Showing posts with label neurology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neurology. Show all posts

2008-09-09

Why self-control and Intelligence are related

Understanding the factors that support self-control is relevant to many important behaviors ranging from saving for retirement to maintaining physical and mental health. Yale University researchers recently determined brain regions that are activated in intelligence tests and in self-control reward test as well. Higher intelligence might also be related to better self-control.


Clipped from: Why delaying gratification is smart

[ Back to EurekAlert! ]


Why delaying gratification is smart

A neural link between intelligence and self-control

If you had a choice between receiving $1,000 right now or $4,000 ten years from now, which would you pick? Psychologists use the term 'delay discounting' to describe our inability to resist the temptation of a smaller immediate reward in lieu of receiving a larger reward at a later date. Discounting future rewards too much is a form of impulsivity, and an important way in which we can neglect to exert self-control."

Previous research suggests that higher intelligence is related to better self-control, but the reasons for this link are unknown. Psychologists Noah A. Shamosh and Jeremy R. Gray, from Yale University, and their colleagues, were interested in testing the idea that certain brain regions supporting short-term memory play a critical role in this relationship.




Clipped from: Welcome to SCAN Lab




Work in the SCAN Lab aims to further an integrated and mechanistic understanding of affect, self-control, and intelligent behavior at multiple levels of analysis: social, cognitive, neural, and genetic. Specific projects currently include research into emotion-cognition interactions, social reasoning, emotional intelligence, ego depletion, mindfulness meditation, personality, analogical reasoning, creativity, and impulsivity."


Clipped from: HealthNewsDigest.com



"How do you juggle what you desperately want to do right now versus what you know to be best for yourself long term? Its not easy for anyone," said Jeremy Gray, assistant professor of psychology and co-author of the study. "We found that a part of prefrontal cortex that helps integrate goals and values appears to contribute to both self-control and to performance on tests of abstract reasoning and problem solving, helping to explain why self-control and intelligence are related."

The findings were reported online Sept. 9 in the journal Psychological Science.


Clipped from: Prefrontal cortex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Prefrontal cortex


This brain region has been implicated in planning complex cognitive behaviors, personality expression, and moderating correct social behavior. The basic activity of this brain region is considered to be orchestration of thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals.


Related:

Why delaying gratification is smart
Welcome to SCAN Lab
Prefrontal cortex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Why delaying gratification is smart | Eureka! Science News

2007-11-30

Computer Simulation of the Brain

A Working Brain Model

An ambitious project to create an accurate computer model of the brain has reached an impressive milestone. Scientists in Switzerland working with IBM researchers have shown that their computer simulation of the neocortical column, arguably the most complex part of a mammal's brain, appears to behave like its biological counterpart. By demonstrating that their simulation is realistic, the researchers say, these results suggest that an entire mammal brain could be completely modeled within three years, and a human brain within the next decade.

Connect the dots: A representation of a mammalian neocortical column, the basic building block of the cortex. The representation shows the complexity of this part of the brain, which has now been modeled using a supercomputer.
Credit: BBP/EPFL


blog it

Related:
About the Blue Brain Project
The Blue Brain Project : Abstract : Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Markram, Henry
Thomas Serre: Home

2007-11-19

Neuroesthetics - Beauty in the Brain

Publication Cover
clipped from scienceblogs.com

Neuroesthetics seeks to identify the neural basis of aesthetic experience - how does the brain give rise to the perception of beauty? A new paper in Network indicates that artists consistently create works which contain the same statistical properties as natural scenes, even when the objects being depicted do not themselves contain such statistics when photographed.

Redies, Hanisch, Blickhan and Denzler review previous work demonstrating that the "spatial frequencies" of natural scenes (essentially, their spatial complexity) follow a 1/f power spectrum, where increased spatial complexity is increasingly restricted to smaller portions of the scene. This property is sometimes referred to as "scale invariance" and is reflected in a variety of natural data, including human reaction time data, spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity, and perhaps in the connectivity of biological networks - neural and social alike.


blog it

Related:
Artists portray human faces with the Fourier statistics of complex natural scenes - Network: Computation in Neural Systems
Neuroesthetics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2007-11-08

Left-handers 'think' more quickly

Left-handed people often perform better than right-handers, new research suggests.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
BBC News

Left-handers 'think' more quickly
Left-handed people can think quicker when carrying out tasks such as playing computer games or playing sport, say Australian researchers.

Connections between the left and right hand sides or hemispheres of the brain are faster in left-handed people, a study in Neuropsychology shows.

blog it
clipped from www.abc.net.au

Left-handers may be better at gaming

Left-handed people often perform better than right-handers at fast or difficult tasks that involve lots of information or stimuli, new research suggests.
Gaming
Research shows that the left and right hemispheres communicate and work together better in left-handers, as information transfers from one to the other slightly faster and perhaps more efficiently.
Dr Nick Cherbuin from the Australian National University and colleagues report their findings in the November issue of the journal Neuropsychology.
blog it
related:
Howstuffworks "Are left-handers quicker thinkers than righties?"
Left-handed people can think quicker - Medlaunches.com

2007-10-14

Connecting Brain to Second Life

Brain-computer interface allows users to steer Second Life characters with their thoughts

Brain-computer interface for Second Life

Brain-computer interface controls Second Life avatar --

A research team led by professor Jun’ichi Ushiba of the Keio University Biomedical Engineering Laboratory has developed a BCI system that lets the user walk an avatar through the streets of Second Life while relying solely on the power of thought. To control the avatar on screen, the user simply thinks about moving various body parts — the avatar walks forward when the user thinks about moving his/her own feet, and it turns right and left when the user imagines moving his/her right and left arms.

blog it

via: Connecting your brain to Second Life - TECH.BLORGE.com
慶應義塾大学理工学部生命情報学科 富田・牛場研究室 - 新着ニュース

2007-09-19

Political differences explained by brain type

Scientists have found that the brains of people calling themselves liberals are more able to handle conflicting and unexpected information than the brains of their conservative counterparts. The study points to a likely neurological basis for complex personality and behavioural traits.
Related: Mind Hacks: Brain type responsible for politics, pant wetting
Cognitive Daily: The claim: Politically liberal brains are better at handling change
Neurocognitive correlates of liberalism and conser...[Nat Neurosci. 2007] - PubMed Result
Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Differences Between Brains and Computers

Difference # 1: Brains are analogue; computers are digital
Difference # 2: The brain uses content-addressable memory
Difference # 3: The brain is a massively parallel machine; computers are modular and serial
Difference # 4: Processing speed is not fixed in the brain; there is no system clock
Difference # 5 - Short-term memory is not like RAM
Difference # 6: No hardware/software distinction can be made with respect to the brain or mind
Difference # 7: Synapses are far more complex than electrical logic gates
Difference #8: Unlike computers, processing and memory are performed by the same components in the brain
Difference # 9: The brain is a self-organizing system
Difference # 10: Brains have bodies
Bonus Difference: The brain is much, much bigger than any [current] computer
More on
via: Al Fin: Will The Singularity Founder on Differences Between the Brain and Computers?

2007-09-12

‘Slowed Brain-activity’ in frequent mobile phone users

In the September issue of the International Journal of Neuroscience a study will be published on the long term effects of Mobile Phone use on brain function. [...] frequent mobile phone users showed improved focused attention. This was explained by a learning effect due to making more phone calls in busy environments, whereby people learn to focus better on the phone call and filter out irrelevant environmental information. However, the brain activity from frequent mobile phone users shows more slow activity (increased Delta and Theta) and a slowing of the Alpha Peak Frequency. These effects could not be explained by the differences in personality and focused attention. “In Alzheimer’s dementia you also find a severely slowing of brain activity.
via: The Raw Feed: Cell Phones Make Your Brain Slower -- Report

2007-09-06

Coming BCI games worry scientists

Your brain might be your next videogame controller.

That might sound pretty awesome, but the prospect of brain-controlled virtual joysticks has some scientists worried that games might end up controlling our brains.

related: LinkNotes: Personal Neurofeedback (Biofeedback) Machines