Home > Work > The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are
1 " Our dreams and stories may contain implicit aspects of our lives even without our awareness. In fact, storytelling may be a primary way in which we can linguistically communicate to others—as well as to ourselves—the sometimes hidden contents of our implicitly remembering minds. Stories make available perspectives on the emotional themes of our implicit memory that may otherwise be consciously unavailable to us. This may be one reason why journal writing and intimate communication with others, which are so often narrative processes, have such powerful organizing effects on the mind: They allow us to modulate our emotions and make sense of the world. "
― Daniel J. Siegel , The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are
2 " At the most basic level, therefore, secure attachments in both childhood and adulthood are established by two individual's sharing a nonverbal focus on the energy flow (emotional states) and a verbal focus on the information-processing aspects (representational processes of memory and narrative) of mental life. The matter of the mind matters for secure attachments. "
3 " We must keep in mind that only a part of memory can be translated into the language-based packets of information people use to tell their life stories to others. Learning to be open to many layers of communication is a fundamental part of getting to know another person's life. "
4 " Each of us needs periods in which our minds can focus inwardly. Solitude is an essential experience for the mind to organize its own processes and create an internal state of resonance. In such a state, the self is able to alter its constraints by directly reducing the input from interactions with others. (p. 235) "
5 " Internal mental experience is not the product of a photographic process. Internal reality is in fact constructed by the brain as it interacts with the environment in the present, in the context of its past experiences and expectancies of the future. At the level of perceptual categorizations, we have reached a land of mental representations quite distant from the layers of the world just inches away from their place inside the skull. This is the reason why each of us experiences a unique way of minding the world. (pp. 166-167) "
6 " ...not all encounters with the world affect the mind equally. Studies have demonstrated that if the brain appraises an event as "meaningful," it will be more likely to be recalled in the future. "
7 " We are always in a perpetual state of being created and creating ourselves. (p. 221) "
8 " For "full" emotional communication, one person needs to allow his state of mind to be influenced by that of the other. "
9 " Early experience shapes the structure and function of the brain. This reveals the fundamental way in which gene expression is determined by experience. "
10 " Emotion is not just some "primitive" remnant of an earlier reptilian evolutionary past. Emotion directs the flow of activation (energy) and establishes the meaning of representations (information processing) for the individual. It is not a single, isolated group of processes; it has a direct impact on th entire mind. (p. 263) "
11 " Relationships early in life may shape the very neural structures that create representations of experience and allow a coherent view of the world: Interpersonal experiences directly influence how we mentally construct reality. "
12 " self and mind may be deeply interrelated, with self being constructed from the experience of mind. "
13 " To summarize this point succinctly, self-regulation appears to depend upon neural integration. As we’ll see, optimal relationships are likely to stimulate the growth of integrative fibers in the brain, whereas neglectful and abusive relationships specifically inhibit the healthy growth of neural integration in the young child.18 Even impairments to health that are not experientially derived, such as autism, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, have now been shown to reveal impairments to neural integration.19 "
14 " Self-regulation appears to depend upon neural integration. "
15 " A profound finding from attachment research is that the most robust predictor of a child’s attachment to parents is the way parents narrate their own recollections of childhood during the Adult Attachment Interview. This implies that the structure of an adult’s narrative process—not merely what the adult recalls, but how it is recalled—is the most powerful feature in predicting how an adult will relate to a child. "
16 " human connections shape neural connections, and each contributes to mind. Relationships and neural linkages together shape the mind. Mind is more than the sum of its parts; this is the essence of emergence. "
17 " pattern of healthy living involves the integration of energy and information within the nervous system and between people. Integration is the organizing principle that links the ways energy and information flow is shared (relationships), is shaped (the mechanisms of the embodied nervous system or, termed simply, the brain), and is regulated (the mind). "
18 " This process of linking differentiated parts into a functional whole is called “integration.” As we’ll see, integration is a unifying principle that will help us to understand the linkage of mind, brain, and relationships throughout our discussions. Furthermore, in IPNB, we propose that integration is the heart of health. Linking differentiated parts into a functional whole is called “integration. "
19 " Relationships early in life may shape the very neural structures that create representations of experience and allow a coherent view of the world: Interpersonal experiences directly influence how we mentally construct reality. This shaping process occurs throughout life, but is most crucial during the early years of childhood. Patterns of relationships and emotional communication directly affect the development of the brain. Studies in animals, for example, have demonstrated that even short episodes of maternal deprivation have powerful neuroendocrine and epigenetic effects on the ability to cope with future stressful events. "
20 " The communication of emotion may be the primary means by which these attachment experiences shape the developing mind. Research suggests that emotion serves as a central organizing process within the brain. In this way, an individual’s abilities to organize emotions—a product, in part, of earlier attachment relationships—directly shapes the ability of the mind to integrate experience and to adapt to future stressors. "
