"The Eagle has landed"
- Neil Armstrong, The Moon, 1969

Neil Armstrong takes control of the Eagle lunar module as the autopilot threatens to land on the rocky flank of a large crater. He determines that such a location might unbalance the craft and compromise safety of the crew and the mission.  Too much is at stake, but still, the consequences of making a ‘manual’ mistake are unthinkable...Under the weight of pressure of an entire planet watching through splayed fingers, he maintains impeccable composure as fuel dwindles and a safe spot can be found to touch down.  The world breathes a sigh of relief and a cheer resonates across the globe! 

What distinguishes a ‘high’ performer from a ‘low’ performer? How does stress impact on ability to maintain composure and fulfil the task at hand? 

Stress affects people in different ways.  Different types of stress can affect a single person in different ways... 

Environmental stress including heat, cold, reduced oxgyen availability (such as in high altitude environs), as well as more ‘commonly experienced’ stressors such as noise, vibration - in industrial settings for instance), or even the ‘workload’ in everyday life, be it cognitive, or physical, all have an impact on one’s ability to perform tasks, from simple to complex, familiar to novel (Taylor et al., 2015).  

It is pretty much a ‘given’ that with increasing stress, to a critical mass, it doesn’t matter who ‘you’ are, stress will get the better of you, and your performance will suffer. There is no ‘superhuman’ who is impervious to high stress-loads (I have met and associated with many individuals who exhibit high levels of performance under extreme conditions, and all seem pretty ‘normal’ to me – at least in the sense of sharing ‘standard’ personality traits, hopes and fears, insecurities, character flaws that signify their being all members of the human race – give or take the odd ‘lunatic’ characteristic!).  Having said that, individuals DO have the capacity to deal with that stress in ways that adaptively compensate for the stress, and perform ‘optimally’, or at least manage to stave off ‘suboptimality’.  This appears to be down to strategic management of the stressor context, and the task demands of the moment. By studying examples of this ‘high performance’ demographic (which is not exclusive to athletes, impresarios, elite ‘operators’, executive managerial types, by the way) we can learn how ‘stress-management’ is indeed a strategy rather than an innate, inborn trait per se.  Strategies can be learnt, the principles behind them applied to any individual to improve capacity for resilience, adaptation, and ‘optimal performance’. 

Thus, it is the contention that ‘optimal performance’, particularly under stress, is derived from efficiency and effective ‘streamlining’ of cognitive and attentional resources that ‘prune off’ redundant activity in the brain and maximise ‘spend’ of the available energy towards the task at hand.  The brain is a highly redundant, plastic organ that prides itself in finding multiple avenues to tackle problems, using its plethora of functions and processes to connect together different regions with specialised functioning to arrive at the solution.  Its plasticity is evident in cases of brain injury where one area takes on the role and functioning of another that has been damaged (blind people ‘see’ by adaptively using their visual cortical areas to map the world, extending their other sensory capabilities into these ‘redundant spaces’).   It’s the reason why learning new skills is easier when one is younger but as more ‘fixed’ patterns emerge and consolidate into older age, that plasticity is less in evidence.   

A particular connection of ‘nodes’ or regions with specialised functions come together to more ‘globalised’ effect dependent on cognitive demands, particularly with respect to goal-directed behaviour and the governance of attention.  The Central Executive or ‘Task-Positive’ Network (TPN) does this in order to galvanise resource towards performance on specific tasks, including processing of salient cues in the environment that facilitate ‘getting the job done’ appropriately.  Meanwhile, a separate network of specialised nodes forms strong connections when at rest, or when thoughts wander ‘off-task’ - the so-called Default Mode Network (DMN).  The strength of connectivity or ‘activation’ of these networks fluctuates, along with attention when the individual preserves or relinquishes focus on the task at hand – favouring the task-positive network when ‘on-task’ and the default mode network when ‘off-task’.  This is clearly displayed in experimental studies using neuroimaging and other measures of attention and cognition.  There will be times when ‘default mode’ activation remains to some degree ‘on’ even when a task is being performed successfully, but this may be due to the nature of the task requiring some input from this ‘internal cognition’ status (for instance where reliance on memory for past events – autobiographical memory – inform the current task requirements, or perhaps simulation of future events that help solve the current problem and which draw on ‘self-referential’ mental content).  There is a broader role also for the default mode network in ‘broadband’ monitoring of the external environment pertaining to potential updates in information that need to be factored into current attention task-focus.  [See various reference sources, selectively: Kirshner et al., 2012; Lin et al., 2017; Mittner et al., 2016] 

A further network known as the Salience Network plays an important executive role in determining where attention is deployed – externally (goal-focused and ‘task-positive’) or internally (allowing ‘mind-wandering’, spontaneous off-task thought to arise, or as mentioned, in the case of DMN ‘self-referent’ thinking relevant to the current task, or even in situations where creative thinking can provide new ideas and solutions through a focused use of DMN functioning) [see Chand et al., 2017]. Finally, the Salience Network comprises two sub-networks, the Dorsal Attentional Network (DAN) which is more concerned with goal-directed, top-down facilitated or ‘voluntary’ attention subserving cognitive processes, and the Ventral Attentional Network (VAN), which is involved in orienting attention to unexpected behaviourally salient cues, and has a role in emotional processing.  The DAN will come in to play ‘effortfully’ to put attention ‘back on track’ where it threatens to be derailed from the task at hand by spontaneously arising ‘off-task’ thought, restoring functional connectivity to the TPN and deactivating the DMN.  Meanwhile, and of relevance to a discussion on stress effects, where the individual struggles to disengage from the environment and the stress it is imposing currently, the VAN has been shown to display heightened functional connectivity, and a proclivity of the system to processing the emotional ramifications of the situation, preventing deactivation of the DMN and the optimised shifting to a more TPN state that enables fulfilment of task goals (Soares et al., 2013). 

What this all points to is an interconnected system of functions that favour external versus internal processing demands and which require some executive level decisions to be made on how to ‘spend’ resource in order to perform as required on the job that needs to be done.  As with any system, under times of increasing strain, greater efficiency of spend is required to balance budgets and prioritise who or what gets the funds necessary to benefit the system as a whole for its immediate survival needs. 
 
The biological system has a robust mechanism in place to deal with stress and attempt to redress the balance in needs and task requirements - a compensatory control mechanism that will ‘boost’ resources where needed to preserve performance on task (Hockey, 2007; 2011).  Physiological reserves, if you like, being made available to give the brain extra energy to refocus on it’s goals.  Imagine you are coming down from the top of a mountain, but cannot afford to slip and have an accident – the goal is getting safely back down, the summit representing only 50% of your true goal.  You are tired, stumbling, low in fuel, but it is imperative you retain concentration, take the correct route, don’t succumb to fatigue.  Your system, with extra effort injected will compensate. You’ll be doubly tired later on, but for now the extra effort is required.  Adrenaline serves this function in fight or flight scenarios where pain is masked, one ‘fights on’ or runs away from the danger. The ‘dump’ comes later on as the cost of using reserves depletes the system more significantly when the danger is gone and recuperation is possible in the safety of ‘home’. 

However, there comes a point when stress-loading is too great. There is nothing left ‘in the tank’ to boost flagging reserves.  inevitably the system is compromised and performance suffers. An  executive decision may have already come into play opting to ‘deal with the source of stress’ and look out for one’s own wellbeing, rather than focusing on preserving performance on task.  This is perhaps where the VAN has input with respect to flagging the emotional relevance of the situation, and the need to deal with one’s own bodily state as a matter of priority.  Where things become more desperate is when the consequences of not preserving task performance will inevitably lead to serious consequences for the organism’s wellbeing or survival, yet there is no reserve at all to draw upon.   

Fundamental though to keeping this perplexing dilemma at bay is the capacity to retain efficiency of resource distribution even in the face of extreme levels of stress. This is thought to demarcate the ‘high’ from the ‘low’ performer.  it is that capacity to prevent unnecessary processes from coming online in order to maximise the diversion of attention to the task-positive network’s operational needs.  In effect, this is a less wasteful strategy.  That is an important point to drive home.  We are all wastefully-inclined beings – perhaps a product of such a redundancy-heavy brain!  

The current time we are experiencing espouses the dictum that what we have in abundance we take for granted, yet the removal of certain ‘privileges’ such as freedom to go where and when we please, or to source some basic foodstuffs (flour, pasta!) sends us collectively into wide-eyed panic, high anxiety, doom-mongering! This is a very apposite time to take stock of our ‘redundant’ proclivities. Of our wasteful and assumptive practices. And to realise we have a perfect opportunity to motivate change towards more streamlined, efficient, effective attitudes and behaviours. Recognise wastefulness, and ‘privileges’.  The latter will return, as the mark of an affluent and civilised society. But for now, revel in an opportunity to de-clutter one’s domicile (cognitively speaking).  There is great satisfaction once clutter is cleared out, waste is disposed of (recycled!) and one can begin to see the essence of one’s being more clearly.  You are leaner, meaner (!), for it.  Perhaps this makes you more hungry, but unless that hunger regresses to starvation, this is potentially a good thing. For ‘hunger’ in that sense begets motivation.  Removing waste is removing baggage. 

Ultimately, to achieve this state begins with the recognition of ‘clutter’ surrounding you.  This is effectively the clutter of ‘self’. And is evidenced in the bringing ‘online’ of areas within the Default Mode that simply do not contribute to task-performance.  To be a ‘high performer’ is to recognise this influence, and train attention to firstly disengage from these ‘self-referent’ regions (which will otherwise happily indulge themselves if left unchecked!), and divert this ‘released’ resrouce to the task-positive network.  The former may require a process of mindfulness training to become aware of that redundancy.  The latter is more of a natural consequence of ‘deactivating’ the DMN but with a goal already in mind and the tools to begin to address that goal.  I will go into more practical detail in due course on how to refocus into a task positive and productive state, and how attention can focus on more externally relevant stimuli (taking stock of the sensory environment in which we are situated rather than the internally distracted state of ‘being in one’s own head’) to this end. 

But ultimately, the goal is to become ‘cool as a cucumber’ and to find insights into this by learning from examples of those who have displayed such extraordinary composure under pressure - as alluded to in the opening paragraph.  And importantly, take note that extraordinary capacity is within us all – it's the strategy that’s important, not the person! One person’s ‘extreme’ is another’s ‘mundane’. It's all relative. To the single parent stuck at home, attempting to home-school hyperactive kids, manage a business self-employed, this might as well be like piloting a flimsy module through the airless wastes of The Moon!  

At the end of the day ‘optimal performance’ comes down to composure, efficiency, and ‘waste-management’.   
 
References 
 
Chand,G.B., Wu, J., Hajjar, I.H. and Qiu, D. (2017). Interactions of the Salience Network and Its Subsystems with the Default-Mode and the Central-Executive Networks in Normal Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment. BRAIN CONNECTIVITY (7) 

Hockey, G.R.J.  (2007).  Environmental Stress, Effects on Human Performance 

Hockey, G. R. J. (2011). A motivational control theory of cognitive fatigue. In P.L. Ackerman (Ed.), Cognitive fatigue: multidisciplinary perspectives on current research and future applications (pp. 167-188). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association 

Jaeggi, S.M., BuSchkuehl, M., etienne, A., ozdoBa, C., Perrig, W.J., and Nirkko, A.C. (2007).  On how high performers keep cool brains in situations of cognitive overload. Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience 7(2):75-89 

Kirschner, K., Kam, J.W.Y.,Handy, T.C., and Ward, L.M. (2012). Differential synchronization in default and task-specific networks of the human brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience  (6) 139 

Lin, P. Yang, Y., Gao,J.,  De Pisapia, N.,  Ge, S.,  Wang, X., Zuo, C.S., Levitt, J.J., & Niu C. (2017). Dynamic Default Mode Network across Different Brain States.     Scientific Reports (7), 46088   

Mittner M1, Hawkins GE2, Boekel W2, Forstmann BU (2016). A Neural Model of Mind Wandering.Trends Cogn Sci. 20(8):570-578. 
 
Soares, J. M., Sampaio, A., Ferreira, L. M., Santos, N. C., Marques, P., Marques, F., Palha, J. A., Cerqueira, J. J., & Sousa, N. (2013). Stress Impact on Resting State Brain Networks. PloS one, 8(6), e66500. 

Taylor, L., Watkins, S.L., Marshall, H., Dascombe, B.J. and Foster, J. (2015). The Impact of Different Environmental Conditions on Cognitive Function: A Focused Review. Frontiers in Physiology. 6, 372, 1-1 
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

“CRASH TACK! CRASH TACK!” A flurry of activity violently erupts just as the squall hits us across the beam. The sea is churning, spray across faces already bitten into by the icy wind. Mr Wilson has gone into the water. We must act fast, keep eyes on his position as our course leaves him in our wake, the churning water obscuring visibility. We mustn’t lose sight or he will be lost to the elements. Crew springs into life, spotter on the stern, another on the radio seeking assistance. Helmsman adeptly spins the boat around to stop before engaging engine and setting sails to return to the casualty. We drift with the wind, and eventually retrieve poor Mr Wilson before the briny swallows him forever. The wind drops right on cue, the squall has passed. Normal service resumes.

Fortunately, Mr Wilson is alright. In fact he is smiling. A permanently cheery crewmate whatever the conditions. His marker pen face on his yellow plastic body keeps us laughing. He is used to it. His name was bestowed by our equally cheery captain, who is an expert sailor hailing from Czechoslovakia. Her favourite film is Castaway, and our resident Man Overboard (M.O.B.) ‘dummy’ is named after Tom Hank’s basketball…
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The drill is one of many that are practiced during our voyage around the Sounds of the Firth of Clyde in western Scotland. It’s a course I have been wanting to complete for a long while, and where better to do it than in such spectacular surroundings. Except it’s the middle of winter, and right slap bang in the midst of the series of storm cycles that are blighting the UK this year…Well they say challenge brings out the best in you!

With my ‘Adventure Psychologist’ hat on I like to practice what I preach, and this is what I feel compelled to do during my time out at sea, as it’s all a little bit stressful (at times!). So here is a taster of my approach, some underlying principles based on understanding how the brain responds to (and under) stress. As it happens, sailing and sea-borne voyaging is an excellent metaphor for life, for addressing circumstances that throw obstacles in one’s path, and how to better oneself through prevailing under adversity. It’s no coincidence that the idioms of our everyday speech are replete with turns-of phrase that have been passed down the generations from nautical contexts!

“You’re sailing close to the wind, me-lad” as my dad used to say (usually before I got walloped for getting up to mischief)! “There’s an opportunity in the offing.” “It’s not all plain sailing." “Give that a wide berth!” “Am feeling under the weather.” etc. etc. I could go on for some time as the English language is chock-a-block with such phrases!!!

There is something primal, instinctual about being under sail, right on course, and in that zone where senses are attuned to the power of nature, the vessel is ploughing ahead through the water, and one’s goals are on track. Which fits nicely with the framework I will expand upon to help one manage mindset, emotional state and purposeful, goal-driven behaviours. Into the ‘flow’ state if you like. I have written at length already about the brain functions involved in managing our attention, giving rise to our ‘feelings’ / emotions, and the way we can switch from one brain state to another depending on whether we are ‘task-focused’ or ‘self-indulgent’. This is the foundation for a practical approach to using this understanding to firstly increase awareness of how the brain ‘works’, and secondly to apply that knowledge to take some control over what may otherwise respond reflexively, and to steer our intentions and emotions in the right direction…

To refresh briefly, there are three aspects to this:

• Firstly, there is the notion of the Hero’s Quest, and which serves as a useful metaphor for our aspirations and motivations in daily life, the curiosity that drives us to set out on a certain path, the trials and tribulations encountered, and the formative lessons learnt that strengthen our resolve and resilience. In short this is about the experiences we have in life that makes us what we are. Please check out this article which introduces this idea.
• Secondly, there is the concept of interoception which refers to the way in which we tune in to our bodily responses to the environment and to our internal biological equilibrium, and how this then informs our ‘feelings’ or emotional states. This ultimately paves the way for our behaviours in response to circumstance. Do I feel like doing such and such?
• Thirdly, there is the understanding that the brain switches certain processes on and off and that by focusing attention on different aspects of the environment (externally and internally), this effectively changes the way we approach tasks, and determines how successfully we are at performing them. We are either task-focused or self-absorbed. To be most effective one needs to ‘switch off’ the ‘self’ components and slide into that ‘zone’ where we are perhaps sailing close to the wind, set on course and making good headway!

So how can we make use of these three components practically in order to make a difference to our daily activities, to achieve aspirations and to inhibit the negative voice inside that threatens to sink the ship?

The Hero’s Quest acknowledges that we have an innate curiosity which prompts us to rove from the comfort of the home, out onto the path (maybe one that is ‘less travelled’ depending on where one ‘lives’). We gather momentum that carries us further from home and the comforts implied. At some point that momentum has taken us beyond where was planned, we are now committed to the course. To turn back is to: a) acknowledge ‘defeat’; b) realise it’s quite a long way back, so might as well carry on! Soon are encountered obstacles to progress, but again one is committed and defeat weighs heavier still on the mind. Ultimately, one progresses but the pressures begin to break one down. To persist through this inevitable stage is to build resilience, find the path home, and become re-invigorated. The ‘experience’ now under one’s belt grants an impetus to pass on that knowledge to others, but also to put to use in future when dealing with one’s own challenges (and aspirations)! This metaphorical journey can be usefully considered as a step towards self-growth and personal development, acknowledging that the cycle is inevitable and challenges help facilitate progress. In short, whilst ‘stress’ is a negatively loaded term, the fact is, stress facilitates growth, and indeed is what motivates us to get up and do things that move us forward in life. Without a degree of stress (arousal for want of a better word) we don’t achieve anything! And as this is a cycle, this means it exists in a finite time period (however much that time might seem to dilate when one is struggling uphill and climbing over the obstacles). This is an important idea I will come back to in the ‘task-focused’ brain state component shortly (time being relative and ‘manipulable’). So even though it seems like things are hopeless, traumatic, stressful, it is vital to recognise that this is something that will pass, and which is indeed facilitatory!

This leads into interoception. The Valence-Arousal model reduces the complexity of emotional/feeling states to two dimensions (one, ‘Valence’ that provokes motion towards – ‘approach’ – or away – ‘avoid’; the other, ‘Arousal’, stipulating how much energy is available in the system to generate the action associated with approaching or avoiding a stimulus). We can use this conceptualisation to effectively ‘decide’ how we feel in a given moment, and how to deal with the source of that feeling (the environmental stimulus if you like). This is easier to visualise as two axes crossing one another (Arousal on the vertical axis, Valence on the horizontal) and forming four quadrants. Each quadrant represents a collection of different possible emotional states, in a clockwise direction from upper right: high arousal and positive valence (associated with ‘positive’ and ‘active’ emotions such as excitement, delight), low arousal and positive valence (more relaxed mood, calm, contentment), low arousal and negative valence (boredom, apathy, lethargy), high arousal and negative valence (frustration, anger, typically described as ‘stress’).

Suffice to say, by sensing the core bodily signals of both arousal levels and implied direction of this energy, in a discrete moment, we can intercept our ‘feelings’ before they become fully formed and described as one emotional state or another. And by doing so, we can divert our attention from one quadrant of this model to another, to effectively shift the valence into a more positive state as desired. A simple example might be where you take note that you are in a state of high arousal (there is a lot of energy in your system) and perhaps your initial reaction is to shy away from, avoid this feeling, this circumstance that is provoking the response. In a state of potential anxiety, one has too much energy coursing through the body and the ‘flight’ response is activated. BUT, by a force of will, and a re-envisaging of what this signal means, one can decide in fact to approach this source, and therefore recognise that this ‘anxiety’ is in fact excitement! This is the principle of shifting one’s perspective by tuning into the basic bodily signals that are the basis for our behaviours. Returning to the earlier analogy, by a small shift in the direction of travel, one can cross from one ‘tack’ to another approaching the wind from different angles, and keeping the course on a positive heading! [A further way you might use the same principle, is, on asserting that you feel 'x' emotion (eg. 'fearful'), to then decide which alternative emotional state you would prefer to 'feel', and then go about shifting in that direction, steering a course around the model and towards the appropriate quadrant - so from 'fear' to 'excitement' for instance.]

Finally, having acknowledged that the journey is ‘on course’, that obstacles are there to facilitate progress purposefully, and that one can ‘take the helm’ by interocepting the source of feelings to change direction positively, the last step is to shift the brain into a ‘task-focused’ state. As it is the ruminating and indulgent ‘self’ that inhibits progress, this needs to be tuned down, turned off. A relatively simple way to do this is to now recognise there is a task to be done, and to be relished. Focusing attention externally is key to this, and to ‘get on’ with the task that is set. Very rapidly the voice of the ‘self’ will retreat into the background, drowned in the wind of progress! You might say this is easier said than done, that ‘wind conditions’ do not favour a rapid formula for success! If so, perhaps the self needs a little help in being tuned down. This is where the tried and tested technique of ‘mindfulness’ comes to bear. By first noticing that one is thinking self indulgent thoughts one now can sit back and acknowledge their arrival and their passage. [This is associated with reduced activity in the major component of the Default Mode Network in the brain known as the Posterior Cingulate Cortex, which thereby frees up energy from such a demanding hub, leaving that supply available to deploy elsewhere towards successful focus and performance on task.] Once ‘mindful’ it is easier to then shift ‘tack’ into task focused state. In such a state, one will lose track of time, for the ‘self’ and it’s obsessive reference to it’s current fixation is the source of awareness of time passing (and dragging). One could almost say we have shifted from a ‘mindful’ to a ‘mindless’ state in doing so (or at least one in which one is attuned to environment and the task proceeds as if effortless, and ‘you’ (‘I’) are not present as a distinct entity (you, the helm, and the vessel are as one!)

So there you have it, a model that can be used practically, drawing on a scientific foundation which can be delved into further elsewhere. Adventure experiences are dynamic and engaging circumstances in which to get the best out of oneself, partially through the harnessing of stress, and providing context to learn new skills and meet the challenges set (hence facilitating ‘flow’). It’s not easy at times, but again that speaks to the facilitatory nature of ‘stress’. But as a useful metaphor for life, one can take the principles outlined and develop a sense of self awareness that can help ‘sail one’s own ship’ towards a better land!

Everyone is his or her own ‘hero’ and everyone has within oneself the capacity to take the helm and set the right course. And most importantly, by doing so, momentum will inevitably occur, time will pass, and progress WILL be made. So pull up the anchor that is holding you fast, cast off the ropes and speed into the wind to leave the shores of despair far behind!
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Windward ho, Mr Wilson, if you please!

“We all go a little mad sometimes”
-Norman Bates, Psycho

You are slowly coming to. After a perturbed sleep characterised by restlessness, periods of deep dreamless repose, then frenetic and hyper-real scenarios in which you (delete as appropriate): flew free as a bird through the night sky/confronted family long deceased/turned up for a French exam inexplicably at your primary school bereft of trousers. You are exhausted. But more importantly, you are flummoxed. Your brain feels like there is a mini electrical storm and thoughts are whirling round untethered as like garments on a washing line captured in a passing maelstrom.

Slowly, gradually, stability restores, your bedroom resolves into its mundane but comforting familiarity. You realise you are not back in University digs. You haven’t lost twenty years. You have to get up or you’ll be late for work!!

What has happened? What did your brain get up to in those darkened hours where the cat wandered off and the mice were let loose in the attic?!

It is possible that your brain functioning has regressed into some kind of entropic state...

Entropy is a term associated with physical systems such as are characterised in the second law of thermodynamics (I.e. involving transfer of energy via heat and ‘work’) and which generally refers to the degree of disorder and ‘randomness’ of the system (uncertainty). An oft touted analogy is the higher probability that a glass tumbling from a table will shatter into a multitude of parts increasing the disorder of that system, than the reverse occurring (a multitude of shards and dissipated beer re-assembling and returning from the floor to a re-constituted pint upon the table). (Also being often mentioned as a convincing argument for why time tends to flow forwards rather than backwards – as in episodes of Red Dwarf.)

The concept of entropy has been mooted with respect to brain activity characterising conscious states (by the likes of Carhart-Harris, 2014; 2018). In the sense that entropic, disordered or aysnchronous brain activity (Muthukumaraswamy et al., 2013) appears to mitigate what may be referred to as ‘primary’ consciousness. Loosely tying in with a previous piece about recapturing the state of ‘wonder’ that captivates an infant’s experience of the world (based on less fixed and stable representations of a world that has not yet been consolidated into a meaningful and functional mental model), this primary state is said to be that which young children exhibit. A state that precedes our more sophisticated and developed ‘normal waking state’. Mainstream thinking in neuroscience views the brain as a ‘prediction engine’, and which perhaps conforms to the ‘free-energy principle’ as espoused by Karl Friston (2010). Everything we do, and perceive, in effect is based upon predictions from our internalised model of the world, and which we match against (confirming/disconfirming this) signals returning up through our sensory pathways. And which consequently either result in rejection (fixed thinking) or adaptation and refinement of the model (flexible thinking).

Of further interest is the contention, from the likes of Carhart-Harris's research into psychedelic compounds impacting upon brain function, that such ‘entropic signatures’ are observed in brain activation under exposure to substances including psilocybin (magic mushrooms), LSD, DMT (all of which bind to serotonergic receptors throughout key brain structures that are strongly involved in the generation of consciousness). In effect, the concomitant ‘asynchrony’ observed in brain wave activity appears to disrupt or ‘knock out’ ‘ordinary’ consciousness. I like to refer to this (perhaps bastardising the term in it’s true definition, - technically 'stopping' and shocking back ​into regular rhythm - but it feels useful nonetheless) as ‘defibrillating’ cognition. in the sense that by initially shocking the brain into an arrhythmic state, the system must compensate and bring things back ‘online’, I.e. by re-establishing the ‘natural’ rhythm that reconstitutes consciousness to it’s functional, waking state. And by doing so, having shaken things up so that when they fall back down ‘to earth’ something has changed, improved, resettled. Sometimes (frequently) it is very different to shake our fixed ideas, break old habits and patterns of thinking, and a shock is necessary to allow updating of the model.

It is argued that this is what happens when we are asleep and go into the hectic chaotic entropic state experienced when we dream. You might like to interpret groundbreaking significance into your dreams as messages from your unconscious providing insight whilst you slumber. But in some ways, it’s simply indicative of your brain shaking things up in order to allow cognitive structures, the model that helps you make sense of and successfully make your way through the waking day, to reconstitute and update additional information, as well as slew off redundant information gathered haphazardly whilst ‘awake’. As Norman Bates once intoned ‘we all go a little mad sometimes’, and indeed that appears to be what is happening whilst we sleep. Psychosis is experienced, but fortunately not acted out due to biological mechanisms that prevent our motor functions enacting out our fantasies, whims, terrors, in the depths of the night.

All systems require moments of downtime in order to repair, review, be subject to maintenance. It appears to be no coincidence that areas manifesting this ‘entropic’ pattern of brain activation whilst under ‘primary’ consciousness, as experienced in REM sleep, psychedelic states, include the default mode network: that neural basis of ‘selfhood’. Going to sleep, or ‘out of one’s mind’, allows an escape from ‘self’. Perhaps the most blessed holiday one can take. (Even though you may go to Benidorm, you must take that excess baggage of the self with you, and pay for the extra kilos – you can’t escape it that easily.)

But by taking the default mode offline, you can allow it to defibrillate, shock it out of (and back into) rhythm, then let the dust settle, let the self re-integrate, renew. A new you!

As I have previously opined, focusing, absorbing in, goal directed behaviour that activates the ‘task positive’ network, gives rise to a potentially highly productive state. And at the same time deactivates components of the default mode network, and the ‘self-indulgent’ facets of that network. Consequently, one takes a break from the self, so to speak, and when the self reconstitutes thereafter, there is ‘self-improvement’. In the sense that one has learned from the experience, one’s brain topology (DMN) changes and one’s capacity for future performance is enhanced (towards a more optimised functional state). And the potential capacity to be more in control of these networks (towards self mastery!).

I will explore this further, extending the model into the sphere of adventure experiences: how we can utilise the ‘need to accommodate’ perceptual cues from an overwhelming environment to shock us into this ‘defibrillated’, expansive, and progressive state. Refining our models and giving rise to a more motivated and adaptive mindset.
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So welcome entropy, revel in it. When you awake and your brain feels scrambled, rejoice! For you ought to be acknowledging that you have improved during the night! Your server has rebooted, the system upgraded.

And the root of the term entropy?

It comes from the Greek for ‘transformation’....!


References

Carhart-Harris R.L., Leech, R., Hellyer, P.J., Shanahan, M, Fielding, A., Tagliazucchi, E., Chialvo, D.R., Nutt, D. (2014) The entropic brain: A theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs. Front Hum Neurosci 8:20

Carhart-Harris, R (2018). The entropic brain – revisited. Neuropharmacology. 142:167-178

Friston, K. (2010). The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory? Nature reviews. Neuroscience 11, 127-38
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Muthukumaraswamy SD, Carhart-Harris R.L., Moran, R.J., Brookes, M.J., Williams, T.M., Errtizoe, D., Sessa, B., Papadopoulos, A., Bolstridge, M., Singh, K.D., Feilding, K.D. , Friston, K.J. , and Nutt., D.J. (2013) Broadbandcortical desynchronization underlies the human psychedelic state. J Neurosci 33(38):15171–15183 ​

Allan, J.F., McKenna, J. and Hind, K (2012). Brain resilience: Shedding light into the black box of adventure processes. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 16(1), 3-14

Andrews-Hanna JR. (2012). The brain's default network and its adaptive role in internal mentation. Neuroscientist.  18(3):251-70.
 
Bressler, S.L. and Menon, V. (2010). Large-scale brain networks in cognition: emerging methods and principles. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 14 277–290
 
Bruya, B. (Ed.). (2010). Effortless attention: A new perspective in the cognitive science of attention and action. Cambridge, MA, US: MIT Press
 
Brymer, E., & Houge Mackenzie, S. (2017). Psychology and the extreme sport experience. In F. Feletti (Ed.), Extreme sports medicine. (pp. 3-13). Springer. 

Castella, J., Boned, J.,  Mendez-Ulrich, J.L. and Sanz, A. (2018). Jump and free fall! Memory, attention, and decision-making processes in an extreme sport. Cognition and emotion. May. 1-27.
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de Groot, J.H.B., Beetsma, D.J.V.,  van Aerts, T.J.A.,  Le Berre, E. , Gallagher, D. , Shaw, E., Aarts, H. and Smeets, M.A.M. (2020).  From Sterile Labs to Rich VR: Immersive Multisensory Context Critical for Odors to Induce Motivated Cleaning Behavior.  Behavior Research Methods 

El-Deredy et al. (2017). Neuroengineering a device to improve the control of worker’s attention in high altitude mines. FONDEF (Chile) research grant 2017-2019 [~£140,000 funding awarded]
 
El-Deredy, W., Weinstein, A, and Gallagher, D (2018). Human cortical responses to stress. University of Valparaiso, Chile. Talk at Chilean Society for Neuroscience
 
Elton, A. and Gao, W. (2015). Task-positive Functional Connectivity of the Default Mode Network Transcends Task Domain.  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 27:12, pp. 2369–2381 

Gallagher, D (1995). Cognitive-Induced Analgesia: Attentional Processes and Meditative Chanting. MSc thesis, Lancaster University.
 
Gallagher and El-Deredy (2009, 2010, 2014, 2018). Various field visits to high altitude (3000-5000m) mountain ranges to collect pilot data on cognitive-physiological functioning.
 
Hamilton, J.P., Farmer, M., Fogelman, P. and Gotlib, I.H. (2015). Depressive Rumination, the Default-Mode Network, and the Dark Matter of Clinical Neuroscience. Biol Psychiatry.  78(4): 224–230.

Harrivel, A.R., Weissman, D.H., Noll, D.C. and Peltier, S.J.  (2013).  Monitoring attentional state with fNIRS. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 7, 861, 1-10
 
Hockey, G. R. J. (2011). A motivational control theory of cognitive fatigue. In P.L. Ackerman (Ed.), Cognitive fatigue: multidisciplinary perspectives on current research and future applications (pp. 167-188). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
 
 Lin, P. Yang, Y., Gao,J.,  De Pisapia, N.,  Ge, S.,  Wang, X.,  Zuo, C.S., Levitt, J.J., & Niu C. (2017). Dynamic Default Mode Network across Different Brain States.     Scientific Reports volume 7, Article number: 46088
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Mittner M1, Hawkins GE2, Boekel W2, Forstmann BU (2016). A Neural Model of Mind Wandering.Trends Cogn Sci. 20(8):570-578.
 
Mooneyham, B.W. and Schooler, J.W. (2013).  The Costs and benefits of Mind-Wandering: A Review.  Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology.
 
Moran, J.M., Kelley, W.M. and Heatherton, T.F. (2013). What can the organization of the brain’s default mode network tell us about self-knowledge?  Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 7, 391, 1-6
 
Nann, M., Cohen, G., Deecke, L. & Soekadar, S.R. (2019). To jump or not to jump - the Bereitschaftspotential required to jump into 192-meter abyss. Scientific Reportsvolume 9, Article number: 2243 
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Paulus, M.P., Flagan, T., Simmons, A.N., Gillis, K., Kotturi, S., Thom, N., Johnson, D.C., Van Orden, K.F., Davenport, P.W. and Swain, J.L. (2012). Subjecting Elite Athletes to Inspiratory Breathing Load Reveals Behavioral and Neural Signatures of Optimal Performers in Extreme Environments.  Plos One, 7, 1-11
 
Paulus, M.P., Potterat, E.G., Taylor, M.K., Van Orden, K.F., Davenport, P.W., Bauman, J., Momen, N, Padilla, G.A. and Swain, J.L. (2009). A Neuroscience Approach to Optimizing Brain Resources for Human Performance in Extreme Environments Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 33(7): 1080–1088.

Posner, , J,  Russell, J.A.,c and Peterson, B.S. (2005) The circumplex model of affect: An integrative approach to affective neuroscience, cognitive development, and psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol. 17(3): 715–734 
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Reilly, T., Gallagher, D., El-Deredy, W. and Blanchette, I. (2005).  An ergonomics model of human performance under environmental stressors: Role of executive processes and the pre-frontal cortex.  BBSRC research grant application
 
Spreng, R. N. (2012). The fallacy of a “task-negative” network. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 14
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Taylor, L., Watkins, S.L., Marshall, H., Dascombe, B.J. and Foster, J. (2016).
The Impact of Different Environmental Conditions on Cognitive Function: A Focused Review. Frontiers in Physiology. 6, 372, 1-12
 
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“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Take a look at small child as you wave a shiny object in front of her face. Or indeed any object really if she’s a baby.  What inference can we make about what she sees, what she experiences? What she thinks? 

It’s distinctly likely that the child is in a perpetual state of wonder! What is this (not dagger) that I see before me (paraphrasing Macbeth for literary kudos)? With underdeveloped cognitive and perceptual faculties the whole wide world is a vastly novel experience. The little brain must be overwhelmed with the intense stimulation of continually seeing new stuff, figuring out what it is in relation to old stuff (not that’s there’s much of that).  But it’s all fresh: a perspective on life is based on an exploratory state of being, uncluttered by preconception. 

At heart this is what we might, with a little imagination and a desire to refresh our own perspective, seek to attain as world-weary adults.  A worldview driven by wonder.  Using new eyes to see richness around us. A consumerist society attempts to delude us into provoking brief spikes of interest at colourful stimuli that momentarily capitalise on a frozen instance where hand is in pocket and reflexively thrusts forth to part with hard earned cash (and thereby obtain the next useless thing that ultimately fails to create longer term satisfaction). 

Art at least taps more genuinely into this aspirational state of being, stimulating the senses, attempting to shift the focus and open up perspective to new ways of looking at the world.  Modern technologies such as Virtual Reality may well offer another avenue to take us out of the routine, mundane mode of operation and present an opportunity to view the world much as a baby does.  Psychedelic drugs or other ‘altered states’ technologies and techniques may defibrillate our cognitive faculties in a more violently immediate fashion and reduce us to a more ‘primary state of consciousness’ (Carhart-Harris, 2018).  But nature is the most readily available resource at our disposal perhaps to evince this capacity for wonder. 

Look upon the Grand Canyon for the first time and can you fail to be seized in near paralysis at the magnitude of it, the resplendent grandeur? A vast palette of colours, shapes, scents, depth, distance, along with a failure to grasp how this has come into being, what it means... 

That is because you are in a state of ‘awe’.  And this is a special state that can be evoked under the right conditions, the right (environmental) context.  Perhaps it is our evolutionary means of predisposition to cast off the shackles of outdated, routinised ways of thinking.  It is a way of shocking the system into taking stock of limitations, and realising that there are new things out there to experience, and which reveal the boundaries we set are illusory.  There is always something else beyond the horizon.  This is something we forget very quickly as we form ever tighter walls around ourselves, building a protective shell in which to hold off the hordes of new ideas that threaten to undermine cherished ‘stability’ of ‘in the box thinking’. 

Awe is an area of research amongst cognitive scientists that has it’s roots in a fundamental cognitive/perceptual ‘need to accommodate' (Guan et al., 2018 - there's that pesky posterior cingulate cortex again!). We form constructs, conceptual hierarchies of ideas about objects, categorising and itemising the world into definable chunks. When we encounter new chunks, new items, we strive to fit these into the boxes we have already labelled upon mental shelves.  If the item doesn’t ‘fit’ it is subsumed into another ‘near fit’ box, or perhaps discarded onto the junk pile. But occasionally we find ourselves in a place where the whole environment so overwhelms that the system cannot cope.  It cannot find any impetus to streamline and categorise what is beholds.  Perhaps this might cause ‘meltdown’ in some, but generally, more hopefully, it provokes a ‘need to accommodate’.  The cognitive and perceptual boundaries stretch, the brain becomes more plastic, knowledge structures bend or break and new concepts, ideas, experiences update the model and ‘reboot’ the server! 

For a moment we perceive as babies do, letting go our firm grip on what we believe reality should be.  Throwing ourselves at the mercy of the vista before us.  Giving over to a more vulnerable state of perception, of being. The brain grows, as do you.  Nature has gifted us this medium to upgrade our perceptual apparatus.  It does us the world of good to occasionally (even regularly!) seek out that state of wonder, the provocation of awe.  It is the panacea for a world embittered by the familiar, insulated from voluntary vulnerability. We all need to see the world through the infant’s eyes once in a while. 

I will continue to develop ideas around awe, principles of which ‘accommodate’ into my wider model of brain function, adventurous experiences, development and ‘mastery of’ the self, and how virtual reality can be used as a tool to facilitate greater understanding of the underlying processes that govern how we may refresh our views of the world. 
For an earlier take on this check out a previous piece I wrote, suggesting, as with the current appetite for personal training regimes, an awe workout. ​

References

Carhart-Harris, R (2018). The entropic brain – revisited. Neuropharmacology. 142:167-178  

Guan, F. Xiang, Y., Chen, O, Wang, Wand Chen, J. (2018). Neural Basis of Dispositional Awe. Front. Behav. Neurosci., (12) 209, 1-7 

"A man's got to know his limitations."
- Inspector Harry Callahan - 'Dirty Harry'


How do we set limits in our world?  We might purport to be free-thinking, expansive in worldview, and capable of achieving goals that stretch our capacities to grandiose ambition... 

But is this wishful thinking? Are we deluding ourselves? 

The answer is most likely yes. One might say well that’s fine, it’s better to have a stretching and unrealistic view of our own capabilities as this can spur us on to achieve things we aspire towards in life.  But actually, thinking about it, are we not then just like the denizens of The Matrix, going about our days in a blithely complacent mode of operation that is content to ‘know’ we have the potential to achieve whatever we want, but actually deluding ourselves about the extent of this capacity. In effect this unfounded belief that we can reach out and extend our actions unbounded in the world may be in itself limiting our actual potential... 

To feel as if one can achieve anything can foster complacency that actually prevents doing anything about it.  And this, one may argue, rests in setting boundaries for ourselves that are actually constrained by a self-satisfied sense that we can do whatever we want, go where we please, achieve our dreams.  By virtue of ‘knowing’ that we can take that step whenever we want. Tomorrow...the next day...at some point. Is it in effect tantamount to 'confined optimism'? (Being overly optimistic may be as deleterious to goal achievement as being pessimistic and negative...so where's the balance, the optimal point where skills and challenges come together to prompt 'flow'?)

Might it be more productive and satisfying to be realistic and look more closely at what our boundaries actually are in order to then define where we can get to and then where we might aspire to go further?  How far does the range of thought extend? I wonder if anyone has tried to quantify this, and relate it to ‘physical terms’? - a useful ‘thought experiment’ in itself!  Much is said of the freedom to think infinitely, and the beauty of having brains that allow us to wander at will in the realms of imagination that has no ‘true’ limitations. To the very edge of the known universe...and beyond! But firstly, perhaps we should consider how far can we actually think in those terms. And secondly to what extent do we exercise that capability? (As an aside, and as I have begun to speculate elsewhere, consider how the evolution towards superintelligent AI may unseat our own place at the head of the table as dominant species, by simple virtue of our incapacity to imagine where the limits of thought may extend to in 'beings' with exponentially greater capacity for thought! There are simply things we cannot think about.  Much as we can't imagine innovations that have yet to take place!)

Are our thoughts bounded by the mundane borders of our own regional concerns? Do we simply rove within stepping distance of our own cognitive domiciles or do we seek to search beyond, to thrust out into the unknown? An interesting experiment would be to devise a protocol for measuring the extent that people think and to equate that through some normalised attribute to distance in ‘real’ terms.  It would be interesting to devise characteristics that categorise different types of thinkers and relate to demographic variables.  Does the ‘professorial’ typology of thinker, as a rule, go beyond ‘typical’ boundaries compared to the blue-collar citizen (being stereotypical for a moment to illustrate an idea)? Would such a metric require homogenisation of data to account for other variables in order to ‘standardise’ a measure relative to different personality/lifestyle characteristics? Does the ‘artist’ head the pack in striding out beyond the known borderlands to map new territories?  

An intriguing idea with the development of ever more capable neuroimaging technologies and theoretical frameworks is the possibility that measures of ‘expansive cognition’ may become more viable.  But as with focus over the years on for instance psychedelic or ‘altered states’ phenonena towards a ‘unified theory of consciousness’ (eg. Kingsland’s recent book tying together various strands of research in this area, 2019), is it possible that ‘expanding the mind’ through various techniques simply throws ‘ordinary’ functional brain status into ‘asynchrony’, reducing the stability and robustness of cognitive functioning and moving the system closer to (and over the edge of) an entropic state (towards chaos and randomness – perhaps unbounded, but largely ‘meaningless’??; Carhart-Harris, 2018).  By ‘expanding the mind’ do we risk simply placing our cogitative capacities into a tighter box that turns off critical capacity and instead revels in a further delusion of being ‘set free’?! 

Another way to think of this is in terms of the perceptual limitations that we inevitably have as a consequence of brain structure, evolutionary development, contextual situation, and habituated tendency to rely  on our sensory-perceptual apparatus as determined through long practice and automated routine.  What are the perceptual boundaries that we are constrained by and to what degree can we, through practice, skill development, broadened mindset, push the boundaries further? 

This is a big and fascinating question and topic and many current books by prominent neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists and philosophers detail various illusions, and experimental scenarios that show the fallibility of our ‘equipment’.  (See the likes of Eagleman, Hoffman, Lotto, Dennett, Macknik and Martinez-Conde, Chabris and Simons etc. in the references section.) A now famous example concerns a gorilla and a basketball game...As an aside, before the ‘invisible gorilla’ went global, I was sat in an auditorium at a provincial campus in Toronto with perhaps 50 academic types. A chap gave a talk in which he referenced a study from the 80s involving a slightly ethereal lady carrying an umbrella and wandering across a basketball scene (we saw the grainy video of this).  Having just shown this video, he then went on to ask the audience’s indulgence on a subsequent video in which a group of young people amateurishly tossed basketballs to one another in a circle within a fairly tight frame of the scene. At the end of this the speaker asked the audience to recount how many passes of the ball had been effected, and if anyone had noticed anything else in the scene.  I don’t recall anyone saying they had. He replayed the scene.  A gorilla indeed appeared and beat his chest in the midst of the action.  The audience provided a mix of responses from surprise to cynicism that this was a different video. The point is the audience was comprised of some of the most eminent scientists from the fields of visual perception, cognition, consciousness research.  The Invisible Gorilla demonstration was born there and then, launched to the world, and had it’s effect even despite ‘priming’ as to the nature of it beforehand...We believe we see the totality of our environment and that is is ‘there to see’ and we have only to ‘look’. But how deluded we are to the blind spot, not only in the fovea itself, but also in our own view of reality! 

Of course, over the passage of time it’s possible that I have slightly reconstructed the temporal order of this sequence of events erroneously and in fact the ‘Umbrella woman’ came afterwards, to reference the inspiration for the Gorilla! But the point remains, an audience of ‘experts’ in visual perception were taken by surprise by this facet of boundaried perception that is effectively wired into our brains. 

So to return to the original point, do we appreciate the boundaries of our own perceptions, thought-streams and worldviews? Or do we labour under the misapprehension that we have as much capacity (unlimited) as we seek to employ? Perhaps we do have this ‘infinite capacity’ to think beyond any boundaries....And with that perhaps, also, we ALL have the capacity to go beyond our limitations (in a physical sense). Anyone can get off the couch and run a marathon if their mood takes them? Right? Especially if their pants are on fire...Realistically, probably not. Sure you can get up off the couch and implement an incremental programme of exercise that suggests you can get to that finish line eventually.  But you’ll never really be able to predict if you are going to collapse of a coronary or simply give-up when push comes to shove.  But still exercising one’s faculties seems to be as much the point here as the end destination being achieved.  And likewise, in order to think ‘beyond boundaries’ or even towards the boundaries, most probably requires at least putting some exercise in, however incremental, to develop that capacity.  After all it’s distinctly possible that our cognitive functions depend on the regular exercising of the underlying neural mechanisms, management of blood flow and metabolic resources to sustain this infrastructure, and the robustness and flexibility of our mental muscles! 

So with that, have a think about where your boundaries lie – don't just assume they are infinitely capable just because they are ‘there’.  Maybe redefine your boundaries as the basis for pushing them. But importantly exercise your mental faculties, think about grand thoughts but also smaller, more realisable ideas, and from there build them into greater ambitions.  Do this regularly, strengthen your cognitive musculature.  Begin to redraw your world afresh, instead of sitting comfortably back into the confines of your virtual and apparently limitless box!  From this can only grow vision, capability, and enthusiasm to explore the boundaries of the known, and redefine what is the unknown!!! 
 
Sources of reference: 

Carhart-Harris, R (2018). The entropic brain – revisited. Neuropharmacology. 142:167-178  

Chabris, C. and Simons, D. (2010). The Invisible Gorilla. Harper Collins 

Dennett, D. C. (1991).  Consciousness Explained. Penguin Books 

Eagleman, D. (2011). Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain. Canongate Canons 
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Hoffman D. (2019). The Case Against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes. Allen Lane 

Kinsgland, J. (2019). Am I dreaming? The New Science of Consciousness and How Altered States Reboot the Brain. Atlantic books 

Lotto, B. (2017). Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently. W&N 
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Macknik, S. and Martinez-Conde, S.(2012). Sleights of Mind: What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our brains.  Profile Books ​