In the Lent term 2022, BrainFeed ran a competition in the sixth form to complete a 2,000 word essay on one of 3 given essay titles. Here is our winning entry, written by Hannah Hardman-Mountford, year 12.
This essay will debate the centuries old ‘mind-body problem’ which serves to determine the extent to which the mind and the brain are the same. In everyday life, the terms, ‘mind’ and ‘brain’ are often used interchangeably but for the purpose of this essay, the ‘brain’ will be defined as the organ that is the centre of the Central Nervous System and coordinates a person’s movements, thoughts and feelings. The ‘mind’ refers to a person’s conscience, thought process and understanding of circumstances and events. There are two main schools of thought regarding the mind-body problem: materialism seeks to argue that the brain and the mind are the same, and dualism states that the mind is separate to the brain. This essay will examine arguments for both sides but will argue that most of the evidence points towards dualism.
With increasing understanding of neurology in recent years, it is often argued that, as many psychological phenomena can be explained neurologically, all concepts of the mind can be explained as results of the functioning of the brain. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin are chemical messengers that bind to neurons (nerve cells) in the brain and trigger a response to a stimulus which can be physical or behavioural and could explain a person’s reaction to an event or occurrence (Rayner, 2016). Furthermore, the brain is divided into sub-regions, each of which control different functions. An example of this is the limbic system which includes the amygdala, hippocampus and hypothalamus and is involved in emotion, learning and self-preservation behaviours (Sutton, 2021).These are qualities that are often referred to as properties of mind as they do not induce a physical response but an emotional or psychological one. However, as these qualities can be explained through neurological processes, materialists such as Novella (2020), argue that this supports the theory that the mind is part of the brain.
On the other hand, although there is neurological evidence for many behavioural responses, there is evidence of abstract concepts taking place outside the brain. Egnor (2016)references Penfield (1891-1976) who was a pioneer in surgery for epilepsy. Penfield ran hundreds of simulations on the surface of the brain in his mission to discover which area of the brain causes seizures so he could remove it, thereby curing the seizures. He observed that stimulating different areas of the brain sometimes caused physical responses and sensations, memories or emotions. What Penfield was struck by, however, was that the stimulation never evoked abstract thought, i.e. thinking that is not linked to physcial stimuli. This led him to observe that ‘none of the actions we attribute to the mind has been initiated by electrode stimulation or epileptic discharge’ (Penfield, 1975). This suggests that abstract thought, which is attributed to the mind, is not a product of the brain but separate from it. Penfield also found that epileptic seizures always involve either total unconsciousness or stimulation of non-abstract neurological function (e.g. muscle spasms, memories, strong emotions etc.). This is particularly notable as most of the tissue of the brain in which seizures originate are believed to be those responsible for abstract thought. This supports the theory that abstract thought does not arise in the brain. In his final study, Penfield stimulated the part of the brain which causes a physical response and then encouraged the patient to respond the same way of their own will. Even though both of these responses were identical and originated in the same area of the brain, the patient could always tell when they were the one initiating the response and when it was being done to them. This awareness outside of the brain suggests that will does not originate from the brain but from something external to it. This supports the view that humans possess the ability for complex reasoning apart from the brain. Penfield’s discoveries that the brain cannot stimulate abstract thought, that seizures never result in abstract thought and that his patients were always aware of when brain stimulation was done to them and when it was done by them support the theory that not all psychological phenomena originate in the brain. The mind must, therefore, be separate to the brain.
Another argument that is used to assert that the mind and the brain are synonymous, is that injuries to the brain can impair psychological functioning. Strokes often cause damage to the brain. If a stroke impacts the ventromedial prefrontal cortex of the brain, somatic markers can become defective which leads to weakened judgement. Moreover, impairment to the amygdala or insular cortices can also compromise decision making (Bar-On et al., 2003). It is frequently observed that victims of strokes can undergo changes in personality following brain damage. These personality changes can include reduced patience, increased frustration, lack of confidence and elevated stress and paranoia. As physical damage to the brain can cause noticeable psychological and behavioural changes, this suggests that the mind is not separate from the brain but confined to following its instruction even when it comes from a place of impaired judgement.
Despite this, there is evidence that humans are capable of overcoming the urges of the brain, which indicates that the brain does not possess ultimate power over our decisions. Benjamin Libet (2004)undertook a series of studies to observe the activity of the brain during decision making. He asked volunteers to sit at a desk and push a button in front of them. They were asked to observe the time when they decided to push the button. He recorded the brain waves over this process and observed that 0.5 seconds before they decided to press the button there was a spike in brain activity corresponding to that thought. He concluded from this that thoughts are driven by brain chemistry which suggests that people have no power to control the urges of the brain. However, he repeated the study, but this time asked the subjects to decide to press the button and then instantly change their minds about it. What he found was that there was the same spike of brain activity before they decided to press the button, but no new spike followed when the subject vetoed this decision. This indicates that we have the power to overrule the chemical urges of the brain which suggests that the brain is not the ultimate power in decision making. This again supports the idea that the mind cannot be simply part of the brain. Libet’s study could be seen as potentially unreliable as it can be debated whether the person actually made the decision to press the button if they always knew that they would veto this decision. The similarities of the brain activity, however, in the two studies is consistent, which makes it more reliable.
The condition ‘anencephaly’, in which infants are born without parts of their brain, is used as evidence that the mind is part of the brain because these infants do not exhibit any properties of mind. Anencephaly is a serious birth neural tube defect which occurs if the neural tube does not close all the way whilst the foetus develops so the baby is born without their forebrain and the cerebrum which controls thinking and coordinating. (CDC, 2020)Anencephaly is a fatal condition and most infants suffering from it are either miscarried or die immediately after birth. Babies born with anencephaly can only undertake involuntary movements such as responding to touch or sound. This seems to show that, without a functioning brain, people cannot have conscious thought so the mind cannot be separate to the brain because it cannot function separately from it.
However, further evidence has arisen to suggest that the mind can function separately to the body through studies that display mental activity in states of coma. A study by Adrien Owen in 2006 involved taking fMRI scans of a 23-year-old woman in a vegetative state whilst he asked her to imagine playing tennis and walking through rooms of her house (Owen et al., 2006). Owen then asked the woman ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions and told her to think of playing tennis for ‘yes’, and navigating a house for ‘no’. From the results of the fMRI scan, the unconscious woman showed remarkably similar responses to the healthy volunteers: studies in healthy conscious adults showed that thinking of playing tennis caused activation in the region of the motor cortex called the supplementary motor area and generated activity in the Para hippocampal gyrus, in the centre of the brain. The success of this provides evidence that the mind is not a part of the brain as it can still function even in deep states of coma where most of the brain and the body are unresponsive. This is not conclusive evidence, however, as the neurological nature of this study could suggest some of the brain is actually still active within comas which could still mean the mind and the brain are synonymous.
It could be argued that the mind and the brain are the same as neurological solutions can solve psychological disorders. People suffering from mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder are prescribed medications to alleviate the illness. Mental problems can be caused by imbalances in the brain so can be minimised by psychoactive drugs. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed anti-depressants (Mayo Clinic, 2019). They increase levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is believed to act as a mood stabiliser and depression is thought to be caused by imbalances of it. Thus, increased serotonin due to SSRIs is supposed to help ‘fix’ depression. The concept that a psychological illness can have a physical cure is used as evidence that the mind and the brain are the same as it suggests that feelings and behaviour are totally determined by neurological factors.
Despite the use of SSRIs and other psychoactive drugs to assist mental illness, there is very limited success of these in practice and other psychological treatments have proven far more effective. Mason et al. (2017)discovered that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) led to strengthened connections within the brains of people suffering from psychosis which led to a greater improvement in mental health. CBT is a form of therapy that allows patients to manage problems by talking about them and altering the way in which they think and behave. The study tracked the mental wellbeing of 22 patients over the course of eight years through medical records and regular assessments. Brain scans following CBT showed that there were strengthened connections in the amygdala and frontal lobes of the patient’s brains. CBT relies on the mind being able to cause changes to the brain. The state of the brain being in constant flux is called neuroplasticity and suggests that the mind has power over the brain as it is able to cause changes to it. The success of this treatment over psychoactive drugs suggests that mental illnesses are not as neurologically linked as they were thought to be. This explains why psychological treatments demonstrate more success in increasing mental stability and shows that not all of the phenomena of the mind are controlled by the brain, supporting the argument that the mind is separate from the brain.
In conclusion, although it is a complicated debate, with convincing arguments on both sides, there is more evidence indicating that the mind and the brain are separate, as suggested by dualism. This evidence includes the studies suggesting that abstract concepts do not originate in the brain, that the mind is able to overpower the urges of the brain, the evidence of mental activity in states of coma and the success of psychological treatments over medical ones for psychological diseases. However, the impact of injuries to the brain on psychological function shows there are still strong associations between the mind and the brain. Thus, the mind and the brain are strongly connected and cannot function without each other even though they are not the same.
-Hannah Hardman-Mountford
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