Science of the Mind

Introduction

Popular concept of science is modelled upon physical sciences, which rely exclusively on objective data. Recent interest in studying anomalous phenomena, mind, consciousness and the like, has facilitated the emergence of investigative techniques to study diverse subjective data.

It was over this background that, in the mid-1970s, I had an opportunity to demonstrate to sceptical psychiatry residents that practice of psychotherapy follows hypothetico-deductive model of science, just as does the rest of clinical medicine. During those decades, psychotherapy out-come studies were highlighting the importance of such subjective phenomena as confidence, motivation, faith etc., suggesting that science cannot afford to ignore these predominantly subjective entities. Here, and in subsequent text, the word ‘faith’ is used only in the sense of complete trust or confidence on the basis of authority or assumed correctness. At that time, I realised the dimensional quality inherent in science in relation to the objective-subjective nature of phenomenal data. For example, the physical sciences deal exclusively with data generated from objective, physical events. Psychology and psychotherapy deal with both objective and subjective or experiential events. At the other extreme is the study of those phenomena like telepathy, consciousness, whose data are predominantly subjective experiences.

Over the years, my understanding of science evolved into a set of simple principles and concepts that could integrate both objectivity and subjectivity, faith, and spirituality into the fold of scientific enquiry within its standard hypothetico-deductive frame-work. This article is a brief description of these principles and concepts divested of complicated and controversial issues, with a view to stimulate further debate on these issues, without attempting to answer all the questions. They are arranged in the following order:

• Characteristics of science that are well established, as I have understood them;

• Some recent findings that indicate that scientific approach is innate to man;

• A few corollaries that arise out of the above characteristics presented as propositions;

• Current status of scientific study of mind and suggestions for the future.

Relevant statements of a renowned Indian saint-cum-scholar, Swami Vivekananda of the 19th century, are quoted as and when appropriate as representative of paradigms from Indian philosophy^#.

Essential Characteristics of Science

Philosophy of science reveals the following three characteristics of the skilful practice of science:

1. Scientific enquiry requires an attitude of critical rationality with efforts to eliminate errors in perceptual or experimental observations and reasoning.

2. Methodology of science is the well-known Hypothetico-deductive Model, consisting of five stages:

   • Rigorous observation of facts often with aid of instruments or experiments. Subjective phenomena accessible to conscious awareness also constitute as data.
   • Based on certain qualities or patterns in the observed facts, one or more verifiable hypotheses are generated either by logical reasoning, or intuitive inspiration, often called ‘brain-wave.’ Hypothesis is a statement of relationship or cause-effect explanation about observed facts in the form of mental model or analogy.
   • These hypotheses, either inductive or predictive, are verified as true or false by more observations or experiments designed for the purpose.
   • The results are reviewed and interpreted to form tentative conclusions, propose a theory, or modify earlier explanations. Greater the number of consequences of a hypothesis that are verifiable and found true, greater is the probability of that hypothesis being true.
   • The whole process is repeated in a similar or improved form by same or different investigators at different times, contributing to repeatability/replicability.

3. Nature of phenomena, investigative techniques, and number of variables. As different disciplines of science study phenomena that are qualitatively different, they require different investigative techniques. For example, even classical philosophy studies such entities as nature of knowledge and logical reasoning by methods of observing, analysing, debating, and even rigorous thought experiments. As a logical extension, study of mind requires an investigative technology most suited for it. Vivekananda exemplifies this fact:

   Every science must have its own method of investigation…. It is comparatively easy to observe facts in the external world…. but in the internal world we have the (trained) mind as the instrument…. Yoga is the science which teaches how to get these (internal) perceptions. (Vivekananda,1992a[15])

There is also a quantitative dimension to the number of variables that influence a phenomenal event in a given discipline. For example, the number of variables influencing a social event are more, and virtually impossible to control by experimental designs. In such instances, a large amount of precisely recorded descriptive data, both cross-sectional and temporal, are essential.

Recent Findings

Recent findings in developmental psychology, in humans and animals alike, demonstrate the natural emergence of science-skill in infants and children, a few examples of which are recorded below:

• The brain grows through the activity of exploration and problem solving (Mehlhorn et al., 2010[9]; Qin et al., 2004[11]). Even emotional reactions such as empathy contribute to brain development from childhood to adult hood (Greimel et al., 2010[4]).

• Mental activities bring about changes in the brain. For example, it is possible to intentionally control seizure discharges through EEG-bio-feedback (Tan et al., 2009[14]), and psycho-therapeutic experiences are associated with fMRI changes in the brain (Beutel et al., 2010[2]). In this context, it is interesting what Vivekananda said in the 1890s:

  (By this Pranayama practice) In many of you certain physical changes will come, …. Do not be afraid …. The whole body will have to be rearranged as it were. New channels for thought will be made in the brain, nerves which have not acted in your whole life will begin to work, and a whole new series of changes will come in the body itself. (Vivekananda, 1992b[16])

• When given extended opportunities to conduct repeated trials, most children, even in their pre-school years, begin to show increasing use of more effective strategies for designing and interpreting experiments, using new strategies when it was appropriate (Lehrer & Schauble, 2006[7]). Babies behave like little scientists, continually over-throwing theories that no longer fit evidence, testing their theory of the world against evidence around them (Gopnik, 2003[3]).

These findings suggest that man is hard-wired for a scientific manner of acquiring knowledge irrespective of what he chooses to study. The mental process that happens in the mind between intentional perception and the consequent knowledge involves scientific process.

In other words, man has innate science-skill.

Few Corollaries of Innate Science-Skill

An obvious question is how to explain the wide variability in its manifestation in man. In this section, I propose a few concepts to account for and explain this variability based on common observation. In man, the innate science-skill manifests along two wide continua, the dimension of precision, and dimension of need and interest. In addition, the practice of science is influenced by a dimension of objective-subjective nature of phenomena. Besides, people vary widely on yet another dimension — ability to make sense of what is observed and communicated. Each of these dimensions follows Gaussian distribution, just like all natural phenomena or any other human ability.

• The dimension of precision relates to an individual’s ability to observe, reason, and verify in a consistently precise manner. At one end of the continuum are the scientists and philosophers, and at the other are the others. But, the mind can be trained to acquire precise perceptual abilities. As Vivekananda says:

  The Yogi has a science that manufactures an instrument for the study of his own mind, and that instrument is in the mind… (attaining) power of finer perception (by practice of Rajayoga) which no instrument will ever be able to attain. (Vivekananda, 1992c[17])

• In the ‘dimension of need and interest’ , different individuals use their science-skill selectively according to their needs and interest. This science-skill has survival value and progressively evolves from generation to generation at both individual and social levels. For example, even an illiterate expert sailor uses his science-skill to learn and refine his navigational skills. For managing other areas of his life, he relies with faith on the knowledge of others, whom he believes as experts.

  Perhaps, it is this dimension of man’s innate science-skill that has yielded codes of moral/ ethical conduct that are roughly similar across cultures as means of safeguarding the long-term welfare of a society and its members. Similarly, man’s persistent enquiry about the cause of all existence might have contributed to evolution of religious and spiritual practices whose core tenets across cultures are similar. As Vivekananda (1992d[18]) says:

  For thousands of years such (extraordinary mental) phenomena have been studied, investigated, and generalised, … and the practical result is the science of Raja Yoga …waiting to be verified… Rajayoga does not deny facts which are difficult to explain. [Emphasis added; Vivekananda, 1992d[17])

• In the ‘Dimension of objectivity-subjectivity’, external events in the physical world that can simultaneously be observed by other observers exemplifies the objective end of the continuum. Either spontaneous or introspectively generated subjective and intuitive experiences exemplify the subjective end. Disciplines like psychology and psychotherapy deal with both types of events. In this respect, scientists of mind have to evolve the techniques of recording and analysing subjective data. What is important to note here is that objective and subjective sources of facts are complementary and not mutually exclusive. For example, many discoveries in physical sciences originated from the subjective experiences of its originators. Investigative techniques suitable for subjective data are being developed and used by investigators studying anomalous phenomena, which can be found in publications of the Society for Scientific explorations, for example, [see http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal], and in Rajayoga, as quoted earlier (Vivekananda, 1992a[15]).

• Within the realm of the dimension of objectivity-subjectivity is the ‘Dimension of communicability and understandability.’ In this dimension, people vary widely in the degree of their ability, either innately or by training, to have certain types of subjective experiences or to understand communicated facts or concepts. For example, almost all people are able to understand information about either physical objects they have seen, or ideas expressed at the ‘concrete’ level. But, all may not be able to understand either the subjective experiences they have not experienced, or abstract (subtler) ideas. For example, even in physical sciences, certain data or abstract concepts cannot be understood by all, as in the case of the emission- absorption bands in a spectrum of light, a concept which does not make any sense to the un-trained.

Task Ahead

For the purpose of developing the science of mind in an integrative manner as explained earlier, consideration of the following factors is essential:

1. The current practice of using methodologies borrowed from physical sciences has to be counterbalanced by development and use of technologies for studying subjective and experiential data. This can be done by accepting subjective, introspective observation as important sources of data. Methods of qualitative comparison of subjective data have to be developed. However, methods of studying structural changes correlating with subjective experiences must continue to evolve.

2. We must examine the concepts and investigative techniques available in the Indian philosophies that are suitable for adaption and experimental verification. Since genuine spiritual practitioners may not volunteer as subjects for study, copies of their spiritual diaries, if maintained, can be used as sources of data for preliminary studies. Better still, the investigators themselves would do well to choose to study their own minds by adapting methodologies available, as in certain meditative, Pranayamic, and Buddhist practices.

3. Future textbooks in the field of mental health should include chapters on such topics as studies of anomalous phenomena, theories and practices relating to spiritual science.

Concluding Remarks [See also Figure 1: Flowchart of Paper]

1. The core principles of science demand precision and effective management of bias.

2. Man has innate science-skill for acquiring knowledge. But people vary in the manifestation of this skill along two dimensions: (i) one, of precision-crudity according to the intellectual ability; and (ii) the other, of need-based interest, different persons being at their creative best in different areas/disciplines of their choice. Dimensions of objectivity-subjectivity of events, and ability to make sense of observations influence the practice of science.

3. Science and faith are inter-dependent.

4. Religion and spirituality are sciences.

5. Scientific study of mind and related phenomena requires developing suitable techniques of investigating subjective experiences, which can be borrowed from Rajayogic theories and practices.

Questions that the Paper Raises

• In studies of spiritual practices, how do we distinguish subjective experiences and intuitive revelations that may resemble hallucinations or delusions?

• How do we calibrate the sensitivity of the mind as an instrument of study?

• How do we motivate mental health/brain scientists to study their own minds?

About the Author

Graduate of Mysore Medical College, served in the India Air Force. Post-graduation in psychiatry in the UK. Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, from 1976 to 1995. Currently, a parttime consultant psychiatrist at Maiya Multi Specialty Hospital, Jayanagar, Bengaluru. Research: (i) Coordinator in ICMR multi-centre research project of training primary physicians in psychiatry; (ii) Member of a coordinating team in WHO sponsored multi-centre ICD-10 field trials; (iii) One-year research sabbatical to study ancient Indian concepts relating to mental health. Research interest: psychotherapy, philosophy, philosophy of science and spirituality. Publications: (i) about 36 communications in national and 6 in international periodicals; (ii) 9 chapters in 8 books, of which 4 are published abroad; and (iii) a bi-lingual book on proverbs relating to health