I've just watched the first three episodes of the netflix series 'mind explained' and they were on the following subjects: memory, dreams, and anxiety, which is super central to my work and how I think about things in day-to-day life in general. I think it's great that there's more content like this where we try to understand ourselves a little better, and this series is good because it breaks down, scientifically, how the brain works around these subjects... I learnt a lot from these twenty minute episodes.
memory:
-our memory of past events, even ones we are certain are true, are very very likely to become manipulated over the years (this makes me doubt my whole life memory), and the examples they used were of people recalling the 9/11 incident
-when you experience something you take in everything through each sense and there are separate parts in the brain that do this for each sense, and the hippocampus pieces all these together to form a coherent memory of that experience...
-things that enhance your memory of an experience: 'story, place, and emotion are the foundation of some of our strongest memories' - and memory athletes (in competitions) use these tactics to hack into the system... the girl was able to remember all 500 numbers in minutes because she first switched the numbers into letters, formed random images from those letters, and, in combination with the memory map technique, navigated her way across these bizarre imageries through a landscape she knew well. it was very strange to imagine.
-the takeaway here, and what I found really beautiful was that even though our memory is so fragile and unreliable, they help us form the possibilities of the future.. the exact narration at the end was: 'It weaves together memories of the past and dreams of the future to create your sense of self' (they also used an example of a patient who had that particular part of his brain damaged, and when they asked him about future plans, or tomorrow, he said he didn't really think much of it.. it is terrifying, we lose the vision ahead when we don't have the past as a foundation, no matter how fragmented they are... makes me look at my 'memories make me' print in a new way.. I suppose I was already thinking about what we are without our memories) anyway, that quote was a really hopeful and inspiring way of looking at it... your brain is a time machine, always wandering back and forth from the present to the past to the future... kind of makes me think of dioramas.. they are the past but, do they make us dream of the future?
-it also referenced a quote from the red queen in alice through the looking glass : 'It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards'
dream:
-used the example of dali's painting ' Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening' which highlights the idea of dreams at the time that we dream everything in that one moment before awakening - which, today we know it isn't true, we dream whilst we sleep.
-in REM sleep, after an hour or two into sleeping. the episodes then outline a brief history of dream interpreting in egypt,(generally people believed dreams to be messages from the gods/prophecies) then to Freud's interpretation of dreams, it was all very fascinating how specific people attached a meaning to an image can be,
-there are common dreams that people have, like teeth falling out or being chased...
-also touched on lucid dreaming, and dream recalling...
-dreams allow 'wacky' random associations to things that we would not have when we are awake, because the logic part of the brain is turned off, and that is so wonderful..
- 'I think in REM sleep, the brain is creating dreams that are not designed to settle on a single answer, but to help us realise all the possible answers that are out there. If you're not focused on one particular route through the maze, you might discover paths you never knew were possible. We can test out new ideas, put things together, without the constraints of logic. It might be that part of the function of REM sleep dreaming is to identify sort of wacky associations, connections, that we would never discover while we're awake. Salvador Dali believed in this creative power of dreams. Dali: "My work consists of the meticulous execution of my dreams.""You dream your paintings?" "Dali dream in glorious Technicolor." Creativity is nothing more than taking information we already have and seeing how it fits together in a new and exciting way.
anxiety:
-this was particularly interesting because in recent years I definitely feel like I experience more and more specific types of anxiety e.g. social but like the documentary said, most people try to get through it themselves. It is apparently the most common mental disorder.
-of course, these fight or flight senses are in built for our survival, but with a more sensitive trigger to danger irrational anxieties occur.
-the psychologist that was talking about this had a recent panic attack out in the ocean because he was triggered by the traumatic event of watching jaws, and the irrational fear of sharks lurking in the water somehow resurfaced when he believed he was prepared for the water again
-the 1920 little albert experiment where the small child would hear a clashing metal sound every time he was near the small white rat, and they were able to create a phobia for little white animals for the boy, and he even gets scared of rabbits, fur muff, santa claus mask... people with anxiety do this to - harmless things take on scary associations.
- very possible that social media increases anxiety cases
- studies show that the best treatment generally comes from a combination of medication and therapy (esp CBT - cognitive behavioural therapy, talking to a therapist to alter negative thought and behavior patterns... also exposure therapy)
- "As a field, we used to think that we might be able to cure anxiety, and that doesn't necessarily seem to be the case. Treating anxiety is much more about learning how to experience anxiety. We survive with the right about of anxiety. The plan is not to get rid of it. The plan is to just have the biologically rational, real bases of it turning our systems on.
From watching these three episodes I'm really thinking about the dream-turned-paintings that I've been thinking about in my practice in a fresh way. In them, I use collage (images I remember in memory, take in from culture esp films) to form a memory of my dreams. In these dreams I often address an anxiety or multiple anxieties that rise to the surface as I paint them. these three things seem as important to each other, weaving in and out like some sort of flowing fabric. Seeing Dali talk about painting his dreams was inspiring, and I think I will look again at that painting/his work/surrealism in more detail.
I also watched some episodes from the series 'dark tourists' which is particularly intriguing because it links to the ideas of travel and people wanting that adrenaline rush, and brush with death. of course, the infamous mckamey manor is a prime example of this. with a very long waiting list, people go there to be tortured, humiliated, emotionally and physically, basically brushing with death. another destination the documentary covered was the crime through time museum of the picturesque town of littledean, where human's controversial/evils are displayed in a bizarre cabinet of curiosities fashion. seeing these 'dark tourist hotspots' really put into perspective what we crave for - it really is that 'attractive-repulsive' thing I'm exploring in my dissertation...everything seems to link togetther, travelling, being a tourist, enjoying the fake veneer of danger and death... why? this attraction-repulsion will always be something I wonder about, in my practice...