I See Patterns!

The Neuroscience of Rumination

Legacy  - S4E6

A bit of background: In this episode we encounter Ishara, the sister of Tasha Yar, the Enterprise security officer who was killed in the line of duty. Missed by many of the crew, they quickly transfer some of their feelings of affection for Tasha to Ishara. After another federation ship lands on Ishara’s planet to escape a warp core breach, she agrees to help the Enterprise rescue the crew members that were taken hostage by a warring faction on her planet.

At the beginning of the episode, Ishara is curious about Data’s ability to experience friendship. He says, “even among humans, friendship is sometimes less an emotional response and more a sense of familiarity…As I experience certain sensory input patterns, my mental pathways become accustomed to them. The input is eventually anticipated. And even missed when absent.” Ishara responds, “Like my sister.”

What appears to be a discussion about friendship is really an explanation of Data’s patterns. Neurologically, it is the same with us.  In 1959 Donald Hebb, a Canadian psychologist described how learning links neurons in new ways. From this neuro-scientist, Carla Shatz coined the memetic phrase “neurons that fire together, wire together” (Doidge, 2007). In the movie What the Bleep do we Know, there is an excellent portrayal of how this works. The brain cells known as neurons have branches known as dentrites that align with the branches of other neurons with a space in between called a synapse. These dendrites ‘fire’ electro-chemical messages to another dendrite across the synapse. It shows how these neurons move and align with other neurons to create repeated firing as we repeatedly think the same thoughts or perform the same actions,  such as in being with a friend on a regular basis. When the regularity of friendship is removed, the result is that we miss them. The wiring is anticipating them but they are gone.

These patterns can be pleasant or unpleasant. One form of an unpleasant pattern is rumination. You know like when someone pisses you off and you have this internal dialogue with the other person over and over. Or when you feel threatened about something, and you keep having the same repeated thoughts, talking to yourself to explain it or change the way you feel about it, but nothing changes. Rumination. Yuk!

As geeks, we often obsess. Maybe you are wondering how to address the fight you had with your girlfriend last night. May you can’t turn off the tap of thoughts about how to ask that girl out in your chemistry class. Maybe you make a hundred different ways to tell someone that you want to end the relationship, but you don’t want to hurt her feelings. What else do you obsess about? I bet you want to stop. But how?

The answer involves neuroplasticity. Patterns can be changed. What wires together can be unwired.

Want to know a neat trick from the field of psychology? When you find yourself ruminating, say, “Stop.” Yeah. Yeah. I know. Sounds too simple, doesn’t it? Well, it isnt. And, it’s effective. The thoughts may be back a few seconds later. So you do it again. And again. 

Research shows that rumination feeds anxiety and depression. It has been my personal experience that repeated use of this “Stop!” method has the desired effect. Better than throwing a can of gasoline on the already flaming thoughts. The rumination becomes less frequent and less intense.You can create new wiring! Patternus interruptus successful!

At the end of this episode, Data describes to Riker what comes close to our human counterpart of rumination: “Recent events have left me puzzled, Sir. It has been days since Ishara left. And yet my thoughts seem to dwell on her. Almost as if I was experiencing a feedback loop in my pneumonic network.” This loop is a brilliant representation of what we experience as humans when we chew the thought cud. So, if you have a “feedback loop” you can use this wiring and unwiring knowledge to ‘end the program’. Just say, “Stop!”

References

Doidge, N. (2007). The brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science. New York: Viking.­­