Prof. Dr. Pratibha J. Mishra
A Source of Intellect Power
The total area of the brain has been divided into frontal parietal, occipital and temporal lobes dealing with different functions of the body. Depending upon the specialized functions related to sensory and motor activities brain is also classified into somatic, visual auditory and association areas. All these areas meet one another in the back side of the temporal lobe, where in fact temporal, parietal and occipital lobes all come together.
This area of confluence of the different sensory interpretive areas is especially highly developed in the dominant side of the brain and it plays the greatest role in determining the capacity of intelligence in an individual. This area is best known as 'Wernicke's Area' in the honour of the neurologist who first described its special significance in the intellectual processes.
For several decades it has been taught that the locus of the higher intellect in the human being lies in 'prefrontal' area of the brain. Several scientific studies have proved that this part of brain deals with
- the ability to solve complex mathematical problems,
- ability to string together sequential tasks to reach specific goals,
- ability to do several parallel tasks at the same time,
- level of aggressiveness,
- social responses for various occasions including loss of morals and embarrassment in relation to sex and excretion,
- ability to modulate language, carryout long trains of thoughts and moods, and (vii) ability to perform most of the usual motor functions related to day-to-day work.
Higher intellectual capacity of an individual is said to be directly linked with the level of consciousness towards various stimuli, thoughts, memory capacity and learning capacity. At the same time it is also true that the degree of awareness of the surroundings depends upon the total functional output of the cerebral cortex, a chief division of brain and its unit neurons. Each thought almost certainly involves simultaneous signals in many portions of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, limbic system, and reticular formation of the brain, the other prominent divisions of the brain. Sequencing those thoughts and channelizing them in right direction is in fact called the intellectual capacity.
A thought results from the pattern of stimulation of many different parts of the brain at the same time and in definite sequence, involving active contribution of cerebral cortex, the thalamus, the limbic system, and the upper reticular formation of the brain stem. This is holistic approach of brain functions. This approach further determines the general nature of thoughts to be generated, giving it such qualities as pleasure, displeasure, pain, comfort, crude modalities of sensation, localization to gross areas of the body and general characteristics.
Generation of thoughts, their memorization and their instant reproducibility as and when required is the basis of the intellectual capacity of an individual. In this sequence the processes of memory play a key role. Physiologically memories are caused by changes in the capacity of synaptic transmission (transmission of signal at the meeting points of two neurons) from one neuron to the next as a result of previous neural activity. These changes in turn cause new pathways to develop for transmission of signals through the neural circuits of the brain.
The new pathways are called memory traces. They are important because, once established; they can be activated and recalled by thinking mind. Some memories last only a few seconds and others hours, days, months or years. Depending upon the duration memories are classified into
- immediate memory (lasting for few seconds/minutes),
- short-term memories (lasting for few days/weeks,
and - long term memories (lasting for years/lifetime).
Capacity of recalling and reproducing the memorized matter lay the foundation of the intelligence power of an individual.
The pathway of mechanism to promote the intellectual capacity of a human being involves anatomical strengthening of cerebral cortex (particularly Wernicke's Area), neurotransmitter profile of the neurons in this area and modulation of bioelectrical impulse generation. The anatomical strengthening arrangement in such areas are linked with Reverberating (Oscillatory) Circuits in the brain. Such circuits are caused by positive feedback within the neuronal network. That is, the output of a neuronal circuit feeds back to re-excite the input of the same circuit.
Consequently, once stimulated, the circuit discharges repetitively for a long time, and because of that the person is able to store the information for longer duration and also correlate various such information's during the decision making processes. The yields many a fold enhancement in his/her intelligence capacity. Similarly neurotransmitters released by neurons of specialized area like Wernicke's Area and nerve impulse conduction in those neurons also affect the thought generating process in brain because coding and decoding of signals in neurons depends upon quantity and quality of neurotransmitters along with the rate of their secretion.
Preksha Meditation practice, particularly those of Perception of Psychic-centres and Contemplation, leads to significant changes in neurotransmitter profile, thereby actively influencing the processes of thought generation during a specific stimulation. Because of qualitative changes in neurotransmitters of Wernicke's Area, a comparatively faster balance is established in between reception, analysis and decision making processes, thereby promoting the intelligent behaviour.
Contemplation blended with Kayotsarga (Relaxation with self awareness) and Perception of Psychic Centres influence the basal metabolic rate and causes a shift in energy utilization for the purpose of structural strengthening of reverberating circuits in the brain. This finally improves the intelligence capacity of the individual.
