Amishi Jha: How to tame your wandering mind
أميشي جها: كيف تروّض ذهنك الشارد
As a neuroscientist specializing in the brain mechanisms of attention, Amishi Jha researches mindfulness techniques to optimize focus, even under high stress. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
of their brain capacity.
أستطيع أن أخبركم
delivered this line
تلك العبارة
that makes him a great actor,
التي جعلت منه ممثلََا عظيمََا،
of their brain capacity.
100% من قدرات أدمغتهم.
energy-demanding organ
يتطلب طاقة
at full capacity being used,
of information overload.
than it can fully process.
التي لا يستطيع الدماغ معالجتها كلها.
the brain's computational resources
الموارد الحسابية للدماغ
as the leader of the brain.
هو كالقائد للدماغ
the rest of the brain follows.
the human brain's attention system.
I've been very interested in one question.
that our attention is the brain's boss,
I wanted to know three things.
يجب علىَّ أن أعلم ثلاثة أشياء.
control our perception?
foggy and distracted?
about this fogginess,
أي شيء حيال ذلك التشوش،
to pay better attention?
لكي تنتبه بصورة جيدة؟
in the work that we do in our lives.
خلال الأعمال التي نقوم بها في حياتنا.
ends up getting utilized.
إلى أن يُستهلك الانتباه.
of somebody that I know quite well.
ضرب مثال بشخص أعرفه جيدََا.
group of people that we work with,
is a matter of life and death.
Captain Jeff Davis.
النقيب (جيف ديفيس).
with you, as you can see,
at the scenery around him,
driving off that bridge.
مسرعًا بنيّة السقوط عن الجسر بسيارته.
all of everything he had not to do so.
بكل ما أوتي من قوة لكي لا يفعل ذلك.
was thousands of miles away.
and, really, dread for his future.
وبسبب الخوف على مستقبله.
that he didn't take his life.
knew that he wasn't the only one
كان على علم أنه ليس الوحيد
ربما كانو يعانون أيضًا.
probably were, too.
in the first-of-its-kind project
في مشروع هو الأول من نوعه
something called mindfulness training
يدعى تدريب الوعي الآني.
what mindfulness training is,
تدريب الوعي الآني،
how attention works in the brain.
عمل الوعي في المخ.
involve brain-wave recordings.
تشمل تسجيلات للموجة الدماغية.
people wear funny-looking caps
يرتدي الناس قبعات مضحكة
that have electrodes embedded in them.
التي تحتوي على أقطاب كهربائية.
the ongoing brain electrical activity.
النشاط المخي الكهربائي المتجدد.
temporal precision.
voltage fluctuations over time.
الصغيرة القابلة للكشف بمرور الزمن.
plot the timing of the brain's activity.
النشاط الدماغي بدقة كبيرة.
a face on the screen,
خاصتنا وجهًا على الشاشة،
detectable brain signature.
that are involved in face processing.
في عملية التعرف على الوجه.
and so on cue,
this brain-wave component a name.
in many of our studies.
that attention may have on our perception.
of the kind of experiments
images like this one.
overlaid on each other.
ومنظرا متداخلين معًا.
of these types of overlaid images,
to pay attention to the face.
سنطلب منهم، أن يركزوا انتباههم على الوجه.
by pressing a button,
أو لأنثى.
was it indoor or outdoor?
ما إذا كان المشهد خارج أم داخل المنزل؟
we can manipulate attention
were actually doing what we said.
المشاركين ينفذون بالفعل ما نقوله.
were as follows:
and affecting perception,
attention to the face,
the face becomes barely perceptible
يصبح الوجه بالكاد مرئيًا
of face detection, the N170,
الذي يميز الوجوه، وهو ال(N170)،
له أية تغييرات على الإطلاق
were paying attention --
attention to the face,
as you can see in red, it was smaller.
كما ترون بالأحمر يصبح أصغر،
between the blue and red lines
thing that changed,
were identical in both cases --
of actually seeing a face.
بمجرد رؤيته للوجه فعليًا.
we wanted to see what would happen,
أن نعرف ما قد يحدث،
or diminish this effect.
in a very stressful environment,
لمواقف ضغط عصبي شديد،
negative images,
on the news, unfortunately --
actually affect their attention.
while they're doing this experiment,
أثناء قيامهم بالتجربة،
its power diminishes.
that stress does this to the brain --
الضغط العصبي سيىء على الدماغ،
has this powerful influence on attention
الضغط العصبي التوتر على الاِنتباه
external distraction,
with an experiment
generate their own mind-wandering.
in an ongoing task of some sort.
is that essentially, you bore people.
هو أن تجعل المرء يملّ.
of mind-wandering happening right now.
of internal content to occupy themselves.
المحتوى الداخلي ليشغل نفسه.
most boring experiments.
were a series of faces on the screen,
every time they saw the face.
في كل مرة يرو فيها وجهًاَ.
the face would be upside down,
just to withhold the response.
على الزر عندما تكون الوجوه مقلوبة.
they were successfully mind-wandering,
في جعلهم شاردي الذهن،
when that face was upside down.
الزر حتى عندما كانت الوجوه مقلوبة.
that it was upside down.
when people have mind-wandering.
عندما يشرد ذهن الناس؟
in the environment,
our own mind wandering,
is very powerful
it's also fragile and vulnerable.
and mind-wandering diminish its power.
وشرود الذهن تقلل من قوته.
very controlled laboratory settings.
التجهيزات المعملية المُؤمَّنة
about your attention
for four out of the next eight minutes.
من الـ8 دقائق القادمة.
so pay attention, please.
that you're going to remain seated
your eyes on me as I speak.
that we mind-wander,
المقالات أننا نشتت أذهاننا،
from the task at hand,
little trips that we take away,
any dire consequences
four minutes of a military briefing,
لـ4 دقائق من التعليمات العسكرية،
four minutes of testimony.
4 دقائق من شهادة أحدهم.
missing any time.
in those cases could be dire.
is an exquisite time-traveling master.
في أن عقولنا متخصصة في السفر عبر الزمن.
of the music player, we see this.
مشغل موسيقى؛ سنري ذلك.
that have already happened, right?
for the next thing that we want to do.
لنخطط للشيء التالي الذي سنفعله.
time-travel mode of the past or the future
للسفر عبر الزمن الي الماضي أو المستقبل
without our awareness,
you were trying to read a book,
with no idea what the words were saying.
ولم تفهموا ما قرأتموه.
without an awareness that we're doing it,
عندما يتشتت انتباهنا دون أن نلاحظ،
on the past when we rewind,
ruminating, reliving or regretting
إلى التهويل أو القلق
thinking to yourself, OK,
and more often.
وبصورة أكثر تكرارََا
we can possibly do about this?
and wandering mind is a mindful one.
والمضغوط هو العقل الواعي.
with paying attention
with awareness.
reactivity of what's happening.
that button right on play
unfolding of our lives.
mode of being to have any benefits.
لتحصل على أية فائدة.
we're offering people programs
a suite of exercises
of mindfulness in their life.
that we work with, high-stress groups,
أغلبهم مضغوطون عصبيا للغاية
medical professionals --
وجنود...
mind-wandering can be really dire.
we offer them very accessible,
قيود زمنية محدودة جدََا
to optimize the training,
is track to see what happens,
ما يمكننا فعله أن نتّْرقب ما سيحدث
circumstances that they may have.
تطلبا والتي قد يواجهونها.
للطلاب المقبلين على اختبارات نهاية العام
to students right around finals season.
to accountants during tax season.
إلى المحاسبين أثناء موسم الضرائب.
while they're deploying.
is most likely to be vulnerable,
to be in peak shape
a series of attention tests.
of some kind of high-stress interval,
we track them again,
if there's a difference.
mindfulness training?
the lapses in attention
if we don't do anything at all,
of this high-stress interval than before.
في نهاية تلك المرحلة.
we can protect against this.
just like the other groups,
حتى لو كانوا مثل تلك المجموعات،
take our training programs
to doing the daily mindfulness exercises
وعي الآني بصورة يومية.
how to be in the present moment,
even though they're in high stress.
حتي لو كانوا تحت ضغط عصبي شديد.
is actually important to realize,
are very much like physical exercise:
تشبه كثيرا التمارين الجسدية:
in mindfulness practice,
to Captain Jeff Davis.
in the very first project
تم تعينهم لأول مشروع
offering mindfulness training.
which was very heartening.
the mindfulness training
Captain Davis shared with us
was the benefit of this program.
they were much more present.
they were really more compassionate
engaging with and each other.
training program we offered
post-traumatic stress disorder
into post-traumatic growth.
that Captain Davis and I --
a decade ago, in 2008 --
to continue practicing mindfulness
from the Marine Corps.
to get remarried,
ماجستير إدارة الأعمال.
and transitions and joys of his life,
واللحظات السعيدة في حياته،
just a few months ago,
heart attack, at the age of 46.
a few weeks ago.
to tell you something.
who worked on me, they saved my heart,
الذين تابعوا حالتي، أنقذوا قلبي،
to stop the ambulance
to the hospital," -- himself,
بنفسه
when there was fear and anxiety happening
عندما كان يشعر بالخوف والقلق
were the gifts of mindfulness."
to hear that he was OK.
that he had transformed his own attention.
لديه رئيس سيىء للغاية،
that nearly drove him off a bridge --
الانتحار من على الجسر،
leader and guide,
my call to action to all of you.
as part of your daily wellness toolkit,
كجزء من عدة أدواتكم اليومية للصحة.
to be a trusted guide in your own life.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amishi Jha - NeuroscientistAs a neuroscientist specializing in the brain mechanisms of attention, Amishi Jha researches mindfulness techniques to optimize focus, even under high stress.
Why you should listen
Neuroscientist Amishi Jha studies how to keep the brain’s attention systems in peak shape over high-pressure intervals. In her laboratory at the University of Miami, she uses functional MRI, electrophysiological recordings and behavioral analysis techniques to understand why our attention sometimes fails us, and if it can be trained for greater focus and less distractibility.
In 2008, Jha launched the first-ever study to offer mindfulness training tools to active duty military service members as they prepared for deployment. What she has discovered over the past 10 years of research on this topic is that without intervention, soldiers’ attention and working memory are compromised, and their attentional lapses increase. She has found similar patterns in students and athletes, too. The good news is that engaging in mindfulness training to cultivate greater present moment awareness protects against these effects. Her research is continuing to explore how attention can be trained for optimal performance and well-being. In her TED Talk, Jha unpacks how attention becomes vulnerable under stress and the mechanisms that allow it to be strengthened with mindfulness training.
Amishi Jha | Speaker | TED.com