Quackwatch The powerful and mysterious brain circuitry that makes us love Google, Twitter, and texting Seeking. You can't stop doing it. Sometimes it feels as if the basic drives for food, sex, and sleep have been overridden by a new need for endless nuggets of electronic information. We are so insatiably curious that we gather data even if it gets us in trouble. Emily Yoffe is a contributing editor at the Atlantic. We actually resemble nothing so much as those legendary lab rats that endlessly pressed a lever to give themselves a little electrical jolt to the brain. In 1954, psychologist James Olds and his team were working in a laboratory at McGill University, studying how rats learned. Olds, and everyone else, assumed he'd found the brain's pleasure center (some scientists still think so). But to Washington State University neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, this supposed pleasure center didn't look very much like it was producing pleasure. It is an emotional state Panksepp tried many names for: curiosity, interest, foraging, anticipation, craving, expectancy.
Scientists capture the first image of memories being made The ability to learn and to establish new memories is essential to our daily existence and identity; enabling us to navigate through the world. A new study by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro), McGill University and University of California, Los Angeles has captured an image for the first time of a mechanism, specifically protein translation, which underlies long-term memory formation. The finding provides the first visual evidence that when a new memory is formed new proteins are made locally at the synapse - the connection between nerve cells - increasing the strength of the synaptic connection and reinforcing the memory. The study published in Science, is important for understanding how memory traces are created and the ability to monitor it in real time will allow a detailed understanding of how memories are formed. (Photo Credit: Science)
Transcending the Matrix Control System How Magic Mushrooms Work - Lifestyle Psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, has a "long history of use in healing ceremonies," but it has yet to achieve the legitimacy afforded regulated pharmaceutical drugs. A growing body of shroom research may change that. One recent study found that when volunteers took psilocybin—and were subjected to a soundtrack of "world music"—the subjects reported "improved relationships with family and others, increased physical and psychological self-care, and increased devotion to spiritual practice"—typical mind-expansion stuff. Now, a new pair of studies claim that magic mushrooms don't actually expand the mind—in a sense, they contract it. In one study, researchers took a set of 15 "healthy, hallucinogen-experienced" volunteers, gave them psilocybin, then watched their brains. The result?
The biology of dreaming o one would normally consider David Maurice, Ph.D., professor of ocular physiology in the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, a revolutionary. Nevertheless, he has reignited a decades-long controversy that could spark a revolutionary re-evaluation of an entire field of behavioral research. Dr. Maurice has developed a startling new line of scientific inquiry that, when added to other findings, could change our understanding of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and the nature of dreams. What Maurice has done is to suggest an alternative explanation for the phenomenon known as REM sleep, the stage in which the eyes rapidly move and most dreams occur. "Without REM," Maurice told 21stC, "our corneas would starve and suffocate while we are asleep with our eyes closed." Maurice's interest in REM began a few years ago. "What is at stake here is a theory of dreams that is scientifically valid," Dr. Interpretation vs. observation Drs. No final answer in sight Neil B.
For those who want to know: Reliable information on health, energy, media, war, elections, 9/11, more Facts about the Brain and Sleep Neurogenesis - “The birth of new neurons in the brain; also referred to as the process in which neurons are created.” The growth of new brain cells occurs in the region of the brain called the “hippocampus.” The ‘hippocampus’ is an area involved with memory, learning, and other cognitive functions. Most importantly, they need support from other surrounding neurons - otherwise these new brain cells will die. Though neurogenesis is most active during prenatal development, there is growing evidence that certain activities also induce the growth of new brain cells [neurons] in the brain. Everybody knows that exercise is good for your overall health and heart, but in recent findings, powerful evidence has proven that exercise is great for your brain. Another study at Colombia University found that humans who had a exercise training program were able to grow and maintain new brain cells and nerve cells in the hippocampus region of the brain. Sci STKE. 2003 Aug; (195):318. -Biotele [Source])
The Science of Word Recognition About fonts > ClearType The Science of Word Recognition or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bouma Kevin LarsonAdvanced Reading Technology, Microsoft CorporationJuly 2004 Introduction Evidence from the last 20 years of work in cognitive psychology indicate that we use the letters within a word to recognize a word. This paper is written from the perspective of a reading psychologist. The goal of this paper is to review the history of why psychologists moved from a word shape model of word recognition to a letter recognition model, and to help others to come to the same conclusion. I will start by describing three major categories of word recognition models: the word shape model, and serial and parallel models of letter recognition. Model #1: Word Shape The word recognition model that says words are recognized as complete units is the oldest model in the psychological literature, and is likely much older than the psychological literature. characters Model #2: Serial Letter Recognition
The Battle for Your Mind: Brainwashing Techniques Authoritarian followers Mind Control Subliminals By Dick Sutphen Summary of Contents The Birth of Conversion The Three Brain Phases How Revivalist Preachers Work Voice Roll Technique Six Conversion Techniques 1. keeping agreements 2.physical and mental fatigue 3. increase the tension 4. Uncertainty. 5. Jargon 6. No humor Stockholm SyndromeDecognition Process Step One is ALERTNESS REDUCTION Step Two is PROGRAMED CONFUSION Step Three is THOUGHT STOPPINGTrue Believers & Mass Movements Persuasion Techniques YES SET TRUISMS SUGGESTION Imbedded Commands INTERSPERSAL TECHNIQUE Visualisation SHOCK AND CONFUSIONSubliminal Programming Mass Misuse Vibrato Extra Low Frequencies The Neurophone Summary of Contents The Birth of Conversion/Brainwashing in Christian Revivalism in 1735. I'm Dick Sutphen and this tape is a studio-recorded, expanded version of a talk I delivered at the World Congress of Professional Hypnotists Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Birth of Conversion Charles J. Alright.
Brain waves encode rules for behavior Public release date: 21-Nov-2012 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Sarah McDonnells_mcd@mit.edu 617-253-8923Massachusetts Institute of Technology CAMBRIDGE, MA -- One of the biggest puzzles in neuroscience is how our brains encode thoughts, such as perceptions and memories, at the cellular level. Some evidence suggests that ensembles of neurons represent each unique piece of information, but no one knows just what these ensembles look like, or how they form. A new study from researchers at MIT and Boston University (BU) sheds light on how neural ensembles form thoughts and support the flexibility to change one's mind. The results suggest that the nature of conscious thought may be rhythmic, according to the researchers, who published their findings in the Nov. 21 issue of Neuron. "As we talk, thoughts float in and out of our heads. Rules for behavior "Effectively what they're doing is focusing on some parts of information in the world and ignoring others. [ Print | E-mail
The Unexpected Reason Facebook May Be Good For Older Adults Spending time on Facebook has been shown to reduce stress levels, slow down heart rates and -- generally speaking -- just simply relax people. Now new research suggests that learning to use Facebook may have an additional benefit for adults over 65: a sharpening of mental abilities. Janelle Wohltmann, a graduate student in the University of Arizona department of psychology, set out to see whether teaching older adults to use the popular social networking site could give a boost to their cognitive performance and make them feel more socially connected. Her preliminary findings, which she shared this month at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting in Hawaii, reveal that older adults, after learning to use Facebook, performed about 25 percent better on memory tasks. During her study, Wohltmann helped train 14 older adults who had never before -- or who had rarely used -- Facebook so that they ultimately amassed new online friends while posting daily on the site.
Persuasion: The Sleeper Effect How to change attitudes months after a persuasive message is delivered. In the 1940s during WWII, the US Department of War wanted to know if their propaganda films were really working. So they carried out a series of experimental studies into how they affected soldier’s attitudes. The complacent assumption was that the films should easily influence the average GI. While the films were informative and did strengthen some existing attitudes, experiments showed they were extremely unlikely to make soldiers more optimistic about the war in general (Hovland et al, 1949). In retrospect this should have come as little surprise since the soldiers knew these were propaganda films designed to change their attitudes, so their defenses were up. What they did discover, though, was that some of the films did have an effect on soldiers after months had passed. Big impact Since then the sleeper effect has had a rockier history than the average soap opera character. Know the source before the message
Still Waiting on Neural Nets The promise of artificial neural networks is the stuff of sci-fi movies: computers that learn and work much like humans-through experience. In the real world, however, neural networks haven’t begun to live up to their potential. It appears that human nature is at least partially standing in the way-with a failure to communicate fully between two key groups. Researchers gathered to discuss real-world applications of neural networks at a session of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks held in Washington, DC, in July. But besides research to spur the development of tiny, connected “smart” sensors for use in defense, very little of the discussions had much to do with what anyone outside academia would consider the real world. Instead, researchers outlined the need to better connect neural network technology with current research about how the human brain works. Missing a Core Connection Needed: Neuroinformatics What’s the solution?