Rob Wilkens

Welcome.. Rob is a disabled (not working full time since 2001) software hobbyist developer who sells at least one app on a few mobile app stores.

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This next part might eventually be turned into a post and moved off the front page:

I had an MRA of the Brain around January 2024 (this year at the time of writing). I was initially led to believe that the Brain Aneurysm was the most interesting part of it.

However, I found an interesting breakdown of brain regions by percentile when I looked at the images.

1. Grey Matter: 97th percentile, Frontal Lobes: 98th percentile, Parietal Lobes: 98th Percentile, Left Brain Hippocampus: 98th percentile… All sounds good. I “should” be smart.
2. I was slightly concerned about lower white matter levels (below the 30th percentile), but some medications I take may contribute to that.
3. The interesting number was “Anterior Cingulate,” which was in the 8th percentile (smaller on the right than the left; the right was in the 6th percentile, and the left was in the 30th).

Why is an extremely low anterior cingulate cortex percentile interesting? I asked Gemini to summarize what it means and … *Answers after (#) summarized from Gemini and (after ***) commented on by me:
-(1) Difficulties with error detection and conflict resolution: problems learning from mistakes, adapting to changing situations, and making decisions …
** While I do make mistakes, I often don’t notice them unless someone tells me. I am also bad at making important decisions, so I rely on others to guide me.
(2) Impaired emotion regulation: Individuals might experience difficulties managing emotions, controlling impulses, and coping with stress. **** Impulse control is for wussies :-). Being impulsive has a lot of advantages, like getting me to act (get something done) when other people might never act. Also, impulses are like trusting your gut; they may be right more often than wrong and can be protective.
-(3) Reduced motivation and apathy: A smaller ACC could contribute to a lack of motivation, difficulty initiating tasks, and decreased interest in rewards *** I wasn’t one of those people who read about Pavlov’s dog in grade school and said I want to be that dog someday. OR maybe a better example is being one of the Seals or Sea Lions at the water park who performs for fish. Rewards don’t motivate me. However, I rarely initiate “work-like” tasks on my own; someone has to give me a “project idea” or that kind of thing.
(4) Altered pain perception: Individuals might experience heightened sensitivity to pain or difficulty regulating pain response. ***Pain tolerance is for idiots; the purpose of pain is your body signaling, “Something is wrong.” Why ignore it?
-(5)Social Difficulties: A smaller ACC could be associated with challenges in understanding social cues, empathizing with others, and navigating social interactions. *** I don’t fully understand other people’s motivations, and I’m not convinced it’s worth the effort to figure that out.