Neuroscience
"Man, know thyself" was the challenge of ancient Greek philosophers and it has been the goal of mankind since.
Thousands of years later, neuroscientists are trying to decipher how the human brain constructs our sense of self, with mixed results. Pretty pictures mapped to activity can only tell us so much. But if self-awareness is defined as being aware of oneself, including traits, feelings, and behaviors, there are three brain regions critical for self-awareness, they say: the insular cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex.
Or not. A research team now says…
amorca |
The recent discoveries that α-Synuclein(α-Syn), a central player in Parkinson´s disease (PD) brain destruction, can not only pass from one neuron to another but also exist outside neuronal cells, has led to a rethink of the disease. A study investigating α-Syn effects out of the cell has found that the protein can interfere with the normal functioning of the hippocampus, the brain area for memory and learning, what might start explaining the cognitive and memory problems seen in so many PD patients.
The work from the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Lisbon University also shows…
Can robots learn language? Is understanding a language depending on how we see the world and does a Spanish speaker see the world in the same way as an English one?
Linguistic and cognitive experts are going to argue those issues when they arrive at Northumbria University next week for the fifth annual ‘Embodied and Situated Language Processing 2012’ conference August 28-30.
Research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council recently focused on the spatial demonstratives – words, like ‘this’ and ‘that’, which are associated with how far or near an object is to the speaker – and…
The latest literature suggests that brain activity patterns change at an early stage in Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, there is reason to believe that, instead of being the consequence of structural damage, they might be the cause.
Recently, a direct influence of excessive regional neuronal activity on Alzheimer pathology was found in animal experiments. By showing that highly connected 'hub' regions (which display most Alzheimer pathology) indeed possess the highest levels of activity, the present study offers support for the unconventional view that brain dynamics may play a causal role in…
A joint study conducted by researchers from the University of L'Aquila in Italy and Mars, Incorporated says that the regular consumption of dietary cocoa flavanols may improve cognitive function in elderly subjects with early memory decline. The study shows the impact of regular cocoa flavanol consumption on cognitive function in a population with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
Previous research has suggested that the benefits of cocoa flavanols could extend to the brain. However, these studies were either only short-term or did not demonstrate a consistent cognitive benefit. This unique…
The hormone oxytocin is well-known as the “bliss hormone” because it is secreted upon stimulation by touch and is known to result in a feeling of calm and physical relaxation. But odder claims are that is is a “mindreading” hormone and recent research set out find if there is any truth in those claims.
As part of a research project carried out by Siri Leknes, a research fellow at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo, 40 healthy students were administered nasal spray containing a dose of either saltwater or oxytocin. They were subsequently shown photographs of faces…
The brain is like a muscle; it can get into a routine. But mixing up the workout a little is healthy in both cases. In the brain, however, it isn't without difficulties.
Learning a new task when rules change can be a surprisingly difficult process and entail repeated mistakes, according to a new study. Take a US driver and put them in England where they suddenly have to drive on the left side of the road. The brain, trained for right-side driving, becomes overburdened trying to suppress the old rules while simultaneously focusing on the new rules - putting them on a moped if…
amorca |
Researchers have moved a step closer to find a treatment for the fatal neurodegenerative disorder Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) after a Portuguese team from the Centre for Neurosciences at the University of Coimbra was able to halt the brain degeneration in mice, by blocking a molecule called calpain. Calpain are known to cut ataxin-3 (the mutant protein behind MJD) into fragments, and the study proves that these fragments are crucial to trigger the neurodegeneration.
If the work can be repeated in patients – and preliminary results suggest that it can – drugs to block calpain could…
Brain activity is a complex cipher but researchers were recently able to 'decode' monkey thoughts and determine how the little primates were planning to approach the same task - before they moved a muscle.
Watching large groups of neurons doesn't reveal much but a group of scientists recently took it to another level; they demonstrated that multiple parameters can be embedded in the firing rate of a single neuron and that certain types of parameters are encoded only if they are needed to solve the task at hand. Interesting enough, but they also discovered that the population…
Hank |
Why do clowns freak us out? And why are robots cute until they look too much like people, and then then they creep us out?
It's our old friend the Uncanny Valley and it basically postulates that the more realistic something gets to a human likeness, the more repulsive it is. I don't mean like realistic special effects as in "Wrath Of The Titans" - that giant, flaming lava hand of Chronos looks cool - but rather likeness when it comes to humanoids, be they zombies or robots.
The Uncanny Valley has long been known, but but finding that line has been experimental. …