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