DB #6

The Vital 

“Another experiment, conducted by Pascual-Leone when he was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, provides even more remarkable evidence of the way our patterns of thought affect the anatomy of our brains. Pascual-Leone recruited people who had no experience playing a piano, and he taught them how to play a simple melody consisting of a short series of notes. He then split the participants into two groups. He had the members of one group practice the melody on a keyboard for two hours a day over the next five days. He had the members of the other group sit in front of a keyboard for the same amount of time but only imagine playing the song— without ever touching the keys. Using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, Pascual-Leone mapped the brain activity of all the participants before, during, and after the test. He found that the people who had only imagined playing the notes exhibited precisely the same changes in their brains as those who had actually pressed the keys.31 Their brains had changed in response to actions that took place purely in their imagination—in response, that is, to their thoughts. Descartes may have been wrong about dualism, but he appears to have been correct in believing that our thoughts can exert a physical influence on, or at least cause a physical reaction in, our brains. We become, neurologically, what we think”.( The vital, Carr, p.34)

Literally: The author has given us an example of a study experiment that took place at the National Institutes of Health. The finding of the study is that we become neurologically what we think. So, the researcher at the National Institutes of Health recruited two groups of people who had no experience playing the piano. He trained one group to rehearse piano for five days, and the second group only imagined playing the piano. After the experiment, he mapped the activity of all the participants before, during, and after the test. He found all participants showed the same changes in their brains, even the participants who only visualized playing the piano. 

Intellectually: Intellectually saying that we can train our brains by the way we think. The assumption of the brain being unmalleable is inaccurate. Our brain is constantly changing. It can be changed by our thoughts, experiences, imagination, and observations. 

Emotionally: It is important to think positively to instruct our brains to show the best version of ourselves. Our brain doesn’t stop growing after adolescence. It grows through our thinking, knowledge, and imagination. Additionally, this article influenced me personally because I have recently begun reading a book called the secret which expresses the message of manifesting through our imagination. I suppose this article has proven the messages the author of the secret is attempting to send out. 

Connect:

“We are the manifestation of our thinking patterns, and we think in terms of terms. Words dinner or later we must realize that we are liable for what and how we think and say and thus must alter (altar) our use of language. Sentence structures predate pyramids and are as complex.realize, even in asking me to describe the future of language, I am simply playing my part in determining it by helping those who read this to become more aware of the importance of what they say and that (this) is how the future comes about.” (Williams,p.25). 

William speaks of languages and their importance throughout the article, then at the end of the article he highlighted, we are the manifestation of our thinking pattern. I believe Williams’ concept is similar to the analysis of the experiment Carr discussed in his article. Both quotes have similar messages. The key concept of those two quotes is that we manifest our previous thoughts into our present reality. Therefore, we must be aware of our thought patterns. I think this is a noble concept. It will allow people to think more positively and aim for adequate expansions for their future. 

Ulmers

Literally, Ulmer discusses the invention of alphabetic writing and its engagement in the civilizational shift from one apparatus to another. For instance, from orality to literacy. He also mentioned the Greeks and its invention. The Greeks not only invented the alphabetic but also a new institution within the practices of writing. Along with the shift of literacy, Ulmers also argues the shift of ideology. 

Intellectually Ulmers addresses that we are currently experiencing a second civilizational shift; from literacy to electracy. Electracy basically took what best worked from orality and literacy and synthesized them to electracy. 

Emotionally, Ulmer’s article was extremely difficult to comprehend. However, I was able to acquire a few key messages from this article, so basically, literacy is an “apparatus or social machine” 

Connect: “On the other hand and in the long run, television may bring a gradual end to the careers of schoolteachers, since the school was an invention of the printing press and must stand or fall on the issue of how much importance the printed word has”. (Postman p.7) 

This connects to what Ulmer has conveyed throughout the article. Electracy basically is the digital media what literacy is print. It encompasses the broader cultural, institutional, pedagogical, and ideological significance in one. The quote from the Postman basically tries to send out the same message saying the invention of technology is bringing a gradual end to the careers of school teachers. This is heartbreaking and I believe it is occurring due to the invention of electracy. People around the world are using electracy to obtain educational knowledge.