March 23, 2009

The seat of shame? The lateral sulcus or insula is whorled into the brain as an especially deep convolution. According to neural imaging, that is the seat of the self, or at least the area that becomes most active during self-reflection.

The seat of overweening shame after posting a bad comment? The seat of self consciousness, the place where the pool shark chokes thinking about him and or herself doing the shot - and flubbing it as a result. Does it really serve a useful purpose, or is it just bad feedback, a whining shrill encumbrance? Or is the development of this neural capacity a sign of maturity?

posted by Dan Folkus 15 years ago
  • Interesting. Of course, thinking explicitly about yourself is not quite the same thing as having the ongoing sense of selfhood which presumably stays with us in some degree most of the time. It would be interesting to see how the 'multiple personalities' of Dissociative Identity Disorder show up in experiments like this, if they do.
  • You ain't very drunk if you can still feel shame after posting on the Intrawebs and are worrying about things like "maturity".
  • edit: and if "seat of overweening shame" is where it be for you, all i have to say is tsk tsk tsk!
  • Maybe *overweening shame* was too histrionic a turn of phrase, although I've certainly had my share. But getting such pertinent comments already for a post of mine has suddenly made me PROUD. Thanks ;>)