NIH BRAIN Initiative-funded research will lay the groundwork to map entire brains in incredible detail.
By Rachel Tompa, Ph.D. / Allen Institute.
5 min read.
A place for cutting-edge research: PSI researchers to receive comprehensive funding from the US NIH for their brain research.
Discover how newly discovered spiral activity patterns in the brain may advance our understanding of cognition and consciousness.
Key Takeaways:
Analysis of fMRI data uncovered spiral activity patterns propagating across brain regions during rest and cognitive tasks.
View questions to ask your health care team, ways to manage your self-care, treatment and support resources, and hear from patients and caregivers with rare brain and spine tumors to guide you through your journey.
Scientists discovered a large repository of brain genes in a sea sponge. Why would an ancient, porous blob of cells contain neural genes?
It wouldn’t shock me if all the buzz around searching for the ‘locus of consciousness’ merely fine-tunes our grasp of how the brain is linked to consciousness — without actually revealing where consciousness comes from, because it’s not generated in the brain. Similarly, your smartphone doesn’t create the Internet or a cellular network; it just processes them. Networks of minds are a common occurrence throughout the natural world. What sets humans apart is the impending advent of cybernetic connectivity explosion that could soon evolve into a form of synthetic telepathy, eventually leading to the rise of a unified, global consciousness — what could be termed the Syntellect Emergence.
#consciousness #phenomenology #cybernetics #cognition #neuroscience
In summary, the study of consciousness could be conceptualized through a variety of lenses: as a series of digital perceptual snapshots, as a cybernetic system with its feedback processes, as a grand theater; or perhaps even as a VIP section in a cosmological establishment of magnificent complexity. Today’s leading theories of consciousness are largely complementary, not mutually exclusive. These multiple perspectives not only contribute to philosophical discourse but also herald the dawn of new exploratory avenues, equally enthralling and challenging, in our understanding of consciousness.
Continue reading “What Constitutes Your Stream of Consciousness?” »
Summary: Neuroscientists delved into the mechanisms behind true and false memories. Their study reveals that electrical signals in the hippocampus can differentiate between the imminent recall of authentic versus fabricated memories.
By monitoring neural activity in epilepsy patients, the team identified distinct patterns ahead of a correct or false recall. These findings not only offer insights into memory retrieval but may also pave the way for novel therapeutic interventions for disorders like PTSD.
The question comes down to this: If materialism collapses, what will science look like? Will the people who are interested in science today continue to be so? Will the same people continue to dominate?
One thing for sure: A lot of things will come tumbling out in the wash.
*In my experience, the abortion issue has mostly been Catholic and other grannies vs. abortionists. If, like David Chalmers, you are inclined to take bets, bet on the grannies.
The human brain can change – but usually only slowly and with great effort, such as when learning a new sport or foreign language, or recovering from a stroke. Learning new skills correlates with changes in the brain, as evidenced by neuroscience research with animals and functional brain scans in people. Presumably, if you master Calculus 1, something is now different in your brain. Furthermore, motor neurons in the brain expand and contract depending on how often they are exercised – a neuronal reflection of “use it or lose it.”
People may wish their brains could change faster – not just when learning new skills, but also when overcoming problems like anxiety, depression and addictions.
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Participants individually interacted with a conversational AI mental health chatbot for about 30 minutes to determine if they would recommend it to a friend.
As human beings, we rely on recommendations or warnings from our friends and family. It gives us an added perspective on what to expect from a particular service, a product, or another human being. As per the latest study, the same is true for the way in which we trust and perceive an AI chatbot.
Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Arizona State University conducted a study in which they found that even though every person in their sample size of 310 people interacted with the exact same chatbot, their interactions with it were influenced by what they had been told before.
