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Optimizing Learning and Quality of Life throughout the Lifespan
Author(s) -
Loizzo Joseph
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1393.006
Subject(s) - allostatic load , allostasis , psychology , cognitive psychology , cognition , typology , generative grammar , developmental psychology , social psychology , cognitive science , neuroscience , sociology , artificial intelligence , computer science , anthropology
This overview surveys the new optimism about the aging mind/brain, focusing on the potential for self‐regulation practices to advance research in stress‐protection and optimal health. It reviews recent findings and offers a research framework. The review links the age‐related biology of stress and regeneration to the variability of mind/brain function found under a range of conditions from trauma to enrichment. The framework maps this variation along a biphasic continuum from atrophic dysfunction to peak performance. It adopts the concept of allostatic load as a measure of the wear‐and‐tear caused by stress, and environmental enrichment as a measure of the use‐dependent enhancement caused by positive reinforcement. It frames the dissociation, aversive affect and stereotyped reactions linked with stress as cognitive, affective and behavioral forms of allostatic drag ; and the association, positive affect, and creative responses in enrichment as forms of allostatic lift . It views the human mind/brain as a heterarchy of higher intelligence systems that shift between a conservative, egocentric mode heightening self‐preservation and memory and a generative, altruistic mode heightening self‐correction and learning. Cultural practices like meditation and psychotherapy work by teaching the self‐regulation of shifts from the conservative to the generative mode. This involves a systems shift from allostatic drag to allostatic lift , minimizing wear‐and‐tear and optimizing plasticity and learning. For cultural practices to speed research and application, a universal typology is needed. This framework includes a typology aligning current brain models of stress and learning with traditional Indo‐Tibetan models of meditative stress‐cessation and learning enrichment.