The Science of Sleep: Dreaming, Depression, and How REM Sleep Regulates Negative Emotions by Maria Popova “Memory is never a precise duplicate of the original… it is a continuing act of creation. Dream images are the product of that creation.” For the past half-century, sleep researcher Rosalind D. Cartwright has produced some of the most compelling and influential work in the field, enlisting modern science in revising and expanding the theories of Jung and Freud about the role of sleep and dreams in our lives. In The Twenty-four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives (public library), Cartwright offers an absorbing history of sleep research, at once revealing how far we’ve come in understanding this vital third of our lives and how much still remains outside our grasp. One particularly fascinating aspect of her research deals with dreaming as a mechanism for regulating negative emotion and the relationship between REM sleep and depression: The more severe the depression, the earlier the first REM begins. Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
A Different Path to Fighting Addiction Photo When their son had to take a medical leave from college, Jack and Wendy knew they — and he — needed help with his binge drinking. Their son’s psychiatrist, along with a few friends, suggested Alcoholics Anonymous. He had a disease, and in order to stay alive, he’d have to attend A.A. meetings and abstain from alcohol for the rest of his life, they said. But the couple, a Manhattan reporter and editor who asked to be identified only by their first names to protect their son’s privacy, resisted that approach. Instead, they turned to a group of psychologists who specialize in treating substance use and other compulsive behaviors at the Center for Motivation and Change. The center, known as the C.M.C., operates out of two floors of a 19th-century building on 30th Street and Fifth Avenue. And unlike programs like Al-Anon, A.A.’s offshoot for family members, the C.M.C.’s approach does not advocate interventions or disengaging from someone who is drinking or using drugs. Ms. Dr. Dr. Dr.
Ken Robinson | Speaker Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. Why you should listen Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. What others say “Ken's vision and expertise is sought by public and commercial organizations throughout the world.” — BBC Radio 4
4 things you need to know to be emotionally intelligent The first thing I learned as an FBI agent was that I would need to be emotionally intelligent if I planned to live long enough to spend my retirement pension. Agents who are emotionally intelligent have the ability to read the emotions of others before a gun is drawn or a fist is thrown their way. They also develop self-awareness so they can predict their response when confronted with the unknown. Ignorance of your competition makes you vulnerable; ignorance of yourself makes you stupid—LaRae Quy If you watch enough Marvel-inspired movies, you might think all superheroes swagger into a room, take control of the situation by intimidation or force, and knock the sh*t out of anyone who doesn’t play by their rules. The other extreme is the Hallmark TV channel where complex problems are solved in short, sappy, and sweet conversations. Most of us live life somewhere in between: we’re not superheroes nor are we chumps content with vacuous responses. 1. Are you mentally tough? 2. Be curious. 3.
This Startup Gets You High On Dopamine, No Exercise Required All of the Fun, None of the Workout If you think about it, every company exhibiting at CES is trying to sell the same thing: happiness. But of the booths I visited last week at the yearly electronics trade show in Las Vegas, only one delivered directly on that promise. Nervana (not to be confused with Nervana Systems), a startup founded by a team of medical professionals with day jobs as doctors and nurses, makes hardware that stimulates your brain to release dopamine, aka the happiness chemical. Nervana CEO Ami Brannon explains to me what I’m about to experience. (The headset isn’t part of it.) The brain naturally responds to stimuli from exercise, music, sex, drugs, gambling, and other activities with a hit of dopamine, which makes us feel a rush of pleasure. Conor and I share a fist-bump before enjoying the Nervana experience. Agustina and I felt much more powerful sensations while trying Nervana, consistent with Naomi Wolf’s convictions about women’s reactions to dopamine. Ami: No.
Dr. Tania Singer and the Neuroscience of Empathy The year is 1990 and a man is sitting across from a monkey. Between them is an object that will, in mere moments, become the Raisin Heard Round The World. This is the lab of Giacomo Rizzolatti, and the monkey is part of an experiment to determine what pre-motor cortex neurons fire in the performing of an action. They have found one such which fires whenever the monkey reaches to pick up a raisin. Subsequent research revealed conclusively that, when we watch actions being performed, groups of pre-motor neurons fire in our brain that we ordinarily use to perform those actions ourselves. The natural next question, then, was how deep these mirroring processes went. The challenge was to find a neural explanation for the phenomenon by creating situations fraught with empathetic meaning. fMRI scans showing brain activity in pain and empathy responses. It was a landmark result, but Singer was far from done. Then something really rather amazing happened. What I love most about Dr. As Dr. Dr.
Researchers Reprogram Genome to Produce More Dopamine In Brief Researchers found a gatekeeper protein that, when inhibited, allows for the transformation of skin cells into dopamine neurons. The Gatekeeper Parkinson’s disease researchers from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo have found a way to boost the conversion of skin cells into neurons that produce dopamine. The research was based on the discovery that a transcription factor protein p53 acts as a gatekeeper protein. he new UB research, published Dec. 7 in an open-access article in Nature Communications, Jian Feng, senior author and professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at UB, outlined the discovery in the press release, saying, “We found that p53 tries to maintain the status quo in a cell; it guards against changes from one cell type to another. He notes that such innovations hold promise for similar transformations. In Parkinson’s disease, most of the dopamine signals from the substantia nigra are lost. The Holy Grail
SEL in Canada | UBC SEL Resource Finder By [posts-author-link] on [date] July 13, 2015 Social and Emotional Learning in Canada Issue Brief This 11-page report, published in 2013, is unique for its focus on the current status of social and emotional learning in Canada. Commissioned by the Carthy Foundation and the Max Bell Foundation, it provides summary statistics on Canadian children’s behavioral and emotional problems (e.g., mental health issues, bullying) and related school outcomes (e.g., academic performance, school drop-out rates). This brief also includes findings from interviews with 23 experts in the field of social and emotional learning and practice in Canada. Related Resources This engaging report presents findings from a US survey of teachers conducted in December of… This groundbreaking 2015 report from the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education at Columbia University’s… This report, published by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), presents findings…
Oxytocin Enhances Pleasure of Social Interactions by Stimulating Production of “Bliss Molecule” UCI study uncovers role of oxytocin in triggering marijuana-like neurotransmitters. The hormone oxytocin, which has been associated with interpersonal bonding, may enhance the pleasure of social interactions by stimulating production of marijuana-like neurotransmitters in the brain, according to a University of California, Irvine study. The research provides the first link between oxytocin – dubbed the “love hormone” – and anandamide, which has been called the “bliss molecule” for its role in activating cannabinoid receptors in brain cells to heighten motivation and happiness. Results appear the week of Oct. 26 in the early online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers discovered that social contact increased production of anandamide in a brain structure called the nucleus accumbens, which triggered cannabinoid receptors there to reinforce the pleasure of socialization. When cannabinoid receptors were blocked, this reinforcement disappeared. Abstract
How Neuroscience Can Help Your Kid Make Good Choices Imagine the following scenario: Your eight-year-old son is repeatedly poked with a pencil by his classmate at school. How does he respond? He might endure the pokes without complaint by using willpower, or he might stay silent, succumbing to feelings of fear or powerlessness. He could lose his self-control and act out, attacking his classmate verbally or poking him back. Or does your son “self-regulate” by considering his options and resources, taking stock of his feelings and strengths, reflecting on past experience, and responding deliberately? Self-regulation may sound like a tall order—but it’s also the best choice, according to Erin Clabough, a neuroscientist, mother of four, and author of the book Second Nature: How Parents Can Use Neuroscience to Help Kids Develop Empathy, Creativity, and Self-Control. Unfortunately, the qualities that support self-regulation are on the decline among American children. Self-regulation vs. self-control Self-regulation in the brain Room for debate
It took 12 weeks to grow this tiny brain in a petri dish. It could revolutionize neuroscience. Imagine a brain ravaged by neurological disease. Now imagine winding back the clock to before the damage was done. I'm not trying to bum you out, I swear! Just picture it for a second. Not much to look at, is it? What if you knew that a person — or their brain, specifically — was almost guaranteed to develop a serious disease? From there, who knows what might happen. Amazingly, we just got a little bit closer to that reality. A team at The Ohio State University has grown a near-complete human brain in a petri dish. Dr. Don't worry; the brain, which is about the size of a pencil eraser, isn't conscious. But it does have pretty much everything else that makes a brain a brain, including a spinal cord, a retina, and all the proper circuitry. Simply put, it's the most complete model of the human brain ever created. Why go through all the trouble of growing a brain from scratch? An fMRI can't compete with poking and prodding a real, live brain. Dr. Dr.
Changes in dispositional empathy in American college students over time: a meta-analysis. - PubMed - NCBI Scientist: Most complete human brain model to date is a ‘brain changer’ | News Room - The Ohio State University COLUMBUS, Ohio – Scientists at The Ohio State University have developed a nearly complete human brain in a dish that equals the brain maturity of a 5-week-old fetus. The brain organoid, engineered from adult human skin cells, is the most complete human brain model yet developed, said Rene Anand, professor of biological chemistry and pharmacology at Ohio State. The lab-grown brain, about the size of a pencil eraser, has an identifiable structure and contains 99 percent of the genes present in the human fetal brain. Such a system will enable ethical and more rapid and accurate testing of experimental drugs before the clinical trial stage and advance studies of genetic and environmental causes of central nervous system disorders. “It not only looks like the developing brain, its diverse cell types express nearly all genes like a brain,” Anand said. Anand reported on his lab-grown brain Tuesday (Aug. 18) at the 2015 Military Health System Research Symposium in Ft. Related images