1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from How Stuff 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:13,120 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: You know, we're both writers. A lot of writing goes 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: into what we do here at at How Stuff Works 6 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 1: and Stuff to Blow your Mind. Um, and as writers 7 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: were always engaging in those, uh, those environmental situations where 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: how am I how am I going to focus on 9 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: what I'm working on here on the page and in 10 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 1: my mind and in that sort of unreal space between 11 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:41,520 Speaker 1: the two, while also having to deal with vehicles roaring by, 12 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: with people walking by, people falling down, animals, weather patterns, 13 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: you name it. Yeah, it's a lot of wooing of 14 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:53,599 Speaker 1: the mind. And Chekhov has said, if you look at 15 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: anything long enough, say just that wall in front of you, 16 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: it will come out of that wall. And that's the idea, 17 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: right that we're going to cover today, this idea of 18 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: optimal inattention and willful ignorance, This idea that you can 19 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: put a spell on your mind long enough to concentrate 20 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: on teasing up the things that will come out of 21 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,960 Speaker 1: the wall. Yeah, especially that that woman in the yellow wallpaper, 22 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: ilways got to keep her push back indeed. Um. American 23 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: poet Robert Creeley, uh two thousand five Uh, he said, 24 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: quote the necessary environment is that which secures the artist 25 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:34,960 Speaker 1: in the way that lets him be in the world 26 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: in a most fruitful manner, which I think is an 27 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: interesting way of thinking about it, because when we sit 28 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: down to work on something, often we think about, um, 29 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: how much we're shutting out, But there's also the attention 30 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 1: side of it. And and as someone who often works 31 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: in a coffee shop, Um, I it's like I'm purposely 32 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: going to kind of a busy, semi chaotic environment to 33 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: engage with the task that require a lot of concentration, 34 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: because it's kind of like the Goldilocks and the Three 35 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: Bears of sound or optimal sounds, right, because you know, 36 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: on the one hand, you could have something that was 37 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: so silent, like or Field Labs has that quietest room 38 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,959 Speaker 1: in the world that shuts out sound. Too quiet, you'll 39 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: start hallucinating. Actually, you know, on the other end of 40 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: the spectrum, a bar with thumping music is way too distracting. 41 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: That's like a jackhammer on your brain. But yeah, coffee 42 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: houses have just the right amount of ambient noises to 43 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: allow your brain some effort to kind of crowd that out, 44 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: but have enough left over to actually deal with the 45 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: task at hand. Indeed, now we were looking at an 46 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: article titled the Importance of Place where Writers write and 47 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: Whine by Alexandria Enders in the Literary Life, and she 48 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: mentioned a number of different um famous authors and and 49 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: where they've written and what their approach has been, and 50 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: of course it's it's it's all over the board, like 51 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: some of the ones that a that I found interesting. 52 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: Robert Graves wrote in a room furnished only with objects 53 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: made by hand. Ben Franklin wrote in the bathtub baalzac 54 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: ate an enormous meal at around five in the morning, 55 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: and he slept on midnight, got up and wrote it 56 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: a small desk in his room for sixteen hours straight, 57 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: just drinking cup after cup of coffee to fuel the 58 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: frenzy brain. We also have the example of Marcel Proust, 59 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: best known for his novel Remember Remembrance of Things Past 60 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: h He decided to shrug off society and all of 61 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: the clamor that came with it. In nine he installed 62 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: himself in his apartment and he actually took cork, and 63 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: he lined his room, his bedroom with it, and to 64 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: keep out the ambient noises of Parisian streets below him. 65 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: And not only that, he kind of gets a little 66 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: bit o c D with his process here, and I 67 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: feel like a lot of writers do this. By the way, 68 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: He installed heavy blue silk curtains to keep the light out, 69 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: and he slept until late afternoon each day, at which 70 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: point he would get up, smoke some opium, and then 71 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: his housekeeper would bring him an elaborate coffee service for 72 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 1: him to make his own cafe a. He'd have a croissant, 73 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: he would go through his mail, read his newspaper, have 74 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: a second croissant, which, by the way, this is all orchestrated. 75 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: At certain times his housekeeper knew to bring in the croissant, 76 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: and it had to be from the same backery every day, 77 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: and then and only then would he begin his process 78 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: of writing in this sort of muffled womb like environment 79 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: he had created for himself to actually finish the novel 80 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: Remembrance of things past. Wow, Well, that's that's quite a 81 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: quite a cocktail, quite quite a recipe. He created friend 82 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: stelf there, both both chemically and environmentally, but I think 83 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: all of us can relate to that on some level, 84 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: because we've all had something we had to work on, 85 00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:59,479 Speaker 1: whether or not was a piece of fiction or something 86 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: for work or whatever, that's just required us to get 87 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: that sort of balance in our environment. And here's a 88 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: bit from Alan Lightman writing for The New Yorker about attention. 89 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: He says, quote, the eyes alone convey more than a 90 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: hundred billion signals to the brain every second. The ears 91 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: receive another avalanche of sounds. Then there are the fragments 92 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: of thoughts, conscious and unconscious, that race from one neuron 93 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,719 Speaker 1: to the next. Much of this data seems random and meaningless. Indeed, 94 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,480 Speaker 1: for us to function must have much of it has 95 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: to be ignored, but clearly not all. How do our 96 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: brains select the relevant data? Indeed, I mean to his 97 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 1: to his point, we live in a just a chaotic 98 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: storm of sensory information, but we've evolved to navigate it 99 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: with relative ease, weeding out the useless information and focusing 100 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: and on the crucial stuff. I mean to say nothing 101 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 1: of of the storm within, also dealing with the with 102 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: thoughts of past and future. We're able to ignore internal 103 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: and external distractors, but we can also inhibit competing responses 104 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:07,600 Speaker 1: to situations in order to accomplish tasks. So yeah, the 105 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: key here is that that we're not processing everything. As 106 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: we've discussed in past episodes, is a great deal of 107 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: sensory computation that occurs beneath cognition, were we don't even 108 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: we're not even consciously aware that we're seeing this or 109 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: hearing that, because we're rooting it out. I think we've 110 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,160 Speaker 1: talked before about the scenario of being at a party 111 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: and being able to focus in on the conversation you're having, 112 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: or tuning out of that conversation and listening to the 113 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 1: one next to you while also ignoring all the other sounds. Um, 114 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: but a lot of the sensory data that enters our 115 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: sensory system remains untouched. I mean, it basically goes one end. 116 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: It basically goes in one ear and out the other 117 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: as the saying goes. Typically, a neuron in the brain 118 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,720 Speaker 1: receives hundreds or even thousands of different inputs along its 119 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 1: den rights, and yet it sends just one message out 120 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,039 Speaker 1: to the next neural area. So scientists continue to study 121 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,119 Speaker 1: attention to distract, and in this podcast episode, we're looking 122 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: at a couple of more recent studies that look at 123 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: both attention and willful inattention. Uh, and how we roll 124 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: with it. Yeah, And when we look at these studies, 125 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: keep in mind that's kind of metaphor when you think 126 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: about all that stimuli and the attention that you need. Um, 127 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: think about a chorus. All right, You have one specific 128 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: part of the brain, the interial front or cortex, that's 129 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: like the conductor, and he or she is muting one 130 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: section of voices while queuing another section to raise its 131 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: voice over the others until there's something that feels like cognition. Right, 132 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: this one cohesive symphony of neurons, even though there's still 133 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: the murmuring or murmurings of these random neurons underneath it. 134 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: So that's that's this kind of symphony of cognition that 135 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,680 Speaker 1: we're going to explore today. Now, we'll often find ourself 136 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: in in that situation where you're torn, Betwen, paying attention 137 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: to two different things. It might be your math homework 138 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: versus a TV. It might be the book you're reading 139 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: versus on the beach versus the person playing volleyball on 140 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: the beach, or the motion on the beach. Um you 141 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: want to focus on one thing, but to focus on 142 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: one thing is to ignore the other. How does it 143 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: work well when your face with these two different bits 144 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: of stimuli, It triggers a conflict circuit in the brain's 145 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: dorsal anterior singulate cortex or deck, part of a larger 146 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: brain structure, the anterior cicular cortex that controls rational thought 147 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: and emotions. Uh, that's the inner workings of what's going on. 148 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: But we can also tell a lot from the outside, uh, 149 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: particularly looking at the eyes. In recent years, researchers have 150 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: gained even more appreciation for the importance of eye movements 151 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: pupil size when it comes to trying to figure out 152 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 1: what the brain is focusing on, how much it's focusing on, 153 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: how much computation power is being leveled at a particular task. 154 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:01,839 Speaker 1: And in order to examine this conflict right when you're 155 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: trying to attend to attend to one thing but you're 156 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: distructed by another thing. Juke University actually had a study 157 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: in which Michael Platt and his team of researchers implanted 158 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: sensors into the decks of rhesis macaques. And again, the 159 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: deck is the dorsal anterior singulate cortex. Now the best 160 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: way to create conflict in the deck of monkeys is 161 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: to introduce too things that they really love and then 162 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: just kind of square them off. So in this case, 163 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: we're talking about juice, one thing they love, and other monkeys. 164 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: I feel like I'm the same way, like juice and monkeys. 165 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: Like really, it's a toss up. It's not juice and humans, 166 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: it's juice and monkeys exactly like, show me a monkey, 167 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: show me a juice box. I don't know which one 168 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: I want to pay attention. All right, Well, if we 169 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,079 Speaker 1: were to implant a censer int your brain into this, 170 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: it would be very interesting to see what the results 171 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,320 Speaker 1: would be. Because the researchers took the two things that 172 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: they love. They offered a juice reward if the monkey 173 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,240 Speaker 1: could keep their eyes trained on a visual target on 174 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:05,440 Speaker 1: a screen. But then they took the other thing that 175 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: they loved, other monkeys, and they flashed images of them 176 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 1: on the periphery of the screen. So what was even 177 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: more distracting is that some of the monkey faces that 178 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: they flashed on the screen exhibited specific emotions like terror, 179 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: which would be really hard for another monkey to ignore, 180 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,840 Speaker 1: infect another human to ignore. Right, Yeah, basic social signal 181 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: something terrifying is happening. I should pay attention to what 182 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: that monkey is doing. Right, And again, they had a 183 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: juice reward here. If they could keep their eyes on 184 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: the price, they would get the juice, but a lot 185 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 1: of times they failed. Now the results here. The researchers 186 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: discovered a set of neurons that were active only when 187 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: monkeys were completing the task and trying to override those 188 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: distracting monkey faces, but not when faced with either of 189 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: the stimuli alone, just the juice box or just the 190 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,360 Speaker 1: monkey faces. And the more active the DAK neurons were, 191 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: the better the monkeys were at tuning out the distracting 192 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: faces in later trials, and the pupils seemed to change 193 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 1: in size to compensate for how difficult the task was 194 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: constricting when the faces were hard to ignore, such as 195 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: those terrorized faces we were talking about, And the smaller 196 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: they got the pupils, the better the monkeys performed in 197 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 1: subsequent trial. So the key here is fight or flight. 198 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: The fight or flight response causes the release of the 199 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: stress hormone noor adrenaline, widening the pupils so as to 200 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: take in more sensory information for the challenge at hand. 201 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:31,320 Speaker 1: I feel like we've talked about that in memory before. 202 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: You know, those like really stressful situations, it may at 203 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:36,679 Speaker 1: least seem like you're taking in more sensory information well, 204 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: especially in fear as well. So Key findings that DACK 205 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: doesn't directly control pupils size, but it connects to other 206 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: regions of the brain that do. The researchers think that 207 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: DAC might play a role in keeping us calm in 208 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: the face in face of the demands for our attention 209 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 1: that might otherwise make us confused or stressed out. Now, 210 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:59,199 Speaker 1: in a follow up study in two thousand and thirteen, 211 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: platfound that the cats performing the same I gaze task 212 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 1: did a better job of concentrating if they had inhaled oxytocin, 213 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: And the idea is that the hormone may have contributed 214 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: to better task attention because of its calming effects and 215 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: its role as a social bonding agent, Which makes you 216 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: wonder if one day classrooms will have oxytocin piped in there. 217 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 1: We're more likely this is just going to give us, uh, 218 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: these studies are just going to give us better insight 219 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: into how something like say driving while texting or even 220 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: talking on the phone while we're driving means that we're 221 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: seriously impairing the neuronal symphony that's been set forth by 222 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: the brain right to try to get us where we're going. UM. 223 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: These studies could also give us insight into attention deficit 224 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: hyperactivities disorder a d h D as well. And I 225 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: do love that term optimal inattention because it really it 226 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,559 Speaker 1: really makes you think twice about any kind of task 227 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: you're doing, about what you're focusing on, but also what 228 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:06,360 Speaker 1: you're shutting out. That the the optimal inattention level that 229 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:08,439 Speaker 1: you're reaching in order to get things done. It's just 230 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: something that I want to put on my next assessment 231 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: I was demonstrating optimal inattention. Well, there's a two thousand, 232 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,720 Speaker 1: fifteen study from Brown University that that really digs into 233 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 1: this that UM neuroscientists they're scanned the brain waves of 234 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: twelve volunteers while they were told that they would feel 235 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:32,360 Speaker 1: a brief tap either on the left middle finger or 236 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 1: on their left big toe. Now, some were told to 237 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: ignore stimuli on the foot and some were told to 238 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: ignore stimuli on the hand. The researchers measured the power 239 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: and timing of different brainwave frequencies in various brain regions. 240 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: While this was going on, UH and a particular interest 241 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: in the brain wave synchronization between the part of the 242 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: somatosensory cortex that processes touch in the hand and the 243 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: right inferior frontal cortex tied to suppression of attention and 244 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:05,959 Speaker 1: end action. Now, I wanted to mention that the researchers 245 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: used magneto and cephalography to scan subjects. And this is 246 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,480 Speaker 1: significant because I'm like f M R I, which has 247 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: a pretty decent delay when scanning the brain. MEG is 248 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: more precise because it can really reveal the timing of 249 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,160 Speaker 1: neural activity down to the middleseconds, so you can see 250 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: that neuronal symphony at play here. And the researchers anticipated 251 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 1: that they would see a greater synchrony between the somatosensory cortex, 252 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: that part of the brain again that processes touch, and 253 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: the right inferioral frontal cortex, which is again governing suppression. 254 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: And they wanted to control though right because I wanted 255 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: to make sure that this right inferial frontal cortex was 256 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: in fact governing, So they looked out at the frontal 257 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: cortex to make sure there wasn't a lot of activity 258 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 1: going on there, and they found indeed that there was not, 259 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: that it was the r I f C that was 260 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: tamping down their urges to become distracted, and they did 261 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: indeed find that correlation of synchrony between the sematosensory cortex 262 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: and the r I f C. Moreover, when volunteers were 263 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: simply told what was about to happen just a fraction 264 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: fraction of a second later, they saw the alpha wave 265 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: synchrony increase between those two brain regions already gearing up 266 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,880 Speaker 1: to partner in this sort of shared process of stimuli 267 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: and reporting. And researchers found a similar spike in synchrony 268 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: when volunteers were about to report a sensation. This time though, 269 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: it was beta wave synchrony between the somati sensory cortex 270 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: and the r I f C, which is painting this 271 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 1: picture of these two brain processes really trying to tether 272 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: themselves together and create that willful ignoring. Now at this 273 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: point you might be wondering, well, what are what are 274 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: some of the possible applications of this, because you know, 275 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:03,240 Speaker 1: we've we've been talking about you know, taps on the 276 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: hand and the foot ignoring slight sensory information like that UH. 277 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: But one application here gets into possible UH use as 278 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 1: a as a means of treating chronic pain. UM study 279 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: co authors Stephanie Jones and Katherine Kerr are actually working 280 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: with the Dr Breen Brent Dr Ben Greenberg, a professor 281 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 1: of psychiatry and human behavior, to explore the possible use 282 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: of non invasive transcranial altering current electrical stimulation or TAX, 283 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: to take advantage of this willful and attention process. Now, 284 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: TAX has previously been explored for possible applications tackling diseases 285 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: where abnormal oscillatory patterns in the brain player roles, such 286 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: as Parkinson's disease or schizophrenia, as well as in therapy 287 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 1: for optic nerve injuries. In this case, however, Kieren Jones 288 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 1: are curious as to whether TAX could be used to 289 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: manipulate alpha and beta waves between parts of the brain 290 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 1: such as the somount of sensory cortex and the right 291 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: inferior frontal the right inferior frontal cortex to suppress attention 292 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,919 Speaker 1: to or even the detection of pain. So again that 293 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,280 Speaker 1: the possibilities here in the treatment of chronic pain especially 294 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: are pretty significant well. And also pain is probably the 295 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: most distracting thing that you could throw out their rights 296 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: in some sort of environment your internal state um to 297 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: try to tamp down. So what's interesting is that researchers 298 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 1: also looked at pain through meditation. So if you want 299 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:42,479 Speaker 1: to test out how well meditation works and blocking pain, well, 300 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,680 Speaker 1: here's the study by wake Forest Baptist Medical Center which 301 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: was published in the April six and eleven edition of 302 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: the Journal of Neuroscience. And what they did is they 303 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: recruited fifteen healthy volunteers who had never ever meditated before. 304 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 1: They attended for twenty minute us is to learn a 305 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: meditation technique known as focused attention. This is a kind 306 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: of mindfulness in which people are taught to attend to 307 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: the breath and then let go of distracting thoughts and emotions. 308 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: And in fact, the meditation app that I use does 309 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: this um to great effect. It really teaches you how 310 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:22,479 Speaker 1: to not force these thoughts away but let them just 311 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: recede into the background. So they learned how to do this, 312 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:32,679 Speaker 1: and both before and after meditation training, their brain was examined. 313 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: They used something called a s l m R I 314 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: which actually captures longer duration brain processes than just regular 315 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: f M R I. And during these scans, this is 316 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 1: the great part, a pain inducing heat device was placed 317 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 1: on the participant's right legs and this device heated in 318 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 1: an area of their skin to one and twenty degrees fahrenheit, 319 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:58,639 Speaker 1: a temperature that most people would find, you know, uncomfortable 320 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: and even painful in just like a cigar, because that's 321 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,879 Speaker 1: what I know. Now, this was not like run by 322 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: the mafia or anything. This experiment um and they endured 323 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 1: this for over a five minute period. Now here are 324 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 1: the cool findings. The scams taken after meditation training showed 325 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 1: that every participant's pain rating was reduced, with decreases ranging 326 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 1: from eleven to and moreover, activity in the smuto sensory cortex, 327 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: which was processing the intensity of the heat, was really 328 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:37,440 Speaker 1: high when scans were taken before the participants underwent meditation 329 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: training and while they were experiencing the heat. But when 330 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:44,880 Speaker 1: participants were meditating during the scans and having the heat 331 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:49,240 Speaker 1: applied to them, activity in this region, this pain processing 332 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:55,439 Speaker 1: processing region could not be detected at all. So Fidel Zaidon, 333 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 1: who is a lead author of the study, wrote, we 334 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:00,240 Speaker 1: found a big effect about a four what do you 335 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,199 Speaker 1: percent reduction and pain intensity in a fifty seven percent 336 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:07,439 Speaker 1: reduction and pain unpleasantness. Now compare that to something like 337 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 1: morphine or other pain relieving drugs, and they typically only 338 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: reduced pain ratings by about And this is even more 339 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,359 Speaker 1: telling when you again realize that these are just normal 340 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,879 Speaker 1: people that were essentially given a crash course in meditation, 341 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 1: not yogis, not Tibetan monks, just normal folks, right, not 342 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 1: zen level. You know, I'm gonna endure this pain and 343 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 1: suffering from my entire life, right, people who are just like, Okay, 344 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: I'll participate in this study. All right, it's okay, we're 345 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: gonna get in our time machine. And you are in 346 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 1: serious need of some sort of isolation so that you 347 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:52,919 Speaker 1: can really concentrate. And uh, by the way, you're this 348 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,359 Speaker 1: guy who happens to be named Hugo Gernsback. You're an 349 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:59,920 Speaker 1: editor of Science and Invention magazine, and you're a pioneer 350 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: and sci fi. What do you do when you need 351 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: a little respite from the world and you need to concentrate, Well, 352 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: you cook up a little sci fi essentially a space 353 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,320 Speaker 1: helmet to escape from the environment that you're working in, 354 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: which I imagine is filled with cigarette smoke as well. 355 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,919 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, because this is again so it's probably one 356 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: of those When I was in newspapers, I would I 357 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: would hear about old environments where someone would would have 358 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: to say cigarette me while they were working on a story, 359 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:32,120 Speaker 1: you know, where someone comes up and actually just puts 360 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: the cigarette in your mouth and lights it for you. 361 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: So I think it's very much a cigarette me world 362 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,639 Speaker 1: that Hugo was the suffering through, that's right. And he 363 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:45,120 Speaker 1: didn't come up with a solution, which he called the isolator. Yeah, 364 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: basically just a big sort of Darth Vadery looking contraption, 365 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:51,600 Speaker 1: a big helmet that he would put over his head, 366 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: uh soundproof headcage essentially with its own oxygenainst oxygen supply again, 367 00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,399 Speaker 1: so you don't have to you're not distracted by all 368 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:01,880 Speaker 1: that cigaret at smoke or what have you that you're 369 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,880 Speaker 1: breathing in in your in your office. Yeah, it has 370 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:08,439 Speaker 1: just those two round eye holes in a sort of 371 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: protruding mouth hohole area where the hose for the oxygen 372 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: comes in. And it really is just an example of 373 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,040 Speaker 1: artful terror. Yeah, it kind of has a man in 374 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,199 Speaker 1: the iron mask look to it, or some sort of 375 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: like face shackle that you would put on a suspected 376 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: warlock in a medieval setting. But hey, I mean, you 377 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:30,720 Speaker 1: gotta do what you gotta do, and you need to 378 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,960 Speaker 1: get down to business. And the hugo Grim's back was 379 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,639 Speaker 1: just taking the reins there and if you want to 380 00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:38,679 Speaker 1: see a picture of it, uh the landing page for 381 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: this episode, I'll make sure to include a link at 382 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: the bottom. All Right, you know we've got a few 383 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: minutes here. Let's call over the robot and get through 384 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: a little listener mail. This is from Brian. He says, Hello, 385 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: Julie and Robert. I'm seventeen years old and have been 386 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:56,919 Speaker 1: listening to your podcast since you guys were stuff from 387 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,159 Speaker 1: the Science Lab, which is a pretty long time. But 388 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:01,480 Speaker 1: I never bothered to write you, as I'm sure you 389 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: have enough emails and junk to go through. I love 390 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: the podcast and it inspired me to learn oodles. Is 391 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 1: this a word of creativity? But one problem I have, 392 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: and I hate to be a party pooper, is how 393 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,760 Speaker 1: you guys seem to be almost purposely avoiding the concept 394 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,159 Speaker 1: of race. While race should be unimportant in society. It 395 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,640 Speaker 1: no doubt has an effect on how we treat each 396 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: other in modern day society. Plenty of topics you've done 397 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: could have mentioned race, but I feel like you guys 398 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: are just avoiding it. There's plenty of science, interesting science 399 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: about race and discrimination that can be talked about in 400 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 1: a completely objective way, the same way you talk about 401 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,719 Speaker 1: homosexuality or religion. There's no need to feel like you 402 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 1: can't talk about the subject. People are just different colors 403 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: and there's nothing to feel awkward about. But I still 404 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:48,719 Speaker 1: love the podcast and really enjoy Roberts really obscure metaphors. 405 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: My two favorite are sharks being like movie producers and 406 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: mortality being like the bubble scene from Charlie in the 407 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: Chocolate Factory. Yes, I'm not sure how to end an 408 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:01,960 Speaker 1: e mail. I haven't sent an email in years. I'm 409 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: going to assume to end it like a letter. Brian, 410 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,160 Speaker 1: your oldest fan who still happens to be very young. 411 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,520 Speaker 1: Uh so, Brian, besides being one of our youngest and 412 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: most precocious fans, by the way, he's planning on studying 413 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:18,119 Speaker 1: neuroscience in college. He is an excellent observer. We have 414 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,800 Speaker 1: not covered race in earnest. Though it's not intentional by 415 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: any means. We've lit on it a few times with 416 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: studies that have come up from time to time. But 417 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 1: you know that's not enough. So we will be recording 418 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 1: a podcast called The Gordian Knot of Race that will 419 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,399 Speaker 1: deal with this erroneous line of logic, like Sino color, 420 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 1: this idea that sometimes can gloss over the more deep 421 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,919 Speaker 1: seated issues that exist today. And we'll discuss how the 422 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,119 Speaker 1: unconscious and the conscious uh play out in terms of 423 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,880 Speaker 1: racial biases that shape socio economics. And we'll also see 424 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,199 Speaker 1: how that can lead to something called the school to 425 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: prison pipeline. Yeah, and if I remember correctly, we did 426 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,400 Speaker 1: go We discussed in the seven S of Memory Um 427 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:05,199 Speaker 1: episode how false memories work. We discussed a little about 428 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,359 Speaker 1: racial bias in terms of how we remember things. But 429 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: but yeah, I'm looking forward to diving into it in earnest. Yeah, 430 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 1: so thank you Brian for writing that. That was really 431 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,439 Speaker 1: helpful and great to hear from you. All Right, this 432 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,480 Speaker 1: one comes to us from Rico. Rico says, Hi, guys, 433 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:22,399 Speaker 1: been listening to the podcast for a while now, and 434 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,760 Speaker 1: no matter the topic, I have been thoroughly enthralled until 435 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: the recent episode about babies. It wasn't the thought of 436 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,399 Speaker 1: both of you eating a small child that might have 437 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: been better. It was the constant and repetitive reference to 438 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: babies and their features. They gave me a physical feeling 439 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: of nausea and disgust. I don't know why it affected 440 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 1: me in a way that the triple phobia episode never did. 441 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: This is not a complaint, just an amusing anecdote. Further, 442 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,160 Speaker 1: I have a UV tattoo. A few points. Number one, 443 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: finding an artist who is willing to tattoo you in 444 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: UV inc has been difficult, even here in Los Angeles. 445 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 1: Number two, tattooing the UV inc is difficult. It has 446 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,720 Speaker 1: a run any texture that my artists suggested was quote 447 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 1: akin to tattooing someone with lemonade. Number three, the UV 448 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 1: property of the ink fades. I have the clear UV 449 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: ink and after a short time it will no longer glow. 450 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:15,520 Speaker 1: And number four, because of the above, I have gotten 451 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: the tattoo redone a few times, and now the appearance 452 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:24,119 Speaker 1: is closer to scarification appreciations Rico so that, Indeed, it's 453 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 1: always interesting to hear about people's responses to outright disturbing 454 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: content or um unexpectedly deserving content and really great to 455 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: hear some uh, some actual firsthand experience on uvy tattoos. Yeah, 456 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: and we certain certainly didn't mean to, uh to scare 457 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: you away there with our descriptions of juicy babies. Um, 458 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,160 Speaker 1: but you know, each of us has a tender spot 459 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 1: and you never know how or when it's going to 460 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: be revealed. Alright. Our last bit of listener mail here 461 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: comes from Jason says, Hi, I'm Jason. I just listen 462 00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,640 Speaker 1: to your podcast about the weight of the soul. I've 463 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: always on subjects like this interesting because I happened to 464 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: work in the health care field, specifically respiratory therapy. I 465 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: have currently worked in a major I currently work in 466 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: a major hospital, and I'm constantly exposed to the dead, dying, 467 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,919 Speaker 1: the very ill. My job is literally to improve the 468 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,679 Speaker 1: breathing of or breath for my patients. Early on in 469 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,439 Speaker 1: my career, I noticed that I could tell whether a 470 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 1: person was alive or dead by looking at their eyes. 471 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,760 Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure where this phrase came from, but 472 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: the eyes of the window into the soul. I believe 473 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: that is how it goes, and it feels like a 474 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: very literal translation. On one hand, when we look in 475 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,439 Speaker 1: to each other's eyes, we see a life force that 476 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: I still have no words to describe. On the other hand, 477 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,400 Speaker 1: I never see any activity, just emptiness. Their eyes always 478 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,919 Speaker 1: changed right before the code occurs. Example, a patient of 479 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,680 Speaker 1: mine was having issues breathing. He was un a ventilator 480 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: with the trichyostomy and had been getting a continually anxious 481 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: over the last hour or so. I had been in 482 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,360 Speaker 1: and out of his room that night, doing various things 483 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,879 Speaker 1: to attempt to help him calm down. Although his vital 484 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,680 Speaker 1: signs were fairly stable and his oxygenation status looked perfect, 485 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: I was still concerned. While waiting in his room, I 486 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: started to notice and acute change in his appearance and 487 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: told one of the nurses to get a doctor. As 488 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: soon as the words came out of my mouth, I 489 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: looked into his eyes, saw them glaze over, lose their light, energy, 490 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:19,440 Speaker 1: life force, focus, and he was gone. When I say 491 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,160 Speaker 1: go dark, I always feel that there is a light 492 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: in those eyes that goes away, such as a candle 493 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,440 Speaker 1: being blown out. This was one of those cases where 494 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: at the moment of death, you could see his eyes 495 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: go dark while still talking to him. It's at this 496 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 1: point that I should mention that I've seen this light, energy, focus, 497 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, come back into someone's eyes. 498 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 1: This is usually This usually occurs in patients with injuries 499 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 1: or illnesses that are serious enough to kill someone, but 500 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: can also be fixed if they if they do die. 501 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 1: It's incredibly hard to explain, but watching someone's eyes, you 502 00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: can see them go from empty and glazed over to 503 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 1: lit up and active. I can't explain this phenomenon, but 504 00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: I know this is something that not everyone talks about 505 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: or even notices, not that I know of. I thought 506 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: you might find this interesting, so I figured I would share. 507 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Well. Indeed, 508 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: thank you for sharing that that firsthand account indeed of 509 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: of something that most of us never get to witness. 510 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: I mean, we're so far removed from from death in 511 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 1: our culture that that's certainly the moment of death is 512 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,800 Speaker 1: often lost to us. Indeed, at Harkenspect when we were 513 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 1: talking about end of life robots, at one point there 514 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 1: was an artist who was creating a bit of AI 515 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: to help people at the end of their lives, and 516 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: we were debating about the really the necessity and the 517 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: helpfulness of that when pales in comparison to having that 518 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: human connection and the other person with you. Indeed, so, Jason, 519 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 1: thanks again for sharing. Thanks to the others as well, 520 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: and Hey, in the meantime, if you want to check 521 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:54,440 Speaker 1: out stuff to Blow your Mind dot com, that's where 522 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,520 Speaker 1: you'll find all of our podcast episodes. That's where you'll 523 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: find all of our videos, our blog post as most 524 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 1: links out to social media accounts, and you can send 525 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:04,960 Speaker 1: us your thoughts on this and any other podcast by 526 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: emailing us at blur the Mind how stuff works dot com. 527 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,720 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 528 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:20,840 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com.