Research: Thought Shaping (1)
"Change your thoughts and you change your world." Norman Vincent Peale
The concept of how our thoughts shape our world has been an area of special interest to philosophers, religious figures and scientists for decades.
Traditionally, philosophers and religious figures have believed that thoughts shape our world, while many scientists have taken the attitude of "Prove it to me".
Recent evidence at both the biological and higher cognitive levels of information processing suggest that our experiences and our thoughts do shape our world.
Buzan gives a general overview of neuronal transmission in the brain. He gives the analogy of how repeating experiences or reviewing knowledge is like cutting a path in a jungle. Recent research concerning the effects of repeated
stimulation on neuronal transmission has provided insights concerning the process of learning.
Kandel and his associates (Kandel & Schwartz, 1982) Carew et al., 1983) have conducted extremely important research concerning learning in the sea slug, Aplysia. This organism is a prime candidate in which to observe learning, since the cells of its nervous
system are large enough to be relatively easily observed.
One type of learning in particular, Pavlovian conditioning, was studied by Kandel and his associates. Pavlovian conditioning refers to the pairing of a particular stimulus which results in a particular response (called the
unconditioned stimulus or UCS) that alone does not result in a response. In Pavlov’s work, he observed that meat (UCS) produced salivation in a dog (UCR). He then paired a bell (CS) with the meat. After several pairing, he observed that the bell alone would produce the salivation.
In Kandel’s experiments a small electric shock (UCS) was delivered to the tail of the aplysia which resulted in a gill with-drawal reflex (UCR). Following this, a brief touch with a nylon bristle to the siphon of the aplysia (CS) was paired with the shock.
After repeated pairings, the touch of the nylon bristle alone produced the withdrawal reflex. Kandel was able to observe the changes at the synapse, or gap between the neurons.
Comparing the occurrences if the pairings of the CS and UCS with the presentation of the CS alone, he found that, when the pairing occurred, the presynaptic membrane released
a greater amount of calcium into the synapse. This increase in calcium resulted in the greater ease with which the next neuron fired, the decrease in resistance with repeated stimulation, and the strengthening of the association.
Kandel’s findings provide a biological explanation for changes occurring during learning and repeated exposure.
Buzan also discusses the memory trace and the fact that when a memory trace fires repeatedly, resistance decreases and the probability that it will recur increases.
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