A DIY guide to improving your brain

Samantha Murphy, contributor

IT IS often said that psychology is both an art and a science. While the cognitive and behavioural practices have made great strides toward a more empirical approach to understanding the human mind, a gap remains. Sexy neuroscience studies with colourful pictures of activated brain regions have seduced psychologists and the public alike, but without a handy MRI scanner to become familiar with your own circuitry, they are not that useful for most of us.

The Emotional Life of Your Brain by pioneer neuroscientist and psychiatrist Richard J. Davidson and science writer Sharon Begley closes that gap. The authors take us on an investigative neuroscience adventure that ultimately leads to the creation of a new model for understanding emotions.

To find one's "Emotional Style", Davidson refers to six dimensions of emotion he identified in his 30 years of brain research: attention, resilience, outlook, self-awareness, social intuition and sensitivity to context. These reflect the way our brains process information.

Useful enough, but perhaps the most stimulating element of this book is the set of simple 10-question surveys he includes. These correspond with volumes of neuroscience studies that measure patterns of activation in brain regions associated with the different emotional dimensions.

The ultimate goal of finding these patterns in brain activity, says Davidson, is what he refers to as "neurally inspired behaviour therapy". With the discovery of neuroplasticity, Davidson illustrates how "the mind can change the brain" through the use of cognitive-behavioural interventions. He even goes on to suggest some exercises.

For example, if you scored as "unfocused" on the attention scale and you would like to be more attentive, he suggests spending 10 minutes a day focusing on one inanimate object, increasing this by 10 minutes each month until you reach an hour. This practice, he says, will change your brain until deeper attention becomes natural.

With a message of hope and empowerment and a surprising degree of clarity for one of humanity's most complex topics, this book may finally be the world's first introduction to the extremely scientific future of psychology.

Book Information
The Emotional Life of Your Brain
by Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley
Published by: Hudson Street Press
$25.95

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