Stress Academy Presents:

Web Series – The Story of Stress

Part 1 – Understanding Stress

Episode 2 – Can The Brain Produce Awareness & Emotions?

In the last video, we learned that scientists are still trying to understand stress. Specifically, we raised the following questions:

(1) What is the objective and comprehensive definition of stress? 

(2) Where do the stress related emotions originate? 

(3) Does stress come from external circumstances or from within? 

In order to identify and characterize stress, we need to understand how awareness and emotions are formed. In addition, the relationship between emotions and ‘Free will’ (ability to make choices) is critical to determine who is responsible for stress.

Most scientists assume that awareness, beliefs, emotions and free will originate in the brain.  Validating or invalidating this assumption can fundamentally change the way we think of stress. 

As we all know, the brain and sensory organs are made up of atoms and molecules which are matter particles. Fundamentally, particles on their own possess attributes such as touch, taste, color, smell, temperature etc; however, do they really possess the ability to be aware, form beliefs or experience emotions?

Let’s do a thought experiment to understand if the sensory organs or the brain produce awareness.

When our eyes see something, it is similar to an image forming on a screen. Eye’s retina cells have no awareness of this image. This image then gets converted to electrical signals and gets transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve. Just like electricity in wires does not have any awareness of the information being transmitted, these electrical signals in the neurons of the optic nerve are also not aware. Then, the information gets stored in the brain in the form of biochemical molecules. When pictures get stored on a computer flash drive, the flash drive particles themselves do not possess any awareness. Much in the same way, biochemical molecules stored in the brain or the ones that form the brain also don’t have any awareness. Thus, we can safely say that human awareness is separate and distinct from the information itself. So where did human awareness come from? Does it really originate in the brain? Let’s discuss this through an example from neuroscience research. 

Multiple research studies in the field of neuroscience have led to the understanding that three brain regions – the insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex are critical for self awareness. However, research at the University of Iowa on a patient called “patient R”, with significantly damaged self-awareness regions of the brain, showed that this patient still demonstrated self-awareness in a mirror. It is very surprising because given the damage in these brain regions, this patient should not have exhibited any self-awareness (1). Dr. Laureys’s group from University Hospital of Liège, were able to elicit some awareness even among patients in “vegetative state”(2). Therefore, despite the breakthroughs in neuroscience, scientists have not been able to fully understand how awareness is present in patients with so much brain damage (3). 

Now let’s try to understand the role of free will in relation to our beliefs and emotions. According to American Psychological Association (APA) dictionary, “free will” is the power or capacity of human beings for self-direction. From our day to day experience, we recognize that we possess the ability to divert or focus attention, form or change beliefs & intentions as well as regulate emotions. For example, psychological diseases such as depression and phobias are treated by counselling therapies in which patients are guided to change their perspective and beliefs.  As a result patients are able to change their responses to stressful situations without any medicines or physical intervention. If emotions and beliefs that play a significant role in one’s responses to situations, are occurring only within the brain solely due to some sort of chemical processes and cellular structure, then our “free will” would have no role to play. If we as human beings didn’t possess such a “free will”, how could we motivate ourselves and others to think positively or respond positively at times under difficult situations? The counseling therapies would not be effective in the absence of “free will”. However, these therapies have been proven very effective; and therefore we can conclude that we all possess free will that is not solely dependent upon chemical processes and cellular structure of the brain. It is this free will,  which gives us an ability to regulate our awareness, beliefs, emotions and intentions.

Additionally, in the article published by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Dr. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison states that positive emotions can trigger “reward” pathways located deep within the brain; thus leading to positive brain changes (4). This research suggests that emotions have an ability to facilitate changes in the brain.

Based on above discussion and cited research, we conclude that:

(a) Medical science has not been able to clearly identify the source of our awareness, beliefs and emotions

(b) Free will is the intrinsic ability of an individual which is independent of the brain particles

(c) Free gives us an ability to regulate our emotions

(d) Emotions can influence brain changes.  

So if not in the brain, where do awareness, beliefs, emotions and free will originate?  This is a million dollar question. To answer this question, we first need to know if they come from within or outside? Stay tuned for coming videos to find out answers to these questions. 

By the way, if you like this video don’t forget to like the video, leave comments and subscribe to the channel. 

References:

1. Philippi CL, Feinstein JS, Khalsa SS, et al. Preserved self-awareness following extensive bilateral brain damage to the insula, anterior cingulate, and medial prefrontal cortices. PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e38413. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.003841
2. Noirhomme Q, Soddu A, Lehembre R, et al. Brain connectivity in pathological and pharmacological coma. Front Syst Neurosci. 2010;4:160. Published 2010 Dec 20. doi:10.3389/fnsys.2010.00160
3. Sohn E. Decoding the neuroscience of consciousness. Nature. 2019;571(7766):S2-S5. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-02207-1
4. Heller AS, Fox AS, Wing EK, McQuisition KM, Vack NJ, Davidson RJ. The Neurodynamics of Affect in the Laboratory Predicts Persistence of Real-World Emotional Responses. J Neurosci. 2015;35(29):10503-10509. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0569-15.2015