Clipmarks | Neuroscience Clips

Pharmaceutical Love Potion: Not Yet...

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:52:28 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: In humans, brain regions associated with dopamine are activated in mothers looking at pictures of their children, and lovers at each other — and, perhaps instructively, in drug addicts taking heroin or cocaine.

To Young, all this means that science may soon treat lovelessness as easily as it now treats depression and anxiety. "Drugs that manipulate brain systems at whim to enhance or diminish our love for another may not be far away," he writes.

Not so fast, said Fisher.

The alterations required to manipulate love, she said, are likely so complex and far-reaching as to be unattainable in a pill. "There are cognitive processes and limbic reactions associated with basic emotions," said Fisher. "And you can change brain chemistry, but you're still not going to change memories and experiences in a human being."

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

For those of you perplexed by love's elusiveness, take heart: Science is on the case. But even if researchers can turn love into peer-reviewed literature, they might not be able to bottle it.

"People think we're going to get a love potion, and that's nonsense," said Helen Fisher, a Rutgers University evolutionary anthropologist. "I don't think they understand how complex the brain is, and what a powerful role experience plays."

Fisher's comments were prompted by an essay, entitled "Love: Neuroscience reveals all" and published Wednesday in Nature

This research shows how a "biochemical chain of events,"

produces neurological patterns associated with subjective experiences described as love.

Studies on the more-or-less monogamous prairie vole, for example, suggest that a neurotransmitter called oxytocin is important to mate bonding

Oxytocin interacts with another transmitter, pleasure-inducing dopamine.

Tags: neuroscience, love, emotions, brain

The 'Love Hormone'

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:50:41 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: www.newsdaily.com

By Michael Kahn

LONDON, Jan. 7, 2009 (Reuters) — The "love" hormone linked to feelings of sexual pleasure, bonding and maternal care also appears to help us recognize familiar faces, Swiss researchers said on Tuesday.

Men given oxytocin -- involved in nursing and childbirth -- more accurately recalled images of familiar faces but the hormone did not help them recognize inanimate objects, Peter Klaver of the University of Zurich and colleagues said.

Their findings published in The Journal of Neuroscience suggest the hormone somehow strengthens the brain's neural networks involved in social memory and may have implications for conditions such as autism, researchers said.

"The study highlights the parallels in social information processing in mice and man, and adds further support to the notion oxytocin plays a critical role," Larry Young, an expert on oxytocin at Emory University in Atlanta, who was not involved in the study, said in a statement.

Defense Intelligence Agency Seeking "Mind Control" Weapons

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:01:23 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns

Clip Source: www.globalresearch.ca

Defense Intelligence Agency Seeking "Mind Control" Weapons

by Tom Burghardt

A new report from the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council (NRC) argues that the Pentagon should harvest the fruits of neuroscientific research in order to enhance the "warfighting" capabilities of U.S. soldiers while diminishing those of enemy personnel.

The 151-page report issued by a 16-member blue ribbon commission, "Cognitive Neuroscience Research and National Security," was quietly announced in an August 13 National Academy of Sciences Press Release.

Commissioned by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon spy shop, the study asserts that the U.S. intelligence "community" must do a better job following cutting-edge research in neuroscience

Unlocking the secrets of the brain is projected as the next growth industry for the military, academia and corporate grifters hoping to land huge Pentagon contracts.

mind control weapons

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:23:07 GMT

clipped by: petro435

Clip Source: content3.clipmarks.com

Defense Intelligence Agency Seeking "Mind Control" Weapons

by Tom Burghardt

Unlocking the secrets of the brain is projected as the next growth industry for the military, academia and corporate grifters hoping to land huge Pentagon contracts.

How Visiting Your Family Warps Your Brain

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:47:35 GMT

clipped by: Rashid Malik

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Dec. 29, 2008 -- Visiting -- or even just viewing photos of family members -- prompts brain activity that affects how you feel about them, your friends, and even yourself, a new study suggests.

The study is the first to compare brain activity associated with seeing relatives with that linked to seeing friends and strangers. It suggests our feelings about biological relatives are at least somewhat primal.

The findings may help explain everything from why our family can get on our nerves to why people who look like us can spark immediate feelings of trust, "but not lust," said Steven Platek, who co-authored the study with Shelly Kemp.

"We like to be around people that look more like us, but we do not find them as sexually attractive," added Platek, editor-in-chief of the journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience. "I think it is linked to our subconscious ability to detect facial resemblances so we avoid lusting after those that may be related to us."

Tags: brain

It is not the dope, it's the dopamine :)

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:25:36 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: I think this finding is interesting in the light of the latest and fast growing body of experimental results in neuroscience; finding correlation (some are straight forward, and not very complex) of so called unique attributes to genetics and physiology. this might carry with it a fundamental perceptual change. first we learned that the earth is not the center, than we realized that the human emergence is part of a bigger continuum (evolution that is) and now we come to know that one own psyche is not unique...

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Risk takers seek thrills to compensate for less responsive brain

Researchers have found that impulsive characters are less able to react to dopamine, a substance produced naturally in the brain which triggers feelings of wellbeing and reward.

They believe that this means that these individuals must take bigger risks in order to achieve the same feelings of excitement that others get regularly.

novelty seekers have less of a particular type of dopamine receptor, which may lead them to seek out novel and exciting experiences

"We've found that the density of these dopamine autoreceptors is inversely related to an individual's interest in and desire for novel experiences,"

Previous research has shown that individuals differ in both their number of dopamine receptors and the amount of dopamine they produce, and that these differences may play a critical role in addiction.

Dopamine has long been known to play an important role in how we experience rewards from a variety of natural sources

Tags: neuroscience

SELF AWARENESS: THE LAST FRONTIER

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:59:13 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Very interesting read. just one provoking thought from it:
"It is a sobering thought that the only barrier between you and others is your skin receptors!"

Clip Source: www.edge.org

SELF AWARENESS: THE LAST FRONTIER

One of the last remaining problems in science is the riddle of consciousness. The human brain—a mere lump of jelly inside your cranial vault—can contemplate the vastness of interstellar space and grapple with concepts such as zero and infinity. Even more remarkably it can ask disquieting questions about the meaning of its own existence. "Who am I" is arguably the most fundamental of all questions.

It really breaks down into two problems—the problem of qualia and the problem of the self

I have every confidence that the problem of self will be solved within the lifetimes of most readers of this essay. But not qualia.

Neurological conditions have shown that the self is not the monolithic entity it believes itself to be. It seems to consist of many components each of which can be studied individually, and the notion of one unitary self may well be an illusion

if so we need to ask how the illusion arises; was it an adaptation acquired through natural selection?

Tags: self, philosophy, neuroscience, neurology

Living the Off-Label Life

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:38:21 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "A surgeon whose mind is extra-sharp, a pilot who’s extra alert, a medical researcher whose memory is fine-tuned to make extraordinary connections, is able to work not just to his or her own benefit, but for that of countless numbers of people. “Cognitive enhancement,” they write, “unlike enhancement for sports competitions, could lead to substantive improvements in the world.”

I’m not convinced of that. I’m not sure that pushing for your personal best — all the time — is tantamount to truly being the best person you can be. "

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

What if you could just take a pill and all of a sudden remember to pay your bills on time? What if, thanks to modern neuroscience, you could, simultaneously, make New Year’s Eve plans, pay the mortgage, call the pediatrician, consolidate credit card debt and do your job — well — without forgetting dentist appointments or neglecting to pick up your children at school?

Would you do it?

I’ve always said no. Fantasy aside, I’ve always rejected the idea of using drugs meant for people with real neurological disorders to treat the pathologies of everyday life.

It seems to many people to be unnatural, inhuman, hubristic, pure cheating.

But Greely and his Nature co-authors suggest that such arguments are outdated and intellectually dishonest. We enhance our brain function all the time, they say — by drinking coffee, by eating nutritious food, by getting an education, even by getting a good night’s sleep.

Spotless mind?

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:05:04 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Spotless Mind? Unwanted Memories Might Be Erasable Without Harming Other Brain Functions

The brain acts as a computer to both store information and process that information.

in the same cells

found that a molecule known to preserve memories – PKMzeta – specifically stores complex, high-quality memories that provide detailed information about an animal's location, fears, and actions

but does not control the ability to process or express this information.

"If further work confirms this view we can expect to one day see therapies based on PKMzeta memory erasure," Dr. Fenton suggests. "Negative memory erasing not only could help people forget painful experiences, but might be useful in treating depression, general anxiety, phobias, post-traumatic stress, and addictions," he adds.

while sparing the computational function of brain

Tags: memory, neuroscience

Bionic sex chip

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 10:40:28 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: I think it may be more influential than meets the eye; both in the way sex is perceived and operated in society, and in boosting the augmentation revolution that is coming.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

What a turn-on: science develops bionic sex chip

scientists are working on an electronic “sex chip” that will be able to stimulate pleasure centres in the brain.

The prospect of the chip, which could be a decade away, is emerging from progress in deep brain stimulation, in which tiny shocks from implanted electrodes are given to the brain. The technology has been used in America to treat Parkinson’s disease.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Stimulating this area can produce pleasure as intense as “devouring a delicious pastry”, he said.

By 2015, he predicts, micro-computers in the brain with a range of applications could be self-powered and controlled by hand-held transmitters.

ew years ago a scientist implanted such a device into the brain of a woman with a low sex drive and turned her into a very sexually active woman

She didn’t like the sudden change

We are being led to big philosophical questions by rapid technological advances

If we don’t discuss them now, they may be taking place before we can resolve the issues

Tags: computer, chip, sex, neuroscience

The Secret to staying Madly in Love

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:35:34 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: It's all in the head....

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

THE SECRET to staying madly in love for life is hidden at the heart of your brain - a finding that may lead to new strategies for keeping alive passionate partnerships, say New York scientists.

Researchers led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine recruited 17 men and women who still love their spouses intensely after two decades of marriage, then scanned their brains as they saw their loved ones' photos. When they compared the results with scans of 17 people who had fallen in love in the previous year, they found that the same area of the brain, the ventral tegmental area, lit up.

One of the authors, Helen Fisher, told the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting this week: “If you ask people around the world whether romantic love can last, they'll roll their eyes and say ‘probably not'. Most textbooks say that too. We are proving them wrong.”

Blindsight: Blind, yet seeing

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:46:09 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Sounds fascinating...

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Blind, Yet Seeing: The Brain’s Subconscious Visual Sense

A patient whose visual lobes in the brain were destroyed was able to navigate an obstacle course and recognize fearful faces subconsciously.

blind by two successive strokes

He zigzagged down the hall, sidestepping a garbage can, a tripod, a stack of paper and several boxes as if he could see everything clearly

most dramatic demonstration to date of so-called blindsight

the native ability to sense things using the brain’s primitive, subcortical — and entirely subconscious — visual system.

brain scans and magnetic resonance images to see the damage, finding no evidence of visual activity in the cortex

brain digests what comes through the eyes using two sets of circuits

emotional blindsight. When presented with images of fearful faces, he cringed subconsciously in the same way that almost everyone does, even though he could not consciously see the faces.

Clip Source: www.beatricedegelder.com

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

may learn to lean more heavily on such subconscious or semiconscious systems

Tags: blindness, sight, neuroscience

CAN CAPILTALISM STILL JUSTIFY ITS EXISTENCE???

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:41:43 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: The curtain is opened, the old man operating the scary machinery is revealed as an impotent manipulator. The yellow brick road leads the other way into the sunshine of humanity. Follow

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

Capitalism Short Circuits Our Moral Hard-Wiring

In a recent New Yorker piece, Naomi Klein astutely observes that "The crash on Wall Street should be for Friedmanism what the fall of the Berlin Wall was for authoritarian Communism, an indictment of an ideology." One hopes so. The financial system's collapse in 2008 offers a rare opportunity to question certain underlying assumptions about our state capitalist economy and its neoliberal ideology.

neuroscience research which shows that the human brain is hard-wired for empathy, the ability to put oneself in another's shoes

This is the discovery of the mirror neuron system or MNS, a finding some scientists believe rivals what the discovery of DNA meant for biology

Frans B.M. de Waal "You need to indoctrinate empathy out of people in order to arrive at extreme capitalist positions."

"No institution is safe if people simply stop believing in the assumptions that justify its existence."

God Or Science?

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:52:48 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: It is the human need to know that gave birth to god/religion as an overall description that provides answers. it is that need that gives birth to an alternative worldview, such as science to replace the older theories.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

God Or Science? A Belief In One Weakens Positive Feelings For The Other

After using science or God to explain such important questions, most people display a preference for one and a neutral or even negative attitude toward the other.

"It seemed to me that both science and religion as systems were very good at explaining a lot, accounting for a lot of the information that we have in our environment,"

at some point they have to conflict with each another because they can't possibly both explain everything

they were being subliminally primed immediately before each word

A 15-millisecond visual cue is too brief to register in the conscious mind, but the brief word flash did have an effect.

"On the other hand, people may have a generally positive view of science until it fails to explain the important questions. Then belief in God may be boosted to fill in the gap," she said.

A person's unconscious attitudes toward science and God may be fundamentally opposed

those views can be manipulated

Tags: science, god, religion, neuroscience

The Almighty Vagina - How Female Orgasms Would Kill Men

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:14:20 GMT

clipped by: ianschneider
clipper's remarks: We don't stand a chance.

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

When an orgasm has been achieved through sex, you can measure theta waves. These are also said to cause the "running high" feeling of euphoria experienced sometimes by marathon runners. If theta waves are taken as a criterion, the entire brain emits theta waves when women reach an orgasm that are close on 10 times stronger than when men climax. So, if theta waves are an indication of an orgasm's strength, then women experience an orgasm that is physically impossible for men to go through. Putting it a little crudely, if the intensity of a woman's orgasm was played through a man's brain, there's a danger that the shock to his system would kill him. That risk makes it impossible to experiment on a man at the moment. And men can never become women.

Tags: sexuality, vagina, paglia is a genius, sexual personae, camille proved correct in neuroscience