Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryNeuroscience

social-media-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Social media concept.

Should Kids Under 16 Be Banned From Social Media?

An internal study by Instagram found that using the platform made fully one-third of teenage girls feel worse — but they couldn’t stop

(This article by Texas State University engineering prof Karl D. Stephan originally appeared at Engineering Ethics Blog (June 20, 2022) under the title “Social Media: For adults only?” and is reprinted with permission.) Writing in National Review, cultural critic Christine Rosen recently proposed a total ban on social media for everyone under the age of 16.  One can imagine all sorts of problems with this idea, ranging from enforcement issues to what it would be like living in a country where nearly all the teenagers start screaming at the same time.  But let’s step back from the immediate issues and effects, and ask what the ethics of such a ban would be.  Rosen cites a number of other things that we don’t let Read More ›

-stockpack-unsplash

Ever Wish You Had Total Recall? Ask People Who Do…

Recall of every detail of one’s past works out better for some people than for others

Marilu Henner who played Elaine Nardo in the sitcom Taxi (1978–1983), has total recall: She can recall, off the top of her head, the exact day she got the part. “It was June 4 of 1978. It was a Sunday and I found out at the ‘Grease’ premiere party,” Henner said. “‘Taxi’ is so vivid to my mind. The very first rehearsal was July the 5 th of 1978. That was a Wednesday and our first show was shot the 14 th, a Friday.” The actress, who has also starred in “L.A. Story” (1991) and “Man on the Moon” (1999), is one of only 12 people in the world diagnosed with hyperthymesia, also known as Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory. David Read More ›

a-german-train-passes-a-train-station-stockpack-adobe-stock
a german train passes a train station

The “My Train Is Moving Too!” Illusion

Special neurons help us study the motion of others when we are moving too — but they can sometimes be fooled

Do you recall that odd feeling when — sitting on a train that you know is standing still — you suddenly feel that it is moving (!)? It happens when you are watching a moving train right beside you and there is no other reference point. There’s a name for that: vection, “the sensation of movement of the body in space produced purely by visual stimulation.” It is a staple, of course, of IMAX films and virtual reality displays. And it’s a fairly easy illusion to produce: It turns out that vection can be induced with any sufficiently decent screen and some scenery. Experimenters can put make people believe they’re spinning in a circle, zipping back and forth, and even Read More ›

healthy-lifestyle-choice-fresh-vegetables-and-fruit-shaped-as-human-head-stockpack-adobe-stock
Healthy lifestyle choice. Fresh vegetables and fruit shaped as human head

Yes, Our Brains — Like Computers — Have a Low-Power Mode

Sure they do. It makes a lot of sense to conserve power when food supplies are low

Neuroscientists have often wondered if the high-metabolism human brain had a power conservation mode and a recent open-access paper in Neuron finds that brains use an energy-saving strategy to cope with shortages. Cognitive neuroscientist Allison Whitten explains: Now, in a paper published in Neuron in January, neuroscientists in Nathalie Rochefort’s lab at the University of Edinburgh have revealed an energy-saving strategy in the visual systems of mice. They found that when mice were deprived of sufficient food for weeks at a time — long enough for them to lose 15%-20% of their typical healthy weight — neurons in the visual cortex reduced the amount of ATP used at their synapses by a sizable 29%. But the new mode of processing Read More ›

mind brain external.jpg
3D male figure depicting mental health problems

Neuroscientist: The Mind Is More Than a Machine — or Is It?

Bobby Azarian hopes that self-organization theory can account for consciousness and possibly enable sentient, conscious computers

Cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian, author of The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity (2022), offers a self-organization theory approach to the reality of the mind: Most neuroscientists believe that consciousness arises when harmonized global activity emerges from the coordinated interactions of billions of neurons. This is because the synchronized firing of brain cells integrates information from multiple processing streams into a unified field of experience. This global activity is made possible by loops in the form of feedback. When feedback is present in a system, it means there is some form of self-reference at work, and in nervous systems, it can be a sign of self-modeling. Feedback loops running from one Read More ›

laboratory-mouse-in-the-experiment-test-stockpack-adobe-stock
Laboratory mouse in the experiment test.

Researchers: Our Brains Use Data Compression To Get Things Right

A recent experiment with mice showed data compression at work when the mice were making decisions about how to get a reward

We are used to thinking of data compression in connection with computers but a recent study with mice shows that brains compress data too. The researchers ask us to imagine a dilemma from anearly video game: If you were a kid in the 80s, or are a fan of retro video games, then you must know Frogger. The game can be quite a challenge. To win, you must first survive a stream of heavy traffic, only to then narrowly escape oblivion by zig-zagging across speeding wooden logs. How does the brain know what to focus on within all this mess? Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, “The brain applies data compression for decision-making” at Eurekalert (June 6, 2022) Driving in snarled, Read More ›

group-of-burning-candles-against-blue-background-close-up-stockpack-adobe-stock
Group of burning candles against blue background, close up

Neuroscientist: Spirituality Helps Health Directly and Indirectly

Andrew Newberg has spent thirty years studying the effects of spirituality using the techniques of neuroscience

Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, co-author with Daniel A. Monti, M.D., of Brain Weaver: Creating the Fabric for a Healthy Mind through Integrative Medicine (Kales Press, 2021), reflected recently on what studies on the mental health benefits of spirituality can teach us. Some of the benefits of spirituality are due to the lifestyle changes it promotes: For example, going to church or other social events that are part of a religious tradition can be beneficial because social support, in and of itself, is beneficial to our mental health. The more people that we have in our social support network, the better we are at coping with various life stressors including problems with jobs, relationships, or health. Most religions also teach people to Read More ›

crinkle-cut-psychedelic-pulse-stockpack-adobe-stock
Crinkle Cut Psychedelic Pulse

Optical Illusions: What Causes Them? Try Some Out!

Illusions can be literal, physiological, or cognitive, depending on which aspect of your brain is the object of a con job on your vision

Abigail Howell, a biomedical student at ArizonaState University, explains that there are three different types of optical illusion, in which the brain incorrectly interprets what the eyes are seeing: Literal optical illusions are often produced by putting together a collection of multiple images. Each individual image may be easy to see, but the images together may look very different than the originals. This is accomplished through what is known as the “filling-in phenomena.” When the eye sends visual information to the brain, the brain chooses what parts to focus on. Depending on the focus, different layers of the image may be seen. Abigail Howell, “Ask a biologist: What causes optical illusions?” at ArizonaState University She offers as an example of Read More ›

brain-network-of-astrocytes-glial-cells-that-support-neurons-stockpack-adobe-stock
Brain: network of astrocytes (glial cells that support neurons).

The Zombie Genes That Survive Our Deaths

Death is an event that is more like a process. Some brain cells even become more active after we die. Neuroscientist Jeffrey A. Loeb explains: “Most studies assume that everything in the brain stops when the heart stops beating, but this is not so,” says the study’s corresponding author Jeffrey Loeb, the John S. Garvin Professor and head of neurology and rehabilitation at the UIC’s College of Medicine. Robby Berman, “‘Zombie’ genes in the brain get to work after you die” at Big Think (March 26, 2021) He and colleagues discovered gene expression in tissue from brain surgery that did not jive with the expressions observed in living humans, whether or not those humans had any neurological disorders. Because he Read More ›

brain-thinking-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
brain, thinking concept

Researchers: Humans Process Information Differently From Monkeys

In a paper at Nature Neuroscience, researchers reported on human vs. macaque brains on input/output systems and synergy between regions

In the ongoing research puzzle as to exactly why humans are significantly smarter than other animals, researchers writing in Nature Neuroscience have adopted an information theory approach, describing the human brain as a “distributed information-processing system.” They found that we process information differently from other primates. Our brain regions for sensory and motor functions use a simple input/output system with high reliability due to high redundancy (repetition). Our eyes duplicate most of each other’s information but that helps ensure that our view of the scene is correct. However, there is a very different way of processing information — synergistic processing — which integrates signals from across a variety of brain networks. This approach is better adapted, the researchers say, to Read More ›

female-brain-stem-anatomy-brain-stockpack-adobe-stock
Female Brain Stem - Anatomy Brain

A Little-Known Structure Tells Our Brains What Matters Now

Work with monkeys and mice has shed light on the filtering role of a neglected feature of the mammalian brain

At Scientific American, we learn from a team of neuroscientists, how our brains distinguish important from unimportant sensations. We filter out many more signals than we pay attention to, especially in familiar situations. We notice what has changed — especially if it’s an opportunity or a problem. While the prefrontal cortex is associated with decision-making, it turns out to get some help from a tiny structure in the brain stem, as these researchers discovered: How does the brain accomplish these feats of focus? In recent research at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., we have illuminated a new answer to this question. Through several studies, we have discovered that Read More ›

asian-adult-granddaughter-hurrying-over-to-her-fallen-grandpa-in-coma-on-floor-and-calling-911-on-her-mobile-phone-at-home-elder-senior-fall-and-faint-risk-at-home-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Asian adult granddaughter hurrying over to her fallen grandpa in coma on floor and calling 911 on her mobile phone at home. elder senior fall and faint risk at home concept

Can Brain Death Be Reversed? Some Researchers Are Hopeful

Some researchers study the salamander, which can regenerate parts of its brain, for answers for brain-injured humans

Although we have been told since 1968 that brain death is irreversible (“A definition of irreversible coma. Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death”), some are beginning wonder whether, with newer technologies, that is still true. Bioquark CEO Ira S. Pastor offers some thoughts: Despite the label of irreversibility associated with the 1968 Harvard Ad Hoc Committee definition, there are several documented cases in the literature of potential brain death reversal, primarily associated with younger subjects whose central nervous system maintained some degree of underlying neuroplasticity. As most leaders in this field acknowledge that residual “nests” of neuronal activity and residual blood flow do indeed exist in the recently Read More ›

female-temporal-lobe-brain-anatomy-blue-concept-stockpack-adobe-stock
Female Temporal Lobe Brain Anatomy - blue concept

Woman Missing Key Language Part of Brain Scores 98% in Vocab Test

Missing her left temporal lobe, she was told for years by doctors that her brain did not make sense

While the human brain appears essential to being human, people can live normally — and even excel — with large parts of the brain missing or with brains that have been cut in half. That happened to EG, who grew up missing her left temporal lobe. As told at Wired: For EG, who is in her fifties and grew up in Connecticut, missing a large chunk of her brain has had surprisingly little effect on her life. She has a graduate degree, has enjoyed an impressive career, and speaks Russian—a second language–so well that she has dreamed in it. She first learned her brain was atypical in the autumn of 1987, at George Washington University Hospital, when she had it Read More ›

3d-human-brain-stockpack-adobe-stock
3D human brain

Even Neurons Have Rich Clubs and Poor Clubs

Both — doing different jobs — are essential to the brain’s functioning

New York University School of Medicine neuroscientist György Buzsáki offers a long essay at Scientific American, explaining how he came to adopt an “inside-out,” rather than an “outside-in” perspective on how the brain works. The brain, in his view, is primarily preoccupied with self-organization and it incorporates outside information in order to help with that project. Along the way, he entertainingly describes two different types of neurons and what they do: Most neurons are only weakly connected to others, whereas a smaller subset retains robust links. The strongly connected minority is always on the alert. It fires rapidly, shares information readily within its own group, and stubbornly resists any modifications to the neurons’ circuitry. Because of the multitude of connections Read More ›

a-trio-of-woolly-mammoths-trudges-over-snow-covered-hills-behind-them-mountains-with-snow-covered-peaks-rise-above-dark-green-forests-of-fir-trees-3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock
A trio of woolly mammoths trudges over snow covered hills.  Behind them, mountains with snow covered peaks rise above dark green forests of fir trees. 3D Rendering

Did Small Brains Doom the Mammoth and the Giant Armadillo?

A recent study showed that survivors had brains that were 53% larger, which was perhaps useful in avoiding predators

A recent study of mammal extinctions during and after the Ice Age found that the large mammals (megafauna) that went extinct during the period of 115,000 years ago through 500 years ago (the Late Quaternary) had smaller brains in relation to body mass than those that survived: The researchers explain that the last Ice Age was characterized by the widespread extinction of large and giant animals on all continents on earth (except Antarctica). Among these were, in America, giant ground sloths weighing 4 tons, a giant armadillo weighing a ton, and mastodons; in Australia the marsupial diprotodon weighing a ton, giant kangaroos, and a marsupial ‘lion’; and in Eurasia giant deer, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, and giant elephants weighing up to Read More ›

nerve-cells-stockpack-adobe-stock
nerve cells

New Learning Model for Brain Overturns 70 Years of Theory

The new model, if confirmed, could change the way algorithms are developed

According to new research, when learning takes place, it’s not just the synapses (by which neurons send signals to each other) but the whole communication structure (the dendrites) of the neuron that changes. The researchers compare the synapses to leaves and the dendrites to a tree. This, if it replicates, is a radical revision from nearly a century ago. For the last 70 years a core hypothesis of neuroscience has been that brain learning occurs by modifying the strength of the synapses, following the relative firing activity of their connecting neurons. This hypothesis has been the basis for machine and deep learning algorithms which increasingly affect almost all aspects of our lives. But after seven decades, this long-lasting hypothesis has Read More ›

Independent Thinking

A British Philosopher Looks For a Way to Redefine Free Will

Julian Baggini’s proposed new approach assumes the existence of the very qualities that only a traditional view of the mind offers

British philosopher Julian Baggini, author of The Great Guide: What David Hume Can Teach Us about Being Human and Living Well (2021) argues against the idea of free will, as commonly understood (voluntarist free will). Citing the fact that the world is controlled by physics, he writes, No matter how free we feel, our understanding of nature tells us that no choice originates in us but traces its history throughout our histories and our environments. Even leaving aside physics, it seems obvious that, at the moment of any choice, the conditions for that choice have already been set, and to be able to escape them would be no more than the ability to generate random actions. And if all that Read More ›

interconnected neurons
3D illustration of Interconnected neurons with electrical pulses.

The Mysterious White Matter of the Brain

It’s difficult to study but turns out to be very important

We all talk about “gray matter,” the cerebral cortex of the brain, thought to be the basis for learning, remembering, and reasoning. But what about “white matter”? Neurologist Christopher Filley has the story as to why we don’t know much about it: This lack of recognition largely stems from the difficulty in studying white matter. Because it’s located below the surface of the brain, even the most high-tech imaging can’t easily resolve its details. But recent findings, made possible by advancements in brain imaging and autopsy examinations, are beginning to show researchers how critical white matter is. White matter is comprised of many billions of axons, which are like long cables that carry electrical signals. Think of them as elongated Read More ›

brain coral
Close up of Grooved brain coral labyrinth

An Ocean in Our Brains?

An “ocean” does not hardly begin to describe our brains.,

An “ocean” does not hardly begin to describe our brains: For years, the brain has been thought of as a biological computer that processes information through traditional circuits, whereby data zips straight from one cell to another. While that model is still accurate, a new study shows that there’s also a second, very different way that the brain parses information: through the interactions of waves of neural activity. The findings help researchers better understand how the brain processes information. Salk Institute, “An ocean in your brain: Interacting brain waves key to how we process information ” at Salk Institute (April 22, 2022) It is probably much more complex even than that. The paper is open access. You may also wish Read More ›

in-control-room-doctor-and-radiologist-discuss-diagnosis-while-watching-procedure-and-monitors-showing-brain-scans-results-in-the-background-patient-undergoes-mri-or-ct-scan-procedure-stockpack-adobe-stock
In Control Room Doctor and Radiologist Discuss Diagnosis while Watching Procedure and Monitors Showing Brain Scans Results, In the Background Patient Undergoes MRI or CT Scan Procedure.

Can a Human Being Be Gifted Despite Missing Lots of Brain?

Many would doubt it — but that’s what the evidence shows

A most interesting recent article by Grace Browne at Wired discusses the fact that a woman who prefers to be known only as EG — but is in her fifties — has lived a quite interesting life while missing a large portion of her brain: For EG, who is in her fifties and grew up in Connecticut, missing a large chunk of her brain has had surprisingly little effect on her life. She has a graduate degree, has enjoyed an impressive career, and speaks Russian—a second language––so well that she has dreamed in it. She first learned her brain was atypical in the autumn of 1987, at George Washington University Hospital, when she had it scanned for an unrelated reason. Read More ›