Think outside the... brain

Riitta Hari from the Brain Research Unit at the Helsinki University of Technology has recently stated that the mind is more than just the brain.

By Sophia Carlsson

January 20, 2009 12:00 AM

This statement is traceable

, for example, in scientific experiments that isolate the subjects from all stimuli: before long, their thoughts begin to circle. The mind does not equal the brain.

The human mind can

differentiate and balance between reality and various worlds of fantasy. The ability to analyze and classify products of the imagination without disconnecting from reality is among the most important functions of the mind. Schizophrenia causes these hierarchies of beliefs to collapse. Paying attention to external symptoms is the only way to diagnose a shaken mind. A mentally unsound person has constrained communication abilities, which makes it even more difficult to fathom the mind.

The exchange of thoughts

at the final seminar of the Mind Forum made for captivating listening at the University of Helsinki on November 20. Funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, this two-year project was established to bring together neuroscientists, doctors, and experts in the arts and humanities to discuss the human mind, free of the pressure to produce research results.

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