of love can be interpreted as referring to the satisfaction of a 6 The Art of Neuroscience in Everything yearning, which may be associated with the obtaining of certain sensory stimulation. Love therefore possesses a close connection not only with reward and pleasure phenomena, but also with appetitive and addictive behaviors. This is the usual addiction of love, when you feel so much addicted to the person you love. Separation from the beloved one leads to withdrawal like symptoms, because your body literally keeps craving for the pleasure stimulation of being in love. Love and its various emotional states and behaviors are rarely investigated by scientific means. In part, this may be due to the fact that love has always been the domain of poets, artists and philosophers. Although, for ages love has inspired many scientists in their extraordinary discoveries, it has certainly not been considered to be right within the scope of common experimental science, i.e., neurobiology research. Emotions and feelings such as attachment, couple and parental bonding, and love, neglected for centuries by the experimental sciences, have now come into the focus of neuroscientific investigation in order to elucidate the biological mechanisms and pathways of the most pleasing concept of humankind. So 7 Abhijit Naskar let’s explore phenomenon. the ingredients of the love Love begins with the stage of primitive lust and attraction. I’m saying primitive because at this very early stage there is really no difference between primitive man and modern man. The bodily characteristics of a person such as, how hot they are, poke the level of sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen), cortisol and pheromones. Lust is initiated at this stage through the physical attraction and flirting. This is an evolutionary behavior of mankind that biologically enables a human to find a healthy, fertile and perfect mate. Following the cue of lust, the major attraction symptoms kick in, which are usually known as the symptoms of love, such as sweaty palms, tremors in the whole body, restlessness, loss of appetite and sleep, thumping heart, butterflies in the stomach etc. Such symptoms occur because the body is flooded with neurochemicals like Dopamine, Cortisol, Norepinephrine, and Phenylethylamine (PEA). Once this euphoria wears off, the ultimate and deepest stage of love prevails that is the attachment phenomenon. And the chemicals that make this possible are Oxytocin, Vasopressin and Endorphins. As time goes by, the 8 The Art of Neuroscience in Everything crazy love sensation diminishes and the feeling of closeness and attachment grows and prevails till the last breath of life. Love is more than just a blissful Kiss. It is a really pleasurable experience, moreover it’s the best natural motivator. Love turns on the reward center of your brain like a light bulb. Everything around you seems so beautiful. You feel an amazing bliss with your beloved partner. As a result deeply intriguing expressions of love come out of your mouth: You and I are forever , You drive me crazy like hell , I belong to you . The intensely sensational and emotional state of love has inspired artists to create masterpieces and even scientists to come up with world-changing ideas like Erwin Schrodinger’s Wave Equation and Stephen Hawking’s Hawking Radiation. That’s why we neuroscientists are so fascinated with the love phenomenon. 9 Abhijit Naskar Available in Paperback on Amazon, Wordery, Barnes & Noble, Booktopia and other webstores Also in Ebook on Kindle, iBooks, Scribd, Nook and Kobo Abhijit Naskar’s Official Website www.naskar.net Facebook Page www.facebook.com/naskartheneuroscientist 10