To what extent can the human mind be "rewired"?

TeddyTedson

We all probably know people who've dramatically changed over the years.
But can a human brain be rewired to the extent an extreme introvert could become an extreme extrovert.
Can entire personalities be reshaped?

El Weirdo

<this is a pity reply>

Wacker The Attacker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eo4aPQAwq4

martic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NanAza18FE

Grayson

Read "Godel, Escher Bach" and "I am a strange loop." Or at least google them.

dodderangler

Replace the hamster working the controls

strobe

Yep. The vast bulk of entire personalities are based on self ascribed notions that are constantly reinforced. If they aren't constantly reinforced they dissolve. Stop thinking that you're introverted and you'll stop being introverted, easier said than done. We all have the same hardware and only very very slightly different firmware, but personality is 99% software. It is all deleteable and alterable and updateable. Easier said than done a lot of time, but always always always possible.

Washington Irving

Yes.

Shryke

Ya people can change. There was an ok Ted talk on this. The act of thinking and challenging yourself in different ways forms different/new neural pathways that can be reinforced and old thought patterns can be negated. It's very cool as it's in many ways down to a persons will and attitude.
You actively choose how you think, and in doing so redefine yourself in a very real way.
And that's why people can and do change.

Washington Irving

strobe wrote: »

Yep. The vast bulk of entire personalities are based on self ascribed notions that are constantly reinforced. If they aren't constantly reinforced they dissolve. Stop thinking that you're introverted and you'll stop being introverted, easier said than done. We all have the same hardware and only very very slightly different firmware, but personality is 99% software. It is all deleteable and alterable and updateable. Easier said than done a lot of time, but always always always possible.

Are we still talking about humans?

strobe

SaulGoode9 wrote: »

Are we still talking about humans?

Yeah, but I love a good ****ing analogy and know **** all about how computery stuff works (so probably shouldn't be trying to use it in a good ****ing analogy). But humans, yeah.

B.A._Baracus

TeddyTedson wrote: »

We all probably know people who've dramatically changed over the years.
But can a human brain be rewired to the extent an extreme introvert could become an extreme extrovert.
Can entire personalities be reshaped?

I'd say extraordinary bad experiences can totally change someone.

But i've often wondered how much a person can change over time naturally? Like a shy person can become outgoing etc. But what about core traits? You're a user or selfish or what not. Can alot of people change?

franktheplank

I don't think it's possible or if it is it's extremely difficult as you get older. I'd imagine you could specifically train a child from a young edge to have some personality traits but after that it's getting into the nature versus nurture debate.

I've read some interesting stuff on autism recently. The latest theories say that in the womb the autistic baby's brain develops differently, essentially growing very densely in some areas so that information cannot pass as well through, leading to the autistic traits.

It is hoped that by targeting intensive programs from a young age, these children will develop neural networks around the congested areas and have a much better prognosis than might otherwise be the case.

Of course autism is a spectrum disorder so not everybody would require these interventions, many people with autism live very full lives without any, or any substantial, aid.

My name is URL

http://obsoletegamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/six_million_dollar_man.jpg

Chavways

Jason Bourne thinks so.

coonecb1

TeddyTedson wrote: »

We all probably know people who've dramatically changed over the years.
But can a human brain be rewired to the extent an extreme introvert could become an extreme extrovert.
Can entire personalities be reshaped?

This question was on my mind a few hours ago as well, freaky!

Interested to see ppl's replies actually

DazMarz

The human brain is an incredibly fragile thing, even despite the protection afforded by the skull and the layer of fluid between the skull and the actual brain itself.

It has been categorically acknowledged that damage to the brain itself can cause huge changes in a person's personality and demeanour and actions.

While most brain injuries can be fatal, certain injuries can be survivable and can lead to life-long or at least long-term fundamental changes in a person.

Arguably the most famous of these was a man named Phineas Gage, who suffered a major injury to the frontal lobe of his brain and survived, but following the injury his personality had undergone dramatic changes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

While this is not rewiring that is safe (an injury such as the one suffered above would most likely have killed 99.9999% of people), it does show that it would be possible to alter a person's personality with changes introduced to the brain. The technology to do so safely is probably decades away, but it could be theoretically possible.

flutterflye

I don't know, while logically, and for the most part, I'd agree with Strobe.
I have ADD and my son has ASD and ADHD.
With a lot of work, you can get a handle on the symptoms of these disorders, but you can never change them.
Personalities, behaviours etc... - You can always change.
You can overcome fears, you can overcome depression, anxiety, (at least some) personality disorders.
You can completely unlearn behaviours or poor coping mechanisms, and learn new ones.
But I don't know about other mental illnesses like scitzophrenia, and I don't think you can completely change learning or developmental disorders - alter them - yes, but not completely - not even close to completely actually.

Velvety

strobe wrote: »

Yep. The vast bulk of entire personalities are based on self ascribed notions that are constantly reinforced. If they aren't constantly reinforced they dissolve. Stop thinking that you're introverted and you'll stop being introverted, easier said than done. We all have the same hardware and only very very slightly different firmware, but personality is 99% software. It is all deleteable and alterable and updateable. Easier said than done a lot of time, but always always always possible.

Not really. The neural pathways that are involved in patterns of cognition and emotion are developed by being activated over and over. Once a path has been developed it is very difficult to undevelop it. Like if you started learning French and you kept at it till you were absolutely fluent, you'd still be able to speak English. Your ability to speak English would never completely diminish because it would be so well entrenched.

miss tickle

I agree with you there, for children and adults with adhd and asd there are a lot of challenges to overcome, my own son has both, me probably to a certain degree as well but although changing behaviour works to a certain degree, I don't think it's the whole story. Certain neuro- imaginging technics are pointing towards possible seizures etc. check TED for these. For me the answer is to not follow just one school of thought but to explore everything, be it psychological, neurological, medical, the list can go on, until you find the answer

miss tickle

sorry replying to a different post, Soooooooooo bad at this.

flutterflye

miss tickle wrote: »

I agree with you there, for children and adults with adhd and asd there are a lot of challenges to overcome, my own son has both, me probably to a certain degree as well but although changing behaviour works to a certain degree, I don't think it's the whole story. Certain neuro- imaginging technics are pointing towards possible seizures etc. check TED for these. For me the answer is to not follow just one school of thought but to explore everything, be it psychological, neurological, medical, the list can go on, until you find the answer

Yeah, I have heard that there may be links/similarities with epilepsy alright.
I love TED! It's fantastic for all this kind of thing.

BlackRoom

Yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRBak_2X3Do

Capt'n Midnight

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra

. In addition to LSD, Cameron also experimented with various paralytic drugs as well as electroconvulsive therapy at thirty to forty times the normal power. His "driving" experiments consisted of putting subjects into drug-induced coma for weeks at a time (up to three months in one case) while playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements. His experiments were typically carried out on patients who had entered the institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and postpartum depression, many of whom suffered permanently from his actions. His treatments resulted in victims' incontinence, amnesia, forgetting how to talk, forgetting their parents, and thinking their interrogators were their parents

anyone know the name of that Canadian woman that was deprogrammed competely and then thought up again ?

she was upset to discover that not only was she married, but that she didn't like the marriage

9959

There is the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Mr Benevolent

Easily and very quickly, trust me. Rewired to make everything much better. I've done it myself.

Chuck Stone

strobe wrote: »

We all have the same hardware and only very very slightly different firmware, but personality is 99% software. It is all deleteable and alterable and updateable. Easier said than done a lot of time, but always always always possible.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

meoklmrk91

Not completely related but defiantely to d with how the brain is wired. I know a kid who is left handed, when she was learning to write in school she mirrored her right handed teacher, this she wrote everything backwards, for instance if she wrote the word dog she wrote it as god but it was right to her because that is the way she had learned it and did not see anythung wrong with it. As you can imagine her parents were seriously freaked out, they had to re-train her brain over a number of years and sometimes she still has trouble with this. I just thought it was amazing when I heard it.

miss tickle

flutterflye wrote: »

Yeah, I have heard that there may be links/similarities with epilepsy alright.
I love TED! It's fantastic for all this kind of thing.

I love Ted too, but Jeeez how the hell did Bono get a gig on it, (I apologise if your a fan), have we no better offering from this country. If you want to talk Third World Poverty get Geldof on the case, He'd convince you to empty your pockets in no time.

Anyway something you said in your post really struck me. In order to successfully reprogramme the brain, can it be more successful if you have gone through the same process yourself. You are aware of the processes which work and how to achieve them effectively, and also being able to empathise with the person can be crucial. Does this approach work? or should we resort to NLP.

Duggys Housemate

Confab wrote: »

Easily and very quickly, trust me. Rewired to make everything much better. I've done it myself.

How?

opti0nal

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

That's what drug-addicts and alcoholics do.

Cognitive behavioural therapy is a way of changing ingrained traits.

People need to recognise the reasons that cause them to behave in a certain way before they change.

KyussBishop

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra

anyone know the name of that Canadian woman that was deprogrammed competely and then thought up again ?

she was upset to discover that not only was she married, but that she didn't like the marriage

Ya Adam Curtis had her in a documentary of his; here's a bit from that: (just a forewarning to people: some briefly disturbing electroshock stuff)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y8M0RPvBWo#t=3m55s (continues in next vid)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KME75GivhkM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn2kI8Nguk0

Good documentary series:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Living_Dead_%28TV_series%29

Furious_George

flutterflye wrote: »

Yeah, I have heard that there may be links/similarities with epilepsy alright.
I love TED! It's fantastic for all this kind of thing.

I didnt know what TED was and googled it. Thank you very very very much. Watched a few talks on string theory and multiverses and I'm hooked :D:D:D

Lollers

Brilliant article here from Time magazine on how the brain rewires itself.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580438,00.html

Every person has to potential to do it, groundbreaking stuff.

NegativeCreep

I have a friend who used to be painfully shy. He literally wouldnt speak unless he was spoken to and even then it was one word answers. Now he's the life and soul of the party and is the first on the dancefloor making a fool out of himself and that's before he has any drink

So yes you can change. I don't know what it takes but I know it can happen.

ToddyDoody

Fishes brains grow back after being significantly damaged, I don't think human brains do

thee glitz

This reminds me of that Welsh rugby player who had a gym accident which resulted in a stroke. He's grand now
but he's ditched his fiancé, lost 8 stone, quit his bank job to train as a hairdresser and moved in with his bf.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2058921/Chris-Birch-stroke-Rugby-player-wakes-gay-freak-gym-accident.html