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A neuroscience blog.
Mo
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- December 24, 2008
- 05:45 AM
- 1,671 views
Phantom feelings exorcized by changes in body position
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Synchiria is a neurological condition in which a stimulus applied to one side of the body is referred to both sides. If, for example, one's left hand is touched, he experiences tactile sensations on both hands. People with intact brains do not experience this, probably because of inhibitory mechanisms which prevent activity in one hemisphere of the brain from crossing over to the other.
This phenomenon is therefore very rare, and has only been reported in a small number of brain-damaged patients. It has been described in the auditory sense, whereby a person addresses a patient on the left but is responded to as if they were on the right, and in the visual sense, in which a visual stimulus presented to one eye is described as having been presented to the other. Such patients, in whom the inhibitory mechanisms which normally prevent stimuli from eliciting sensations on both sides of the body are apparently disrupted, provide a unique opportunity for investigating the underlying brain processes. A new case study, published in Current Biology, shows that the phantom tactile sensations experienced by a stroke patient can be modulated by simple movements. This suggests that the inhibitory processes between the left and right hemispheres of the brain are controlled by limb position, and contributes to our understanding of the complex processes by which different types of information are integrated to produce our subjective sensory experiences.
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J MEDINA, & B RAPP. (2008) Phantom Tactile Sensations Modulated by Body Position. Current Biology, 18(24), 1937-1942. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.10.068
- December 22, 2008
- 07:57 AM
- 1,723 views
Rats know their limits with border cells
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Spatial navigation is the process on which we rely to orient ourselves within the environment and to negotiate our way through it. Our ability to do so depends upon cognitive maps, mental representations of the surrounding spaces, which are constructed by the brain and are used by it to calculate one's present location, based on landmarks in the environment and on our movements within it, and to plan future movements.
The term "cognitive map" was first used in a landmark 1948 paper, in which the behavioural psychologist Edward Tolman described his now famous studies of rats in mazes. In that paper, Tolman postulated that "incoming impulses are usually worked over and elaborated...into a tentative, cognitive-like map of the environment...indicating routes and paths and environmental relationships." The paper provided a starting point for modern research into spatial navigation, and after decades of research, much progress has been made in our understanding of how the brain forms cognitive maps.
We now know that the circuitry encoding the cognitive map lies in the hippocampus and surrounding areas, and that these parts of the brain contain at least 3 distinct types of neurons which together encode an organism's location within its environment and the paths it takes to move through it. In the current issue of Science, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim report that they have discovered a fourth class of neuron involved in spatial navigation.
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T. Solstad, C. N. Boccara, E. Kropff, M.-B. Moser, & E. I. Moser. (2008) Representation of Geometric Borders in the Entorhinal Cortex. Science, 322(5909), 1865-1868. DOI: 10.1126/science.1166466
- December 16, 2008
- 09:42 AM
- 1,468 views
Rubber hand feels real for amputees
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
One of the bigger challenges facing researchers who are developing artificial limbs is to create prostheses that not only act but also feel like real limbs. This is especially true for the hand, which is one of the most sensitive parts of the human body, and although advanced prosthetic hands with fully articulated digits which move independently of one another are now available, they would be far more useful if they provided the user with sensory feedback.
Last year, surgeons from the Rehabilitation Center of Chicago made some progress towards this goal: they fitted amputee Claudia Mitchell with a prosthetic arm, after re-routing the intact nerves from the stump to muscles in her chest. Now, when that part of her chest is pressed, she feels a crude sensation that the fingers of her missing limb are being touched. An alternative approach is to connect the prosthesis directly to the brain and this could be achieved, in theory at least, by attaching sensors in the prosthesis to electrodes which are implanted into the somatosensory cortex, or into the peripheral nerves which project up to it.
Both of these procedures involve surgery, on either the brain or the peripheral nerves, and so are extremely invasive. Now Swedish researchers show that a simple illusion can induce amputees to experience a rubber hand as their own, so that tactile stimuli directed to it produce sensations which are localized to their missing limbs. The study, which is published in an open access paper in the journal Brain, is therefore an important step towards the development of neuroprostheses which feel like real limbs.
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H. H. Ehrsson, B. Rosen, A. Stockselius, C. Ragno, P. Kohler, & G. Lundborg. (2008) Upper limb amputees can be induced to experience a rubber hand as their own. Brain. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awn297
- December 12, 2008
- 11:57 AM
- 1,386 views
Visual images reconstructed from brain activity
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Recent advances in functional neuroimaging have enabled researchers to predict perceptual experiences with a high degree of accuracy. For example, it is possible to determine whether a subject is looking at a face or some other category of visual stimulus, such as a house. This is possible because because we know that specific regions of the brain respond selectively to one type of stimulus but not another.
These studies have however been limited to small numbers of visual stimuli in specified categories, because they are based on prior knowledge of the neural activity associated with the conscious perception of each stimulus. For example, we know that the fusiform face area responds selectively to faces, and so we can predict that a subject is looking at a face if that area is active, or some other visual stimulus if it is not.
Researchers from the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan have now made a significant advance in the use of fMRI to decode subjective experiences. They report a new approach which uses decoded activity from the visual cortex to accurately reconstruct viewed images which have not been previously experienced. The findings are published in the journal Neuron.
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Y MIYAWAKI, H UCHIDA, O YAMASHITA, M SATO, Y MORITO, H TANABE, N SADATO, & Y KAMITANI. (2008) Visual Image Reconstruction from Human Brain Activity using a Combination of Multiscale Local Image Decoders. Neuron, 60(5), 915-929. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.11.004
- December 9, 2008
- 11:50 AM
- 1,555 views
Brain's response to fear is culture-specific
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin noted that facial expressions vary little across cultures. We all recognize that someone whose eyes and mouth are wide open, and whose eyebrows are raised, is afraid. This characteristic expression is a social signal, which warns others of a potential threat and serves as a plea for help. It also enhances our ability to sense potential threats, by increasing the range of vision and enhancing the sense of smell.
Recognizing fear in others involves perceiving cues which we are consciously aware of as well as subliminal cues. But the brain's response to fearful facial expressions is automatic, so one might assume that it is universal. However, a collaborative study by American and Japanese researchers, published in the December issue of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, provides evidence that the neural response to fear is fine-tuned by culture.
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Joan Y. Chiao1, Tetsuya Iidaka2, Heather L. Gordon, Junpei Nogawa,, & Moshe Bar, Elissa Aminoff , Norihiro Sadato5, and Nalini Ambady. (2008) Cultural Specificity in Amygdala Response to Fear Faces. J. Cog. Neuro, 2167-2174.
- December 3, 2008
- 12:15 PM
- 1,576 views
The body swap illusion
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Body ownership - the sense that one's body belongs to one's self - is central to self-awareness, and yet is something that most of us take completely for granted. We experience our bodies as being an integral part of ourselves, without ever questioning how we know that our hands belong to us, or how we can distinguish our body from its surroundings.
These issues have long intrigued philosophers and psychologists, but had not been investigated by neuroscientists until recently. Now researchers from the Karolinska Institute report that they have induced a "body-swap" illusion, whereby subjects perceived the body of another person as belonging to themselves. Their findings are published today in the open access journal PLoS One.
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Petkova V.I. . (2008) If I Were You: Perceptual Illusion of Body Swapping. PLoS One, 3(12). DOI: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003832
Petkova V.I. . (2008) If I Were You: Perceptual Illusion of Body Swapping. PLoS One, 3(12). DOI: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003832
- December 1, 2008
- 11:30 AM
- 1,780 views
Tactile-emotion synaesthesia
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Synaesthesia is a neurological condition in which stimuli of one sensory modality evoke experiences in another modality. This is thought to occur as a result of insufficient "pruning" during development, so that most of the pathways connecting parts of the brain mediating the different senses remain in place instead of being eliminated. Consequently, there is too much cross-talk between sensory systems, such that activation of one sensory pathway leads simultaneously to activity in another.
Once believed to be extremely rare, synaesthesia is now thought to be relatively common. The cross-modal connections implicated in the condition are present in all of us, to a greater or lesser extent. Thus, some researchers argue that we all experience synaesthesia-like sensations to some degree, but that these sensations are particularly intense in only some individuals.
Earlier this year, researchers from the California Institute of Technology described a new form of the condition, called hearing-touch synaesthesia, in which moving visual stimuli evoke sounds. Now Vilayanur Ramachandran and David Brang of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego report another unusual form of the condition. In the journal Neurocase, they describe the first two known cases of individuals with what they have called tactile-emotion synaesthesia, who experience a specific emotion whenever they touch a particular texture.
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V. S. Ramachandran, & David Brang. (2008) Tactile-emotion synesthesia. Neurocase, 14(5), 390-399. DOI: 10.1080/13554790802363746
- November 26, 2008
- 12:40 PM
- 1,499 views
Distorting the body image affects perception of pain
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
The term body image was coined by the great neurologist Henry Head and refers to a mental representation of one's physical appearance. Constructed by the brain from past experience and present sensations, the body image is a fundamental aspect of both self-awareness self-identity, and can be disrupted in many conditions.
Disruption of the body image can have profound physical and psychological effects. For example, body image distortion is implicated in eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, and also leads to phenomena such as phantom limb syndrome and body dysmorphic disorder; extreme cases of the latter can lead some people to request amputation of what they perceive to be a supernumery limb.
A new study published in Current Biology now shows that visual distortions of the body image in patients suffering from chronic pain can signifiantly affect their perception of painful sensations. The findings could lead to improvements in the treatment of, and rehabilitation regimes for, a wide variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
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G MOSELEY, T PARSONS, & C SPENCE. (2008) Visual distortion of a limb modulates the pain and swelling evoked by movement. Current Biology, 18(22). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.09.031
- November 25, 2008
- 10:23 AM
- 1,754 views
Blind people are better at finding their way
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
For most of us, visual perception is crucial for spatial navigation. We rely on vision to find our way around, to position ourselves and localize objects within the surroundings, and to plan our trajectory on the basis of the layout of the environment. Blind people would therefore seem to be at a disadvantage. Unable to rely on vision, they depend instead upon different sorts of cues to form their representations of space. They rely, for example, proprioception, which provides a sense of the location, movement and posture of one's own body through space, and on vestibular information regarding changes in the rotational movements of the head.To compensate for their inability to understand their environment visually, blind persons also store large amounts of non-visual information regarding the spatial organization of their environment, and are more reliant on this information than are sighted individuals. A team of Canadian researchers therefore predicted that blind people would perform better on spatial navigation tasks than sighted individuals, and that they would also show differences in the size of the hippocampus, the region on the inner surface of the temporal lobe which is involved in spatial memory. Remarkably, the study, which is published in the November issue of the journal Brain, confirmed both of these predictions. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
M. Fortin, P. Voss, C. Lord, M. Lassonde, J. Pruessner, D. Saint-Amour, C. Rainville, & F. Lepore. (2008) Wayfinding in the blind: larger hippocampal volume and supranormal spatial navigation. Brain, 131(11), 2995-3005. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awn250
- November 24, 2008
- 06:00 PM
- 1,501 views
Neural basis of congenital face blindness
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Prosopagnosia is a neurological condition characterised by an inability to recognize faces. In the most extreme cases, the prosopagnosic patient cannot even recognize their own face in the mirror or a photograph, and in his 1985 book The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, the neurologist Oliver Sacks describes the extraordinary case of a farmer who lost the ability to recognize the faces of his cows!
Also known as face blindness, prosopagnosia is associated with damage to specific parts of the temporal lobes. But there are also documented cases of patients who have the condition in the absence of brain damage. The form of face blindness is congenital: those who inherit a genetic mutation are born with an impaired ability to recognize faces.
A new study, published online in the journal Nature Neuroscience, now provides the first evidence of a neurobiological substrate for congenital prosopagnosia. The study, which was led by Cibu Thomas of Carnegie Mellon University, shows that the condition is associated with reduced connectivity between the regions of the brain involved in face processing.
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Cibu Thomas, Galia Avidan, Kate Humphreys, Kwan-jin Jung, Fuqiang Gao, & Marlene Behrmann. (2008) Reduced structural connectivity in ventral visual cortex in congenital prosopagnosia. Nature Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2224
- November 18, 2008
- 12:18 PM
- 1,670 views
Optogenetic therapy for spinal cord injury
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Optogenetics is a recently developed technique based on microbial proteins called channelrhodopsins (ChRs), which render neurons sensitive to light when inserted into them, thus enabling researchers to manipulate the activity of the cells using laser pulses.
Although still very new - the first ChR protein was isolated from a species of green algae in 2002 - optogenetics has already proven to be extremely powerful - it can be used to switch neurons on or off in an extremely precise manner and so to control simple behaviours in small organisms such as the nematode worm.
Earlier this year, ChR was used to restore vision to blind mice lacking the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in the retina. And now researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio have used the technique to restore motor function in rats paralysed by spinal cord injuries.
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W. J. Alilain, X. Li, K. P. Horn, R. Dhingra, T. E. Dick, S. Herlitze, & J. Silver. (2008) Light-Induced Rescue of Breathing after Spinal Cord Injury. Journal of Neuroscience, 28(46), 11862-11870. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3378-08.2008
- November 12, 2008
- 10:28 AM
- 1,537 views
Young neurons led astray
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
It is now well established that the adult mammalian brain - including that of humans - contains at least two discrete populations of neural stem cells which continue to generate new nerve cells throughout life. These newborn neurons are quickly integrated into existing circuits and are essential for proper functioning of the brain.
A new study published in the open access journal PLoS Biology shows that inhibiting a protein called cdk5 impairs the migration of newly generated neurons into the hippocampus, and causes them to form inappropriate connections with pre-existing cells. The findings shed some light on the molecular mechanisms by which new neurons are generated and have implications for cell replacement therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases.
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Sebastian Jessberger, Stefan Aigner, Gregory D. Clemenson, Nicolas Toni, D. Chichung Lie, Özlem Karalay, Rupert Overall, Gerd Kempermann, & Fred H. Gage. (2008) Cdk5 Regulates Accurate Maturation of Newborn Granule Cells in the Adult Hippocampus. PLoS Biology, 6(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060272
- November 11, 2008
- 10:59 AM
- 1,569 views
Half-brain micro-napping
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Every autumn, millions of songbirds embark upon long distance southerly migrations to warmer climes. Some species migrate during the day, but the majority - including sparrows, thrushes and warblers - do so at night, leaving their daytime habitats just after dusk and spending the next 8-10 hours on the wing.
Nocturnal migration has several benefits. Cooler temperatures reduce the risk of overheating; reduced turbulence allows for a smooth flight with minimal energy expenditure; and the cover of night provides good protection from predators. These fly-by-night migratory species lose substantial amounts of sleep, yet continue to behave normally, with the sleep loss having no observable effect on their behaviour.
A new study published online in the journal Biology Letters suggests a behavioural adaptation which enables the Swainson's thrush (Catharus ustulatus) to compensate for this loss of sleep. It provides evidence that these birds can rest one hemisphere of their brain for short periods of time while keeping the other hemisphere fully awake.
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T. Fuchs, D. Maury, F.R. Moore, & V.P. Bingman. (2008) Daytime micro-naps in a nocturnal migrant: an EEG analysis. Biology Letters, -1(-1), -1--1. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0405
- November 10, 2008
- 01:35 PM
- 1,544 views
Embryonic stem cells form functional brain tissue
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
A team of Japanese researchers has demonstrated that embryonic stem cells obtained from mice and humans can spontaneously organize themselves into cortical tissues when grown in a culture dish under special conditions.
Reporting in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the researchers show that the neurons generated form functioning short-range and long-range connections, and can be effectively integrated into existing neuronal circuits following transplantation into the brains of experimental animals.
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M EIRAKU, K WATANABE, M MATSUOTAKASAKI, M KAWADA, S YONEMURA, M MATSUMURA, T WATAYA, A NISHIYAMA, K MUGURUMA, & Y SASAI. (2008) Self-Organized Formation of Polarized Cortical Tissues from ESCs and Its Active Manipulation by Extrinsic Signals. Cell Stem Cell, 3(5), 519-532. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2008.09.002
- November 4, 2008
- 08:00 AM
- 1,783 views
You cannot be serious! Perceptual errors by professional tennis referees
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
The Men's Final of the 1981 Wimbledon Tennis Championships is one of the most memorable events in sporting history. John McEnroe, who was playing against Bjorn Borg, famously challenged one of the referee's calls by throwing a tantrum, during which he shouted the immortal line "You cannot be serious!"McEnroe's outburst was controversial, and he was almost eliminated from the championship because of it. But he may have been right to challenge the referee after all: according to a new study published in Current Biology, in such close calls, professional tennis referees consistently misjudge the location of a ball's bounce because of a perceptual error caused by an inherent property of the visual system. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
D WHITNEY, N WURNITSCH, B HONTIVEROS, & E LOUIE. (2008) Perceptual mislocalization of bouncing balls by professional tennis referees. Current Biology, 18(20). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.08.021
- November 3, 2008
- 12:20 PM
- 1,010 views
Memories are made of molecular motors
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Learning and memory are widely thought to involve long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of synaptic plasticity in which a neuron's response to the chemical signals it receives is enhanced. This leads to a strengthening of the neuronal circuit, so that the memory encoded in the circuit can persist for long periods of time.
One of the mechanisms by which this synaptic strengthening occurs is an increase in the density of receptors in the membrane of the neuron receiving the signals. This process, which involves trafficking of receptors within cells, is implicated not only in learning and memory but also in conditions such as chronic pain and drug addiction.
In the current issue of Cell, a group of researchers led by Michael Ehlers of Duke University Medical Center report that receptor trafficking is mediated by a protein which is closely related to the molecule which generates the force needed for the contraction of muscle cells.
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Z WANG, J EDWARDS, N RILEY, D PROVANCEJR, R KARCHER, X LI, I DAVISON, M IKEBE, J MERCER, & J KAUER. (2008) Myosin Vb Mobilizes Recycling Endosomes and AMPA Receptors for Postsynaptic Plasticity. Cell, 135(3), 535-548. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2008.09.057
- October 28, 2008
- 01:15 PM
- 1,727 views
An eye-opening view of visual development
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
The pioneering experiments performed by Hubel and Weisel in the late 1950s and early 60s taught us much about the development of the visual system. We now know, for example, that neurons in the visual cortex are organized into alternating ocular dominance columns which receive inputs from either the left or right eye and that groups of cells within each of these columns respond selectively to bars or edges of a specific orientation moving in a specific direction.
Hubel and Weisel also found that the proper development of these areas of the brain is dependent upon visual information from the eyes. Their work showed that the visual cortex fails to develop properly if deprived of sensory input during a specific time window. This firmly established the idea of the "critical period", and immediately suggested treatments for young children with eye conditions such as amblyopia ("lazy eye") and strabismus ("crossed eyes").
Now researchers from Duke University Medical Center have observed how early visual experience drives maturation of the visual cortex. Using sophisticated in vivo imaging techniques, they have monitored the changes in the functional properties of visual cortical neurons which occur immediately following eye opening in ferrets. In this way, they show how the first stimuli to enter the eye lead to the emergence of direction selectivity in visually naïve neurons and to the organization of the cells into groups which respond to a preferred direction.
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Ye Li, Stephen D. Van Hooser, Mark Mazurek, Leonard E. White, & David Fitzpatrick. (2008) Experience with moving visual stimuli drives the early development of cortical direction selectivity. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature07417
- October 27, 2008
- 01:05 PM
- 1,509 views
First case study of developmental phonagnosia
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
The term phonagnosia refers to an inablity to recognize familiar voices or to discriminate between unfamiliar ones. This is a rare condition that is usually associated with brain damage: the ability to recognize familiar voices is impaired by damage to several regions of the right parietal lobe, and impaired voice discrimination is associated with damage to the temporal lobe in both hemispheres.
Researchers from UCL now report the first known case of developmental phonagnosia. In the journal Neuropsychologia, they document the case of a 60-year-old woman known as K.H., who says that she has been unable to recognize familiar voices for as long as she can remember.
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L GARRIDO, F EISNER, C MCGETTIGAN, L STEWART, D SAUTER, J HANLEY, S SCHWEINBERGER, J WARREN, & B DUCHAINE. (2008) Developmental phonagnosia: A selective deficit of vocal identity recognition. Neuropsychologia. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.08.003
- October 25, 2008
- 08:16 PM
- 1,681 views
Erasing memories
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
Erasing memories has long been a popular plot device for Hollywood scriptwriters. In the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for example, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet play a separated couple who undergo a radical treatment in order to abolish every trace of the relationship from their brains.
The ability to erase memories is no longer confined to the realms of science fiction. In the current issue of Neuron, researchers from the Medical College of Georgia, in collaboration with others from the Shanghai Institute of Brain Functional Genomics, report that they have rapidly erased new and old memories from the brains of mice in a controlled manner.
Using a combination of protein engineering and organic chemical synthesis, the researchers manipulated levels of a key enzyme called alpha calcium/ calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (αCaMKII) at specified times in the mouse brain, and found that transiently increasing the level of the enzyme just before recall of a memory led to its selective erasure.
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X CAO, H WANG, B MEI, S AN, L YIN, L WANG, & J TSIEN. (2008) Inducible and Selective Erasure of Memories in the Mouse Brain via Chemical-Genetic Manipulation. Neuron, 60(2), 353-366. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.08.027
- October 22, 2008
- 12:26 PM
- 1,560 views
The brain keeps time with a metronome
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
The fourth dimension - time - is essential for many cognitive processes, and for rhythmic movements such as walking. Recent research has begun to elucidate how neuronal activity encodes events that occur on the timescale of tens to hundredths of milliseconds (hundredths of a second) and contain cues which are required for processes such as visual perception, speech discrimination and fine movements.
Many organisms time events on much larger scales. However, next to nothing is known about the mechanisms by which the brain encodes longer periods of time. A new study now sheds some light on these processes. It shows that the rhythmic activity of neuronal ensembles in the zebrafish visual system can encode the time interval of repetitive visual stimuli, and that this metronome-like activity can retain the memory of the interval for up to 20 seconds.
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Germán Sumbre, Akira Muto, Herwig Baier, & Mu-ming Poo. (2008) Entrained rhythmic activities of neuronal ensembles as perceptual memory of time interval. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature07351
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