BY DAVID O’BRIEN
Quick! Answer the following two questions out loud and then respond to #3 with the first thing that comes to your mind.
Did you answer zebra or tiger? If so, you are in the majority. Approximately 20% of people respond zebra while 50% respond with another African animal like a tiger. Why? Because the brain compiles information in an associative manner, according to a recent book by neuroscientist Dean Buonomano entitled Brain Bugs.
Dr. Buonomano writes that the brain processes current information by recalling related concepts. So with our example, the brain saves Africa, black and white, and zebra in the same folder. Once the Africa folder is opened, what we know about Africa is pushed to the front of our minds.
Why bring this up in a column about Everyday Faith? Because Dr. Buonomano’s research confirms scientifically that we are influenced by what we absorb from the world around us. What goes into our brains creates patterns of thought, expectations and predispositions that can lead us toward virtue, goodness and holiness or down the road to destruction.
St. Paul warned the Christians in Corinth (15:33): "Do not be fooled. Bad companions ruin good character." To the Romans, he wrote: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (12:2)
So, if we surround ourselves with people of faith, God’s truth in scripture and tradition, Christian music and talk radio, morally uplifting television and movies, we are neurologically wiring our brains to see the world in a certain way, God’s way. Of course, the converse is equally true.
Still not convinced?
Dr. Buonomano recounts another study where two groups of people are given word puzzles to complete. One group’s puzzle includes words implying politeness, patience, courtesy and good manners. The other group’s puzzle is filled with rude, impolite, impatient and nasty words.
After completing the puzzles, both groups are told to individually talk to a researcher who pretends to be busy on a personal phone call. The rude puzzle group interrupts the researcher far more quickly, to which Dr. Buonomano concludes: brains can be primed toward certain behavior.
Dr. Buonomano points out how marketing agencies have successfully influenced shopping decisions for decades by priming people’s brains in this way even though they never had the scientific research to prove their strategies.
Brain priming happens because the brain’s neurons are connected by synapses. When synapses fi re together, they create shared folders filled with associated data, positive or negative.
Dr. Buonomano reports: "The synapses that fire together, wire together."
For example, at the mention of the word "barbecue", many Southerners recall happy childhood memories of Sundays spent with family, feasting on savory favorites. The result is a favorable disposition toward whatever is then associated with barbecues.
In other words, just as we train our muscles to do certain tasks like driving a car, shooting a basketball or swimming, so too our brains become trained or pre-routed to retrieve certain information based on association. That information influences our behavior.
The implications of this research for our Christian lives are monumental. If our children view 50,000 hours of TV filled with images of sex by the age of 21 and during their viewing only 6% of people having sex are spouses (40% are friends, 27% are strangers, www.sexrespect.com), how are their brains being wired?
If people attend Mass infrequently, rarely read the bible and hardly ever talk about God with their friends and family, what folders will their brains access when they receive a diagnosis of cancer? Will they immediately think of prayer and God, hope and healing, community support and miracles? Or will their brain pull out the file marked death, despair, betrayal, anger, isolation and useless suffering?
From the beginning, the Church has implored us to immerse ourselves in Christian community and fill our minds with the truth of Christ. Why? Because we are formed by what goes into our minds.
So we must ask the question: do the things I read, watch, sing, talk about and mentally consume lead me to Christ or not? The patterns we create today will be with us for the rest of our lives.
1. What continent is Kenya in?
2. What color are the keys on a piano?
3. Name any animal.
Did you answer zebra or tiger? If so, you are in the majority. Approximately 20% of people respond zebra while 50% respond with another African animal like a tiger. Why? Because the brain compiles information in an associative manner, according to a recent book by neuroscientist Dean Buonomano entitled Brain Bugs.
Dr. Buonomano writes that the brain processes current information by recalling related concepts. So with our example, the brain saves Africa, black and white, and zebra in the same folder. Once the Africa folder is opened, what we know about Africa is pushed to the front of our minds.
Why bring this up in a column about Everyday Faith? Because Dr. Buonomano’s research confirms scientifically that we are influenced by what we absorb from the world around us. What goes into our brains creates patterns of thought, expectations and predispositions that can lead us toward virtue, goodness and holiness or down the road to destruction.
St. Paul warned the Christians in Corinth (15:33): "Do not be fooled. Bad companions ruin good character." To the Romans, he wrote: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (12:2)
So, if we surround ourselves with people of faith, God’s truth in scripture and tradition, Christian music and talk radio, morally uplifting television and movies, we are neurologically wiring our brains to see the world in a certain way, God’s way. Of course, the converse is equally true.
Still not convinced?
Dr. Buonomano recounts another study where two groups of people are given word puzzles to complete. One group’s puzzle includes words implying politeness, patience, courtesy and good manners. The other group’s puzzle is filled with rude, impolite, impatient and nasty words.
After completing the puzzles, both groups are told to individually talk to a researcher who pretends to be busy on a personal phone call. The rude puzzle group interrupts the researcher far more quickly, to which Dr. Buonomano concludes: brains can be primed toward certain behavior.
Dr. Buonomano points out how marketing agencies have successfully influenced shopping decisions for decades by priming people’s brains in this way even though they never had the scientific research to prove their strategies.
Brain priming happens because the brain’s neurons are connected by synapses. When synapses fi re together, they create shared folders filled with associated data, positive or negative.
Dr. Buonomano reports: "The synapses that fire together, wire together."
For example, at the mention of the word "barbecue", many Southerners recall happy childhood memories of Sundays spent with family, feasting on savory favorites. The result is a favorable disposition toward whatever is then associated with barbecues.
In other words, just as we train our muscles to do certain tasks like driving a car, shooting a basketball or swimming, so too our brains become trained or pre-routed to retrieve certain information based on association. That information influences our behavior.
The implications of this research for our Christian lives are monumental. If our children view 50,000 hours of TV filled with images of sex by the age of 21 and during their viewing only 6% of people having sex are spouses (40% are friends, 27% are strangers, www.sexrespect.com), how are their brains being wired?
If people attend Mass infrequently, rarely read the bible and hardly ever talk about God with their friends and family, what folders will their brains access when they receive a diagnosis of cancer? Will they immediately think of prayer and God, hope and healing, community support and miracles? Or will their brain pull out the file marked death, despair, betrayal, anger, isolation and useless suffering?
From the beginning, the Church has implored us to immerse ourselves in Christian community and fill our minds with the truth of Christ. Why? Because we are formed by what goes into our minds.
So we must ask the question: do the things I read, watch, sing, talk about and mentally consume lead me to Christ or not? The patterns we create today will be with us for the rest of our lives.
 | About David O’Brien David O’Brien is the Associate Director of Religious Education for Lay Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. His column, Everyday Faith, appears regularly in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Week. Email David at dobrien@mobilearchdiocese.org. |
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