A User's Guide to the Brain
by John Ratey

Grovobookoreedallnightologists:

Here's my latest book review.

Book title: "A User's Guide to the Brain"
Author: John Ratey

Selected portions reviewed:

Part #1: Biology-centered Analysis

Part #2: A Moral Approach

Part #3: Hind/mid/neomammalian Brain

Part #4: The Sense of Touch

Part #5: Speech is Connected to the Movement Regions of the Brain

Part #6: Visual Cortex

Part #7: Reward System of the Brain

Part #8: Multiple Brain Attention Exercise

Part #9: Rating


 
Part #1: Biology-centered Analysis

I found the introduction of this book fascinating. I particularly relate to the HAPPINESS-CENTERED analysis of the brain. The author seems to target happiness as a goal and he posits a means of achieving the happiness. He proposes we "focus on analyzing how we see the world rather than focus on how we feel". He calls the latter approach an "effect" centered analysis while the former is a cause centered analysis which produces wide ranging benefits "on the spot".

The author compares his biological brain-oriented analysis of unhappiness to pathology-oriented psychoanalytic procedures.
The author cites the value of ethics and consideration for patients instead of the cold scientific character flaw approach found sometimes in psychoanalytic procedures.

In the introduction the author states:

"The transition from trauma to biology has unfortunately failed to wean clinicians from affect-centered diagnosis. If you are unhappy and decide to seek help, the main thrust of the diagnostic process begins with an inquiry into how you feel. From this initial information, diagnosis and treatment proceed, as a rule, by either sifting through your psyche for sources of guilt, anger, or unfulfilled longing, or by attempting to modify the affective symptoms pharmacologically, or both. The entire approach here is, in my opinion, quite misguided.
Many brain disorders, particularly those that produce deficits in perception and cognition, can turn the lives of patients into abject misery. Historically, virtually all mental disorders were associated with character flaws. While clinicians, thank goodness, no longer frame psychopathology in such cruel terms, in the popular mind there is still enough residual confusion about the psyche to make it all too easy for us to feel ashamed of our physiological shortcomings. If your hearing is crippled by an undiagnosed auditory problem, the natural conclusion is that you are either stupid, indifferent, of both. When such patients seek help, they are indeed in search of a cure for their unhappiness, but to begin with the unhappiness itself can lead nowhere. The world today is filled with dyslexic or otherwise learning-impaired people who wonder why years of antidepressants and analysis have failed to improve their lives.

An alternative is for the clinician to begin therapy by looking for how the patient experiences the world, asking not 'How do you feel?' but 'How do you know the world?' If a clinician first attempts to determine the functioning of the apparatus by which a person experiences life, he or she is, in a sense, beginning at the beginning. A problem with perception may cause a cognitive deficit, which may then lead to social impairments, loss of self-esteem, and a failed life. By identifying where in the brain problems arise, the therapist may devise a treatment plan that targets the true source of the patient's unhappiness. Once a source of guilt and self-blame is recognized as a developmental deficit, the shame is lifted away, often curing the patient of many affective troubles on the spot."


 
Part #2: A Moral Approach

So JA colleagues: what you may ask, what does this have to do with drumming?
Well lots: When we develop our brains and "Learn by doing" (John Dewey 1859-1952) we can de-emphasize the shame-based approach that many students of drumming tend to adopt. (See John Bradshaw on shame)

Instead we can emphasize drumming wisdom and practice practice practice and see results.

If we advance with an attitude of justice towards ourselves we are far more likely to excel than if we simply berate ourselves based on shame.

The author, John Ratey, gives a good example of the folly of "berating" ourselves. He says:

"To begin, the least we can do is learn what is now known about how our brains do what they do. Contrary to popular belief, this is a moral as well as a scientific pursuit, for self-knowledge makes it all the more our responsibility to live lives that maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses. There is no blame involved. Reformed alcoholics don't berate themselves for not being able to hang out in bars with their drinking friends; they know themselves too well for that. Likewise, blaming yourself for the physiological shortcomings of your brain, whatever they may be, is misdirected energy, energy better spent in changing your habits and lifestyle to live the most productive life you can."

 
Part #3: Hind/mid/neomammalian Brain

Ratey spends a good deal of time on the nuts and bolts functioning of the brain. Here's something he talks about in the introduction that I find useful in making my practice time effective and making my improvisation feel free.

Ratey teaches us about the "reptilian brain". Our reptilian brain (sometimes called the hind brain) regulates primitive functions such as breathing, heart beat, autonomic functions, sleep and waking, temperature regulation.

I maintain that repetitive drumming practice activates our white muscle fibers to be "controlled" by our reptilian brain. I believe that we are using our reptilian brains when we utilize the flutter technique or repeated fourth gear technique.

Why is this useful in drumming technique? When we "program" our reptilian brains to operate certain drumming functions, it frees up our "thinking brain" (neocortex) for creative decisions and up-to-the-minute drumming wisdom: especially improvisation.

Ratey continues by describing the paleomammalian brain: includes limbic coordination memory emotions.

Why is this useful to drummers?:
Coordination is one of the mainstays of drumming. Ratey shows how the cerebellum and the motor cortex are parts of the paleomammalian brain which are useful not only for creating motion, but THINKING IN A MOTION-ORIENTED FASHION.

This thinking in a motion-oriented fashion is what I refer to as using the "body brain".
-Also emotion is another mainstay of effective drumming. Emotional centers are according to Ratey located in the Paleomammalian brain.

Then the author finally goes on to cite the neomammalian brain. The neomammalian brain refers to the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain is responsible for fine tuning of lower functions and abstract thinking, association, planning and making decisions based on novel phenomena.

What does this have to do with drumming?
This neomammalian brain would therefore be useful for improvisation! :-)

My advice: Use repetitious practicing to "program" your reptilian (hind) and paleomammalian (mid) brains to take care of basic motor and emotional functions so you can pay attention to the changing considerations of up to the moment drumming wisdom.


 
Part #4: The Sense of Touch

One interesting thing Ratey talks about is the importance of the sense of touch: Touch is vitally important. Ratey says:

"Studies of premature babies also show that touch can speed their growth and development. In order to survive, they must often be put into incubators. While necessary, this isolates newborns from human touch. PET scans of touch-deprived infants show that critical sections of their brains are barely active, stalling entire areas of development.
Researchers at TRI are investigating how to counter this risky isolation. A famous study by Tiffany Field at TRI showed that premature human babies who were massaged for 15 minutes, three times a day for ten days gained forty seven percent more weight than similar "preemies" who were given the same diet but were not massaged. (One reason the massage helped was that it stimulated the vagus nerve, which initiates the release of food absorption hormones such as insulin and glucagen.) Episodes of apneak, a brief cessation of breathing common in premature babies, were also greatly reduced in caressed babies. There were economic benefits, too; the massaged babies were fit to be discharged from the hospital a week earlier than other preemies, reducing hospitalization costs dramatically.

What does this have to do with drumming:

Take a guess: what do you think?
I think touch is a vitally important aspect of playing any instrument- including drums. Sensitive touch makes the music come alive with artistic and emotional stimulation.

 
Part #5: Speech is Connected to the Movement Regions of the Brain

Here's another part of chapter one I found interesting:

"Paula Tallal at Rutgers University found that fast processing of speech takes place in Broca's area of the left hemisphere, rather than in Wernicke's area behind the ear, which is typically assumed to be the auditory region of the brain. Since Broca's area is usually thought of as the controller of the motor cortex (controlling the tongue and voice box), and not the receptor area, these results suggest that speech has a great deal to do with the movement regions of the brain.

So what? If you are a drummer this information could be used to improve your ability to count and talk to yourself and others or to sing while not losing your ability to simultaneously keep a beat. :-)

Rather than using your "thinking brain" when you count, I recommend you use repetition to train your kinetic body brain to move in the appropriate patterns without obligating yourself to think about each word. This is what a foreigner does when she/he sings English lyrics but without understanding a word of English. :-)

It is USEFUL because again it frees the "thinking brain" to concentrate on "what's important NOW."

 
Part #6: Visual Cortex

Here's another concept I find totally in harmony with my multiple brain concept. Ratey says:

"Experiments involving a phenomenon known as "blindsight" support the theory that the tectopulvinar pathway plays a crucial role in visual processing. Patients in these studies had suffered damage to the primary visual cortex as well as to regions of the geniculostriate pathway, resulting in blindness in one half of their visual field. Interestingly, when they were shown a pattern in their blind field, their eyes shifted toward the image despite not being able to see the pattern itself. This means that the tectopulvinar pathway was able to shift the patients' attentional gaze to novel stimuli despite damage to the geniculostriate pathway. They weren't able to see yet they saw. They were not conscious of what they saw.

What does that have to do with you and me? The answer is: attentional specificity. Imagine looking for a pen on a cluttered desk. Your eyes are being bombarded with visual information- piles of paper disks, books. Still, you find the pen amid this visual clutter because your tectopulvinar pathway ignores everything except for what it craves: the features of a pen that are novel compared with the features of paper, disks, or books, such as its cylindrical shape, point, and color. Once the tectopulvinar pathway senses the novel object, the geniculostriate pathway allows us to actually see it."

So think about it: This relates nicely to my "multiple brain posture" drummers: you can allow your peripheral vision to see the movement of your limbs thereby freeing your ("thinking") brain to address the up to the moment drumming decisions. :-)

Ratey talks of a parvo system (slow operating system...perceives for example the color of a car ) and magno (fast operating system which perceives for example the speed of the car). These systems are located in the alteral geniculate body in the thalamus of the brain.

You can use your eye brain to perceive your limbs using the magno system without ever needing to engage the parvo system. This frees up the "thinking brain" and awakens the "eye" brain.

 
Part #7: Reward System of the Brain

Ratey explains also a bit about the "reward system" of the brain. He writes:

"The nucleus accumbens is a central player in the reward system. This small cluster of cells is located in the forebrain and is well connected to the amygdala and other parts of the limbic system. It has long been identified as the principal pleasure center of the brain. It contains one of the highest stores of dopamine in the entire brain, and is sensitive to other pleasure neurotransmitters such as serotonin and endorphins. These chemicals are key factors in feeling satisfied and rewarded and therefore in providing motivation."

Ratey explains that monkeys with lesions in this region are unable to sustain attention. They are impulsive, lacking in inhibitions and hooked on immediate gratification. They don't practice things. Ratey says recreational drug use disrupts the nucleus accumbens.

Drummers: When you practice, please pay attention to detail so you can enjoy the session. Once you get started your body produces endorphins making you feel good activating your "reward system" of the brain.

"The primary emotional signal the anterior cingulate gyrus receives comes from the amygdala, at the core of the limbic system, which influences attention by assigning emotional significance to incoming information. Even before a sensory perception has reached the frontal lobes, where it enters conscious awareness and undergoes fine categorization, the amygdala has already branded it with a raw emotional valence somewhere."

So drummers: that is the process by which you can pay attention with various brains eye, ear, nose, mouth, body, thinking, subconscious, emotional, and universal brains.

 
Part #8: Multiple Brain Attention Exercise

Play your favorite ostinato groove...

Keep playing but pay attention to the 9 different brains one at a time.

1. First look straight ahead, but see the four limbs one at a time using your peripheral vision. (magno system)
   
   
2. Keep looking ahead and pay attention to your ear brain.
   
   
3. Keep the same posture but pay attention to your nose brain...
   
   
4. Then your mouth brain ( try to recite your name and phone number without losing the beat) :-)
   
   
5. Then use your "body brain" to pay deeeep attention to how your limbs feel. Please remember how important "touch" is. :-)
   
   
6. Then use your thinking brain to be free to pursue excellence based on what's important in the present moment.
   
   
7. Then use your subconscious brain to intuitively bring out the artistry and "magic" of your drumming.
   
   
8. Then use the emotional brain! Think positively. Enjoy the rewards of the active struggle of practicing.
   
   
9. Now use the universal brain. Try to perceive yourself as "one" with other musicians in your life and with the audience and the universe.
   
   And with that please think about one thought or LESS!