Monday 11 March 2013

Brain Day

Next Saturday, I'm heading along to Brain Day at Auckland University. The geeky part of me that did as many neuropsych papers as possible at uni myself is thrilled. The art part of me is also intrigued, as the theme of this year's Brain Day is 'Your creative mind'.

While the day is free, seating is limited, and you need to book. I didn't realise this until too late, and so missed out on a seat for the opening lecture by Professor Richard Faull, although overflow seating to watch a video-stream is available. That's more than okay though, because the alternate at that time is a panel discussion on children and play, which hits a few buttons with me right now. I'm also looking forward to Michael Corballis on the wandering mind:
Why do we dream, brood over the past, make up stories, or drift into reveries when we’re supposed to be hard at work? Is it just background noise, like static on an old radio? Professor Corballis will argue that mind wandering is actually adaptive, helping us plan things, find creative solutions, and even define a sense of who we are.
I've increasingly noticed myself creating space to let my mind wander when I have writing deadlines on: it's like I plug in a few seed thoughts, and then try to fool myself into thinking that I'm not thinking about them, in order to let them grind away slowly "by themselves". Likewise, when I'm grappling with a new topic, I can almost literally feel my mind stretching. It "fills up" some nights at jiu jitsu, when it just can't cope with having any more new sequences added to it, or "gets tired" along with my body, and forgets how to make it move properly.

Anyway. I'm excited. And if you're going to be there, let me know.

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