Prompt #1: LIEBERMAN AND DAMASIO (mirror neurons, mentalizing, as-if body loop, empathy, body-minded brain, self)
Lieberman/Social: pp. 149-150: “Being able to see a series of body movements as a coherent coordinated action that can be characterized in a few words is a remarkable achievement of the brain…. It is only by synthesizing the complexity of movement into the simplicity of an action that any psychological analysis of another’s goals, intentions, desires, and fears can begin. Movements are not psychological…. actions are…. [Actions] suggest there are meanings and motives hiding behind them, waiting to be discovered. The ability to identify what someone is doing is the first step toward being able to understand why. In essence, the mirror system provides the premises that the mentalizing system can then logically operate in order to answer the why question. Thanks to the mirror system, we live in a world of actions, not movements, which allows us to live in a world of meaning.”
Damasio/Self Comes to Mind, pp. 111-112: “…the fact that the body of a given organism can be represented in the brain is essential for the creation of the self…. because we can depict our own body states, we can more easily simulate the equivalent body states of others. Subsequently the connection we have established between our own body states and the significance they have acquired for us can be transferred to the simulated body states of others, at which point we can attribute a comparable significance to the simulation. The range of phenomena denoted by the word empathy owes a lot to this arrangement…. our connection to others occurs not just by visual images, language, and logical inferences but also via something deeper in our flesh: the actions with which we can portray the movements of others.”
I thought Lieberman’s discussion of mirror neurons, motor resonance, and mentalizing toward our understanding the higher-level motives of others was interesting when placed alongside Damasio’s idea of body simulation as applied in the as-if body loop, and regarding self and empathy, particularly regarding the way each of them presented their similar thoughts. Lieberman shows a progression over his Chapter 6 through different ideas and theories, stacking evidence through to his own work (the why-how studies) to come to a conclusion about the importance of movements being seamlessly woven into and seen as actions. Strikingly, Damasio ends his Chapter 4 with a similar thought to Lieberman’s, but presented as an epiphany partly born from his own personal experience: “I first gleaned the possibility described above many years ago in an odd and memorable episode. One summer afternoon when I as at work in the lab, I had gotten up from my chair…” Also, that Lieberman is using the discussion at the point quoted to ultimately point out the basis of our sociality and how our brains are wired to connect, and Damasio is using the discussion at the point quoted to describe the basis of the self (the body-minded brain) as one that is able to know both the inner and outer world toward consciously minded regulation.
Prompt #2: RESEARCH TOPIC IDEAS
I want to talk about how space affects self, but I’m not settled on a specific path or my top ballroom guests: how different spaces, structures, and surroundings feel and affect the self (mine versus yours, public versus private), especially toward taking action. For example, travel as endurance test and/or breaking of routine/boundary, as well as people’s drive to conquer space (WTC wire walk, Mt. Everest climbs, daredevils). Side considerations might include peak experience and the role of rebellion in creativity; how space affects motivation, planning for the future, projecting future self, and self-growth and world-awareness; as well as being free versus constricted/restricted (country versus city, barren versus peopled, open/closed societies, solitary confinement).
I’ve been reading What Time Is This Place? by Kevin Lynch and watching the travel documentary Long Way Round (Ewan McGregor’s 2004 filmed motorcycle trip around the world). I want to look into some cognitive revolution/science topics, including Jerome Bruner’s Acts of Meaning, and narrow my focus/find more concrete questions to answer. Re: Gaipa, I may use piggybacking, dropping out, or crossbreeding.
Prompt #3: OVERLAP
I commented on Ayanna’s post about some overlap I see regarding her project on addiction and that I may talk about peak experience at some point, partly through looking at travel/adventure narratives relaying self-transformation via conquering/exploring space/environment.
Thanks for the encouragement, both of you! I’ve always been interested in travel/adventure narratives and documentary, in particular, because I’m not an easy traveler (so it’s vicarious, I guess). I find myself always wondering how people who actually really explore get to the point of exploring. I always have a desire, but a simultaneous hesitation. I especially admire those with the motivation for doing and seeing, and going in directions that some wouldn’t even consider. This quote from Philippe Petit, Man on Wire, gave me so much wonder: “When I see three oranges, I juggle. When I see two towers, I walk. The beauty of it all is that there is no why.” The next week, I started watching Ewan McGregor’s motorcycle documentary. He calls his friend one day and says that he was looking at a map of the world and noticed how close Russia was to Alaska, and that it made him want to ride across the land from London to New York! To think about it is one thing. To plan it and do it is quite another… then having “done it” is also another! I’m interested in these questions: what is “that moment” when someone decides to do something outside of the ordinary in a particular place, why, and how does it change them? Also, when people do new things the brain’s neurons make new connections. This aspect is something I should do more research into (as I feel less comfortable talking about the neuroscience/biology aspects).
Like you said, Liz, it’s pretty easy to become preoccupied with how environment affects us as city dwellers every day–from outdoors to indoors, aboveground to underground, and room to room. Space can help us thrive and it can also drive us mad. It can change us in an instant, but it can also change us over time. Most of the time, in the city, I find myself thinking about how I feel in a space and daydreaming about having more. Also, to your point about migration and settlement, the economics of space, land, and environment, and how they’re tied to our self-worth, identities, and how we actually do, see, have, and go in life, is a mind-bender.
The impact of space on self is such an interesting question – there are so many directions in which you could take this. One thing I often wonder is what impact space has on people’s political views. When I’m in NYC I’m constantly thinking about the need to considerately share space with others (which may also be gendered behavior, but to some extent it’s forced upon everyone here by the daily reality of negotiating subways and crowded sidewalks). When I leave NYC I immediately notice that the surplus of space causes people to “waste” it, and I wonder if that encourages a more complacent attitude about the use of other resources besides space. Then there’s the impact of space on national character – the fact that the U.S. is large enough that you can drive for days in multiple directions without hitting a border, and that thanks to manifest destiny we own our piece of the continent from one coast to another, certainly encourages us in a belief that other countries aren’t really real, which in turn supports American exceptionalism and all that that implies. I wonder if there are similar tendencies toward political insularity among Russians and Chinese (that of course we wouldn’t hear about, since our news media is also infamously insular!)?
Anyway, I look forward to seeing where you go with this topic!
Your observation about the similarity of Lieberman’s and Damasio’s argument about movement as a way of understanding how other people “inhabit” us is really interesting. But I’m going to be practical and focus on your research project.
I think you have something really original here, if you focus on making a new kind of argument about travel narratives, bringing in theories of the relationship between self and space to analyze them. A project on the influence of space on the self could be a lifetime’s reserach–but if you focus on a small number of travel narratives, the project will be manageable. You can establish motive by showing what kinds of arguments are usually made about travel material and then showing how “cross-breeding” these with theories of the self-space relationship lets us see them in a new way.