Neuroscience posts
- March 17, 2010
- 09:15 AM
- 22 views
'Wasabi receptor' is snake's infrared sensor
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
SNAKES have a unique sensory system for detecting infrared radiation, with which they can visualize temperature changes within their immediate environment. Using this special sense, they can image the body heat radiating from warm-blooded animals nearby. This enables them to track their prey quickly and with great accuracy, even in the dark, and to target the most vulnerable parts of the prey's body when they strike. It warns them of the presence of predators, and may also be used to find approp........ Read more »
Gracheva, E., Ingolia, N., Kelly, Y., Cordero-Morales, J., Hollopeter, G., Chesler, A., Sánchez, E., Perez, J., Weissman, J., & Julius, D. (2010) Molecular basis of infrared detection by snakes. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature08943
- March 17, 2010
- 06:27 AM
- 28 views
Hunkin’s Hypothesis: Technology Is What Makes Us Human
by Duncan Hull in O'Really?
Cartoonist and engineer Tim Hunkin is probably best known for his exhibits at the Science Museum in London and his Under The Pier Show “a mad arcade of home-made slot machines & simulator rides on Southwold Pier, Suffolk”. His website is a treasure trove of weird and wonderful things.
Tim has an interesting proposition, let’s call [...]... Read more »
Frances Evans. (1998) Two legs, thing using and talking: The origins of the creative engineering mind. AI , 12(3), 185-213. DOI: 10.1007/BF01206195
- March 17, 2010
- 06:25 AM
- 62 views
700-year-old Brain Found Preserved!
by Hesitant Iconoclast in NeuroWhoa!
Evolutionary psychology tends to receive harsh criticism, and often rightly so. One of the main reasons for this is the severe lack of evidence for many of it's proposals given that the paucity of fossilised brains fails to bolster many a case. And it isn't even anyone's fault. That's just the way it goes sometimes, that the brain is a jelly-like substance that is subject to decay after death, and there's no way we can objectively analyse or verify any differences in brains of long ago with brai........ Read more »
Papageorgopoulou, C., Rentsch, K., Raghavan, M., Hofmann, M., Colacicco, G., Gallien, V., Bianucci, R., & Rühli, F. (2010) Preservation of cell structures in a medieval infant brain: A paleohistological, paleogenetic, radiological and physico-chemical study. NeuroImage, 50(3), 893-901. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.01.029
- March 17, 2010
- 05:32 AM
- 23 views
Mmm... Food-Induced Seizures
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
In a tasty new paper, British neurologists Kate El Bouzidi et al report on the case of a woman who suffered epileptic seizures whenever she saw, or tasted, food:A 44-year-old right-handed woman was walking in the Scottish highlands. Upon unwrapping her lunch, she had a focal seizure with witnessed onset on the right side of the face and secondary generalization... She was airlifted to hospital. Three weeks later, the smell of food triggered another seizure and she was admitted to the neurology u........ Read more »
El Bouzidi K, Duncan S, Whittle IR, & Butler CR. (2010) Lesional reflex epilepsy associated with the thought of food. Neurology, 74(7), 610-2. PMID: 20157165
- March 16, 2010
- 05:36 PM
- 38 views
To be here, or not to be
by Lorimer Moseley in BodyInMind
The feeling that ‘I’ am ‘here’ is a central component of our personal identity and sense of self. In a recent study[1], we asked what would happen to the representation of the body if we disrupted the feeling of the body being located at a single point in space. We used an illusion [...]... Read more »
[1] Longo MR, Kammers MP, Gomi H, Tsakiris M, & Haggard P. (2009) Contraction of body representation induced by proprioceptive conflict. Current biology : CB, 19(17). PMID: 19906570
[2] Goodwin GM, McCloskey DI, & Matthews PB. (1972) Proprioceptive illusions induced by muscle vibration: contribution by muscle spindles to perception?. Science (New York, N.Y.), 175(28), 1382-4. PMID: 4258209
- March 16, 2010
- 10:03 AM
- 55 views
What is "Self Transcendence"?
by Hesitant Iconoclast in NeuroWhoa!
A recent study by Italian researchers uncovered the fact that neurosurgery involving certain brain structures can effect personality changes that make one feel more "spiritual". 88 patients underwent pre- and post-surgical personality assessments while treated for tumours, and the results were combined with lesion mapping procedures (to precisely locate lesions) after surgery to measure changes in a personality construct called Self-Transcendence (ST). It was found that patients with p........ Read more »
Urgesi, C., Aglioti, S., Skrap, M., & Fabbro, F. (2010) The Spiritual Brain: Selective Cortical Lesions Modulate Human Self-Transcendence. Neuron, 65(3), 309-319. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.01.026
Cloninger CR, Svrakic DM, & Przybeck TR. (1993) A psychobiological model of temperament and character. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50(12), 975-90. PMID: 8250684
- March 16, 2010
- 01:53 AM
- 30 views
Earworms, lyrics, and tunes in the brain
by William Lu in The Quantum Lobe Chronicles
Last time I left off quoting Lady GaGa's masterwork "Poker Face". I continue to rag on it because I can't seem to escape it's repetitive and forced impingement on my vulnerable eardrums. Unfortunately, the city doesn't afford much auditory privacy and some people in the subway are really determined to lose their hearing before old age. Whatever happened to iPod etiquette? According to Oliver Sack's book Musicophilia I've got a bad case of the earworm. This is when a piece of music repeats compul........ Read more »
Sammler, D., Baird, A., Valabregue, R., Clement, S., Dupont, S., Belin, P., & Samson, S. (2010) The Relationship of Lyrics and Tunes in the Processing of Unfamiliar Songs: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Adaptation Study. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(10), 3572-3578. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2751-09.2010
- March 15, 2010
- 09:52 PM
- 14 views
Discriminating Cathinone Analogs
by DrugMonkey in DrugMonkey
sourceMy Google news alert for MDMA, Ecstasy and the like has been turning up references to a cathinone analog called variously 4-methylmethcathinone (4-MMC), mephedrone (2-methylamino-1-p-tolylpropan-1-one), Meow-Meow, MMCAT and a few other things. There has been one fatality attributed* to 4-MMC that I can find and a few bits of seized-drug analysis confirming that the stuff is indeed being used. A quick scan over at PubMed finds little reported on the effects of this compound in animal models........ Read more »
DALCASON, T., YOUNG, R., & GLENNON, R. (1997) Cathinone: An Investigation of Several N-Alkyl and Methylenedioxy-Substituted Analogs. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 58(4), 1109-1116. DOI: 10.1016/S0091-3057(97)00323-7
- March 15, 2010
- 01:04 PM
- 45 views
Dyslexia and Brain Connectivity: Insights from Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia
by Livia in Reading and Word Recognition Research
Accessibility Level: Intermediate
One theory of dyslexia is that it stems from abnormal brain connectivity -- that faulty connections between different language areas result in reading difficulty. Now, some evidence from another condition offers some support for this theory.
Periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH) is a neurological condition in which neurons don’t migrate to the correct
... Read more »
Chang, B., Katzir, T., Liu, T., Corriveau, K., Barzillai, M., Apse, K., Bodell, A., Hackney, D., Alsop, D., Wong, S.... (2007) A structural basis for reading fluency: White matter defects in a genetic brain malformation. Neurology, 69(23), 2146-2154. DOI: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000286365.41070.54
- March 15, 2010
- 10:16 AM
- 37 views
How Loss Creates Depression And Growth
by Cole Bitting in Fable
The Creative Destruction of Loss: Can We Grow More Than We Wither?
Height is a trait: the taller the man, the greater the (evolutionary) fitness, at least to a certain point. The average height of a population closely approximates the optimal height. There is a distribution around this optimal norm: some are taller and some are shorter. Neuroticism,1 like height, is also a trait.
Language is an adaptation - an innate capacity baked into our DNA. Language skill is a trait, influenced by ge........ Read more »
NETTLE, D. (2004) Evolutionary origins of depression: a review and reformulation. Journal of Affective Disorders, 81(2), 91-102. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2003.08.009
Brewin, C., Gregory, J., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010) Intrusive images in psychological disorders: Characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological Review, 117(1), 210-232. DOI: 10.1037/a0018113
Brewin, C., Dalgleish, T., & Joseph, S. (1996) A dual representation theory of posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Review, 103(4), 670-686. DOI: 10.1037/0033-295X.103.4.670
Nettle, D. (2009) An evolutionary model of low mood states. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 257(1), 100-103. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.10.033
Watkins, E. (2008) Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 163-206. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.163
Nettle, D. (2006) The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals. American Psychologist, 61(6), 622-631. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.61.6.622
- March 15, 2010
- 06:30 AM
- 37 views
Should scientists be in control?
by Björn Brembs in bjoern.brembs.blog
The cliché scientist is often portrayed as the laborious worker slogging away days and nights in the lab. In contrast, the cliché for musicians or artists often comprises a bohemian lifestyle, full of parties, drugs and the occasional spurts of genius and frantic artistic expression. Reality, as always, is somewhere in-between. Artists need to work hard and laboriously to get something finished before the concert, recording or exhibition and scientists need to be creative and invest a lot of ........ Read more »
Liston, C., McEwen, B., & Casey, B. (2009) Psychosocial stress reversibly disrupts prefrontal processing and attentional control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(3), 912-917. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0807041106
Radley, J. (2005) Repeated Stress Induces Dendritic Spine Loss in the Rat Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 16(3), 313-320. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhi104
- March 15, 2010
- 03:33 AM
- 42 views
The Neuroscience of Anorexia Nervosa
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
One of the most striking features of those suffering from anorexia nervosa is their perception of their bodies. You can put them in front of a mirror and they will still tell you they’re to fat when in fact they’re skinny. A recent publication in Nature Proceedings has an explanation.
This explanation is based on the [...]
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Riva, Guiseppe. (2010) Neuroscience and Eating Disorders: The role of the medial-temporal lobe. Nature Proceedings. info:/
- March 14, 2010
- 05:24 PM
- 21 views
If graves could talk, Patrick Wall’s would be screaming (oh, and genes affect pain)
by Lorimer Moseley in BodyInMind
In 1986, Pat Wall and Steve McMahon commented on the folly of talking about nociception as though it is pain -
‘the labelling of nociceptors as pain fibres was not an admirable simplification but an unfortunate trivialization’ and
‘…pain is an integrated package of analysed results related to meaning, significance and imperative action’ [1]
Almost 25 years have [...]... Read more »
[1] Wall, P., & McMahon, S. (1986) The relationship of perceived pain to afferent nerve impulses. Trends in Neurosciences, 254-255. DOI: 10.1016/0166-2236(86)90070-6
[2] Reimann, F., Cox, J., Belfer, I., Diatchenko, L., Zaykin, D., McHale, D., Drenth, J., Dai, F., Wheeler, J., Sanders, F.... (2010) Pain perception is altered by a nucleotide polymorphism in SCN9A. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0913181107
- March 14, 2010
- 02:59 PM
- 38 views
The Cocaine Conundrum
by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox
Effective treatment remains elusive.
For addiction to cocaine, amphetamine, and other stimulants, the treatment picture has been complicated by the lack of any truly significant anti-craving medications. (See post, “No Pill for Stimulant Addiction"). The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has yet to approve any medications for the treatment of either cocaine or amphetamine addiction.
Take the case of cocaine. Partly the problem stems from the direct effect cocaine has on dopamine transm........ Read more »
Hiranita, T., Soto, P., Newman, A., & Katz, J. (2009) Assessment of Reinforcing Effects of Benztropine Analogs and Their Effects on Cocaine Self-Administration in Rats: Comparisons with Monoamine Uptake Inhibitors. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 329(2), 677-686. DOI: 10.1124/jpet.108.145813
- March 13, 2010
- 05:45 PM
- 52 views
Brain scans read memories
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
FORMATION of a memory is widely believed to leave a 'trace' in the brain - a fleeting pattern of electrical activity which strengthens the connections within a widely distributed network of neurons, and which re-emerges when the memory is recalled. The concept of the memory trace was first proposed nearly a century ago, but the nature of the trace, its precise location in the brain and the underlying neural mechanisms all remain elusive. A new study by researchers from University College London ........ Read more »
Chadwick, M. J., et al. (2010) Decoding Individual Episodic Memory Traces in the Human Hippocampus. Curr. Biol. info:/
- March 12, 2010
- 09:20 PM
- 78 views
fMRI becomes big, big science
by Tal Yarkoni in citation needed
There are probably lots of criteria you could use to determine the relative importance of different scientific disciplines, but the one I like best is the Largest Number of Authors on a Paper. Physicists have long had their hundred-authored papers (see for example this individual here; be sure to click on the “show all authors/affiliations” [...]... Read more »
Biswal, B., Mennes, M., Zuo, X., Gohel, S., Kelly, C., Smith, S., Beckmann, C., Adelstein, J., Buckner, R., Colcombe, S.... (2010) Toward discovery science of human brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(10), 4734-4739. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0911855107
- March 12, 2010
- 07:51 AM
- 47 views
Wired for Music
by Kevin Mitchell in Wiring the Brain
Music has a bizarre power to engage and affect us – to move us emotionally or literally, whether it’s foot-tapping, finger-drumming or booty-shaking. It seems to have properties that make it automatically and powerfully salient for human beings. An obvious question is whether this reflects some innate properties of the human brain or whether it emerges over time due to experience with types of music. Put another way, does the brain shape the music or the other way around?........ Read more »
Perani, D., Saccuman, M., Scifo, P., Spada, D., Andreolli, G., Rovelli, R., Baldoli, C., & Koelsch, S. (2010) Functional specializations for music processing in the human newborn brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(10), 4758-4763. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0909074107
Sun, T. (2005) Early Asymmetry of Gene Transcription in Embryonic Human Left and Right Cerebral Cortex. Science, 308(5729), 1794-1798. DOI: 10.1126/science.1110324
- March 12, 2010
- 03:35 AM
- 42 views
Friston is Freudian
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Professor Karl Friston is one of the most prominent (and prolific) researchers in the field of neuroimaging. His contributions to methodological development in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are immense:He invented statistical parametric mapping; SPM is an international standard for analysing imaging data and rests on the general linear model and random field theory (developed with Keith Worsley). In 1994, his group developed voxel-based morphometry. VBM detects differences in n........ Read more »
Carhart-Harris, R., & Friston, K. (2010) The default-mode, ego-functions and free-energy: a neurobiological account of Freudian ideas. Brain. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awq010
- March 11, 2010
- 03:30 PM
- 35 views
When You Expect Rapid Feedback, the Fire to Perform Gets Hotter
by David DiSalvo in Neuronarrative
Let’s say that you’re preparing for an extremely important test that you and roughly 100 other classmates will be taking in a week. A few days before the test, you find out that your instructor will be going on a trip not long after the test is over and will be providing written and verbal feedback to the students within a day of the test.
This is unusual, because ordinarily the instructor waits a week or more before providing feedback. About half of the class finds out that the........ Read more »
Kettle, K., & Haubl, G. (2010) Motivation by Anticipation: Expecting Rapid Feedback Enhances Performance. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797610363541
- March 11, 2010
- 05:34 AM
- 108 views
"Why do we believe", and are atheists really more intelligent?
by Daniel in Ego sum Daniel
ResearchBlogging.org editor Dave Munger has written an article for SEED magazine entitled "Why do we believe". The article summarizes recent blog entries regarding studies on the origins of religiosity. It's really worth reading to get a good overview of the subject, and what do you know he links my entry on god's will and beliefs in it.
Among the studies that are mentioned is a controversial study entitled "Why Liberals and Atheists Are More Intelligent" (link at the end of this post).
Medic........ Read more »
Kanazawa, S. (2010) Why Liberals and Atheists Are More Intelligent. Social Psychology Quarterly. DOI: 10.1177/0190272510361602
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