They say antinio Damsio is the magician’s brain?And that thanks to him, we understand mental processes differently. Professor of Neuroscience, Neurology and Psychology at the University of Southern California and Prince of Asturias Award 2005, his study of the emotions and mechanisms of consciousness makes him an undisputed reference figure.
It is quite possible that his name does not sound strange, that we have admired him for years or that we have seen one of his books by chance. One of his best-known publications, entitled “And the Brain Made Man”, poses a significant challenge to many of the general ideas one may have about this fascinating organ. Thus, the brain, far from being a mystery to Antinio Damsius, is a well-defined entity that can be gradually deciphered, revealing the great work done by this excellent scientist and great promoter.
- “Understanding the difference between emotions and feelings has removed the barrier so that we can investigate the nature of ailments.
- “- Antinio Damsio-.
On the other hand, some say that Damasio, more than a neuroscientist, is first and foremoscy a neurophilophoph. In his books, we discover the brain as an entity where not only our individuality, our emotional, ethical or moral world resides. In it is inscribed society itself and our essence as humanity.
There is also an essential aspect that is repeated in much of his work: “Only when we can learn more deeply how the brain works will we learn?Can we be happier?.
There are different types of neuroscientists, however, until recently those characterized by a mechanical and reductionist perspective predominated. It was they who said, for example, that our daily thoughts, reflections and decisions were simply the result of a simple connection of a set of specific neurons in a specific area of the brain.
Now, where is our consciousness?Many of these scientists, in the not too distant past, have smiled irony at these ideas, similar questions, today we already have inspiring figures such as Antinio Damsio, who has set aside this reductionist perspective to open up other approaches and show the importance of concepts such as consciousness and the world of emotions.
Consciousness, in the first place, is not specified in any part of the brain, consciousness is a process and an entity that is present in all species, in fact, it explains, explains, even in unicellular organisms, such as bacteria or amoebae, that they have a minimal sense of conscience. They work to preserve their integrity, to survive. Thus, each organism, each living being, has a more or less sophisticated level of consciousness to adapt and develop.
We, on the other hand, have made a great evolutionary leap by including skills such as memory, imagination, creativity and logical reasoning in our consciousness.
To speak of Antnio Damsio is also to talk about Hannah Damsio, his wife and also a neurologist, with whom he works side by side in research and to publicize his discoveries to the general public. Through their research with several patients, the Damsio couple was able to collect several data that were used to formulate important hypotheses.
The first is that emotions are actually a set of chemical and neural responses that form a distinctive pattern. He defined it as a “somatic marker”, with this term referring to the fact that we all have an emotional mark that makes us react. , which influences us when we show certain behaviors or when we make a certain type of decisions and not others. Moreover, according to this neuroscientist, emotions precede feelings.
Let’s take an example: we walk down the street and suddenly we hear a scream, what we feel at that moment is a physical reaction: the heart accelerates, we paralyze, the pupils expand and at that moment we feel a feeling of restlessness, fear, etc. Emotions, for Damsio, belong to the body, triggering a series of certain chemical and organic changes, after emotions come feelings, which already have a deeper relationship with thoughts.
“Emotions and feelings are not a luxury, they are a way of communicating our mental states to others, but are they also a roadmap for decision making? . – Antônio Damsio-
Antinio Damsio believes that it is essential to learn to conceive that emotions and feelings are two different things and that the former precede the latter, let us think, for example, of stress, the negative emotions that torture us, the physical discomfort they cause: We begin to have rather pessimistic and less flexible thoughts, we stop seeing the solutions to the problems of daily life Etc.
Thus, one of our goals must be above all to cultivate positive emotions by recalling the classic saying “be good to think better”. However, does something like this certainly require our body to feel good, safe from physical or psychological effects?risks, feeling at peace, in harmony?
This is something we can all experience, for example, when practicing meditation or relaxation. Does a calm body also translate into a relaxed mind, a calm and concentrated mind, who thinks and decides best?
references