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Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on March 27, 2010 at 10:52pm

This was a little longer than a blurb, but I wasn't sure it merited its own thread. - DG

Fossilized 13th century brain with intact cells

THIS is the left cerebral hemisphere of an 18-month-old infant who lived some 800 years ago. Such finds are extremely rare, because nervous tissue is soft and normally begins to decompose soon after death, so this specimen is unique in that it has been far better preserved than any other. Although reduced by about 80% of its original weight, many of its anatomical features have remained intact. The frontal, temporal and occipital lobes have retained their original shape; the gyri and sulci (the grooves and furrows on the surface, respectively labelled G and S, above) are easily recognizable; and amazingly, it contains the identifiable remnants of neurons.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on April 28, 2010 at 12:55pm

Cognition Accelerated by Just 4 x 20 Minutes Meditation

How would you like your brain to work faster? Say, a more efficient working memory, greater verbal fluency and improved visuo-spatial processing?

When I looked at the research a couple of years ago to find out which cognitive enhancers work, it was exercise that came out the clear winner.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on June 23, 2010 at 11:11am

Whipping Up Kindness in the Lab
Oxytocin, already dubbed the ‘cuddle hormone,’ may deserve a new moniker as the ‘kindness molecule.’

Scientists have known for more than 50 years that a hormone called oxytocin plays a critical role in stimulating uterine contractions during labor and delivery, and that afterward, it helps a nursing mother to release milk for her infant.

Men also produce oxytocin, it turns out, although at lower levels than women. Released during sexual arousal, it appears to promote feelings of contentment and attachment in both sexes, which accounts for one of its cuter nicknames: “the cuddle hormone.”

But these days, scientists know oxytocin does so much more.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on June 25, 2010 at 11:20am

Touch Affects How People Feel

Sitting on a hard chair, carrying a heavy bag, or leaning against the rough bark of a tree can subconsciously affect the way we feel about other people and the decisions we make about how to act in completely unrelated situations, suggests a new study.

The study was one of the first to probe metaphors about the sense of touch -- such as a heavy subject or a rough day -- and to find that those metaphors have real-world consequences in what we think and do.

The findings might help people learn how to influence the thoughts and behaviors of others. Giving a potential employer something heavy to hold, for example, could make her take you more seriously.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on June 30, 2010 at 5:52pm

Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age
What are Americans doing with all their free time? We'll explore the potential uses of that time - other than watching television - with New York University social and technological researcher Clay Shirky. His new book is "Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age" (The Penguin Press, 2010). Alan Melson will guest-host.

Listen here.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on July 30, 2010 at 11:02am

Scientists Unravel Another Key Evolutionary Trait

By deciphering the genetics in humans and fish, scientists now believe that the neck - that little body part between your head and shoulders - gave humans so much freedom of movement that it played a surprising and major role in the evolution of the human brain, according to New York University and Cornell University neuroscientists in the online journal Nature Communications (July 27, 2010.)

I just love how the author feels the need to point out exactly where the neck is located -- "that little body part between your head and shoulders." Lol! - DG

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on September 8, 2010 at 4:08pm

Scientific American | Mapping the Mind: Online Interactive Atlas Shows Activity of 20,000 Brain-Related Genes ( Preview )

Key Concepts

Researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have developed an online interactive atlas of the human brain showing the activity of the more than 20,000 human genes.

Scientists can now determine where in the brain genes that encode specific proteins are active—including proteins that are affected by medications. Such information may help predict a drug’s benefits and side effects.

Using the atlas, researchers can zoom in on brain structures thought to be altered in mental disorders such as schizophrenia to find the molecular footprint of these diseases.

The atlas may provide molecular clues to memory, attention, motor coordination, hunger, and perhaps emotions such as happiness or anxiety.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on January 26, 2011 at 3:50pm

This is a series of 36 half-hour lectures. I'm about on lecture 28. Interesting stuff! I'm not taking notes or anything, or trying hard to memorize all the anatomy, but I'm learning a lot nonetheless.  - Dallas

 

Understanding the Brain

Taught By Professor Jeanette Norden, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University School of Medicine,
Vanderbilt University

As you read this, your brain is alive with a flurry of activity, including:

• directing the movement of your eyes
• decoding the electrical impulses from your retina
• recognizing the pattern of words and phrases and extracting their meaning
• controlling your breathing, heart rate, and body temperature
• adjusting your posture
• screening out the buzz of background stimuli

 

Everything that goes on inside your body and every interaction you have with the outside world is controlled by your brain. It allows you to cope masterfully with your everyday environment. It is capable of producing breathtaking athletic feats, sublime works of art, and profound scientific insights. It also produces the enormous range of emotional responses that can take us from the depths of depression to the heights of euphoria.

 

Considering everything the brain does, how can this relatively small mass of tissue possibly be the source of our personalities, dreams, thoughts, sensations, utterances, and movements?

 

Understanding the Brain, a 36-lecture course by award-winning Professor Jeanette Norden of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, takes you inside this astonishingly complex organ and shows you how it works, from the gross level of its organization to the molecular level of how cells in the brain communicate. With its combination of neurology, biology, and psychology, this course will help you understand how we perceive the world through our senses, how we move, how we learn and remember, and how emotions affect our thoughts and actions.

 

Solving the Mystery of the Brain

 

The ancient Egyptians discarded the brain during mummification while carefully preserving other organs; to them, the brain was of no importance. Starting with the Greek physician Hippocrates, however, observers began tracing more and more of our sensory, nervous, and intellectual activities to the brain—and eventually to specific regions of the brain.

 

The brain is still a mystery in many respects—for example, we still are unsure as to how consciousness is generated—but recent decades have seen unparalleled advances in understanding how the brain does what it does. In the last 50 years, an explosion of knowledge about the brain's structure and function has occurred. Scientists have performed amazing research by using tools such as MRIs and PET scanning to get a better grasp on deciphering the mysteries of how this important organ works.

 

Due to these technological advances, we can now pinpoint:

• where light that enters the eye is converted into the subjective experience of sight
• where pressure waves that reach the ear are processed into sound
• where fear is generated
• which areas of the brain are involved in spoken and written language
• where the deep chemistry of love is kindled

 

What You Will Learn

 

Understanding the Brain provides you with an in-depth view of the inner workings of your brain. Your tour starts with the organization of the central nervous system at the gross, cellular, and molecular levels, then investigates in detail how the brain accomplishes a host of tasks—from seeing and sleeping to performing music and constructing a personal identity.

• The Structure of the Brain: Lectures 1–11 cover the cellular structure and the overall layout of this intricate organ. You learn how the brain develops during gestation, and are introduced to the technical vocabulary that you will use throughout the course.
• Brain and Mind: Lectures 12–19 explore how the brain and mind are thought to be related by examining the sensory functions of sight, hearing, and bodily sensation. You analyze the motor system, which governs how movement is initiated and coordinated, and explore Parkinson's disease and its progressive impairment of movement.
• Higher-Order Cognitive Functions: Lectures 20–29 discuss the areas of the brain thought to be responsible for language, emotion, executive function, and cognition—abilities that, in large part, define us as humans. You look at the underlying neurological mechanisms and explore their role in various phenomena like depression, musical ability and appreciation, and drug use.
• Special Topics: Lectures 30–36 look at several subjects of universal interest. Are the brains of males and females different? How does the brain regulate sleep and dreaming? What is consciousness? And how can you understand the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease?

 

Our insights into the functioning of the brain often come from cases where something has gone wrong, such as strokes, tumors, injuries, neurological diseases, and mental illnesses—pathologies that vividly demonstrate the distinct roles played by the various affected regions. An expert neuroscientist, Dr. Norden provides a fascinating presentation of these cases.

 

Know Your Mind

 

We now know that something important is always going on inside our brain and, as Understanding the Brain illustrates, if you know what to look for, you can observe specific aspects of your own brain in action:

• Vision: The "now you see it, now you don't" feeling you get when you see an illusion is your brain trying to interpret raw data from the eyes. Far from taking a picture of the world and sending it to the brain, the eyes actually transmit very little information; "seeing" is a creation of the brain.
• Thought: Sometimes, you can have trouble thinking after taking an antihistamine. This is because antihistamines do not just combat the effects of an allergy, they also block histamine as a neurotransmitter in the brain, altering your ability to think and process information.
• Motor skills: When you learn how to walk, ride a bicycle, knit, dance, or perform some other motor skill, you reach a point where all of a sudden you are able to coordinate the new movement. That is because specialized neurons in your brain's cerebellum are now firing in sequence.
• Emotion and memory: Think about doing your taxes. Does that thought elicit a particular emotion? We do not just remember something; our memories are colored with emotion. All of our experiences are influenced by previous experiences through complex loops in the brain's limbic system.
• Social bonding: Your feeling of well-being with your spouse or friends has a neurochemical basis. The neurotransmitter oxytocin is found in very high concentrations in the limbic systems of animals that bond socially.
• Consciousness: Sometimes, you can arrive at work with very little memory of the details of your journey; obviously you were not unconscious, but you were not fully aware either. This occurs when your brain is in "autopilot" mode—where it was in control without your being conscious of all that was happening around you.

 

Appreciate the Wonder of the Brain

 

As a researcher, Dr. Norden has participated in an ongoing scientific revolution. She is also a nationally recognized educator, singled out as one of the most effective teachers in America in What the Best College Teachers Do. Among Dr. Norden's special qualities cited in the book is this simple, but highly effective, approach to teaching: "Before she begins the first class in any semester, she thinks about the awe and excitement she felt the first time anyone explained the brain to her, and she considers how she can help her students achieve that same feeling."

 

You can share her consuming passion for the intricacies of the brain in this lively and engaging course, which Dr. Norden has designed specifically for those without a background in science. "All you need to bring is your own brain and a desire to learn," she says.

 

Thus equipped, you will explore a broad range of exciting topics in neuroscience. Above all, you will come away from Understanding the Brain with a deeper knowledge of how the brain is organized—and a feeling of wonder and appreciation for all that it accomplishes.

 

Available Exclusively on DVD

 

Because of the visual nature of the subject matter, this course is available only on DVD. It contains hundreds of images, animations, and on-screen text that support the professor's explanation of how our brains function.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on February 23, 2011 at 4:14pm

OMG, I love the term "critical thinking deficit disorder." I am SO gonna use that from now on.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on April 12, 2011 at 4:25pm

Humans, Like Animals, Behave Fearlessly Without the Amygdala

In the 1930s, researchers discovered that when a certain part of monkeys’ brains was removed, the animals became fearless. They approached snakes, started batting them around like sticks and played with their hissing tongues.

Very short article on the NYT.

Permalink Reply by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on August 19, 2012 at 11:11pm

Death anxiety increases atheists’ unconscious belief in God

Monday, 2 April 2012

New University of Otago research suggests that when non-religious people think about their own death they become more consciously skeptical about religion, but unconsciously grow more receptive to religious belief.

The Department of Psychology research also found that when religious people think about death, their religious beliefs appear to strengthen at both conscious and unconscious levels. The researchers believe the findings help explain why religion is such a durable feature of human society.

In three studies, which involved 265 university students in total, religious and nonreligious participants were randomly assigned to “death priming” and control groups. Priming involved asking participants to write about their own death or, in the control condition, about watching TV.

In the first study, researchers found that death-primed religious participants consciously reported greater belief in religious entities than similar participants who had not been death-primed. Non-religious participants who had been primed showed the opposite effect: they reported greater disbelief than their fellow non-religious participants in the control condition.

Study co-author Associate Professor Jamin Halberstadt says these results fit with the theory that fear of death prompts people to defend their own worldview, regardless of whether it is a religious or non-religious one.

“However, when we studied people’s unconscious beliefs in the two later experiments, a different picture emerged. While death-priming made religious participants more certain about the reality of religious entities, non-religious participants showed less confidence in their disbelief,” Associate Professor Halberstadt says.

The techniques used to study unconscious beliefs include measuring the speed with which participants can affirm or deny the existence of God and other religious entities. After being primed by thoughts of death, religious participants were faster to press a button to affirm God’s existence, but non-religious participants were slower to press a button denying God’s existence.

“These findings may help solve part of the puzzle of why religion is such a persistent and pervasive feature of society. Fear of death is a near-universal human experience and religious beliefs are suspected to play an important psychological role in warding off this anxiety. As we now show, these beliefs operate at both a conscious and unconscious level, allowing even avowed atheists to unconsciously take advantage of them.”

The paper co-authors also included Jonathan Jong, currently at the University of Oxford, who undertook the experiments as part of his PhD thesis, and Matthias Bluemke, currently at the University of Heidelberg. Associate Professor Halberstadt
was Jong’s supervisor.

The findings from the three experiments will be published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Permalink Reply by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on September 10, 2012 at 11:24pm

Death anxiety prompts people to believe in intelligent design, reject evolution: UBC research

Researchers at the University of British Columbia and Union College (Schenectady, N.Y.) have found that people’s death anxiety can influence them to support theories of intelligent design and reject evolutionary theory. 

Existential anxiety also prompted people to report increased liking for Michael Behe, intelligent design’s main proponent, and increased disliking for evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins

The lead author is UBC Psychology Asst. Prof. Jessica Tracy with co-authors Joshua Hart, assistant professor of psychology at Union College, and UBC psychology PhD student Jason Martens.

read more about it

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