Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryNeuroscience

model-of-the-human-brain-the-concept-of-medical-health-intellectual-capabilities-the-study-of-the-activity-of-the-cerebral-cortex-psyche-and-consciousness-stockpack-adobe-stock
model of the human brain, the concept of medical health, intellectual capabilities, the study of the activity of the cerebral cortex, psyche and consciousness
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 10, 2022
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience
Tagged
, , , , , , ,

Researchers Locate 440 Genes That Develop Each Brain Differently

Large-scale MRI and genetic datasets are helping us understand the common variants of the genes that help build the human cerebral cortex
News
February 10, 2022
3
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience

To map regions of the brain to specific genes, researchers at the University of California – San Diego did genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of the regional cortical surface area and thickness of 39,898 adults and 9,136 children. That is, they scanned complete sets of DNA (genomes), looking for genetic variations. They were especially interested in variations that might be associated with a problem like autism, epilepsy, or dementia. By and large, construction of the human brain is determined by heredity, though factors like environmental exposures also play a role, particularly during sensitive periods of neurodevelopment during childhood. Large-scale MRI and genetic datasets have increasingly illuminated the common genetic variants that help build the human cerebral cortex — the outer, layered Read More ›

xray spine
x-ray image of spine
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 9, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience
Tagged
, , , , , ,

Man With Severed Spinal Cord Walks Again, Thanks to AI Implant

Most of us would have said that Michael Rocatti, whose spinal cord was severed in a motorcycle accident in 2017, would never walk again. But he did.
News
February 9, 2022
4
Artificial Intelligence, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience

Rocatti had lost all feeling and motion in his legs after the motorbike crash. But thanks to electrodes implanted in their spines in experimental surgery in Lausanne, Switzerland, he and two other young men (29–41) were able to “to stand, walk, ride a bike and even kick their legs in a swimming pool” again. (Guardian) He is slow and unsteady but he is walking. The implant provides a bridge between the brain and the nerves that are severed from it: When prompted, the device sends activity-specific pulses of electricity to various nerves that were cut off from the central nervous system, allowing the Rocatti and other paralyzed people to send the appropriate stimulation and instructions to their legs. Rocatti and Read More ›

cute-little-baby-looking-into-the-camera-stockpack-adobe-stock
Cute little baby looking into the camera
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 8, 2022
Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
, , , , , , , , ,

The Mystery of How Newborns Know Things Gets Deeper

But learning more about it may help us understand autism spectrum disorders better
News
February 8, 2022
8
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Neuroscientist Giorgio Vallortigara ponders the mystery of how exactly babies quickly recognize things when they are born — like human faces — that they simply cannot have learned. We might call it “imprinting” or “instinct” but that’s just a classification, not an explanation. The author of Born Knowing (MIT Press, 2021) decided to start with chicks. That’s a bit simpler. Psychology students know, of course, that newly hatched chicks seem to know that they should follow their mother and do what she does. But what specific cues enable them to identify their mother? It turns out, according to his and colleagues’ research, that they are looking for specific geometrical patterns: Chicks need to actively explore and learn about their environment Read More ›

bienenkreis-stockpack-adobe-stock
Bienenkreis
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
February 3, 2022
Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
Tagged
, , , , , , , , , , ,

Can Insects Be Conscious? Let’s Look At Bees First

Consciousness does not seem to reside in the neocortex so complex behavior in bees has raised the question for biologists and philosophers alike
Denyse O'Leary
February 3, 2022
7
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

Honeybee scientist Andrew Barron and philosopher Colin Klein, both then at Macquarie University in Australia, argue that bees have some form of consciousness. Let’s look at what they have to say: According to an article in Smithsonian Magazine, Barron broached the question of bee consciousness with Klein, who was highly skeptical at first. But Barron pointed out that at least one key theory holds that …the core of human consciousness is not our impressive neocortex, but our much more primitive midbrain. This simple structure synthesizes sensory data into a unified, egocentric point of view that lets us navigate our world. Insects, Barron and Klein now argue, have midbrain-like structures, including a “central complex,” that seem to allow bugs to similarly Read More ›

illustration-of-synapse-and-neuron-on-a-blue-background-stockpack-adobe-stock
Illustration of synapse and neuron on a blue background.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 3, 2022
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
, , ,

Neuroscientists: The Hard Problem of Consciousness Isn’t So Hard!

Damasio and Seth tell Nautilus that materialist explanations will eventually crack consciousness, as they have cracked everything else
News
February 3, 2022
5
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Recently, thinkmag Nautilus brought together neuroscientists Antonio Damasio and Anil Seth to argue that the “Hard Problem of Consciousness.” is not so hard after all. Antonio Damasio, author of Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious (Penguin Random House, 2021), has argued that intelligence is everywhere in life forms and that even viruses have “some fraction of” intelligence. Anil Seth is the author of Being You: A new science of consciousness (2021). He is convinced that the Hard Problem, so named by philosopher David Chalmers, is “magical thinking” and that “there is much to be done in a straightforward materialist understanding of how the brain relates to conscious experience.” For the purposes of their discussion with Kristin French, consciousness is defined Read More ›

live-house-fly-stockpack-adobe-stock
live house fly
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
February 2, 2022
Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience
Tagged
, , , , ,

How Do Insects Use Their Very Small Brains To Think Clearly?

How do they engage in complex behaviour with only 100.000 to a million neurons?
Denyse O'Leary
February 2, 2022
6
Natural Intelligence, Neuroscience

If we had a skeleton that was outside, not inside, our body — and six legs — we might find it easier to understand how insects think. But only a bit easier. Despite complex behavior, insects are working with 100,000 to maybe a million neurons, compared to our, maybe, 86 billion — but insects make the most of what they have. Consider, for example, the dragonfly. How does it manage to deal with all the issues that a fighter pilot must address, while catching prey? One adaptation is specialized neurons: Dragonflies (order Odonata) and hoverflies (order Diptera) are among insect flyers equipped with special neurons for targeting with optic flow. “The ability of insects to successfully pursue targets in clutter Read More ›

lego-mindstom-ev3-fll-robotics-competitions-for-kid-stockpack-unsplash
LEGO MINDSTOM EV3 - FLL ROBOTICS COMPETITIONS for kid.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
February 1, 2022
Categorized
Neuroscience, Robotics
Tagged
, , , , , ,

A Lego Toy That Solves Mazes May Bring New Hope to Amputees

Organic materials that enable computer chips to work like neurons could improve the usability of prostheses
News
February 1, 2022
8
Neuroscience, Robotics

A Lego toy robot with an organic brain, programmed to solve mazes, promises better prostheses: In the winter of 1997 Carver Mead lectured on an unusual topic for a computer scientist: the nervous systems of animals, such as the humble fly. Mead, a researcher at the California Institute of Technology, described his earlier idea for an electronic problem-solving system inspired by nerve cells, a technique he had dubbed “neuromorphic” computing. A quarter-century later, researchers have designed a carbon-based neuromorphic computing device—essentially an organic robot brain—that can learn to navigate a maze. Saugat Bolakhe, “Lego Robot with an Organic ‘Brain’ Learns to Navigate a Maze” at Scientific American (January 28, 2022) The difference between a regular materials-only computer chip made of Read More ›

woman-sleep-on-the-bed-turns-off-the-alarm-clock-wake-up-at-the-morning-selective-focus-stockpack-adobe-stock
Woman sleep on the bed turns off the alarm clock wake up at the morning, Selective focus.
Type
post
Author
Gary Smith
Date
January 31, 2022
Categorized
Neuroscience, Peer Review, Science
Tagged
, , , , , , , , , ,

Get Your 8 (or 5?) Hours of Sleep

Data misrepresentation may win you big gigs, but it makes a bad name for scientists
Gary Smith
January 31, 2022
7
Neuroscience, Peer Review, Science

Matthew Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology and founder of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He has become famous for his book and a TED talk promoting the importance of sleep for health and performance. He even got a job at Google as a “sleep scientist.” Walker has a receptive audience because he is entertaining and his arguments make sense. In one of his books, Walker used a graph similar to the figure below to show that a study done by other researchers had found that adolescent athletes who sleep more are less likely to be injured. The figure is compelling, but there are several potential problems. The hours-of-sleep data were based on 112 responses to an online Read More ›

american-staffordshire-terrier-dog-with-little-kitten-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
American staffordshire terrier dog with little kitten
Type
post
Author
News
Date
January 2, 2022
Categorized
Neuroscience
Tagged
,

Claim: A single brain region preserves our sense of self

No. We live in a strange world but it is not so strange as all that.
News
January 2, 2022
1
Neuroscience

Neuroscientist Robert Martone tells us, A new study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience(SCAN), explores how a specific brain region helps knit together memories of the present and future self. Injury to that area leads to an impaired sense of identity. The region—called the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)—may produce a fundamental model of our self and place it in mental time. In doing so, this study suggests, it may be the source of our sense of self. Robert Martone, “How Our Brain Preserves Our Sense of Self” at Scientific American Paper. This is nonsense, of course. A kitten has a sense of self if you try holding on to its tail. But so does a fly Read More ›

fetus hands
embryo silhouette in woman hand
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
December 28, 2021
Categorized
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Relationships, Social Media
Tagged
, , , , , ,

Political Website’s Christmas Gift to Readers: Promoting Abortion

FiveThirtyEight asked readers to share their abortion stories and got something it hadn’t bargained on: Many were glad it didn’t happen
Michael Egnor
December 28, 2021
6
Ethics, Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Relationships, Social Media
If you want to understand the mindset of the abortion lobby, note that this plea for accounts of killing of children in the womb appeared on Twitter on Christmas Day. Read More ›
Female surgeon praying in operation theater
Doctor nurse surgeon prayer praying Adobe Stock licensed
Type
post
Author
News
Date
December 17, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience, Spirituality
Tagged
, , , , ,

Science Is Discovering That Mystical Experiences Are Real

When we contemplate, says neurologist Andrew Newberg, who studies such experiences, the frontal and parietal lobes of our brains quiet down
News
December 17, 2021
8
Neuroscience, Spirituality

In podcast #165 at Mind Matters News (December 16, 2021), neurosurgeon Michael Egnor continued a discussion with neurologist Andrew Newberg on what we know about spirituality and the brain. Dr. Newberg has published a number of books on the topic, including How God Changes Your Brain (2009) and Why God Won’t Go Away (2008). The “science is atheism!” clubhouse would not be very happy with him. A partial transcript follows, with notes and links. Michael Egnor: Do you see differences in the brains of people who are meditating in a theistic and a non-theistic way? Is there something different about belief in God that you can see in the brain? Andrew Newberg: Well, that’s a great question. We haven’t specifically Read More ›

Group of people holding hands praying worship believe
Type
post
Author
News
Date
December 15, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience, Spirituality
Tagged
, ,

Meet a Doctor Who Thinks Spirituality Isn’t Just All in Your Head

Can science study what you are doing when you pray? Andrew Newberg does and he says the effects are real
News
December 15, 2021
10
Neuroscience, Spirituality

In a recent podcast at Mind Matters News (“Neurotheology and the brain,”#164), neurosurgeon Michael Egnor interviewed neurologist Andrew Newberg on what brain imaging can tell us about spirituality. Dr. Newberg has published a number of books on the topic, including How God Changes Your Brain (2009) and Why God Won’t Go Away (2008) Newberg began by clarifying that he is not trying to explain away anything. He is just trying to understand it. https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/22bb89c2-fcd5-4c6a-87be-9c74b9d92b8c-Mind-Matters-Episode-164-Andrew-Newberg-Episode-1-rev1.mp3 Andrew Newberg: First of all, for me, it is what I like to refer to as a two-way street. It is not just science looking at religion, it is not religion looking at science. It is both of them really looking at each other to help Read More ›

topographic-map-mri-of-the-human-brain-stockpack-adobe-stock
Topographic map MRI of the human brain.
Type
post
Author
News
Date
December 10, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience
Tagged
, , , ,

Detailed Brain Mapping Outlines What We Can — and Can’t — Know

Your brain, fully mapped, would take up a good part of the internet. And then it would just change again
News
December 10, 2021
3
Neuroscience

Recently, a cubic millimetre (one millionth) of the human brain was imaged in sections via an electron microscope and found to contain 1.4 petabytes of data of nerve cells, blood cells, etc. A petabyte would be like taking over 4,000 digital photos per day through your entire life, as Monique Brouilette reports. But that wasn’t the big surprise: Cells were seen that were never seen in other animals, for example, “It is like discovering a new continent,” said Jeff Lichtman of Harvard, the senior author of the paper that presented these results. He described a menagerie of puzzling features that his team had already spotted in the human tissue, including new types of cells never seen in other animals, such Read More ›

Girls eye with paint and earth
Girls eye with paint and earth
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 29, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Science
Tagged

Why Panpsychism Is Starting To Push Out Naturalism

A key goal of naturalism/materialism has been to explain human consciousness away as “nothing but a pack of neurons.” That can’t work
Denyse O'Leary
November 29, 2021
5
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind, Science

Naturalism, often called “materialism,” posits that nature is all there is. Panpsychism doesn’t dispute that. But the panpsychist also thinks that consciousness is real — present in all nature (or all living nature) but especially developed in humans. Last Monday, writing about a classical atheist naturalist who was attacking panpsychism, I reflected on the difficulties the trend to panpsychism presents him. The naturalist is hostile to the panpsychist because he assumes that human consciousness will, in due course, be explained away. It is either an illusion, or an aid to survival that evolved among early humans. Or perhaps it is a spandrel (in evolution theory, a useless accompaniment of useful traits). In short, what we thought was our means of Read More ›

quantum-wave-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Quantum Wave
Type
post
Author
News
Date
November 28, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
, , , , , , ,

Can Quantum Physics, Neuroscience Merge as Quantum Consciousness?

Physicist Marcelo Gleiser looks at the pros and cons of current theories
News
November 28, 2021
4
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Physicist and astronomer Marcelo Gleiser offers some thoughts as to the light that quantum mechanics — as opposed to classical physics — can shed on consciousness. The problem, he thinks, is that both quantum mechanics and consciousness are mysteries. Adding two mysteries together doesn’t produce simple answers: The truth is that despite the tremendous success of quantum physics when it comes to its applications — the digital and nuclear technologies that define much of modern life — its interpretation remains uncertain, a target of heated debate among physicists. We know how to use quantum physics, but we do not know what it is telling us about the nature of reality. Marcelo Gleiser, “Can quantum mechanics explain consciousness?” at Big Think Read More ›

Businessman and his conscience
Type
post
Author
News
Date
November 26, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
, , , , , , , , , ,

A Neuropsychologist Takes a Crack at Defining Consciousness

Frustrated by reprimands for discussing Big Questions in neuroscience, Mark Solms decided to train as a psychoanalyst as well
News
November 26, 2021
12
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Recently, distinguished South African neuropsychologist Mark Solms discussed the real state of brain research with Stonybrook neurosurgeon Michael Egnor at Theology Unleashed (October 22, 2021) In the first portion, Solms, author of The Hidden Spring (2021), began by asserting in his opening statement that “the source of consciousness in the brain is in fact in the brain stem,” not the cerebral cortex, as is almost universally assumed. Dr. Egnor then responded that his clinical experience supports the view that brain is not mind. Then Solms pointed to the reality that discussing the fact that the brain is not the mind can be a career-limiting move in neuroscience — even though clinical experience supports the view. Egnor and Solms agreed that Read More ›

brain-mind-way-soul-and-hope-concept-art-illustration-surreal-mystery-artwork-imagination-painting-conceptual-idea-of-success-stockpack-adobe-stock
Brain mind way soul and hope concept art, illustration, surreal mystery artwork, imagination painting, conceptual idea of success
Type
post
Author
News
Date
November 25, 2021
Categorized
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Materialist Neuroscientists Don’t Usually See Real Patients

Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and neuropsychologist Mark Solms find common ground: The mind can be “merely what the brain does” in an academic paper. But not in life
News
November 25, 2021
14
Medicine and Health, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Recently, distinguished South African neuropsychologist Mark Solms discussed the real state of brain research with Stonybrook neurosurgeon Michael Egnor at Theology Unleashed (October 22, 2021) In the first portion, Solms, author of The Hidden Spring (2021), began by asserting in his opening statement that “the source of consciousness in the brain is in fact in the brain stem,” not the cerebral cortex, as is almost universally assumed. Dr. Egnor then responded that his clinical experience supports the view that brain is not mind. But Solms pointed to the reality that asserting the fact that the brain is not the mind can be a career-limiting move in neuroscience — even though clinical experience supports the view. In this portion, Egnor and Read More ›

open-eye-in-space-stockpack-adobe-stock
open eye in space
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 22, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
, , , , , , , ,

A Darwinian Biologist Resists Learning To Live With Panpsychism

Jerry Coyne makes two things quite clear: He scorns panpsychism and he doesn’t understand why some scientists accept it
Denyse O'Leary
November 22, 2021
8
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Jerry Coyne, a traditional Darwinian evolutionary biologist and author of Why Evolution Is True, is having a hard time understanding why anyone would even consider taking panpsychism seriously. His bafflement over the growing acceptance of the idea that every living thing (or everything) is conscious to some extent may shed light on some new features of the changing science landscape. His jumping off point is a recent three-way debate/discussion, sponsored by MindChat, between panpsychist philosopher Philip Goff, naturalist theoretical physicist Sean Carroll, and physicalist philosopher Keith Frankish, who views the mind as an illusion created by the brain — or, as Coyne puts it, “a trick of the biological mind.” Coyne, as a metaphysical naturalist (nature is all there is), Read More ›

choosing-the-high-road-or-low-road-stockpack-adobe-stock
Choosing the High Road or Low Road
Type
post
Author
Michael Egnor
Date
November 22, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
, , , ,

Does Science Disprove Free Will? A Physicist Says No

Marcelo Gleiser notes that the mind is not a solar system with strict deterministic laws
Michael Egnor
November 22, 2021
5
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

One of the most disturbing implications of materialism in modern science is the inference that science disproves the existence of free will. Of course, this is not actually the case, but even the mistaken denial of free will has profound and very disturbing implications for our social structure, our criminal justice system, and our way of government. People who are assumed to lack free will are ultimately little more than cattle to be herded and, as philosopher Hannah Arendt has observed, the denial of free will — and the denial of individual responsibility that follows on it — is a cornerstone of totalitarianism. At Big Think, physicist and philosopher Marcelo Gleiser points to the fallacy that physics and neuroscience disprove Read More ›

nerve-cell-3d-neurons-stockpack-adobe-stock
Nerve Cell. 3D. Neurons
Type
post
Author
News
Date
November 19, 2021
Categorized
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind
Tagged
, , , , , ,

Why So Many Neuroscientists Are Unreflective Materialists

It’s part of a larger commitment to the belief that materialism will one day refute dualism by explaining away all of the apparent immaterial aspects of the mind
News
November 19, 2021
5
Neuroscience, Philosophy of Mind

Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor has contributed a chapter of The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith: Exploring the Ultimate Questions About Life and the Cosmos (2021): “Have science and philosophy refuted free will?” (Ch 18) and “Can materialism explain human consciousness?” (Ch 19). In it, he notes a reality of modern neuroscience: Materialism (the mind is simply what the brain does) is not a discovery so much as a pledge of allegiance: One might think that the logical problems with materialism would insulate 21st-century neuroscience from its influence, but that is not so. Most contemporary neuroscientists work from an implicitly materialist perspective — in part because they’re unreflective, in part because materialism is the metaphysical correlate of the atheistic scientism that Read More ›