Sweet or Bitter? ask your brain, not your mouth

Article from Nature, by Yueqing Peng, Sarah Gillis-Smith, Hao Jin, Dimitri Tränkner, Nicholas J. P. Ryba & Charles S. Zuker.

Debate on causality of perceptions and awareness have lately been feedng from neural research. This study fits into this trend, as some other examples of perceptual ilusions making it richer.

“…In mammals, information from taste receptor cells in the tongue is transmitted through multiple neural stations to the primary gustatory cortex in the brain.

Recent imaging studies have shown that sweet and bitter are represented in the primary gustatory cortex by neurons organized in a spatial map with each taste quality encoded by distinct cortical fields.

Here we demonstrate that by manipulating the brain fields representing sweet and bitter taste we directly control an animal’s internal representation, sensory perception, and behavioural actions. These results substantiate the segregation of taste qualities in the cortex, expose the innate nature of appetitive and aversive taste responses, and illustrate the ability of gustatory cortex to recapitulate complex behaviours in the absence of sensory input.”

More on how brain adapts to internet

In “How has the Internet reshaped human cognition?“, Kep-Kee Loh and Ryota Kanai move forward the debate on how cognitive processes and brain structures are adapting to our interaction with the instant access to information through internet.

They study information processing, memory consolidation, brain circuitry, multitasking, distractions, addictive behavior, and other promising lines of research. To their credit conclusions are often that more research is required. Having such broad view on the matter is welcome. There are signs of some precipitated condemnation as ‘internet is bad for people’ we expect from resistance to change.

Nicholas Carr book ‘The Shallows” was part of growing criticism on how the internet was affecting negatively our brains. One typical culprit was the excessive multitasking. When studies showed heavy media multitaskers performed worse on a test of task-switching ability those critics felt vindicated. Then as studies with shorter titles are cited more often by other scientists more people were certain: ‘even’ scientists were affected by the shallow effect.

How can we tap this shallow information pool to go deeper into our minds?

Sonogenetics – non-invasive neural control by sound

Sonogenetics is a technique that allows non invasive activation of specific neurons. This is not totally new, but significantly different from similar results were obtained through light-sensitive neurons for a few years. Let’s recap:

First you have to decide which neurons you plan to interact with. Not trivial, especially if you consider how extensive and intricate neural mappings and brain networks can be – currently beyond scientific precision.

Then you genetic engineer such neurons so that they develop certain features (misexpression of TRP-4 protein channel if you ask) that react to ultrasound stimulus.

And then, you make sure you are able to produce and transmit ultrasound to those neurons in a controlled way. In this point there is a major advance compared to light stimulation, for you don’t have to place a light source directly at the neuron population.

And voila – ultrasound transmission remotely control neural activity.

Scientists Stuart Ibsen, Ada Tong, Carolyn Schutt, Sadik Esener & Sreekanth H. Chalasani published an article describing how they did it. Of course, in a much more accurate manner. And initial results were tested in a nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (a small worm) but implications and potential are very promising.

Far from the initial experiment results of controlling the movements of a worm, many nervous system treatments and deeper understanding of brain mechanisms may benefit from further developments.

Computers outrunning our brain. What about choice?

About when people would seem enough to think of computing capacity in terms of FLOPS, supercomputers development makes the point that a better measure is TEPS. TEPS stand for Traversed edges per second, which is sort of FLOPS weighted by communication cost.

Anyway, fact is AI Impacts produced estimates for our Brain performance in TEPS. Next thing was the ubiquitous, of course. It would seem we can hire this computational power in the next decade by $ 100/hour. But for the time being this cost is estimated to be around $4,700 – $170,000/hour. So go to your boss and tell him he’s renting your brain for a bargain.

IF you do so, your odds are better if you skip the info below and make it simple. New studies show that our brains do consider cognitive effort when making choices. This ‘TLDR’ feature of brain wiring may be the culprit in preventing you to go through the paper “Separate and overlapping brain areas encode subjective value during delay and effort discounting” that says so.

monkeys enjoy cookery and tools – and perhaps would like to talk about it too

Covering the historical gap mankind has put between itself and the (rest of the) animals, studies now show (other) monkeys have more capabilities than previously thought of.

BBC’s Collin Barras presents us to the case of “Chimpanzees and monkeys have entered the Stone Age“. Evidence of stone tool usage being passed through be many generations has been found in many species. And apparently they are prepared to enjoy and use cookery.

In another article, Natalie Shoemaker reports that “Koko the Ape Learns to Speak Using Basic Vocal Controls“.

I wonder what they have to way about global warming.

Modafinil corroborated as cognitive enhancer

Modafinil has been used to enhance cognitive functions such as concentration and alertness.

This drug was originally designed to help sleeping disorder (narcolepsy).

“Modafinil for cognitive neuroenhancement in healthy non-sleep-deprived subjects: a systematic review” by R.M. Battleday, A-K. Brem presents a new study corroborating those cognitive functions benefits.

Never bad to keep in mind all sorts of psycological, force of habit, social and other forms of potential addictive side effects…

“Artificial Intelligence Is Already Weirdly Inhuman” by DAVID BERREBY

From Nautilus, Dark Matter issue via Azeem Azhar:

“…Artificial intelligence has been conquering hard problems at a relentless pace lately (…) neural network has equaled or even surpassed human beings at tasks like discovering new drugs, finding the best candidates for a job, and even driving a car.

(…) some hard problems make neural nets respond in ways that aren’t understandable.

(…) Not knowing how or why a machine did something strange leaves us unable to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

But the occasional unexpected weirdness of machine “thought” might also be a teaching moment for humanity. (…) they might show us how intelligence works outside the constraints of our species’ limitations. (…)” read full article

“The Neuron’s Secret Partner: Glial cells…” by FERRIS JABR

Article by Ferris Jabr, illustrated by Jackie Ferrentino, featured in Nautilus

“When we speak of brain cells we usually mean neurons: (…) The rest, known as neuroglia or simply glia, have long lived in the neuron’s shadow.

(…) By the early 1900s, that notion had begun to erode. (…) From the 1960s onward (…) neuroscientists confirmed that glia are the brain’s architects, doctors, police, janitors, and gardeners. In the last five years, researchers have finally brought glia into the limelight as the highly dynamic, incomparably versatile, and indispensable partners of the neuron. Here are five recently discovered roles glia play in the brain:

Wiring – (…) radial glial cells form a widespread lattice of cables along which neurons crawl like inchworms (…) A series of studies in the last three years have also confirmed that some glial cells excrete molecules that promote the formation of new connections between neurons, while others engulf and digest weak and underused synapses, changing the brain’s micro-circuitry throughout life.
Clearing Clutter – (…) Microglia roam about scavenging harmful tangles of proteins, the remains of dead cells, and bits of unneeded DNA. But a study published just last year indicated that microglia are essential for eliminating clumps of amyloid beta and other protein clusters associated with Alzheimer’s and related neurodegenerative disorders. (…)

Helping Neurons Talk – (…) oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) is one of the most unique and active types of glia. (…) OPCs form synapses with neurons and change their own behavior (…)

Helping You Breathe – (…) When glia known as astrocytes detected a drop in blood pH, which would correspond to elevated levels of carbon dioxide, they increased (…) the breathing rate in live rats, eventually bringing more oxygen to the brain. Raising the pH, which would correlate with oxygenated blood, had the opposite effect. (…)

Making You Smart – By absorbing and releasing neurotransmitters, and thereby modifying the availability of these molecules, astrocytes change how frequently and forcefully neurons fire” read full story

Empathy, Authority, and Virtual Reality

Suggestion has been used for a long time by pseudo-psychics, hypnotism, and other form of magicians. Regardless of some straight-out frauds, this is telling of the way our mind interprets perceptions does not conform to a deterministic way people sometimes try to see their ‘reasoning’.

An important factor on most of the explored means of tapping into suggestion was interaction with other person (the hypnotist). Authority plays a major role in this. As human communication is more and more mediated by technology, would our perception of authority be migrating as well? One may see a big data miracle if amazon guess someone is pregnant by her shopping history, but take for granted if a local pharmacist do so?

Would empathy, hand-in-hand with suggestion and authority, be migrating to be mediated by virtual reality?

Not surprisingly, as businesses get the taste of the market potential of this shift, here is a new batch of articles on the matter. Too many in this trendy topic to pick one, sorry.

“Inside the Empathy Machine: VR, Neuroscience, Race and Journalism” by Joel Beeson at Media Shift.

“NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell steps into virtual reality at Stanford lab” by Bjorn Carey

“The Limits of Virtual Reality: Debugging the Empathy Machine” by Ainsley Sutherland from MIT

“The Future of Empathy-Generating Virtual Reality Is Here” by Bill Desowitz

“How virtual reality can create the ultimate empathy machine” – TED Talk with Chris Milk

“CAN VIRTUAL REALITY MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON?” by Stern Strategy Group

“Is It Really So Bad If We Prefer Virtual Reality to Reality?” by Sveta McShane

Interspecies organ transplant

It is now long awaited that some day humans will be able to raise human spare parts in other species. Pigs are among the favored donors – perhaps due to the similar diet habits.

As this story by Antonio Regalado reports, researchers are presenting impressive progress in swapping hearts and kidneys among pigs and baboons (that would be us). Get me a new liver and a double dry martini to celebrate, please.

And then we know as well that (other) scientific experiments made mice smarter by inserting human brain cells in them.

Now we just have to be careful how to mix (shake, don’t stir) these practices. Make the pig too smart and I bet it won’t give away a heart so easily.

Spontaneous thoughts processes study

Published in ScienceDirect, “The wandering brain: Meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of mind-wandering and related spontaneous thought processes” researchers use neuroimaging analysis on spontaneous thoughts.

Cognitive functions in mind-wandering states links to brain activity in both default mode network and not directly related regions with comparable consistency.

Quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies bring light to neural correlates.

“These meta-analytic results indicate that DMN activation alone is insufficient to adequately capture the neural basis of spontaneous thought; frontoparietal control network areas, and other non-DMN regions, appear to be equally central. We conclude that further progress in the cognitive and clinical neuroscience of spontaneous thought will therefore require a re-balancing of our view of the contributions of various regions and networks throughout the brain, and beyond the DMN.” check the full paper

Researchers Reveal Climbing a Tree Can Improve Cognitive Skills

From press release:

“Climbing a tree and balancing on a beam can dramatically improve cognitive skills, according to a study recently conducted by researchers in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Florida.

The study (…) show that proprioceptively dynamic activities, like climbing a tree, done over a short period of time have dramatic working memory benefits. Working Memory, the active processing of information, is linked to performance in a wide variety of contexts from grades to sports.

The results (…) suggest working memory improvements can be made in just a couple of hours of these physical exercises. (…)

Proprioception, the awareness of body positioning and orientation, is associated with working memory. (…)
In the study, such activities included climbing trees, walking and crawling on a beam (…) , and researchers found that their working memory capacity had increased by 50 percent, a dramatic improvement.

The researchers also tested two control groups (…) in a lecture (…) [and] a yoga class (…) , neither control group experienced working memory benefits.

Proprioceptively dynamic training may place a greater demand on working memory than either control condition because as environment and terrain changes, the individual recruits working memory to update information to adapt appropriately. Though the yoga control group engaged in proprioceptive activities that required awareness of body position, it was relatively static as they performed the yoga postures in a small space, which didn’t allow for locomotion or navigation.(…) ”

For more information about the study, visit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26029969.

“How Tiny Lab-Grown Human Brains Are Giving Big Insights Into Autism” BY SHELLY FAN

Article featured in SingularityHub

“cerebral organoids” are the brainchild of Dr. Madeline Lancaster, a neuroscientist at Cambridge who is interested in how our brains develop as embryos.

In a study published last week in Cell, a team from Yale School of Medicine used the technique to glean insight into why autism occurs in some people without a clear genetic cause.

Within a month, it was apparent that organoids created from people with autism overproduced one type of neuron that acts to dampen the chatter of normal neural activity. This small change upset the delicate excitatory and inhibitory balance in the developing brain, and may in part cause the faulty wiring behind autism’s behavioral symptoms. Further sleuthing led the scientists to a single gene responsible for the glitch.

Consciousness, mind and brain – introducing Passive Frame Theory

Taking in consideration the carefulness required in any claim of a novel theory on consciousness and the necessary time to read and digest such a paper: “Homing in on Consciousness in the Nervous System: An Action-Based Synthesis” published at Behavioral and Brain Sciences by Associate Professor of Psychology Ezequiel Morsella from San Francisco state University.

A traditional disputed field among philosopher’s, psychologists, and many other research areas, theories of mind struggle to stand in solid ground. In this aspect, this paper could be situated as a more naturalistic approach to the matter.

Focusing in overt action and reversing the attempt to understand mind-brain relationships from action to causes (instead of a stimulus-response study) is indeed not usual in recent or mainstream debate. On this, it may bear some interesting dialogue with Piaget’s theory on intelligence, impulse and logic.

Such approach and the naturalistic arguments walk its way in what could be a descriptive, not normative, theory of mind-brain relationship.

A short introduction may be found by means of the press release issued along the article.

mens sans in corpore sano

A stroll in the field is good for our minds? Sure. Update your repertoire on why it is so with this “Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation” by Gregory N. Bratmana, Paul Hamiltonb, Kevin S. Hahnc, Gretchen C. Dailyd,e,1, and James J. Grossc.

The study approached the question “what mechanism(s) link decreased nature experience to the development of mental illness?”

Researchers suggest “One such mechanism might be the impact of nature exposure on rumination, a maladaptive pattern of self-referential thought that is associated with heightened risk for depression and other mental illnesses. We show in healthy participants that a brief nature experience, a 90-min walk in a natural setting, decreases both self-reported rumination and neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex (sgPFC), whereas a 90-min walk in an urban setting has no such effects on self-reported rumination or neural activity.”

“Build-a-brain” by Michael Graziano

article featured in aeon.co

“The brain is a machine: a device that processes information. (…) [and] somehow the brain experiences its own data. It has consciousness. How can that be?

That question has been called the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness (…)
Here’s a more pointed way to pose the question: can we build it? (…)

I’ve made my own entry into that race, a framework for understanding consciousness called the Attention Schema theory. The theory suggests that consciousness is no bizarre byproduct – it’s a tool for regulating information in the brain. And it’s not as mysterious as most people think. (…)

In this article I’ll conduct a thought experiment. Let’s see if we can construct an artificial brain, piece by hypothetical piece, and make it conscious. The task could be slow and each step might seem incremental, but with a systematic approach we could find a path that engineers can follow(…) “.much more to read – go to full article