Confabulation is a normal part of everyday life. As human beings we attempt to explain the world around us even if we have to make it up. Previous work by Wolford, Miller and Gazzaniga has demonstrated that the part of the mind responsible for making up such hypotheses, at least verbally, resides in the left hemisphere of the brain (2000). It is hypothesized to be in the frontal cortex, since this is an area “important for self generated behaviours” (Bower, 2000), but the actual area of the brain responsible has yet to be discovered. This paper suggests a theory for future experiments in an attempt to locate where in our brain these hypotheses stem from. This would be accomplished by having split brain patients perform a task which involves both pointing/choosing and verbally speaking during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Nature vs. Nurture and The Left Brain Interpreter
Sorry Percy, but I needed to write about that sermon you sent me.
For anyone else reading, it's a sermon about a pastor's experience dealing with his homosexual attraction. It was an interesting sermon and I actually really enjoyed it until he got into the idea of nature vs. nurture. He blamed his homosexuality on the relationship he had with his parents and then proceeded to generalize that everyone he knew with homosexual attractions had the same type of relationship with theirs. Well, from there I was kind of turned off to most of what this guy had been saying. Being a psych major I know what perceptions can do to any objective listening experience. I tried to keep an open mind for the remainder of his speech.
Well this guy has been going to therapy in an attempt to become heterosexual. A large chunk of his speech was basically an explanation for why he believes he is attracted to men. Something I learned by studying psychology is that the brain loves to be rational. Listening to his story and his explanation, all I could think of was that this is a combination of psychobabble and a desperate attempt at his left hemisphere to rationalize uncertainty.
In my senior psychology seminar I wrote a paper on the left brain interpreter. Basically it is the part of the brain responsible for confabulation, the replacement of a gap in a person's memory by a falsification that he or she believes to be true. While this sounds like something only crazy people do, know this, EVERYONE confabulates. What separates most people from the crazies is that the crazy ones do it without provocation, we do it only when it is necessary. Our necessity stems from our mind not being able to chalk things up to randomness, it constantly seeks pattern and order in a world of chaos. It leads to so many other problems and myths including gambling habits, but I digress. I'll try to attach the paper if you are really interested.
Anyways, listening to this man talk I could kind of relate to some of his arguments. The most piercing of his arguments was his desire for marriage and children, to which I can relate. [Side note, there was no question of nature vs. nurture when he thought about being with a woman- just because it's the "norm" does not mean that society plays no role in bringing about this desire. I mean there is a part of me that hates the idea that I'm probably not going to get to fulfill that dream we all grow up holding on to, but I know there is no repressing who I am. I talked with a friend of mine who actually has a son, and he told me "yeah I could obviously be attracted enough get it up, but that doesn't mean I was happy with a woman." That really hit me hard when he said that. It has actually helped me come to terms with a lot of my own feelings.] When the pastor mentioned his hope to battle through and marry a wife and have a family, I wonder if he means can he fool himself enough into getting a woman pregnant and calling it a day? I know marriage is no fairy tale for most people, add latent homosexuality and you're just asking for a mess. I'm slowly beginning to accept the idea that it's actually ok for me to be gay. To embrace who I am, even if it's not the norm and especially not how I pictured my life when I was younger.
The pastor admitted his need to repress his homosexual desires. He does it for Jesus, he denies himself a shot at happiness because he feels god frowns on gay people. I understand that throughout history the clergy have given up many things in their service to god, but I thought that was mainly in Catholicism. I guess I'm lucky I'm not christian or super religious because it's one less hurdle I have to jump in my own mind when thinking about this.
Anyways... I'm attaching the sermon at the bottom. It's about 30 min, but I think worth the listen if you have some time.
For anyone else reading, it's a sermon about a pastor's experience dealing with his homosexual attraction. It was an interesting sermon and I actually really enjoyed it until he got into the idea of nature vs. nurture. He blamed his homosexuality on the relationship he had with his parents and then proceeded to generalize that everyone he knew with homosexual attractions had the same type of relationship with theirs. Well, from there I was kind of turned off to most of what this guy had been saying. Being a psych major I know what perceptions can do to any objective listening experience. I tried to keep an open mind for the remainder of his speech.
Well this guy has been going to therapy in an attempt to become heterosexual. A large chunk of his speech was basically an explanation for why he believes he is attracted to men. Something I learned by studying psychology is that the brain loves to be rational. Listening to his story and his explanation, all I could think of was that this is a combination of psychobabble and a desperate attempt at his left hemisphere to rationalize uncertainty.
In my senior psychology seminar I wrote a paper on the left brain interpreter. Basically it is the part of the brain responsible for confabulation, the replacement of a gap in a person's memory by a falsification that he or she believes to be true. While this sounds like something only crazy people do, know this, EVERYONE confabulates. What separates most people from the crazies is that the crazy ones do it without provocation, we do it only when it is necessary. Our necessity stems from our mind not being able to chalk things up to randomness, it constantly seeks pattern and order in a world of chaos. It leads to so many other problems and myths including gambling habits, but I digress. I'll try to attach the paper if you are really interested.
Anyways, listening to this man talk I could kind of relate to some of his arguments. The most piercing of his arguments was his desire for marriage and children, to which I can relate. [Side note, there was no question of nature vs. nurture when he thought about being with a woman- just because it's the "norm" does not mean that society plays no role in bringing about this desire. I mean there is a part of me that hates the idea that I'm probably not going to get to fulfill that dream we all grow up holding on to, but I know there is no repressing who I am. I talked with a friend of mine who actually has a son, and he told me "yeah I could obviously be attracted enough get it up, but that doesn't mean I was happy with a woman." That really hit me hard when he said that. It has actually helped me come to terms with a lot of my own feelings.] When the pastor mentioned his hope to battle through and marry a wife and have a family, I wonder if he means can he fool himself enough into getting a woman pregnant and calling it a day? I know marriage is no fairy tale for most people, add latent homosexuality and you're just asking for a mess. I'm slowly beginning to accept the idea that it's actually ok for me to be gay. To embrace who I am, even if it's not the norm and especially not how I pictured my life when I was younger.
The pastor admitted his need to repress his homosexual desires. He does it for Jesus, he denies himself a shot at happiness because he feels god frowns on gay people. I understand that throughout history the clergy have given up many things in their service to god, but I thought that was mainly in Catholicism. I guess I'm lucky I'm not christian or super religious because it's one less hurdle I have to jump in my own mind when thinking about this.
Anyways... I'm attaching the sermon at the bottom. It's about 30 min, but I think worth the listen if you have some time.
Matt’s Story
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Breath of relief...
So last time I blogged I mentioned how sick I was and that the doctor made me go get a bunch of blood tests. Thrush usually occurs in people with diabetes or... well HIV. You try to be safe, but there is always that shadow of a doubt in your mind. Well, I had been suffering waiting for the results for over a week. Thank god everything came back negative. It was one of the scariest times of my life. I don't think I would know what to do if things had come out the other way. Also turns out my triglycerides are 70 and my good cholesterol is a little low.
Had 3 tests yesterday that went relatively well considering the fact that I also went to Gasparilla. Then I went and got my results. I could have failed each and every one of those tests and after the moment they said I was negative I wouldn't have cared. So yeah, that's about it. OH, I bought a box of condoms (had a few, figured a 12 pack can't do any harm). Never feeling like this ever again. Not that I'm planning to be with anyone, but my life is too important to risk it for anyone if it should come down to it.
Ok, its bed time for me. Just a little quickie for a certain someone.
Had 3 tests yesterday that went relatively well considering the fact that I also went to Gasparilla. Then I went and got my results. I could have failed each and every one of those tests and after the moment they said I was negative I wouldn't have cared. So yeah, that's about it. OH, I bought a box of condoms (had a few, figured a 12 pack can't do any harm). Never feeling like this ever again. Not that I'm planning to be with anyone, but my life is too important to risk it for anyone if it should come down to it.
Ok, its bed time for me. Just a little quickie for a certain someone.
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