Ritual and Mylenation - testable hypothesis

“a MEDLINE search for ‘ritual and myelin’ gives no hits whatsoever ... the most important source of contrast in magnetic resonance images of the brain happens to be myelin ... knowledge is embedded in patterns of connections rendered durable by the selective myelination of the most vital pathways ... liminal periods experienced by protagonists in most rites of passage have particular importance in enabling a permanent consolidation of neural pathways ... Experimental validation of the hypothesis has not yet been explored, although the techniques required are already widely available.”

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Turner, Robert. "Finding likeness: Neural plasticity and ritual experience." Anthropology Today 35.3 (2019))⁠

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Collective Representations have Cortical Representations

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Paper citation⁠

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Abstract snippet

We present recent imaging research which illuminates the feedback relationship between these two types of representation — the collective and the cortical — and which demonstrates that collective representations can have well-defined cortical representations.

Takeaways

we would expect culture to have a corresponding impact on the functional anatomy and microstructure of the brain

We present recent imaging research which illuminates the feedback relationship between these two types of representation — the collective and the cortical — and which demonstrates that collective representations can have well-defined cortical representations

stable feedback relationship between the collective representations, which are objective entities, ‘out there’, and the brain activities which maintain and are maintained by them, and by which — through the collective action of many brains — they are formed and conditioned

Anthropology

animals are humans wearing animal suits

Erika Bourguignon (1973), from an examination of almost five-hundred human societies, showed that spiritual experience is inversely correlated with structural complexity

concept of ‘collective representations’, as developed by Durkheim

adherence without prior examination

must be internalized in the form of shared procedural and semantic memories

collective representations are highly variable across cultures

an indispensable framework for all meaningful actions, including those required for survival

cultures mutually unintelligible and provide fuel for enduring conflicts

Mechanics

The emotional words were better remembered than neutral words, and had the interesting effect of impairing memory for neutral words presented just before them.

in ritual, where performative genres are often artfully combined (Turner and Turner, 1985) to give powerful and emotional experiences, participants may obtain a sense of onto- logical certainty regarding the collective representations that they internalize

actions, such as teaching, officiating in ritual, collective singing, taking part in court proceedings and so on, will establish and reinforce the society’s collective representations for all participants

Path forward

Very careful cross-cultural analysis, deeply informed by anthropology, will be required to classify collective representations in such a way that nuances of meaning are not destroyed

Unfortunately, serious anthropologists have ventured little into this research area, and the arena has been largely left free for social cognitive neuroscientists ... who depend on an outmoded concept of modular brain organization

We think it is well demonstrated that some collective representations can have well-defined cortical representations.

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