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The human brain receives over 11 mil bits of info/sec. How many does your conscious mind interpret? #feldenkrais

Why do somatic education approaches such as The Feldenkrais Method or Bones for Life believe they can use movement and sensation to talk to the subconscious brain and make phenomenal changes?  In part it is because the human brain receives over 11 million bits of information per second, but the conscious mind can only interpret 200.

How does this funnel down to 200 bits?  Some scientists believe the brain is making gross associations with prior experience to give quick outcomes for survival. It is precisely because of this capacity for the mind to draw connections to prior experiences that the Feldenkrais Method purposely often evokes the feeling of "that makes no sense" or of "the mysterious."  In Feldenkrais, there is often a circuitous route taken so that the brain cannot easily make a prior association.  When the brain fails to find an easy way to categorize the experience, it becomes available to truly learn something new. 

Because we are only conscious of the conscious mind, we erroneously believe that the work of living and learning is being done with  that rather small aspect of our brain. But in a way that is only the surface output. 

What percentage is 200 bits out of 11 million? It is so small it is hardly worth quantifying.  So using a somatic approach to speak to the brain that is behind the scenes might be quite useful.   

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/4094/Overview#tab-Videos/07395_00
 

Reference
The National Geographic
Inside LSD

Apr 16, 2011

Alfons Grabher said...

This week I went to an evening at the hong kong comedy club and one of the (english) comedians was talking about the recommended weekly alcohol intake of men, women and transvestites. For men he said the gov recommended 12 "units", he then kept on making fun of what is a "unit". Certainly a bottle of wine is a "unit", but is a 24pack of beer also a "unit"?

What is 11 million bits of info? And what is 200?

Apr 16, 2011

Integrative Learning Center said...

Alfons - Good point and I have no idea.  I have heard the term bits used before in relationship to brain processing.  I suspect it is an appropriated term taken from computer technology.

 

This whole field of research seems like it needs a thorough vetting. I, like others, pass along information and don't understand the origins or what exactly was measured.  Trusting a journalist to be accurate on such a topic, even a national geographic one, leaves a "bit" to be desired.

In this case, I believe the ratio is the important piece and not what is a bit.  The ratio itself provides the important information as long as the scientists isn't changing the "unit" of measurement willy nilly to suit his needs.  Unfortunately, it has been known to happen that a researcher throws in a bit of that and bit of this to get the compilation of bits he desires. 

 

Funny routine. A keg could be a unit?

 

Cynthia