We lag by 0.3 sec !

According to Benjamin Libet, there is a delay of 0.3 sec between the arrival of a sensory stimulus in our brain and its conscious recognition. There is a similar delay between initiation of action and its awareness.

Yes ! Its true "We" are 0.3 sec behind our brains, both in apprehending external world and responding to it !

This may be the time taken for the neurons and synapses to complete the underlying electrical and chemical processes. Please follow the link below for reading a discussion.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/231

Free will and Brain

I am writing this post to throw some more light on the issue of free will and its basis in the brain. The brain has many subdivisions - lobes, nuclei, fibers and tracts connecting these areas etc. The most evolved portion of the brain dealing with - choosing actions based on goals, planning things in advance, taking steps to execute these etc is the prefrontal lobes. Anything that the brain encounters the first time is passed on to the these lobes to evaluation.This is because this area is specialized in handling any novel situation (cognitive novelty). For example, when you are learning to drive a car, each of your actions originate in and are monitored and controlled by the prefrontal cortex. Later when you are an expert driver, this task becomes a routine thing for the brain, and hence the prefrontal areas are spared from this routine to do important things like handling newer situations. Routinized tasks need not be under the control of this highly specialized neurons.
To sum up, the most developed area is let free to handle complex things and the older and less sophisticated areas take care of routine things. Division of labour. Just like your mom tries to supervise her newly recruited household help; later she alone manages the routine tasks. Mom is free to take up newer challenges.
This division of labor is for saving time and energy. Conditioning is also a similar method to save time and energy. There is nothing wrong in assuming that a bell will be followed by food, if this has been the case on several past occasions.
Such methods used by the brain should not be taken to be running contrary to free will.

Observance of the World Schizophrenia Day on 24th May 2008,

The District Mental Health Program Kannur, observed the World Schizophrenia Day on 24th May 2008 by conducting a Mental Health Awareness program at Government Hospital Mattannur in collaboration with Mattannur Municipality.

Octber 10th - World Mental Health Day

Every year the 10th of October is observed as 'World Mental Health Day'. The preceding week (4th to 10 of October) is declared as the 'Mental Health week'. These events are observed under the banner of the World Mental Health Federation (WFMH). The theme for this year is
"Making mental health a global priority - Scaling up services through citizen advocacy and action".
Several models for delivery of mental health care exist in different countries. It is important that models with proven effectiveness are recognized, and efforts are made to scale up such initiatives, so that larger sections of the community benefit from them.
Advocacy refer to campaigns and efforts aimed at influencing policy decisions made by governments or other key decision makers. It is the role of every citizen to stand up for the cause of the mentally ill, be an advocate of their rights and privileges and ensure that they get proper care and treatment. Details of this year's theme are available at the website of WFMH www.wfmh.org and at
http://www.wfmh.org/00WorldMentalHealthDay.htm