When the news first flashed a couple of weeks ago, that The Indian Institute of Management, (IIM) Ranchi wants to ‘map’ India cricket captain MS Dhoni’s brain, it seemed too bizarre to be true. But now that Dhoni has reportedly agreed to the mapping, it makes sense to know what is exactly brewing in the mind of the MJ Xavier, director of IIM Ranchi. Is this just a figment of the director’s imagination or is there some meat in what he is trying to do?
Dhoni’s willingness of course, has come with a rider – that he not be poked anywhere. To that, Prof Xavier has confirmed that the procedure will be entirely non-invasive. Dhoni has been selected for this project, not only because he is India’s cricket captain but also because he comes from Ranchi. Dhoni’s residence and the IIM Ranchi campus are a only few kilometres away.
All this apparently, since IIM Ranchi wants to start a new two-year course in neuro-management and marketing and this experiment will be the first stepping stone towards it . The entire project which costs under Rs 10 crores currently may quite scale up to Rs 20 crores if expected results show up. The equipment which primarily consists of a F(functional)MRI machine has been ordered from overseas and expected to land soon. The project, which will be jointly handled by IIM Ranchi and the Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), will be funded entirely by the CIP. A huge team of doctors and neurologists will be working alongside IIM Ranchi staff members.
Confirming the latest development, Prof Xavier said that while his institute had sent Dhoni a letter some months ago, he has just come to know from his sources, that the India captain has agreed. The motive behind the exercise, understandably is to know why Dhoni (popularly known as Captain Cool) remains unruffled even in the most critical of situations. Prof Xavier says that it is important to note what really goes on in Dhoni’s brain and why he stays unaffected from situations that often demand extreme emotions.
What usually happens in brain mapping is that an elastic cap with sensor is placed on the head of the subject and the sensors are connected to a recording device. The sensors are filled with a special conductive gel. The patient may be instructed to keep his eyes open or closed during parts of the recording, or asked to perform some mental task – in Dhoni’s case it will be watching video clips on a monitor in front of him. One of of these clips could probably have a bouncer being directed to him on a cricket pitch or a vehicle speeding towards him at high speed. His brain’s chemical reactions, (while seeing these videos) will be recorded. A similar exercise will be carried out on some cricketer who Dhoni may have played cricket with in his school days, but did not achieve the same fame. The difference (if at all) between the recordings will hopefully indicate the different personality traits.
Before Dhoni, a bunch of students from IIM Ranchi will undergo the same tests. Here too, students from different backgrounds will be selected so as to hopefully provide a range of recordings to prove/disapprove the hypothesis. Prof Xavier says that findings will help understand whether training will push some to become better leaders than others. “Whether leadership is something one is born with or can be acquired with proper training. And if training can make good leaders, then attributes of such people will be studied and the emerging patterns will become the main focus of learning in our new programme.”
One wonders though, with Dhoni and the Indian team’s disastrous performance in England, is Dhoni still the ideal subject?