Welcome to MODULE #3: Our Brains on Media (Scary Green Monster) (Running Monday, February 16 – Sunday, March 1)

Welcome to module #3, DOTCOM colleagues in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the United States!

Now that you have completed and blogged your KNOWLEDGE TREE and PERSONAL MEDIA INVENTORY, we are ready to get into the "nuts and bolts" of our study of 21st century media.

What follows is a brief overview of "Our Brains on Media."

Closely read over the activities below, several times if need be, and have fun learning about your brain on media.

And then, find a YouTube video you like, and apply what you've learned at your blog.

HERE WE GO!

For this two-week module, begin with a simple activity.

Take your right hand, reach up, and place it gently on top of your skull. You are now touching the most complex living thing in the known universe.

Not your hair, silly.

Your brain.

The human brain is a remarkable piece of work: highly sophisticated, evolutionarily inelegant, and vital to keeping us alive and functioning.

And the human brain is not one brain, but three brains.

Understanding how the brain works, believe it or not, is vital to deepening your appreciation of media, leadership, and community.

So, briefly explained - here is your three-part (triune) brain on media.



THE REPTILIAN BRAIN (the instinctual or “dinosaur” brain - see the red area on our brain diagram, above):

The oldest part of your brain, the reptilian system can be found at the base of your brain stem, and regulates basic bodily functions – heart rate, breathing, etc. This is the part of your brain that instinctively reacts when you experience a sudden and unanticipated stimulus – BOO!

Without thinking, your reptilian brain asks one of four questions about the BOO stimulus:

1. Do I eat BOO?
2. Do I mate with BOO?
3. Do I fight BOO?
4. Do I run away from BOO?

The important thing here is that your brain DOES NOT THINK when asking these questions – your reaction is instinctual; it happens very quickly. And this evolutionary response in the reptilian brain has kept humans alive for literally tens of thousands of years.

THE LIMBIC BRAIN (emotional or “feeling” brain):

The second oldest part of your brain – the limbic – is where two very powerful kinds of media (images and music) are processed.

You know the old saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words”?

True enough – because pictures bypass the “thinking brain” and go directly to the emotional/limbic system.

The same is true of music – you can literally alter your neuro-physiological chemistry by putting on the right piece of music.

Feeling depressed? Then put on your “feel good” music and within minutes, you’ll notice a change. Neat, eh?

THE NEOCORTEX (rational or “thinking” brain):

This is the youngest part of the brain, and is located in the frontal lobe, behind your forehead, more or less. All higher level thinking - reading, writing, etc. – takes place in the neocortex.

Ever wonder why reading a book is initially so much harder than watching television? Because TV is processed in the limbic and reptilian brains, while the printed word (typography) is processed in the neocortical brain.

Here's the picture of your TRIUNE BRAIN one more time.



I know what you are thinking.

Why should I care about the triune brain?

Because, even though our brain is the most complex living thing in the known universe, it is easily manipulated by our powerful 21st century media culture.

For example, take a look at this short commercial – one of the best single example I have found for illustrating how media influence the triune brain.



Describe which of the three brains the commercial FIRST appealed to – how do you know?

If you said: LIMBIC - you are right. We SEE soothing images - green trees, a quiet country road, and we HEAR soothing pan flute music.

And then, which of the brains did the commercial appeal to next?

If you said: REPTILIAN, again, you are right. The scary shrieking green monster interrupts our LIMBIC brain and SHOCKS us, literally, the first time we see this ad. Immediately, WITHOUT THINKING, we have an instinctual reaction.

Did your heart rate and breathing rate go up when you first watched the Kfee ad? Were you "startled"? That's your REPTILIAN brain at work.

And finally, the Kfee advertisement asks you to read the words on the screen, using your NEOCORTEX (thinking) brain.

The Kfee advertisement is a GREAT piece of media for understanding how our three-part brain is influenced by media.

Here's your challenge for this module.

Find one SHORT (no more than 2 minutes) YouTube movie that you like at www.youtube.com.

Copy and paste the "embed code" for that YouTube movie into your blog (you'll find the code to the right of the actual movie), and then write a 4 sentence explanation describing which of the three brains - reptlian, limbic, and neocortex - you think your movie is influencing.

Use my analysis of the KFEE advertisement above to help guide you, and e-mail me with any questions you have.

And have fun.

Vive DOTCOM!

Dr. Rob Williams