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Contents contributed and discussions participated by Tero Toivanen

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Tero Toivanen

Adult Learning - Neuroscience - How to Train the Aging Brain - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...03adult-t.html

neuroscience brain aging adult learning tots research training

shared by Tero Toivanen on 02 Jan 10 - Cached
  • One explanation for how this occurs comes from Deborah M. Burke, a professor of psychology at Pomona College in California. Dr. Burke has done research on “tots,” those tip-of-the-tongue times when you know something but can’t quite call it to mind. Dr. Burke’s research shows that such incidents increase in part because neural connections, which receive, process and transmit information, can weaken with disuse or age.
  • But she also finds that if you are primed with sounds that are close to those you’re trying to remember — say someone talks about cherry pits as you try to recall Brad Pitt’s name — suddenly the lost name will pop into mind. The similarity in sounds can jump-start a limp brain connection. (It also sometimes works to silently run through the alphabet until landing on the first letter of the wayward word.)
  • Recently, researchers have found even more positive news. The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can.
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  • The trick is finding ways to keep brain connections in good condition and to grow more of them.
  • Educators say that, for adults, one way to nudge neurons in the right direction is to challenge the very assumptions they have worked so hard to accumulate while young. With a brain already full of well-connected pathways, adult learners should “jiggle their synapses a bit” by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own, says Dr. Taylor, who is 66.
  • Teaching new facts should not be the focus of adult education, she says. Instead, continued brain development and a richer form of learning may require that you “bump up against people and ideas” that are different. In a history class, that might mean reading multiple viewpoints, and then prying open brain networks by reflecting on how what was learned has changed your view of the world.
  • Such stretching is exactly what scientists say best keeps a brain in tune: get out of the comfort zone to push and nourish your brain. Do anything from learning a foreign language to taking a different route to work.
  • “As adults we have these well-trodden paths in our synapses,” Dr. Taylor says. “We have to crack the cognitive egg and scramble it up. And if you learn something this way, when you think of it again you’ll have an overlay of complexity you didn’t have before — and help your brain keep developing as well.”
  • Tero Toivanen on 02 Jan 10
     
    Dr. Burke has done research on "tots," those tip-of-the-tongue times when you know something but can't quite call it to mind. Dr. Burke's research shows that such incidents increase in part because neural connections, which receive, process and transmit information, can weaken with disuse or age.
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

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091223125125.htm - 1 views

ow.ly/16dfzs

brain encode memories Neuron memory synapse

shared by Tero Toivanen on 25 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 25 Dec 09
     
    Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have made a major discovery in how the brain encodes memories. The finding, published in the December 24 issue of the journal Neuron, could eventually lead to the development of new drugs to aid memory.
Tero Toivanen

Machine Translates Thoughts into Speech in Real Time - 0 views

www.physorg.com/news180620740.html

brain-machine real-time speech production wireless speech commands speech synthesizer neural signals thought-to-speech

shared by Tero Toivanen on 24 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Model of the brain-machine interface for real-time synthetic speech production.
  • Signals collected from an electrode in the speech motor cortex are amplified and sent wirelessly across the scalp as FM radio signals.
  • The Neuralynx System amplifies, converts, and sorts the signals. The neural decoder then translates the signals into speech commands for the speech synthesizer.
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  • By implanting an electrode into the brain of a person with locked-in syndrome, scientists have demonstrated how to wirelessly transmit neural signals to a speech synthesizer. The "thought-to-speech" process takes about 50 milliseconds - the same amount of time for a non-paralyzed, neurologically intact person to speak their thoughts.
  • Tero Toivanen on 24 Dec 09
     
    Model of the brain-machine interface for real-time synthetic speech production.
Tero Toivanen

Mcgovern Institute video - 1 views

web.mit.edu/...video.shtml

McGovern Institute brain research MIT neuroscience brain disorders

shared by Tero Toivanen on 23 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 23 Dec 09
     
    The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT is led by a team of world-renowned neuroscientists committed to meeting two great challenges of modern science: understanding how the brain works and discovering new ways to prevent and treat brain disorders.
Tero Toivanen

The Teaching Company Free Lectures - 0 views

www.teach12.com/...brainlecture.aspx

brain learning synapse Hippocampus video plasticity memory Jeanette Norden Vanderbit University

shared by Tero Toivanen on 13 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 13 Dec 09
     
    Excellent video lecture about learning, memory and brain by Jeanette Norden Ph.D. from Vanderbit University.
Tero Toivanen

Brain Stimulant: Brain Chip to Restore Functioning from Damage - 1 views

brainstimulant.blogspot.com/...-restore-functioning-from.html

brain Brain Chip restore damage neuromorphic engineering neurons stroke

shared by Tero Toivanen on 10 Dec 09 - Cached
  • The ReNaChip project is developing electronic biomimetic technology that could serve to replace damaged or missing brain tissue. This is basically neuromorphic engineering that seeks to mimic how neurons function. In the future this may be useful for people who have had injuries due to stroke or other illnesses.
  • The objective of this project is to develop a full biohybrid rehabilitation and substitution methodology; replacing the aged cerebellar brain circuit with a biomimetic chip bidirectionally interfaced to the inputs and outputs of the system. Information processing will interface with the cerebellum to actuate a normal, real-time functional behavioural recovery, providing a proof-of-concept test for the functional rehabilitation of more complex neuronal systems.
  • A sophisticated exocortex could potentially allow a two way communication between the external apparatus and the mind. The contraption could essentially scale up the amount of neurons in your brain by an artificial means. Most likely it would be used to improved the disabled first, with other applications being more speculative possibilities.
  • Tero Toivanen on 10 Dec 09
     
    The ReNaChip project is developing electronic biomimetic technology that could serve to replace damaged or missing brain tissue. This is basically neuromorphic engineering that seeks to mimic how neurons function. In the future this may be useful for people who have had injuries due to stroke or other illnesses.
Tero Toivanen

Does Vitamin D Improve Brain Function?: Scientific American - 0 views

www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm

vitamin D improve brain function

shared by Tero Toivanen on 03 Nov 09 - Cached
  • And although vitamin D is well known for promoting bone health and regulating vital calcium levels—hence its addition to milk—it does more than that. Scientists have now linked this fat-soluble nutrient’s hormonelike activity to a number of functions throughout the body, including the workings of the brain.
  • We know there are receptors for vitamin D throughout the central nervous system and in the hippocampus
  • We also know vitamin D activates and deactivates enzymes in the brain and the cerebrospinal fluid that are involved in neurotransmitter synthesis and nerve growth.
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  • In addition, animal and laboratory studies suggest vitamin D protects neurons and reduces inflammation.
  • The scientists found that the lower the subjects’ vitamin D levels, the more negatively impacted was their perform­ance on a battery of mental tests. Compared with people with optimum vitamin D levels, those in the lowest quartile were more than twice as likely to be cognitively impaired.
  • The data show that those people with lower vitamin D levels exhibited slower information-processing speed. This correlation was particularly strong among men older than 60 years.
  • Although we now know that low levels of vitamin D are associated with cognitive impairment, we do not know if high or optimum levels will lessen cognitive losses. It is also unclear if giving vitamin D to those who lack it will help them regain some of these high-level functions.
  • So how much is enough vitamin D? Experts say 1,000 to 2,000 IU daily—about the amount your body will synthesize from 15 to 30 minutes of sun exposure two to three times a week—is the ideal range for almost all healthy adults. Keep in mind, however, that skin color, where you live and how much skin you have exposed all affect how much vitamin D you can produce.
  • Tero Toivanen on 03 Nov 09
     
    And although vitamin D is well known for promoting bone health and regulating vital calcium levels-hence its addition to milk-it does more than that. Scientists have now linked this fat-soluble nutrient's hormonelike activity to a number of functions throughout the body, including the workings of the brain.
Tero Toivanen

New Light On Nature Of Broca's Area: Rare Procedure Documents How Human Brain Computes ... - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...091015141500.htm

brain Broca's area Wernicke's area language cerebral cortex Sahin

shared by Tero Toivanen on 17 Oct 09 - Cached
  • The study – which provides a picture of language processing in the brain with unprecedented clarity – will be published in the October 16 issue of the journal Science.
  • "Two central mysteries of human brain function are addressed in this study: one, the way in which higher cognitive processes such as language are implemented in the brain and, two, the nature of what is perhaps the best-known region of the cerebral cortex, called Broca's area," said first author Ned T. Sahin, PhD, post-doctoral fellow in the UCSD Department of Radiology and Harvard University Department of Psychology.
  • The study demonstrates that a small piece of the brain can compute three different things at different times – within a quarter of a second – and shows that Broca's area doesn't just do one thing when processing language.
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  • The procedure, called Intra-Cranial Electrophysiology (ICE), allowed the researchers to resolve brain activity related to language with spatial accuracy down to the millimeter and temporal accuracy down to the millisecond.
  • "We showed that distinct linguistic processes are computed within small regions of Broca's area, separated in time and partially overlapping in space," said Sahin. Specifically, the researchers found patterns of neuronal activity indicating lexical, grammatical and articulatory computations at roughly 200, 320 and 450 milliseconds after the target word was presented. These patterns were identical across nouns and verbs and consistent across patients.
  • Tero Toivanen on 17 Oct 09
     
    "Two central mysteries of human brain function are addressed in this study: one, the way in which higher cognitive processes such as language are implemented in the brain and, two, the nature of what is perhaps the best-known region of the cerebral cortex, called Broca's area," said first author Ned T. Sahin, PhD, post-doctoral fellow in the UCSD Department of Radiology and Harvard University Department of Psychology.
Tero Toivanen

Wires Inserted Into Human Brain Reveal Speech Surprise | Wired Science | Wired.com - 1 views

www.wired.com/...speaking-brain

brain verbal cognition Sahin Broca's area Wernicke's area

shared by Tero Toivanen on 17 Oct 09 - Cached
  • in’s team benefited from a brain-reading technology called intra-cranial electrophysiology, or ICE, in which electrodes are positioned inside the brain itself. It’s a medical rather than a research tool, used to precisely measure electrical activity in the brains of epileptics who don’t respond to treatment.
  • This tested only one type of verbal cognition, cautioned Sahin, and the focus was unavoidably narrow, but it was enough to show that Broca’s area is involved not only in translating speech, but receiving it. That role was considered specific to part of the brain called Wernicke’s area. More broadly, the findings may represent a general rule for Broca’s area, and perhaps other brain regions: Each part plays multiple roles, rather than performing a single task.
  • Tero Toivanen on 17 Oct 09
     
    This tested only one type of verbal cognition, cautioned Sahin, and the focus was unavoidably narrow, but it was enough to show that Broca's area is involved not only in translating speech, but receiving it. That role was considered specific to part of the brain called Wernicke's area. More broadly, the findings may represent a general rule for Broca's area, and perhaps other brain regions: Each part plays multiple roles, rather than performing a single task.
Tero Toivanen

Reading, E-Books and the Brain : The Frontal Cortex - 0 views

scienceblogs.com/...ding_e-books_and_the_brain.php

brain reading dorsal route Dehaene research E-books

shared by Tero Toivanen on 17 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Although scientists had previously assumed that the dorsal route ceased to be active once we learned how to read, Deheane's research demonstrates that even literate adults still rely, in some situations, on the same patterns of brain activity as a first-grader, carefully sounding out the syllables.
  • This research suggests that the act of reading observes a gradient of fluency. Familiar sentences printed in Helvetica activate the ventral route, while difficult prose filled with jargon and fancy words and printed in an illegible font require us to use the slow dorsal route.
  • The larger point is that most complaints about E-Books and Kindle apps boil down to a single problem: they don't feel as "effortless" or "automatic" as old-fashioned books. But here's the wonderful thing about the human brain: give it a little time and practice and it can make just about anything automatic.
  • Tero Toivanen on 17 Oct 09
     
     Although scientists had previously assumed that the dorsal route ceased to be active once we learned how to read, Deheane's research demonstrates that even literate adults still rely, in some situations, on the same patterns of brain activity as a first-grader, carefully sounding out the syllables.
Tero Toivanen

YouTube - Posit Science: The Science with Dr. Merzenich - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

brain plasticity neuropsychology Michael Merzenich change abilities learning neuroplasticity practice language youtube

shared by Tero Toivanen on 05 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 05 Oct 09
     
    Dr Michael Merzenich talks about brain plasticity in YouTube video.
Tero Toivanen

Music as Medicine for the Brain - US News and World Report - 0 views

health.usnews.com/...as-medicine-for-the-brain.html

music therapy Parkinson's Alzheimer's brain neuroscience medicine

shared by Tero Toivanen on 27 Sep 09 - No Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 27 Sep 09
     
    Music therapy has been practiced for decades as a way to treat neurological conditions from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's to anxiety and depression. Now, advances in neuroscience and brain imaging are revealing what's actually happening in the brain as patients listen to music or play instruments and why the therapy works.
Tero Toivanen

Visual training to retain driving competence - and your independence! | On the Brain by... - 1 views

merzenich.positscience.com/?p=250

brain visual training automobile drivers DriveSharp merzenich

shared by Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Today, Posit Science announced the release of a new computer-based visual training tool, DriveSharp, specifically designed to improve the performance abilities of adult automobile drivers to a degree that can be expected to very substantially impact their driving safety.
  • Again, with a few hours of intensive training, a youthful MOT performance level can be achieved for most individuals. The result: A still FURTHER increase of driving safety.
  • In our fast-moving world, losing control of one’s peripheral vision is a main cause of driving accidents.
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  • Ball and Roenker demonstrated that these losses are substantially reversible, through appropriate, intensive training, in almost all older drivers. UFOVs can be re-expanded to relatively youthful ability levels through only a few hours of exercise. The result: About 50% fewer driving accidents in the over-65 population.
  • Moreover, once your UFOV is opened up again, you use it!
  • You can use DriveSharp repeatedly, over the rest of your days, to keep yourself in fine driving fettle!
  • The second training program that is included in DriveSharp is designed to improve your ability to keep track of more than one thing happening at the same time. This fundamental visual skill — called “multiple object tracking” (MOT) — also dramatically declines as you get older.
  • As you get older, you progressively lose the ability to accurately detect and respond to visual events in your far visual periphery.
  • If you’ve reached your 50th birthday, DriveSharp training is especially important for upgrading and sustaining your driving competence. It’s all about maintaining your performance abilities in driving as in all other ways at the highest possible level, throughout the second half of life.
  • few other benefits demonstrated by published studies originating with the Ball/Roenker team (including University of South Florida scientist Sherri Willis and a University of Iowa scientist, Fred Wolinsky).
  • 1) You’re healthier after DriveSharp training! Five years after training, Physical indices of Quality of Life are more than 30% higher — maybe because you get out more.
  • Trainees are much more likely to have retained your driver’s license — and to have sustained their personal independence.
  • After DriveSharp, you are a more confident driver, as expressed by gains in the number of times you drive each week, by an increase in average driving distances, and by your driving more often at night, or in the rain or snow.
  • Try DriveSharp now: If you are a member of one of the participating AAA clubs, please visit your AAA club’s website for more information and a special offer on DriveSharp. If not, please visit www.DriveSharp.com or call (866)599-6463 to learn more.
  • Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09
     
    Today, Posit Science announced the release of a new computer-based visual training tool, DriveSharp, specifically designed to improve the performance abilities of adult automobile drivers to a degree that can be expected to very substantially impact their driving safety.
Tero Toivanen

YouTube - Health Matters: Behavior and Our Brain - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

youtube Sejnowski learning adaptation interaction brain human abilities environment brain change brain imaging music critical periods neurons fetus brain disorders genes evolution language distincion behavior addiction dopamine stimulus ratification intui

shared by Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09
     
    In an interview Ph.D. Terrence Sejnowski from Salk Institute for biological studies explains about many things about brains and behavior.
Tero Toivanen

YouTube - Copy a Scene Task (Unilateral Neglect) - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

brain neclect youtube

shared by Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09
     
    Video example about neclect.
Tero Toivanen

YouTube - bf skinner on reinforcement - general psychology - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

skinner reinforcement pigeon behaviour reward learning youtube free will

shared by Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 19 Jul 09
     
    Skinner explains about reinforcement and "free will".
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

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

YouTube - Music and the Mind - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

brain music stroke language science presentation amusia aphasia

shared by Tero Toivanen on 13 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 13 Jul 09
     
    Aniruddh Patel's presentation about: What can music teach us about the brain? What can brain science teach us about music?
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