scholarly journals Limitless? Imaginaries of cognitive enhancement and the labouring body

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 37-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian P. Bloomfield ◽  
Karen Dale
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Enhancement ◽  
The Body ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Productive Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Marketing Material ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement

This article seeks to situate pharmacological cognitive enhancement as part of a broader relationship between cultural understandings of the body-brain and the political economy. It is the body of the worker that forms the intersection of this relationship and through which it comes to be enacted and experienced. In this article, we investigate the imaginaries that both inform and are reproduced by representations of pharmacological cognitive enhancement, drawing on cultural sources such as newspaper articles and films, policy documents, and pharmaceutical marketing material to illustrate our argument. Through analysis of these diverse cultural sources, we argue that the use of pharmaceuticals has come to be seen not only as a way to manage our brains, but through this as a means to manage our productive selves, and thereby to better manage the economy. We develop three analytical themes. First, we consider the cultural representations of the brain in connection with the idea of plasticity – captured most graphically in images of morphing – and the representation of enhancement as a desirable, inevitable, and almost painless process in which the mind-brain realizes its full potential and asserts its will over matter. Following this, we explore the social value accorded to productive employment and the contemporary (biopolitical) ethos of working on or managing oneself, particularly in respect of improving one’s productive performance through cognitive enhancement. Developing this, we elaborate a third theme by looking at the moulding of the worker’s productive body-brain in relation to the demands of the economic system.

scholarly journals Penggunaan Terapi Senam Otak Pada Anak Dengan Masalah Penurunan Konsentrasi Belajar Di Desa Rawajitu Selatan

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-250
Author(s):  
Lidya Ariyanti ◽  
Redia Indira Putrianti ◽  
Setiawati Setiawati
Keyword(s):  
Exercise Therapy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Brain Gym ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRAK Kosentrasi merupakan keadaan pikiran atau asosiasi terkondisi yang diaktifkan oleh sensasi di dalam tubuh. Cara mengaktifkan sensasi di dalam tubuh adalah dengan membuat tubuh berada dalam keadaan yang rileks dan suasana yang menyenangkan, karena dalam keadaan yang tegang seseorang tidak akan dapat menggunakan otaknya dengan maksimal oleh karena pikiran menjadi kosong. Fenomena yang terjadi di lapangan diketahui bahwa penurunan konsentrasi belajar pada anak belum mendapatkan penanganan yang maksimal. Selama ini teknik yang digunakan memiliki kelemahan tersendiri yang tentunya tujuan dari peningkatan konsentrasi belajar belum dapat dirasakan oleh semua siswa, seharusnya teknik peningkatan konsentrasi belajar di buat lebih mudah dan efektif. Salah satunya adalah teknik Brain Gym. Tujuan setelah diberikan terapi senam otak diharapkan dapat meningkatkan konsentrasi belajar pada anak. Adapun kegiatan yang dilakukan berupa penyuluhan dan demonstrasi terapi senam otak. Terdapat peningkatan konsentrasi belajar pada anak setelah diberikan terapi senam otak di Desa Rawajitu Selatan. Dengan demikian, pemberian terapi senam otak efektif dalam meningkatkan konsentrasi belajar. Kata Kunci: Konsentrasi, Senam Otak, Peningkatan Konsentrasi Belajar  ABSTRACT Concentration is a state of mind or conditioned association that is activated by sensations in the body. How to activate sensations in the body is to make the body in a relaxed state and pleasant atmosphere, because in a tense situation a person will not be able to use his brain to the maximum because the mind becomes empty. The phenomenon that occurs in the field is known that the reduction in the concentration of learning in children has not gotten the maximum treatment. During this time the technique used has its own weaknesses which of course the purpose of increasing concentration of learning can not be felt by all students, the technique of increasing the concentration of learning should be made easier and more effective. One of them is the Brain Gym technique. The goal after being given brain exercise therapy is expected to increase the concentration of learning in children. The activities carried out in the form of counseling and demonstration of brain exercise therapy. There is an increase in the concentration of learning in children after being given brain exercise therapy at Rawajitu Selatan Village. Thus, the administration of brain exercise therapy is effective in increasing concentration of learning. Keywords: Concentration, Brain Exercise, Increased Learning Concentration

scholarly journals On The Verge of the Hybrid Mind

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-43
Author(s):  
Surjo Soekadar ◽  
Jennifer Chandler ◽  
Marcello Ienca ◽  
Christoph Bublitz
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Technological Artifacts ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

Recent advances in neurotechnology allow for an increasingly tight integration of the human brain and mind with artificial cognitive systems, blending persons with technologies and creating an assemblage that we call a hybrid mind. In some ways the mind has always been a hybrid, emerging from the interaction of biology, culture (including technological artifacts) and the natural environment. However, with the emergence of neurotechnologies enabling bidirectional flows of information between the brain and AI-enabled devices, integrated into mutually adaptive assemblages, we have arrived at a point where the specific examination of this new instantiation of the hybrid mind is essential. Among the critical questions raised by this development are the effects of these devices on the user’s perception of the self, and on the user’s experience of their own mental contents. Questions arise related to the boundaries of the mind and body and whether the hardware and software that are functionally integrated with the body and mind are to be viewed as parts of the person or separate artifacts subject to different legal treatment. Other questions relate to how to attribute responsibility for actions taken as a result of the operations of a hybrid mind, as well as how to settle questions of the privacy and security of information generated and retained within a hybrid mind.

Birth of the body, birth of the mind, birth of the social

2018 ◽  
pp. 29-51
Author(s):  
Richard Morgan-Jones ◽  
Nuno Torres ◽  
Kevin Dixon
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Mind

Nerves as a Problem

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Shorter
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Symptoms ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physical Sign ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
The Wall Street Journal ◽  
Michael Dukakis ◽  
Nervous Breakdown ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Washington University ◽  
The Brain

In 1996 the Wall Street Journal noted, “The nervous breakdown, the affliction that has been a staple of American life and literature for more than a century, has been wiped out by the combined forces of psychiatry, pharmacology and managed care. But people keep breaking down anyway.” Indeed they do keep breaking down. Kitty Dukakis, wife of former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, remembered lying in bed doing nothing. “I couldn’t get up and get dressed, but I couldn’t sleep either.” What was the matter with Kitty Dukakis and millions of sufferers like her? Depressed? What does psychiatry think? In psychiatry there are a few distinct, sharply defined diseases that would be difficult to miss, such as melancholia and catatonia. These tend to be psychotic illnesses, involving loss of contact with reality in the form of delusions and hallucinations, though not always. Then there is the great mass of nonpsychotic ill-defined illnesses whose labels are constantly changing and that are very common. Today these are called depression, oft en anxiety, and panic as well. These are all behavioral diagnoses, suggesting that the main problem is in the mind rather than the brain and body. Yet there is a tradition, now almost lost, of viewing psychiatric symptoms as a result of body processes, and it has always been convenient to speak of these as “nervous” diseases, even though much more of the body than the physical nerves may be involved. Writing in 1972, English psychiatrist Richard Hunter directed attention toward the body as a whole. “Many diseases are ushered in by a lowering of vitality which patients appreciate as irritability and depression. The mind is the most sensitive indicator of the state of the body. An abnormal mental state is equivalent to a physical sign of something going wrong in the brain.” The term symptom cluster is popular today, but that is jargonish, so let us call these patients “nervous.” Their distinguishing characteristic is that they do not have the “C” word, as Eli Robins at Washington University in St. Louis used to call it, meaning that they are not “crazy.”

Basic mechanisms of, and treatment targets for, stress-related disorders

2020 ◽  
pp. 829-839
Author(s):  
Bruce S. McEwen
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wear And Tear ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Social And Physical Environment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain

The response to the social and physical environment involves two-way communication between the brain and the body and epigenetic adaptation (‘allostasis’) via mediators of the cardiovascular, immune, metabolic, neuroendocrine, and neural mechanisms. Chronic stress causes wear and tear on the brain and body (‘allostatic load and overload’), reflecting also the impact of health-damaging behaviours and lasting effects of early life experiences interacting with genetic predispositions. Hormonal and other mediators of allostasis promote adaptation in the short run but cause allostatic load/overload when they are overused or dysregulated. The brain is key because it determines what is threatening and the physiological and behavioural responses, while showing structural remodelling that affects its function. Besides pharmaceuticals, there are ‘top–down’ interventions, like physical activity, that engage ‘the wisdom of the body’ to change itself, as well as the impact of policies of government and business that encourage individuals to manage their own lives and promote increased ‘healthspan’.

scholarly journals Cerebral localization of the mind and higher functions The beginnings

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliasz Engelhardt
Keyword(s):  
Nervous Tissue ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Mental Functions ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Cerebral Localization ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Higher Mental Functions ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

Abstract The debates about the mind and its higher functions, and attempts to locate them in the body, have represented a subject of interest of innumerable sages since ancient times. The doubt concerning the part of the body that housed these functions, the heart (cardiocentric doctrine) or the brain (cephalocentric doctrine), drove the search. The Egyptians, millennia ago, held a cardiocentric view. A very long time later, ancient Greek scholars took up the theme anew, but remained undecided between the heart and the brain, a controversy that lasted for centuries. The cephalocentric view prevailed, and a new inquiry ensued about the location of these functions within the brain, the ventricles or the nervous tissue, which also continued for centuries. The latter localization, although initially inaccurate, gained traction. However, it represented only a beginning, as further studies in the centuries that followed revealed more precise definitions and localizations of the higher mental functions.

Metaphors of Inscription: Discipline, Plasticity and the Rhetoric of Choice

1998 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pippa Brush
Keyword(s):  
Cosmetic Surgery ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
The Body ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Standards ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Economic Constraints

The metaphor of inscription on the body and the constitution of the body through those inscriptions have been widely used in recent attempts to theorize the body. Michel Foucault calls the body the ‘inscribed surface of events’ (Foucault, 1984: 83) and Elizabeth Grosz argues that the ‘female (or male) body can no longer be regarded as a fixed, concrete substance, a pre-cultural given. It has a determinate form only by being socially inscribed’ (Grosz, 1987: 2). The body becomes plastic, inscribed with gender and cultural standards. While Foucault assumes the existence of a pre-inscriptive body, many theorists reject that idea and argue that ‘there is no recourse to a body that has not always already been interpreted by cultural meanings’ (Butler, 1990: 8). The constitution of the body rests in its inscription; the body becomes the text which is written upon it and from which it is indistinguishable. Starting from Catherine Belsey's suggestion that to ‘give the metaphor literal significance … is to … isolate it for contemplation’ (Belsey, 1988: 100), I discuss this metaphor of inscription, using cosmetic surgery as one literal example. While some theorists reject the pre-inscriptive body, the popular discourses advocating changing one's body assume unproblematically the existence of a body prior to these ‘elective’ procedures and reinforce the mind/body dualism which recent theory has sought so insistently to reject. I examine how popular discourses of body modification enforce a disciplinary regime (in Foucault's sense) and impose degrees of both literal and figurative inscription. Juxtaposing these two perspectives, I explore how both discourses efface the materiality of the body and the social contexts within which bodies are experienced and constructed. While the rhetoric surrounding cosmetic surgery denies the physical process and the economic constraints, so theories of the body which stress the body's plasticity also deny the materiality of that process and the cultural and social contexts within which the body is always placed.

Yoga Psychology and Yoga Therapy

1997 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
Swami Sivananda Radha
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Yoga Therapy ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Physical Laws ◽  
The Brain

Every man and woman is a bridge between two worlds, the material and the mental. The body is the material tangible side, subject to its own laws; the mind, which uses the body as a tool of expression (frequently violating the physical laws), has its own realm of time and space where it roams about, often undirected or misdirected. The body is material – the bones, muscles,blood, and everything that makes up the cells. The brain, too, is material. The mind, however, is immaterial and intangible; we can only become aware of it through its manifestation in thought and other functions.

scholarly journals The Discursive Problematization of Death, Dehumanization and Sociocultural identity: An Analysis of 'The Walking Dead'

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Victoria Skye
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
The Self ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Major Site ◽  
The Walking Dead ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Discourses ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Way ◽  
Walking Dead

<p>The zombie is a significant cultural figure which is represented and produced as being symptomatic of and relevant to contemporary concerns about death and dehumanization. This thesis will focus on the ways that death and dehumanization are changing and being negotiated within popular cultural representations and discourses regarding zombies, particularly in Frank Darabont’s television series The Walking Dead. The thesis will consider the way in which the figure of the zombie is representative of issues and discourses that are indicative of a problematization of the category of the human, and the notion of the transcendental. This will involve an examination of the changing narratives of the body, with particular regard to consumerism and the insistence of the body as a major site of the truth and value of the self, in contrast to the horrifying bodily form of the zombie. The thesis will also examine the way that dehumanization is problematized in The Walking Dead, where the human/non-human distinction is shown to be increasingly precarious and difficult to sustain. Further, the thesis will examine how the zombie is represented as manifesting the collapse of identity, as agents become alienated from the social discourses, narratives and values which constitute and categorize the subject.</p>

scholarly journals HEALTH MEET - MUSIC

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1SE) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Monisha Veeravani
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Human Life ◽  
High Stress ◽  
The Body ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Entire Body ◽  
Sound Waves ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

Music gives people a deeper understanding on the level of sensation and motivates them to become better and this element can change the world when it is wider than our own. It is music that connects the beginning to the end and becomes the literature of our heart. Fills the soul with affection, takes the mind from deep darkness to eternal heights. Music has the status of a® God, so purity has special importance in this genre. Music is the way to cultivate the mind through the seven pure and five vocal cords. Therefore, it can be said that music is necessary to keep the body and mind healthy, cheerful. This keeps the body, mind and brain healthy, and concentrates. Stress is also removed from music. It has been proved by various scientific experiments that both music practice and yoga practice develop strength in human life and many diseases can be treated. Music therapy i.e. music therapy nowadays plays an important role in relieving many health problems. Is playing If you live under high stress or are suffering from insomnia problem, then you can take help of this therapy. Each sound produces specific waves. These sound waves directly affect our brain. Everything in existence is affected by these waves. If a music is composed with the right words and the appropriate ragas, it will work on our brain in the same way that the software works inside a computer. Since our entire body is under the control of the brain, we can get the right result by having the expected effect on the brain through remedial music. संगीत लोगों को संवेदना के स्तर पर एक गहरी समझ देकर उन्हें बेहतर बनने की दिशा में प्रेरित करता है और यही तत्व जब निज से व्यापक होता है तो दुनिया भी बदल सकती है. ये संगीत ही है जो आदि को अंत से जोडकर हमारे हृदय का साहित्य बन जाता है। आत्मा को स्नेह से भर देता है मन को गहन अन्धकार से लेकर अनन्त ऊंचाइयों तक ले जाता है । संगीत क® ईश्वर का दर्जा प्राप्त है, इसीलिए इस विधा में शुध्दता का विशेष महत्व है। सात षुघ्द अ©र पांच क®मल स्वर®ं के माध्यम से मन क® साधने का उपाय है संगीत। अतः कहा जा सकता है कि शरीर तथा मन क® स्वस्थ््ा, प्रफुल्लित रखने के लिए संगीत आवश््यक है। इससे शरीर, मन, मस्तिष्क स्वस्थ््ा रहता है, एकाग्र रहता है। संगीत से तनाव भी दूर ह®ता है। विभिन्न वैज्ञानिक प्रयोगों द्वारा यह सिद्ध हो चुका है कि संगीत साधना व योग साधना दोनों से मनुष्य के जीवन में शक्ति का विकास होता है और अनेक बीमारियों का उपचार किया जा सकता है म्यूजिक थेरेपी यानी संगीत चिकित्सा आजकल अनेक स्वास्थ्य समस्याओं से राहत दिलाने में अहम भूमिका निभा रही है। आप अगर ज्यादा तनाव में रहते हैं या अनिद्रा की समस्या से पीडित हैं तो इस चिकित्सा की सहायता ले सकते हैं । हर ध्वनि से विशिष्ट तरंगें पैदा होती हैं। ये ध्वनि तरंगें सीधे हमारे मस्तिष्क को प्रभावित करती हैं। इन्हीं तरंगों से अस्तित्व में मौजूद हर चीज प्रभावित होती है। अगर कोई संगीत सही शब्दों और उपयुक्त रागों के साथ तैयार किया जाए तो वह हमारे मस्तिष्क पर उसी तरह काम करेगा जैसे किसी ’कम्प्यूटर’ के अंदर ’साफ्टवेयर’ काम करता है। चूंकि हमारा पूरा शरीर मस्तिष्क के नियंत्रण में होता है, इसलिए हम मस्तिष्क पर उपचारी संगीत के माध्यम से अपेक्षित प्रभाव डालकर सही परिणाम प्राप्त कर सकते हैं।

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