Socializing the introvert
'Might be hereditary'
Although there aren’t any studies that show how introversion originates, Olsen Laney said it might be hereditary.
“I do think it’s genetic, because there are countries (where many people) are introverted,” she said, citing Japan as an example. “There are actually are genes that decide which neurotransmitter your brain is using, and then decides which pathway your brain goes down.”
Introverts and extroverts have very different thought pathways.
* The extrovert is known for the “fight-or-flight” personality, which involves information shooting toward emotional parts of the brain and then being stored in the short-term memory.
* Introverted personalities tend to run on a “rest-and-digest” route, where information is considered more analytically and is deposited in long-term memory.
“One system is focused on our inside world and another (on) the outside world,” she said. “We have and need both those systems, but we are dominant in either one or the other.”
A loss for words
The result, said Olsen Laney, is that introverted people may find they have difficulty retrieving words under pressure.
“Because our internal world is already quite active, we can easily get overstimulated, she said, speaking from her own experience. “That is when we get vapour-locked and can’t think as fast.”
This may lead some to believe introverts are stupid, but Olsen Laney said 16 per cent of gifted people are introverts.
“They need to learn how to retrieve long-term memories,” she said. “I often wondered why I could talk rather easily and meet new people and other times I didn’t have any thought in my mind.”
The answer may be in acetylcholine, a neuro-transmitter that regulates human memory. Olsen Laney said a lack of acetylcholine was recently linked to Alzheimer’s disease, and that eating eggs, which contain those receptors, can give introverts that added memory boost.
“It might be possible that introverts that keep their acetylcholine levels up may not get Alzheimer’s,” she said.
'Might be hereditary'
Although there aren’t any studies that show how introversion originates, Olsen Laney said it might be hereditary.
“I do think it’s genetic, because there are countries (where many people) are introverted,” she said, citing Japan as an example. “There are actually are genes that decide which neurotransmitter your brain is using, and then decides which pathway your brain goes down.”
Introverts and extroverts have very different thought pathways.
* The extrovert is known for the “fight-or-flight” personality, which involves information shooting toward emotional parts of the brain and then being stored in the short-term memory.
* Introverted personalities tend to run on a “rest-and-digest” route, where information is considered more analytically and is deposited in long-term memory.
“One system is focused on our inside world and another (on) the outside world,” she said. “We have and need both those systems, but we are dominant in either one or the other.”
A loss for words
The result, said Olsen Laney, is that introverted people may find they have difficulty retrieving words under pressure.
“Because our internal world is already quite active, we can easily get overstimulated, she said, speaking from her own experience. “That is when we get vapour-locked and can’t think as fast.”
This may lead some to believe introverts are stupid, but Olsen Laney said 16 per cent of gifted people are introverts.
“They need to learn how to retrieve long-term memories,” she said. “I often wondered why I could talk rather easily and meet new people and other times I didn’t have any thought in my mind.”
The answer may be in acetylcholine, a neuro-transmitter that regulates human memory. Olsen Laney said a lack of acetylcholine was recently linked to Alzheimer’s disease, and that eating eggs, which contain those receptors, can give introverts that added memory boost.
“It might be possible that introverts that keep their acetylcholine levels up may not get Alzheimer’s,” she said.
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