Buddha's Brain

Our class discussion this week focused on brain development.  A particular focus of the lecture was on ways that our conscious mind (Pre-frontal cortex, PFC) can influence more basic structures and processes in our brain.  Specifically emotional responses mediated by the amygdala.  On a basic level, this utilization of PFC control over emotional function is something that everyone learns to a greater or lesser extent.  Otherwise, we all might spend our lives flopping on floors and throwing tantrums like 4-year-olds every time something didn't go our way.  More interesting to me, however, was the more extreme (and interestingly enough, scientifically measurable) control that can be developed through mental exercise, specifically Buddhist meditation.  One of the most famous researchers studying the psychological effects of meditation is Richard Davidson.  A particular focus of Davidson's research is the idea of neural "plasticity," the idea that our brain function continues to be changeable and adaptable throughout life (not just during early childhood), and that our mental activities can bring about real changes in our brain.  In his research, Davidson has often enlisted the assistance of leading Buddhist teachers; most notably His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Although I haven't been as rigorous as I would like, I have long had an interest in Buddhism and Buddhist meditation practices.  I have attended Buddhist services and meditation instruction classes at several different Buddhist centers, and I have attempted to practice meditation on my own.  When it comes to the scientific study of Buddhism and meditative practices, however, I have somewhat mixed opinions.

On the one hand, it is encouraging to see scientific evidence for the positive benefits of meditation that I have myself experienced.  Meditation has always been an "alternative" practice here in the US, seen as foreign and strange by most people.  The growing body of scientific evidence for its benefits will hopefully lead more people to a meditative practice.

On the other hand, I fear that this "rationalization" of Buddhism and meditation is too reductive.  Although Buddhism does not believe or worship an all powerful God or creator, it is still a religion.  It is this religious sentiment, a hunger for transcendence, that attracts many to its practice.  We seek out Buddhism not only for more emotional and physical calm, but to answer the larger existential questions:  Who am I?  What is my purpose?  What happens after Death?  When meditation becomes merely a daily exercise that you do to produce some specific, physiological benefit (similar to going for a jog), it loses this religious sense of wonder.

Additionally, if we take this scientificlogic regarding meditation even further, knowing the neural pathways that are able to produce greater emotional control, more long-lasting happiness, and greater compassion and peace between all people, shouldn't we be searching for a more scientific or medical way for everyone to achieve this state?  Meditation, after all, is a diffiicult and time-consuming practice.  Many of the study subjects on meditation's neurological effects are monastics who spend hours each day, for years on end, meditating. This is hardly practical for the majority of people.  Also, there are myriad ways of meditating advocated by hundreds of different teachers and schools.  Shouldn't we instead be searching for a standardized and easily repeatable method?  An "enlightenment Pill?"

This may sound disingenuous, but it seems, to me, the most logical outcome.  But how could such "treatment" be accomplished?  Who would have access?  How much would it cost?  Would your insurance cover it?  Is spiritual suffering a pre-existing condition?

Is she sleeping through the night yet?

With a new baby in the house, this is a question I hear often.  How, when, and how often a new baby is sleeping seems to be a source of anxiety and frustration for so many parents.  It also seems to be a way that we judge ourselves and our parenting skills.  But even if we don't judge ourselves, there is no shortage of other people (grandparents most often) willing to do the judging for us.

In our class reading for this week (Child Psychology: Development in a Changing Society.  Ch. 6) we've read about the growth and development of the brain, and the several key factors in supporting healthy growth.  Of these factors, sleep is one of the most important.  But what is the best way for an infant or young child to sleep?  As the text points out, many cultures have widely differing ideas as to how children should sleep.  Even for adults, there are many different sleeping styles throughout the world, and even within one culture sleeping habits can change over time.

Within my own home, there is a bit of a culture clash around sleep.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm from the Midwest of the US, and was raised with the traditional working-class, Protestant values predominate there in my youth.  In terms of sleep habits, most people viewed their days as divided into thirds:  one third for work, one third for sleep, and one third for leisure time.  Assembly line mentalities kept people on strict schedules, and since many people were on shift work, this idea of dividing and regimenting your day was common.  Napping (unless it was Sunday afternoon and you were sitting in front of a football game on the TV) was seen as a sign of laziness, even moral weakness.  If you had a bad night's sleep, you just had to power through the next day.  I've internalized these same sleeping habits.

In contrast, my wife (who is from India) has very different attitudes and habits for sleeping.  For her, sleeping is more a matter of catching some whenever it is available.  She is a frequent napper, and seems to be able to sleep anywhere.  Additionally, any days spent with my in-laws must always have a period set aside for everyone to nap, usually leaving me as the lone person sitting awake while everyone else snores away.

Much recent research into the history of human sleep patterns is on my wife's side, it seems.  An especially interesting fact is the idea of "segmented sleep" discussed in the work of historian Roger Ekirch in his book At Days Close:  Night in Times Past.   Todays's standard of an 8 hour block of sleep is a relatively modern invention made possible by the invention of electricity and encouraged by societal changes during the Industrial Revolution.  Before these events, it was common for people to sleep in several chunks a day:  first falling asleep shortly after dusk, waking in the middle of the night for an hour or two before going back to  until sunrise, and then adding an afternoon nap as well.

While it might be impractical for adults to return to this more "natural" sleeping pattern, it is interesting to look at this phenomenon in relation to the sleep patterns of infants.  Most infants seem to naturally follow this segmented sleeping pattern, with naps during the day and nighttime divided into 2 or 3 different periods of sleep.  While most parents try to enforce the regular night of sleep on their children (sometimes gently, and sometimes not so gently), it is almost always a source of stress for both the parents and the child.  How much easier could child rearing be (for both the parents and the child) if a more segmented sleep pattern was followed by the whole family?  Not only could the baby's natural sleep rhythms be honored, but the parents could much more easily adapt to the situation, eliminating the sleep-deprived zombie state that so many new parents are forced to deal with.

A change to a schedule that more closely follows natural sleeping habits wouldn't only benefit infants.  As various studies have shown, even adolescents can have a very difficult time adapting to our contemporary "early to bed, early to rise" 8 hours of sleep tradition.  The stereotype of the sleepy, unkempt and unfocused teenager might really be the result of sleep deprivation caused by society forcing them to adapt to a school and sleep schedule that is unnatural for them.

Pre-natal stress and infant development

In my introductory post, I mentioned that I had two children and that I might make reference to them as I blogged about my experience studying Child Psychology.  My oldest child is a 5 year old boy, my youngest is a 4 month old girl.

Upon watching this weeks assigned video "National Geographic:  In the Womb," I was most struck by a brief passage in the video describing the effects of Pre-natal stress on many aspects of the unborn fetus' life, and felt it made an apt starting point for a small (and admittedly not terribly scientific) case study of my two children.

The effects of Pre-natal stress on pregnancy outcome and fetus health have been a common topic for psychiatric study.  A cursory search found many articles relating prenatal stress and anxiety to many changes in the development of the fetus:

Effects of maternal prenatal stress on infant outcomes: a synthesis of the literature.

Prenatal maternal stress: effects on pregnancy and the (unborn) child.

The Role of Prenatal Maternal Stress in Child Development.

Examining the correlations of prenatal stress and emotional health in my own children seemed to follow this well studied model.

During my wife's first pregnancy, she and our family were under considerable stress.  She was required to work up to 14 hour days on high stress projects until almost time of delivery, our housing was cramped and finances were unstable, and she was of course very anxious dealing with her first pregnancy.

Our oldest child had jaundice at birth, requiring hospitalization, and has always displayed signs of fussiness and anxiety.  He has always been a difficult sleeper, in infancy he was very hard to calm down when crying, and was very dependent upon having parents close and could not be left alone.  Even today, at 5 years old, he still displays many signs of anxiety, such as insomnia, frequent nightmares, fingernail biting, etc.

During my wife's 2nd pregnancy, our situation was much different.  Her work schedule was much lighter and her commute was only 5 minutes each day.  We lived in a calm and beautiful rural setting in a large house, instead of the cramped Brooklyn apartment of the first pregnancy.  Finally, much of the 3rd trimester was spent on an extended vacation, traveling to meet friends and enjoying new sites.

The difference in our 2nd child's personality is striking.  She plays happily by herself, falls asleep easily and is adept at soothing herself.  When distressed, it is relatively easy to calm her.

The Developmental Niche

In presenting an introduction to the various theories of child development, our course and textbook introduced the concept of The Developmental Niche.  This was a theory first published in 1986 by Charles Super and Sara Harkness ( Super, C. M., & Harkness, S. (1986). The developmental niche: A conceptualization at the interface of child and culture. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 9, 545-569).

This Developmental Niche consists of the physical settings and conditions of the child, the childrearing customs of the culture in which the child is raised, and the childrearing beliefs and goals of the parents.  All three of these aspects are described as interacting in a system to influence a child's development.

Of the three factors contributing to the Developmental Niche, it was the concept of "Childrearing beliefs and goals" that most intrigued me.  My interest was mainly sparked by my experience that parents' goals and desires for their children are so often in conflict with the other aspects of their child's Developmental Niche, as described above.

If one were to look back at our history, or even to more traditional societies today, this conflict might not be so evident.  Throughout most of human history, the various options open to a child were relatively closed.  The child of a peasant/slave would grow up to be a peasant/slave, the child of a elite/noble would grow up to be a noble.  Parents could not realistically hope for a different or "better" future for their children.  Their childrearing goals would mainly be to train their child well to properly fill the position in society they were destined to fill.

With the advent of industrial society and the breakdown of rigid class structures, however, it is now considered normal (almost compulsory) that a parent would want a "better life" for their children.  For a lower-class parent to hope for their children to grow up and join them in their same lower-class life would almost be seen as negligence.  Instead, parents are expected to raise their children to better themselves, to "move up" in society.  In our American society, our belief in the equality of opportunity and that anyone (if they work hard enough) can rise from the lowliest births to the pinnacles of our society is considered to be a natural fact beyond debate.

But how does one raise a child to advance in society and attain this bright future?  Here is where the aspirations and hopes of parents often meet the grim reality of the other two aspects that compose the developmental niche.  Not only do the physical realities of their situation limit the child's opportunities for social advancement, but parents are often completely ignorant of the skills (personal, social and professional) that their child will need to achieve these goals.

In my own life, I have experienced much the same situation.  I grew up in a Midwest, rust-belt town where my father worked at blue-collar factory jobs, and there were few other opportunities.  My parents encouraged me to attain higher education and pursue a professional career, but they had no experience with this kind of life and no idea how to impart skills that would help me succeed.  Instead, I was instilled with what they knew and grew up with:  the values and habits of a good, blue-collar worker.  I was taught the importance of being on time, taking care of my duties and not creating trouble for my peers, deference to authority, and all the other values they had been raised with.  Other vital factors such as ambition, networking and social skills, and an entrepreneurial spirit were not something that my parents or most other members of my community were familiar with.

A creative and fairly successful attempt to totally reform this Developmental Niche for under-privaledged children and help them attain greater success can be seen in the Harlem Childrens' Zone project  .  Rather than trying to simply improve education, this project attempts to improve all aspects of  a child's Developmental Niche.  Parents are taught new and more empowering childrearing and home making techniques, and entire neighborhoods are potentially transformed through their "one block at a time" method.

It's also interesting to look at the role of the Developmental Niche in maintaining social class from the opposite end of the social spectrum.  A recent study by Paul Piff (Higher social class predicts unethical behavior) examined the prevalence of unethical behavior across social classes.  Their findings were that unethical behavior, lying and cheating were more prevalent among upper class individuals, particularly when lying or cheating would protect their wealth or social status.  One can see here how the Developmental Niche these upper class people have grown up with have pre-disposed them to see the usefulness of necessary lies when it comes to maintaining their wealth and social status.  
  

Hello,

Welcome to my blog, created for my Child Psychology Class, PSY 2301, section 1731, at The New York City College of Technology, instructor Prof. Pa Her.

This blog is created as my class Individual Project, and will be designed to meet all requirements of the assignment.

The blog will be updated weekly (approximately), and I will try to roughly correlate topics in my blog with our classroom discussion.  I plan to choose one topic or concept each week that particularly interests me and expand upon it with my own thoughts and ideas.  I will generally base it on my own experience and on my home life, as I have two young children currently at very exciting stages in their development (5 years old and 4 months old).

Examples of different topics might be:  describing how I observe certain common developmental stages playing out with my children, comparing generational differences between my own childhood and my children, and cross-cultural studies of development.  I am particularly interested in cross-cultural studies of childhood development, as I have travelled widely and both of my children are of mixed (American Caucasian and Asian Indian) heritage.

Wherever possible I will try to provide links and references to supporting websites and articles, both scholarly and from popular publications and websites.

I hope you will enjoy.