Wisdom ‘mdash; once the mere subject of flowery poetry and anecdotal religious teachings ‘mdash; has taken a giant leap into the realm of scientific brain imaging.
In a study published April 6, a team of UCSD researchers called for a scientific review of the neurobiology of wisdom, using literature on the subject as their starting point.
‘We need to have some consensus on the definition of wisdom,’ said Dr. Dilip V. Jeste, professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at UCSD. Jeste is also the Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair in Aging and director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging.
The researchers decided to focus on individual traits that experts had decided were the ingredients to the widely accepted definition of wisdom ‘mdash;’ such as pro-social attitudes, social decision-making, emotional homeostasis, self-understanding, tolerance and acknowledgement of (as well as the ability to effectively deal with) uncertainty.
The researchers studied this concept of wisdom with neuro-imaging, which uses small cameras to view brain activity through changes in blood flow or metabolic alteration on live subjects ‘mdash; something researchers were previously incapable of doing. The images helped Jeste and his team discover where certain traits could be found in the brain. For example, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain located just beneath the forehead, controls several traits associated with wisdom ‘mdash; including emotional regulation, decision-making and value relativism.
In the exploration of wisdom, researchers believe that isolating the location of certain traits in the brain may help in treating certain diseases or conditions in the future.
‘The goal of the research is to find ways to help people,’ Jeste said. ‘This research is important, because it has some relevance to some patients we see with things like dementia, a life-Alzheimer’s which consists of little memory loss, just a change in personality.’
The scientists’ research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute on Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, the UCSD Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jeste said he believes their findings may eventually help a variety of patients, including the elderly and those with brain injuries and dementia.
Jeste stressed that other less factual, more spiritual methods and beliefs about wisdom should not be completely neglected.
‘This isn’t biology versus culture,’ Jeste said. ‘Many things are both. Culture can influence the brain and effect behavior.’
The study noted a strong correlation between current definitions of wisdom, religion and philosophy and the definitions from ancient civilizations such as Greece, China and India. The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Indian religious text, contains a particularly relevant definition of wisdom: One must understand the differences between the body ‘mdash; the field of activity ‘mdash; and the soul ‘mdash; the knower of the body.’
Jeste said he hopes his research will encourage the scientific community to take the concept of wisdom and other more abstract psychological traits more seriously.
‘Wisdom also has a scientific basis,’ Jeste said. ‘We don’t do enough research on psychological traits.’
Readers can contact Sarah Smith at [email protected].