Effective mind control is possible, because focused attention instantly stills emotions. Attention is a pattern recognition phenomenon of the mind. How do you become aware of the pressure of your shoe on your toe? What happens in the nervous system when you pay attention?
For science, these have been “ghostly” functions of the mind, where nerve cells act with enigmatic intelligence. But this article suggests that the focus of attention is a routine pattern recognition activity.
The prefrontal regions dispatch signals to the focused regions, increasing neuronal activity in those regions. Increased neural firing is perceived by the prefrontal intelligence, making it "aware" of the activity. Combinatorial coding, acknowledged by science with a Nobel Prize, enables the mind to focus such attention.
Stress Relief Through Attention
What Is Combinatorial Coding?
The Nobel Prize was awarded in 2004 for the concept that the olfactory system recognizes combinations. This article suggests that, it is not the olfactory network alone, but all nerve cells, which recognize combinations. On recognition, they fire or become inhibited. The coding enables nerve cells to recognize patterns; for visual signals to coordinate with sound signals; for emotional signals to trigger motor responses. On this basis, the human mind becomes a powerful pattern recognition entity, with its unique ability to focus attention.
Stress Relief Through Attention
How Does A Gentle Touch Relieve Pain?
Combinatorial coding powers the variations in human response to pain. Pain sensory neurons report pain to the cortex. When such a neuron fires, you feel a prick of pain on the skin. Let us assume that a reporting pain sensory neuron has three inputs - P, SP and T. P reports actual pain caused by damage to skin cells. SP reports pain signals from neighboring pain reporting cells. T reports touch signals from surrounding cells. Consider the possible interpretations of pain sent by the reporting system to the mind:
Based on its evaluation of its combinatorial inputs, the pain reporting neuron can report pain. With the sympathetic pain message, the effect of injury can be exaggerated. The sympathetic pain message can be suppressed to report touch. A gentle touch could relieve pain. So also, focused attention can relieve the “hurt” effect of pain. Combinatorial codes can enable neurons to make sophisticated interpretations of the world.
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Does Attention Increase Neural Activity?
Maunsell
studied neural signals in the visual area of the cortex of monkeys,
when viewing a swarm of dots on a screen. In this cortical region,
specific neurons fired for specific dots. When the animal focused on
just one of the dots, the directed attention caused the neurons that
signaled its motion to respond more strongly. At the same time,
neural signals related to other dots were attenuated or filtered out.
The effect of attention was to highlight a message, through increased
neural activity in the observed area, while inhibiting activity in
the immediate surroundings.
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How Does The Mind Focus Its Attention?
How
can mere thoughts cause increased neural firing in a focused area?
How can paying attention make you feel your toes? When pressure is
applied on the skin, touch sensory receptors in the skin fire
impulses, reporting touch to the cortex. The reporting neuron will
normally be inhibited (barely, ticking over), to prevent an overload
of sensory data to the cortex. When you focus your on a subject, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been noted to become
active. Such activity has been observed in the ACC, when a subject
solves recognition conflicts in the “Stroop Task.” In this task,
a subject is required to name the color of the ink for the word
“RED,” written in blue. Here color recognition conflicts with
word recognition. ACC is believed to evaluate and settle such
conflicts.
This region and the working memory are believed to assist
in the process of attention. ACC works to inhibit irrelevant
messages, while the working memory keeps the relevant message in
recirculating loops. When your mind focuses on your toe, ACC inhibits
unrelated neural inputs and the working memory emphasizes the focused
image. Combinatorial recognition by
the reporting neuron enables the awareness of the
pressure of the shoe on your toe. This ability to focus the attention
of the mind is your primary tool for effective mind control.
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What Is The Most Critical Input For Learning Anything?
When
you focus your attention on any task, the basal ganglia, a brain
organ, learns the process, converting it into your inbuilt knowledge.
The organ is believed to “automate thinking and acting, turning
focally conscious activities into quick, reliable, unthinking habit.”
Ann Graybiel recorded neural activity in the basal ganglia of a
monkey, while it learned to associate the sound of a click with the
availability of a sip of juice. With the start of activity in the
throughput lines of the region, “spidery arms that eavesdropped”
on the flow fired in rhythm, and learned the activity. Later, the
region mirrored the firing rhythms, converting it into knowledge of
the system.
In
their research using PET scans on subjects playing video games,
scientists discovered that cortical activity increases significantly
when you first begin to learn a skill. Such activity decreases when
you master the pursuit. Attention increases cortical activity,
converting the activity into the knowledge of your mind.
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How Can You Enable Your PFR To Take Charge?
You can take charge of your mind by focusing attention. Your prefrontal regions (PFR) is your highest level intelligence. A historic assembly of other
intelligences, including the reptilian brain, the olfactory system
and the amygdala compete with your PFR for the control of your mind.
Massive inherited codes operate an intuitive
decision making process,
which constantly switches controls between the intelligences.
Normally, you will lose control to any lower level intelligence,
which is agitated. Even a ringing phone will take immediate control
of your system.
Your
inherited codes have a deep wisdom. For a normal person, neither PFR,
or any of the animal intelligences will be permitted to take
inappropriate, unsafe, or impractical steps. The system will also not
undertake any activity, which it does not consider worthwhile. Other
than such hereditary rules, emotional agitation will also prevent PFR from taking charge. This website suggests Mind
Control Tips for
you to achieve a calm frame of mind, when self
awareness can
take charge of attention and begin to control your mind.
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How Can Your PFR Retain Control?
Whenever
you ask a question to your mind, PFR takes charge. The ideal questions
are “What am I thinking?” and “What do I feel?” These
questions make you self aware. Your mind will respond to these
questions. You will know. That knowledge has the power to inhibit
troubling signals sent by lower level intelligences. Normally, raw
emotions exist only for 300-400 milliseconds, before the system
converts them into drives. In half a second, you will become angry.
But, attention changes the game. When you pay attention to your
thoughts as they occur, they become familiar. When you pay attention
to your feelings, PFR learns to recognize them even as they arise.
Recognition can still the negative streams of thought.
The
secret is to focus your span of attention to that half second hijack
of your mind. With practice, PFR will become familiar with the signs
of the onset of an emotion.
Recognition stills the emotional take over. Gradually, with
familiarity, your PFR level of consciousness will take calm and
composed charge, overcoming the troubling interruptions of animal
intelligences. Across centuries, sages have advised the sensible
management of attention as the golden key to a good life.