Where Is God in the Brain?

Editor's Note: This is Part II of a three-part series on recent brain research. Part I, What Recent Brain Research Tells Us About Learning, appeared in the Fall 2001 issue. Part III, Memory and the Brain, appears in the Spring 2002 issue.

EMOTIONS AND THE BRAIN

In the late 1960s, at the Home for Retarded Children and Adults, there was a small boy named Joey who suffered from cerebral palsy. Joey's disorder made him visibly quite different from the average child, but his infectious smile always made working with him treasured time. While I was reading a story to him one day, he remarked, "Feelings are the most important things in the world, right?" He obviously posed the question for affirmation, but it was a startling revelation in its relationship to behaviorism. How one feels can truly drive each and every subsequent event in one's life, including learning. The success of learning should always begin with a careful examination of how the learner feels or any subsequent teaching effort can be a complete waste of time. Emotions direct what we elect to pay attention to and our attention subsequently helps to focus our learning. It is biologically impossible to learn something to which the brain has not paid any attention. And learners tend to focus on that which has a positive emotional connection for them.

Do emotions influence memory? They drive memory!

One's personal emotions and memory give meaning to life and define who we are. Nothing short of regional brain damage or debilitating maladies such as Alzheimer's disease will dislodge these emotion-arousing events from one's memory. This serves as testimony to the powers of two sub-cortical brain structures - the hippocampus and the amygdala - which are largely responsible for establishing permanent memories.

All decision-making is, to a substantial degree, a consequence of emotional deliberations made by the "second brain" in our stomachs, referred to as a "gut reaction." People frequently claim that a particular course of action "didn't quite feel right," prompting them down an alternative path. The Hawaiian expression for wisdom is "na'auao." One's stomach, or gut, is captured in the word "na'au," while "ao" is the word for light or dawn. They combine to refer to the point in time at which one sees the light through one's stomach and gains insight into important matters.

In order to understand emotions, it is important to know where they are processed inside the brain. In humans, the brain is customarily divided into the brain stem, the cerebellum, and the cerebral cortex. These are not at all separate structures. Instead, they are three interconnected anatomical components of the same brain with massive numbers of physiological linkages.

There is still a considerable degree of controversy surrounding precisely how the brain should be parceled, if it should be at all. Many of the structural formations inside the brain, especially the subcortical structures, are joined in ways that cause them to appear to be seamlessly fused together. One of those "parts" vital to any discussion of human learning is the limbic system. Its constituent parts, too, are the topics of considerable dispute and revision among contemporary neuroscientists.

The limbic (meaning "ring") system is virtually identical in all mammals. It sits above the brain stem, somewhat resembling a bagel with a finger (the brain stem) passing through it. This limbic "system" is not composed of a single brain structure. Instead, it comprises a large group of complex nuclei and oddly shaped smaller structures (with tongue-twisting names that seem designed to confuse rather than illuminate) surrounding the upper portion of the brain stem. Each of these structures has an immense number of critically important circuits linking them to one another and to the cerebral cortex. Their interconnections are intimately associated with our basic drives, body temperature control, hormone production, and emotions.

The offspring of animals blessed with a limbic system enjoy a number of very important benefits as a result of this unique cluster of subcortical formations, some of which offer life-saving advantages. Mammals with limbic systems typically engage in a long-term investment with their young and remain close to them until the members of their litter can manage the task of survivability on their own. These caring parents will nurse and protect their young with total dedication even in life-threatening situations. On the other hand, reptilian mothers, without a limbic system, experience no grief at the loss of any of their offspring, and, due to their cannibalistic inclinations, will often pose one of the first threats to the lives of their offspring.

However, a similar state of emotional detachment from one's young can be surgically produced in mammals that have been subjected to a limbectomy. Not only will these limbic-less mothers display complete emotional disengagement from the needs of their progeny, but their ability to continue recognizing the existence of other members in their pack will also be impaired. On the other hand, damage to the cerebral cortex will not lead to the slightest decline in one's maternal instincts. However, damage to any of the structures making up the limbic system or the removal of those structures will produce immediate behavioral changes that show a disturbing lack of interconnectedness with others, including those to whom a mother had earlier given the precious gift of life.

There are two neuroanatomical structures inside the limbic system - the hippocampus and the amygdala - central to the our learning process. The hippocampus, an older part of the brain that is also found in birds, lizards, rodents, and other primates, is the brain's main entry point for memory and plays a key role in learning. Researchers at the University of Illinois have recently shown through experiments with other mammals that exercise can increase the size and improve the functioning of the hippocampus. It is here that the initial encoding of memory elements gets processed and stored for later recall. The hippocampus has genetically controlled specifications for exactly where in the brain each important element of a memory will be stored. This seahorse-shaped structure is involved in the recognition of novelty and in processing spatial relations, such as the route to school and home, to one's favorite store, to one's office (along with stored information on specifically where objects are located within that office), and to one's seat in the classroom.

The hippocampus plays such a crucial role in memory processing that hippocampal damage can render an individual incapable of forming and storing new memories or retrieving previously learned information. This problem with memory loss is a staple of soap operas and dramas - people suffering from various forms of amnesia. While the hippocampus can recover from 5-10 percent damage, impairment beyond this level often renders this neuroanatomical component completely ineffective.

The amygdala is considered the brain's primary emotional center, although it is more like an emotional thermostat. It communicates with all other sensory input systems and with the cerebral cortex through its extensive neural communications tracts. Recall, retention, and long-term memory are all enhanced by the almost hair-trigger firing of the amygdala, which operates many times faster in its reaction time than the more deliberate cerebral cortex. Emotions assist in deciding what students pay attention to, which obviously impacts what they will ultimately remember. It performs a key role in processing every emotional event. Even when stimuli first enter the eyes and get sent to the occipital lobes for visual processing, circuits to the amygdala also check the same visual stimuli for relevant emotional meaning.

Should the amygdala be removed surgically or sustain damage, an individual would process events devoid of emotional input. Eliminating feelings, such as fear, from one's response arsenal puts all environmental transactions on a perilous course, risking one's very survival. Connections between the amygdala and the cortex allow emotions to influence, or sometimes even prevent, nearly all learning, as well as long-term memories.

The latest findings in neuroscience leave little doubt that the human brain grows and feeds on consistent, healthy stimulation. Unfortunately, it is also shaped by the negative events that one encounters. When the brain is properly nourished, and is allowed to develop in a positive, reassuring, and encouraging atmosphere, the brain reacts favorably to that rich and invigorating environment. Under these conditions, the probability of maximizing the brain's truly remarkable potential increases dramatically. When the opposite conditions prevail (whether early in life, later in life, or just periodically), there is a frightful price to pay.

EMOTIONAL STRESS AND FEAR

Cortisol, a stress hormone, activates important brain and body defenses to stress. Even low levels of prolonged stress in a classroom can lead to difficulties with short-term memory, preventing schools from effectively carrying out their important mission. Emotions are a vital ingredient in attention, motivation, and short-term and long-term memory. Anger, hate, suspicion, love, and other emotions provide us with valuable evolutionary benefits. However, negative emotions will reduce the learner's ability to pay attention, concentrate, learn, or remember. They result in an "emotional hijacking" of the cerebral cortex sponsored by a hyperactive amygdala caught up in its "fight or flight" response. Chronic stress and unremitting fear from living in a nerve-racking, hostile, and threatening environment can also lead to the physical destruction of neurons in the hippocampus.

In cases of long-term fear and stress, high levels of stress chemicals, or glucocorticoid, change one's neurochemistry and can lead to brain atrophy. Learners who are unable to break from the incapacitating emotional cycles of fear and perceived threats (from bullies at school to messy divorce at home) will often experience severe learning difficulties. Bruce Perry, of the Baylor College of Medicine, said, "Children who are aroused by fear can't take in cognitive information. They are too busy watching the teacher (and others) for threatening gestures, and not listening attentively" to what he or she is saying. Such behavior makes sense, given the constant threats in the child's world, but they take on all of the characteristics of ADD and ADHD due to a child's high level of anxiety and impulsivity. His or her brain has become exquisitely tuned to respond to the emotional and physical cues of others. At the same time, he or she may be failing to develop problem-solving and language skills. In such children, Perry found that the cerebral cortex was roughly 20 percent smaller than in other children of comparable size, education, and age.

Not only will the growth of a child's brain be reduced, but the critical operations of his or her immune system, the body's highly effective internal pharmacy, also shuts down. In addition to long-term stress arresting cortical development, neuroscientists Elizabeth Gould at the University of Princeton and Bruce McEwen at Rockefeller University have revealed how stress and trauma can impact the normal formation of neurons, which are the essential "network communicators" in all cerebral transactions.

A diminished cortex is a predictable expectation, but a diminished view of one's life is an unexpected casualty of living under the strains of fear and stress. The schoolchildren in some of urban America's toughest neighborhoods, where seeing a dead body on the way to school can be a common occurrence, were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. Sadly, many of them began their responses with the phrase, "If I grow up…" rather than the customary, "When I grow up…" as a subtle indication of their dismal worldview that develops as a by-product of living under such overwhelmingly stressful conditions. Threats of a poor grade at the end of the semester have no bearing on a child who considers tomorrow a dicey proposition.

Under such stress, individuals begin to suffer from "chemical imbalances," abnormal levels of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) circulating in the cerebral cortex and used to communicate messages between the 100 billion neurons. Not only are there chemical changes under these conditions, but the brain can also undergo changes in its structure. Paranoid schizophrenia is one of the extreme cases of the destructive consequences, when these stress factors are not turned off periodically. In his best-selling book, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, endocrinologist Robert Sapolsky maintains that the body and brain's reactions to stress were designed to cope with intermittent tension and to escape from the occasional terrifying situation. They were never intended to be embraced as an acceptable lifestyle.

HUMAN CONNECTIONS AND
THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN

Tourists planning a trip to Spain are interested in "experiencing Spain," not just reading about it. If that were not so, purchasing the brochure on Spain would satisfy the interests and sensory curiosities of most tourists. However, it is the sights, the sounds, the food, etc., that we wish to experience in our travels, and those can only come by way of a first-hand excursion to Spain. What's true for tourists is true for students. Most human beings find learning easiest when a learning experience begins with a hands-on, minds-on activity coupled with whole-body integrative movements.

While mobility separates plants from animals, our inherent need to communicate with others in various, elaborate, and complex ways serves as still another significant characteristic that puts human beings in a category of their own. Combining mobility with hands-on learning in a cooperative learning setting, where learners communicate their ideas with one another, appears to be the best academic recipe for yielding the greatest learning.

For decades, we were taught in anthropology and social psychology courses that competition was an inescapable attribute of man's nature. However, we are now discovering that the essential "Exhibit A," the piece of evidence most frequently carted out to support this notion, has some gaping theoretical holes in it.

The evolutionary history of our species has endowed human beings with a need to cooperate, rather than with a mandatory compulsion to compete. When conditions drove early humans towards conflict and competition, the circumstances were typically traced back to a scarcity of resources (contesting the perceived supply of food, water, and possible mates). When early humans inventoried their local resources, the next action they took was not entirely dictated by any single aspect of their biological make-up. Their observations instead were factored into the decision-making process as they entertained a list of viable choices, making these ancestors no different than human beings today.

Many of the early humanoid skulls unearthed and analyzed by paleoanthropologists were found to have breaks and cracks in them. To some, the fractures indicated that their owners had died a violent death at the hands of another human aggressor. The driving force was assumed to be violence. The conclusion drawn was that of an attack ending with a lethal blow crushing the cranium. However, borrowing some of the new sophisticated tools from modern forensic pathology, it was discovered that the vast majority of the human skulls found were broken in precisely the same areas and more often than not damaged to the same degree, and in the same ways. How did this happen?

Those areas, as it turns out, happened to be the natural stress points (the weaker conjoining areas) of the human cranium; they were almost invariably the areas that cracked first during some early point of the long fossilization process. For early man, as it also turns out, survival hinged far more on cooperation than it did on conflict and competition. Survival, teamwork, and collaboration were intimately united.

In short, we need each other. For centuries, the most dreaded forms of human punishment have been solitary confinement or being forced into exile. In the absence of external stimulation, the human brain will often create its own, which manifests itself in the form of hallucinations. Extended periods of isolation can lead to mild or severe cases of mental illness. We literally get sick from working and being alone. One of the universal human fears beginning in infancy is permanent separation from the opportunities to touch, love, communicate with, and collaborate with others who contribute to our happiness, success, and survival. It is clear that when students work in collaborative groups, they, as a rule, can achieve far more (and enjoy doing so) than they could have accomplished working alone.

As with other sensitive periods during brain development, there is a window of opportunity during which emotional growth must occur lest we compromise emotional development. Many of the infants found in the East European orphanages in the early 1990s had received little or no human contact over the short course of their young lives. Although many of these children (largely from Romania and Bosnia) were placed in good American homes with loving parents, they still had difficulty forming emotional attachments and those that were established were not at all strong bonds. They made no measurable effort to sustain the relationships that were forged. Sadly, as these children grew up, they did not find their new relationships exciting or rewarding, and they showed a disturbing lack of empathy for others. Brain-imaging techniques confirmed the low levels of activity in the amygdala and anterior cingulate gyrus of these children, a region of the brain that processes empathetic feelings for others. Even with proper nutrition and care, these children were often severely behind in their physical and emotional development.

In neuroanatomist Marian Diamond's experiments at UC Berkeley, one indispensable feature in her "enriched environment" for rats (young and old) was the inclusion of playmates. The "impoverished" rats (those given neither toys nor contact with others) did not develop socially and were later unable to rear healthy pups to full maturity. Most startling, was the discovery that their brains did not experience the same level of cortical thickness (8 percent less) as those rats reared with several active energetic playmates. The interacting rats showed not only increased cortical growth, but also an increase in dendritic density, the vitally important connections among the brain's one trillion cells. Most significantly, these neurophysiological changes were of the kind that contribute to integrating brain structure with all learning and memory.

In short, there is an unambiguous connection between cooperative learning, emotional development, and the fortuitous evolution of humankind. The facts speak volumes to the need for modifying our classroom arrangements to include more in-class student interactions. Higher levels of learning are the subsidiary benefit of increases made in the carefully orchestrated human contacts planned within instructional settings. "Service learning" outside of the classroom offers students additional venues to put the principles of their learning to their most rewarding personal advantage by taking content-area concepts from the classroom and applying them to real-world, hands-on experiences that improve the lives of other human beings, as well as their own.

WHERE IS GOD IN THE BRAIN?

There is ample evidence that individuals who follow the tenets of their religion faithfully live longer lives, stay married longer, contract fewer diseases, and enjoy a host of other characteristics that are indicative of a happy, peaceful, and stable life. Their favorable statistics can also be attributed to the lifestyle that believers practice. Those who attend religious services regularly also smoke considerably less than the general public. They drink less alcohol, shun recreational drugs, report less stressful lives, and engage in far fewer risk-taking behaviors than non-believers. Believers who worship on a consistent basis and who are active in their church, synagogue or mosque also enjoy a secondary emotional support system with other churchgoers that their non-attending counterparts often do not find readily available. Beyond the impressive health and family data for those who believe in God, there appears to be a special place in the brain where God is experienced.

Just as we can identify the regions of the brain responsible for processing music or language with brain-imaging tools and techniques, there are areas of the brain that "light up" (during PET scans), showing specific activation patterns, during a host of experiences from meditation to hallucination to higher levels of consciousness. The fact that this can be witnessed in nearly all cultural settings suggests that religion may be hard-wired into the human brain.

Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and behaviorist B.F. Skinner described religion in the context of expectations, predictions, and intra-psychic dynamics. University of Pennsylvania psychiatry professor Eugene d'Aquili suggested that the anterior convexity of the frontal lobe, the inferior parietal lobe, and their elaborate connections give us a sense of God in the absence of the customary sensory data that we normally require for other events in life.

Over the years, there have been cases of certain types of epilepsy that have promoted higher states of religiosity. Twenty-five percent of the individuals who have fallen victim to right temporal lobe damage report "seeing God's face" and "hearing God's voice." Disease or damage to the same region brought forth religious visions, feelings of ecstasy, and related phenomena. Prominent religious figures such as Joan of Arc were reported to have shown several of the classic symptoms of someone suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) complete with revelations, insights, and visions accompanied by seizures (many of the ingredients for the archetypal epiphany).

One of the brain's unique features is that it can alter perception through a wide variety of unusual means, changing our view of reality. When we are alert and awake, neuronal circuits in the upper regions of brain stem produce and discharge important neurotransmitters. These are molecules or "chemical messages" traveling from one neuron to another. Neurotransmitters can modify or even shape our behavior. When and where they act on the brain will determine whether we are happy, violent, in love, or demonstrate any other state of being. When neurons in this area and the region just above it in the medulla are bathed with the essential neurotransmitters, we are alert.

While the frontal lobes assist us with decision-making and planning behavior, the thalamus is the gateway for all sensory information relaying all sensory input from the body. The thalamus provides us with the perceptions of touch, pressure, and pain in addition to arousal, emotions, and awareness. The level of seratonin, like psychoactive drugs, can aid or hamper the frontal lobes in their decision-making processes. Once processed and analyzed by the thalamus, which serves a valve-like function, information is sent to the various regions of the cerebral cortex for final processing.

Because the brain is basically a small neurochemistry factory, rendering our behavior a function of its interior chemical balances, it must protect its own chemical integrity by carefully monitoring the levels of substance exposure. That safeguard comes by way of a blood-brain barrier, where entry is restricted to the familiar chemicals for which the brain has initiated or orchestrated the production. However, if a foreign chemical has a molecular structure similar to one of the brain's neurotransmitters, it will often enter the brain undetected, which can wreak behavioral havoc. The incoming information overflow causes hallucinations and other distortions in the sensory perception and processing systems.

When individuals meditate, chant, recite mantras, or sing religious songs for extended periods of time they can experience profound feelings of euphoria. Sensory deprivation and exhaustion can also change the levels of seratonin in ways that affect the thalamus, resulting in situations in which the brain creates some of its own stimulation (auditory and/or visual hallucinations) or where it assigns gross misattributions to incoming information. While some consider hallucinations, out-of-body feelings, and supernatural experiences to be indicators of higher states of consciousness, they again are cases where the thalamus has often lost its ability to control the flow of information coming in from the over-stimulated sensory systems. Some individuals who regularly have these experiences are also subjects who are also found to have highly sensitive temporal lobes.

The Bible records Jesus Christ as saying, "As a man thinketh, so is he." His words are quite telling, recognizing that this is precisely how the brain-body reacts, based on how one thinks, behaves, and lives. In hospitals, we regularly had patients who prepared to die, while others spent their time focusing on what they planned to do upon their release. Guess which group had the greater percentage of post-operative survivors regardless of the operation? We know that positive thinking in a healthy body yields the most gratifying results in any human life. Regardless of when or where people are surveyed, those who believe in God, time after time, report the very best outlook for themselves, other people, and the world.

Kenneth A. Wesson is an educational consultant living in San Jose, California. He speaks throughout the world on the neuroscience of learning and methods for creating classrooms and learning environments that are "brain-compatible." Wesson will be delivering keynote addresses at the 2002 annual conferences for NESA, EARCOS, and the American Schools of Central America and the Caribbean.