
Can you think yourself into a different person? - sergeant3
http://mosaicscience.com/story/neuroplasticity
======
teekert
As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought
will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk
again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the
kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.

Henry David Thoreau

~~~
manaskarekar
Nice quote no doubt, but pardon me for being a little pedantic.

[https://www.walden.org/Library/Quotations/The_Henry_D._Thore...](https://www.walden.org/Library/Quotations/The_Henry_D._Thoreau_Mis-
Quotation_Page)

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought
will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk
again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the
kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.

Misattribution. By Wilfred Arlan Peterson in his The Art of Living, Day by
Day: Three Hundred and Sixty-five Thoughts, Ideas, Ideals, Experiences,
Adventures, Inspirations, to Enrich Your Life (New York: Simon and Schuster,
1972) p. 77 "

I have no idea how thoroughly researched the misattributions website is.

~~~
teekert
You may well be right, I just love the quote and googling part of it I found
an attribution to Henry David Thoreau.

------
rubidium
Emphasis on thinking is often misplaced. It's pretty much impossible to
"think" yourself happy when sad, or think yourself into being a competent
person when you think you're worthless. But deciding to do some particular
action can go a long way.

From the wiki page of one of my favorite modern pysch methods:

"Behavior is made up of these four components: acting, thinking, feeling, and
physiology... We have considerable control or choice over the first two of
these, and little ability to directly choose the latter two. As these four
components are closely intertwined, the choices we make in our thinking and
acting greatly affect our feeling and physiology."
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasser%27s_choice_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasser%27s_choice_theory))

~~~
thelettere
True a million times over. In most contexts, trying to repress your emotions
(emotion or expressive suppression) is the most damaging response you can
have. It destroys executive performance and cognitive function and chronic
suppression is associated with a host of disturbances (especially depression)
and is even correlated with suicidal ideation.

[http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/emo/15/1/78/](http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/emo/15/1/78/)

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2839199/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2839199/)

[http://spl.stanford.edu/pdfs/2003/Gross%20&%20John.pdf](http://spl.stanford.edu/pdfs/2003/Gross%20&%20John.pdf)

[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sltb.12076/abstra...](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sltb.12076/abstract?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=)

------
thelettere
The real way to change your brain for the better (or at least slow its
decline) is to sleep (5) and eat right (3) at regular intervals (7), avoid
inactivity (1) (6), get regular sunlight (2) and exercise (4), be moderately
(eu)stressed (challenge yourself mentally (9) and physically), avoid chronic
excessive stress (10), fast (or just skip meals) occasionally (8) and have a
rich social life (1).

Sources:

(1)
[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karin_Volkers/publicati...](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karin_Volkers/publication/51145989_Impoverished_environment_cognition_aging_and_dementia/links/02e7e5285dcc50181f000000.pdf)
and
[http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v13/n3/full/nrn3151.html](http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v13/n3/full/nrn3151.html)

(2)
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3448747/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3448747/)

(3)
[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.23944/pdf](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.23944/pdf)

(4)
[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010....](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010.02281.x/full)

(5) [http://journals.lww.com/co-
psychiatry/Abstract/2014/11000/Im...](http://journals.lww.com/co-
psychiatry/Abstract/2014/11000/Impact_of_sleep_on_the_risk_of_cognitive_decline.17.aspx)

(6)
[http://europepmc.org/articles/pmc3915771](http://europepmc.org/articles/pmc3915771)

(7)
[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kelly_Baron2/publicatio...](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kelly_Baron2/publication/262811353_Circadian_misalignment_and_health/links/542c06c10cf27e39fa92047e.pdf)
and
[http://www.pnas.org/content/111/47/16647.long](http://www.pnas.org/content/111/47/16647.long)

(8)
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3206295/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3206295/)

(9)
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4227476/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4227476/)
and [http://mggu-sh.ru/ipgit/Kupriyanov_Eustres.pdf](http://mggu-
sh.ru/ipgit/Kupriyanov_Eustres.pdf)

(10)
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410434/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3410434/)

(edit to match points to sources)

~~~
xiaoma
I'm surprised you left out language learning and video games, given the
research that's been accumulating over the past decade.

~~~
thelettere
I'm not familiar with any body of research backing up video games - I've found
some actually that indicated the opposite. But I'd love if you shared!

~~~
_nedR
Here's one (behind paywall unfortunately) by the Max Planck Institute for
Human Development that "found significant gray matter (GM) increase in right
hippocampal formation (HC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and
bilateral cerebellum in the training group" that was trained for 2 months for
at least 30 min per day with a platformer game:-

[http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v19/n2/pdf/mp2013120a.pdf](http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v19/n2/pdf/mp2013120a.pdf)

But it seems brain training games don't seem to provide any conclusive
benifit:- [http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-
consensus...](http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-consensus-on-
the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community/)

~~~
bgilroy26
What did the control group do instead? It seems that video games would be a
great replacement/complement to the crossword puzzles people do in their elder
years.

While you have a career or if you have a hobby, I suspect any new skill that
you practiced would lead to similar mental simulation.

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JulianMorrison
This is completely normal, and we call it "practise".

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raspasov
The article articulates both sides of the argument. Reasoning from
chemistry/physics principles, there shouldn't be anything fundamentally "non-
malleable" in our brains.

Scientifically, we are probably relatively far from that moment, but in the
entirety of time any brain damage, disease, deficiency will be fixable

~~~
thelettere
Right now that's just empty speculation - presently we have little idea how
the brain works so all we can do is try to reduce damage. Not a sexy message,
but one you can hang your hat on.

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richardboegli
Yes you can think yourself into a different person.

I thought myself into being 40kg (90lb) lighter in 40 weeks without exercise.

[http://weightloss40kgin40weekswithoutexercise.com/](http://weightloss40kgin40weekswithoutexercise.com/)

------
joenasriani
You can think whatever.

