Tune Your Mind a personalized brain fingerprint

[Music]

one of my favorite parts

when i go to the philharmonic is when

the orchestra

starts tuning it just reminds me of my

own gradual progress towards a steady

and focused mind

[Applause]

but tuning one’s mind is not a trivial

task

i remember my first series meditation

retreat

the instruction was very simple

just pay attention to the breath

when your mind wanders try to bring it

back to the breath

[Applause]

sounded very simple but it took me a

long

long time to actually really understand

what i needed to do with my mind

to get into that nicely tuned

and focused state it was a long

and hard process imagine a technology

that could help tune your mind faster

easier and in a more efficient way

just like an electric tuner makes life

easier

for a musician in the past years

we have been developing such technology

here at mit

and we have successfully shown that it

works

not just to help tune your mind

but it also helps patients with mental

health problems

to revert their pathology

but first let me take a step back

for a second and explain why it is so

difficult

to tune our minds so hard

to focus our attention

studies have shown that even when we

really

really want to pay attention to

something like

maybe this talk at some point about half

of us

will drift off in a daydream or have

this urge

to check our phones and this is because

the human mind

has a natural tendency to do things more

efficiently with less

resources this is it tries to automate

everything

that we do so as soon

as we finally learn how to do something

for example

brush our teeth the process gets shelved

into an automated process which then

frees up brain power

that we can use for other more important

processes

however if we don’t use these resources

on other more challenging things the

resources

get quickly hijacked and we start

thinking

about the past or predicting and

preparing for the future

when we automate things resources get

freed up

if we don’t actively engage in something

interesting or new

to learn we start mind wondering

let’s use a simple example to illustrate

this

driving a car

in case you drive you probably noticed

that driving

gets easier over time

maybe you can remember the first time

you got behind the wheel you were

nervous

everything was new so you have to focus

on multiple things

at the same time for example which

gear to use what is happening in front

of you

behind you maybe which pedal to press

and so on but naturally after time

and we practice it became more and more

effortless

and at some point you were so good at

driving that there was no more need for

improvement

and you may have started a conversation

or listening to the radio

or hopefully not very often check your

phone

when this happens the mind defaults to

its heatless

unmindful and thoughtless mount

and in the brain this process is

performed

by a special network this set of brain

regions

is called the default mode network and

has two main nodes

one in the medial prefrontal lobe and

one

in the posterior cingulate cortex

so for instance today when you draw from

home to your workplace

how much of the ride do you actually

remember

you surely remember the way but do you

remember

exactly how many times you changed lines

or had

to stop at a red light i bet you don’t

instead you were probably thinking about

the upcoming meeting or what you will be

doing on the weekends

or having for dinner this night when we

think about

the past or the future this network

kicks in

and we are on autopilot mode

the issue is that this autopilot mode

not only applies to driving

in fact it applies to almost every

single thing we do

at a regular basis and we don’t even

notice it

studies have shown that we spend about

half hours

of our waking time in this mindless

state

and that our mind activity constantly

falls back to activating

this network in the brain what is more

studies have systematically found that

the underlying brain network

the default neural network is

hyperactive and hyperconnected in

anxiety

depression ptsd and more severe mental

health problems

like schizophrenia where it tends to

occupy even longer

and more prolonged periods of time

during the day

and that is why it’s so difficult for

these persons to literally switch off

and change to other activities or other

thoughts

by contrast studies with experienced

meditators have

systematically shown a reduction in the

formal network activity

and that the level of this reduction

correlates with their happiness and

well-being

so because it’s really really difficult

to

learn how to correctly tune and focus

our minds

especially for people with mental health

issues

here at mit we are using this novel

technology

to help with this mental tuning so

let’s check it out in our lab we have

been studying the brains of patients

with schizophrenia for a long time

and have discovered that the default

mode network is hyper activated

and hyper connected and that the amount

of this hyperactivity or

hyperconnectivity

directly relates to symptom severity

we now can get a personal fingerprint of

the patient’s default mode network

and by targeted real-time neurofeedback

provide them with a mental tuner

that helps them better learn how to

actually focus their attention

by providing first-person experience of

how it feels

to exert the right mental effort

our results with this personalized

neural feedback

not only has helped patients with their

learning process

it helps them feel how to actually tune

their mind

it gives them back the control over

their minds by directly linking

their subjective experience with the

feedback of how to reduce their default

mode network

and with this help them reduce their

symptomatology

it took me almost two years of daily

meditation to tune my mind

i am convinced this can be learned in a

more effective way

and in a shorter time this technology

not only can help patients regain

control over their

minds and lead them to a happier life

but it may also prevent any loved one

from getting a debilitating

mental health problem in the future or

help them

deal with anxiety or depression

during these tough times we are

currently living

this technology is a step in the

direction

of personalized mental training

i want to dedicate this talk and all

our efforts to all those who will

benefit

from it one day

[Music]

[Applause]

thank you very much