![]() Didn't Jung name this phenomenon? It’s called individuation: even as we deepen and rely on the strength of our preferences, we explore new aspects of ourselves, often represented through our opposites. 'Doing INFJ' is as easy as signing his name, and he now engages who he is not. A 40-year-old INFJ musician may be wired like an INFJ, but he engages less-wired regions favoured by ISTPs. Among young adults, brain activity levels and circuits generally match. These circuits take time to burn in and probably reflect the long-term consequences of culture, career, relationships and such, as well as type preferences. For example, when two key auditory regions fire in synch, a person is keenly attending to both verbal content and voice tone rather than just one or the other. From once every second to once hourly, two or more regions may fire together. We can use an EEG to gauge more than the brain’s electrical activity levels. Three male 40-something INFJ musicians looked as much like ISTPs as INFJs. Last year, I started looking at midlifers (age 35+). This is a valuable clue to understand what happens with mature adults. Regardless of match, and in light of their background and interests, it’s clear that each brain meets the psychological needs of that person’s type, often in a similar way, but occasionally by a road less traveled. When I line up seven INFPs’ brain maps, four maps are similar (85%+ in common) while two are moderately similar (50%-85%), and one is an oddball. Each brain that enters the lab leaves having told its own story. Truly, brain activity varies by type, and the clearest patterns match the original impulse for type theory: Jung’s framework of eight mental functions. Moreover, on the EEG monitor, INFPs may sport a solid blue map when listening actively one-on-one, while INTPs may sport a solid green map as they shut out signals from the brain’s deeper regions to get objective in a 'disassociated' state. In contrast, INTPs favor regions that aid various forms of reasoning, from straight deduction to categorizing and weighing of risks versus uncertainties. For example, INFPs favor regions that aid listening, speaking, identity, and imagination. After working in depth with almost 70 subjects, trying various tasks for two or three hours with each, I can say with confidence that people who identify with the same type code tend to rely on similar brain regions. Each type is like a different song played by our symphonic brain. The 16 Myers-Briggs types speak to something real. These are supported by various modules working in concert, like instruments in a symphony. Moreover, there are broad qualities like empathy and imagination - the stuff of the psyche. There are easily five dozen modules just in the neocortex. Other tasks are abstract, such as evaluating ethics, adjusting to others’ feedback, and mentally rehearsing a future action. Some tasks are concrete, such as recognising faces, hearing voice tone, and moving a hand. Each module is a neural circuit that helps you do a task. Broadly speaking, your brain consists of many small modules. Now, seven years later, the tool of neuroscience continues to act like type: a fount of practical insights that keeps on giving.Ī first thing about the brain: it is 'organised'. We were so excited: the brain is for real! I could hardly sleep for weeks, plotting lab activities and wondering about implications. When he made a decision, his left executive region got active, and so forth. When the first student that day donned a snug red nylon EEG cap and spoke his first words, auditory regions of his brain lit up. It is another to see the machine light up, responding in real-time with a telling variety of bars and colours. ![]() It is one thing to read about the brain and speculate about links to personality. An EEG machine reports electrical activity from the neocortex, that thick outermost layer that is home to much conscious human experience. On a fine October Saturday in 2006, I sat down with some university students to explore the brain. ![]() What can that data say about your psyche? Does that data jive with type? The answers, while not tidy, continue to amaze, challenge, and inspire. A couple of hours with an EEG machine produces 45 million data points. What’s going on in your brain? These days, we can peer inside and watch at every millisecond as brain regions get active, send signals, coordinate, dampen each other, and otherwise sustain 'you'.
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