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Archive for the ‘neuroscience’ category: Page 7

Sep 8, 2024

Panpsychism and Alfred North Whitehead

Posted by in categories: futurism, neuroscience

The wave dimension is crucial. Without the time-binding wave of consciousness established by actual entities remembering their past instant(s), experiencing, choosing, and acting in their present instants, and anticipating and then passing their inheritance on to their future instant(s), it would not be possible to begin a sentence and then go on to complete it in a way that has meaning. It would not be possible to interact with ourselves or other people in a way that has meaning. We couldn’t begin, continue, and complete a meal. We would forget where we were and what we were doing. We couldn’t begin, continue, and complete a walk. We would forget where we were and what we were doing. We couldn’t undertake any complex task and remember what we were doing. We certainly couldn’t drive a car or even cross a street.

If we pay attention to our own consciousnesses closely, we find that, as each moment of our experience transpires, we take in sensations from outside in the world and inside in our bodies and then we layer feelings and thoughts and images on top of these sensations to form a moment of experience with some coherence and meaning. And this moment of experience passes its sensations and feelings and thoughts and images on to the next moment of experience with some relative coherence.

Now, with an untrained mind, our sensations and feelings and thoughts and images kind of jump around outside of our control. But with a relatively trained mind, we can focus in a way that allows us to maintain a constant stream of sensations and feelings and thoughts and images and choose what we want to focus that stream on in an expansion of our consciousnesses. That is the gift of mindfulness and meditation. Using Whitehead’s language, we can say that we can work to shift our mental prehensions to embrace a different and more powerful form or idea of what it is to be human.

Sep 7, 2024

A Reply to Strawson: Physicalism Does Not Entail Panpsychism

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Why a blog post and not a proper response in a philosophy journal? My very first journal submission is still in the review process, close to two months later, for one. Secondly, blogging allows me to be pedantic, to be human, that is, to express frustration, to show anger, to be candid; in other words, blogging allows me to be myself. Probably of highest priority is the fact that I do not want my first publication in the philosophy of mind to be a response. I want to eventually outline my own theory of consciousness, which is strongly hinted at here, and I prefer for that to be my first contribution to the philosophy of mind. I do not find panpsychism convincing and I think there is another theory of consciousness, similar to panpsychism in ways, that is much more cogent. I have outlined some qualms I have with panpsychism before; to people new to the blog, you can read here.

Sep 7, 2024

Picking up good vibes from a stranger? That might be your neurons aligning

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, media & arts, neuroscience

Imagine you’re sitting across from a friend, having a conversation.


I’m a die-hard Beach Boys fan. In one of their most famous songs, they sing about “pickin’ up good vibrations” from a girl. We’ve all felt those “good vibes” when we’re connecting with someone new. I used to think that feeling was a mysterious, mystical experience — something I couldn’t fully explain that bonded me with some friends and strangers more easily than others.

It turns out that “good vibes” aren’t as mysterious as I thought.

Continue reading “Picking up good vibes from a stranger? That might be your neurons aligning” »

Sep 7, 2024

Uncertainty Minimization and Pattern Recognition in Volvox Carteri and Volvox Aureus

Posted by in categories: biological, computing, neuroscience

Learning and a spectrum of other behavioral competencies allow organisms to rapidly adapt to dynamically changing environmental variations. The emerging field of diverse intelligence seeks to understand what systems, besides ones with complex brains, exhibit these capacities. Here, we tested predictions of a general computational framework based on the free energy principle in neuroscience but applied to aneural biological process as established previously, by demonstrating and manipulating pattern recognition in a simple aneural organism, the green algae Volvox. Our studies of the adaptive photoresponse in Volvox reveal that aneural organisms can distinguish between patterned and randomized inputs and indicate how this is achieved mechanistically.

Sep 7, 2024

Tom Nagel on Panpsychism vs Neutral Monism

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Last month I was involved in a fantastic conference: the 26th annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. I think it went really well, and some parts got a fair amount of mainstream coverage, with varying degrees of accuracy.

Sep 6, 2024

Mind over model: Allen School’s Rajesh Rao proposes brain-inspired AI architecture to make complex problems simpler to solve

Posted by in categories: information science, neuroscience, robotics/AI

Break it down: How AI can learn from the brain.

In a recent paper titled “A sensory-motor theory of the neocortex” published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Rao posited that the brain uses active predictive coding (APC) to understand the world and break down complicated problems into simpler…


When you reach out to pet a dog, you expect it to feel soft. If it doesn’t feel like how you expect, your brain uses that feedback to inform your next action — maybe you pull your hand away. Previous models of how the brain works have typically separated perception and action. For Allen School professor Rajesh Rao, those two processes are closely intertwined, and their relationship can be mapped using a computational algorithm.

Continue reading “Mind over model: Allen School’s Rajesh Rao proposes brain-inspired AI architecture to make complex problems simpler to solve” »

Sep 6, 2024

Brain scans reveal that mindfulness meditation for pain is not a placebo

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Pain is a complex, multifaceted experience shaped by various factors beyond physical sensation, such as a person’s mindset and their expectations of pain. The placebo effect, the tendency for a person’s symptoms to improve in response to inactive treatment, is a well-known example of how expectations can significantly alter a person’s experience. Mindfulness meditation, which has been used for pain management in various cultures for centuries, has long been thought to work by activating the placebo response. However, scientists have now shown that this is not the case.

A new study, published in Biological Psychiatry, has revealed that mindfulness meditation engages distinct brain mechanisms to reduce pain compared to those of the . The study, conducted by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, used advanced brain imaging techniques to compare the pain-reducing effects of mindfulness meditation, a placebo cream and a “sham” mindfulness meditation in healthy participants.

The study found that mindfulness meditation produced significant reductions in pain intensity and pain unpleasantness ratings, and also reduced brain activity patterns associated with pain and negative emotions. In contrast, the placebo cream only reduced the brain activity pattern associated with the , without affecting the person’s underlying experience of pain.

Sep 6, 2024

Scientists have 3D bioprinted functioning human brain tissue

Posted by in category: neuroscience

A new method for assembling neuron cultures horizontally instead of vertically helps solve for a longstanding issue.

Sep 6, 2024

Scientists reveal how DNA methylation drives astrocytes to become stem cells, unlocking new potential for brain repair

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

Researchers have discovered that DNA methylation is crucial for reprogramming astrocytes into stem cells in the adult mouse brain, especially after ischemic injury, with potential implications for regenerative medicine.

Sep 5, 2024

Chickadee research finds cognitive skills impact lifespan

Posted by in category: neuroscience

While there is no denying ‘survival of the fittest’ still reigns supreme in the animal kingdom, a new study shows being smartest—or at least smarter—is pretty important, too.

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