The New Brain: How the Modern Age is Rewiring Your Mind

By Richard Restak, M.D.
Published by Rodale Books
September 2003; $23.95US/$34.95CAN; 1-57954-501-7

THE ERA OF THE NEW BRAIN. . .

. . . IS HERE

Genetic mapping, imaging technology, and psychopharmacology have converged to give us an unprecedented understanding of how the brain works and how we can affect its operation. But what does this mean? Already our brains are working differently than they did just one hundred years ago, as we respond to the barrage of media images, violent and provocative, and attend to the demands of the modern world. "Cosmetic" drugs that work in the brain to prevent us from feeling drowsy, depressed, anxious, or fearful, or that enhance concentration and memory are readily available. Dramatic treatments to repair damage in the brain are becoming common.

In The New Brain, Dr. Richard Restak guides you though the frontiers of modern brain science and offers cautionary but also optimistic thoughts on the direction of his work. He says that in the era of the New Brain it will be necessary to tread carefully, lest we imprison ourselves in the concept that diminish, rather than enhance our freedom.

The era of the New Brain is upon us. Once a mysterious, hidden organ locked within our skulls, modern brain science now provides us with insights about the brain that only a few decades ago would have been considered the stuff of science fiction. We can now study the brain in "real time," witnessing how it functions while taking a test, practicing a craft, experiencing an emotion, or making a decision. Brain tests can even indicate when we're telling the truth or when we're lying.

Dr. Richard Restak reports from the frontiers of modern brain science and asks the relevant questions such as, is Attention Deficit Disorder the brain syndrome of the future? Is it a "normal" response to the modern world's demand to attend to several things at once? What happens in our brains when the image replaces language as the primary means of communication? How does exposure to violent imagery affect our brains? Are we all capable of "genius"' and training our brains to perform at a superior level?

The New Brain is the story of technology and biology converging to influence the evolution of the human brain. Dramatic advances are now possible, as well as the potential for misuse and abuse.

Dr. Restak, author of more than 15 books on the brain, leads you through the latest research and the expanding field of cognitive science, explains its implications, and even offers practical advice such as how to:

-- Understand and mitigate the affects of media images and technology on our thoughts and emotions

-- Estimate the effects of stress on our brain function and how to predict who is at greatest risk for harm

-- Develop the habits that result in peak brain performance

No longer science fiction or fantasy, The New Brain recounts what our brains are capable of -- today.

Author

Dr. Richard Restak, a neurologist and neurophyschiatrist, is clinical professor of neurology at George Washington Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He has written the companion books to several PBS specials on brain function, including The Secret Life of the Brain. His last book, Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot: Unleashing Your Brain's Potential was a bestseller. An engaging science commentator, Restak has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, the Today Show, Good Morning America, and the Discovery Channel. He lives and practices in Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit: http://www.writtenvoices.com/titlepage.asp?ISBN=1579545017

Reviews

"The wise, witty, and ethical Dr. Restak has given us. . . a book vital to understanding our own role in influencing our ongoing evolution as a species. He guides us gently and humbly through synaptic connections we did not know we had, thus igniting us to insatiable curiosity about our potentials."

--Wilton S. Dillon, Ph.D. Senior Scholar Emeritus Smithsonian Institution

"Restak (Mozart's Brain), a neurosurgeon and popular science writer on the brain, focuses on new technology for examining the physiology of the brain (such as MRI) and how it allows us to monitor and control a far wider range of activities than was formerly possible."

--Publisher's Weekly

Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from the book The New Brain: How the Modern Age is Rewiring Your Mind

by Richard Restak, M.D.

Published by Rodale Books; September 2003; $23.95US/$34.95CAN; 1-57954-501-7

Copyright © 2003 Richard Restak, M.D.

Introduction

We have learned so much about the human brain during the past two decades that it's fair to speak of a revolutionary change in our understanding. The era of the Old Brain is giving way to that of the New Brain.

The Old Brain was remote and mysterious, deeply hidden within the skull and inaccessible except to specialists daring enough to pierce its three protective layers. Thanks to that inaccessibility and the risks involved in plumbing its depths, brain experts knew little about the functioning of the normal brain; they certainly searched in vain for answers to such fascinating questions as, "How is the brain related to our everyday thoughts, emotions, and behavior?"

The New Brain, in contrast, doesn't require dangerous intrusions but can now be depicted using sophisticated computer-driven imaging techniques with abbreviated names like CAT, PET, MRI, and MRA. These techniques reveal exquisitely subtle operational details and provide windows through which neuroscientists (brain scientists) can view different aspects of brain functioning without opening the skull or performing other risky procedures.

Thanks to the development of new imaging technologies, brain science is capable of providing us with insights into the human mind that only a few decades ago would have been considered the stuff of science fiction. We can now study the brain in "real time" when we're thinking, taking an intelligence test, practicing a craft, experiencing an emotion, or making a decision. Brain tests can even indicate when we're telling the truth, as well as provide a quick estimate of our intelligence and specific abilities.

Neuroscientists refer to this new field as cognitive science: the study of the brain mechanisms responsible for our thoughts, moods, decisions, and actions. Cognition has been defined as "the ability of the brain and nervous system to attend, identify, and act on complex stimuli." More informally, cognition refers to everything taking place in our brains that helps us to know the world. Included here are such mental activities as alertness, concentration, memory, reasoning, creativity, and emotional experience.

In the era of the New Brain, the emphasis is shifting from diseases and dysfunctions to an understanding of the brains of the average man and woman. An exciting consequence follows from this new emphasis on the normal brain: Research can provide us with useful guidelines about our everyday lives. For instance, recent findings (discussed in chapter 1) indicate that by following certain brain-based guidelines anyone can achieve expert performance in sports, athletics, or academic pursuits. Such findings, of course, run counter to the traditional theory that sports achievers and geniuses are born not made, that our genes and other factors outside of our control impose limits on our individual capabilities. Not so. Instead, it's now clear that by learning about and applying this new research, most of us can reasonably expect greatly enhanced personal levels of achievement.

As another example, we now have good reason to believe, based on brain research, that harmful effects on our brain can result from frequent exposure to graphic scenes of violence. Moreover, it doesn't seem to matter if the violence is fictionalized, "real life," or a combination of both (i.e., docudramas featuring depictions of violence based on actual events). Watching media violence changes our brain in harmful ways that we are only recently beginning to understand.

While this is not intended as a "self-help" book, I believe a lot of contemporary brain research has practical applications that can be put to use in our daily lives. Throughout the book I will discuss this research in sufficient detail that you will be in a position to decide for yourself what, if any, practical applications ensue in your own life. Included here are such fascinating areas of cognition as:

-- Understanding the effects of media and technology on our thoughts and emotions

-- Estimating the effects of stress on brain function, with an emphasis on the use of sophisticated instruments that can help predict those people who are at greatest risk for harm

-- Formulating new brain-based ways of thinking about variations from normal behavior, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

-- Developing methods for enhancing our sensory capacities by harnessing the brain mechanisms involved in translating information from one sensory channel into another, such as the transformation of touch sensations into forms of visual perception.

Twenty-first century discoveries about the brain will provide us with new insights into our behavior, thinking, and feelings. Thanks to technological advances, neuroscientists are already successfully correlating brain function with personality; synthesizing "designer drugs" for individualized treatments of patients suffering from depression, anxiety, and other neuropsychiatric illnesses; and correlating defective genotypes with violent or antisocial behavior. Thanks to such advances and the promise of even greater ones in the near future, it seems fair to say that technology, rather than biology, will play the major role in the evolution of the human brain. Over the course of this book, my goal is to provide you with an overview of the kinds of changes that you can expect to come about in the era of the New Brain.

Copyright © 2003 Richard Restak, M.D.

For more information, please visit: http://www.writtenvoices.com/titlepage.asp?ISBN=1579545017