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BRAIN SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT
Author(s) -
Trevarthen Colwyn
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1986.tb00742.x
Subject(s) - feeling , mysticism , psychology , fantasy , cognition , cognitive science , aesthetics , cognitive psychology , social psychology , neuroscience , art , literature
. In recent decades of its brief history, brain science has shed light on the source of motives. We review the chemistry and anatomy of the neural core of human motivation; it seems to penetrate the hemispheric cognitive fields asymmetrically, subjecting them to differing evaluations by self‐organizing states of mind. The brain core generates and responds to the rhythm and color of emotions, giving moral control to relationships and setting values and meanings in communication. The newborn human mind is ready to share transcendent states with an empathic partner. Fantasy‐making play of a child in friendships presages adult rituals. Mystic rites and mythic symbols express feelings essential to time‐ and space‐defying cooperation within the ancestral culture.