| Question Home |
Position:Home>Philosophy> Does the heart think?Question: Does the heart think!? I heard there are neuron in the heart, and that the initiation of the heart beat occurs before the development of the brain--indicating that it isn't absolutely directed by the brain!.
There is also this idea of referring to your heart over your mind at times of difficulty or general judgment!. This is something that is common in a number of traditions/cultures/societies which would make one think that there might be some plausibility in it!. What do you think Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: This is relatively new stuff, so it's not surprising that a lot of people haven't really heard of it!. In 1991 it was discovered that a typical heart has about forty thousand neurons which almost entirely independant of the brain!. And that many in one place does rival the size of many sub-sections of a typical brain!. This spawned the field of 'neurocardiology', and this aspect of the heart is sometimes referred to as the 'heart brain' or 'the brain in the heart'!. And while it has been shown that some of the activities of heart neurons do feed back into the brain and even to some degree higher consciousness, I think it would be erroneous to suggest that the heart 'thinks' in anything like the sense our brain does!. The reason for this is that a lot of these heart neurons are very, very busy getting information from the brain, the blood, other organs, and lots from the heart itself and then making subtle changes in heart rate and so on based on all this information!. NONE of this is done by your brain, as can be easily demonstrated in a heart transplant - nervous connections to the brain are severed by surgeons, but transplanted hearts continue to operate pretty much as normal!. Heart transplants also underscore my above point!. Recipients of transplants don't become emotionless, less intelligent, or any of a variety of things we might expect if the heart actually did perform any cognitive functions!. So yes!.!.!. the heart does do a lot of monitoring and stuff that your brain doesn't, and it almost certainly affects your thinking in a variety of subtle ways, but no, it doesn't really 'think' per se!. Pretty good article linked below!. Check it out!Www@QuestionHome@Com Neurons in the heart work as any other neurons in the body!. They are like weirs that send signals from the heart to the brain and the brain adjusts the heart rate accordingly!. Note that long time ago people didn't know this so when they got excited they thought its their heart that's beating for something!. Now days we use this just like a metaphor!. The truth is that our brain is always in control over the heart!. So you might say that the heart is a sort of reflexion on our fears and emotions and desires!. Www@QuestionHome@Com NoWww@QuestionHome@Com |