Can You Learn to Control Your Mind?

Richard Davidson makes the case, and invites your comments. Add your thoughts to the discussion before the conversation closes. 

Brain

Tom Lewis, Life and Health, 1972. Photo: flickr.com/50 Watts.

Can we control our thoughts, and if so, are we endowed with this ability at birth, or do we cultivate it over the course of our lives?

Richard Davidson, Ph.D., a lead expert on the impact of contemplative practices on the brain at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, brings scientific findings to bear on the subject.

He asks: “Is [mind control] associated with the development of specific circuits in the brain? To what degree are individual differences in this ability present early in life and what environmental and genetic influences modulate this ability?”

You can read Davidson’s post on Big Questions Online and submit your comments. Once the discussion is closed, Davidson will post follow-up remarks to address insights or new questions raised by the conversation. The discussion is open for five more days.

Read Davidson’s post.

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02/21/13