You think that's you? No, that's something else entirely.

[jackshoegazer]

Watching The Brain Switch Off 'Self'

Everybody has experienced a sense of "losing oneself" in an activity--whether a movie, sport, sex, or meditation. Now, researchers have caught the brain in the act of losing "self" as it shuts down introspection during a demanding sensory task.

The researchers--led by Rafael Malach and Ilan Goldberg of the Weizmann Institute of Science reporting in the April 20, 2006, issue of Neuron--say their findings show that self-related function actually shuts down during such intense sensory tasks. Thus, an "observer" function in the brain does not appear to play an active part of in the production of our vivid sensory experiences. These findings go against common models of sensory experience that assume that there is some kind of "homunculus", or observer function in the brain that "looks at" sensory brain areas. Thus the finding, they said, has significance for understanding the basic nature of consciousness and perception.

So, who are you when you're not you, when you're not on?

(x-post  thelunarsociety)

Comments

[choogy.livejournal.com]

i just just just sat through a lecture a week or two ago on this very subject but in regards to poetics. [school talk forthcoming, sorry!!] there is huge backlash on this kind of "absorption" that avant garde art (like L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry) constantly fights against. i think that's funny because to me, the mark of something being "good" is that i completely lose myself in it, no questions asked. (you could argue the mark of something being "good" is that it makes you think- and that is what i mean by anti-absorption] but there is a huge amount of perception that takes place on a subcon level, especially sensory (since it's "basic" functioning)- i mean shit, we all know that. it's nice that biopsych is finally catching up to art though, huh? haha

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

I think it's like arguing thoughts over emotions in a way. It's like the two kinds are meant for different perceptive faculties. Which of course for me, the ever-balance-seeker, prefer a melding of both.