Jim KwikFounder, Kwik Brain · Brain Coach

A new way of looking at the human brain 😮

13 Aug 2024 · 1 min

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In this interview segment, Jim Kwik asks the guest for the top recommendation to help listeners optimize their brain. The guest responds by framing the brain as a "team of rivals"—a collection of competing internal drives that constantly vie for control over behavior. He illustrates this with a simple scenario: when presented with warm chocolate chip cookies, one part of the brain is attracted to the energy source, another warns against weight gain, and a third negotiates a compromise by promising later exercise. This internal dialogue reflects how we can argue, cajole, or contract with ourselves. The guest emphasizes that understanding these competing networks is a fascinating frontier in neuroscience, and that neuroimaging techniques can reveal the distinct “voices” within the brain, ultimately helping individuals navigate their own internal conflicts.

Chapters

What is your top recommendation based on your research for our listeners to have their best brain?
To my mind, it's this issue about understanding that you are different people at different points in time. Sometimes you can resist temptation and sometimes you're going to fall for it. Really, the way to understand the brain is as a team of rivals. You have all these different drives all the time, and they're always competing to steer your behavior. So, for example, if I put some warm chocolate chip cookies in front of you, part of your brain wants to eat the cookies. It's a rich energy source. Part of your brain says, don't eat it, you'll get fat. Part of your brain says, okay, I'll eat it, but I'll promise to go to the gym later tonight and so on. And you can fight with yourself and argue and cuss at yourself and cajole yourself and contract with yourself. Who's talking with whom? It's all you, but it's different parts of you. And that's what makes humans so interesting. That's what I think is one of the most interesting areas going on is understanding what's happening under the hood there in terms of the different networks. And, you know, we do neuroimaging to expose what these different voices are and then how to actually navigate ourselves.