Clipmarks | Brains Clips

Chandelier Cells Unveil Human Cognition

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:25:26 GMT

clipped by: Kelika
clipper's remarks: "By triggering specific chandelier cells, the authors were able to elicit a precisely timed chain of electrical events in the neocortex. Additionally, the authors found that the synaptic pathways between chandeliers and pyramid cells are incredibly strong – much stronger than has been recorded previously in other mammals. This suggests that humans do possess different types of cells, and that our higher cognition isn't due to having larger cells.

Although chandelier cells have been found in other species, they are more complex in humans. This raises the possibility that there are many things which attribute to higher cognition – different types of cells, and a complex circuitry, perhaps. This study by Tamas, et al, furthers the search for the answers to higher cognition, and more fully opens the door to questions of how our brains compare to those of other species."

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

What is it that distinguishes humans from other mammals? The answer to this question lies in the neocortex – the part of the brain responsible for sensory perceptions, conscious thought, and language. Humans have a considerably larger neocortex than other mammals, making it an ideal subject for the research of higher cognition.

The authors, Tamas, et al, point to an important role in chandelier cells – so-named for their structural resemblance to an old-fashioned candlestick.

This challenging method allowed them to measure the dynamic communication lines between neurons, illustrating how neurons interact and affect one another.

Whereas previously it was thought that neurons worked in groups to affect the brain, the authors show that a single chandelier cell can trigger multiple excitatory pyramidal cells – which make up the bulk of the cortex – and cause a chain reaction throughout the brain.

Leigh Alexander has written a well-balanced article questioning why women don't play games

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:44:24 GMT

clipped by: emeraldsong
clipper's remarks: Balanced and sensible article, tho' I think the questions of are games inherently poorly designed for "female brains" and do the masculine-coded premises and packaging are both resoundly answered with a "yes" if you read Graner-Ray's "Gender Inclusive Game Design" and look at even a few headlining console game examples.

Clip Source: www.gamesetwatch.com

The best guess, then, is that the real reason more women don’t get “into” video games is because, from a distance, it doesn’t feel like it’s “for them.” And if it’s a perception issue, not even a 50/50 ratio on the development side, nor less masculine titles and packaging will help. None of my female friends and family members have ever heard of Portal, for example, even though it was widely received as a “feminist” title.

Zen training speeds the mind's return after distraction, brain scans reveal

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:32:01 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Can you hear the sound of one hand clapping ?
Yes, but keep on clapping, it does not distract me at all...

Clip Source: thezenfrog.files.wordpress.com

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Experienced Zen meditators can clear their minds of distractions more quickly than novices, according to a new brain imaging study.

After being interrupted by a word-recognition task, experienced meditators' brains returned faster to their pre-interruption condition, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine found.

Giuseppe Pagnoni, PhD, Emory assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and co-workers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine changes in blood flow in the brain when people meditating were interrupted by stimuli designed to mimic the appearance of spontaneous thoughts.

The study compared 12 people from the Atlanta area with more than three years of daily practice in Zen meditation with 12 others who had never practiced meditation.

"This suggests that the regular practice of meditation may enhance the capacity to limit the influence of distracting thoughts.

Tags: meditation, neuroscience

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:57:38 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks:
Trial-and-error evolution
According to Gary Marcus's Kluge our brains are an engineering nightmare, says Steven Rose

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The fallibility of the human mind is a source of continual frustration to philosophers, artificial intelligencers and evolutionary psychologists. Our memories are weak, we are credulous and easily led to believe improbable or impossible things, our language is not optimally constructed. We have problems with probabilities, and are logically inconsistent. We make choices that are apparently irrational and not in our own best long-term interests, and certainly not in those of our genes. Thus - according to Marcus - we prefer instant gratification to the chance of greater, longer-term benefits. We get drunk, embark on non-procreative sex for mere pleasure, and may even sacrifice our lives for some perceived cause that has nothing to do with increasing our inclusive (genetic) fitness.

His chapter on language as a kluge, full of grammatical and linguistic incongruities, is particularly strong, although his basic argument is almost drowned in a flood of examples

Tags: kluge, human mind, evolution, book review

Scientists catch cells in the act of remembering

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:54:50 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but how the brain is able to re-create it.

The recordings, taken from the brains of epilepsy patients being prepared for surgery, demonstrate that these spontaneous memories reside in some of the very same neurons that fired most furiously when the recalled event was first experienced. Researchers had long theorized that this was the case but until now had only indirect evidence.

The new study, experts said, has all but closed the case: Remembering, for the brain, is a lot like doing.

Tags: science, brain, discovery

Thinking makes us pig out

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:16:26 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Food for thought: Intellectual activities make people eat more than when just resting, according to a study that sheds new light on brain food.

This finding might also help explain the obesity epidemic of an increasingly sedentary society in which people still have to think now and then.

The scientists had determined beforehand that the thinking sessions consumed only three calories more than resting. After the sessions, the participants were invited to eat as much as they pleased.

The students who had done the computer tests downed 253 more calories, or 29.4 percent more than the couch potatoes. Those who had summarized a text consumed 203 more calories than the resting group.

Blood samples taken before, during, and after revealed that intellectual work causes much bigger fluctuations in glucose levels than rest periods, perhaps owing to the stress of thinking.

Various studies in animals have shown that consuming fewer calories overall leads to sharper brains and longer life

Learning Brains Sleep

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:18:56 GMT

clipped by: weirdguy
clipper's remarks: This explains a lot...

Clip Source: weirdblog.wordpress.com

This explains why I like to sleep so much! Fascinating and fun information, books, DVD’s, online movies and more at Brain Rules.

Oh, and ever wonder why stress is literally killing people? No, I am not talking about “going postal,” although this gives some credence as to why some people fall of the sanity wagon. Find out why prolonged stress is harmful to you and those around you. This could save your life. Check it out today!

Tags: fun, innovation, learning, health, work, creativity

7 ways to learn more without more study

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:42:59 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

7 Ways to Learn More Without More Study

The abundance of new research on how teenage brains work, aside from being cool for its own sake--teen brains are developing madly, pruning synapses and insulating neurons to build a lean computing machine--is fueling a new movement to help kids make the most of the brain they've got. Think of it as a user's manual for a machine that's still being wired.

How would you like to learn more without having to study more?" Sign me up! Here's how:

1. Get to bed and go to sleep. Sleep enables memory consolidation

2. Start studying a few days in advance of a test. Memories are embedded better if the brain is exposed to information repeatedly

3. Feed your head

protein and complex carbs

4. Body exercise is brain exercise. Aerobic exercise really improves brain function

5. Learn now what you want to remember for the rest of your life

6. Harness the power of risk-taking

7. Learn what you love

Meditation sharpens focusing abilities

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:24:51 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Zen Training Speeds The Mind's Return After Distraction, Brain Scans Reveal

Experienced Zen meditators can clear their minds of distractions more quickly than novices, according to a new brain imaging study.

The study compared 12 people from the Atlanta area with more than three years of daily practice in Zen meditation with 12 others who had never practiced meditation.

While having their brains scanned, the subjects were asked to focus on their breathing. Every once in a while, they had to distinguish a real word from a nonsense word presented at random intervals on a computer screen and, having done that, promptly "let go" of the just processed stimulus by refocusing on their breath.

After interruption, experienced meditators were able to bring activity in most regions of the default network back to baseline faster than non-meditators. This effect was especially prominent in the angular gyrus, a region important for processing language.

meditation may enhance the capacity

Tags: neuroscience, focus, meditation

Probability overrides the intuitive.

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:20:49 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "The reason that our folk intuitions so often get it wrong is that we evolved in what evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins calls “Middle World”—a land midway between short and long, small and large, slow and fast, young and old. Out of personal preference, I call it “Middle Land.”

The middle, the plain is a big bias that shapes and limits one's perception.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Why Our Brains Do Not Intuitively Grasp Probabilities

Have you ever gone to the phone to call a friend only to have your friend ring you first? What are the odds of that? Not high, to be sure, but the sum of all probabilities equals one. Given enough opportunities, outlier anomalies—even seeming miracles—will occasionally happen.

Thanks to our confirmation bias, in which we look for and find confirmatory evidence for what we already believe and ignore or discount contradictory evidence, we will remember only those few astonishing coincidences and forget the vast sea of meaningless data.

The average person has about five dreams a night, or 1,825 dreams a year

With an annual death rate of 2.4 million Americans, it is inevitable that some of those 54.7 billion remembered dreams will be about some of these 2.4 million deaths among the 300 million Americans and their 45 billion relationship connections. In fact, it would be a miracle if some death premonition dreams did not happen to come true

Tags: belief, probabilities, perception bias

Study Links Gene Variant in Men to Marital Discord

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:50:41 GMT

clipped by: fraynelson

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Men are more likely to be devoted and loyal husbands when they lack a particular variant of a gene that influences brain activity, researchers announced yesterday -- the first time that science has shown a direct link between a man's genes and his aptitude for monogamy.

"Men with two copies of the allele had twice the risk of experiencing marital dysfunction, with a threat of divorce during the last year, compared to men carrying one or no copies,"

"Women married to men with one or two copies of the allele scored lower on average on how satisfied they were with the relationship compared to women married to men with no copies."

The scientists studied men because the hormone being examined is known to play a larger role in their brains than in women's brains.

The finding set off a debate about whether people should conduct genetic tests to find out whether potential mates are bad marriage prospects.

Health Benefits of Walnuts

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:46:57 GMT

clipped by: SenorCoconut

Clip Source: www.elements4health.com

Cardiovascular Health
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is an n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid found mainly in plant sources, especially walnuts. There have been numerous clinical studies that suggest that alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) intake reduces the incidence of coronary heart disease. Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in walnuts may reduce cardiovascular risk through a variety of biologic mechanisms, including platelet function, inflammation, endothelial cell function, arterial compliance, and arrhythmia.

Alzheimer’s Disease
Fibrillar amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) is the principal component of amyloid plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Over 90% inhibition of Abeta fibrillization from walnut extract was observed in a laboratory study, suggesting that walnuts may reduce the risk or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease by maintaining Abeta in the soluble form.

Cholesterol
A diet supplemented with walnuts has been shown to significantly reduce total and LDL cholesterol levels.

Tags: health benefits walnuts, alpha-linolenic acid, cardiovascular health, heart disease, reduce cholesterol, alzheimer's disease, weight loss

Why it's so hard to swat a fly

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:40:55 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Now you know how the Karate Kid became so good.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The brains of flies are wired to avoid the swatter, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

At the mere hint of a threat, the insects adjust their preflight stance to flee in the opposite direction, ensuring a clean getaway, they said in a finding that helps explain why flies so easily evade swipes from their human foes.

"These movements are made very rapidly, within about 200 milliseconds, but within that time the animal determines where the threat is coming from and activates an appropriate set of movements to position its legs and wings," Michael Dickinson of the California Institute of Technology said in a statement.

"This illustrates how rapidly the fly's brain can process sensory information into an appropriate motor response," said Dickinson, whose research appears in the journal Current Biology.

Dickinson's team studied this process in fruit flies using high-speed digital imaging equipment and a fancy fly swatter.

Researchers Can Swat Flies

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:27:03 GMT

clipped by: Imnclady
clipper's remarks: "It is best not to swat at the fly's starting position," Dickinson said. Instead, aim for the escape route.

And who didn't need to know that???

I'm curious, does anyone think there was a "need" to research on why it's so hard to swat a fly ?

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Why it's so hard to swat a fly

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The brains of flies are wired to avoid the swatter, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

Dickinson's team studied this process in fruit flies using high-speed digital imaging equipment and a fancy fly swatter.

The findings offer new insight into the fly nervous system, and lends a few clues on how to outsmart a fly.

Reuters Photo: A woman swats flies in Pancevo, Serbia, June 20, 2007. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)

Tags: research, science, government, usa

Brains

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:11:13 GMT

clipped by: sophie555

Clip Source: home.planet.nl