Being that I am also a psychology minor, a lot of what was in this book I was already familiar with, although I wish I would’ve learned all the parts of the brain in such a humorous way. Since I was already familiar with a lot of what was in the book, I tried to focus a lot on how I could relate this to what we have read and discussed in class so far. I encountered a few times where the characters addressed mental and brain disorders, but I think what I kept wondering all throughout was really how the brains people who are neurodivergent are physically and biologically different than those considered neurotypical, since the book doesn’t actually explain those differences. I think if they tried, it would be a whole other book completely.
All that wondering about those differences only intensified towards the end of the book when they began to touch on how how the mind may be a whole different aspect of the brain, or if maybe this is just in connection to what we consider “ourselves”. That really made me think about how those who are neurodivergent think of themselves, and I kept going to HIgashida’s words. When I read Higashida’s book, I kept in mind that he was describing his experiences to the best of his capabilities for us to understand him and his unique view and feelings of the world around him. Once I got to this idea of the “dualism problem”, and how although physically our brains may function the same way physically, I realized it is undeniable that we all have a unique sense of “ourselves” (116) and that whether we are neurodivergent or neurotypical, we all still tend to have different views and understandings of the world around us. That only strengthened my original thought when hearing the word neurodivergent, that no matter if our brains all physically work the same way, we all still think and perceive uniquely. Even when reading Higashida’s responses, I felt like he sounded no different than anyone else I know, he felt and thought just as deeply as anyone else, so what exactly is the real difference between Higashida and his neurotypical readers, or any two neurodivergent and neurotypical persons?
All in all, I really enjoyed learning about the brain this way, especially how they point out at the end that without the brain of the reader, we wouldn’t even be capable of understanding how to interpret the book’s comic format. It just really made me wonder a lot about both actual biological differences, and the differences that science itself has yet to prove even exists.
The moment at the end of the book gave me a moment of meta cognition (being aware of your own understanding). That is the best way I could explain it. The idea of the mind and the brain is something that makes me more confused the more I think about it. I know the brain is a physical thing, but the mind is where it gets tricky. But I do agree with the mind being a different aspect of the brain.
I had the same reaction to the concept of the dualism problem, what boundary lies between the brain and the mind. Over the past couple days I find my thoughts wandering back to the idea of my mind wondering about by brain while using my brain to think about my mind. Its a circular internal conversation that I keep coming back to. Where does the brain stop and the mind begin? Are they mutually exclusive or completely integrated?
I do agree with you I also enjoyed a lot reading this every time I want to go to the next page because of the way the author design the book. Even though we all look same, but we have some difference which makes us all unique. That’s why it is very important to understand “ourselves” first and the needs or the purpose of this body or brain. It will make it easier to understand others so no one will judge anyone based on their behavior or appearance. The inner satisfaction is very important which connects to mind and brain. I think brains make people act differently because it’s like the main storage, which sends out the message and make us act or behave differently from others.
Daniela,
After discussing the book in class, I think we all went home wondering about the separation of the mind and brain, body and soul. It seems to be something that we might not necessarily get to the bottom of. It proves to be to difficult for us to separate and explain the physical – body and brain to the nonphysical – mind and soul. Like I said in class, I think part of the issue is that science is all about separating it from religion. When we agree that there IS a soul, we immediately think of religion, which would in turn mean that there is a correlation between science and religion. This topic makes things very messy and complex but it is definitely fascinating!
Great post!
To quote you, Daniela, “Even when reading Higashida’s responses, I felt like he sounded no different than anyone else I know, he felt and thought just as deeply as anyone else, so what exactly is the real difference between Higashida and his neurotypical readers, or any two neurodivergent and neurotypical persons?”
I think that was exactly Higashada’s point. What is the difference? The differences are only seen on the outside at the surface. What you said here is what is so perfect about the purpose of Higashada’s book. His point was to illustrate how the Neurotypical and Neurodivergent brains are not all that different after all. I completely agree.