A Singular Challenge
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Mariette DiChristina Editor in Chief [email protected] ( from the editor ) M IND BEHAVIOR • BRAIN SCIENCE • INSIGHTS www.ScientificAmerican.com/Mind ScIENTIfIc AmERIcAN mINd 1 cOVER pHOTOIlluSTRATION By AARON GOOdmAN EdITOR IN cHIEf: Mariette DiChristina ISSuE EdITOR: Emily Laber-Warren EdITORS: Karen Schrock, Ingrid Wickelgren ART dIREcTOR: Patricia Nemoto ISSuE pHOTOGRApHy EdITOR: Bridget Gerety Small cOpy dIREcTOR: Maria-Christina Keller EdITORIAl AdmINISTRATOR: Avonelle Wing SENIOR SEcRETARy: Maya Harty cONTRIBuTING EdITORS: Gareth Cook, David Dobbs, Robert Epstein, Jonah Lehrer cONTRIBuTING RESEARcHERS: Smitha Alampur, Kenneth Silber, Kevin Singer cOpy ANd pROducTION, NATuRE puBlISHING GROup: SENIOR cOpy EdITOR, NpG: Daniel C. Schlenoff mANAGING pROducTION EdITOR, NpG: Richard Hunt SENIOR pROducTION EdITOR, NpG: Michelle Wright BOARd Of AdVISERS: HAl ARkOwITz: Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Arizona STEpHEN J. cEcI: Professor of Developmental Psychology, Cornell University R. dOuGlAS fIEldS: Chief, Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development S. AlExANdER HASlAm: Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology, University of Exeter cHRISTOf kOcH: Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology, California Institute of Technology ScOTT O. lIlIENfEld: Professor of Psychology, Emory University STEpHEN l. mAckNIk, Director, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuropsychology, Barrow Neurological Institute SuSANNA mARTINEz-cONdE, Director, Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, Barrow Neurological Institute JOHN H. mORRISON: Chairman, Department of Neuroscience, and Director, Neurobiology of Aging Laboratories, Mount Sinai School of Medicine VIlAyANuR S. RAmAcHANdRAN: Director, Center for the Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor, Salk Institute for Biological Studies dIANE ROGERS-RAmAcHANdRAN: Research Associate, Center for the Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego STEpHEN d. REIcHER: Professor of Psychology, University of St. Andrews Some of the articles in this issue are adapted from articles originally appearing in Gehirn & Geist. pROducTION mANAGER: Christina Hippeli AdVERTISING pROducTION mANAGER: Carl Cherebin pREpRESS ANd QuAlITy mANAGER: Silvia De Santis cuSTOm puBlISHING mANAGER: Madelyn Keyes-Milch pROducTION cOORdINATOR, NpG: Lisa Headley A Singular Challenge Faced with a dauntingly complex problem, scientists typically do the logical thing. They break it into component parts, to simplify and focus their efforts. After all, grap- pling with smaller facets lets you try to conquer, one piece at a time, a larger problem. But the brain’s very nature resists this technique. In effect, it refuses to be compartmen- talized. The more researchers may attempt to look at a single processing question, the more it turns out to be interrelated with many other things going on in the brain. Take memory. It’s tempting to think of recall as a video recording or some simple device. Far from existing in one discrete module, however, recollections develop from thousands of connections among neurons. In the first article of this issue’s special re- port on memory starting on page 22, “Making Connections,” by Anthony J. Greene, you will learn that neural connections underlie everything we know. As neurons light up together, they create links within which our memories lie. As Greene puts it, memo- ries are “a web of connections between people and things.” Events that have high emo- tional value are particularly crisp in our minds. The second article of our special report, on page 30, “Yearning for Yesterday,” by Jochen Gebauer and Constantine Sedikides, explains how nostalgia, where we bask in the past, can actually be good for you. Likewise, speech and music at first seem separate in nature. We talk to convey in- formation. Music seems to come from a more emotional place. But perhaps you will not be surprised at this point to learn that, in fact, the brain areas responsible for these functions communicate with one another a great deal—and they develop together as well. Music and language turn out to be partners in the brain. “Indeed, in many re- spects, music and speech seem to be mirror images, with both playing integral roles in the development of the other—in the way we, as people, bond and communicate, in how we perceive the sounds around us, in our understanding of language and in the workings of our minds,” writes Diana Deutsch in her feature, “Speaking in Tones.” Turn to page 36 to find out why a song in your heart means you can talk the talk.
Transcript of A Singular Challenge
Mariette DiChristina Editor in Chief
(from the editor)
MIndBEHAVIOR • BRAIN SCIENCE • INSIGHTS
www.Sc ient i f icAmerican.com/Mind ScIENTIfIc AmERIcAN mINd 1
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EdITOR IN cHIEf: Mariette DiChristina ISSuE EdITOR: Emily Laber-Warren EdITORS: Karen Schrock, Ingrid Wickelgren
ART dIREcTOR: Patricia Nemoto ISSuE pHOTOGRApHy EdITOR: Bridget Gerety Small
cOpy dIREcTOR: Maria-Christina Keller
EdITORIAl AdmINISTRATOR: Avonelle Wing SENIOR SEcRETARy: Maya Harty
cONTRIBuTING EdITORS: Gareth Cook, David Dobbs, Robert Epstein, Jonah Lehrer
cONTRIBuTING RESEARcHERS: Smitha Alampur, Kenneth Silber, Kevin SingercOpy ANd pROducTION, NATuRE puBlISHING GROup:
SENIOR cOpy EdITOR, NpG: Daniel C. Schlenoff mANAGING pROducTION EdITOR, NpG: Richard Hunt SENIOR pROducTION EdITOR, NpG: Michelle Wright BOARd Of AdVISERS:
HAl ARkOwITz: Associate Professor of Psychology, University of ArizonaSTEpHEN J. cEcI: Professor of Developmental Psychology, Cornell UniversityR. dOuGlAS fIEldS: Chief, Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentS. AlExANdER HASlAm: Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology, University of ExetercHRISTOf kOcH: Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology, California Institute of Technology ScOTT O. lIlIENfEld: Professor of Psychology, Emory UniversitySTEpHEN l. mAckNIk, Director, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuropsychology, Barrow Neurological InstituteSuSANNA mARTINEz-cONdE, Director, Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, Barrow Neurological InstituteJOHN H. mORRISON: Chairman, Department of Neuroscience, and Director, Neurobiology of Aging Laboratories, Mount Sinai School of MedicineVIlAyANuR S. RAmAcHANdRAN: Director, Center for the Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor, Salk Institute for Biological StudiesdIANE ROGERS-RAmAcHANdRAN: Research Associate, Center for the Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego STEpHEN d. REIcHER: Professor of Psychology, University of St. Andrews
Some of the articles in this issue are adapted from articles originally appearing in Gehirn & Geist.
pROducTION mANAGER: Christina Hippeli AdVERTISING pROducTION mANAGER: Carl Cherebin pREpRESS ANd QuAlITy mANAGER: Silvia De Santis cuSTOm puBlISHING mANAGER: Madelyn Keyes-Milch pROducTION cOORdINATOR, NpG: Lisa Headley
A Singular ChallengeFaced with a dauntingly complex problem, scientists typically do the logical thing. They break it into component parts, to simplify and focus their efforts. After all, grap-pling with smaller facets lets you try to conquer, one piece at a time, a larger problem. But the brain’s very nature resists this technique. In effect, it refuses to be compartmen-talized. The more researchers may attempt to look at a single processing question, the more it turns out to be interrelated with many other things going on in the brain.
Take memory. It’s tempting to think of recall as a video recording or some simple device. Far from existing in one discrete module, however, recollections develop from thousands of connections among neurons. In the first article of this issue’s special re-port on memory starting on page 22, “Making Connections,” by Anthony J. Greene, you will learn that neural connections underlie everything we know. As neurons light up together, they create links within which our memories lie. As Greene puts it, memo-ries are “a web of connections between people and things.” Events that have high emo-tional value are particularly crisp in our minds. The second article of our special report, on page 30, “Yearning for Yesterday,” by Jochen Gebauer and Constantine Sedikides, explains how nostalgia, where we bask in the past, can actually be good for you.
Likewise, speech and music at first seem separate in nature. We talk to convey in-formation. Music seems to come from a more emotional place. But perhaps you will not be surprised at this point to learn that, in fact, the brain areas responsible for these functions communicate with one another a great deal—and they develop together as well. Music and language turn out to be partners in the brain. “Indeed, in many re-spects, music and speech seem to be mirror images, with both playing integral roles in the development of the other—in the way we, as people, bond and communicate, in how we perceive the sounds around us, in our understanding of language and in the workings of our minds,” writes Diana Deutsch in her feature, “Speaking in Tones.” Turn to page 36 to find out why a song in your heart means you can talk the talk.
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