SECTION 1: WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® WEBSITE? 11-19-22

ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY

HUMANIST FAMILY BRAIN STUDY

DISCOVER YOUR ALPHABETICAL BRAIN®

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INTRODUCTION - SECTION 1 - DETAILS

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE
ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® WEBSITE?
November 19, 2022

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The purpose of this educational website is to explain the fundamental characteristics of your brain's physical structures as well as your mind's mental functions, including your natural willpower and your awesome unique ability to imagine, reason, and remember.

This crucial distinction between your brain's structures and your mind's functions is an important new fact that you can easily understand and always remember. Even children can be taught the fundamental categorical differences between their brains and their minds.

To brain scientists, the idea of "categorizing" or "departmentalizing" a group of ideas about your brain --- or your mind --- is called "chunking". When you chunk brain knowledge, you are saving and assembling ideas deliberately in your long-term memory consolidation system.

During the past few centuries only a few hundred people had a partial view of what the brain and mind are. Then, during the last century only a few thousand neuroscientists knew a few details about how healthy brains and minds worked. Now, during the 21st century (the past 22 years) thousands of educated scientists know exactly what the physical structures of the brain are and what the many mental functions of the mind are.

Of all of the human beings who ever lived before the middle of the 20th century, none knew the value and meaning of the brain vocabulary! Therefore, all those 100 billion people had much less self-control over their lives and livelihoods than educated enlightened brain-savvy people do today!

This website is designed to add coherence and authenticity to the fundamental new brain knowledge created by scientists which is known as cognitive neuroscience or simply "brain science". The brain vocabulary is being continuously expanded by neuro-scientists, evolutionary biologists, cognitive psychologists, neuro-sociologists, and neuro-philosophers. All of these different kinds of scientists are discovering and naming new sensible evidence-based pragmatic ways to think about human brains and human minds as distinct entities.

This new way of thinking and feeling is fully aligned with altruistic optimistic progressive liberal ethical assumptions and humanistic values. The Alphabetical Brain® Vocabulary aptly describes how this kind of new freedom involves personal empowerment which was guaranteed first by the U.S. Constitution and then expanded upon by the Bill of Rights.

Educated citizens can now use the new brain vocabulary to become smart enough to decode the technical language which describes the newest brilliant discoveries made by brain scientists. In brief, this website describes how you, as a citizen, can optimize your mind's mental functions in order to reason more logically and act more wisely to achieve your cherished goals and to support democracy.

This essential new brain knowledge must be consciously understood in its full scientific and philosophic contexts. And it involves what many modern professional historians and linguists agree is humanity's greatest achievement: namely, a stable alphabet with an inclusive written language. American English epitomizes this linguistic criterion for success more than any other language.

All U.S. citizens have the strongest legal protections as they live diverse human lives protected by constitutional laws written down with words. Unfortunately, the secular power represented by our U.S. Constitution, which was based upon the principle of the separation of church and state, is usually not presented as such because of some ruthless bigots who lie to the voting public. Most of the "patriots" who created our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights were not Christians since they were known in their time as Deists who believed in the Golden Rule but not the divinity of Christ! They knew that Christian theology and doctrine were based upon ancient myths and not reality!

In addition, because of the largely hidden religious origins of our American public education system and the rigid bureaucratic structure of our government and many American colleges and universities during the past two centuries, they have both perpetuated the historic myth of white male supremacy in America.

Nevertheless, it is now scientifically known that the significant causes of your mind's mental functions are an understandable sequence of dynamic interactive biological "feedback loops" and "feedforward loops" and other microscopic biological cellular processes in your brain over time. Also they are directly influenced by the cumulative impact of your existential psycho-social experiences and cultural situations. Your mind is not influenced by godly or providential forces outside your brain or socio-economic cultural influences purportedly "revealed" in religious beliefs or ideologies!

The following information box presents five important books which provide solid evidence of the need for a radical new paradigm about human consciousness and self-awareness. You can learn this new secular humanistic "enlightenment" approach to human ethics. If you choose to do it, you can learn the true causes of your human consciousness and sharpen your "self-awareness" by collaborating with your peer group of family, friends, and business associates.

This new evidence-based brain vocabulary can give you a new ability to imagine creative goals and make rational decisions by using your critical thinking skills and your critical reading strategies.

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The first book (1 - Brain Bugs: How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives) describes how cultural influences control human behavior far more than heredity and DNA. Basically, your destiny is influenced everyday largely by your "cognitive tools," which are used for survival (healthy living) and reproduction (either biological or social intercourse).

The second book (2 - A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives) presents alarming research which shows how some of the imperceptible changes in humans occur without our conscious permission. Thus, your values and principles may offer little defense against the insidious effects of the mass media and especially the social media environments. They can distort your perception of reality. That is why genuine brain knowledge is essential for your happiness and health in the future.

The third book (3 - The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age) describes the willful actions of people who used their imaginations to respond intelligently to the future challenges they faced to be successful. The stories of people and the scientific research in the book reveal five key lessons for our chaotic age. Each lesson is a strategy that has specific tactics whose power you can use to shape the future. What was believed once to be deterministic and inevitable about human nature is now understood by many brain scientists to be the result of good choices and decisions they had made in the past due to their willpower.

The fourth book (4 - Humankind: A Hopeful History) demolishes the cynical view that humans are inherently nasty and selfish. Instead, it presents a portrait of human nature that is not only more uplifting but also more accurate. The book provides a guided tour of the past and reveals how humans can build a world with more "givers" than "takers" in the future.

The fifth book (5 - Beyond Human Nature: How Culture and Experience Shape the Human Mind) reveals how the cultures we live in --- not biology --- determine how we think and feel. Jessie Prinz examines all aspects of our behavior, looking at everything from our intellects and emotions, to love and sex, morality and even madness.


	Book #1: To cope with your *"Brain Bugs"* and *"blind spots"* (flaws) use your cognitive tools (critical thinking skills) to create an optimistic self-identity in this chaotic age of turbulent change by linking up and cherishing the new information: BRAIN BUGS: How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives by Dean Buonomano. 2011 (310 pages) *instantly go to:* BRAIN BUGS Book #2: Your mind has the power to shape all your experiences and to define your identity. Your 100-billion-celled brain has amazing capacities to regulate all sensation, perception, thinking, and feeling. However, whether it is hindsight bias, wishful thinking, unrealistic optimism, or moral excuse-making, each of us has many *"mind-bugs"* and ordinary *prejudices* that prevent us from seeing the truth about the world, the people around you, and yourself. This book illustrates the mind's tendency toward self-delusion by explaining how your mind — unknown to you — is vain, emotional, immoral, deluded, pigheaded, secretive, weak-willed, and bigoted when it actively pushes, pulls, twists, and warps our perceptions! Your mind typically distorts information, and deceives you in order to make you feel better about yourself and to simplify your navigation of the social world and to keep you relatively *"sane",* or because you do not know any better! In other words, your negative human traits and pernicious habits, such as blaming victims in various ways, protect your self from threats to its mind! A MIND OF ITS OWN: *How your brain distorts and deceives* by Cordelia Fine. W.W. Norton, 2006 (i-viii, 243 pages) [Subject Term: Self-deception *instantly go to:* A MIND OF ITS OWN Book #3: To learn the *Five Key Lessons* for shaping your own optimistic self-identity in this chaotic age of turbulent change, link up and cherish the new information: OPTIMIST'S TELESCOPE: *Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age.* by Bina Venkataraman. Riverhead Books, 2019 (i-xvi, 318 pages) *instantly go to:* OPTIMIST'S TELESCOPE Book #4: To learn the *Ten Rules to Live By* for shaping your own optimistic self-identity in this chaotic age of turbulent change, link up and cherish the new information: HUMANKIND: *A Hopeful History.* by Rutger Bregman Little, Brown, and Company, 2011 (310 pages) *instantly go to:* HUMANKIND Book #5: Since cultural psychology is more influential in determining your behavior than the DNA in your Genome, link up and cherish the new information: BEYOND HUMAN NATURE: How Culture and Experience Shape the Human Mind by Jessie J. Prinz. W. W. Norton, 2012 (i-xii, 402 pages) *instantly go to:* BEYOND HUMAN NATURE

You can use the new brain vocabulary consisting of names and definitions expressed by words to change your customary habits of thinking and socializing. This new self-understanding (revelation) can give you the fresh educated capacity for self-awareness and also self-empowerment.

Then you can organize your own thoughts and feelings to personalize your own plans and achieve your own unique goals. If you have the courage to choose to grow in self-awareness and self-discovery, the series of cognitive processes on this website can empower you to use your natural willpower and your creative imagination to feel positive and eager to help others. These fundamental "mental forces" can strengthen your logical ability to imagine, reason, and remember.

Evolving your personal adaptable tacit knowledge is really simple, if you learn how to motivate yourself to do it!

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WILLPOWER = FREE WILL
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Today, brain science has confirmed the existence of your natural willpower. It is important to realize that free will is one of the dominant mental functions of your mind. Your own willpower and creative imagination can empower you to challenge and change traditional "fixed mindsets" (social customs) and invent new "open mindsets" of healthy personal attitudes and habits, when necessary.

The factual basis of your natural willpower and creative imagination is the ability to choose between cultural alternatives (social rules) within your kinship group, or your wider community. Your own family group by birth, or your social group by education, is now often called your "tribe" or "identity" within the color-coded political and racial caste system in the United States. Nevertheless, your new behavior patterns can be controlled directly by your own natural willpower with no need for any help or intervention from unknown gods or goddesses or spiritual super powers.

What you need is only your own ability to learn how to think rationally and feel and remember the new brain knowledge in the context of the new possibilities for your personal humanistic growth. This powerful way of learning and remembering new things is used daily by all kinds of professionals and amateurs alike.

For example, athletes, teachers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, parents, and especially children, all create and perfect their developmental physical and mental skill-sets every day. You can choose to learn the new brain knowledge in order to optimize your mental functions in exactly the same way that all ingenious innovators and resourceful improvisors use their minds every day.

In this regard, many brain scientists have endorsed the idea of the existence of willpower or free will as the essential ingredient in your self-identity. Such a personal humanistic self-identity (sense-of-self or secular-self or self) can be reinforced by remembering the new brain knowledge in your long-term memory consolidation system for safe keeping.

You can motivate yourself by repeatedly recalling the following powerful mantra/meme:

"Use your flexible neuroplastic mind
or lose its infinite adaptability!"

The first two links are to an essay and a book, Willpower, about willpower or free will. They provide the best modern analysis and explanation of the different levels of causation involved in understanding the cultural context and the human source of your natural willpower or free will.


	From SLATE online magazine, September 2013 by Roy F. Baumeister *instantly go to:* YOU REALLY DO HAVE FREE WILL For more information about the idea of *free will* or *willpower* by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, activate the book link below: WILLPOWER: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, The Penguin Press in 2011 (291 pages). *instantly go to:* WILLPOWER

A brief paraphrased summary of highlights by the webmaster from the first link above follows. It summarizes the best argument that defends the reality of your natural willpower or free will:

Roy F. Baumeister,

Slate

2013

Willpower is really real, but only if you "train your brain" to optimize your mind's mental functions. A good motivation booster is the following mantra/meme:

"Use your willpower to increase self-esteem or
deny your free will and decrease self-esteem!"

To optimize your mind's mental fitness, you must learn to properly use the definitions of a few specific new contextualized brain vocabulary words. They are contained in the factual scientific language of brain research.

Also, you can learn why these new facts about your brain and mind are so important for you to create your personal vision of the future. By learning the meaning of the new brain vocabulary, you can better predict your personal future behavior and better achieve your future goals. In brief, you can investigate some of the traditional "stories" about history that you were taught many years ago when you were a dependent child. And you may need to forget some of the old myths or traditional tales that have no believable logical meaning anymore in our science-oriented society. The stories were probably part of your childhood socialization process and were not true then and are still not true now.

Now you do not need to believe in a god or goddess or some mysterious unknown spiritual deity of one sort or another in order to create a long fulfilling life for yourself. No matter what cultural or ethnic group, or social class or caste system, you were born into, you can transcend the social status of your birth family or birth community when you take advantage of modern humanistic educational opportunities.

But you may need to be careful about which educational or professional or political institutions you choose to be influenced by, since many do not have secular organizational values and might compel you to uphold devious cult values. Nevertheless, with sensible rational effort you can acquire sufficient knowledge to transcend your birth status.

To repeat, now you do not need to fortify your self-awareness or moral conscience by believing in imaginary magical spiritual supernatural beings anymore. In Charles Darwin's time, they were called "animal spirits." As late as the end of the 19th century, there were many psychic quack hucksters influencing vulnerable mourning people to pay money to allegedly contact recently dead relatives.

In summary, you can use the new brain vocabulary to your advantage when you discuss consequential personal and social issues and make important decisions with your family, friends, and business associates. You can use the definitions in the brain vocabulary to describe who you are (your authentic secular self) and who you want to become (your potential future ideal secular self).

A very helpful motivation booster is the following amazing mantra/meme:

"The best way to predict
the future is to create it!"

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CONSTRUCTED EMOTIONS
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The new theory of "Constructed Emotions" is directly related to the new research-based brain idea that memories can be deliberately changed if you "edit" them when you recall them. If you are healthy enough, and not suffering from brain-damage due to misinformation, trauma, or concussions, you can decide to remember positive memories in a new emotionally intelligent linguistic context for future use. Or, you can just forget negative memories forever. But you must remember why they are now useless!

It is now known that every memory you can recall is tangled up with feelings that you may have unconsciously associated with past behavior or experiences at the time that you originally memorized them. Lisa Feldman Barrett's books explain the new idea called "Constructed Emotions." She explains how you can either enhance positive memories or forget negative memories about your experiences of the past. You can do this simply by your emotional associations with them.

You can learn the details about Barrett's the new brain idea, "Constructed Emotions," by reading the outlines and reviews of her two books, How Emotions Are Made and Seven and One/Half Lessons About the Brain, which are linked in the following information box, or by visiting her blog or viewing her TED Talks:

HOW EMOTIONS ARE MADE:
The Secret Life of the Brain
by Lisa Feldman Barrett,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017
(i-xv, 425 pages)

Click or Tap to Outline and Reviews

HOW EMOTIONS ARE MADE

SEVEN AND A HALF
LESSONS ABOUT THE BRAIN
by Lisa Feldman Barrett,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020
(i-x, 180 pages)

Click or Tap to Outline and Reviews

SEVEN AND A HALF
LESSONS ABOUT THE BRAIN

This new way of thinking about by emotional intelligence and self-control can become an automatic habitual way of thinking. It can help you purposefully adjust your previously learned emotionally-charged long-term memories of the past. This new theory of emotions is compatible with behavior modification therapy, which helps adults cope with their primary adult lifelong goals of self-actualization and self-transcendence.

Otherwise, you may be compelled to perpetually repeat old useless memories which can stymie your progress toward achieving adult self-actualization and self-transcendence. In other words, any patterns of apathy or procrastination may be due simply to your own "learned helplessness." Any old dysfunctional habit can be changed by you if you have the courage to adapt to new conditions in your life.

The new brain-knowledge mindset of self-control skills are especially important when old memories or new experiences make it necessary for you to decide to change your behavior. With respect to any past negative memories, you can intentionally arouse old memories in your self-awareness in the present moment and then choose to remember them in a more vivid positive context. Or, you can choose to forget such dysfunctional memories forever!

Importantly, you can learn how to "reconstruct memories" correctly by repeatedly associating them with thoughts about your desired new behavior. This critical thinking procedure can reinforce any new memories.

In relation to the traditional "fixed mindsets" of the past, you can replace the feelings of negativity with healthy new memories. They can strengthen your self-esteem in the context of creating a fresh new "growth mindset" that is based upon current emotions stimulated by the present moment.

CIRCLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS SYMBOL©

At the beginning of your brain study, it is important to know why the emphasis of this website is on the connection between the memory functions of your WORKING VISUAL MEMORY (short-term memory system) and your LONG-TERM MEMORY consolidation system.

These two essential memory functions are shown on the following Circle of Consciousness Symbol© as Brain-Idea #1 and Brain-Idea #15.

CIRCLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS SYMBOL©

You may notice immediately that Brain-Idea #1 and Brain-Idea #15 are next to each other on the circle. This fact can remind you that they are both inseparably connected inside your brain. Since your WORKING VISUAL MEMORY (short-term memory system) is located in your Prefrontal Cortex and your LONG-TERM MEMORY consolidation system is located in your Hippocampus, they must be permanently connected by a healthy lifeline of neuronal pathways.

Otherwise, you would not be able to recognize your relatives and friends or talk coherently. Such pathological babbling is called "confabulation".

The two neuronal connections (one on the inside of each of your two hemispheres) are essential for you to control your own behavior by enhancing your adaptable self-identity ("sense-of-self" or "secular-self" or "self") on a daily basis.

These three humanistic synonyms for your self-identity are also synonyms for your "mind". In other words, practically speaking, your self or personality is the result of your mind!

FUTURE MAJOR MEDICAL
CATASTROPHE PREDICTED !

Alzheimer's disease is the most common and most fatal form of dementia. The shockingly dreadful dilemma caused by Alzheimer's disease is that the mental functions of victims cannot connect with both their conscious and unconscious LONG-TERM MEMORY consolidation system. They could only "confabulate," which means they could only make unintelligible sentences during a conversation.

Medical research statisticians predict that U.S. citizens can reasonably expect catastrophic annual death rates in the coming decades in the millions, which will make the current serious covid pandemic seem more like a nosebleed than the worst pandemic of the past century. It is predicted that the number of cases of Alzheimer's disease will increase exponentially in the next two decades and produce a medical catastrophe much greater than the major multi-year covid pandemic in the United States. That is because there is no Alzheimer's vaccine yet!

Many victims of Alzheimer's disease do not have symptoms until vital parts of their brains have already been destroyed!

The neuronal pathways between your prefrontal cortex and your hippocampus are known as your anterior cingulate cortex (plural: anterior cingulate cortices). These two neuronal pathways are located in the temporal lobes on the insides of both your left and right hemispheres.

Neuronal pathways can be obstructed or disconnected in many ways. Several kinds of medical dysfunctions and diseases can obstruct the neuronal signaling of both sensory and/or motor signals that normally flow back and forth along your anterior and posterior cingulate cortex pathways from your prefrontal cortex to your hippocampus.

When these neuronal pathways are disrupted, dementia victims become progressively less aware of their past memories. The "triggers" of many of their memories are located in the hippocampus part of their limbic systems. When the victims of Alzheimer's disease lose contact with their memories of the past, they forget the faces of their friends and family members and also frequently forget where they are and often also forget how to speak appropriately during conversations.

Their perception of reality and their self-awareness (consciousness) of their own self-identity is diminished --- often to the point of no return. Tragically, if the connections are severely damaged, then the "self-identity" of victims becomes permanently altered. This is because essential self-defining memories cannot be recalled at will by the prefrontal cortex (the executive function) part of their brains. These victims are compelled to confabulate, which is making up nonsensical explanations to fill the cognitive void during fumbled conversations.

Therefore, Alzheimer's victims provide clear evidence of the importance of making the following declarative statement a useful mantra/meme:

"Your self-identity depends on you keeping
the nerves healthy which connect your
Working Visual Memory and
your Long-Term Memory"

Since there is no guaranteed way of preventing Alzheimer's disease, it is important for you to maintain a healthy brain by sleeping adequately, eating well, doing regular physical exercise such as walking, and challenging yourself daily to increase your cognitive reserve. Such a proactive growth mindset of healthy activities can either reduce your risk of getting Alzheimer's or delay the pace of deterioration of your brain structures and, therefore, your mental functions far into old age.

This disturbing phenomenon, which adversely impacts increasing numbers of senior citizens each year, provides an objective causative link between the brain and the mind that needs to be understood by everyone. From this perspective, another good mantra/meme to repeat daily is:

"I think, therefore, I feel;
and I move, therefore, I live!"

NEUROPLASTICITY MEANS THAT
YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR BRAIN,
CHANGE YOUR MIND, AND
CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

The causes of your adaptable self-identity are described by the patterns of scientific words which convey the meanings of your mind's intrinsic functions with scientific symbols. The brain research which is described by the declarative statements has allowed scientists to discover and report on the brain's physical structures and the mind's mental functions. Now we know what your brain's structures are and what your mind functions do!

This new enlightened self-awareness makes it possible for you to chunk brain and mind facts and ideas into separate categories. Then you will not be confused about the sources of the causation of your willful (self-aware = "slow) conscious behavior and your intuitive (automatic = "fast) subconscious behavior.

You can deliberately decide to reframe your present thinking so you will be able to predict your future behavior better by creating it and flourish happily today and tomorrow because you are directly involved in creating your own experiences. There are no hidden gods or goddesses involved in what you ultimately achieve!

This strategic way of dealing with important decisions is compatible with the solid evidence presented in the book "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman which was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, in 2013. It is one of the most important books ever written about thinking especially related to consumer economics.

Kahneman's second blockbuster book is "Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment," which he co-authored with two other writers, Olivier Sibony, a behavioral economics Harvard professor, and Cass R. Sunsein, a lawyer and law professor. The book explores the bias and "noise" that cause errors in human judgment. It explains the way "variability in judgments that should be identical" can be combined with one's own biases, either consciously or not, and thus cause human error.

The authors offer "noise-reduction" strategies such as "decision hygiene." For example, one strategy involves sequencing information to reduce the possibility of confirmation bias. That is a major technique used in forensic science analyses, where examiners get "only the information they need when they need it" to make decisions.

THINKING FAST AND SLOW
by Daniel Kahneman,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013
(499 pages)

Click or Tap to Outline and Reviews

THINKING FAST AND SLOW

N0ISE:
A Flaw in Human Judgment
by Daniel Kahneman, Oliver
Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein
Little, Brown Spark,2021
(454 pages)

Click or Tap to Outline and Reviews

Book #2
NOISE

COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE:
DETAILS, SOURCES, AND QUOTATIONS

This new scientific perspective is known as cognitive neuroscience. The new knowledge about the true functions of human brains can be used to replace obsolete ancient primitive beliefs about the structures of human brains and the functions of human minds. Now computerized microscopes let researchers "see" smaller parts of the human nervous system than ever before. Now everyone can learn more about the smallest molecular interactions in their own brains and bodies than was ever known before --- by anyone in history!

The new brain idea is connectome, which is used to describe all the millions of connections within the neuronal pathways of your brain and nervous system. Those nerves are what connect your sensory neuron signals (signals from your senses to your brain) to your motor neuron signals (signals from your brain to your muscles). Now for the first time, you can understand how this extremely tiny system operates in an integrated interactive way.

This monumental multi-cultural neuroscience research project is known as "mapping" the neuronal pathways ("circuits") of the human nervous system and brain. The brain tissue involved is called your connectome. The research has already provided great benefits for understanding the tiny microscopic causes of human behavior that have been hidden from scientific observation and understanding throughout almost all of human history. It is estimated that there have been about 10 billion human beings born, who have mostly died during the era of Homo sapiens, having had no helpful actionable knowledge about their brains and minds! They were almost all brain-dumb!

But now with the additional recent discoveries and insights from microbiology about the human genome, epigenetics, and jumping genes, there is indisputable evidence that we humans can control our own destinies by ourselves. The new understandings and technologies are dramatically improving medicine as the new brain research also seeks better treatments for brain diseases and cognitive disorders.

After the new brain vocabulary is safely saved in your permanent long-term memory function, you will understand how your natural willpower (free will) and creative imagination and emotional intelligence all depend upon your using specific critical thinking skills and critical reading strategies to understand the new brain vocabulary.

The goals of living long and prospering require that you keep fresh blood flowing through your blood vessels and keep sparks of electrochemical ionic signals flowing throughout your connectome.


	COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE OF LANGUAGE by David Kemmerer. Psychology Press/Taylor and French, 2015 (599 pages) *Click or Tap to Outline and Reviews* COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE OF LANGUAGE

WESTERN ENLIGHTENMENT CULTURE
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The foundational scaffolding ideas of the core brain knowledge can be learned in a few days or a few weeks depending upon how much time you devote to the project, and how many useless things you choose to forget.

Then the rest of the detailed information about your amazing brain and your incredible mind can be integrated into your evolving new specialized brain vocabulary and also your general vocabulary about Western Enlightenment Culture in the perspectives of deep history, nature, earth, and the universe.

Once you are clear about the true source of your adaptable self-identity and your natural willpower (free will), you will be able to appreciate how important the Western Enlightenment Culture has been. It has made possible our human ability to create and even transcend our previously learned childhood values in order to create and sustain our adult democratic values and form of government through research and the invention of new words to describe new facts about the human brain and body and society.

Instead of being manipulated by the tyranny of social caste-based fascist, socialist, or communist dictatorships, democrats in the United States have struggled to strengthen our Constitutional rights and responsibilities in national politics and to apply ethical utilitarian social welfare policies as fairly as possible to citizens who need them to develop themselves.


	ENLIGHTENMENT NOW: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Stephen Pinker. Viking, 2018 (556 pages) *instantly go to:* ENLIGHTENMENT NOW AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENTS: Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason by Caroline Winterer. Yale University Press, 2016 (i-x, 355 pages) [The Lewis Walpole Series in 18th-Century Culture and History] *instantly go to:* AMERICAN ENLIGHTENMENTS ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN CULTURE Louis K. Dupré. Yale University Press, 2004 (i-xiv, 397 pages) *instantly go to:* ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN CULTURE

You can feel less anxious and be more self-confident after you have learned the new brain vocabulary in the context of the history of the Enlightenment and modern facts about evolutionary biology, DNA, the human genome, and deep history. In addition, it is important to realize that evolutionary biologists and paleo-archaeologists have been accumulating evidence to explain the concept of evolution for more than two centuries.

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EVOLUTION IS A FACT
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Evolution is not a "theory" anymore! It is established factual knowledge among people with accurate knowledge about evolution, psychology, and neuroscience in the context of our American Enlightenment Culture with its fabulous industrialized high-technology economy.

Scientific knowledge impacts what we know about all kinds of plants and animals. This includes human beings. It is the kind of information from our parents and teachers that we all learn to trust as children about nature and our own self-awareness of the community and neighborhoods we grew up in.

The blockbuster book that propelled evolution into scientific acceptance in the Western world in just a few decades was Charles Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species in 1859. The following information box reveals the amazing stories of the creation and evolution of the ideas of biological evolution by descent:


	LIFE AS WE MADE IT: How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined — and Redefined — Nature by Beth Alison Shapiro. Basic Books, 2021 (i-vii, 340 pages) *instantly go to:* LIFE AS WE MADE IT WHY EVOLUTION IS TRUE by Jerry A. Coyne. Viking, 2009 (282 pages) *instantly go to:* WHY EVOLUTION IS TRUE FAITH vs. FACT: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible by Jerry A. Coyne. Penguin Group USA, 2015 (i-xxii, 311 pages) *instantly go to:* FAITH vs. FACT DARWIN'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS: *The self-organizing intelligence of nature* by Simon G. Powell Park Street Press, 2012 (i-xi, 292 pages) *instantly go to:* DARWIN'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS

First, the best known neuroscientist in the world, former UC Irvine professor, Daniel Amen, who is featured on many PBS infomercials promoting his many books, got his first public recognition with his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.

Second, the idea that your mind's mental functions are definable and manageable "mental forces," and also distinct from your brain's physical structures, was first clearly described widely in the popular mass media by UCLA cognitive neuroscientist, Jeffrey M. Schwartz and his co-author Sharon Begley in their book, The Mind and the Brain. It was published in 2002.

Third, the book, Your Mind is What Your Brain Does for a Living, by Steven Jay Fogel and Mark Bruce Rosin, contains a rational explanation of personal success based upon the newest facts from brain science.

The following information box contains links to the three books, which present and integrate information about the new brain vocabulary:


	Book #1: CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, CHANGE YOUR LIFE: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Lack of Focus, Anger, and Memory Problems by Daniel G. Amen. Harmony, 2015, revised and expanded (352 pages) *instantly go to:* CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, CHANGE YOUR LIFE Book # 2: THE MIND AND THE BRAIN: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force by Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon Begley. ReganBooks/Harper Collins, 2002, 2003 (i-xii, 420 pages) *instantly go to:* THE MIND AND THE BRAIN Book #3: YOUR MIND IS WHAT YOUR BRAIN DOES FOR A LIVING: *Learn How to Make It Work For You* by Steven Jay Fogel with Mark Bruce Rosin. Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2014 (282 pages) *instantly go to:* YOUR MIND IS WHAT YOUR BRAIN DOES FOR A LIVING

SUMMARY OF PRACTICAL IDEAS

BOOK #1 by Dr. Daniel Amen from his book: CHANGE YOUR BRAIN, CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

An outline of Chapter 11 --- from Daniel Amen's first book based on research involving thousands of brain scans --- Achieving Total Focus: Prefrontal Cortex Prescriptions (starting on page 188 the book discusses how to use the "One-Page Miracle" ("OPM") strategy of staying focused on an important goal can help you stay totally focused on a clearly defined goal, which is essential for success. (page 194).

Daniel Amen said: "Specifically, we need to know who we are and what we want to accomplish in our relationships, at work, and within ourselves. When we know what we want, we are more likely to change our behavior to get it; being goal-directed helps keep our behavior and choices on track." (page 194)

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"One-Page Miracle"

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RELATIONSHIPS

WORK

MONEY

SELF

[1] RELATIONSHIPS:

[2] WORK:

[3] MONEY:

[4] SELF:

mental functions

"constructed emotions"

mental functions

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not

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BOOK #2 = by Jeffrey Schwartz and Sharon Begley from their book THE MIND AND THE BRAIN: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. The book explains the discovery of the idea of brain plasticity at any age and the utility of using the term "mental force" to more dramatically describe the mind's amazing mental functions.

Notes from the book and the publisher's description of the book: "Conventional science has long held the position that the mind is merely an illusion; a side effect of electrochemical activity in the physical brain. This book argues exactly the opposite; namely, that the mind has a life of its own."

"Jeffrey Schwartz, a leading researcher in brain dysfunctions, and Wall Street Journal science columnist Sharon Begley demonstrate that the human mind is an independent entity, which can shape and control the functioning of the physical brain. Their work has its basis in the newly emerging understanding of adult neuroplasticity. Plasticity is the brain's ability to be rewired not just in childhood, but throughout life. This trait has just recently been established by neuroscientists."

"Through decades of work treating patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), Schwartz made an extraordinary finding: while following the therapy he developed. His patients were effecting significant and lasting changes in their own neural pathways. It became a scientific first: by actively focusing their attention away from negative behaviors and toward more positive ones, his patients were using their minds to reshape their brains. They were discovering a thrilling new dimension to the concept of neuroplasticity." (Paraphrased slightly by webmaster from publisher's description)

"The book follows Schwartz as he investigates this newly discovered power, which he calls "self-directed neuroplasticity" or, more simply, "mental forces." It describes his work with noted physicist Henry Stapp and it connects the concept of mental force with the ancient practice of mindfulness in Buddhist tradition. This idea suggests that potential new applications could transform the treatment of almost every variety of neurological dysfunction, from dyslexia to stroke. And it could lead to new strategies to help us harness our mental powers." (Paraphrased slightly by webmaster from publisher's description)

"Yet as wondrous as these implications are, perhaps even more important is the philosophical dimension of Schwartz's research results. He discovered the existence of the 'mental force' which offers convincing scientific evidence for human free will, and thus of the inherent capacity of human moral choice. (Paraphrased slightly by webmaster from publisher's description)

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BOOK #3 = by Fogel and Rosin from their book: YOUR MIND IS WHAT YOUR BRAIN DOES FOR A LIVING. It contains a rational optimistic explanation of how you can achieve personal success by optimizing your mind's mental functions which are described as "mental forces" in the book.

Success

self-transformation

The authors, Fogel and Rosinbook, claim that:

'awakening'

'habitual machinery'

"Write a description of your personal and professional goals."

habitual programing

Write down the mindful step

BRAIN NEUROPLASTICITY AND
THE POSITIVE GROWTH MINDSET
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The new brain knowledge is based upon the newest brain information concerning the tiny intricate nano-microscopic functions of the human brain's physical structure. These previously unknown tiny brain structures make your mind's incredible mental and emotional unctions possible.

This new revolutionary humanistic idea relies on the theory of quantum effects, which is beginning to replace the old scientific reductionist and deterministic theories. Those old scientific cultural stereotypes claimed that free will is an illusion. However, in the 1960s, the experiments used to prove that delusional idea were based upon ignorance. But now brain scientists know the true knowledge that free will exists and is caused by human brains and educated human minds.

Those speculative conclusions were simply wrong. In addition, the old metaphor that the brain was like a clock or a computer with fixed wiring has been debunked by the new brain knowledge about the brain's neuroplasticity or "synaptic plasticity" or "plasticity." This idea refers to your brain's natural ability to change by itself and adapt at all ages. This adaptability gives you the capacity to create a growth mindset whenever you desire to do it.

The new brain knowledge explains how your natural willpower and creative imagination are produced by your mind's fine-tuned self-organized memories and the phenomenon of synaptic plasticity. In other words, your brain can "change itself by itself" — even at night when you are asleep!

This biological changeability of your evolutionary brain is the source of your adaptable mind. The links in the following information box identify the first books which described in detail the adaptability of the human mind and the brain's ability to recover from serious damage and disorders by re-wiring brain structures to overcome injuries. In some cases, the brain can recover from serious damage by itself, but usually it requires the help of modern medical science through rigorous education or psychotherapy.

The following information box has links to five of the best books that popularized the new brain knowledge. They reported the new ideas about your brain and mind in the most practical language and comprehensive vocabularies so you can understand how your mental functions work. You can learn why it is so important to keep asking the questions "why?" and "how?" in the linguistic context of your study of your brain and your mind. A good way to begin learning is to use this Alphabetical Brain® Vocabulary:


	BRAIN LOCK: Free yourself from obsessive-compulsive behavior. by Jeffrey M. Schwartz. HarperPerennial, 1996, 2016 20th Anniversary rev. ed. (288 pages) *instantly go to:* BRAIN LOCK: YOU ARE NOT YOUR BRAIN: The 4-step solution for changing bad habits, ending unhealthy thinking and taking control of your life by Jeffrey Schwartz and Rebecca Gladding. Avery/Penguin Group, 2011 (362 pages) *instantly go to:* YOU ARE NOT YOUR BRAIN: TRAIN YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR BRAIN: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves by Sharon Begley Ballantine Books, 2007 (i-viii, 283 pages) *instantly go to:* TRAIN YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR BRAIN EMOTIONAL LIFE OF YOUR BRAIN: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, feel, and Live: and How You Can Change Them. by Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley. Hudson Street Press, 2012 (i-xviii, 279 pages) *instantly go to:* EMOTIONAL LIFE OF YOUR BRAIN THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge. Viking, 2007 (i-xvi, 427 pages) *instantly go to:* THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF

Synaptic neuroplasticity is your brain's natural ability to change by itself and adapt at all ages. It gives you the capacity to create a "growth mindset" whenever you want to do it. This new brain knowledge of the past few years explains more completely than ever before in human history how your human brain and your nervous system are connected at the very tiny nano-microscopic scale. By understanding this foundation knowledge, you will be able to easily learn more about how you can take advantage of these phenomenal facts and ideas about your mind's mental functions or "mental forces."

The new brain research explains the objective biological and psychological facts about your subjective perceptions about yourself. If you now believe in traditional magical mythical dead ideas about reality, this new factual basis fo understanding your adaptable self-identity (sense-of-self or secular-self or self) --- the three humanistic synonyms for your "mind" can save you countless unproductive hours of anxiety and traumatic worry throughout your lifetime.

But you must learn how to separate false ideas about reality, based upon the traditional "fixed mindset" of the past compared to the true modern "growth mindset," which emphasizes reliance on personal tacit knowledge and the robust life-long-learning about current cultural information and deep history.

As you grew up, you may not have been taught about the vast potential of your natural intelligence and creativity without the need to believe in mystical spiritualism of one sort or another. It is definitely known now that your brain gives you the superpower of your mind's mental functions or mental forces.

Every idea you have is associated with emotions that you remember as feelings. Now you will be abler to control your own emotions and habits with your new brain knowledge about yourself!

This new brain knowledge of the past 100 years explains more completely than ever before in history how the human brain and nervous system are connected at the very tiny nano-microscopic scale. Now it is known in more detail that your mind's mental functions can control your emotions and habits, if you have the personal knowledge that includes facts about your natural willpower and creative imagination. In addition, the detailed explanations provide an evidence-based way for parents and teachers to use the new brain knowledge to teach children about the significance of the structures of their brains and the vast potential of the mental functions of their minds!

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this website is to assist you in understanding your brain's physical structures and your mind's mental functions. It explains how the new scientific brain vocabulary can improve the quality of your reasoning ability and your creative imagination. This can give you more effective control over your own thoughts and feelings and behavior.

RECOMMENDATION: You may print this essay and read it and edit it by adding or deleting brain ideas. Then you can read your edited version by using an effective reinforcement schedule such as the flash-card technique or the spaced-repetition method of memorization --- or both --- to speed up your learning of the new brain ideas and their interactions. Such deep introspection can strengthen your willpower and increase your self-esteem and dramatically change your adaptable self-image or identity.

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REMEMBER ALWAYS:
You Are Your Adaptable Memory!
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instantly go to:
Introduction - Section 2 - Details
WHAT DOES THE ALPHABETICAL
BRAIN® SYMBOL MEAN?

or instantly return to:
INDEX TO THE INTRODUCTION
SECTION 1 - SUMMARY LINK

ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY

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Infinite Interactive Ideas®