MetaFilter posts tagged with neuroscience Posts tagged with 'neuroscience' at MetaFilter. Tue, 23 Dec 2014 18:16:30 -0800 Tue, 23 Dec 2014 18:16:30 -0800 en-us 60 Paging Ms. Frizzle, paging Ms. Frizzle <a href="">Why should Oscar nominees have all the fun?</a> May Britt Moser was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this year (along with her husband, Edvard Moser, and colleague John O’Keefe) for <a href="">"for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain"</a>. <a href="">Her bio and list of publications</a> can be found here. <a href="">Designer Matthew Hubble</a> was inspired by the attention paid to movie stars and their clothing to create a custom dress for Britt Moser that combines leather, silk, and beads to illustrate neurons in a very new way. <blockquote>“We used a mixture of sequins and beads for the cyton, and created the beautiful synapses similarly, but the myelin sheath on the axons we just couldn’t make look beautiful and so decided a splash of artistic license is allowed after all.”</blockquote> <a href="">Matthew Hubble's creations</a> include pieces inspired by molecule structures and Rome's Termini train station, in case you're looking for a last minute holiday win. <a href="">What does gene targeting look like as a dress</a>? <a href="">Dermal replacement research?</a> <a href="">Complex systems</a>! One team discussed their experience <a href="">here</a>. <a href="!desciencevote/cmk">What is Descience?</a> <blockquote>Descience emerged with the vision of fostering collaborations between two creative worlds and creating a new one that provides science with a new language and gives fashion a new source of inspiration.</blockquote> <a href="">Just hoping to channel Miss Frizzle on </a><a href="">your own quotidian explorations</a>?<a href=""> Considering translating your neuroscience research onto a loom</a>?,2014:site.145584 Tue, 23 Dec 2014 18:16:30 -0800 jetlagaddict Speculative questions from research into mental illness Could <a href="">depression be an infectious disease</a>? Might hallucinogenic mushrooms be an <a href="">effective treatment for depression</a> (<em>New York Times</em> link)? Do antipsychotic drugs <a href="">hinder long-term recovery</a> from episodes of schizophrenia?,2014:site.144931 Sun, 30 Nov 2014 10:43:26 -0800 alex1965 hyperconnected: your brain on shrooms <a href="">How Tripping On Mushrooms Changes The Brain</a> - "<a href="">New research</a> [<a href="">pdf</a>] suggests that psilocybin, the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, sprouts <a href="">new links</a> across previously disconnected brain regions, temporarily altering the brain's entire organizational framework." also btw... <ul><li><a href="">Paul Expert</a>: "We plan to extend our analysis to other 'drugs' dataset like ketamine, LSD, MDMA."</li> <li><a href="">Mitul Mehta</a>: "Through studies such as these we can really begin to tackle the questions of <a href="">how we achieve coherent experiences of ourselves</a> in the world around us, and understand what makes this break down."</li></ul>,2014:site.144902 Fri, 28 Nov 2014 17:43:25 -0800 kliuless The caudate nucleus <a href="">What goes on in the brains of simultaneous interpreters.</a> <i>Miles told me about an agricultural meeting at which delegates discussed frozen bull’s semen; a French interpreter translated this as “matelot congel&#0233;s”, or ‘deep-frozen sailors’.</i> (<a href="">via</a>) <blockquote>I ask him if he would have predicted that the caudate would be involved in simultaneous interpretation. He says that at first he wouldn’t have. “The caudate is involved in the intentionality of an action, in its goal-directedness. Not so much in carrying it out but in why you’re doing it.” Then he thought about what interpreters do. Computers translate by rote, often with risible results. Humans have to think about meaning and intent. “The interpreter must actually try to identify what the message is and translate that,” says Parkinson. He agrees that the involvement of the caudate makes sense.</blockquote>,2014:site.144774 Sun, 23 Nov 2014 14:06:28 -0800 spamandkimchi One of the oldest questions we have about ourselves. <a href="">Personhood Week: Why We’re So Obsessed with Persons</a>, by Virginia Hughes (<a href="">@virginiahughes</a>), <i>National Geographic</i>: <blockquote>"People have been trying to define personhood for a long time, maybe since the beginning of people. The first recorded attempt came from Boethius, a philosopher from 6th-Century Rome, who said a person was 'an individual substance of rational nature.' Fast-forward a thousand years and Locke says it's about rationality, self-awareness, and memory. Kant adds that humans have 'dignity,' an intrinsic ability to freely choose. In 1978, Daniel Dennett says it's intelligence, self-awareness, language, and being 'conscious in some special way' that other animals aren't. The next year Joseph Fletcher lays out 15 criteria (!), including a sense of futurity, concern for others, curiosity, and even IQ."</blockquote> Previously in the <i>National Geographic</i> series: Monday: <a href="">Personhood Week: Conception Is a Process</a> Tuesday: <a href="">Personhood Week: Do Kids Count?</a> Wednesday: <a href="">Personhood Week: When Dead Bodies Become Dead People</a> Thursday: <a href="">Personhood Week: People and Their Pets</a>,2014:site.144713 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:53:51 -0800 joseph conrad is fully awesome Neuroscience has lost an important voice. <a href="">Allison Doupe, 1954-2014.</a> "In this era of interdisciplinary science, there is a common phrase: much is known but in different heads. Occasionally, multiple disciplines come together in one remarkable head.",2014:site.144660 Wed, 19 Nov 2014 12:12:06 -0800 Dashy How does it work? CBT vs anti-depressants <a href="">Cognitive behavioural therapy is the best-studied form of psychotherapy. But researchers are still struggling to understand why it works</a> (Single Link <blockquote> People with depression tend to have detectable differences in two primary brain systems: the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for complex mental tasks such as self-control and planning, and the limbic system — including the amygdala — which is involved in emotional processing. In healthy people, the prefrontal cortex can inhibit amygdala activity, keeping emotions in check. But imaging shows that in many people with depression, the prefrontal cortex seems to be less active. “Depressed people have what you might think of as a trigger-happy amygdala.”</blockquote>,2014:site.144620 Tue, 18 Nov 2014 13:34:17 -0800 spamandkimchi Can Altitude Explain Utah's Suicide Epidemic? Based on a comparison of suicide rates at sea level and at areas above 2,000 feet, living at a high altitude may make people 30% more likely to commit suicide. <a href="">Neuroscientist Perry Renshaw believes that it's due to the impact of altitude on the brain.</a>,2014:site.144602 Tue, 18 Nov 2014 07:52:43 -0800 stoneweaver It's pretty obscure, you probably haven't--wait, what? <a href="">The mathematician who proved why hipsters all look alike</a> <br><br>Jonathan Touboul is a mathematician and a neuroscientist. Recently, he has been thinking about hipsters. Specifically, why hipsters all seem to dress alike. In his line of work, there are neurons that also behave like hipsters. They fire when every neuron around them is quiet; or they fall silent when every neuron around them is chattering. Because he is a mathematician, Touboul began to look for a way to explore this idea using equations. In other words, he constructed a mathematical model. His key insight is that people (and neurons) do not instantly perceive what is mainstream. There’s a delay. And in situations where the delay is large enough, the contrarians can inadvertently synchronize with each other. “In wanting to oppose the trends, there actually emerges some sort of hipster loop,” Touboul said. A day before Halloween, Touboul put a draft of his paper on the arXiv, calling it <a href="">"The hipster effect: When anticonformists all look the same.”</a>,2014:site.144537 Sun, 16 Nov 2014 08:34:55 -0800 Johnny Wallflower "This Phineas was proud, well-dressed, and disarmingly handsome." <blockquote>On Sept. 13, 1848, at around 4:30 p.m., the time of day when the mind might start wandering, a railroad foreman named Phineas Gage filled a drill hole with gunpowder and turned his head to check on his men. It was the last normal moment of his life. Other victims in the annals of medicine are almost always referred to by initials or pseudonyms. Not Gage: His is the most famous name in neuroscience. How ironic, then, that we know so little else about the man—and that much of what we think we know, especially about his life unraveling after his accident, is probably bunk. </blockquote>—<a href="">Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient</a> by Sam Kean.,2014:site.139049 Tue, 13 May 2014 01:03:56 -0800 Kattullus Do&#0241;a Quixote <a href="">My Dementia: Telling who I am before I forget,</a> by author <a href="">Gerda Saunders</a>,2014:site.137662 Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:28:44 -0800 zarq Supernormal Stimuli <a href="">Is Your Brain Truly Ready for Junk Food, Porn, or the Internet?</a>,2014:site.136495 Sun, 09 Feb 2014 18:59:59 -0800 Cash4Lead Gender Swap <a href="">Gender Swap - Experiment with The Machine to be Another.</a> "Gender Swap is an experiment that uses <a href="">The Machine to be Another</a> system as a platform for embodiment experience (a neuroscience technique in which users can feel themselves like if they were in a different body). In order to create the brain illusion we use the immersive Head Mounted Display <a href="">Oculus Rift</a>, and first-person cameras. <a href="">To create this perception</a>, both users have to syncronize their movements. If one does not correspond to the movement of the other, the embodiment experience does not work. It means that both users have to constantly agree on every movement they make. Throughout this experiment, we aim to investigate issues like Gender Identity, Queer Theory, feminist technoscience, Intimacy and Mutual Respect." <small>[NSFW, <a href="">Via</a>]</small>,2014:site.135881 Tue, 21 Jan 2014 17:45:35 -0800 homunculus Where does the will to go on come from? <a href="">In a rare study involving direct brain stimulation,</a> Michael Greicius, a neurologist at Stanford University, and collaborators say they have uncovered direct evidence that a brain region known as the anterior midcingulate cortex and its surrounding network play a central role in motivation and a readiness to act.,2013:site.134587 Sun, 08 Dec 2013 23:25:28 -0800 headspace The Unfixed Brain <a href="">In this teaching video, Suzanne Stensaas, Ph.D., demonstrates the properties and anatomy of an unfixed brain, showing its squishiness and vulnerability.</a> [<strong>WARNING: The video contains graphic images, a human brain from a recent autopsy.</strong>],2013:site.133984 Tue, 19 Nov 2013 08:51:21 -0800 Blasdelb Control a cockroach from your smartphone? There's an app for that. After a <a href="">TED Talk demonstration</a> and a successful <a href="">Kickstarter</a>, <a href="">Backyard Brains</a> plans to release <a href="">a kit</a> instructing kids to strap a miniature backpack to cockroaches and insert electrodes into its brain, allowing the cockroach to be controlled by a smartphone app. Some scientists are <a href="">less than pleased</a> with the ethics of the project.,2013:site.133670 Fri, 08 Nov 2013 23:38:12 -0800 meowzilla The best time for your coffee "<a href="">If you are drinking your morning coffee at 8 AM, is that really the best time?</a> The circadian rhythm of cortisol production would suggest not.",2013:site.133520 Mon, 04 Nov 2013 18:02:46 -0800 paleyellowwithorange You are what you read <a href=";_r=0">If we so quickly forget the bulk of what we read, is it a waste of time to read so much?</a>,2013:site.132519 Wed, 02 Oct 2013 18:48:25 -0800 paleyellowwithorange Final Moments of Karl Brant <a href="">The Final Moments</a> of <a href="">Karl Brant</a>. "In the near future, a neurologist and two homicide detectives use experimental brain taping technology to question a murder victim about his final moments." <small>[<a href="">Via</a>]</small>,2013:site.130517 Wed, 31 Jul 2013 20:28:15 -0800 homunculus Mouseunculus <a href="">Mouseunculus: How The Brain Draws A Little You.</a> <small>[<a href="">Via</a>]</small>,2013:site.130347 Thu, 25 Jul 2013 15:35:44 -0800 homunculus Cognitive hiccups <a href="">Our Brains Weren’t Hardwired To Catch Con Artists</a> <a href="">An Interview with NYU’s Adam Alter</a> <blockquote><b>4. What is your favorite experiment in the book?</b> Adam: One of my favorites is a study that overturned the widely held belief that the <a href="">M&#0252;ller-Lyer illusion</a> is universal. </blockquote> <a href="">DISFLUENCY - A Conversation with Adam Alter</a> <blockquote>ADAM ALTER is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Stern School of Business, NYU. He is the author of Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave.</blockquote> <a href="">How A Simple Psychological Trick Can Help You Get The Most Out Of Others</a> <a href="">Secrets from the Science of Persuasion</a>,2013:site.129571 Sun, 30 Jun 2013 21:11:18 -0800 the man of twists and turns The neurons that shaped civilization. Empathy &amp; types of mirror neurons. "<a href="">There is no real independent self, aloof from other human beings</a>, inspecting the world, inspecting other people. You are, in fact, connected not just via Facebook and internet, you’re actually quite literally connected by your neurons." — <a href="">V S Ramachandran</a>,2013:site.128875 Sat, 08 Jun 2013 13:03:31 -0800 nickyskye Better than sex? <a href="">Why does music feel so good?</a> <i>"Music moves people of all cultures, in a way that doesn’t seem to happen with other animals. Nobody really understands why listening to music — which, unlike sex or food, has no intrinsic value — can trigger such profoundly rewarding experiences. Salimpoor and other neuroscientists are trying to figure it out with the help of brain scanners."</i>,2013:site.127054 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:28:46 -0800 Defying Gravity Intelligence Tests <a href="">Is Psychometric <i>g</i> a Myth?</a> - "As an online discussion about IQ or general intelligence grows longer, the probability of someone linking to statistician Cosma Shalizi's essay <i><a href="">g, a Statistical Myth</a></i> approaches 1. Usually the link is accompanied by an assertion to the effect that Shalizi offers a definitive refutation of the concept of general mental ability, or psychometric <em>g</em>." <a href="">Myths, Sisyphus and g</a> - "Over the years I have not encountered a single endorser of Shalizi's article who actually understands the relevant subject matter. His article is loved for its reassuring conclusions, not the strength of its arguments. I am sure many 'thinkers' resisted Darwinism, the abandonment of geocentrism, and even the notion that the Earth is a sphere, for similar psychological reasons." <a href="">Nuthin' but a 'g' thang</a> <blockquote>So I've always had the intuitive hypothesis that there are different types of intelligence; that different people tend to process information in different ways, whether due to habit or nature. But then there are all those people who say that intelligence can be boiled down to a single factor, the mysterious "g" (which I assume stands for either "general intelligence" or "gangsta"). Since this went against years of casual observation, I was somewhat pleased to see the eminent Cosma Shalizi write an essay debunking the notion of "g". But then I saw this blog post defending the notion of "g", and claiming that Shalizi makes a bunch of errors. Basically, the disagreement revolves around the question of why most or all psychometric tests and tasks seem positively correlated with each other. Shalizi points out that this correlation structure will naturally lead to the emergence of a "g"-like factor, even if one doesn't really exist; his opponent points out that if no "g" exists, it should be possible to design uncorrelated psychometric tests, which so far has proven extremely difficult to do. The latter post, by a pseudonymous blogger calling himself "Dalliard", contains a bunch of references to psychometric research that I don't know about and have neither the time nor the will to evaluate, so I'm a bit stumped. Normally I'd leave the matter at that, shrug, and go read something else, but I realized that my intuitive hypothesis about intelligence didn't really seem to be explicitly stated in either of the posts. So I thought I'd explain my conjecture about how intelligence works. In a nutshell, it's this: What if there are multiple "g's"? ...just imagine several dozen hyperplanes, and project them all onto one hyperplane... Remember that psychometric tests are <em>simple</em> mental tasks, but most of the mental tasks we do are <em>complex</em>, like computer programming or chess or writing. And for those tasks, learning and practice matter as much as innate skill, or more (for example, see <a href="">this study about the neurology of chess players</a>). Therefore, everyone can be "smart" in some way, if "smart" means "good at some complex mental task".</blockquote> also btw <a href="">To Make Mice Smarter, Add A Few Human Brain Cells</a> (<a href="">previously</a>),2013:site.126930 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:40:00 -0800 kliuless Brains have never looked so pretty Karl Deisseroth and his team at Stanford University [<a href="">previously</a>] have developed a completely new technique to make a brain <a href="">perfectly see-through</a>. They call it CLARITY, and the result <a href="">has to be seen</a> to be believed. The paper, <em>Structural and molecular interrogation of intact biological systems</em>, was published in <a href="">Nature</a> (paywall) today.,2013:site.126898 Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:35:53 -0800 harujion