tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:09:25 +0000evolutionagingvisionCPGscomputersmemoryneuroeconomicsneurogenesisEncephalonNMDAPFCfMRIreductionismrobotswalkingBayesCNSDavid Foster WallaceLTPRNAiSTDPWilliams syndromeadult neurogenesisamygdalaapis melliferaattentionbabiesbrain fitnesscognitive reservedecorticate catsdevelopmentdodgeballemotionestrogeneugeroicseusocialgamblinghippocampushoneybeesintelligenceirrationallanguagemorris water mazemultisensory integrationnetworknicotineolfactory bulborbitofrontal cortexpheromonesplace cellsplatynereisriskrmssexsiblingssleepsociobiologysongbirdssvzsynesthesiaventriloquismworking memoryunconditionally devoted to understanding the biological basis of the mindhttp://madamfathom.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Unknown)Blogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-7741296575712666102Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:40:00 +00002008-05-12T15:12:39.300-07:00cognitive reserveThe first Alzheimer’s diseased brain I ever touched looked horrific. The cortex was shriveled, the ventricles were large, cavernous voids, and when I stained the sample I saw a galaxy of proteinaceous tangles and masses. The brain had clearly been degenerating steadily for over a decade, and it was difficult to imagine how the patient could have functioned. I was shocked to discover that, http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/08/reading-makes-you-stronger.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)350tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-6559732182488456105Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:11:00 +00002008-05-12T15:16:27.986-07:00David Foster WallaceMy life, though generally fortunate, has been peppered by a small number of somewhat serious injuries: broken hand, broken collarbone, broken wrist, torn meniscus, ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The hand and collarbone were consequences of my big sister tripping and crushing me, respectively, but the rest I managed to accrue on my own. (Even though I sustained these latter injuries http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/07/my-brain-and-my-acl.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)193tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-737914426961422525Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:31:00 +00002007-07-17T11:46:15.025-07:00computersImages like the one above are familiar to any of us who have ever used webmail, Ticketmaster, or any other web service that wants to prevent automated spammers and scalpers from exploiting their systems. The distorted, fuzzy letters don't provide a challenge to humans, but are indecipherable to the most sophisticated computer algorithms. Our genius is facilitated by our "invariant" perceptual http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/07/humans-to-rescue_16.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)229tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-2169172353764496835Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:17:00 +00002007-07-16T14:43:42.505-07:00CPGsrobotsIn my first post ever, I discussed how specialized circuits in the spinal cord (called "central pattern generators," or CPGs) coordinate the intricate motions and muscle patterns involved in running and walking, without significant input from the brain. The autonomy of these circuits allows animals to run and walk while their mental efforts are otherwise engaged; for example, we can talk on the http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-and-improved-robot-cpgs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)124tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-2756046773571977853Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:13:00 +00002007-07-16T14:44:57.262-07:00evolutionAs a young brown-eyed, brown-haired girl growing up in Orange County, CA, I found this "stereotype" repeatedly, bewilderingly, validated. Although I defended myself with Van Morrison and a sizeable artillery of blonde-jokes, behind my façade of self-assurance I continued to wonder: why are blonde hair and blue eyes "prettier"? Now, as a slightly more mature brunette with a more comprehensive http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-are-blondes-more-attractive.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)252tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-321070968555138554Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:48:00 +00002007-07-13T15:00:58.763-07:00intelligenceWilliams syndromeThere's a great article by David Dobbs in the New York Times Magazine about Williams Syndrome (WMS), a condition with a diverse and remarkable array of cognitive symptoms. I have vivid memories of my first exposure to WMS--watching a documentary hosted by Oliver Sacks for my "Psychology of Music" class. In one of the first scenes, Dr. Sacks introduces himself to a 6-year old girl with WMS, who http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/07/williams-syndrome-and-human-sociality.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-4105192672723347502Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:16:00 +00002007-07-05T14:15:00.349-07:00babiesFrom The Globe and Mail: Babies aren't as innocent as they look, according to new research out of the United Kingdom.Sweet little infants actually learn to deceive before they can talk, says University of Portsmouth psychology department head Vasudevi Reddy in a study that challenges traditional notions of innocence while http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/07/babies-cheating-bastards.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-6377727514833635015Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:01:00 +00002007-07-05T11:58:48.315-07:00neurogenesispheromonessexAnimal communication is wonderfully diverse, ranging from the dance of a bee, to written language, to a dog urinating on a tree. For many (all?) animal species, the majority of animal communication is strategically targeted with one goal in mind: sex. Most species lack our oratory competence, yet seem to be procreating rather successfully, able to wordlessly identify and attract mates with http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/07/sexy-neurogenesis_04.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-5154790931506112307Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:24:00 +00002007-07-05T21:10:25.132-07:00Well, no, but according to a recent news article in Science, the addition of meat and cooked foods to the Homo erectus diet may have led to the dramatic expansion of our ancestors' brains and cognitive abilities.Between 1.9 million and 200,000 years ago, the brains of our ancestors tripled in size (from 500 cc in Australopithecus to about 1500 cc in Neanderthals), a feat that required a massive http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/will-raw-food-diet-and-vegetarianism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-7278280866384749584Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:45:00 +00002007-07-13T15:03:38.086-07:00agingestrogenAs women advance in age, pregnancy and childbirth become increasingly dangerous and destructive. Perhaps to protect us, we women have evolved to be infertile later in life: our ovaries stop producing estrogen, causing our reproductive systems to gradually cease operations. Thus rendered barren, we can devote our maternal resources to mentoring and supporting our children and grandchildren. Thehttp://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/estrogen-and-aging-brain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-72643205223725286Sat, 23 Jun 2007 08:44:00 +00002007-06-25T00:23:56.914-07:00Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States, is unveiling a new, "appealingly bright, colorful design" and giving away the July issue for free (until June 30). Among the highlights of this issue: neuronal codes and memory formation, gravitational waves, and a debate between Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss on the coexistence of faith and http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/free-scientific-american.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-4151656655475302985Sat, 23 Jun 2007 07:04:00 +00002007-06-25T16:12:13.811-07:00siblingsA new study in Science reports that the eldest children in families tend to have slightly higher IQs than their younger siblings. The report (brought to my attention by, not surprisingly, my older sister) concluded that the small but significant difference (2.3 IQ points) was not a result of biology, but rather social upbringing.From The New York Times:Norwegian epidemiologists analyzed data on http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/sibling-rivalry.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-8326805889270575667Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:01:00 +00002007-06-21T16:11:06.664-07:00PFCworking memoryThe world offers an awesome, indescribably magnificent profusion of sensory riches. For our meager mortal brains, however, trying to process this deluge of information is akin to taking a drink from Iguaçu Falls: it's tremendously inefficient, and you will likely be violently ripped from your precipice and vanish in a ferocious torrent of natural wonder.Because the world is too rich for our http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/from-iguau.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-2722362065892356912Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:57:00 +00002007-06-14T17:31:31.786-07:00If you're looking to mix some education into your procrastination, the Society for Neuroscience website has a series of free online newsletters "explaining how basic neuroscience discoveries lead to clinical applications." The articles are brief and quite accessible, and include a wide variety of interesting topics, like narcolepsy, phobias, memory enhancers, pheromones, and artificial vision.http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/neuroscience-topics-explained-in-120.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-7692465893786011513Fri, 08 Jun 2007 07:53:00 +00002007-06-08T12:14:20.683-07:00NMDAplace cellsImagine being home on a moonless night when the power unexpectedly goes out. You are shrouded by silent darkness, instantly blind to your surroundings. Yet despite this sensory deprivation, you can navigate somewhat effortlessly around the futon, through the doorway of the kitchen, and across to the middle drawer where your lighter is stored, avoiding walls, furniture, and other familiar http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/come-here-often.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-6149398113365196720Thu, 07 Jun 2007 09:52:00 +00002007-06-07T12:22:16.543-07:00Humans are constantly making decisions with uncertain outcomes—betting on a poker hand, predicting the weather, and selecting a lane of traffic, for example. Because the consequences of such decisions are not guaranteed, we must base our decisions on clues from the environment, determining the probabilities of potential outcomes before deciding on a rational course of action.How does the brain http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/monkey-see-monkey-do-mathematical.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-4091815954331815663Sat, 02 Jun 2007 02:13:00 +00002007-06-01T19:39:26.134-07:00memoryreductionismI've posted on memory a few different times, but thus far I've shied away from going into great molecular detail; in fact, I've pretty much avoided molecular and cellular neuroscience altogether on this "blog." This sidestepping results, to be honest, from laziness; it is easier to make gambling and ventriloquism widely appealing than it is to spice up intracellular mechanisms like gene http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/of-molecules-and-memory-pt-i_01.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-4692495328616733074Sat, 02 Jun 2007 01:31:00 +00002007-06-01T19:24:09.461-07:00LTPmemoryNMDAreductionismThis is Part II of a two-part series; click here for Part I.Now for some neurobiological background on memory, on the biological changes that occur at synapses when "internal representations" are modified. A key experimental paradigm to understand is called long term potentiation (LTP), which is thought to simulate what happens in the brain during learning. Basically, experimenters take a slicehttp://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/06/of-molecules-and-memory-pt-ii.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-1599176991658068390Sat, 26 May 2007 05:49:00 +00002007-05-26T10:05:50.868-07:00synesthesiavisionIn 1954, RCA released the first color television set, transforming shades of gray into rich, dazzling hues at dinner tables around the country. Imagine experiencing that tantalizing technicolor transformation when you hear a piece of music, or look at everyday objects like numbers, letters, and days of the week? There is a rare condition in which people do experience the world in this http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/05/if-i-had-to-choose-one-neurological.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-496671789661993809Thu, 24 May 2007 00:19:00 +00002007-05-23T18:07:19.294-07:00neuroeconomicsI recently posted on neuroeconomics, which attempts to understand the neural basis for human decision-making. One of the primary motivations of the field is understanding the irrationality of our decisions; i.e. why they are often contrary to the logical choices that would maximize one's personal outcome. Mind Hacks has a post on a recent Scientific American article that discusses "how [some http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/05/sensible-irrationality.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-7463484546583848001Wed, 23 May 2007 18:40:00 +00002007-05-23T12:13:57.365-07:00From the San Francisco Chronicle:A female hammerhead shark was mysteriously born at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in December 2001, in a tank that held three adult, female hammerheads but no males. Although the three females had been caught before they reached sexual maturity and held in captivity for more than three years, researchers initially thought one of them had stored sperm from a male http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/05/jesus-shark.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-2251465307921988410Mon, 21 May 2007 21:17:00 +00002007-05-23T22:49:51.352-07:00agingbrain fitnesscomputersThe biology of brain plasticity, including adult neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, axon regrowth, and synaptic reorganization, is currently one of the most intensively studied areas of neuroscience. One of the burgeoning avenues of research for this field explores how altered plasticity may account for some of the behavioral and neural changes afflicting the aging brain, and is leading to http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/05/adult-entertainment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-6614168967813243510Mon, 21 May 2007 20:09:00 +00002007-05-21T13:09:53.605-07:00EncephalonAloha and welcome to the 23rd installment of Encephalon, a blog carnival devoted to the study of the nervous system and the understanding of thought, emotion, and behavior. I received a lovely diversity of posts, and I've made a mildly successful attempt at categorizing them to help guide you in your explorations. Enjoy!Approaches to understanding the mindChris at Developing Intelligence has an http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/05/encephalon-23_21.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-7679041457864578077Fri, 18 May 2007 22:13:00 +00002007-05-19T12:28:52.155-07:00agingemotionfMRIAs we grow older, we experience a number of cognitive changes, such as poorer working memory, declining ability to encode new memories, and slower processing speeds. By contrast, a number of critical abilities (short-term memory, autobiographical memory, semantic knowledge) remain stable. One of the major avenues of research for the cognitive neuroscience of aging explores how these behavioral http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/05/old-wise-and-happy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8884143121153626806.post-7709299121302880733Thu, 17 May 2007 07:52:00 +00002007-05-22T02:17:28.025-07:00neuroeconomicsOver the centuries since Adam Smith, economists have developed mathematical frameworks for maximizing economic success. However, despite the intellectual power of these theories and the often simple logic involved in their calculations, humans continue to amass credit card debt, default on loans, fail to save for retirement, and on the whole refuse to do what these rational, reward-maximizing http://madamfathom.blogspot.com/2007/05/gay-science.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)