Connectome Harmonics – Such a Gorgeous Name
The brilliant physicist, Richard Feynman (deceased 1988) is quoted as saying…”If someone says they understand quantum physics, it means they don’t understand quantum physics.”
I may paraphrase the legendary Mr. Feynman by saying…”If someone says they understand the human brain, it means they don’t understand the human brain.”
One of the apps I have developed for the NeuroVIZR is called the BRAIN GYM. And, yes, the First Language Light/Sound experiences have the intention of providing different kinds of “brain exercise”. There are three categories: Basic Brain Exercise, Classic Brain Entrainment and Network Harmonics. Here is a closer look at the Network Harmonics group.
BTW I am especially proud of these as they are built upon the most recent frequency harmonics measured in the specific networks:-))
What are Brain Networks?
It is often said that the brain is the most complex network known to man. A human brain comprises about 100 billion (1011) neurons connected by about 100 trillion (1014) synapses, Modern noninvasive imaging techniques applied to the human brain allow the mapping of anatomical regions and their interconnecting pathways at near-millimeter resolution.
The resulting large-scale networks provide a comprehensive description of the brain’s structural connectivity, also called the human connectome. Brain networks result when different parts of the brain link together for some specific tasks. Network Harmonics are also called Connectome Harmonics.
1) Feeling of Me
a. Default Mode Network (DMN)
b. The DMN is one of the most studied of the Brain Networks. It is called “default” because when our brain is not engaged in any particular task, the DMN takes over. It brings us into an internal world of consciousness with loose contemplation and unfocused thought. Most importantly, it generates that unique subjective experience called “Me”. Interestingly, the DMN gets “turned off” when we dream and whenever the Executive Control Network (see ECN) gets “turned on”. The DMN also gets “turned off” with psychedelics which may explain, in part, the feeling of “Me” decreases and yields experiences of “oneness” and “ego dissolution”. Importantly, the DMN slowly disintegrates in dementias which might explain the loss of “self” identity.
2) Shifting into Task
a. Executive Control Network (ECN)
b. The ECN is associated with attentional control and manipulating information in working memory. The ECN is a set of cognitive processes that are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior: selecting and successfully monitoring behaviors that facilitate the attainment of chosen goals. The ECN has been associated with “flow states” in which the sense of “self/me’ seemingly vanishes (see DMN).
3) Focused Attention
a. Dorsal Attention Network (DAN)
b. The DAN includes a focus upon egocentric space to generate sensory-motor information about functions such as reaching, grasping, the “data” that are important for knowing about how to use objects. The DAN is most prominently involved in goal-directed, voluntary control of attention involving the external visual aspect of actions in 3D space. Think “eye-hand” coordination.
4) Field Attention
a. Ventral Attention Network (VAN)
b. The VAN is one of two sensory orienting systems in the human brain, the other being the dorsal attention network (DAN). The VAN and DAN are like the complementary Yin and Yang of brain networks. Its main function is to reorient attention towards salient stimuli. The VAN is considered to be involved mostly, if not entirely, in involuntary actions. The VAN yields the sense of the peripheral activity inseparable from focused actions in space. Think of basketball player with “eyes in the back of his head” and his “no-look” passes.
5) Emotional Flow
a. Limbic Network (LN)
b. The LN is the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses, especially when it comes to behaviors we need for survival: feeding, reproduction and caring for our young, and fight or flight responses. The LN functions to facilitate memory storage and retrieval, establish emotional states, and link the conscious, intellectual functions of the cerebral cortex with the unconscious, autonomic functions of the brain stem.