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Tero Toivanen

» Working Memory Training can Influence Brain Biochemistry   « Brain Fitness ... - 0 views

  • The major finding was that increased working memory capacity following training was associated with changes in brain biochemistry. Specifically, the researchers found changes in the density and binding potential of cortical D1 dopamine receptors in brain regions that are activated during working memory tasks.
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    The major finding was that increased working memory capacity following training was associated with changes in brain biochemistry. Specifically, the researchers found changes in the density and binding potential of cortical D1 dopamine receptors in brain regions that are activated during working memory tasks.
Tero Toivanen

Memory Improved 20% by Nature Walk « PsyBlog - 0 views

  • Marc G. Berman and colleagues at the University of Michigan wanted to test the effect of a walk’s scenery on cognitive function (Berman, Jonides & Kaplan, 2008; PDF).
  • In the first of two studies participants were given a 35 minute task involving repeating loads of random numbers back to the experimenter, but in reverse order.
  • The results showed that people’s performance on the test improved by almost 20% after wandering amongst the trees. By comparison those subjected to a busy street did not reliably improve on the test.
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  • In the second study participants weren’t even allowed to leave the lab but instead some stared at pictures of natural scenes while others looked at urban environments. The improvements weren’t quite as impressive as the first study, but, once again, the trees and fields beat the roads and lampposts.
  • These results replicated a previous study by Berto (2005) who found that just viewing pictures of natural scenes had a restorative effect on cognitive function.
  • So just as we might have predicted nature is a kind of natural cognitive enhancer, helping our brain let off steam so it can cruise back up to full functioning.
  • When our minds need refreshing and if natural scenery is accessible, we should take the opportunity. If not then just looking at pictures of nature is a reasonable second best.
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    New study finds that short-term memory is improved 20% by walking in nature, or even just by looking at an image of a natural scene.
Tero Toivanen

Neurophilosophy : Experience induces global reorganization of brain circuitry - 0 views

  • Now referred to as long-term potentiation (LTP), this mechanism has since become the most intensively studied in modern neuroscience,and is widely believed to be the cellular basis of learning and memory, although this is yet to be proven unequivocally.
  • In the new study, Santiago Canals of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen and his colleagues used the same protocol to induce LTP. But while the vast majority of researchers have investigated LTP in slices of hippocampal tissue, this study involved observing LTP in live animals.
  • This new research provides the first evidence that the local modifications in synaptic connections induced by LTP lead to long-lasting changes in the activity of a diffuse network of brain regions, and even to facilitated communication between the two hemispheres. The fMRI data showed that hippocampal LTP recruits higher order association areas, as well as regions involved in emotions and others subserving different sensory modalities, all of which are known to be involved in memory formation.
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    Experience induces global reorganization of brain circuitry. This new research provides the first evidence that the local modifications in synaptic connections induced by LTP lead to long-lasting changes in the activity of a diffuse network of brain regions, and even to facilitated communication between the two hemispheres.
gohiram86

Meet the Sociopath: Confessions from an Ex-Girlfriend - 0 views

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    The survivor of a verbally, mentally, and physically-abusive relationship shares her brutal encounters and haunting memories from dating a clinically undiagnosed sociopath, in hopes of offering support and advice to others in similar situations.
Tero Toivanen

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Simulated brain closer to thought - 1 views

  • A detailed simulation of a small region of a brain built molecule by molecule has been constructed and has recreated experimental results from real brains.
  • While many computer simulations have attempted to code in "brain-like" computation or to mimic parts of the nervous systems and brains of a variety of animals, the Blue Brain project was conceived to reverse-engineer mammal brains from real laboratory data and to build up a computer model down to the level of the molecules that make them up.
  • The first phase of the project is now complete; researchers have modeled the neocortical column - a unit of the mammalian brain known as the neocortex which is responsible for higher brain functions and thought.
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  • "It starts to learn things and starts to remember things. We can actually see when it retrieves a memory, and where they retrieved it from because we can trace back every activity of every molecule, every cell, every connection and see how the memory was formed."
  • "The next phase is beginning with a 'molecularisation' process: we add in all the molecules and biochemical pathways to move toward gene expression and gene networks. We couldn't do that on our first supercomputer."
  • Organised columns of neurons have been simulated molecule by molecule
  • "This is very interesting research and I'm not criticising it, but it doesn't help us in computer science in having the intelligent behaviour of humans replicated." Professor Markram believes that by building up from one neocortical column to the entire neocortex, the ethereal "emergent properties" that characterise human thought will, step by step, make themselves apparent.
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    A detailed simulation of a small region of a brain built molecule by molecule has been constructed and has recreated experimental results from real brains.
Tero Toivanen

Cognitive Daily: A quick eye-exercise can improve your performance on memory tests (but... - 1 views

  • 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.
Hypnosis Training Academy

How To Rewire Your Brain: Neuroscientist Dr. Joe Dispenza Explains - 0 views

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    Dr. Joe Dispenza is a brilliant neuroscientist and author with a knack for demystifying complicated neuroscience. His goal is to show how anyone can use the latest scientific discoveries in neuroplasticity to "rewire" the brain and recondition the body for lasting change. You see, the unconscious mind can't tell the difference between a memory of an event, and the event itself. So when you replay negative thoughts, feelings and memories, the mind reacts as if the event were really happening... ...your heart rate increases, breathing changes and your body goes into a "fight or flight" response (commonly known as stress). Not surprisingly, repeated stress leads to major health problems. But here's the good news: The human mind has an incredible capacity to observe our own thoughts and behaviors, which means you can alter your brain structure by integrating new thoughts and behaviors. Not only that - but you can even change your genetic expression. It isn't always easy... especially when it comes to deeply ingrained habits and addictions. But hypnosis can make it MUCH more likely someone will successfully replace negative thought patterns with positive, healthy new pathways! Intrigued to find out how? Head on over to the Hypnosis Training Academy to listen to Dr. Dispenza's illuminating talk today.
anonymous

The Strange Neuroscience of Immortality - 0 views

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    "Hayworth has spent much of the past few years in a windowless room carving brains into very thin slices. He is by all accounts a curious man, known for casually saying things like, "The human race is on a beeline to mind uploading: We will preserve a brain, slice it up, simulate it on a computer, and hook it up to a robot body." He wants that brain to be his brain. He wants his 100 billion neurons and more than 100 trillion synapses to be encased in a block of transparent, amber-colored resin-before he dies of natural causes."
Catherine Plano

Thoughts are things... - 0 views

What is a thought?A thought is an electrical impulse, which fires up your neurons that are your brain cells. Neurons are electrical excitable cells that process and transmit information via your fi...

awareness beliefs brain science creation empowerment health leadership perception personal development power reflection self-awareness

started by Catherine Plano on 13 Nov 15 no follow-up yet
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