The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Books  |  Dance  |  Museum And Gallery  |  Theater

Brain strain

Jonah Lehrer on neurological warfare and picking a cereal
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY  |  April 8, 2009

090410_ Lehrer_m
UNSTUCK BRAIN Jonah Lehrer. 


Those of us aching for a 300-page treatise about the crippling implications of the "build your own scramble" at Local 188 won't, at first glance, find a great deal of solace in Jonah Lehrer's second book, How We Decide. Like Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers, Lehrer examines our capacity for success and failure through the lens of figures in extraordinary circumstances: a quarterback in the clutch during the Super Bowl, a smokejumper trying to save his hide in a blazing wildfire, a world-famous opera singer who loses her confidence and can no longer sing. If this approach seems somewhat derivative and formulaic, Lehrer's grasp on emerging revelations 

JONAH LEHRER reads from How We Decide | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 302 pages | $25 | at RiverRun Bookstore, 20 Congress St, Portsmouth NH | April 15 @ 7 pm | Free | 603.431.2100

in neuroscience affords his book a great utility. Even if we'll never face an onrush of 300-pound linebackers, we still need to know when and whether to trust our first instincts — and when we shouldn't.

Lehrer, just 27, is becoming something of a wunderkind in the realm of popular science. A Rhodes Scholar, New Hampshire resident, and editor-at-large at Seed magazine, he's written for the New Yorker and numerous other publications since the release of his 2007 book, Proust Was a Neuroscientist (see "Senses Come Alive," by Christopher Gray, February 15, 2008). That book's thesis (many of history's great artists created prescient work explaining how our brains operated decades or centuries before science could) was compelling, if somewhat anecdotal (Proust was neither a neuroscientist nor an influence on the field). How We Decide has a similar structure to Proust — anecdote, neurological explanation of anecdote, how this new knowledge can inform and benefit our lives — but its intent is more practical, and Lehrer excels at prescribing ways to approach both everyday and exceptional dilemmas without seeming pedantic.

The warring factions in the brain's frontal lobe make it a wonder that we're ever able to make decisions at all. This is the rational area of our brain, unique to humans and (to an extent) primates, where our common sense and emotional urges duke it out. The neurons that transmit the chemical dopamine, supplying wisdom based on experience, have to cooperate with our powerful (and bustling) prefrontal cortex, which regulates our impulses and self-awareness, which is fielding concerns from our amygdala, which is naturally averse to loss, and so on.

Weaknesses or failures of any of these areas can be disastrous. Lehrer says scientists now suspect that schizophrenics suffer from hyperactive dopamine neurons, those with reduced activity in the amygdala cannot empathize with — or even perceive — emotions in others (it's a common trait of serial killers), and as for the prefrontal cortex: it's what's destroyed in a frontal lobotomy. Lehrer uses dramatic examples of these areas in extremes in order to shed light on our mind's activity in more quotidian circumstances. The gambling addict is responding inappropriately to the same rush of dopamine as the shopper compelled to buy a pair of jeans she doesn't need because they're 50 percent off. Despite all this competition and all of the mistakes we make, the brain is miraculously and rather mysteriously able to "supervise itself."

1  |  2  |   next >
Related: So you thought you were special, Photos: Michele McPhee hosts book signing party for A Date With Death, Sarah Braunstein's uncomfortable, beautiful hyperreality, More more >
  Topics: Books , Science and Technology, Media, Books,  More more >
| More
Add Comment
HTML Prohibited

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 08/13 ]   Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi  @ Tanglewood Music Center, Koussevitzky Music Shed
[ 08/13 ]   "Eric Larivee's Summer Cocktail"  @ Ryles
[ 08/13 ]   Infected Mushroom DJ Set  @ Rise
ARTICLES BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   FOUR-HOUR SHOWSTOPPERS AND MALCOLM MCDOWELL COME TO WATERVILLE  |  July 13, 2011
    Boasting a high-profile selection of archival prints and to-be-buzzed-about small films, the 14th Maine International Film Festival begins on Friday and runs through July 24 at locations in Waterville, primarily HQ Railroad Square Cinema. Herein, a guide to the festivities.
  •   MOD NIGHT AT EMPIRE DINE AND DANCE, JUNE 3  |  June 08, 2011
    Speaking from experience collaborating with him on the decks, the litmus test that best gauges the success of any Ian Paige DJ night is how well Booker T and the MGs' "Green Onions" goes over.
  •   REVIEW: MY HEART IS AN IDIOT  |  May 10, 2011
    Is My Heart is an Idiot an act of utter solipsism or utter self-effacement?
  •   ATOMIK AT BAYSIDE BOWL, MARCH 15  |  March 23, 2011
    Having a DJ (or, in this case, two) play your bowling night is a luxury, but damned if it doesn't seem like an obligatory one on occasion.
  •   ROBYN AT THE STATE THEATRE, JANUARY 29  |  February 16, 2011
    With each of her three 2010 Body Talk EPs armed with a single-of-the-year contender (in the just-slightly-ironic, pop-chart-averse blog-critic sense), it's been hard to ignore Swedish pop star Robyn's status as in indie icon these past 12 months.

 See all articles by: CHRISTOPHER GRAY

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed