MOSCOW, April 25, Vladislav Strekopytov. Researchers have found that the connection between body and mind is built into the structure of the brain. The areas of the motor cortex that control movement are connected to neural networks that are involved in thinking and planning, and also determine the basic parameters of the body. , people often walk back and forth. Before getting up and starting to act, the seated person puts his hands on his hips. A «wrestling» stance with legs wide apart indicates a willingness to accept a challenge and put up resistance.
These are just a few examples of what psychologists call body language. Signals transmitted from the brain to the nerve endings lead to involuntary contraction of certain muscles of the face or limbs. The internal state is also given out by changes in basic physiological processes — with excitement, breathing and heartbeat become more frequent, panic fear can cause digestion failure, and so on.
These observations are actively used by psychologists and intelligence officers to decipher the state of a person, his thoughts and intentions. Scientists are trying to find a scientific explanation for the connection between emotions and their external manifestation.
Penfield's homunculus
In the 1930s, Canadian neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield discovered during open-brain surgery that electrical stimulation of a narrow strip of tissue on the surface of each of the hemispheres caused certain parts of the body to twitch. Noting the reactions, the scientist mapped the motor cortex of the brain. The control patches are in the same order as the body parts they control, from the toes at one end to the tip of the tongue at the other.
Penfield's map of the motor areas of the brain is often depicted as a so-called cortical (cortical) homunculus. In this model, those parts of the body that, in conjunction with certain areas of the cortex, are responsible for processing sensory signals and regulating movements, are hypertrophied. That is, the fingers, lips and tongue with a large number of nerve endings are larger than the torso and legs.
There are two types of homunculi — somatosensory and motor. Their images in textbooks on neurology are often accompanied by the caption: «This is how the brain sees the body from the inside.»
In the 1950s, Penfield, along with colleagues, continued to study the relationship of the somatosensory and motor cortex with psychological states and experiences. In particular, the scientist found that with the help of stimulation of the temporal lobe of the brain, memories can be activated, as well as perceptual illusions — dreams, hallucinations and the deja vu effect («memories» of something that never happened).
< h3 id="1866914146-3">Thought movements
Most of Penfield's experiments were carried out on the open brain, connecting electrodes to one or another area of the cortex. American scientists led by MD, Associate Professor of Neurology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Niko Dosenbach decided to check his card using a modern non-invasive method — functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Seven healthy volunteers underwent brain MRI scans for many hours during rest and daily tasks. Based on the results, individual maps of the motor cortex were built for each, and the resulting images were compared with the results from the three largest medical databases: the Human Connectome Project, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study and the British Biobank (UK Biobank). ), which together contain fMRI profiles of approximately 50,000 people.
To their surprise, the authors found that the Penfield map, which has taught generations of neurologists, is not entirely correct. Legs, arms and face are really controlled by the areas that the scientist identified. But between them there are three more areas that, apparently, are not associated with motor functions at all, although they are located in the motor cortex.
Further experiments with visualization showed that «stationary» areas are activated when a person thinks about movement. As it turned out, they are closely related to parts of the brain involved in thinking, planning, mental stimulation, pain, control of internal organs and some physiological functions such as blood pressure and heart rate.
«These links all make sense when you think about what the what is needed is the brain,” Dr. Dosenbach said in a press release, “First of all, for successful behavior in the environment. Therefore, the motor areas, of course, must be associated with the executive functions and basic processes of the body.”
Practicing psychologist Aigul Grand agrees with these conclusions: “The fact is that the main task of the brain is by no means development, not finding optimal solutions, not thinking about situations. Everything is much simpler and more prosaic. The brain is interested in maintaining the viability of the body, achieving this in the simplest way and spend the least energy. Therefore, the beginning of any new business is often accompanied by a state of anxiety, the appearance of fears and doubts. It is the brain that sabotages the task that forces it to leave the comfort zone.»
Product evolution
The researchers called the system of neural connections they discovered the somato-cognitive action network (SCAN, Somato-Cognitive Action Network). To understand how it forms and develops, scientists scanned the brains of a newborn, a one-year-old and a nine-year-old child, as well as nine monkeys.
The network was not found in a newborn, in a one-year-old it was already quite distinct, and by the age of nine it was almost the same as in an adult. In monkeys, even adults, the system of connections between mind and body was visible only at a rudimentary level.
«Perhaps it began to form in humans as a relatively simple system of integrating movement with physiology. For example, so that we do not lose consciousness when we stand up,» suggests first author Evan Gordon, assistant professor of radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. «But as we evolved, acquired the ability to think and plan, the system evolved and acquired many complex cognitive elements.»
A calm body is a calm mind
In recent decades, many psychological practices have appeared based on the control of physiological processes by the power of thought. Many of them use the technique of meditation. The data obtained during the study indicate a direct connection between the body and mind, embedded in the very structure of the brain.
“Calming the body with, say, breathing exercises, you also calm the mind,” says Gordon. “These kinds of practices can be very beneficial. But so far there has been no scientific evidence of how they work. Now we have found a connection. We have found the right place where the area of the mind that determines motor activity connects with the parts of the brain that control breathing and heart rate.If you calm one, it will definitely affect the other.»
«European protocols for treating patients with cardiovascular disease today include method of meditation as an additional exercise against anxiety and stress,” says psychosomatologist and neuropsychologist Yekaterina Tur. “Restoring mental and physical health through meditation is based on developing the skill of bodily concentration and improving the functional state of the body.”
The specialist notes that regular exercise normalizes the synthesis of melatonin, which plays a role in the prevention of dementia and depression, eliminates the effects of prolonged exposure to oxidative stress on the body, which can lead to the death of neurons. Meditation allows you to master the skill of managing pain sensitivity, and reducing the level of anxiety has a positive effect on the functioning of the intestine.
There are other cognitive-behavioral practices.
«These are the so-called third wave directions — MBT (mindfulness-based therapy), ACT (acceptance and awareness therapy), DBT (dialectical-behavioral therapy),» notes clinical psychologist Daria Yakusheva. «These methods develop the ability to respond not automatically , but reflexively, consciously, without getting involved in intense emotions, learn to regulate them. As a result, relaxation occurs, the parasympathetic nervous system is triggered.
There is another simple and very effective way to maintain health and improve mood — playing sports.< br />«Any person can check for himself how physical exercises affect consciousness,» says Oleg Gadetsky, Ph.D., psychologist. you will notice how much clearer the brain begins to work.
The authors of the study hope that the results will open a new page in the study of the processes that connect the body and mind. And it will allow the development of more advanced methods of treating disorders of the primary motor cortex, including those caused by stroke or trauma.