Dr. Antonio Damasio is a renowned neuroscientist who direct's the USC Brain and Creativity Institute. Before that he was the Head of Neurology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. His research focuses on the neurobiology of mind and behavior, with an emphasis on emotion, decision-making, memory, communication, and creativity. His research has helped describe the neurological origins of emotions and has shown how emotions affect cognition and decision-making. He is the author of a number of books, including "Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain," which will be published in November, 2010. Dr. Damasio is also the 2010 winner of the Honda Prize, one of the most important international awards for scientific achievement.
Dr. Damasio is a Big Think Delphi Fellow.
While our own personal histories happen one event at a time, our brains make sense of our lives by stringing these events together in an structured way.
We have brains because they optimize our bodies' survival. Meanwhile, the body itself is the border in the translation service that will allow the outside world to come into the brain.
Our main mode of control has to do with our degree of knowledge and our understanding of the world. As we change what we know about the world, we change the way we control our perception.
Many of the brain's functions are designed to initiate a response to a detected imbalance. As our bodies strive to maintain homeostasis, our brains send signals that make us do what is needed.
An emotion consists of a very well orchestrated set of alterations in the body. Its purpose is to make life more survivable by taking care of a danger or taking advantage of an opportunity.
The USC neurobiologist and novelist speak about various topics on neurology and memory.
"We do have a measure of control," says Damasio, "but it is not true that we have full control and it is not true that when we are executing an action we are necessarily controlling it at that moment consciously."
From a neural standpoint, memory structures "are in of themselves rather dumb," says Damasio. "It’s not that they know anything consciously. What they know is they have a sort of internal testimony of the...
Neurologists learned about how emotion originates in the brain from people like Phineas Gage, who had a spike driven into his head. By learning about the specific impairment of a range of emotions, scientists...
"The process of consciousness is the process that allows us to run our lives personally and in society the way we do," says Damasio. "It’s the thing that gives us access to high thinking and high decision making...