tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27119824155691115542024-03-13T03:29:09.964-07:00BrainstormExploring the intersections and intricacies of the brain and behavior
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10695896009642000792noreply@blogger.comBlogger135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-41500146093775613792016-07-20T15:02:00.000-07:002016-07-20T15:02:51.568-07:00Interests in Context<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">As a boy, Oliver Sacks
loved chemistry. Though later known as a neurologist, Dr. Sacks was captivated
by a different science as a child. In his book <i>Uncle Tungsten</i>, he reflects on his “chemical boyhood”: his early passion
for understanding the world and its history in chemical terms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Dr. Sacks, born in
London in 1933, describes his enchantment in learning not only contemporary
chemistry, but also its history. By the time he was delving into chemical
handbooks, just after the second World War, much of the information in his
shabby, older volumes, and many of the beliefs of the chemists he admired, were
wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">The ancients’
concept of four all-encompassing “elements”—fire, water, earth, and air—had
long since been left behind. Likewise, the three elements of the alchemists—sulfur,
mercury, and salt—had come and gone. Robert Boyle had bravely put forth his radical,
rational definition of an element—indivisible and pure—and Antoine Lavoisier had
combatted the lingering alchemical notion of phlogiston, the “principle of
fire,” with his experiments in oxidation. So why were these disproven theories
and scientific blunders of such interest to the young Oliver Sacks?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Sacks points out
that the “path to his [Lavoisier’s] revolution was not easy or direct…it
required fifteen years of genius time, fighting his way through labyrinths of
presupposition, fighting his own blindness as he fought everyone else’s.” This
description of that journey, I believe, highlights an important underlying reason for Sacks’ interest in chemistry, and provides insight into why we are so fascinated
by our own particular interests as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Sacks enjoyed
chemistry because for him, the science was alive. He could trace its convoluted
path from its distant, misguided beginnings. He could follow the mistakes, wonder,
and bewilderment woven into that long and far from linear history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Our interests are
often shaped by stories. What we appreciate is linked to our exploration of its
roots and origins. One NPR <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128721732">podcast</a> episode,
titled <i>Why Do We Like What We Like?</i> addresses
this phenomenon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Dr. Paul Bloom, a
professor of psychology at Yale University interviewed for the episode, notes
that “…you can enhance your pleasure simply by learning more about something…where
it comes from, how it works. Music will sound different the more you understand
the music…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Dr. Bloom further
points out that there are neural systems related to attachment. Someone’s brain
may be activated very differently by two seemingly identical pairs of baby
shoes if one pair is known to have belonged to that person’s child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Likewise, I
believe, as Dr. Sacks did, that chemistry is experienced differently when the
stories are introduced. The Periodic Table gains dimension when the struggles
of Dmitri Mendeleev are uncovered. The discovery that hydrogen and oxygen, when
exploded together, create water, is made all the more intriguing in the
characterization of its discoverer, Henry Cavendish, who, it has been suggested,
may have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder were he alive today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Dr. Bloom
concludes that the opportunity to learn the stories behind our world “opens us
up to get far more pleasure out of life than we could have possibly had
otherwise.” From music to science to one another, context, development, and
history are worth exploring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">—Kate Oksas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Sources<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">Sacks, Oliver. <i>Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood. </i>New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 2001. Print.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">NPR <i>Science
Friday</i> podcast, July 23, 2010. <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128721732">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128721732</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10695896009642000792noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-51195388908508842562015-12-11T17:49:00.002-08:002015-12-11T17:49:45.108-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Not Knowing: A
Variety of Agnosias</b></div>
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Brains are
great. They’re pretty terrific for a variety of reasons, of course, one of
which being that when they’re running smoothly, it’s easy to forget how
impressively multi-functional they are. Only when something goes wrong do we
realize just how much there <i>is</i> to go
wrong—which, naturally, also leads to some quite interesting stories of things
going wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Take
disorientation. Orientation and navigation aren’t so bad for the average
person—maybe you take a wrong turn on your way to the dentist and have to go
around the block. Worst case scenario, you pull out your phone and map your
location. For some people it’s harder; they’re at the low end of the
navigational norm (and they include myself). Then, however, there’s a leap to
those far outside the normal spectrum. The full scope of what your brain does
to ensure that you recognize your own hand, your neighbor’s face, or the shop
on the corner really comes into view with the startlingly broad range of possible
orientational disorders.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For
starters, there exists a seemingly endless array of subtleties to being lost.
Maybe you have an impaired ability to identify landmarks. Maybe you <i>can</i> identify landmarks, but can’t gain
useful directional information from them. Or maybe you have no trouble with
landmarks at all, but can’t form a mental map of your surroundings. That final
disorder has long been known to result from brain injuries or lesions, as in
the case of damage to the posterior parietal cortex, fusiform and lingual
gyrus, or hippocampus. However, it has also been more recently discovered as a
developmental disorder—developmental topographical disorientation, or DTD—in
which otherwise healthy, uninjured individuals experience a highly specific
deficit in the creation of mental maps. DTD patients may make up a heterogeneous
group in which other orientational deficits are present as well. The Radiolab
podcast series does a wonderful segment on the disorder, called “You Are Here,”
in their episode <a href="http://www.radiolab.org/story/110079-lost-found/"><i>Lost & Found</i></a>. It features Sharon
Roseman, a landmark DTD patient, and neuroscientist Dr. Giuseppe Iaria, who
diagnosed Roseman’s condition. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Roseman’s
disorder, also known as developmental topographagnosia, joins a host of other agnosias
that become even more intriguing when they leave the realm of the topographical
and start popping up in areas of life where it would be almost impossible for
an unaffected person to become disoriented. Prosopagnosia, or face blindness,
is just one example: the inability to recognize faces. (Which Radiolab actually
has some excellent segments on also, like “<a href="http://www.radiolab.org/story/91967-strangers-in-the-mirror/">Strangers
in the Mirror</a>.”) As is the case with DTD, deficits in the fusiform gyrus
have been linked to the disorder. Those affected by prosopagnosia must depend
upon ways other than facial recognition, such as recalling hair color, outfits,
or characteristics such as one’s walking gait, to identify friends and even
family members. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Autotopagnosia,
an inability to correctly orient body parts, is another example. Individuals
with autotopagnosia lose the ability to tell left from right, and as a result are
unable to correctly perform a task such as touching their left ear with their
right forefinger. Like the many nuances to being lost, there are a variety of
hypotheses on the cause of the disorder. Two main ones implicate lesions in the
parietal lobe, the first proposing a visuospatial element, and the second
suggesting a disruption of the patient’s body image. Yet a third hypothesis
postulates that the illness is language-related, and connected to lesions in
the posterior left hemisphere.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Undoubtedly,
we’ve come a long way from ideas like Franz Joseph Gall’s orderly phrenological
interpretation that each bump and crevice on the human skull indicates a neatly
packaged area dedicated to a single function. The compelling and frustrating
part of orientational disorders (and most neurological disorders, really) is
just how interconnected and complex the systems in question are—how much
unconscious control occurs to keep us running smoothly. And here I thought a
person was simply lost or found.<o:p></o:p></div>
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—Kate Oksas<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Sources<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.medicaldaily.com/getting-lost-what-happens-when-brains-gps-mapping-malfunctions-245400">http://www.medicaldaily.com/getting-lost-what-happens-when-brains-gps-mapping-malfunctions-245400</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2008/09/23/developmental-topographagnosia/">http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2008/09/23/developmental-topographagnosia/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.neurolab.ca/2010%282%29_Iaria.pdf">http://www.neurolab.ca/2010%282%29_Iaria.pdf</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/autotopagnosia">http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/autotopagnosia</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19334306">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19334306</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-babble/201309/prosopagnosia-why-some-are-blind-faces">https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-babble/201309/prosopagnosia-why-some-are-blind-faces</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.empowher.com/wellness/content/what-autotopagnosia">http://www.empowher.com/wellness/content/what-autotopagnosia</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.radiolab.org/story/110079-lost-found/">http://www.radiolab.org/story/110079-lost-found/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.radiolab.org/story/91967-strangers-in-the-mirror/">http://www.radiolab.org/story/91967-strangers-in-the-mirror/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10695896009642000792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-62864834524828608162015-09-21T18:07:00.001-07:002015-09-21T18:07:23.016-07:00Your Basal Ganglia Don’t Like Brown<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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My favorite color is blue. Blue
like Lake Michigan; like Cerulean Blue, the best type of crayon; like the color
of my favorite stuffed animal that I accidentally left on an airplane headed to
Amsterdam when I was little; like the sneakers I wore to pieces as a kid.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But why do we have favorite colors? There are a few good
places to start in considering that question, including the list of
associations I rattled off above. In general, color preference is influenced by
personal experience, cultural upbringing and evolutionary history. Experience
and culture play a significant role in the development of color preferences—for
instance, getting the stomach flu after drinking an orange soda may ruin orange
drinks forever, and while in the U.S. white wedding dresses are the norm, other
cultures assign different values to the color white, such as mourning.
Acknowledging these elements, I’d like to focus on the evolutionary side of
color, and with it a sometimes overlooked emotion: disgust.<o:p></o:p></div>
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An evolutionary perspective is an
interesting one that also leads to some particularly intriguing tangents. From
an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense why humans have developed aversions
to certain groups of colors and attractions to others: survival. There’s a
reason few young kids are interested in drab brown sneakers or grayish-green
crayons. Those colors more often seen as ugly are ones that are associated with
harmful substances such as rot and animal waste, note psychologists Stephen
Palmer and Karen Schloss. On the other hand, more attractive colors such as
bright, clear blues are associated with valuable items or resources, for
instance, clean water.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One factor in determining color
preference is, naturally, color aversion—what colors get weeded out? The
emotion of disgust is an important factor in survival in that it tells us what
to avoid and, as described above, is often linked with color. As researcher and
writer Dr. R. Douglas Fields comments, brown tomato juice seems significantly
less appealing than the same juice dyed red, simply because of a person’s
evolutionary history and learned associations with brown and red objects.
Disgust is an emotion of evasion, featuring a characteristic facial expression—a
wrinkled nose and brow and a turned-down mouth—that mimics the expression
preceding retching. It can also elicit a shudder response or prompt you to
stick out your tongue; all these physiological reactions have the goal of
getting whatever the disgusting trigger may be as far from you as possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While disgust, like other emotions,
is likely processed throughout a large network in the brain, rather than in one
specific region, two groups of structures have been identified as being
particularly important in that processing: the insula and the basal ganglia.
The mammalian insular cortex is a small lobe tucked away deep in the Sylvian
fissure, which separates the frontal and parietal lobes from the temporal lobe.
The basal ganglia, on the other hand, are a set of structures around the
thalamus, including the caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus, that are
largely known for their role in the coordination of movement. Researchers at
the INSERM Institute in France provided evidence for the role of the insula in
the processing of disgust by studying epilepsy patients who had implanted
electrodes in preparation for surgery to relieve their condition. The
researchers noticed that specific neurons in the insulae were activated when
the subjects viewed pictures of disgusted expressions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dr. Reiner Sprengelmeyer explored
the role of the basal ganglia in disgust in his examination of studies
performed with patients suffering from Huntington’s disease, which causes
degeneration of basal ganglia structures. Sprengelmeyer explains that several
studies have found that Huntington’s patients have difficulty recognizing
disgusted faces, as well as vocal stimuli expressing disgust. While the results
are not indisputable, he concludes that assessments evaluating the recognition
of emotions could be a useful diagnostic tool.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman at one
point describes emotions as “having evolved through their adaptive value in
dealing with fundamental life tasks,” a wonderfully practical description of
sometimes seemingly arbitrary states of mind. The existence of favorite colors,
and more generally color preference, provides an interesting insight into the
value of disgust and attraction and the mechanisms beneath them. Perhaps my
love of the color blue goes beyond a childhood stuffed animal to the
evolutionary roots underlying our species.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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—Kate Oksas<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Sources<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-new-brain/201104/why-we-prefer-certain-colors">https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-new-brain/201104/why-we-prefer-certain-colors</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<a href="http://www.academia.edu/1031922/Current_Theories_of_Sensory_and_Interpersonal_Disgust">http://www.academia.edu/1031922/Current_Theories_of_Sensory_and_Interpersonal_Disgust</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Reiner_Sprengelmeyer/publication/6285547_The_neurology_of_disgust/links/0deec529897f228e5e000000.pdf">http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Reiner_Sprengelmeyer/publication/6285547_The_neurology_of_disgust/links/0deec529897f228e5e000000.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<a href="http://mentalhealth.about.com/library/sci/0203/bleww203.htm">http://mentalhealth.about.com/library/sci/0203/bleww203.htm</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/07/24/disgust_interview/">http://www.salon.com/2011/07/24/disgust_interview/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22230626">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22230626</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<a href="http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s3/chapter04.html">http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s3/chapter04.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://web.stanford.edu/group/hopes/cgi-bin/hopes_test/the-basic-neurobiology-of-huntingtons-disease-text-and-audio/">http://web.stanford.edu/group/hopes/cgi-bin/hopes_test/the-basic-neurobiology-of-huntingtons-disease-text-and-audio/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.paulekman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/An-Argument-For-Basic-Emotions.pdf">https://www.paulekman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/An-Argument-For-Basic-Emotions.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10695896009642000792noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-92005886274248591032015-04-12T17:05:00.002-07:002015-04-12T17:05:46.742-07:00I read this book and so should you: A Teenage Brain<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Dr. Frances Jensen is the chair of
the Department of Neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at UPenn. She is
incredibly accomplished. Both as a professor and researcher, she has expanded
the field of neurology and synaptic plasticity a great deal. She also wrote an
incredibly charming, unique, and insightful book about adolescent physiological
development. Her book is terrific. It can be found at the Penn bookstore and
online and you should read this review and then go read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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After reading two short pages in
Dr. Jensen’s book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Teenage Brain</i>, I
rushed over to my parents and apologized to them for the way I was as a
teenager. To my delight, they accepted my apology and explained that they never
took it personally. The first few pages of the book provide a hilarious anecdote
of Dr. Jensen’s teenage son having dyed his hair from auburn to jet-black
without even commenting on the change. While Dr. Jensen does not set out to
describe the physiological motivations behind <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> specific teenage move, she does wisely explain with diagrams,
experiments, and more anecdotes the effects that being a teenager will have on
the brain. And they are indeed far-reaching effects. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The book
takes the view of almost of a “how-to” for parents raising teenagers. There are
drops of advice and parental stratagem in many of her chapters, but to me I
found the book as plain explanation—and sometimes excuse—for so many of the
typical emotions and actions that were (and probably are) so typical to my
teenage self. Additionally, the book gave me a pretty interesting insight into
the mind of a parent. It’s not that I’ve never thought about what it’s like to
be a parent, but Dr. Jensen really emphasized how much effort a parent could
make to be an effective role model. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The book is
not for the timid or shy. She comes from a place of intense curiosity and an
reflexive urge to understand the basis of behavior and change. And boy does she
highlight the amazing complexities of the teenage mind! There are paradoxes
galore. Why do most teenagers forget to execute a chore but will almost never
forget if a parent or friend slips up? How can teenagers learn so much so
quickly and then often make the same mistake time after time? Why is it so
difficult and fun to actually be a teenager? With these questions in mind, Dr.
Jensen investigates drugs and alcohol, sleep and learning, technology and
addiction, and at the root of each topic there is a clear physiological
explanation and often a clear solution for either the parent or teen reader. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It goes
without saying, but there is still much that needs to be understood about the
teenage brain. This stage in life is clearly a time of cultural uniqueness as
teens and their loud rock music bands and Twitter feeds are a group that seem
to be changelessly changing. There is a method to the teenage madness, and it
lies in the circuitry of a brain that seems to be picking up speed and taking
off the training wheels at the same time—and the breaks definitely do not work
in this teenage bicycle metaphor. Read the book, reflect on your angsty teenage
self, write a poem, and while you bask in the glory of emerging from
teenagerdom, please thank someone for dealing with <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the most difficult version of you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>-David Ney </o:p></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-75167622451843268682015-04-12T17:02:00.003-07:002015-04-12T17:02:58.230-07:00Hearing Voices<div class="MsoNormal">
A number of interesting hits come up when you Google the
phrase “hearing voices.” This phenomenon, also known as experiencing auditory
hallucinations, is an occurrence that has traditionally provoked a distinctly
negative stigma in American culture. Hearing voices is considered by many
doctors one of the most common and consistent signs of psychosis, and in
America, a majority of individuals affected by voice hearing report negative
emotions, such as fear or stress, to be linked to the experience. However, the
phenomenon of auditory hallucination is far from homogenous, and in fact,
recent research is uncovering more and more variability and complexity in the
neurological and cultural components of hearing voices.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The neurology of voice hearing is still being unearthed, but
several regions of the brain have been found to contribute to the event. For
example, in those experiencing auditory hallucinations, language-processing
areas in the left perisylvian region, including Broca’s area and Wernicke’s
area, have been found to have a reduced density of gray matter. Research also
suggests that this structural abnormality may be caused by low glutamate
concentrations in the brain. A lack of glutamate, a major excitatory neurotransmitter,
could lead to defective communication between neurons. Additionally,
schizophrenics have been found to have abnormally high activity in the right
middle temporal gyrus. The right and left middle temporal gyri respond to
external speech, but in most people there is more activity in the left than the
right. A hyperactive right region suggests that the brain may be attempting to
compensate for a malfunction in left-brain language processing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition to biological factors, social and cultural
perceptions of hearing voices play a role in affected individuals’ experiences of
the phenomenon. Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann provides an insightful
examination into the effects of culture upon the event of auditory
hallucinations in a talk she delivered for the Foundation for Psychocultural
Research. Luhrmann compares the experiences of individuals who hear voices in
three different locations: California, Ghana and India. She notes that the
Americans interviewed were more likely than the others to describe their voices
as symptoms of a disease, to report that they did not know their voices, and to
report violent or hurtful voices. Other subjects, while still reporting
majority negative experiences, described different relationships with their
voices. Indian subjects were most likely to identify their voices as
familiar—namely family members—while Ghanaians were most likely to report
hearing the voice of God. Luhrmann traces these disparities partly to the way
that auditory hallucinations are viewed in various cultures. Since American
medicine interprets voice hearing as the sign of a “violated mind,” she
suggests that the violence of the American subjects’ voices may be intensified
by the impact of this viewpoint upon affected individuals. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As research has uncovered more of the complexity of auditory
hallucinations, it has become clear that there are many types of voice hearing,
accompanied by a wide array of emotions, tactile sensations, and other aspects.
Researchers such as Luhrmann suggest that a more holistic approach to treating
and understanding those impacted by voice hearing, which seeks to avoid giving
affected individuals the viewpoint that their mind has been maliciously
infiltrated, may help us create more effective treatments. Undoubtedly, a good
deal is still to be understood about the experience of auditory hallucinations,
which exist at a striking intersection of neurological, psychological and
cultural elements.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Kate Oksas<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sources<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
To view the video
of Tanya Luhrmann’s talk, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L44uHPNiUaM<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150310205707.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150310205707.htm</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/july/voices-culture-luhrmann-071614.html">http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/july/voices-culture-luhrmann-071614.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://brainblogger.com/2009/09/22/hearing-voices-underpinnings-of-auditory-hallucinations/">http://brainblogger.com/2009/09/22/hearing-voices-underpinnings-of-auditory-hallucinations/</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/1/91.full">http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/1/91.full</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.hearing-voices.org/">http://www.hearing-voices.org/</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15597383">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15597383</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamate_receptor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-799446667134308252015-02-28T12:54:00.002-08:002015-02-28T12:54:27.558-08:00Don't Fear, Botox is Here<div class="p1">
It’s time to turn that frown upside down, <i>literally</i> (and scientifically).</div>
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We all have our bad days now and then, but for some, those bad days seem to never end. There may be no definitive “cure” for depression, but fortunately, a new scientific finding has potentially found an alternate, less conventional solution for our bad days—Botox, a widely popularized cosmetic surgery procedure in America. In fact, Botox was ranked as the top minimally invasive procedure in 2013. <i>Shocker. </i>Most Americans want at least a sip (or in this case, an injection) from the fountain of youth.<i> </i>And Botox, in many ways, has become synonymous with American culture—or at least, in the superficial, skin-deep sense. But perhaps Botox penetrates the skin deeper than we think. Perhaps it is more than an artificial tool for external beauty. Perhaps it is more about enhancing who we are <i>internally.</i></div>
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Before we examine the ways in which Botox can psychologically alter our lives, let us first take a look at how this magical Botox scientifically operates in our bodies. </div>
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Botulinum toxin is administered by diluting the powder in saline and injecting it directly into neuromuscular tissue. Once injected, the toxin works to inhibit the signal pathway from the nerve cells to the muscles, essentially leaving the muscles without instructions from the brain to contract and thus, total paralysis. In order for muscles to contract normally, nerves release the neurotransmitter and chemical messenger, acetylcholine, at the neuromuscular junction, where nerve endings meet muscle cells. The acetylcholine binds to receptors on the muscle cells, generating a post-synaptic potential that will cause the muscle cells to contract or shorten. However, with Botox, the release of acetylcholine is inhibited, preventing the contraction of the muscle cells. Because there is a reduction in muscle contraction, the muscles become more flexible and<i>—voil</i><span class="s1"><i>á</i></span>—bye, bye wrinkles!</div>
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While the success of Botox is due to its neuroscientific ability to eliminate wrinkles, contemporary scientific research suggests that its capabilities extend far deeper. In a forthcoming study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research conducted by Eric Finzi, a cosmetic dermatologist, and Norman Rosenthal, a professor of psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School, it has been suggested that Botox can treat depression by paralyzing key facial muscles and thus preventing patients from frowning. Finzi and Rosenthal randomly assigned 74 patients with major depression to receive either Botox or saline injections in their forehead muscles (because the contraction of these muscles completely prevents frowning). After six weeks, 52% of patients who received Botox showed relief from depression, compared to the 15% who received the saline placebo. Other studies have also corroborated this evidence, and as a result, our preexisting ideas about not only Botox, but also the nature of emotion have turned inside out. This “facial feedback” seems unnatural, yet the Botox studies suggest “a circuit between the brain and the muscles of facial expression in which the brain monitors the emotional valence of the face and responds by generating the appropriate feeling.” In other words, by changing our expression we change our mood—an “‘outside-in’ somatic therapy” as Friedman calls it. Because of this new understanding of Botox, we have the potential to entirely alter the way we approach and treat depression. And while it remains unclear whether Botox could serve as a beneficial antidepressant, the possibility for this use raises the question of whether cosmetic surgery should be administered as a widespread prescription for depression and other medical diagnoses in the future.</div>
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The origins of the facial feedback system proposed by Finzi and Rosenthal can be traced back to the 19<span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span> century hypothesis of scholars James and Lange, who argued that by producing a response that is characteristic of a particular emotion, you experience that emotion. Since then, many alternate theories about emotion have been proposed, but substantial research still exists corroborating James and Lange’s original ideas. Other cosmetic studies have also been conducted to determine the psychological and emotional implications of Botox.</div>
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For many, Botox will not be the answer to their problems, mainly because there is still not enough evidence to legitimize its use as a “medication.” And after all, it <i>is</i> cosmetic surgery, a topic of ongoing ethical debates. But if there is anything we should gain from this, it is that turning your frown upside down (naturally, not surgically) <i>can</i> scientifically transform your bad days into good days—at least for a little while.</div>
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-Isabella Cuan</div>
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Sources:</div>
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<span class="s3"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/dont-worry-get-botox.html?_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/dont-worry-get-botox.html?_r=0</a></span></div>
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<span class="s3"><a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/health/news/a3630/botox-treating-depression-1014/">http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/health/news/a3630/botox-treating-depression-1014/</a></span></div>
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<span class="s3"><a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/158647.php">http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/158647.php</a></span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-55386339659516177952014-12-04T18:06:00.002-08:002014-12-04T18:06:37.682-08:00The (not so very) fearless amygdala<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> There are certainly some emotional responses that I would rather do
without. You have mostly likely encountered at some point the well-used horror
movie scene in which the protagonist, cautiously tiptoeing down a dimly lit
hallway, approaches a corner or doorway and suddenly…</span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">bam! </i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Out leaps the villain/axe-murderer/monster, and you jump, feel
your heart rate kick up a notch, and involuntarily grab whoever is sitting next
to you in the theater. Or the situation in which you must venture into a dark
basement or attic and find yourself sprinting back to the main floor, heart
pounding, at a strange noise or the perceived movement of a shadow.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
As useful as this stress response may be when danger is actually present,
it is less appropriate in the usual safety of most basements and movie
theaters. Nonetheless, even if you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i>
that nothing good can happen at the end of that dark hallway on screen, the
sympathetic branch of your body’s autonomic nervous system still presents a classic
response. What enables you to feel that fear? Furthermore, what if that reflex
were muted or lost?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Fortunately for science, there’s a rare, autosomal recessive genetic
disorder to give insight into that question. Urbach-Wiethe disease, also called
lipid proteinosis, is a gradual thickening and hardening of the body’s mucous
membranes. The symptoms of the disorder are caused by the infiltration of the
skin, brain, and mucous membranes by a substance similar to hyalin, a large,
acidic, strongly adhesive protein that plays an important role in embryonic
development. Symptoms include waxy papules on the face and around the eyelids
from a buildup of hyaline material, vocal hoarseness, thickening of the tongue
and impaired ability to heal from wounds. While generally not fatal, lipid
proteinosis can become dangerous when it affects the respiratory system or brain.
With respect to the respiratory system, enlargement of the tongue or hyaline
deposits in the pharynx can obstruct breathing. With respect to the brain, the
hardening of tissue in the medial temporal lobes can cause epilepsy and other
neurological disorders.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
One of the structures often damaged by the calcification caused by
Urbach-Wiethe disease is of particular interest to neuroscience: the amygdalae.
These two small, almond-shaped collections of nuclei are located deep within
the brain’s temporal lobes and perform a variety of intriguing functions. Most
notably in this case, they play a role in emotional memory, which brings us
back to our opening horror movie scene. Lipid proteinosis patients with damaged
amygdalae can have trouble identifying and relating to fear. One patient with
almost completely destroyed amygdalae, known by her initials SM, seems fearless
indeed. Haunted houses, disturbing movie footage, and even experiences such as
being held at knifepoint induce in her not the slightest hint of panic or
urgency. According to three scientists at the University of Iowa who have
worked with her extensively, SM cannot tell what a fearful facial expression
looks like or means, nor can she draw a fearful expression when asked, though
she has no trouble identifying and illustrating other emotions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
Though cases of Urbach-Wiethe disease do not imply that the amygdala is
the fear center of the brain, they do highlight its role in fear processing,
likely as a stop that connects areas of the brain that sense the environment to
parts of the brainstem that initiate fear and stress responses. While much
remains to be studied about the enigmatic roles of the amygdala, in the
meantime, you know what little almond-shaped structures play a big part in the
next time you jump out of your skin in a movie theater.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-Kate Oksas<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sources<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/12/16/meet-the-woman-without-fear/#.VH-MjTHF9qI>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/126/12/2627>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187140480500002X>.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-8961464810909077062014-11-16T19:11:00.002-08:002014-11-16T19:11:09.477-08:00Memory Palaces & Avoiding Ancient Greek Dinner Parties<div class="MsoNormal">
One night around 514 B.C., the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos
was attending a dinner party. According to myth, it ended rather badly. The
banquet hall buckled and collapsed, crushing everyone inside beyond
recognition—except Simonides, who had stepped outside and was saved. (Okay, it
ended <i>very </i>badly.) As the story goes,
although the dead were too crushed to be identified by their physical features,
Simonides was able to name each one by recalling where the unfortunate
partygoers had been seated, and from the disastrous feast came an interesting
mnemonic technique called the method of loci.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Simonides was apparently struck by the idea that one could
remember anything by associating it with a mental image of a location. This
method, also known as a memory palace or mind palace, links memories with specific
spatial locations and activates brain regions such as the medial parietal
cortex, the retrosplenial cortex and the hippocampus, which are all involved in
spatial awareness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The place a person chooses as a memory palace should be
complex as well as well-known, for instance, his or her house. The important
aspect of the technique is not the actual space chosen, but rather the
visualization and the interaction of each part of a visualized memory with the
surroundings. If, for example, a person were trying to remember a shopping list
that included toothpaste, he might picture himself walking into the bathroom
and squeezing an enormous tube of toothpaste into the sink. Creative, vivid and
absurd visualizations add to the effectiveness of the method, so fully
imagining the smell of the toothpaste and the feeling of squeezing the tube
would help solidify the item at that particular locus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The success of the method comes from its use of trigger
locations along a familiar route—or, for more advanced memorizers, a route
designed entirely in one’s mind. The technique has been employed by real and
fictional people ranging from Simonides to Sherlock Holmes to Hannibal Lecter
to Gary Shang, who took it upon himself to memorize pi to over 65, 536 digits
and who makes my mind palace look like a mind hovel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though it might seem like a lot of work just to avoid
writing down a grocery list, I suppose you never know when you might end up in
a structurally unsound banquet hall and have to show off your visualization
skills. Happy remembering.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
—Kate Oksas<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sources</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/secrets-sherlocks-mind-palace-180949567/?no-ist>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/how-to-improve-your-memory7.htm>.<span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<http://remembereverything.org/memory-palace-the-method-of-loci/>.
<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-43891506663908921292014-11-04T11:47:00.001-08:002014-11-04T11:47:15.573-08:00An Optical Illusion: What do you mean that’s not a spiral?<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
We all have our own set of burning questions—those inquiries
that sit in the back of our minds and refuse to leave us alone. They vary
widely from person to person; Alessandro Volta was apparently tormented by the
mystery, “What would happen if I completed the circuit of a 50-volt battery by
sticking two metal rods into my ears?” while Paul Broca wondered (somewhat more
prudently), “What does the brain’s left frontal lobe have to do with our ability
to speak?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A question that bothers me on occasion (while perhaps not quite
as creative as Volta’s) is one regarding optical illusions. Specifically, “Why
does my brain tell me that the picture below is a spiral?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-uPhw6y8-I/VFktNbS1_aI/AAAAAAAAAKw/wN-a57sXav4/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-11-04%2Bat%2B2.46.43%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-uPhw6y8-I/VFktNbS1_aI/AAAAAAAAAKw/wN-a57sXav4/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-11-04%2Bat%2B2.46.43%2BPM.png" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
The image consists of concentric circles (you can trace one
with your finger for proof). I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know </i>that
the image consists of concentric circles, but no matter how I try to convince
myself of the fact, all I can see is a spiral. The illusion, known a Fraser
spiral or a false spiral, was first studied by British psychologist James
Fraser in 1908. It combines a regular pattern of circles with misaligned,
differently colored strands, which create visual distortion. And as if the
tilted strands weren’t hard enough on our unsuspecting brains, the checkered
background also contains spiral components to heighten the illusion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The deception happens through a combination of simple image
processing in the retina and more complex processing in the brain’s striate
cortex, a primary visual receptive area. Orientation-sensitive cells in the
cortex make horizontal connections with each other that change depending on
context. In the case of this irritating not-spiral, the cells interpret the
message of diagonal bands—that is, the misaligned black and white strands—that
they receive from the retina as an unbroken line, creating the appearance of a
spiral.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe not the most dramatic answer, but at least it didn’t
require closing an electrical circuit with my ears.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p>-Kate Oksas </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sources<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<http://www.psychologie.tu-dresden.de/<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
i1/kaw/diverses%20Material/www.illusionworks.com/html/fraser_spiral.html>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-4331860169990392742014-04-02T11:16:00.000-07:002014-04-02T11:16:20.010-07:00Brainstorm Enters the 21st CenturyLike learning about the brain? Wish you could learn more? We've got you covered! The Brainstorm team is excited to announce the first ever Brainstorm twitter account! Follow <span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">@PennBrainstorm </span>for daily facts on all things neuroscience!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-37588639975926348352014-04-02T11:12:00.000-07:002014-04-02T11:12:09.598-07:00To Be Another<div class="MsoNormal">
I was hopping around the Internet, when a certain headline
jumped out at me: “What’s it like to see through the eyes of Another?” This was
either going to be about some bizarre alien conspiracy or some very enticing
science experiment. What I found was a project called “The Machine to be Another”,
which was conducted by a Barcelona design collective. A team of artists,
programmers, and engineers sought to experiment with empathy, perspective, and
reality. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Typically in labs that explore empathy, subjects use
computer avatars and answer questions while sitting in front of a screen. Video
games are a common tool of simulation to study racial or gender bias. In the Be
Another lab, however, there is a new method to create integrative approaches to
expand our concept of reality. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Using two large goggle and earpieces mounted on the two
subjects’ heads, the user’s brain is essentially tricked into seeing a 3-D,
lifelike video of the other person’s perspective. The goggles record the view
from one user and then feed those images and sounds to the headset of the
partner. When the two subject sync their movements—by touching objects, looking
around the room, and feeling their respective bodes—the subject gets the
complete sensation of being in the other’s body. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The goggles were designed based off of the Oculus VR, which
is a virtual reality headset originally designed for immersive video gaming. The
headset uses tracking technology that allows for 360 degree viewing. Every
movement that the goggles pick up gets tracked in real time, which allows for
optimal viewing. The Oculus rift captures unique and parallel images for both
eyes, which is similar to the way our eyes view the world. The headset mimics
reality as closely as possible. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the scene: a man and woman stand opposite each other.
They are both naked save for a headset that is connected to a monitor for
third-party viewing. The woman will look at her hands and see hairy knuckles
and a bulge in her pants. The man is quick to explore his newfound breasts. As
long as the pair stays roughly in sync, the Machine To Be Another can cheat the
brain and convince people that they have switched bodies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This sounds like some sort of sci-fi version of 13 going on
30, but the Be Another Lab is focused on studying issue of race, gender, and
physical disability. The most startling aspect of the experiment of the lab is
how quickly the brain changes its understanding of reality. After years and
years of living in the same body, in fewer than ten seconds your can brain
forget your old physique and accept a completely new reality. That’s pretty
cool. A relatively low budget art science experiment can make brains forget
sex, physical build, and the sound of your own voice. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The brain displays astounding plasticity in its ability to
pick up new languages, patterns, and ideas, but this seems to strike another
level of impressive. The brain is so able to blur the boundaries between self
and other. What has been such a foundational human belief—that we are ourselves
and everyone else is someone else—is being put to trial by this type of
experimentation. Indeed we are developing new tools to study human sympathy
that can affect human sympathy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps with gizmos like this becoming less experimental and
more practical, we will be forced to accept the existence of other people on an
entirely new level. We will be able to interact with someone else’s existence,
either a stranger or a brother. The ultimate scope of this experiment is far
from over. Technologies like this will continue to proliferate, and as they
grow, our minds will need to expand with them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p>By: David Ney </o:p></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-12823083937530039792014-01-14T15:11:00.000-08:002014-01-14T15:11:55.371-08:00Insights from the Perspective of an Undergraduate Researcher<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="text-indent: 0in;">I recently completed my first semester
of independent research. As a Biological Basis of Behavior major at Penn, I
have the opportunity to work in a lab for 10-12 hours per week and earn credit.
I currently work in Dr. Anjan Chatterjee’s lab, the details of which I will
elaborate on in a separate post. I started working in the lab last July and
plan on continuing the project during this upcoming semester.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
Now that the semester is over, I have
unsurprisingly been reflecting upon the things I learned. I’ve realized that I
had many misconceptions about what “research” entails. I’m still not quite sure
where my previous views of research originated from…maybe high school biology
and chemistry labs or inaccurate stock photos in textbooks. Regardless, I hope
to dispel some of these ideas which I know, after speaking to other undergrads,
are not unique to myself. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
Here are some of the things that
surprised me the most.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<b>1) Research takes a really, really,
really long time. </b><o:p></o:p><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
When I started in July, I was
expecting to have completed an entire project and sent out a paper to be
published by the end of the semester. Long story short, I was wrong. Getting
enough subjects was one of the initial hurdles. The practical challenges of
finding people who met the criteria just hadn’t occurred to me. I learned the
hard way that not everyone wants to come to the lab to participate in our
study, even if they already signed up to do so. I was also overwhelmed by the
sheer amount of data we collected. Each subject yielded a 30,000 line spread
sheet with over 12 columns of numbers. With over 55 subjects, it took (and is
still taking) awhile to format everything so that it can be analyzed using a
statistical program. I’ve read many studies in the past, but I now have a
better understanding of the sheer amount of time and effort that went into each
article. A succinct 5-page paper could easily take thousands of hours to
produce. Researchers are probably some of the most patient people out there. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<b>2) Labs are not all sterile places
filled with test tubes and pipets. </b><o:p></o:p><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
Look what comes up when I type in
“research lab” on Google: <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=research+lab&safe=active&espv=210&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=4jTIUumNBsbNsQSAqIDgDQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1223&bih=651">https://www.google.com/search?q=research+lab&safe=active&espv=210&es_sm=91&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=4jTIUumNBsbNsQSAqIDgDQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1223&bih=651</a>.
This makes me feel slightly better about the fact that this was exactly how I
envisioned a “lab.” Microscopes. Rubber gloves. Colorful chemicals. Lab coats.
I could not have been further from the truth. I guess I never really considered
cognitive neuroscience labs when I was younger. My research professor’s office
overlooks a beautiful pond and has walls covered in modern art. There is no
“lab” per se. The researchers who work for Dr. Chatterjee have their own
offices and cubicles scattered throughout the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor of the
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. There are some patient testing rooms, but
all of our eye tracking trials were run in a regular office at a desk. If I
were to walk into the building and remove all the neuroscience posters on the
walls, it would look more like a scene from corporate America than a
prestigious scientific institution, aside from the fact that no one wears a
suit. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<b>3) Labs are actually social places. </b><o:p></o:p><br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
This one goes along with my previous
misconception. In that sterile place, I imagined people in lab coats and
goggles pipetting things into test tubes for hours without any human contact. While
there are a lot of opportunities for individual work, there is almost just as
much collaboration. I did not do anything without first consulting with my two
co-workers and discussing what the best course of action would be. In weekly
lab meetings, everyone updates the group on their progress and any problems
they faced during the previous week. We even had lab dinners which, while not
centered around the research, definitely allowed me to get to know people
better which helps the overall chemistry of the group in the long run. I know
that it’s cheesy and that we’ve all been hearing this from a young age, but
cooperation really does yield to better results. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNoteLevel1CxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
Working in a lab was not what I
expected it to be, but I had a great experience overall and look forward to
continuing my research in the future. While the excessively long excel
spreadsheets continue to haunt me, I genuinely believe all this work will be
worth it if I am able to provide some new insights to the scientific community.
On top of that, I’ve met some extremely interesting people to look up to as I
continue my undergraduate studies. I’m excited to see what challenges and
successes next semester will bring. <o:p></o:p></div>
you_da_besthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12505264501430020738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-16664561779188369752014-01-07T16:21:00.000-08:002014-01-07T16:53:37.439-08:00Neuro-Food for Thought: Free Will and the Unconscious Mind<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Happy winter break, Quakers! Hope
you’ve enjoyed lots of food, family, and a long break from the countless finals
hours spent cramming in Van Pelt. Relaxing over the break, I’ve finally had the
chance to pick up a few books I’ve been meaning to read in my free time. On my
reading list were two extremely interesting neuro-related books that I suggest
everyone pick up when they get the chance! <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blink</i>
by Malcolm Gladwell and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gut Feelings: The
Intelligence of the Unconscious</i> by Gerd Gigerenzer are both two extremely
well written books dealing with the popular topic of the true power of the
human unconscious. Lately, there has been a vast amount of books, articles, and
studies emerging focused on this rapidly growing topic, and I’ve definitely
fallen subject to the craze myself. The volume of research in this topic is
rapidly expanding as neuroscientists everywhere attempt to uncover the inner
workings of the mind – the levels of the unconscious brain that work to form
our decisions before we are even aware of them. As humans, we’d like to think
that we are in control of our own decisions, consciously determining our own behavior
and actions the way that we choose to. But what if this isn’t nearly as true as
we think it is? Current research is aiming to expose the activity that occurs
deep in the recesses of the brain long before we realize we’ve even made a
decision at all. According to scientists, an actual decision occurs deep inside
our brain before we realize it, and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">consciousness
</i>of a decision is merely a biochemical afterthought, a result that has no
effect on our choice to perform an action at all. So if we aren’t actually
aware of our decisions, does free will exist? This is the core of the heated
debate going on today between neuroscientists and philosophers alike.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">John-Dylan Haynes, a researcher at
the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, performed an
experiment in 2007 that forever changed his outlook on life. Haynes put
subjects into a brain scanner in which a screen flashed a succession of random
letters, and told them to press a button with either their right or left index
finger whenever they felt the urge to. An fMRI (functional magnetic resonance
imaging) test was used to show brain activity in real time as the subjects used
either their left or right fingers to hit the button. The results were so
surprising that Haynes’ first thought was to question the reality of his data.
Haynes and his team found that the conscious decision to push the button could
be seen in brain activity about a second before the actual act, but the team
also discovered that a pattern of unconscious brain activity seemed to predict
the action by as many as seven seconds. This led Haynes and colleagues to
challenge the idea that decisions are under our conscious control. According to
their logic, they argue that free will is in fact an illusion. “We feel we
choose, but we don’t,” says neuroscientist Patrick Haggard from University
College London. For example, you may have thought this morning that you decided
whether to have coffee or tea, but the decision might have been made long before
you were even aware of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.5in;">Just as well, Malcolm Gladwell describes in his book, </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.5in;">Blink,</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.5in;"> an experiment performed by researchers at the University of Iowa in which individuals are placed in a simple gambling game. In front of them are placed four decks of cards, two blue and two red. Each card in any of the decks will cause them to either lose money or win money, and their task is to turn over cards in such a way that will maximize their winnings. What the subjects don't know is that the red cards are a minefield, and can cause them to win large sums of money, but likewise lose much more money than the blue decks. It's designed so that the only way to win is by taking cards from the blue decks. The question is, how long did it take for them to figure it out? The scientists found that after they've overturned about 50 cards, most people start to develop a hunch that they should avoid the red decks, and after about 80 have figured it out and can explain exactly why. But interestingly enough, the scientists also did something else: they hooked up each gambler to a machine which measured the activity of the sweat glands in the palms below the skin's surface. These glands respond to stress and temperature in situations when we get nervous. Interestingly enough, scientists found that gamblers began to generate stress responses in their hands to the red cards and avoid them by the tenth card -- </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.5in;">forty </i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.5in;">before they were consciously aware of any kind of hunch. In other words, the subjects figured out the game before they </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.5in;">realized</i><span style="font-family: inherit; text-indent: 0.5in;"> they figured out the game, and behaved accordingly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Philosophers,
however, aren’t convinced that findings like these can abolish the idea of
free will quite so easily. Many question the results and interpretations,
arguing that researchers haven’t quite grasped the ideas they are trying to
disprove. A group of research projects bridging theology, philosophy, and
natural sciences are currently being funded to (hopefully) fully identify the
biological processes underlying conscious intention and better understand the
brain activity that precedes it. If unconscious brain activity is found to predict decisions with perfect accuracy, the research will <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">truly</i> rattle the notion of free will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">However,
neuroscience experiments usually have a controllable input and output, a “push
this button” or “watch this screen” that can easily be measured but are
relatively basic actions. Many critics also question whether such simple
actions can be comparable to complex behaviors – pressing a button is far
removed from making a cup of coffee, running for president, or committing a
crime. Just as well, many philosophers also believe that there doesn’t have to
be such delineation and divide between mind and body. Sure, every process must
have a neural basis, and many philosophers believe this research just proves
physical basis that the brain has to first work through a decision before it is
made. In particular, scientists tend to see preparatory brain activity as
proceeding step-by-step to a decision, whereas neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga
suggests that researchers view the processes as working in parallel. He views
the process instead as a complex network with interactions happening
continually. "I think if we do a new generation of studies with better
design, we'll get better evidence about what goes on in the brain when people
make decisions," says philosopher Al Mele. However, philosophers are
willing to admit that one day in the future, neuroscience could definitely disturb
the concept of free will. With further research, imagine a world where
researchers could always accurately predict what someone would decide from
their brain activity before the person was even aware of their decision. It’s a
little bit unsettling. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So, whether you buy into the research or not, it's simply some neuro-food for thought! Next time you choose coffee over tea, maybe your </span>unconscious<span style="font-family: inherit;"> mind already knew you would.</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16800417277610930805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-90836667607695842982013-11-12T21:30:00.003-08:002013-11-12T21:30:40.181-08:00Where Does "Identity" Come From?<h3>
(You, Your Brain, and the Nature vs. Nurture Debate)</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
Imagine your life is a tape, and we rewind it. All your
accomplishments, awards, and graduations are erased. Your experiences move in
reverse, and you grow smaller and smaller, as you were as a child. Your adult
teeth turn back into baby teeth, and eventually retract completely, while all of
your traits and quirks start to fade away. Pretty soon language goes away too,
and you’re no longer <i>you,</i> but <i>potential you</i>. The tape continues
rewinding, halving colonies of your cells until finally we arrive at the amazing
singular miracle: the one cell that will evolve to become you.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, the question is this: what happens when we press “play”
again? The common battle between nature versus nurture arises – the question
that psychologists and scientists everywhere are prodding, probing, and
researching to figure out. Are your talents, traits, and personal
characteristics deeply embedded in your genes? Is what makes you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i> implanted in the DNA of our cells?
Or could things completely change who we are with a few simple nudges? To put
it simply – how much of your fate do you believe depends on your genes, your
surroundings, or merely just by chance?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since we can’t rewind time, Julia Freund and her colleagues
found another way to better answer this question in a simple but remarkable recent
study. To test the nature-versus-nurture phenomenon, Freund and her
investigators placed genetically identical mice in a common environment, and
tested to see whether systematic behavioral differences still could emerge. By
answering “yes,” it would mean that there are sources of behavioral variability
(intrinsic individuality, if you will) that could be unaccounted for by a
combination of common genes and a common environment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the experiment, 40 genetically identical mice were
placed in an “enriched” environment, where Freund monitored their behavior for
a period of three months (which, for mice, is about 10-15% of their entire
lifespan). The enriched environment was about 36 square feet, engineered to
include multi-tiered platforms, nesting boxes, and interconnected tubes in
order to promote exploratory behaviors in the mice that would not exist in a
normal confined cage. What makes this study different from one of human twins
is that by using mice, the subjects’ movements could be recorded with
extraordinary detail over a major period of their lifespan. A radiofrequency ID
transponder was placed on every mouse, measuring their every movement, chase,
and sedentary period.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In order to measure the differences in behavior between the
mice, the investigators used a gage called “roaming entropy.” Roaming entropy
captures how often you get out, and with how much variety – so basically if you
are someone who just darts back and forth (say from your dorm room to Van
Pelt…) your roaming entropy is low. But if you’re the type of person who could
pretty much be anywhere at any given time, you have a high roaming entropy. At
the beginning of the study, the mice all had fairly similar roaming entropies…
however, as the weeks progressed, the population diverged significantly, with
some mice being much more exploratory and active than others. If you take the
tendency to explore as a characteristic trait, then this is obviously one that
elaborates and changes over time in a way that isn’t strictly determined by genes
or the environment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, the most interesting part of the study arose when
Fruend and her team examined the changes in brain activity that went along with
the changes in exploratory behavior. Before the experiment was over, the mice
were injected with a compound that selectively incorporates itself into
dividing cells. This basically means that the compound can show researchers
which neurons are formed in adulthood, and which neurons the mice were born
with. While most of our neurons are formed during early development, there are
a good number of well-studied brain areas that continuously produce new neurons
throughout our adult lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Surprisingly, the mice that were the most exploratory
throughout the study (who exhibited the most outgoing behavior) were also those
who experienced the greatest production of adult-born neurons. While we can’t
say this particularly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">proves</i>
anything, the results are still pretty intriguing. Even after your genes are
set in stone from birth, and the majority of your environmental surroundings
are laid firm throughout your early development, your brain maintains the raw
potential to grow its own new neurons. The investigators of this study propose
that these neurons are involved in tailoring and tuning our behaviors, implying
that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">way</i> we live our lives may
make us who we are.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
So, how does this happen? We don’t actually know. No
disrespect intended to these researchers, but any experiment addressing such a
controversial, profound, and metaphysically-tangled problem as the
nature-vs.-nurture debate is going to generate more questions than answers. It
could be that epigenetic changes, where <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">experience</i>
modifies <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gene expression</i>, gives rise
to completely different life paths. It can also be questioned just how
substantial the differences in roaming entropy could actually be, and whether
it was actually statistically significant. Regardless of the specifics and
questions left to be answered, this experiment is a reminder that our lives are
truly a work in progress. Whether it is our genes, our environments, or
generation of adult born neurons, the nature versus nurture debate is yet to be
solved. But it seems that if we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i>
living out our lives as a sort of tape, then it’s a tape in which the tracks
can be tweaked as they’re read, as our genes can be modified as we live. As
your brain is shaped by your life and vice versa, there is so much room for
chance and noise – room for you to become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16800417277610930805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-62211464293334523932013-11-09T09:05:00.002-08:002013-11-10T18:28:46.090-08:00The Prophetic Brain: Foretelling Your Future<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 25px;">The act of fortune telling is an ancient practice. <a href="http://www.ablongman.com/samplechapter/0028639790.pdf" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Chinese</a> diviners burnt turtle shells and studied the resulting cracks to make a host of predictions, including future crop conditions and weather forecasts,</span><span style="line-height: 25px;"> and ancient </span><span style="line-height: 25px;"><a href="http://apaclassics.org/images/uploads/documents/abstracts/collins_1.pdf" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Greeks</a> read animal entrails in their divinatory practices. </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">While the</span><span style="line-height: 25px;"> modern scientific community regards fortune telling as mere hogwash, </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">brain science is starting to use</span><span style="line-height: 25px;"> genetic information, environmental conditions, and brain structure to predict </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">an </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">individual</span><span style="line-height: 25px;">’</span><span style="line-height: 25px;">s future actions. Neuroscientists</span><span style="line-height: 25px;"> could become</span><span style="line-height: 25px;"> the oracles of our era.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 25px;">One such scientist is Penn professor and neurocriminologist Adrian Raine. In his controversial research, Dr. Raine proposes that the structure of the brain may provide insight into an individual’s propensity to commit a violent crime. In fact, he argues that future criminal offending can be predicted in children as young as three years. In one experiment, Dr. Raine studied 1,800 three-year-old children from the tropical island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. In his longitudinal study, he followed subjects for 20 years, noting any criminal convictions. He then compared the criminals with the noncriminals and discovered that the former demonstrated a lack of fear as children.*</span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 25px;">Although the findings of Dr. Raine's research are intriguing, the environmental and biological affects on brain and behavior ought to be examined. Child abuse, cigarette smoking and </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and poor nutrition give scientists great predictive power regarding individuals' outcomes. For example, children of moms who smoked tobacco while pregnant were 2-3 times more likely to be violent criminals by age 20, and pregnant women who consumed just 1 drink per week birthed children who were 30% more aggressive than their peers. Poor nutrition during prenatal and postnatal development also leads to greater antisocial behaviors in children.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 25px;">Additionally, genetics, brain structure and function, and testosterone levels have a tremendous influence on behavior. Using EEG to study the electrical activity of prisoners' brains, Dr. Raine noted that violent criminal offenders demonstrated poor-functioning prefrontal cortexes, the part of the brain associated with the regulation of behavior and emotions. The amygdala, which is responsible for emotions, is also implicated in antisocial tendencies</span><span style="line-height: 25px;">. For example, </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">sociopaths have been shown to have an amygdala 18% smaller than individuals without sociopathy.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 25px;">While it is extremely enticing to regard the brain as quasi</span><span style="line-height: 25px;">-</span><span style="line-height: 25px;">prophetic, it is necessary to consider the ethical dilemmas and misguided conclusions that can be drawn from related research. The following questions are helpful in understanding the consequences of such work</span><span style="line-height: 25px;">:</span><span style="line-height: 25px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">Could neuroscience research be used to fuel a eugenics movement? Is it possible to reduce antisocial tendencies in adulthood by enriching the brain in childhood? Are brain structure and function reliable predictive measures? Does brain structure lead to violent behavior, or does a violent lifestyle lead to</span><span style="line-height: 25px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">changes in the </span><span style="line-height: 25px;">brain? Dr. Raine explores some of these concerns and more in </span><a href="http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2013/05/06/anatomy-of-violence/" style="cursor: pointer; line-height: 25px;" target="_blank">Radio Times</a><span style="line-height: 25px;"> with Marty Moss-Coane.</span></span></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal" style="line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.35em;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 25px;">*The amygdala is critical in fear conditioning.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00725975764392958865noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-36947300642384146512013-11-06T22:05:00.000-08:002013-11-06T22:05:37.885-08:00Welcome to the Mind-Meld<div class="MsoNormal">
The way that current research is progressing, our brains may
be closer than we ever thought… Ever wanted to know what someone else was
thinking? We may have found the answer to connecting human minds – not only
figuratively, but literally. Very literally.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Picture this: a scientific experiment, involving two rats.
The first rat pressed a lever, as it was trained to, anticipating the reward it
would receive for completing the task. An implant in this rat’s brain then
converted its neural activity into an electrical signal and beamed the impulse
to the second rat. The second rat then jumped forward to press the lever in its
own cage… but this rat had never been trained to ever press a lever. The
movement impulse it had to press the lever came not from its own mind, but
directly from the brain of the first rat, who was in fact thousands of miles
away.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What was created in 2012 by lead researcher Miguel Nicolelis
was “a new central nervous system made of two brains.” After successfully
connecting the brains of two rats, other labs were quick to pick up on the
research and one-up Nicolelis’s experiment. A team of researchers at Harvard
University engineered a brain-to-brain interface between a human and a rat in
the summer of 2013 that enabled the human to control the rat’s tail movements
by merely willing them to happen. Pretty crazy…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then in August 2013 came the final leap that everyone had
been waiting for. Scientists Andrea Stocco and Rajesh Rao from the University
of Washington successfully created science’s first human-to-human
brain-to-brain interface. One person was strapped into a transcranial magnetic
stimulation (TMS) helmet, while the other was strapped into a non-invasive
electroencephalogram (EEG) helmet – the two researchers became successfully <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mind-melded</i> in the name of all things
science.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Experiment:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rajesh Rao and Andrea Stocco, one strapped into each type of
helmet, were placed across campus from one another while watching the same
video game. Rao was wearing an EEG helmet, a non-invasive device that detects
the neuronal firing activity of millions of different neurons underneath the
skull. He was also in charge of the controls of the video game, but instead of
actually using his hand to hit the spacebar and fire on the video game, he
simply imagined moving his hand. Each time he made the conscious thought to
fire, an instantaneously fast computer converted the brain signals emitted by Rao’s
EEG helmet into a digital signal which was then beamed to a TMS helmet on
Stocco’s head. A transcranial magnetic stimulation helmet (also non-invasive)
electrically stimulates neurons in particular areas of the brain by creating a
small electric current. The helmet attached to Stocco’s head converted Rao’s
signals into bursts of magnetic stimulation that were delivered to the exact
region of Stocco’s motor cortex that controlled his right hand. The signal
would cause Stocco’s hand to involuntarily twitch, sometimes even scoring a hit
in the game.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rao stated that the experience felt very different for both
of them. “For me, it was only ater the action had occurred that I had the
chance to reflect upon what had happened – that it was Stocco’s hand,
stimulated by my brain signal, that had caused the action. That realization was
both exciting and a bit eerie.” For Stocco, all that was really felt was an involuntary
muscle twitch that caused his hand to move and hit the keyboard. There was no
conscious “need” to flex the muscle, he said, because the entire sequence from
stimulation to movement happened within a few milliseconds. Moreover, Rao noted
about Stucco, “I don’t think he can resist the movement once he’s received the
stimulation, since it operates at the subconscious level.” Definitely pretty
eerie…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Test Hurdles:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even with the level of connectivity that was reached at the
sub-conscious level, the process revealed that it wasn’t flawless or error-free
– and this exposed some interesting discoveries about how our brains process
information.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The EEG device used by Rao (which sent the outgoing brain
signals) uses technology dating all the way back to 1875. Although today’s
advancements in technology are obviously far greater than those of 150 years
ago, they still operate on the same basic principle. Electrodes are placed
across a person’s scalp that pick up frequencies oscillating within that person’s
brain. Because of this, EEG signals can’t pinpoint activity to a specific
3-dimensional point in the brain, but they are handy for tracking large-scale
brain impulses. TMS technology is much more recent – and much more
controversial as well. It works by disrupting activity deep within the brain by
using electrical signals, and some researchers have even reported seizures
being triggered as a side effect of TMS. However, most researchers today agree
that the risk is small, and many have succeeded in using this technology to
trigger movement, increase memory, and treat depression. Rao and Stocco also
both agreed to use these procedures because they were non-invasive, making this
technology the clear choice. “Andrea and I got really excited about the idea,
and we started brainstorming,” he said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leading up to the experiment, Rao had to go through quite a
bit of brain training in order to successfully execute the experiment. “EEG
signals are quite hard to use for controlling devices,” he explained, “because
the signal is a weak, noisy, filtered version of the underlying brain activity.”
Any extra movement of the eyes, face, or body—or even stray thoughts—could
interfere with the signals and give false readings. Rao had to learn, through
trial and error, how to control his EEG output more accurately by remaining
focused. Finally, in the last session, Rao and Stocco achieved nearly 100%
accuracy in the test.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What Now?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Now that scientists have created a full-blown <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mind-meld</i>, what next? One of the
important things to note is that the experiment was built on technology that’s
rapidly becoming part of the consumer marketplace, as TMS and EEG devices are
becoming more readily available. And, even though this test only transmitted
movements from one mind to another, it is the hope of scientists that in the
future, we could (theoretically) learn to transfer perceptions, concepts,
emotions, and even thoughts. Then we would <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actually</i>
be talking about a REAL mind-meld, allowing people to communicate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">directly through their brains.</i> As long
as humans have been around, the need to communicate thoughts clearly and
understanding the minds of others has been an overwhelming desire – the fact
that we are this close by putting on little plastic helmets to watch what’s
happening inside our brains is both exciting and a little bit scary. Where do
you stand? Technologies like this might seem to have the potential to turn us
all into robots – or edge us towards a future of communication, understanding,
and human contact more intimate and direct than we’ve ever experienced. Where
do we draw the line between human connection and complete invasiveness? The
thin line is becoming a little bit eerie. Still, the effects of the mind-meld
are yet to be discovered…<br />
<br />
<a href="http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/blogs/dnews-files-2013-08-brain-brain-mind-meld-250x250.jpg"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWTwt5jcv7zr6xUwC3qPFjdjZlDBMwrdwzMjamjp7afVkkWIQBOf8NcA35YQL7S-6FDLNNIk-COaWXNTuPN63vICdplEGtZTDIhDf9TLKJLtlqND9CewCYFGy2EBMOEJSj2o7hkFYCrnb/s1600/mindmeld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWTwt5jcv7zr6xUwC3qPFjdjZlDBMwrdwzMjamjp7afVkkWIQBOf8NcA35YQL7S-6FDLNNIk-COaWXNTuPN63vICdplEGtZTDIhDf9TLKJLtlqND9CewCYFGy2EBMOEJSj2o7hkFYCrnb/s1600/mindmeld.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<br /></div>
via<i> Discover Magazine, The Crux</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16800417277610930805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-16023078806652187512013-10-22T21:53:00.001-07:002013-10-22T21:53:20.080-07:00The Brain: Wired To Connect?
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Recently, <i>Scientific
American </i>covered an interesting interview with scientist Matthew Lieberman,
who discussed ideas on the neuroscience of human connections, and the
implications behind how we live our lives. As human beings truly are such
social creatures, Lieberman took the initiative to explore the social needs we
have to connect with one another, analyzing this in regards to brain function.
So whether out at social events, hanging out with friends, or (surprisingly)
even when we’re alone – our brain is wired to be set on social interaction. In his interview, Lieberman reflects with his insight on these topics.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Our need to connect
socially is “powerful.” But just how powerful is it?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lieberman asserts that our need to connect is as fundamental
as the need for food and water. Cultures around the world all have different
beliefs about how important community and social interdependence are to our
lives. Here in America, and in the West, we tend to believe that we are
relatively independent and self-focused, immune to the sway and opinion of
others around us. We like to think that we are driven to pursue our personal
goals – but according to Lieberman’s studies, we may be less socially
independent than we’d like to believe.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What is the
connection between physical pain and social pain?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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When we experience social pain – a rejection, harsh words –
the feeling is as real as physical pain in our minds. Around the world, we use
physical pain language to describe emotional or social pains we feel (“he broke
my heart,” “she hurt my feelings”). This may be less of a metaphor than at
first glance. With respect to human nature and evolution, this finding is
pretty interesting… The things that cause us to feel <i>physical pain </i>are things that our brain recognizes as threats to
our survival. The existence of <i>social
pain</i> indicates that somewhere along the line, evolution treated social
connection as a necessity rather than a comfort. Social connection also
motivates us in behavior, influencing our decisions to revolve around praise
from others and alleviating social threats. Social pain and pleasure are wired
into our operating system, even though we never actually consider these as
factors motivating “who we are.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Human mind reading –
what is it, and why is it important?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Not in reference to ESP psychic mind reading, this is a
skill we use each and every day in social interactions. It’s kind of strange to
think about, but humans have a tendency towards trying to understand the
thoughts and feelings in the minds of people we interact with. Lieberman
asserts that although we are far from perfect at deciphering the inner thoughts
of others, the fact that we can even do this at all gives us an “unparalleled
ability to connect and cooperate with others.” So in actuality, at times we are
using <i>other’s</i> goals to motivate <i>our own </i>behaviors. Strangely enough,
thinking about other people’s thoughts doesn’t feel any different from most
kinds of analytical thinking we do. Yet Lieberman’s studies of fMRI research
show that there are actually two distinct brain networks that support social
and non-social thinking. As one of these networks increases its activity, the
other one stops its functioning, like a “neural seesaw.” <i>Here is the most fascinating part: </i>whenever we finish doing some
kind of non-social thinking, the brain network for social thinking comes on
again almost immediately. Why would our brains be wired this way? Research has
recently suggested that perhaps this reflex prepares us to enter the next
moment of our lives focused on the thoughts behind the actions we see from
others. Evolution has placed social functioning highest in our brains, making a
major statement about the social nature of humans.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Shedding light on the
age-old question: where does the “self” come from, and what does the “self”
even mean?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Social psychologists have speculated for a long time that the
“self” is a much more social phenomenon than it feels like from the inside, and
neuroscience is bringing in new data to directly shed light on this. The region
of the brain called the <i>medial
pre-frontal cortex</i>, which sits right between your eyes, has been shown
repeatedly to become activated when people reflect on themselves. Because we
tend to think of the “self” as the thing that separates us from others, it is
surprising that the <i>same</i> medial
pre-frontal cortex is activated when we allow the beliefs of others to
influence our own. The more active your pre-frontal cortex is when someone is trying
to persuade you of something, the more likely you are to listen. Rather than
being a closed-off area that separates us from others, the “self” is actually a
socially-influenced idea, where the ideas of others are subconsciously
considered in order that we may have the same kind of beliefs and values as
those of the people around us. So the “self” we think of is truly much more an
incorporation of the people around us, although we don’t consciously realize
it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, according to Lieberman’s neuro-scientific research
regarding the social nature of the brain, you actually may care what others
think just a bit more than you realized… after all, we may be wired to care.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Scientific American, Mind Matters.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-we-are-wired-to-connect&page=2">http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-we-are-wired-to-connect&page=2</a></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16800417277610930805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-74819128605964146332013-10-15T18:35:00.001-07:002013-10-15T18:35:51.058-07:00Music, Memory, and Awareness of Self
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Here at Penn, the 2013-2014
Academic Year has been dubbed “The Year of Sound,” gathering the Quaker Nation
to celebrate all things musical, harmonious, noteworthy, and rhythmically
driven. We’re all dancing (and learning) to the same tune! And as someone
interested in neuroscience – which if you’re reading this, I’m sure you probably
are as well or you're on the wrong page – Penn could not have picked a more exciting topic to delve into
for all things brainy. Sound and the brain often go hand in hand, as scientists
and researchers study effects of music on the brain, the way we process sound,
clinical music therapy, and sound and memory, among other endless
possibilities. I came across an interesting article regarding music in
Alzheimer’s therapy, and immediately was drawn to the idea of music and the
brain linking to this year’s theme, Year of Sound. So whether this gets you
excited about music, memory, or self-awareness, keep both your ears and your
brain open to this <i>noteworthy </i>breakthrough
in Alzheimer’s research.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
As most people probably know,
Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is a neurodegenerative
disease characterized by rapid and progressive decline of cognitive function.
So far, there has been very little effective treatment for AD, so many have
turned to interest in treating Alzheimer’s with behavioral therapy rather than
drugs. A broad array of treatments have been investigated to battle this
disease, including cognitive training, sensory stimulation, music therapy, and
motor stimulation – of which music therapy seems to gather the most interest
and results. For some reason, several different studies have shown that in
Alzheimer’s patients with moderate to severe AD, their <i>music memory</i> has often been preserved despite of severe impairment
in other areas. Several studies have shown that music therapy in Alzheimer’s
patients can often alleviate some symptoms and reduce dementia troubles,
overall improving healthy cognition, memory, language, and depression or
anxiety. However, several researchers in Spain recently set out to examine the
effects of music on a slightly different aspect of patients that is lost -- self-consciousness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Self-consciousness is a
characteristic thought to be unique to humans and some apes, separating higher
thinking from that of other mammals. Basically, self-consciousness is an
awareness of self, an ability to separate ourselves from perception and realize
that we are perceiving. Descartes’ aphorism “I think, therefore I am” is the
object of self-awareness, an understanding that we can <i>realize</i> we are thinking, and deduce from that our own existence. SC
is multi-faceted, including consciousness of the body, its characteristics
(i.e. if we are blond, brown, big or small), perception (senses of sight,
smell, taste), one’s own autobiography, judgment, and moral decisions. Self-consciousness
is a cognitive trait that allows us to be aware of the people we are, what we
think, and act by moral reflection. So, in extreme cases, a loss of SC involves
the subject no longer being conscious of existing. (Crazy to think we can be
alive, yet not know we exist…)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Because music therapy has been
shown to improve many symptoms of Alzheimer’s, Gil et al set out to discover if
familiar music exposure could improve self-consciousness in cases of
Alzheimer’s. 40 patients were recruited from the Memory Clinic in Salamanca,
Spain to participate in the study, divided into a control group and an
experimental group. 11 familiar songs were chosen for the experimental group
and 5 unfamiliar songs were chosen for the control group. To assess levels of
self-consciousness, patients were given an SC questionnaire that asked
questions regarding personal identity, affective state, body representation,
future memory, self-analysis, and moral judgments. They were then exposed to
three months of intervention period in which they listened to music as part of
daily therapy, and then followed up with the same SC questionnaire. After
analyzing the results of the questionnaire, comparisons between the experimental
and control groups showed that there were significant differences between the
pre and post states of self-consciousness. The experimental group improved
significantly in personal identity, affective state, moral judgment, and body
representation, whereas in the control group there was impairment in almost all
aspects over the three months. The three months of familiar music exposure
integrated into daily life appeared to strengthen self-awareness and cognitive
mental perception, while the control group continued to decline in state of
consciousness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
So what does this mean? Maybe
familiar music can be considered an overall enhancer for both self-awareness
and mental state of being. Why did unfamiliar music therapy do nothing for
patients? It is thought that unfamiliar music may require more processing of
short-term memory, which is greatly affected in Alzheimer’s patients, whereas
familiar music may trigger involuntary memories by favoring events formerly
associated with the music. So it can be proposed that prolonged exposure to familiar music could allow
AD patients who have lost other social and cognitive skills to participate in life and
gain a sense of their own existence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Being self-aware is not something
we normally think about. How often do we actually take the time to consciously
think about our own perception and existence? It’s not exactly something we
value, yet in Alzheimer’s patients an ability to recognize ourselves is sadly
lost. Who knew that our favorite songs could be the link to bringing us back into
existence?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<i>Familiar Music as an Enhancer of Self-Consciousness in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease</i><br />
<br />
<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3784147/">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3784147/</a></span><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16800417277610930805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-28852789785311513952013-10-11T17:00:00.000-07:002013-10-11T17:00:06.588-07:00Opting-out: The Real Reason Behind the Lack of Organ Donors<div class="MsoNormal">
If you were asked to predict whether or not someone was a
registered organ donor, what factors would you consider first? Perhaps
religion? Cultural influences? Their family’s values? What if someone told you
that these factors were all irrelevant, and that the main deciding factor was
really whether or not someone had to check a box? For such a significant
decision, this explanation is not very satisfying, but it may very well be
true. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a 2003 <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.173.2319&rep=rep1&type=pdf">study</a>, Eric Johnson and Daniel Goldstein studied
rates of organ donation in European countries. The rate in Austria was close to
100% and in Sweden it was almost 86%, but in Germany and Denmark the rates were
12% and 4% respectively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the
cultural and physical proximity, there were huge gaps between the rates. The
main difference between these countries was that the ones with high percentages
of organ donors had an “opt-out” system, whereas the countries with low
percentages had “opt-in” systems. Essentially, people did not become organ
donors in the “opt-in” countries because of the extra effort required to check
a box. As Daniel Kahneman succinctly stated in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thinking, Fast and Slow, </i>“The best single predictor of whether or
not people will donate their organs is the designation of the default option that
will be adopted without having to check a box.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwEGL6wY9qBR0-9JFyDWCSRchw1d8inSCoALKFttwbpZ44d_x9cOBlt0EqrPRN_CNqIYbMnpBhINBLSBk-Z_JmkKKwMbHnyCGoDx8P8h4bHsIGY00rkf2fRy8xvVjXSJgxXJ_Bdl2Ld7k/s1600/chart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwEGL6wY9qBR0-9JFyDWCSRchw1d8inSCoALKFttwbpZ44d_x9cOBlt0EqrPRN_CNqIYbMnpBhINBLSBk-Z_JmkKKwMbHnyCGoDx8P8h4bHsIGY00rkf2fRy8xvVjXSJgxXJ_Bdl2Ld7k/s400/chart.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kahneman defines this phenomenon as the “framing effect.” He
views it as a threat to the economically rational view of human decision-making
since people can clearly be manipulated into making (or not making) important
decisions based on how a situation is presented.</div>
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The United States has an opt-in system with about 45% people
registered as organ donors. While 45% is a better figure than some of the other
opt-in countries, it is still not enough to prevent the number of deaths that
occur due to a lack of organ donations. The logical next step is for Congress
to pass a bill changing America’s opt-in system to an opt-out system.
Unfortunately, passing a bill through Congress requires even more effort than
checking a box. <o:p></o:p></div>
you_da_besthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12505264501430020738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-77701077129094838392013-10-08T18:31:00.000-07:002013-10-08T18:31:50.141-07:00Escaping Our Own Minds: The Cure May (Really) Shock You
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<br />
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Affecting
hundreds of millions of people worldwide, depression remains the most
widespread mental illness across the globe. Chances are, you know at least one
person affected by depression’s debilitating effects – as 1 in 10 Americans are
affected by its symptoms, and that number is even growing. Personally,
depression really fascinates me because it affects such a widespread number of
people, yet so little is known about how to effectively treat it. Maybe because
it is caused by such a complex combination of social, biological, and
psychological factors, treatments aren't always
effective in helping eliminate symptoms. But recently, new
experiments are providing insight into a specific type of treatment that,
surprisingly, has shown such positive effects – electric shock therapy. As
harsh and intimidating as this sounds, it’s actually showing to be effective in
even the most severe of patients. Now we want to know, most importantly – <i>why.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The man
behind electric shock treatment is Dr. Ian Reid, a psychiatrist at the
Royal Cornhill Hospital located in Aberdeen, Scotland. He’s been treating
severely depressed patients for 25 years, and witnesses that the disease is an
extremely horrible illness. Typically patients who come to Reid’s hospital
having major depression first receive a combined treatment of psychotherapy and
antidepressants. Usually, less than half respond to their first medication, and
10-20% respond to no medication at all. In these cases, Reid turns to his third
and final option, in which he is an expert – officially called
electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, commonly known as shock therapy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dr. Reid is
an expert on ECT, and has received an incredible amount of criticism and
hateful comments for his use of it on patients. People are shocked <i>(no pun intended)</i> by its use as a
medical practice to treat depression, mostly because of the stigma of cruelty
and torture associated with the practice. Although the movies typically depict
shock therapy as a gruesome process, the actual therapy is not this way –
patients are given anesthesia and muscle relaxants, and most importantly, <i>they see results.</i> It seems a little bizarre and twisted, but the
numbers line up: in Scotland out of a population of about 5 million, 400 people
receive ECT treatment each year for depression and around 75% of them are
relieved of symptoms. For some reason, shock therapy outperforms the
traditional psychotherapy and antidepressant treatment, but just why is a
mystery. It sounds a bit convoluted that making someone have a seizure and
giving them an electric shock will somehow make something as intensely complex
as depression <i>better.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Electroconvulsive
therapy was first used in 1938 to treat schizophrenic patients in Italy, where
it then spread to uses for other diseases in other countries. Although it was
clearly effective, it could be a frightening process as patients blacked out
after seizures, sometimes breaking bones too. In the 1960’s, doctors added
anesthesia and muscle relaxants to the treatment in order to prevent this from
happening, but memory loss was still a prevalent problem. In the 1980’s, the
treatment was further developed to now become a series of short compulsive
shocks instead.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reid has
now made it his mission to find out how ECT works on patients. According to
previous studies, it was known that depression reduces the size of certain
brain regions, including the hippocampus and gray matter (both involved in
expression of emotion). So in 2009, he set out with colleagues to use fMRI
(functional magnetic resonance imaging) to scan the brains of patients pre-ECT
treatment, followed them through the therapy process, then followed up with
post-treatment scans. The scans showed that after ECT, the hippocampus was
often increased in size, but the gray matter was not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reid and
his colleagues also investigated another more significant change: how ECT transforms
the brain’s <i>communication</i> with
itself. Every region of the brain specializes in specific mental tasks, and
each of these regions communicates with the regions around it – like a network of parts working closely in tandem. In some brain disorders
like Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia, it has been found that these diseases alter
the connectivity of certain networks and inhibit regions from communicating
with one another. So, in an attempt to discover if this was the case in
depression, Reid teamed up with Dr. Christian Schwarzbauer to test this on ECT
treatment. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Reid and Schwarzbauer set out to analyze brain scans in depressive ECT patients
for changes in connectivity. Typically when neuroscientists want to measure
connectivity in the brain, they select a few large regions to measure blood
flow between – Schwarzbauer however divided the brain into <i>25,000 separate chunks</i> and measured connectivity between all of
them, looking for important changes before and after ECT. Talk about
dedication. This fine-tuned approach revealed a significant discovery: ECT
weakened the same connective network in all 9 patients.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This region, surrounding a single
hub located above the left eye, is in a brain region called the left
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. As Reid and Schwarzbauer investigated this area
in search of a cause, they found previous research indicating that in case studies of depressed people, this network of the brain
was “hyperconnected.” So, they speculate that perhaps in depressed individuals,
the hyperconnected network excessively bounces thoughts back and forth around
the brain, causing an internal information overload. So as shock therapy
weakens the connections in this region, it’s possible that ECT allows depressed
people to “get out of their own heads” so to speak.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The hypothesis is now currently
being tested on patients, and if Reid and Schwarzbauer are correct, hopefully a
big breakthrough will lead to a better understanding of depression as a mental
illness. Although the study doesn’t clarify the question of how a jolt of
electricity to the brain gets rid of hyperconnections, researchers are hopeful
that future research will soon make it clear. Hopefully, in time, this could
lead to a better long-term treatment that would give the same effect. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
For the 1 in 10 Americans, the
hundreds of millions around the world, and for family members and loved ones
affected by this debilitating illness – this is incredibly good news. As <i>shocking </i>as it may be, a jolt of
electricity to the mind may actually be the key to happiness? Scientists aren’t
out of their minds – but it will definitely get you out of yours. </div>
<span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">-Madeline Kleypas</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i>Discover Magazine. "The Brain: An Electric Cure for the Mind." </i><a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2012/nov/04-electric-cure-for-the-mind#.UlQwZhb3C8o">http://discovermagazine.com/2012/nov/04-electric-cure-for-the-mind#.UlQwZhb3C8o</a></span><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16800417277610930805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-31671209286146173942013-10-03T14:04:00.000-07:002013-10-03T14:04:00.669-07:00Dude-Dame Dimorphism: Are Men's Brains Just Bigger?<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the past thirty years, a hot topic emerging in popular
neuroscience has been the study and anatomical comparison of the male and
female brain. From teachers to researchers, writers and bloggers, everyone's
interested in it - what anatomical differences in the male and female brain
cause the differences between male and female behavior? The answer lies in the
brain. Maybe because it simply prods our interest and fuels curiosity, this
topic has fascinated people for years. A particular area of interest between
gender and the brain is the structure called the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">corpus callosum</i>, the white matter bridge connecting the brain's
left and right hemispheres.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zUtvKYfjyGc/Uk3bRFhxkkI/AAAAAAAAADI/g4_A8alA2Fc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-10-03+at+5.02.24+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zUtvKYfjyGc/Uk3bRFhxkkI/AAAAAAAAADI/g4_A8alA2Fc/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-10-03+at+5.02.24+PM.png" width="309" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GDbKm3QsBOA/Uk3bUfraEcI/AAAAAAAAADQ/zoI6GjL-Zrc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-10-03+at+5.02.34+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GDbKm3QsBOA/Uk3bUfraEcI/AAAAAAAAADQ/zoI6GjL-Zrc/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-10-03+at+5.02.34+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
One proposed male-female discrepancy in neuro anatomy is the
size of this component, as an early study in 1982 showed that females, overall,
had a larger and more bulbous callosal structure. At the time, this newfound
discovery sparked tons of popular interest and speculation over its role in
male-female behavioral differences. People began to hypothesize and propose
that this meant females had more “interconnected” brains, and were better at
things requiring multi-tasking or complex functioning:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background: #EEEEEE; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“The corpus callosum is 30
percent more highly developed in the female brain… allowing information to flow
more easily from one side of the brain to the other, which allows a woman to
focus on more than one thing at a time.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cool, right? As interesting as this sounds, very recently
it’s all been proven to be completely untrue - they didn’t get it quite right.
In all actuality, a recent study shows that rather than women having a larger
corpus callosum, men may just overall have larger brains. The breakthrough in
this study has shown that the corpus callosum is relatively <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">smaller</i> in larger brains, appearing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">larger</i> in smaller-sized brains. Although
the original observation in 1982 may have shown the female’s callosum to be
larger, it truly just appeared that way because the brain was a smaller size.
So, sorry ladies – the actual anatomical difference in gender, and perhaps the
only one, is that males have larger brains overall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Study:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eileen Luders, et al.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Luders confirmed this theory with a clever technique. In
order to truly investigate the differences between the male and female corpus
callosum, the ideal study was planned to extract measurements of the corpus
callosum in male and female brains of the same size. To our knowledge today, no
other study has compared callosal size in male and females with equal brain
mass – so these results are brand new for further exploration. The lack of info
on this topic is probably due to the difficulty in finding males and females
with similar brain sizes, as cranial capacity differs greatly between sexes.
Fortunately, recent databases encompassing thousands of brain images have been
established, allowing a unique opportunity to select from a vast pool of
subjects. Using the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM) database,
Luders and colleagues selected 24 male brains and 24 female brains from the
database, perfectly matched for size. They also complemented this sample with
another subset of 24 extra-large male brains and 24 extra-small female brains
to account for wide degree of variation in brain size. Total intracranial
volume was calculated using imaging technology, and then a special process
called “surface-based mesh-modelling” was used to overlay brain images and
measure equidistant spatial points in the corpus callosum, male versus female. What
Luders found was interesting and completely controversial to prior popular
belief. When comparing the brain images divided by sex and accounting for size,
Luders’ data pointed to the opposite - that the corpus callosum was actually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always thicker in men than in women</i>.
However, this gender difference was clearly driven by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">brain size</i>, thus the following conclusion was formed: simply put,
males have larger brains, leading to comparatively thicker corpus callosum than
females. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tC-bRiV8PLE/Uk3be9y_KcI/AAAAAAAAADY/tFD-YXJhgfg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-10-03+at+5.03.27+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tC-bRiV8PLE/Uk3be9y_KcI/AAAAAAAAADY/tFD-YXJhgfg/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-10-03+at+5.03.27+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Altogether, findings suggest that individual differences in
brain size account for the apparent sex differences in the corpus callosum.
Studies like Luders’ will continue to provide important clues about cerebral
differences between men and women, especially if appropriate strategies are
used to account for variations in brain size. Nevertheless, it is also possible
that future studies will use this line of thought to expand on adolescent brain
size between boys and girls, examining brain-imaging technology for gender
differences in how they develop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Given the freshness and excitement of these popular findings,
and their possible relevance for understanding sex differences in cognition,
emotion, and behavior, the sexual dimorphism of the human corpus callosum has
been and will be a continued object of exploration. So, as fueled by our
neuro-curiosity, the battle of the sexes (the brain battle, that is...) continues
on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Madeline Kleypas</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eileen Luders, Arthur
W. Toga, & Paul M. Thompson (2013). Why Size Matters: Differences in Brain
Volume Account for Apparent Sex Differences in Callosal Anatomy <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Neuroimage</span> DOI:</i><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.09.040"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.09.040</i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-25538704920676449922013-09-27T17:00:00.000-07:002013-09-27T17:00:03.796-07:00The Internal Battle between Past and Present<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you care more about your experiences in the present or
the memories you will have in the future? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thinking, Fast and
Slow, </i>Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics,
explores this question. He clearly distinguishes between the “remembering self”
and the “experiencing self.” The former is characterized by all the memories
one has accumulated over a lifetime, while the latter deals solely with the
present moment. One may expect (or at least hope) that these two selves remain
consistent with one another, but Kahneman shows that there are many instances
in which they are in conflict. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
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<![endif]--><!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Kahneman, Fredrickson, Schreiber, and Redelmeier</span><!--EndFragment--> had participants put one of their
hands in painfully cold water (14<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">°</span>C) while placing their other hand on
a keyboard to rate the amount of pain they were experiencing. In the short
trial, participants put their hand in the cold water for 60 seconds. In the
long trial, participants put their hand in the cold water for 90 seconds. The
first 60 seconds of the long trial was the same as the short trial, but the
last 30 seconds differed in that the temperature rose by 1<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">°</span>C. Objectively, the 2<sup>nd</sup> trial was more painful because it included the
same initial 60 seconds of pain with an additional 30 seconds.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The subjects were then asked which trial they wanted to
repeat. While the shorter trial was less painful, “80% of the participants who
reported that their pain diminished during the final phase of the longer
episode opted to repeat it, thereby declaring themselves willing to suffer 30
seconds of needless pain in the anticipated third trial,” (Kahneman 383). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kahneman explained this result using two hypotheses that he
had been trying to prove: <o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>The peak-end hypothesis essentially stated that people
would remember a painful event based on the average of the worst part and the
end.</li>
<li>The duration neglect hypothesis stated that people would
ignore the length of the trial when rating total pain.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
This elegant study is one of many that show that human
beings are often not as rational as they are frequently portrayed. It
particularly brings up many questions that will impact the medical field.
Should a doctor add time to a painful procedure in order to end at a more
pleasant point, thereby improving the patient’s stored memory, even if that
means intentionally inflicting more pain? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The duration neglect hypothesis does not only apply to
painful memories, but also has serious implications for positive ones. For
example, if planning a beach vacation and deciding between 1 week and 2 weeks, you
might have a better overall memory of the trip if you plan a fun-filled 1 week
vacation that finishes on a high note as opposed to a 2 week long vacation that
seems to drag on at the end. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While the practical implications do pose many ethical
dilemmas that have not yet been resolved, Kahneman and Tversky clearly show
that we may not know ourselves as well as we think we do. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do you think? Which matters more: the elusive
experiencing self or the persistent remembering self?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">For further reading: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The book: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thinking,
Fast and Slow </i>by Daniel Kahneman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The original research paper: <a href="http://brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/~perlman/0903-EmoPaper/KahnemanFredricksonSchreiberRedelmeier_1993_WhenMorePainIsPreferredToLess.pdf">http://brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/~perlman/0903-EmoPaper/KahnemanFredricksonSchreiberRedelmeier_1993_WhenMorePainIsPreferredToLess.pdf</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
you_da_besthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12505264501430020738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-54076158758115822192013-09-13T17:00:00.000-07:002013-09-13T17:00:05.054-07:00Capitalizing on Creativity: Revolutionizing Education<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">America’s education system needs help. While websites like
Khan Academy and Coursera have vastly expanded the dissemination of knowledge
through the use of technology, it still feels like a major part of the picture
is missing. How can policy makers and teachers alike use the growing body of
information on child development to improve the learning environment for
children and pave the way for a successful future for both individuals and the
nation as a whole? In essence: how can we use cognitive science to improve
education? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On April 2, 2013, I attended a talk by Dr. Sharon
Thompson-Schill, Director of Penn’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and
Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology. She spoke at the
World Café Live, and the atmosphere was much more informal than I was
accustomed to when attending Professor Thompson-Schill’s class. While it was
amusing to see my professor start speaking with a beer in her hand (she joked
about it as well), it in no way detracted from an excellent speech about the
use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to study the function of the
frontal lobes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TMS is a noninvasive method that uses electrical currents to
activate or deactivate certain parts of the brain. This relatively new
technology is extremely useful when working with human subjects because it
leaves no lasting effects and is approved by the FDA. Studies in the past have
shown that when the frontal cortex (the area of the brain right behind one’s
forehead) of adults is inhibited using TMS, subjects become more creative.
Young children experience extended frontal lobe immaturity naturally as part of
the developmental process, which essentially means that they are more creative
than the vast majority of adults. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This also means that children learn very differently than
adults. As Professor Thompson-Schill stated, “A long period of [frontal lobe]
immaturity is really optimized for learning in an unstructured environment. If
that’s really what it’s good for, then we are not capitalizing on that by the
way we teach our children.” Then she joked, “You know, 20 years from now, maybe
I’ll have something <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">concrete</i> to say
about that and our educational systems.” While there may not be new curriculums
planned out yet, there are other researchers at Penn who are focusing not only
on understanding how children learn to understand the world around them, but
also on how to better teach them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently met with Dr. Deena Skolnick Weisberg whose <a href="http://astro.temple.edu/~tue50577/DSW/Research_Projects.html">lab</a> at
Penn focuses on both the “development of imaginative cognition” and “the nature
of adults’ and children’s abilities to reason scientifically.” One of her goals
is to “bolster children’s latent scientific reasoning skills,” and she believes
that embracing children’s characteristic imaginations is one way to do this. She
and the members of her lab are currently in the process of developing a system
to measure a child’s scientific reasoning skills. They will then create and
test a series of exercises intended to improve these skills to determine what
works best. While science and creativity are often viewed as diametrically
opposed, Dr. Weisberg pointed out that they share common skills, such as the
ability to look at a situation from multiple perspectives and envision many
potential explanations for a single event. When I asked her if she had any
examples of the types of exercises she and the members of her lab may use, one idea
she proposed was telling a child two slightly different versions of similar
stories with the goal of helping the child realize that a single event can be
viewed in many ways. I look forward to seeing the results of her research in
upcoming years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both Dr. Thompson-Schill and Dr. Weisberg offered
unique insights and inspired me to think about the current state of education
and the implications cognitive science has for its future. While concrete
proposals may still be in the works, it is reassuring to know that there are
researchers addressing this pertinent issue. Far too many well-meaning teachers
have forced young children to sit obediently and listen to formal lectures,
going against their very nature. Even though alternative educational
methodologies like Montessori exist for younger children, they are not widespread
among public schools. Hopefully, our society will break away from the accepted
norms and learn to not only appreciate, but to truly embrace children’s
creativity.</span><!--EndFragment-->
you_da_besthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12505264501430020738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-71582078618194595492013-04-16T09:48:00.000-07:002013-04-16T09:54:02.172-07:00The Roles of Emotion and Reason on Moral Judgments - A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><a href="http://izquotes.com/quotes-pictures/quote-morals-excite-passions-and-produce-or-prevent-actions-reason-of-itself-is-utterly-impotent-in-david-hume-239209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://izquotes.com/quotes-pictures/quote-morals-excite-passions-and-produce-or-prevent-actions-reason-of-itself-is-utterly-impotent-in-david-hume-239209.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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In the field of cognitive science, there exist two opposing models for the roles of emotion and reasoning in moral judgment. The Humean view asserts that emotions determine the judgment and reason – a slave to emotion – functions as a tool for post hoc rationalization. The Jeffersonian view argues that both emotions and reason determine moral judgments. The two articles in this paper each support one of these opposing models. Wheatley and Haidt (2005) found their data to be consistent with the Humean model while Koenigs, Young, Adolphs, Tranel, Cushman, Hauser and Damasio (2007) found their data consistent with the Jeffersonian model. An analysis of these articles reveals that the findings in Wheatley and Haidt (2005) can be viewed as consistent with the Jeffersonian model and Koenigs et al. (2007) simply builds upon those findings. These studies show that both emotions and reason influence moral judgment.<br />
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<b>Study 1</b><br />
Wheatley and Haidt (2005) hypothesized that hypnotically induced disgust would increase the severity of moral judgments. Half the subjects received a posthypnotic suggestion to feel disgust when reading the word often and the other half when reading the word take. They then rated how morally wrong and how disgusting moral transgressions in vignettes were. The subjects were presented with one of two versions of each vignette: one which contained the word take and the other the word often. Participants rated vignettes as more disgusting and morally wrong when the disgust word was present than when it was absent, thus supporting the hypothesis.</div>
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To ensure that disgust influenced moral judgments and did not simply make all ratings more negative, Wheatley and Haidt (2005) conducted a modified version of the previous experiment containing a third (control) rating in which the subjects judged a non-transgression item related to the vignette. There was no significant difference between the ratings of items when the disgust word was present than when absent, suggesting that disgust did not make all ratings more negative. However, disgust did make moral judgments more severe even in the case of the “Student Council story,” which contained no moral transgression; when questioned on this particular story, experimenters reported the puzzled subjects answering with post hoc rationalizations. This is consistent with a model in which intuition and emotions determine moral judgments.<br />
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<b>Study 2</b><br />
Koenigs et al. (2007) investigated neurologically how damage to emotion-related areas of the brain influence moral judgment. There were three types of subjects, all with reasonably intact intellects. The first were normal comparison subjects (NC). The second were patients with adult-onset damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), a brain region associated with generation of social emotions. The third were brain-damaged comparison (BDC) patients with lesions excluding emotion-related regions of the brain. The subjects either endorsed or rejected actions in fifty hypothetical scenarios. Scenarios were classified as non-moral, impersonal or personal. Personal scenarios were distinguished for their higher emotional salience, determined by a separate group of neurologically normal subjects. Personal scenarios were then separated into high-conflict and low-conflict scenarios based on the level of agreement within and between NC and BDC groups. These high-conflict scenarios were assumed to feature intense competition between utilitarian considerations and an emotional aversion to harming others, a level of competition not present in the low-conflict scenarios. VMPC patients differed from NC and BDC patients only in personal high-conflict scenarios in which they endorsed actions more often than the other groups. Other scenarios elicited reasoned responses from all groups, as demonstrated by the fact that the VMPC group did not differ from the others. The divergence in the personal high-conflict scenarios demonstrates that emotions began to overpower reason in the BDC and NC groups, but not in the VMPC group.<br />
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<b>Resolving the "Opposing" Views</b><br />
Although Wheatley and Haidt (2005) claimed to support a model for moral judgment in conflict with that of Koenigs et al. (2007), it can be argued that Wheatley and Haidt (2005) actually provides further justification for the model proposed by Koenigs et al. (2007). By hypnotically inducing disgust, Wheatley and Haidt (2005) tremendously increased the emotional salience of the vignettes. In this manner, that emotional impact is similar to that found in personal high-conflict scenarios in Koenigs et al. (2007). Both articles would agree that in such scenarios which elicit a strong emotional response, that emotion determines the moral judgment. Thus, Koenigs et al. (2007) simply builds upon the findings of Wheatley and Haidt (2005) to demonstrate that in cases of lower emotional intensity (impersonal scenarios), reason has far more influence. These articles can be reconciled to support the Jeffersonian model in which both reason and emotions influence judgment.<br />
<br />
Reconciling the two articles by viewing the emotion elicited by the disgust word in Wheatley and Haidt (2005) as similar to that elicited by personal high-conflict scenarios in Koenigs et al. (2007) contributes much to an understanding of the basis for moral judgment. It provides data consistent with the Jeffersonian model in which both emotions and reason influence moral judgments. In scenarios where the emotional response is minimal, reason dominates as opposed to cases in which the emotional response is strong where reason becomes a slave to emotion.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01512314662461149540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2711982415569111554.post-30204803357636468362013-04-08T21:28:00.001-07:002013-04-08T21:28:51.889-07:00The Nose (really) Knows
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Last semester, at the Kids Judge Neuroscience Fair (a science fair
put on by Penn students and judged by students from various neighboring
elementary schools), an experiment was titled “Nose Knows.” I didn’t pay much
attention to the title of this exposition, and disregarded it just a quirky,
alliterative way to catch the attention of our young judges. Up until recently,
I hadn’t given this exposition, or its title, much thought.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Last week in one of my classes, I was blown away by the </span><a href="http://flavor.monell.org/~jlundstrom/index.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">information
presented by Dr. Johan Lundstrom</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">, our guest
lecturer. Dr. Lundstrom explained how our sense of smell, probably the sense
that most of us consider to be the least important, plays a highly
underestimated role in our lives. Our sense of smell participates in everything
from mate choice to memory and emotional response. Also, surprisingly to me, it
is not uncommon for a physician to use his or her sense of smell as a
diagnostic tool. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Research on olfaction is continually helping scientists and
society to understand the role of the sense of smell in our lives. As science
and technology continue to advance, it is likely that we will greater perceive
and appreciate this trivialized sense. Who knows, maybe one day </span><a href="http://www.google.com/landing/nose/"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Google's
April Fool's joke</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> will actually be a reality!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">-Beatriz Gadala-Maria</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0