The brain is a very mysterious part of our body. What we do know pales in comparison to what we don’t know. I recently watched a TED Talk called The Neuroscience of Restorative Justice by Dan Reisel. Dan is a neuroscientist who researches human behavior. He had a chance to meet a prison inmate who is a psychopath for some research. He along with other psychopaths participated in a series of tests that tested emotional response. In these tests, they were given a series of pictures that would normally invoke a slight physical response. While the inmates were able to describe the pictures, they didn’t get the same physical reaction to them. They were then taken to an MRI for imaging of their brains. Dr. Reisel and his team found that the psychopaths had a deficiency in their amygdalas which is thought to control the feeling of empathy. A more empathic person usually has a larger and more active amygdala. After explaining this, Dr. Reisel explained how empathy and moral behavior is normally a part of growing up. You acquire it and being deprived of it can lead to development problems. He describes how that for a long time people have thought the adult brain cannot grow new brain cells. Modern research found evidence of neurogenesis: the making of new brain cells. They found it in the olfactory bulb, which controls our sense of smell, then in the hippocampus used for short-term memory, and amygdala. He then describes how he went a joined a group of researchers studying mice. The results show that mice put in boring environments alone with little to no stimulation developed repetitive, anti-social, and sometimes aggressive behaviors. This along with other studies shows that neurogenesis is possible in mammals like us.
There are many takeaways from this and Dr. Reisel lists his own, but for me this is fascinating. It is interesting to learn about this. This new concept of neurogenesis is very fascinating. It shows that people do have the ability to change. It shows how the brain can adapt and rewire itself, but it is hard. This also highlights the importance of early development as an adult isn’t going to change their moral values quite as easily as a four-year-old. It can show that we can help people like those in the video for both them and the rest of society. Instead of being restrictive, we can be restorative.
Here is the link to the TED talk in discussed in the post: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_reisel_the_neuroscience_of_restorative_justice#t-479859
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