Keeping My Focus: A Neuroscientist

I'm an aspiring scientist, hoping to be a neuroendocrinologist, and going to Boston University for neuroscience with pre-med. I love science and mathematics, and both never fail to fascinate me. Here, I share that which I find particularly interesting.

Home
Archive
Subscribe (RSS)
Random post
Twitter
Facebook
My Personal Blog

Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

HowStuffWorks “Dreams: Stages of Sleep”: Dreaming and the Brain When we sleep, we go through five sleep stages. The first stage is a very light sleep from which it is easy to wake up. The second stage moves into a slightly deeper sleep, and stages three and four represent our deepest sleep. Our brain activity throughout these stages is gradually slowing down so that by deep sleep, we experience nothing but delta brain waves — the slowest brain waves (see “Brain Waves” sidebar). About 90 minutes after we go to sleep and after the fourth sleep stage, we begin REM sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) was discovered in 1953 by University of Chicago researchers Eugene Aserinsky, a graduate student in physiology, and Nathaniel Kleitman, Ph.D., chair of physiology. REM sleep is primarily characterized by movements of the eyes and is the fifth stage of sleep. During REM sleep, several physiological changes also take place. The heart rate and breathing quickens, the blood pressure rises, we can’t regulate our body temperature as well and our brain activity increases to the same level (alpha) as when we are awake, or even higher. The rest of the body, however, is essentiallyparalyzed until we leave REM sleep. This paralysis is caused by the release of glycine, an amino acid, from the brain stem onto the motoneurons (neurons that conduct impulses outward from the brain or spinal cord). Because REM sleep is the sleep stage at which most dreaming takes place, this paralysis could be nature’s way of making sure we don’t act out our dreams. Otherwise, if you’re sleeping next to someone who is dreaming about playing kickball, you might get kicked repeatedly while you sleep. The four stages outside of REM sleep are called non-REM sleep (NREM). Although most dreams do take place during REM sleep, more recent research has shown that dreams can occur during any of the sleep stages. Tore A. Nielsen, Ph.D., of the Dream and Nightmare Laboratory in Montreal, refers to this as “covert REM sleep” making an appearance during NREM sleep. Most NREM dreams, however, don’t have the intensity of REM dreams. Throughout the night, we go through these five stages several times. Each subsequent cycle, however, includes more REM sleep and less deep sleep (stage three and four). By morning, we’re having almost all stage one, two and five (REM) sleep.

HowStuffWorks “Dreams: Stages of Sleep”:

Dreaming and the Brain

When we sleep, we go through five sleep stages. The first stage is a very light sleep from which it is easy to wake up. The second stage moves into a slightly deeper sleep, and stages three and four represent our deepest sleep. Our brain activity throughout these stages is gradually slowing down so that by deep sleep, we experience nothing but delta brain waves — the slowest brain waves (see “Brain Waves” sidebar). About 90 minutes after we go to sleep and after the fourth sleep stage, we begin REM sleep.

Rapid eye movement (REM) was discovered in 1953 by University of Chicago researchers Eugene Aserinsky, a graduate student in physiology, and Nathaniel Kleitman, Ph.D., chair of physiology. REM sleep is primarily characterized by movements of the eyes and is the fifth stage of sleep.

During REM sleep, several physiological changes also take place. The heart rate and breathing quickens, the blood pressure rises, we can’t regulate our body temperature as well and our brain activity increases to the same level (alpha) as when we are awake, or even higher. The rest of the body, however, is essentiallyparalyzed until we leave REM sleep. This paralysis is caused by the release of glycine, an amino acid, from the brain stem onto the motoneurons (neurons that conduct impulses outward from the brain or spinal cord). Because REM sleep is the sleep stage at which most dreaming takes place, this paralysis could be nature’s way of making sure we don’t act out our dreams. Otherwise, if you’re sleeping next to someone who is dreaming about playing kickball, you might get kicked repeatedly while you sleep.

The four stages outside of REM sleep are called non-REM sleep (NREM). Although most dreams do take place during REM sleep, more recent research has shown that dreams can occur during any of the sleep stages. Tore A. Nielsen, Ph.D., of the Dream and Nightmare Laboratory in Montreal, refers to this as “covert REM sleep” making an appearance during NREM sleep. Most NREM dreams, however, don’t have the intensity of REM dreams.

Throughout the night, we go through these five stages several times. Each subsequent cycle, however, includes more REM sleep and less deep sleep (stage three and four). By morning, we’re having almost all stage one, two and five (REM) sleep.

HowStuffWorks “The Science of Flirting”: The Science of Flirting There’s a lot going on under the surface when we flirt. Yes, we’re sending the message that we’re interested, but why do those specific gestures say “I’m interested in you,” and what do they really say about us? According to scientists, it all comes down to our inherent desire to reproduce. When we flirt, we’re giving off information about how fit we are to procreate as well as our health. There are also specific aspects of our appearance that make us more attractive to others. Some of the “female” signs of flirting, such as angling her body and sticking out her hips, are attempts to draw attention to her pelvis and its suitability for carrying a child. In addition, men tend to be more attracted to women with a certain hip-to-waist ratio (specifically, the waist must be no more than 60 to 80 percent of the hip circumference) [source: Psychology Today]. This is also an indication of fertility. When a man makes intense eye contact and smiles often, he attempts to show that he is both virile and dependable. Women are attracted to prominent, square jaws, which are indicative of a man’s power a­nd strength. Scientists point out that features like square jaws in human males have a connection to prominent features in the animal kingdom. Male peacocks attract females with their elaborate plumage, male cardinals are bright red and stags have large horns. Because these features require additional biological resources and also tend to make these animals more visible to their predators, an impressive display shows that these animals are strong. When we’re flirting with someone who fits the bill for us, the limbic system takes over (the same system responsible for our flight-or-fight response). We operate on emotion and instinct. If we only governed flirting with the most rational part of our brains, we might not ever flirt — or get a date — at all. In fact, according to biologist Dr. Antonio Damasio, there’s a connection between brain damage and flirting. He states that “people with damage to the connection between their limbic structures and the higher brain are smart and rational — but unable to make decisions” [source: Psychology Today]. Still, we’re not just animalistic in our flirting behavior. The ability to carry a conversation and engage in the joking back-and-forth of flirting also indicates our intelligence, which is always attractive. In the next section, we’ll look at how flirting has changed over the years and how technology has led to new ways of flirting.

HowStuffWorks “The Science of Flirting”:

The Science of Flirting

There’s a lot going on under the surface when we flirt. Yes, we’re sending the message that we’re interested, but why do those specific gestures say “I’m interested in you,” and what do they really say about us? According to scientists, it all comes down to our inherent desire to reproduce. When we flirt, we’re giving off information about how fit we are to procreate as well as our health. There are also specific aspects of our appearance that make us more attractive to others.

Some of the “female” signs of flirting, such as angling her body and sticking out her hips, are attempts to draw attention to her pelvis and its suitability for carrying a child. In addition, men tend to be more attracted to women with a certain hip-to-waist ratio (specifically, the waist must be no more than 60 to 80 percent of the hip circumference) [source: Psychology Today]. This is also an indication of fertility.

When a man makes intense eye contact and smiles often, he attempts to show that he is both virile and dependable. Women are attracted to prominent, square jaws, which are indicative of a man’s power a­nd strength. Scientists point out that features like square jaws in human males have a connection to prominent features in the animal kingdom. Male peacocks attract females with their elaborate plumage, male cardinals are bright red and stags have large horns. Because these features require additional biological resources and also tend to make these animals more visible to their predators, an impressive display shows that these animals are strong.

When we’re flirting with someone who fits the bill for us, the limbic system takes over (the same system responsible for our flight-or-fight response). We operate on emotion and instinct. If we only governed flirting with the most rational part of our brains, we might not ever flirt — or get a date — at all. In fact, according to biologist Dr. Antonio Damasio, there’s a connection between brain damage and flirting. He states that “people with damage to the connection between their limbic structures and the higher brain are smart and rational — but unable to make decisions” [source: Psychology Today].

Still, we’re not just animalistic in our flirting behavior. The ability to carry a conversation and engage in the joking back-and-forth of flirting also indicates our intelligence, which is always attractive. In the next section, we’ll look at how flirting has changed over the years and how technology has led to new ways of flirting.

HowStuffWorks “How Love Works”: There are a lot of chemicals racing around your brain and body when you’re in love. Researchers are gradually learning more and more about the roles they play both when we are falling in love and when we’re in long-term relationships. Of course, estrogenand testosterone play a role in the sex drive area (see How Sex Works). Without them, we might never venture into the “real love” arena. That initial giddiness that comes when we’re first falling in love includes a racing heart, flushed skin and sweaty palms. Researchers say this is due to the dopamine, norepinephrine and phenylethylamine we’re releasing. Dopamine is thought to be the “pleasure chemical,” producing a feeling of bliss. Norepinephrine is similar to adrenaline and produces the racing heart and excitement. According to Helen Fisher, anthropologist and well-known love researcher from Rutgers University, together these two chemicals produce elation, intense energy, sleeplessness, craving, loss of appetite and focused attention. She also says, “The human body releases the cocktail of love rapture only when certain conditions are met and … men more readily produce it than women, because of their more visual nature.” Researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to watch people’s brains when they look at a photograph of their object of affection. According to Helen Fisher, a well-known love researcher and an anthropologist at Rutgers University, what they see in those scans during that “crazed, can’t-think-of-anything-but stage of romance” — the attraction stage — is the biological drive to focus on one person. The scans showed increased blood flow in areas of the brain with high concentrations of receptors for dopamine — associated with states of euphoria, craving and addiction. High levels of dopamine are also associated with norepinephrine, which heightens attention, short-term memory, hyperactivity, sleeplessness and goal-oriented behavior. In other words, couples in this stage of love focus intently on the relationship and often on little else. Another possible explanation for the intense focus and idealizing view that occurs in the attraction stage comes from researchers at University College London. They discovered that people in love have lower levels of serotonin and also that neural circuits associated with the way we assess others are suppressed. These lower serotonin levels are the same as those found in people with obsessive-compulsive disorders, possibly explaining why those in love “obsess” about their partner.

HowStuffWorks “How Love Works”:


There are a lot of chemicals racing around your brain and body when you’re in love. Researchers are gradually learning more and more about the roles they play both when we are falling in love and when we’re in long-term relationships. Of course, estrogenand testosterone play a role in the sex drive area (see How Sex Works). Without them, we might never venture into the “real love” arena.

That initial giddiness that comes when we’re first falling in love includes a racing heart, flushed skin and sweaty palms. Researchers say this is due to the dopamine, norepinephrine and phenylethylamine we’re releasing. Dopamine is thought to be the “pleasure chemical,” producing a feeling of bliss. Norepinephrine is similar to adrenaline and produces the racing heart and excitement. According to Helen Fisher, anthropologist and well-known love researcher from Rutgers University, together these two chemicals produce elation, intense energy, sleeplessness, craving, loss of appetite and focused attention. She also says, “The human body releases the cocktail of love rapture only when certain conditions are met and … men more readily produce it than women, because of their more visual nature.”

Researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to watch people’s brains when they look at a photograph of their object of affection. According to Helen Fisher, a well-known love researcher and an anthropologist at Rutgers University, what they see in those scans during that “crazed, can’t-think-of-anything-but stage of romance” — the attraction stage — is the biological drive to focus on one person. The scans showed increased blood flow in areas of the brain with high concentrations of receptors for dopamine — associated with states of euphoria, craving and addiction. High levels of dopamine are also associated with norepinephrine, which heightens attention, short-term memory, hyperactivity, sleeplessness and goal-oriented behavior. In other words, couples in this stage of love focus intently on the relationship and often on little else.

Another possible explanation for the intense focus and idealizing view that occurs in the attraction stage comes from researchers at University College London. They discovered that people in love have lower levels of serotonin and also that neural circuits associated with the way we assess others are suppressed. These lower serotonin levels are the same as those found in people with obsessive-compulsive disorders, possibly explaining why those in love “obsess” about their partner.

(Source: geemay)

psych-facts: Individuals with Depression or Bipolar Disorder are particularly sensitive to the consumption of aspartame, an artificial sweetener, and should be discouraged from consuming it. Those who suffer depression or bipolar disorder be considered part of the general population? In 1993, Dr Walton, who is a psychiatrist, conducted a study of 40 patients with unipolar depression and a similar number without a psychiatric history. The subjects were given 30 mgs per kg of body weight a day of aspartame or a placebo for 20 days (about equal to daily consumption if it completely replaced sugar). Thirteen individuals completed the study, then an institutional review board called the project to a halt “because of the severity of reactions within the group of patients with a history of depression.” In a smaller, shorter crossover design, “again there was a significant difference between aspartame and placebo in number and severity of symptoms for patients with a history of depression, whereas for individuals without such a history there was not.” Accordingly, the author concluded that “individuals with mood disorders are particularly sensitive to this artificial sweetener and its use in this population should be discouraged.” As to further particulars of the study, based on the eight depressed subjects and five healthy subjects who completed it: Three quarters of the patients with a history of depression taking aspartame reported feeling depressed vs none of the healthy subjects taking aspartame and about 40 percent of both groups taking a placebo. The 40 percent is probably a statistical aberration owing to the small numbers who completed the study. Nevertheless, the figures consistently show the depressed/aspartame group experiencing an array of symptoms in far greater numbers and severity, including: fatigue, nausea, headache, trouble remembering, insomnia, and other symptoms. The depressed/placebo group showed almost none of these symptoms, along with the healthy/aspartame and healthy/placebo groups Dr Walton told this writer he believes aspartame inhibits serotonin synthesis by decreasing the availability of the precursor L-tryptophan, a finding borne out in another research team’s 1987 experiment on rats. Remarkably, Dr Walton’s study is the only one we have related to both mood and aspartame. It would be helpful to get a second opinion, but no one else since, apparently, has tried to either replicate or refute his results. This may be due to the political and funding climate. “The NutraSweet company,” Dr Walton told this writer, “clearly tried to block our study.”

psych-facts:

Individuals with Depression or Bipolar Disorder are particularly sensitive to the consumption of aspartame, an artificial sweetener, and should be discouraged from consuming it.

Those who suffer depression or bipolar disorder be considered part of the general population? In 1993, Dr Walton, who is a psychiatrist, conducted a study of 40 patients with unipolar depression and a similar number without a psychiatric history. The subjects were given 30 mgs per kg of body weight a day of aspartame or a placebo for 20 days (about equal to daily consumption if it completely replaced sugar).

Thirteen individuals completed the study, then an institutional review board called the project to a halt “because of the severity of reactions within the group of patients with a history of depression.” In a smaller, shorter crossover design, “again there was a significant difference between aspartame and placebo in number and severity of symptoms for patients with a history of depression, whereas for individuals without such a history there was not.”

Accordingly, the author concluded that “individuals with mood disorders are particularly sensitive to this artificial sweetener and its use in this population should be discouraged.”

As to further particulars of the study, based on the eight depressed subjects and five healthy subjects who completed it:

Three quarters of the patients with a history of depression taking aspartame reported feeling depressed vs none of the healthy subjects taking aspartame and about 40 percent of both groups taking a placebo. The 40 percent is probably a statistical aberration owing to the small numbers who completed the study. Nevertheless, the figures consistently show the depressed/aspartame group experiencing an array of symptoms in far greater numbers and severity, including: fatigue, nausea, headache, trouble remembering, insomnia, and other symptoms.

The depressed/placebo group showed almost none of these symptoms, along with the healthy/aspartame and healthy/placebo groups

Dr Walton told this writer he believes aspartame inhibits serotonin synthesis by decreasing the availability of the precursor L-tryptophan, a finding borne out in another research team’s 1987 experiment on rats.

Remarkably, Dr Walton’s study is the only one we have related to both mood and aspartame. It would be helpful to get a second opinion, but no one else since, apparently, has tried to either replicate or refute his results. This may be due to the political and funding climate. “The NutraSweet company,” Dr Walton told this writer, “clearly tried to block our study.”

Grapheme-Color Synesthesia

Grapheme-color synesthesia is a peculiar neurological condition in which people involuntarily experience colors when thinking about letters, numbers or words.

They might, for instance, always see the color green along with the number four, or blue with the letter A.

Neuroscientists from the University of Oxford in England are trying to determine what exactly is different about the brains of those with this type of synesthesia.

In a new study, they report that people with the condition experience heightened activity in the brain region associated with vision. The study appears in the journal Current Biology.

The researchers stimulated their subjects’ visual cortex using a method called transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Compared with normal subjects, people with the synesthesia required only one-third the stimulation to experience phosphenes, or transient flashes of light.

“We all have different thresholds in the brain, and synesthetes have a lower threshold,” said the study’s lead author, Devin Blair Terhune, a neuroscientist at Oxford.

Although grapheme-color synesthesia affects only about 1 percent of the population, the research provides clues into how the visual cortex works.

It could be useful in developing treatments for people who experience hallucinations and other atypical perceptions, Dr. Terhune said, adding:

“We all associate numbers and colors to some extent. The study provides some interesting insight into how cortical excitability may be related to conscious awareness.”

(Source: http)

psych-facts: Are High Neurotic People More Absorbed Into the Films they Watch than Low Neurotics? In 2011, Weibel, Wissmath, and Stricker study whether people who are more neurotic are more absorbed into the films they watch. Using a 3 by 2 factorial design, 64 student participants complete the Neo Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI) that assesses neurotic level. Next, the participants are put into a Low or High Neurotic Groups based on NEO-FFI scores. Participants are also then asked to view three clips randomly ordered that are either funny, sad, or happy. The study then surveys the participant’s level of absorption into the clips (using Kim and Biocca’s (1997) Prsence Scale) and level of enjoyment (using a 5-point Likert Scale “Did you enjoy the film,” rate from 1-5, 5 for very much). The study finds that high neurotics rate level of absorption higher than low neurotics and that this was true regardless of whether the clips were funny, sad or happy. They also found that high neurotics rate level of enjoyment higher for the happy and funny clips and lower for the sad clip than the low neurotics. The researchers propose that high neurotics have a more reactive sympathetic nervous system and thus are more attentive to the clips and affected by emotions.

psych-facts:

Are High Neurotic People More Absorbed Into the Films they Watch than Low Neurotics?

In 2011, Weibel, Wissmath, and Stricker study whether people who are more neurotic are more absorbed into the films they watch. Using a 3 by 2 factorial design, 64 student participants complete the Neo Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI) that assesses neurotic level. Next, the participants are put into a Low or High Neurotic Groups based on NEO-FFI scores. Participants are also then asked to view three clips randomly ordered that are either funny, sad, or happy. The study then surveys the participant’s level of absorption into the clips (using Kim and Biocca’s (1997) Prsence Scale) and level of enjoyment (using a 5-point Likert Scale “Did you enjoy the film,” rate from 1-5, 5 for very much). The study finds that high neurotics rate level of absorption higher than low neurotics and that this was true regardless of whether the clips were funny, sad or happy. They also found that high neurotics rate level of enjoyment higher for the happy and funny clips and lower for the sad clip than the low neurotics. The researchers propose that high neurotics have a more reactive sympathetic nervous system and thus are more attentive to the clips and affected by emotions.

psydoctor8: Neuroscience on Desire Once scientists began studying the structure of the brain, and looking at activity in different areas, they began to gather evidence that feelings of desire occur in the brain regions that are also associated with reward and addiction. Helen Fisher, a scientist who has done fMRI studies of people who are in love, published a book called Why We Love that sums up a lot of the findings in this area. She suggests that love and its loss are functionally similar to addiction and getting sober.  Somebody a long time ago had it right.   Other neuroscientists have focused on the sexual side of desire, exploring what your brain is doing when you get turned on and have orgasms. One of the pioneers in this field, neuroscientist Barry Komisaruk, havemapped the brain regions that become active in women who are aroused and orgasmic. It turns out that there is no single “pleasure center” in the brain - orgasms tend to light up a wide variety of brain regions related to everything from memory to higher reason. They’ve also discovered that, in women at least, orgasmic impulses can reach the brain even when the spinal cord is damaged, which suggests that there are non-spinal nerve connections between the vagina and the brain.  

psydoctor8:

Neuroscience on Desire

Once scientists began studying the structure of the brain, and looking at activity in different areas, they began to gather evidence that feelings of desire occur in the brain regions that are also associated with reward and addiction. Helen Fisher, a scientist who has done fMRI studies of people who are in love, published a book called Why We Love that sums up a lot of the findings in this area. She suggests that love and its loss are functionally similar to addiction and getting sober.

 Somebody a long time ago had it right.  

Other neuroscientists have focused on the sexual side of desire, exploring what your brain is doing when you get turned on and have orgasms. One of the pioneers in this field, neuroscientist Barry Komisaruk, havemapped the brain regions that become active in women who are aroused and orgasmic. It turns out that there is no single “pleasure center” in the brain - orgasms tend to light up a wide variety of brain regions related to everything from memory to higher reason. They’ve also discovered that, in women at least, orgasmic impulses can reach the brain even when the spinal cord is damaged, which suggests that there are non-spinal nerve connections between the vagina and the brain.  

(Source: psychology-terms)

Cognitive Distortions

  • All or Nothing: Seeing things in black-and-white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you believe you are a total failure. If someone is unkind to you once, you believe they are always unkind to you. You think if you don’t have a fairytale life, you’ll be a street person (e.g., Because I’m 30 and I haven’t married, I will end up old and alone, living with cats who probably don’t even use the litter box—that is, if any cats would even want me).
  • Overgeneralization: Believing that one negative event that happens to you reflects a never-ending, hopeless pattern of defeat (e.g., See! It happened again! I tried to go running this morning and I couldn’t get myself to do it. I will never be in shape.)
  • Mental Filter: Picking out one negative detail from a situation, person, or yourself, and focusing on it ‘exclusively so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that discolours the entire beaker of water.’ (Burns) (e.g., Okay, sure, Valentines’ Day was going okay, yeah, she brought flowers and made me dinner, and gave me a loving card….but then she burped during dessert. Right in the middle. How can I be with a person like that? I just can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t get past it.)
  • Disqualifying the Positive: Denying your positive experiences and feelings by discounting them (e.g., “they don’t matter,” “they are just a fluke”).
  • Jumping to Conclusions: Coming to a negative perception of events without any evidence to support your perception:
    a. Mind Reading. Thinking you KNOW what negative thing the other person is thinking or feeling without asking them. If they disagree, you believe they are lying! (e.g., If I ask them if they want to hang out and they say yes, I KNOW it’s just because they are being polite to such a loser as myself.)
    b. Fortune Teller. Behaving as if the feared outcome you believe is guaranteed has already happened (e.g., If I send in my resume for this job, I know I’ll get it, and then it’ll be fine at first, but a year down the line, or maybe a month, I know I will get bored and frustrated, I’ll feel stuck. But I won’t be able to leave. <panics> So I’m not going to send in my resume at all!).
  • Magnification (Catastrophizing) or Minimization: Making too much of events or traits (your negative traits/experiences; others’ positive traits/experiences), OR making too little of your positive traits/experiences or others’ negative traits/ experiences (e.g., SHE is just perfect in every way, but look at me! I have flaky skin and obviously grotesque and unlovable!).
  • Emotional Reasoning: Imagining that your negative emotions
    reflect reality: “I feel it, therefore it must be true.” (e.g., every time I am around him, I feel nervous. Obviously, he is judging me.)
  • Should Statements: Using shoulds and shouldn’ts to get yourself going, “as if you have to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything” (Burns), and then feeling guilty and bad about yourself. Alternatively, using shoulds and shouldn’ts to get others to conform to what you’d like them to do, which leaves you feeling angry, frustrated, and resentful (because you can’t control another person, and people ultimately do what they feel is best for them).
  • Labelling and Mislabelling: Overgeneralizing from one instance of behavior to a global personality description (e.g., you approach someone and are shot down, but instead of saying to yourself, well, maybe I didn’t handle that so well, or maybe that person just isn’t for me you concluce, “I’m a loser”). Also done to others.
    ____________________________________
    *culled mostly from David Burns’ self-help book, Feeling Good, and Aaron Beck’s several books on cognitive therapy.

(Source: truthaboutdeception.com)

The Moral Perspective: Molecule-based morality

Neuroeconomist (yes, that’s a field of study) Paul Zak has been getting a lot of attention recently for his just-released TED talk, titled “Trust, morality, and oxytocin.” While you can watch the 16-minute lecture here, CNN has now published a short article by Zak that might be easier for you to digest. Here’s the intro:

The longest debate since humans have been having debates is whether we are good or evil. It underlies the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Jesus and Judas. What is our human nature? Of course, the answer is we can be both good and evil. But what determines which part of our character emerges?

About a decade ago, my lab made an unexpected breakthrough in the understanding of good and evil. We discovered that the neurochemical oxytocin makes people trustworthy. We then found oxytocin was responsible for many other moral behaviors, from being generous to sacrificing to help a stranger.

I was particularly pleased to learn that Zak is not the kind of neuroscientist who discards, or even discredits, ethics:

Morality has traditionally been the domain of theologians and philosophers, often providing prescriptions of what we must do. But in the past decade, neuroscientists have started analyzing brain activity while people think about, and engage in, moral or immoral acts. These findings have changed the inquiry into morals from prescriptive to descriptive. …

While neuroscience has provided new insights into our human nature, the philosophy of morality has not gone away. My talk identifies the philosophers whose insights and arguments are consistent with the way oxytocin works in the human brain.

Zak is correct: advances in science should inform our ethics, but philosophy still plays an important role in discussing, analyzing, and linking hard science and human thought and behavior.

(Source: suchsubversiveliterature)

THE SOUNDS OF NEURONS TALKING In 2008, biologist and author Professor Brian Ford localised the sound of neurons communicating with one another. Cultured brain cells in the lab, when sending an impulse or what’s known as spiking, make a crazy little buzz sound around 40Mhz. Professor Ford took this sound and stretched it out to 20 seconds to hear what is inside the spike. He believes since nerve cells are the most developed,  they do more than just turn on and off, which is what sends or receives signals and where many believe thought to originate from….he believes that the thought is in the nerve cell.  Via. Image.  Click here to listen.

THE SOUNDS OF NEURONS TALKING

In 2008, biologist and author Professor Brian Ford localised the sound of neurons communicating with one another.

Cultured brain cells in the lab, when sending an impulse or what’s known as spiking, make a crazy little buzz sound around 40Mhz. Professor Ford took this sound and stretched it out to 20 seconds to hear what is inside the spike. He believes since nerve cells are the most developed,  they do more than just turn on and off, which is what sends or receives signals and where many believe thought to originate from….he believes that the thought is in the nerve cell.  Via. Image.

 
Click here to listen.

(Source: psydoctor8)