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Tero Toivanen

» Brain Plasticity: How learning changes your brain   « Brain Fitness Revolut... - 0 views

www.sharpbrains.com/...ow-learning-changes-your-brain

brain neuroplasticity learning

shared by Tero Toivanen on 23 May 09 - Cached
  • A surprising consequence of neuroplasticity is that the brain activity associated with a given function can move to a different location as a consequence of normal experience, brain damage or recovery.
  • The brain compensates for damage by reorganizing and forming new connections between intact neurons. In order to reconnect, the neurons need to be stimulated through activity.
  • Research has shown that in fact the brain never stops changing through learning. Plasticity IS the capacity of the brain to change with learning. Changes associated with learning occur mostly at the level of the connections between neurons. New connections can form and the internal structure of the existing synapses can change.
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  • It looks like learning a second language is possible through functional changes in the brain: the left inferior parietal cortex is larger in bilingual brains than in monolingual brains.
  • For instance, London taxi drivers have a larger hippocampus (in the posterior region) than London bus drivers (Maguire, Woollett, & Spiers, 2006)…. Why is that? It is because this region of the hippocampus is specialized in acquiring and using complex spatial information in order to navigate efficiently. Taxi drivers have to navigate around London whereas bus drivers follow a limited set of routes.
  • Did you know that when you become an expert in a specific domain, the areas in your brain that deal with this type of skill will grow?
  • Plastic changes also occur in musicians brains compared to non-musicians.
  • They found that gray matter (cortex) volume was highest in professional musicians, intermediate in amateur musicians, and lowest in non-musicians in several brain areas involved in playing music: motor regions, anterior superior parietal areas and inferior temporal areas.
  • Medical students’ brains showed learning-induced changes in regions of the parietal cortex as well as in the posterior hippocampus. These regions of the brains are known to be involved in memory retrieval and learning.
  • Tero Toivanen on 23 May 09
     
    A surprising consequence of neuroplasticity is that the brain activity associated with a given function can move to a different location as a consequence of normal experience, brain damage or recovery.
Tero Toivanen

Left Brain and Right Brain | Boost Your IQ - 0 views

boostyouriq.co.cc/left-right-brain

left brain right brain brain co-operation logical metaphorical thinking left brain functions right brain functions

shared by Tero Toivanen on 23 Jun 09 - Cached
  • The left brain follows a completely different “way” and process of thinking from the right brain. The left brain sees things in an analytical, objective and logical manner. The right brain on the other hand is more symbol and metaphorically orientated.
  • In order to develop a particular brain, it is therefore necessary to focus on doing things which complement its attributes. For example, if I were to develop my left brain, i would embark on logical analysis and maths. If I were to exercise my right brain, i would indulge in art work.
  • do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise? If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.
  • Tero Toivanen on 23 Jun 09
     
    do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?
Tero Toivanen

Selective aphasia in a brain damaged bilingual patient : Neurophilosophy - 0 views

scienceblogs.com/...damageed_bilungual_patient.php

brain bilingual Arabic Hebrew CT scan frontal lobe parietal lobe crationomy hemorrhage

shared by Tero Toivanen on 11 Jul 09 - Cached
  • A unique case study published in the open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions sheds some light on this matter. The study, by Raphiq Ibrahim, a neurologist at the University of Haifa, describes a bilingual Arabic-Hebrew speaker who incurred brain damage following a viral infection. Consequently, the patient experienced severe deficits in Hebrew but not in Arabic. The findings support the view that specific components of a first and second language are represented by different substrates in the brain.
  • A native Arabic speaker, he learned Hebrew at an early age (4th grade) and later used it competently both professionally and academically.
  • A CT scan showed that he had suffered a massive hemorrhage in the left temporal lobe, which was compressing the tissue on both sides of the central sulcus, the prominent gfissure which separates the frontal and parietal lobes.
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  • A craniotomy was performed to relieve the pressure, and afterwards another scan showed moderate hemorrhage and herpes encephalitis in the left temporal lobe, and another hemorrhage beneath the outer membrane (the dura) lying over the right frontal lobe.
  • During his 2 month stay there, he developed epileptic seizures which originated in the left temporal lobe, and amnestic aphasia (an inability to name objects or to recognize their written or spoken names). 
  • After the rehabilitation period, a series of linguistic tests was administered to determine the extent of his speech deficits. M.H. exhibited deficits in both languages, but the most severe deficits were seen only in Hebrew. In this language he had a severe difficulty in recalling words and names, so that his speech was non-fluent and interrupted by frequent pauses. He had difficulty understanding others' spoken Hebrew, and also had great difficulty reading and writing Hebrew. In Arabic, his native language, all of these abilities were affected only mildy.
  • The results support a neurolinguistic model in which the brain of bilinguals contains a semantic system (which represents word meanings) which is common to both languages and which is connected to independent lexical systems (which encode the vocabulary of each language). The findings further suggest that the second language (in this case, Hebrew) is represented by an independent subsystem which does not represent the first language (Arabic) and is more succeptible to brain damage.
  • Tero Toivanen on 11 Jul 09
     
    A unique case study published in the open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions sheds some light on this matter. The study, by Raphiq Ibrahim, a neurologist at the University of Haifa, describes a bilingual Arabic-Hebrew speaker who incurred brain damage following a viral infection. Consequently, the patient experienced severe deficits in Hebrew but not in Arabic. The findings support the view that specific components of a first and second language are represented by different substrates in the brain.
Tero Toivanen

Wired 14.02: Buddha on the Brain - 0 views

www.wired.com/...dalai.html

brain meditation Dalai Lama Buddha buddhism Tibet neuroscience

shared by Tero Toivanen on 28 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Davidson's research created a stir among brain scientists when his results suggested that, in the course of meditating for tens of thousands of hours, the monks had actually altered the structure and function of their brains.
  • Lutz asked Ricard to meditate on "unconditional loving-kindness and compassion." He immediately noticed powerful gamma activity - brain waves oscillating at roughly 40 cycles per second -�indicating intensely focused thought. Gamma waves are usually weak and difficult to see. Those emanating from Ricard were easily visible, even in the raw EEG output. Moreover, oscillations from various parts of the cortex were synchronized - a phenomenon that sometimes occurs in patients under anesthesia.
  • The researchers had never seen anything like it. Worried that something might be wrong with their equipment or methods, they brought in more monks, as well as a control group of college students inexperienced in meditation. The monks produced gamma waves that were 30 times as strong as the students'. In addition, larger areas of the meditators' brains were active, particularly in the left prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for positive emotions.
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  • In the traditional view, the brain becomes frozen with the onset of adulthood, after which few new connections form. In the past 20 years, though, scientists have discovered that intensive training can make a difference. For instance, the portion of the brain that corresponds to a string musician's fingering hand grows larger than the part that governs the bow hand - even in musicians who start playing as adults. Davidson's work suggested this potential might extend to emotional centers
  • But Davidson saw something more. The monks had responded to the request to meditate on compassion by generating remarkable brain waves. Perhaps these signals indicated that the meditators had attained an intensely compassionate state of mind. If so, then maybe compassion could be exercised like a muscle; with the right training, people could bulk up their empathy. And if meditation could enhance the brain's ability to produce "attention and affective processes" - emotions, in the technical language of Davidson's study - it might also be used to modify maladaptive emotional responses like depression.
  • Davidson and his team published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November 2004. The research made The Wall Street Journal, and Davidson instantly became a celebrity scientist.
  • Tero Toivanen on 28 Jun 09
     
    Davidson's research created a stir among brain scientists when his results suggested that, in the course of meditating for tens of thousands of hours, the monks had actually altered the structure and function of their brains
David McGavock

Scientific Understanding of Consciousness - 0 views

willcov.com/bio-consciousness

understanding consciousness experts writers summary

shared by David McGavock on 02 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • During the past 20 years or so, biological sciences have advanced to the point that scientists have begun researching biological mechanisms of brain function and suggesting some reasonably well-founded hypotheses for consciousness. Leading the way in these pioneering efforts, in my judgment, have been:   Gerald Edelman with his hypothesis of the Dynamic Core, Antonio Damasio with his concepts of  Protoself, Core Self, Autobiographical Self, Core Consciousness and Extended Consciousness, Joseph LeDoux and his emphasis on the intricacies of synapses and the emotional brain,
  • Rudolfo Llinás and his researches into ~40 Hz oscillations and synchronization, György Buzsáki with his discussion and exploration of neural mechanisms related to oscillation and synchronization in the neocortex and hippocampus for perception and memory, Joaquín Fuster, the world’s preeminent expert on the frontal lobes, and his concept of the "perception-action cycle," Susan Greenfield's notion of "neuronal gestalts" as a way of conceptualizing a highly variable aggregation of neurons that is temporarily recruited around a triggering epicenter. I use the neuronal gestalts idea in my way of visualizing the functionality of the dynamic core of the thalamocortical system, Eric Kandel who has explored short-term and long-term memory,
  • The late Francis Crick with his collaborator Christof Koch who have pursued the neural correlate of consciousness (NCC), Michael Gazzaniga with the concept of the left hemisphere ‘interpreter’ unifying consciousness experience, Edmund Rolls and Gustavo Deco with their mathematical models of brain function using information theory approaches for biologically plausible neurodynamical modeling of cognitive phenomena corroborated by brain imaging studies, David LaBerge with his discussion of the thalamocortical circuit and attention, Alan Baddeley who continues to refine his model for working memory, Philosopher John Searle who endorses the idea that consciousness is an emergent property of neural networks.
  • David McGavock on 02 Mar 14
     
    "My objective in this website has been to bring together salient features of these assorted interpretations by science experts into a synthesis of my own understanding of consciousness. I consider these statements and interpretations to be a framework on which to build a fuller understanding as further data, concepts and insights develop from ongoing research."
Tero Toivanen

YouTube - Early Split Brain Research Gazzaniga - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

brain history left brain right brain functions hemispheric

shared by Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09
     
    Left Brain - Right Brain functions
Tero Toivanen

Nouns and verbs are learned in different parts of the brain - 0 views

www.physorg.com/news186315338.html

brain nouns verbs inferior frontal gyrus left posterior medial temporal gyrus learning

shared by Tero Toivanen on 25 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 25 Feb 10
     
    "Learning nouns activates the left fusiform gyrus, while learning verbs switches on other regions (the left inferior frontal gyrus and part of the left posterior medial temporal gyrus)", Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells, co-author of the study and an ICREA researcher at the Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit of the University of Barcelona, tells SINC
Tero Toivanen

Autism Blog - Autism: Is it all about bigger brains? « Left Brain/Right Brain - 0 views

leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/?p=3552&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LeftBrain%2FrightBrain+%28Left+Brain%2FRight+Brain%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

autism brain research cell division Glial Cells minicolumns

shared by Tero Toivanen on 26 Dec 09 - Cached
  • in light of the increased cranial volumn and minicolumnar density in autism, more recent studies have begun targeting certain proteins and steroids called Growth Factors, which are in part intimately involved in neocortical expansion.
  • Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF or FGF2) has particularly important implications in autism given its involvement in prolonging the period of cell division of the number of undifferentiated radial glial cells (cortical stem cells) which determine the total number of eventual minicolumns: the longer these radial glial divide, the greater the number of minicolumns, like that seen in autism.
  • It’s fascinating to think that while autism can undoubtedly provide for its share of handicap, these foundational elements may be “abnormal” only in the sense that they’re extremes of those things which make us most human.
  • Tero Toivanen on 26 Dec 09
     
    Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF or FGF2) has particularly important implications in autism given its involvement in prolonging the period of cell division of the number of undifferentiated radial glial cells (cortical stem cells) which determine the total number of eventual minicolumns: the longer these radial glial divide, the greater the number of minicolumns, like that seen in autism.
Tero Toivanen

Researchers reveal first brain study of Temple Grandin - - 0 views

sfari.org/...-brain-study-of-temple-grandin

autism research brain study temple Temple Grandin

shared by Tero Toivanen on 15 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 15 Oct 12
     
    "Unlike controls ..., Temple Grandin has lateral ventricles... that are significantly larger on the left side of her brain than on the right."
Tero Toivanen

A stroke can make half your world disappear - video | Science | guardian.co.uk - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...oke-half-world-disappear-video

brain neuroscience

shared by Tero Toivanen on 24 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 24 Nov 12
     
    "A stroke can sometimes leave people with a syndrome known as hemispatial neglect as a result of damage to the parietal lobe on the right or left side of their brain."
Tero Toivanen

Cognitive Daily: A quick eye-exercise can improve your performance on memory tests (but... - 0 views

scienceblogs.com/...ick_eye-exercise_can_impro.php

memory memorization eye movement

shared by Tero Toivanen on 23 May 09 - Cached
  • If you're taking a test of rote memorization, like words from a list, move your eyes from side to side for about 30 seconds before you start.
  • It may be that this quick activity helps facilitate interaction between the brain hemispheres.
  • any activity that encourages communication between the hemispheres is likely to increase recall.
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  • people who have poorer interactions between the hemispheres should benefit more than others. Who has less interactions between hemispheres? People who are strongly right-handed.
  • Strongly right-handed students remembered significantly more words if they moved their eyes compared to keeping their eyes still. Non-strongly-right-handed students (including left-handers) remembered the same number of words regardless of whether they moved their eyes before the test.
  • strongly right-handed students had significantly fewer false alarms after they moved their eyes back and forth. But for non-strongly-right-handed people, the reverse occurred; moving their eyes caused them to falsely remember more words. So overall, while the eye-saccade exercise helped right-handers, for lefties and for those who didn't have a strongly dominant hand, the exercise actually harmed their performance.
  • You might think that only side-to-side movement would improve performance, but Lyle's team found that moving your eyes up and down caused the same effect.
  • researchers say that other studies have shown that any eye movements increase bilateral activity in the frontal eye field, so it's still possible that hemispheric connectivity can explain the improved performance after eye movements.
  • So why doesn't the exercise work the same way for left-handers? Left handers (and ambidextrous individuals) already have a high level of hemispheric connectivity. Lyle's team speculates that there might be such a thing as too much connectivity, which results in a decrease in performance.
  • Tero Toivanen on 23 May 09
     
    Several studies have confirmed this bizarre proposition: If you're taking a test of rote memorization, like words from a list, move your eyes from side to side for about 30 seconds before you start.
Tero Toivanen

YouTube - Split brain behavioral experiments - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

left hemisphere right hemisphere corpus callosum nonconscious cerebral hemisphere youtube

shared by Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09
     
    Left and right hemisphere's functions.
Tero Toivanen

Eide Neurolearning Blog: The Biology of Creativity - Right Hemispheric Thinking, Proble... - 0 views

eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/...ativity-right-hemispheric.html

neurolearning brain hemispheric creativity Right Hemispheric Thinking

shared by Tero Toivanen on 23 May 09 - Cached
  • A Northwestern research group has found that people that solve anagram puzzles by sudden insight rather than by conscious search or analytic strategies have an EEG resting state that prefers the right over the left hemisphere.
  • How often it does seem that it's the highly creative child who is having the greatest struggles in the conventional classroom! It's nice finding research that backs up the association. From this Harvard study, a diffuse attentional style was much more common among individuals with high lifetime levels of creative achievement.
  • The study concludes with a final interesting finding that differences in this attentional style might account for why high IQ beyond a certain point doesn't correlate with higher levels of creative achievement (the threshold effect...e.g. that once one is beyond 120, higher numbers don't correlate with enhanced achievement). If a focused vs. diffuse attentional style is taken into account, then it becomes more evident that diffuse attentional style + high IQ are important factors that contribute to high levels of creative achievement.
  • Tero Toivanen on 23 May 09
     
    A Northwestern research group has found that people that solve anagram puzzles by sudden insight rather than by conscious search or analytic strategies have an EEG resting state that prefers the right over the left hemisphere.
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