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David Eagleman

David Eagleman Quotes

Neuroscientist

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Famous David Eagleman Quotes

“As Walt Whitman correctly surmised, we are large and we harbor multitudes within us. And those multitudes are locked in chronic battle. There is an ongoing conversation among the different factions in your brain, each competing to control the single output channel of your behavior. As a result, you can accomplish the strange feats of arguing with yourself, cursing at yourself, and cajoling yourself to do something - feats that modern computers simply do not do.”

DifferentResultsBrainModernStrangeBattleConversationBehaviorComputerAccomplishArguingLockedMultitudesCompetingOngoingHarborsFeatsFactionsOutputWaltCursing
Author:David Eagleman
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“This is the hallmark of a robust biological system: political parties can perish in a tragic accident and the society will still run, sometimes with little more than a hiccup to the system. It may be that for every strange clinical case in which brain damage leads to a bizarre change in behavior or perception, there are hundreds of cases in which parts of the brain are damaged with no detectable clinical sign.”

MayLittlesStillsSometimesRunningPoliticalPartyBrainCasesStrangeBehaviorPerceptionAccidentsDamageTragicBizarrePolitical PartiesRobustHallmarkClinicalsHiccupsTragic Accidents
Author:David Eagleman
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“The left hemisphere acts as an "interpreter," watching the actions and behaviors of the body and assigning a coherent narrative to these events. And the left hemisphere works this way even in normal, intact brains. Hidden programs drive actions, and the left hemisphere makes justifications. This idea of retrospective storytelling suggests that we come to know our own attitudes and emotions, at least partially, by inferring them from observations of our own behavior.”

KnowsWayIdeasBodyActionLeftEmotionBrainAttitudeEventsBehaviorNormalProgramStorytellingObservationNarrativeJustificationInterpreterHemisphereRetrospective
Book:Incognito: The Secret Lives of The Brain
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“It turns out that dopamine is a chemical on double duty in the brain. Along with its role in motor commands, it also serves as the main messenger in the reward systems, guiding a person toward food, drink, mates, and all things useful for survival. Because of its role in the reward system, imbalances in dopamine can trigger gambling, overeating, and drug addiction - behaviors that result from a reward system gone awry.”

PersonsTurnsResultsBrainRolesGoneDutyDrinkDrugBehaviorSurvivalAll ThingsRewardsAddictionCommandGamblingChemicalsMatesTriggersMotorMessengersDrug AddictionDrug AddictImbalanceDopamineOvereating
Book:Incognito: The Secret Lives of The Brain
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