Ben Lamm is a serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences, a company dedicated to genetic engineering and de-extinction projects. Colossal’s mission includes bringing back extinct species like the woolly mammoth and advancing conservation efforts through cutting-edge biotechnology. https://www.colossal.com
A new study shows that updating beliefs about the world requires and stimulates dopamine release in the brain.
Lead author of the study, Matthew Nour, from University College London and Kings College London has this to say about the findings:
“We found that two key brain areas of the dopamine system (the midbrain and striatum) appear to be more active when a person updates their beliefs about the world, and this activity is related to measures of dopamine function in these regions.” (Source)
Healthy people update beliefs when new evidence is presented. The study may also show that abnormal dopamine functionality is implicated in schizophrenia and paranoid ideation by interfering with normal updating.
I like this study because participants were measured while changing minor, short-term beliefs.
Small changes in beliefs manifested in short-term memory lies at the heart of FIML practice.
FIML relies heavily on changing inaccuracies in the short-term memory bank because this data can be isolated and objectively agreed upon by both partners and because this data is by definition fairly small and thus easily changed.
A year of FIML practice may entail a thousand or more small updates in perception, belief, and self-knowledge. Each individual update is typically small, but the aggregate of many updates over longer periods of time creates the basis for very large psychological transformations.
And since these transformations are based on more accurate data, they lead to a more realistic view of the world and the self.
Moreover, by regularly making many small updates in their perceptions of each other and themselves, FIML partners are constantly exercising their dopamine “updating system,” thus strengthening their abilities to function well in any environment.
FIML changes can come quickly, but it is long-term practice that brings the best results.
The above study shows that something very real happens when we update our perceptions. I would maintain that making this happen often with meaningful psychological information through FIML practice leads to very significant and beneficial changes in psychological functioning across many domains.
Some studies show that living conditions, such as economy, gender equality, and education, are associated with the magnitude of psychological sex differences. We systematically and quantitatively reviewed 54 articles and conducted new analyses on 27 meta-analyses and large-scale studies to investigate the association between living conditions and psychological sex differences. We found that sex differences in personality, verbal abilities, episodic memory, and negative emotions are more pronounced in countries with higher living conditions. In contrast, sex differences in sexual behavior, partner preferences, and math are smaller in countries with higher living conditions. We also observed that economic indicators of living conditions, such as gross domestic product, are most sensitive in predicting the magnitude of sex differences. Taken together, results indicate that more sex differences are larger, rather than smaller, in countries with higher living conditions. It should therefore be expected that the magnitude of most psychological sex differences will remain unchanged or become more pronounced with improvements in living conditions, such as economy, gender equality, and education.
Mild repetitive head injuries do more than just cause short-term issues with cognition, behavior and motor skills. They also lead to an increased risk of dementia, Parkinson’s disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and cost billions of dollars in health care.
There is no medical treatment for these types of injuries but new preliminary research out of Northeastern University shows a solution may lie in a surprising place: psilocybin, the psychedelic found in drugs like magic mushrooms.
A group of researchers including Northeastern psychology professor Craig Ferris tested the healing effects of psilocybin on adult female rats. After these rats suffered mild head injuries, researchers found that being treated with psilocybin helped restore normal brain function.
I usually do not put up mouse or rat studies, but this one is interesting. I myself long ago experienced enormous relief from a brain injury due to psychedelics. This feature alone may be a major factor in psychedelics beneficial effects on depression and other psychological and emotional problems. ABN
I injected the horse tranquilizer Ketamine and tracked my brain data for 15 days. It completely scrambled my brain.
In a world-first we answered the question ‘what happens to the brain before, during, and after ketamine treatment?’ We also discovered how long it took for my brain to return to ‘normal’.
This study also confirms the idea that “intrinsic motivation is important for sustained creative activity.”
Some other findings that may be of interest:
…our findings suggest that individuals who are high in reward sensitivity experience the sudden emergence of a solution into awareness as strongly rewarding whereas individuals who are low in reward sensitivity may still experience insight as sudden and attentionally salient but lacking in hedonic content.
As lifelong autodidact, I wonder if others with this marvelous “addiction” can relate to feeling almost not alive unless there is something to wonder about or figure out. I recently read a biography of Ludwig Wittgenstein. One standout was his strong tendency to seek out simple or humble environments that stimulated his mind.
…Individuals high in reward sensitivity are more likely to take drugs, develop substance-abuse disorders or eating disorders, and engage in risky behaviors such as gambling. The fact that some people find insight experiences to be highly pleasurable reinforces the notion that insight can be an intrinsic reward for problem solving and comprehension that makes use of the same reward circuitry in the brain that processes rewards from addictive drugs, sugary foods, or love.
Getting lost in the woods or on a motorcycle ride, for me, is a highly enjoyable feeling. There have to be slight tremors of fear and agitation followed by finding my way again. I suppose others may experience similar feelings in social settings or as live performers.
…These findings shed light on people’s motivations for engaging in challenging, often time-consuming, activities that potentially yield insights, such as solving puzzles or mysteries, creating inventions, or doing research. It also reinforces the notion that intrinsic motivation is important for sustained creative activity. The expectation of intrinsic rewards from comprehending and creating, rather than from an extrinsic source such as payment, is thought to be the most effective type of workplace motivation…
A society with universal basic income in which no one has to work unless they want to might bring about the greatest flourishing of human talent ever. Then again, maybe not. Inspiration does need a stick on the back sometimes and “joy has no children,” meaning happiness produces few inventions.
For the study, the researchers looked at the interaction between mother and child over several months. The babies came into the lab for the first time at the age of 6 months, while their final visit was when they were 18 months old. As they engaged in various play situations, the interactions and imitations of mother and child were analyzed.
The longitudinal study shows that the more sensitive a mother was in her interactions with her six-month-old child and the more often she imitated the infant, the greater the child’s ability was at the age of 18 months to imitate others.
In the interaction between parents and child, mutual imitation is a sign of communication. Parents respond to the signals given by the child and reflect and amplify them. A mutual imitation of actions and gestures develops. “These experiences create connections between what the child feels and does on the one hand and what it sees on the other. Associations are formed. The child’s visual experience is connected to its own motor activity,” says Markus Paulus, explaining the neuro-cognitive process.
Children learn a variety of skills through imitation, such as how to use objects, cultural gestures like waving, and the acquisition of language. “Children are incredible imitators. Mimicry paves the way to their further development. Imitation is the start of the cultural process toward becoming human,” says Markus Paulus. In psychology, the theory that the ability to imitate is inborn held sway for a long time. The LMU study is further evidence that the ability is actually acquired.
Mutual imitation and/or rapport are fundamental to interpersonal communication and a constant of it. FIML practice is a metacognitive method for making these processes ‘objective’ and thus mutually understandable, analyzable, and correctable or transformable as needed or desired. FIML works with objective material, which is defined as material both partners agree on. Real-world, real-time mutually agreed upon moments of micro communication discovered during FIML practice are some of the best objective psychological material you will ever acquire. Analyzing it with your partner is a total blast! There is no other way to do it except through FIML practice. ABN
UPDATE: This study reveals the profound importance of imitation for the infant brain. Imitation is one of the first things humans learn and it establishes a basis for social interactions from then on. Imitation is a major foundation of all cultures. People within any culture always imitate each other a lot. This includes adults who form new cultures or conform to deep transitions within their already accepted cultures. Often, cultural transitions are so large, the original culture is lost to time. This instinct to keep up with the group through imitation is a major factor in behavioral mind-control. This video provides an excellent example of how blunt, crude, nasty and deeply fear-based mind-controlled cultural transitions often are. Not only are viewers lured into being terrified of the invisible virus, they are also bullied into conforming to the one and only way to save themselves—taking a dangerous and untested vax. When children and then babies were also sucked into this whirlpool of anti-science, all morality was gone and all that was left was fear and insane conformity. If the mind-controllers learned anything from this, they will probably leave pregnant women and babies alone next time. More likely is they will cause even greater fear. ABN
A recently published study examined the effects of cannabis use on age-related cognitive function in adults. Noting the limited number of studies in this area compared to studies on cannabis use and short-term cognition, the researchers sought to examine the relationship between cannabis use from early adulthood to late midlife and cognitive decline. The study, “Cannabis Use and Age-Related Changes in Cognitive Function From Early Adulthood to Late Midlife in 5162 Danish Men,” was published in November 2024 in Brain and Behavior.
This study examined data from 5162 Danish men born between 1949-1961 who had participated in assessments on cognitive aging and in follow-up questionnaires. Data from the Danish Aging and Cognition (DanACo) cohort was used, which was administered when the mean age of the participants was 20. The follow up questionnaires covered socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health-related factors and was administered when the mean age of the participants was 64.
…Ultimately, the study concluded that, “Men with a history of cannabis use had less cognitive decline from early adulthood to late midlife compared to men without a history of cannabis use. Among cannabis users, neither age of initiation of cannabis use nor frequent use was significantly associated with a greater age-related cognitive decline.”
I think it is fair to speculate that the conclusions of that study apply not just to visual information, but to all information. For example, much of what we consider to be psychological continuity is habit based on introspective deformities.
UPDATE: FIML practice accurately identifies and corrects all kinds of mental, psychological, emotional, and perceptual distortions as they happen in real-world settings. Pretty much everyone knows distortions are happening but we do almost nothing about them. Instead of dealing with distortions and preventing them from snowballing, virtually all people everywhere rely on default stock strategies to retreat from them, a technique which itself engenders fear and helplessness in the face of real human interaction. I believe the absence of anything resembling FIML practice in world history is testament to widespread hierarchical sociopsychological dependence on what are essentially clichés. ABN
This is an interesting article on brain plasticity and “critical periods” for learning some skills (e.g. stereo-vision, language acquisition, etc.). It seems there may be ways to reset or reopen critical periods through chemical or behavioral interventions.
Vision therapy, which aims to correct adult amblyopia and other eye conditions, already has shown that basic visual skills can be relearned and some visual problems corrected by proper training.
Incidentally, FIML practice retrains us to listen, speak, and think differently. In doing this, FIML may be reopening a critical period for language/semiotic processing or even for the fundamental organization of consciousness itself. Once acquired, FIML skills have far-reaching effects on virtually all aspects of human social and psychological awareness.
If Buddhist practice is thought of in a light like this (that new cognitive skills are learned as some old ones are unlearned), it may remove some of the mystical aspects of how people understand the Dharma while also making Buddhist teachings more appealing to people with science training or an affinity for objective science.
Keep your eyes focused on the cross between the flashing images. The faces will appear grossly distorted in your peripheral field of vision. Now, consider that just as our eyes can distort faces as in the gif above, so our minds can and frequently do distort all of our perceptions, especially ones with psychological relevance. This is how our minds do not work well psychologically and emotionally. To compensate for psychological distortions most people in all cultures in the world are forced to cleave to whatever the default assumptions of their cultures are. This leaves us with plastic faces and conformist mannerisms, while inside our minds are filled with emotional distortions. As we carry these distortions through the years, our psychological misperceptions of ourselves and others can become deeply misshapen, leading to neurotic confusion on many levels. No general theory or general method can fix this problem, which at its core is an accumulation of idiosyncratic perceptual distortions held in memory (and the responses that arise from them). FIML practice is a specific activity designed to find and remove perceptual and psychological distortions. FIML will always be unique to the partners using it. It will always deal with their idiosyncratic distortions as they arise in real time. In this sense, FIML has no content except what you put into it. FIML is a tool that helps us see ourselves as we are really functioning in real-time. ABN
A new study has found that individuals with major depressive disorder report mind wandering over twice as often as healthy adults. These individuals saw their mind wandering as more negative. Mind wandering was more frequent in depressed individuals who reported experiencing more negative and less positive moods. The research was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Mind wandering is the spontaneous shift of attention away from a current task or external environment to internal thoughts or daydreams. It typically occurs when people are engaged in routine or low-demand activities. During mind wandering, people think about their past, future, or unrelated topics. Mind wandering can foster creativity and problem-solving, but frequent or excessive mind wandering has been linked to negative outcomes, including rumination and poor emotional regulation.
In individuals with depression, mind wandering tends to focus on negative thoughts, regrets, or worries, contributing to a persistently low mood and feelings of hopelessness. Studies suggest that people with depression experience more frequent and uncontrollable mind wandering, which can exacerbate symptoms. This tendency to ruminate increases cognitive load and interferes with concentration and productivity.
Study author Matthew S. Welhaf and his colleagues aimed to better understand the frequency of mind wandering in individuals with major depressive disorder in everyday life compared to healthy individuals. They also aimed to explore the content of mind wandering. Unlike most previous studies that relied on formal scales and assessments, this study applied an experience sampling design, having participants report their experiences several times per day.
The authors hypothesized that individuals with major depressive disorder would mind-wander more frequently, focusing more on the past. Additionally, they expected the frequency of mind wandering to be associated with negative moods.
Study participants included 106 adults, all native English speakers and up to 40 years old. Fifty-three were healthy controls with no history of mental health disorders, and the other 53 had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Participants with major depressive disorder were slightly older, with an average age of 28, compared to 25 years among the healthy participants. Approximately 70% of participants in both groups were women.
The study authors provided participants with a handheld electronic device with the Experience Sampling Program 4.0 installed. Over 7–8 days, participants were randomly prompted eight times a day (between 10:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.) to report on their current experiences, amounting to a maximum of 56 prompts throughout the period. On average, participants completed around 43–44 prompts, with similar numbers in both groups.
Metacognition means “awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes,” or “cognition about cognition,” or “being able to think about how you think.”
To me, metacognition is a premier human ability. How can it not be a good thing to be aware of how you are aware and how you think and respond to what is around you?
In more detail:
The term “metacognition” is most often associated with John Flavell, (1979). According to Flavell (1979, 1987), metacognition consists of both metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experiences or regulation. Metacognitive knowledge refers to acquired knowledge about cognitive processes, knowledge that can be used to control cognitive processes. Flavell further divides metacognitive knowledge into three categories: knowledge of person variables, task variables and strategy variables.
(the original source for this quote has disappeared but this article on Wikipedia makes the same points and more)
Most people do metacognition and are aware of doing it. We do it when we plan, make decisions, decide how to get from one place to another, how to relate to one person differently from another, and so on.
Where we don’t do metacognition is in real-time communication in real life, where it matters most. This is not because we are not able to do it. It is because very few of us have the right technique, Flavell’s “acquired knowledge” that allows us to do it.
If we have the right technique, we will be able to gain a great deal of knowledge about real-time cognitive process while also learning how to control them.
FIML practice is a metacognitive practice based on, to quote the above source, “acquired knowledge about cognitive processes… that can be used to control cognitive processes.”
In the case of FIML, the “acquired knowledge” is the FIML technique which allows us to gain conscious “control over cognitive processes” of real-time interpersonal communication.
FIML is different from other analytical communication techniques in that FIML provides a method to gain control over very short or small units of communication in real-time. This is important as it is these very short real-time units that are most often ignored or not dealt with in most analyses of human communication.
If you know how to catch small mistakes, they become sources of insight and humor. If you don’t know how to catch them, they often snowball into destructive misunderstandings.
FIML is fairly easy to do if you understand the importance of correcting the minor misinterpretations that inevitably arise between people when they speak and communicate. By using the FIML metacognitive method, partners gain control over the most elusive kinds of interpersonal error which all too often lead to serious interpersonal discord.
FIML can and does do more than catch small mistakes, but first things first. If you cannot correct small errors in real-time communication, you are not doing anything even resembling thorough metacognitive communication.
New cultivation methods are making psychedelic mushrooms stronger, and fiendishly potent varieties are kicking in faster and lasting longer—even if you eat only a fraction of what you would with another variety. Subsequent testing showed that one batch of Mattucci’s mushrooms contained almost 5 percent psychedelic alkaloids, which was once unheard of within the Psilocybe genus. Typically, mushrooms contain 1 percent of these psychoactive compounds, although species like Psilocybe azurescens are generally stronger, and some varieties within the Panaeolus genus are even more potent.
UPDATE: This video shows the value of novel experiences. What is most interesting to me is these novel experiences are fairly mundane, ordinary, simple and small — just new odors or fragrances. I believe novelty can also be found in many other simple and small things or experiences. And, it seems to me, many human moral and existential mistakes can be understood as excessive novelty-seeking. Taking strong drugs, overmuch or weird sex, committing crimes, riding motorcycles too fast (my own worst failing in this arena), etc. We can find deeply rewarding novelty through pursuing philosophy on our own; in meditation; in exploring psycholinguistics through FIML practice; taking a walk in the woods and allowing ourselves to get lost; just looking in a different direction or an unexpected direction right now. It is generally wiser to seek and find novelty in ways that are not excessive, meaning harmful to ourselves or others, or immoral. A lot can be learned about ourselves by analyzing how and why we seek novel experiences. A good deal of what you do may be novelty-seeking known to you by another name. Powerfully novel experiences than harm no one are the best. ABN
American Buddhist Net 