3 ms·

Well, the first myth is a complete surprise to me, especially the bit about the lizard brain. I've parroted about it in casual conversation for decades now.

boomboomsubban 5y ago
I thought the "lizard brain" was the part of our nervous system that would respond before the actual brain had time to process. Like I've heard we'll pull our hand away from a hot pan before we feel pain. Now I both don't know if I've misunderstood peoples references, and have no idea if my version of a lizard brain does exist.
- roywiggins 5y ago
  Some reflexes do happen before the signals hit the brain, they go through the spinal cord and back to your limbs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544292/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544292/
mwattsun 5y ago
Like me, you were probably exposed, like most of us, to the ideas in Carl Sagan's "The Dragons of Eden" and "Broca's Brain" The triune brain hypothesis became familiar to a broad popular audience through Carl Sagan's Pulitzer prize winning 1977 book The Dragons of Eden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dragons_of_Eden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dragons_of_Eden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_Brain The other mythical meme of note from those days is that we only use 10% of our brain.
ppod 5y ago
The article sets up a bit of a straw man (or maybe a motte-and-bailey) I think, because it says "all mammal brains (and most likely, all vertebrate brains as well) are built from a single manufacturing plan using the same kinds of neurons."; but I'm not sure that really refutes the notion that most of us have when we think of the lizard brain. Ontology doesn't recapitulate phylogeny, but we do have a cerebellum, and our actions and reactions happen along a broad spectrum of temporal control and conscious awareness.

boomboomsubban 5y ago

I thought the "lizard brain" was the part of our nervous system that would respond before the actual brain had time to process. Like I've heard we'll pull our hand away from a hot pan before we feel pain. Now I both don't know if I've misunderstood peoples references, and have no idea if my version of a lizard brain does exist.

roywiggins 5y ago
Some reflexes do happen before the signals hit the brain, they go through the spinal cord and back to your limbs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544292/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544292/

mwattsun 5y ago

Like me, you were probably exposed, like most of us, to the ideas in Carl Sagan's "The Dragons of Eden" and "Broca's Brain" The triune brain hypothesis became familiar to a broad popular audience through Carl Sagan's Pulitzer prize winning 1977 book The Dragons of Eden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dragons_of_Eden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dragons_of_Eden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca%27s_Brain The other mythical meme of note from those days is that we only use 10% of our brain.

ppod 5y ago

The article sets up a bit of a straw man (or maybe a motte-and-bailey) I think, because it says "all mammal brains (and most likely, all vertebrate brains as well) are built from a single manufacturing plan using the same kinds of neurons."; but I'm not sure that really refutes the notion that most of us have when we think of the lizard brain. Ontology doesn't recapitulate phylogeny, but we do have a cerebellum, and our actions and reactions happen along a broad spectrum of temporal control and conscious awareness.