Thoughts on the basic mechanism behind Human behavior and development
By Troy L Axtens
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Preface
In all things we must remember that once it was believed as fact that the world was flat, that travel into space was impossible, that once upon reaching adulthood a human would have all the neurons he would ever have - neurons did not replace themselves.
We now know that the world is round, that space flight is possible and new neurons are indeed formed after adulthood.
We must beware of the illusion of knowledge, and always try to view the world with a unbiased mind.
I will not presume to repeat what one already knows - so I will not rehash here what you can find in any college medical text.
Let us say we agree that currently, for the most part emotions are viewed as a part of personality and that REM sleep is involved some ways with memory and learning.
In any study of the human mind, one must remember that the human animal is not separate from nature. Many avenues of psychiatry fail to take that into account. From Freud to Jung we are lead to believe that intangible things, such as Freud's ego and superego, control man.
But it seems to me that it is human nature to make complex what is simple, and the simple answer is that we are basically survival machines, genetically programmed to optimize survival.
To emphasize this point -- let us look at evolution as a whole. All animals have instincts, which aid their survival -- instincts such as reproduction, defense of family, satisfying hunger, just to name the few. But we do not acknowledge overtly the presence of these instincts in man, which I think is a mistake.
One must realize that we share the same biology is as many mammals, so is it safe to assume that we also share many of the same instinctual drives?
Let us look it the birth of the human child to perhaps put this into context. Before birth the human nervous system is not fully developed, however the so-called primitive areas of brain such as the midbrain thalamus etc. are reasonably well developed and functioning at birth. It is the midbrain, which controls behavior in newborns, dictating their actions up until the age of five or six. The higher brain areas are undeveloped until this time. So the only thing running the show is the primitive areas of the brain. What does this mean? More importantly, why is this so?
The other thing, which is not taken into account, is REM sleep. Newborns and infants display a great deal of REM activity.
What purpose does this serve? What is the purpose of REM sleep?
I've come to the conclusion that the brain is basically engineered for survival and that's what Nature geared towards. Higher consciousness was just an God given byproduct of that development.
Most human actions are really geared towards individual or species survival. Whether overtly or inadvertently these actions as a whole lead to a greater probability of survival for the species. And these actions are evident at birth. As an example of this look at the rooting reflex- this is where a newborn displays a reflexive action in searching for a breast or nipple. This is not a learned action -- this is one that is hardwired. After a period of time this reflex goes away. A newborn will also bond with their parents, recognizing them by voice alone.
The big question is how does the brain go about hard wiring behavior?
Before we begin - I would like to present three events for consideration - afterwords I shall explain the theory, and how it seems to explain what is going on. This theory may be applied almost any behavior except for those caused by disease or accident.
1. John Calhoun's population experiments with Norway rats in the 1970's.
2. The current status of a Baboon troop that has been observed by researchers.
3. Post Traumatic Stress syndrome.
In the 1970's John Calhoun began a study of overpopulation using Norway rats. The rats had plenty of everything except, perhaps, more room. The rats, true to any right thinking animal mate and multiplied.
As the experiment progressed however, the rats began to display odd behaviors, some just staying in one place, others engaged in other acts persistently and mothers would abandon their young. Others displayed violent behavior, suddenly racing across the room to attack another rats with no apparent motivation or cause. Over time, more of the animals showed more of the same type of behaviors.
Seven years after John Calhoun started the experiment, he stopped it as it was no longer viable. It seemed that over population had an effect. But no theory put forth really seems to fit the results of the experiment.
Recently a group of researchers whom had been studying a particular Baboon troop for 25 years in the wild observed and reported that things had changed.
It seems that this troop was afflicted with members whose violent, overtly aggressive behavior had dominated the troop over generations. In each generation there were born young who developed similar behaviors. This greatly affected the troop to be sure – many of them showed signs of stress and ill health but then contaminated meat was dumped at a nearby landfill which the troop used as a food source - the current crop of overtly aggressive baboons claimed it as their own, ate.....and died.
Now peace seeming reigns in the troop, newcomers are discouraged from similar behavior and the current babies show no such behavior.
Last - we all know Post Traumatic stress syndrome. This condition occurs when an individual goes through a traumatic, life-threatening event. As demonstrated by so many veterans of combat, this affliction has a lasting effect on an individual. A person with the disorder may fall to the ground, ducking for cover, or imagine enemies where none exists.
A Theory on how the brain develops behavior.
Basic precepts.
Most animals on earth share the same basic biology, we all breathe oxygen and our bodies process nutrients much the same way.
Nerve impulses in animals function much the same way, and the neurological structures are comparatively similar in most mammals.
It has been shown by studies both in the lab with chimps taught sign language and animals in the wild that most species seem to have (to varying degrees..) some sort of emotive sense.
Animals have instinctual drives - these are necessary for the survival of the species. Witness the example of the salmon, flinging itself mightily up river for the chance to breed or the plight of the lemmings – driving themselves en masse over cliffs to die in the sea as a form of population control.
Designed by nature and thousands of years of environmental changes, certain behaviors become hard wired in to the developing brain structures, or were taught from birth by the examples of the parents.
Rule 1
There are two ways behaviors are passed on to succeeding generations -
Instinctual behavior - hard wired into the nervous system to generate a response when certain criteria are met environmentally.
Cultural behavior - behaviors that are taught or shown by example to the developing organism by parents or social observation.
What does this mean when we apply this to the human animal?
Common knowledge holds that Man is the only creature with emotions. And that because we are self aware, this somehow leaves us out of the natural scheme of things.
I put it to you, my fellow human beings, that this is the purest arrogance and very dangerous on mankind's part to entertain the notion that we are somehow immune to the touch of natures hand - aloof and apart from the demands of Nature.
Lets examine the logic of this, shall we??
We will start off with the fact that the chemical reactions in a squirrel are much the same as ours - no this doesn't mean we should be climbing trees and storing nuts. It just means that we share these things in common. We also share in common that same brain structure commonly referred to as the primal brain.
Given that - it is likely to assume that the processes that go through that squirrels' neurons are much akin to ours. They can feel pain just as we do….
Pain is a survival mechanism - hard wired into almost every organism on the planet is some system for making the organism aware of and respond to structural damage. If the organism does not respond to pain – it dies and its' genes are not passed on.
According to Darwin's theory. Scientific observation has born his theory out. So the reason these structures existed is because they worked at enabling the organism to survive.
And survival is what Nature is all about. The thing that is running the show in animals is what is commonly referred to as the primal brain, those structures that we inherited through the evolutionary process. This structure exists in slightly different forms in so many creatures for a good reason. It works pretty well at enabling an organism to survive, up to a point. But it could not readily adapt when drastic changes in the environment required different behaviors in response to new threats to the organisms survival. Except by the evolutionary process, which was great for the species, but didn't help the individual organism to survive. The main function of the mid-brain or limbic system is emotions, and the lower brain stem or Autonomic Nervous System is sensation.
After a child is born, the process of brain formation begins; primary sensory connections are formed before birth from the cerebral cortex to specific sites that generate emotions. Neural connections are made and new cells created as the child grows but the child has no real concept of "I". That's because the connections and basic behaviors have not been formed in the cerebral cortex. When a parent nurtures a child there is a lot of touching, sounds and sights going on. By being touched the stimulus prompts increased activity in the neural pathway that takes through the brain, this causes new connections to form or further cellular growth in the cerebral cortex, (the neurons are active and the resultant impulses cause further neural connections to be made or created.) sounds and moment in the field of vision prompt further development.
Feeding is pleasurable, as is the feeling of being warm because these connections are made during development in the womb. These are things basic to survive, and the neural connections to the receptors that generate those feelings are formed in the womb.
The development of the cerebral cortex was due to the fact that it worked real well at enhancing survival - it enabled the primary structures to do something more, and that is to create triggers which activate the behavioral responses and to change those responses to life threatening or enhancing events "on the fly". It could also create a array of different behaviors that could be applied if the situation seemed to warrant such modification.
The mechanism of R.E.M. behavioral conditioning
There are two chemical states of the human brain. One state when we are awake. And another when we sleep. And during those two states, different areas of the brain are active. Awake, most activity is in the cerebral cortex. Asleep, it seems to be those primal areas of the brain showing activity with some additional neuron activity in the cortex.
And then there is what is commonly referred to as R.E.M. sleep.
In order to create or modify a stimulus trigger and resultant behavior for it's hard wired instincts, I believe the primal brain found in the creation of the cerebral cortex a way to store the memory of a stimulus trigger, the behavior that led to the organisms survival and play it back into the cerebral cortex as if the event were reoccurring. This causes the neurons being used to enhance their connections, and if needed add more nerve cells to accommodate the needed response. And it enables the primal brain to assign a trigger to its hard-wired instincts and to modify the behavior to the trigger.
As an example, let use take the example of a child learning to walk.
The child after much coaxing on the part of its parents finally succeeds in taking its first step. The parents are pleased and the baby is really thrilled at all the attention and success - he feels intense pleasure.
The intense pleasure is triggered and the primal brain sits up and goes to work, because anything that triggers a emotional responses when the cerebral cortex is awake and active is it's cue.
It begins to save the experience, along with what happened just before the event began. It saves the experiences of walking, wobbling, what is heard, seen and felt. It does so because the trigger for pleasure was activated and thinks that the resultant actions will be useful for survival.
When the feeling subsides, the primal brain shuts the recording off and goes back to waiting.
Then when the child goes to sleep, the primal brain goes about its real job - insuring survival of the organism. The chemical states of the brain change and the cerebral cortex is showing decreased signs of activity due to the switch. Mean while the primal brain gears up - first the cerebral cortex is isolated from sending and receiving nerve impulses from the body. This is so the cerebral cortex is not disturbed by outside impulses and that the body does not receive signals that might cause injury or death to the organism.
Next it takes that recorded memory and plays it back into the cerebral cortex as if the event were re- occurring along with the same emotion that was felt. And as it does so we see R.E.M. activity. What this does is create a behavioral response to the stimulus, and attempts to improve upon the response by stimulating those areas of the brain involved to make new connections or create more neurons to handle the task. And it repeats it until it creates a neural pathway to accommodate satisfying that particular instinctual drive.
So the baby dreams in REM sleep of walking and then is able to improve because of this mechanism. More importantly, he wants to do it again because it makes him feel happy. This in turn starts the process over again until some other trigger/behavioral event occurs or new behaviors are needed.
Rule 2
It is this REM conditioning mechanism that from birth begins to build the neural network that leads to self-awareness and behavior. Anything that sets off a particular instinctual drive - the trigger is recorded and both the trigger and the response are keyed to that instinct by the REM conditioning.
As the child grows and explores the world, simulating particular areas of his brain, the neurons send chemical signals to cause new connections or even new neurons to be formed because the ones existing can't handle the new input without help. And triggers and behaviors that the primal brain thinks are needed are reinforced or augmented (when the cerebral cortex identifies a trigger) during repeated REM conditioning.
This process is akin to laying down a foundation, each brick being new connections that over time lead to the development of self -awareness.
This is why no one remembers their birth, and the first memories one usually has of being self-aware are not past the ages of two or three. The primal brain has to complete making basic connections and then it fades into the background as the cerebral cortex gains in complexity. This, I think, is also why we dream so much when we are young; there are a lot of connections that have to be made, many basic triggers and their resultant behaviors must be in place before the brain matures. If these neural connections are not made by the time the child begins puberty, breakdown of the mental state occurs. It is likely that this is what causes schizophrenia and its related illnesses.
Autistic children, I believe will be found, are due to one or more of these causes – failure of the brain to form the basic neural pathways (via mirror neurons) to the emotion generating apparatus before birth, failure of one or more of the basic instinctual response to be triggered, or a failure in the REM conditioning mechanism – it fails to properly record events and create the response or it attempts to do so when the cerebral cortex is active which is fatal for the growing brain/mind.
I believe that this theory suggests that illnesses where one hears voices or sees hallucinations, this may be a result of the a failure of the REM conditioning mechanism – it may be attempting to "write" to the brain when it is awake and the consciousness becomes confused and frightened. It maybe also that this event itself is recorded and the resultant attempt to apply the mechanism to such a jumbled set of sensations causes a breakdown of the higher brain processes by the neural connections formed.
Rule 3
If the stimulus is strong enough, and of sufficient duration the mechanism goes into overdrive and re enforces the resultant reaction into almost a reflex response. And it is not confined to any age.
R.E.M sleep occurs up to old age and only stops when there is no stimulation of an instinctual response strong enough to trigger the mechanism to record or if there are no handy stem cells left in the relevant area of the brain to convert to nerve cells.
As an example, let us now look at Post-Traumatic stress syndrome - the soldier in the field is knee deep in a firefight and terrified, convinced that he is about to die. With explosions sounding in his ears, he dives for cover. This goes on for some time until the shooting stops and he can gather his wits.
Then he sleeps, and the mechanism replays the whole thing back during REM conditioning with such intensity that the soldier wakes up screaming. And this is repeated night after night. Creating a behavioral reflex so strong that every time he hears a sound similar to an explosion, he is compelled to duck for cover or take some action against enemies that aren't there. It is a condition that stays with him for years and may never go away. Because the reaction is geared to whatever behavior enabled the continued survival, the actions and thought processes during the event are incorporated into the behavioral response. If the soldier took other actions, say attacking the enemy while feeling intense feelings of fear or anger, then when the stimulus trigger is perceived he will feel the same feelings and somewhat the same thoughts.
I will stop to stress that one point, that it is the perceived stimulus that drives the behavioral response. If the affected soldier went to a local store and while shopping caught sight of some people who resemble the enemies he'd fought, he might perceive them to be a threat, or something to be afraid of - the moment that association is made, the relevant emotion is triggered along with the REM conditioned response. The soldier goes into a fit of rage or dives for cover. Or attacks.
Anything that generates a excessively strong instinctual (i.e. emotional) reaction causes the primal brain to go into overdrive, burning in the memories of the event during REM sleep repeatedly to better aid survival. If the stimulus is strong enough the behavioral response becomes like an instinctual behavior, one that is difficult, if not impossible to ignore.
Obsessive-compulsive disorders occur because of this – they are forced to repeat behaviors over and over because this mechanism reinforced that behavior through REM conditioning to such an extent that it becomes impossible for the person affected to ignore or control. Any thought that activates the trigger activates the reflex.
And in the case of violent and sexual behaviors, perhaps they can cause others to develop similar behaviors.
In John Calhoun's experiment with Norway rats which ended so badly, what happened was not some genetic response to the overpopulation. It had everything to do with the REM conditioning mechanism and the primal brains failure to deal with the artificial environment.
First, there were no predators. Yet the rats brains (as our own) is hard wired at birth to accommodate the basic behavioral responses to attack or flee. It expects predators, so with no predators the aggressive, defense instinct has a greater tendency to acquire an incorrect stimulus trigger. And the only other stimuli to supply the trigger were other rats.
Second, in the natural environment there would not be so many other rats - having all these other rats about when one is trying to raise a brood meant that there were more opportunities for improper triggers to be assigned to behavioral responses during the development of the young rats brains.
This is why some of the rats displayed homosexual behaviors - at some point in early development the trigger that generated the sexual response became the sight and smell of another rat of the same sex, overriding the hard-wired response. Other animals were terrified enough during development that the response meant that they could not leave their little corner of the habitat, because to attempt to do so triggered the fear response. Others displayed aggressive tendencies - and it is here where we see a difference in the reaction. Some rats were merely aggressive - but others were intensely so - attacking their fellows savagely and also the growing offspring. Doing so for no apparent reason.
But the reason was there - the rats in question at some point in their development - had an experience so intense that when the rem conditioning was finished the reflex action was so imprinted and so sensitive that anything that the animal perceived as a threat or an attack triggered the primal behavioral response. If the affected rat felt that another rat was a threat in any way, the feeling and action were triggered. And in the case of John Calhoun's rats - the attacks could be brutal.
And as the next generation was born and encountered this behavior, they generated their own responses. Or became even more aggressive. Creating what I call hyper-aggressive syndrome - where anything might be percived as an attack, which then generates an immediate violent and almost primal response. And the behavior is passed on by their actions to younger animals. ( When they are attacked or terrorized and generate rem conditioned responses of their own.)
Once the process was started, the rat population was doomed unless the hyper aggressive animals were removed from the environment.
And in the case of the baboon troop - that is exactly what happened.
At some point is the troops history, one or more of the animals developed Hyper Aggressive syndrome. How does not matter, but because they were members of the troop and not outsiders they were not expelled. As their behavior developed, and influenced others, more such affected baboons were created.
In the more advanced cases, Severe Hyper Aggressive syndrome is primal reaction. The animal seemly goes mad with rage, attacking savagely and dominating the group. They also will apparently band together and intimidate the troop, taking over leadership. This is done, I think, because doing so was a survival trait that increased the odds for the species survival. The behavior is due to the primal brain thinking that the environment required a more primal and reflex like behavior to enable survival.
So this went on in this baboon group for the past 25 years, until the recently when the aggressive animals died. When they died, the hyper-aggressive syndrome died with them, luckily for the troop. I would imagine they are happier now and the overall health and morale of the troop has improved. And no babies currently show those tendencies.
Rule4
This mechanism is involved with every instinctual drive - reproduction, survival, protection of the group/family, etc. And produces behavioral responses whenever the instinctual stimulus is thought to be perceived by the higher brain.
If the stimulus causes the REM conditioning to go into overdrive, then the resultant behavioral response becomes a reflex. Which is almost impossible for the organism to ignore.
One experiment which might prove this theory ( if one is not convinced by this paper or wishes to prove it although I think there is more than enough case histories that one might examine using this theory.), would be to record what areas of the cortex are active when a simian child is repeatedly terrorized by a Hyper-aggressive syndrome affected adult simian enough to trigger the REM Conditioning.
During the stage of REM sleep - the only active areas should be parts of the primal brain and very localized areas of the cortex in the same areas that were active when the animal was attacked. And the animal should begin to show signs of the syndrome after a few REM sessions are observed.
To show how this mechanism is involved quite intimately with our every day lives, let us use an example familiar to us all.
At work the Boss comes over and begins to point out mistakes in your work. There is a flash of anger, which you try to control, but you really, really have an over powering urge to do something to the guy.
What happened was the event is perceived as an attack on the self. This perception in turn activates the emotion of anger and signals are put out along the relevant nerve pathway. If the pathway is sensitized enough, you may lash out verbally or physically before you can control the reaction.
Now, the boss did not come up to you and beginning physically attacking you, he was merely pointing out a mistake on your part, no big deal – but the moment the conscious mind perceived him as a threat, the emotion of anger is generated right on it's heels and the conditioned action is triggered.
Rule 5
Because this mechanism is present from the moment of birth, the resultant emotions are viewed by the infant mind as part of self. There is no awareness of the primal brain except by the emotional response and REM conditioning it generates.
Thinking that human beings are separate from nature is folly in the light of this theory. This primal mechanism was created by millennia of evolution for the sole purpose of survival and that is it's one primary task.
The fact that we are self-aware is just a useful tool to help the primal brain identify those triggers that activate the hard wired instinctual drive and modify behaviors as needed.
If this theory is applied to human behavior – I believe you will find that it explains many of the behaviors that we have seem thus far in human society.
Almost every action we human beings make is influenced by this mechanism, and because it is seen as a part of ourselves, we have failed to understand it enough to realize its effect on our culture and development.
This theory suggests that the reason past civilizations failed is due to this mechanism. It also may be the answer to why despots and tyrants such as Hitler and Saddam rise to power and control whole countries.( Just like we have seen in the baboon troop example – severe hyper aggressive syndrome causes the affected individual to attempt to obey the primal instinctual behavior – they cast about for something to attack, and they tend to band together and control the troop. They are primed for this by the rem conditioning they have undergone and unless they become aware of it, nothing will stop their behavior.).
And if this theory is proven correct – it means we have to make drastic decisions about how we raise our children, how juvenile offenders are treated, and how mental illness should be viewed. And how we view ourselves in light of this theory.
In conclusion
In this paper, I have tried to put forth my theory in a way that might be easily understood by all, without any confusing medical