tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26127517754642794752024-02-18T23:23:17.471-08:00Investigating Minds 09 TA2/10: EBJ
2/24: Aaron, Kristen F., Kimberly
3/10: Kristen G., Dahlia
4/7: Gordon, Emily M.
4/21: Eleanor, Aidan, Nicole, Rebecca
5/5: Emma, Natalie, VivianaEBJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01926427028842359306noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-48797178476194620412009-05-05T08:20:00.000-07:002009-05-05T08:42:00.074-07:00Poverty and the Brain<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnNrPHwMk7jGS0zCS68cN8hHDBk1zDy-zrRE8Q3I51r_QgLY0T_uumfpKwWh238Zqk1SmUatPbTZJCRhaJvWcwR7VHbDcKwStbsm7P_dbMvn6S1mnDHJi8fDYIoo1LYgqB58F-FbETBQ/s1600-h/F1.medium.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnNrPHwMk7jGS0zCS68cN8hHDBk1zDy-zrRE8Q3I51r_QgLY0T_uumfpKwWh238Zqk1SmUatPbTZJCRhaJvWcwR7VHbDcKwStbsm7P_dbMvn6S1mnDHJi8fDYIoo1LYgqB58F-FbETBQ/s320/F1.medium.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332362881144664434" border="0" /></a>• The greater proportion of life that a child has spent in poverty, the greater the neurological effects (See chart).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Measuring Stress</span><br /><br />• Turner and Avison measured social stress in all socioeconomic brackets using five categories: recent life events, chronic stress, lifetime major and potentially traumatic events, discrimination stress, and symptoms of depression. They found that, “With the exception of recent life events, those in the lowest third of the socioeconomic status distribution reported higher stress levels in every category and, for essentially every category, the socioeconomic status-stress relationship is monotonic: The lower the socioeconomic status the higher the stress” (Turner and Avison, 2003).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Biological measures of stress<br /><br /></span>• Allostatic load: “a biological marker of cumulative wear and tear on the body that is caused by the mobilization of physiological systems in response to chronic environmental demands” (Evans et. al. April 2009).<br />• Relevant Hormones: Catecholamines such as norepinephrine, dopamine and epinephrine (adrenaline), and Glucocorticoids (mainly Cortisol)<br /> o Control physiological responses to stress in the sympathetic nervous system like blood pressure and heart rate<br /> o Fight-or-flight reactions<br /> o Energy regulation: They replace energy reserves after high-stress events (restore homeostasis after high stress).<br /> o Regulate cardiovascular system, metabolism, blood sugar, immunological responses, homeostatic functions<br /> o Cortisol and epinephrine work together to create memories of stressful events (flashbulb memories).<br />• These neuroendocrine responses are important for adaptation to stressful situations, managing acute threats and maintaining homeostasis (internal stability) and allostasis.<br />• When these stress responses are engaged on a regular basis, they result in an allostatic load that causes the body and brain to deteriorate<br />• Chronic exposure to high levels of cortisol can inhibit development of the hippocampus and even stop the process of neurogenesis<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Physical Factors</span><br />• Inadequate nutrition (including iron-deficiency anemia which inflicts 25% of low SES children in America)<br />• Substance abuse in pre- and post-natal development<br />• Trauma and abuse<br />• Exposure to environmental neurotoxins, including lead. For every 10 micrograms per deciliter increase of lead in the blood there is an estimated 2.6 decrease in IQ (Schwartz, 1994).<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Psychological Factors</span><br /><br />• Many low-SES families live in neighborhoods with high crime rates<br />• Job instability/issues<br />• The difficulties of providing for basic needs cause stress and tension within families and deeply affect children.<br />• Maternal depression (social interaction)<br />• Quality of daily care<br />• Less exposure to cognitive stimulation (books, toys, museums, zoos, etc.)<br />• Average total hours of one-on-one picture book reading for children entering Kindergarten: Low-SES children 25 hours, Middle-SES children 1000-1700 (Adams 1990).<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />What systems are affected by stress?<br /><br /></span>• The <span style="font-weight: bold;">left Perisylvian/language system</span> is responsible for many aspects of cognition and communication, including semantic, syntactic and phonological aspects of language, and is concentrated in the temporal and frontal areas of the left hemisphere of the brain.<br />• The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Medial/Temporal Memory</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">system </span>makes it possible to retain a memory or representation after a single exposure to a stimulus (as opposed to representations that are strengthened gradually through repeated exposures). This ability relies on the hippocampus and parts of the medial temporal lobe.<br />• The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Prefrontal/Executive system</span> is dependent on the pre-frontal cortex and “enables flexible responding in situations where the appropriate response may not be the most routine or attractive one, or where it requires maintenance or updating of information concerning recent events” (Farah et. al. 2005).<br /><br />Specific Correlations: Home Observation and Measurement of Environment (HOME) Tests, Children at ages 4 and then 8.<br /><br />o Performance on Left Perisylvian/Language abilities was correlated with average cognitive stimulation (variety of toys, availability of books, language stimulation, parental speech designed to engage child, academic stimulation, behavior modeling, etc.)<br />o Performance on Medial temporal/Memory ability was predicted by social/emotional nurturance (warmth, affection and engagement, acceptance, emotional and verbal responsivity, encouragement of maturity, emotional climate, paternal involvement).<br /><br />Conclusions:<br /><br />Contributes to the discourse about childhood poverty, framing the issue as one of bioethics rather than economic opportunity<br /><br />Solutions and policy implicationsEmmaMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01509001773675063092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-19363290322644707552009-05-05T06:37:00.000-07:002009-05-05T09:14:32.263-07:00How the Amygdala Responds to ShapeSpace-how does it affect thought? It should seem obvious that a space can induce certain emotions—high ceilings tend to give us a feeling of openness and light, while low ceilings may feel dark and confining. How does shape affect thought?<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />The purpose of the experiment was to study how humans react to the presence of smooth, curved contours versus their reaction to sharp-angled contours. The hypothesis was that the reaction to objects or patterns with sharp contours would be more negative than the reaction to objects or patterns with curved contours.<br /><br />There were sixteen participants, eight males and eight females; all were healthy with normal vision. None were aware of the purpose of the study. In addition to hypothesizing that the participants would like the sharply contoured images less than the smoothly contoured images, the researchers also hypothesized that the amygdala would be activated when making this snap decision. They used an fMRI to test their hypothesis.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjape2yPgZzrRAHhXky9drln7c-QuJRWAeqwHLuqHtOuUXTQJGWRka581hJEr6y0S-bfANKodM1poSLlSNt_ZjEIvBYCfsrzzK3GwReQ-IyPhON6zzkvhoqPnC0V1LlNyK91SyvDGF6oV8T/s1600-h/Picture+2%282%29.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjape2yPgZzrRAHhXky9drln7c-QuJRWAeqwHLuqHtOuUXTQJGWRka581hJEr6y0S-bfANKodM1poSLlSNt_ZjEIvBYCfsrzzK3GwReQ-IyPhON6zzkvhoqPnC0V1LlNyK91SyvDGF6oV8T/s320/Picture+2%282%29.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332360559832615186" border="0" /></a>140 pairs of real objects (Part A in Figure 1), like a chair, a plant, or a shirt, and 140 pairs of novel, meaningless designs (Part B in Figure 1) were collected. The meaningless designs were created by the researchers and were simply patterns. All of the pairs were presented on a computer screen in grayscale. One item in each pair was with curved contours, and one item had sharp-angled contours. There were also 80 control images that had an approximately equal amount of sharp angles and smooth contours. (Part C in Figure 1)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Each image was presented for 85 ms, followed by 1915 ms during which the participant had to make a qualitative, instinctual judgment about the image—that is, whether or not they liked or disliked it. (Part D in Figure 1) <a href="http://tinypic.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i40.tinypic.com/141qzbs.png" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic" border="0" /></a></div></div><a href="http://tinypic.com/" target="_blank"></a><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><br />The results of the study showed that the overall, the participants liked the curved images more than the control images, and they liked the control images more than the sharp-angled images. This showed that the participants liked the curved images more than the sharp-angled images.<br /><br />The fMRI results showed that there was considerably more activity in the amygdala when the participant was observing an image with sharp contours.<br /><img src="http://i39.tinypic.com/wbewoz.png" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic" border="0" /><br /><br />This was consistent for both the real objects and the patterns. The researchers think this may be because the sharp angled objects present more of a threat.<a href="http://tinypic.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/k9yh7a.png" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A second experiment was done to rule out the possibility of the results merely reflecting whether the participants liked or disliked the images. The researchers wanted to see if the sharp-contoured images were actually more threatening. To do this, a similar experiment was performed, in which the participants had to respond by saying whether the images were threatening or non-threatening, as opposed to whether they like or dislike the image. In this study, the participants called the sharp-angled objects threatening much more than the curved objects.<br /><br />The amygdala is the part of the brain that is activated when there is danger. It makes sense that it would activate in response to a perceived threat. LeDoux discusses an experiment in which a rat is subjected to a warning signal, and then to a mild electrical shock. The rat’s response to danger is to freeze. The next time around, the rat will remember that the electrical shock follows the warning signal, and will freeze when it hears the sound. This is called the Pavlovian Response. However, damage to the amygdala deletes this process; the rat will no longer have this awareness. The amygdala is responsible for controlling this type of reactive behavior. In the same way, the amygdala is activated when a human sees a sharply contoured image.nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16078629937078031296noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-45181007314410602512009-05-05T04:52:00.000-07:002009-05-14T21:23:24.409-07:00Selective Mutism Description and Biological Etiology<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcguzuisNaXVzE9k7p2tnw64TtRbTm3sVEsKfKOjkkrcv9ZpAfmHYaXwiZjFCUZmmeH9s-lQoM2V7v4BgFRTSgfGh7oy2_lx-Nq82TCdhKJMP09ujXTnmtbywCsrpu7wa3xrgzGstgBGs/s1600-h/limbicsystem.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 302px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcguzuisNaXVzE9k7p2tnw64TtRbTm3sVEsKfKOjkkrcv9ZpAfmHYaXwiZjFCUZmmeH9s-lQoM2V7v4BgFRTSgfGh7oy2_lx-Nq82TCdhKJMP09ujXTnmtbywCsrpu7wa3xrgzGstgBGs/s320/limbicsystem.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332315078148160642" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="gmail_quote">
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<br /><div class="im">Selective Mutism, once thought to be a voluntary oppositional behavior disorder, is a childhood anxiety disorder characterized by an inability to speak in some social settings, such as at school or play dates, while speaking comfortably in other situations, most often only at home with immediate family members. Other diagnostic criteria are co-conditions or results of mutism such as, interference with academic achievement, duration of mutism for more than a month, lack of a better diagnosis and a comfortable knowledge of the spoken language required (to ensure that mutism is not the result of lack of knowledge).
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78DCnXMB5eGJDSLe75tEdroHgzEXIuR04JjTKqOKaoQR-ziQY5r8-b0QusmKTZaptP5av8MWY6Pt7dhAar2HsY9uc115YeuIMXUtk5xrS9zhc6Thl2wT_F2nd97hZCK0hZASC1TbaKCwt/s1600-h/beforediag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 227px; height: 165px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78DCnXMB5eGJDSLe75tEdroHgzEXIuR04JjTKqOKaoQR-ziQY5r8-b0QusmKTZaptP5av8MWY6Pt7dhAar2HsY9uc115YeuIMXUtk5xrS9zhc6Thl2wT_F2nd97hZCK0hZASC1TbaKCwt/s320/beforediag.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332317566264455186" border="0" /></a>
<br />SM is often recognized after a child begins formal schooling, despite having spent the previous years engaging in "normal" social interaction and conversation with family. It is a relatively rare disorder, thought to affect 7 children in 1,000, but parents and teachers often write symptoms off as shyness and allow them to pass under the radar, which results in an older average age of diagnosis, as well as many undiagnosed cases. Because of its rarity there is still debate and misunderstanding about its causes and classification, but the most recent studies have lead to the now accepted conceptualization of SM as an involuntary, anxiety-related condition, most related to social phobia.
<br />The mutism itself is a fear response to a
<br />Although there is not enough research to adequately define the causes of SM, the available research suggests that a combination of any of the following biological and environmental factors can increase risk:
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<br />1. Innate Behavioral Inhibition
<br />-This is a temperament identified in the majority of SM children
<br />2. Family History of Anxiety
<br />- Kumpulainen (2002) discovered high rates of anxiety disorders in family members of people with SM
<br />3. Expressive Language Difficulty
<br />- Stuttering, Echolalia, Hyperlexia
<br />- Embarrassment related anxiety
<br />4. Bilingual
<br />- SM is more prevalent among children of immigrant backgrounds
<br />- There is an expected "silent period," this can contribute to undiagnosed SM
<br />5. Weak Social Networks
<br />- Inconsistent or unreliable parenting
<br />- Marital discord
<br />- SM children may live outside of their school/community neighborhood
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEmTbfCDf4Fha9ZHENd20wxLWt94L2etmRxr-Judn9af-z5oJmquZYMGkFbQI0mCkt2xnH9JAUF_iRYgDZu_GUFLQnmIP9bz3fhP5250M_qUn1AZqrbcmEyBtpAwxVDGB4_LdcsOc3SyE/s1600-h/sophsmile.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 290px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTEmTbfCDf4Fha9ZHENd20wxLWt94L2etmRxr-Judn9af-z5oJmquZYMGkFbQI0mCkt2xnH9JAUF_iRYgDZu_GUFLQnmIP9bz3fhP5250M_qUn1AZqrbcmEyBtpAwxVDGB4_LdcsOc3SyE/s320/sophsmile.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332317577369966610" border="0" /></a>
<br /></div> Dr. Shipon Blum stresses that regardless of which factors contribute to mutism, the neurobiological fear response that typically causes SM children to avert their gaze, "freeze," becoming visibly stiff and uncomfortable is consistent throughout affected children. The neurological system develops a perception that expected speech in certain social situations is a threat, this neurological perception leads to a pattern of mutism and defensive avoidance. The primary brain part associated with anxiety disorders is the amygdala, which triggers the bodily fear reaction and consequently signals the hypothalamus to activate the sympathetic nervous system in response. People with anxiety disorders have overreactive amygdalae, considered to be caused by extreme temperamental inhibition which creates a lower threshold of excitability in the amygdala, which results in an exaggerated fear response to stimuli that may not actually be dangerous.
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<br />Kagan et al., first hypothesized this lower amygdala threshold in their study on the physiology and psychology of behavioral inhibition. Their study assessed the inhibited/uninhibited responses of 21 and 31 month infants to unfamiliar people and situations. Behavioral inhibition was measured by a latency to interact with the stimuli, immediate retreat from the stimuli, reluctance to move too far away from their mother and decreased playfulness and vocal responses. The study identified a positive correlation between behavioral inhibition and physiological manifestations of the sympathetic nervous system in response to the unfamiliar stimuli at ages 21mo and 5.5 years. The exaggerated physiological responses of the behaviorally inhibited children lead Kagan to hypothesize the possibility of a lower threshold of responsibility in the limbic and hypothalamus systems.
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<br />Schwartz reopened the Kagan study ten years later for further investigations into whether <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2oR26FknIQzwi345hm8Xm-mVPQ4-ykf54ThoYe8MHbqWToUCSap6CsfRBWJ-upVuoe7Bk7TqM0RoqODUxPpNKewTQygD7hhrJzeOOip4ClxTqjBJ15Pgl82Gbk9B0w9LFRQxLoTXw7cco/s1600-h/se2331603001.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2oR26FknIQzwi345hm8Xm-mVPQ4-ykf54ThoYe8MHbqWToUCSap6CsfRBWJ-upVuoe7Bk7TqM0RoqODUxPpNKewTQygD7hhrJzeOOip4ClxTqjBJ15Pgl82Gbk9B0w9LFRQxLoTXw7cco/s320/se2331603001.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332317575115106818" border="0" /></a>innate behavior inhibition is marked by a difference in the brain. Subsequent tests around age 13 in this longitudinal study revealed consistent preservation of temperament into adolescence, and even psychopathological developments of inhibition such as generalized anxiety disorder in 1/3 of the inhibited children. Another 10 or so years later, Schwartz studied adult manifestations of behavioral inhibition. They took fMRI while the subjects viewed pictures of faces both familiarized and novel. The amygdalae in inhibited subjects showed significant reactivity to the novel faces in the series of photos, showing that some temperamental brain differences do exist and that they are consistent from early childhood to adulthood. This image data supported Kagan's original hypothesis that behavioral inhibition is connected with overreactivity in the limbic system. Temperamentally inhibited people may be born with hyperreactive amygdalae, which could increase risk of developing a social anxiety disorder.
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<br />A 2005 study on amygdalar volume in children demonstrated a consistent smaller left amygdala in subjects with social anxiety disorders when compared to a control sample of children without <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijmnX77tg1vGI0T_i-lQ5A4Qlgmd2Cj-nzFf4-JY9hAqsAGdSQa93wWUluGLtUKVgAn8WueF1FbVZPjGAJFFlLRZrv9_h7U2bPJm5oGOxNmHDA8XRhLiofJA92ewOkExcd1WLtVE7F_fgY/s1600-h/brainleftamyg.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijmnX77tg1vGI0T_i-lQ5A4Qlgmd2Cj-nzFf4-JY9hAqsAGdSQa93wWUluGLtUKVgAn8WueF1FbVZPjGAJFFlLRZrv9_h7U2bPJm5oGOxNmHDA8XRhLiofJA92ewOkExcd1WLtVE7F_fgY/s320/brainleftamyg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332317571037729490" border="0" /></a>mental illness. Then a small sample of children with anxiety were put on an SSRI or treated with talk therapy for eight weeks. Both treatments resulted in amygdalar volume increases in every subject. This indicates that treatments for childhood anxiety disorders are actually effective.
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<br />Since SM is now widely accepted as a social anxiety disorder, treatments common for anxiety such as desensitization, reinforcement, reward measures and SSRI pharmacotherapy have been successful in SM treatment. Many SM children have been able to talk freely and participate in the mainstream tracks at their schools as a result of this treatment.
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<br /><div><div class="h5">It is a common myth that SM children will "grow out of it." Case studies have shown that although children may learn to cope socially if they do not receive treatment, these children still display other symptoms of social anxiety. Current understandings of the condition encourage early diagnosis and treatment to prevent later serious mental disorders, especially since pediatric anxiety disorders are strong risk factors in the development of serious adult mental disorders. Many of the biological and environmental risk factors that contribute to the development of childhood social anxiety have been scientifically uncovered and are visible in my own family. Dr. Graham Emslie claims that the risks attributed to childhood anxiety can extend to underachievement, depression disorders and later substance abuse. Without treatment the anxiety avoidance cycle may be perpetuated and children with anxiety disorders can miss significant milestones and opportunities for growth. He asserts that since childhood anxiety disorders are now visible and can be treated, they should under no circumstances be left to develop into something more serious.
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<br />Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496513850815261000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-79301969026852050592009-05-02T11:49:00.000-07:002009-05-02T12:07:08.532-07:00Living on Earth: This Is Your Brain on Povertyhttp://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00009&segmentID=5EmmaMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01509001773675063092noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-7812795215231002302009-05-01T15:44:00.001-07:002009-05-04T15:14:36.571-07:00How Room Designs Affect Your Work and Mood<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=building-around-the-mind"><span style="font-size:85%;">How Room Designs Affect Your Work and Mood Article</span></a>nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16078629937078031296noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-59956155791544130872009-04-28T22:09:00.000-07:002009-04-29T00:39:36.791-07:00Understanding the origins of anxiety disorders to understand Selective MutismEarly Childhood Behavioral Inhibition Linked to Risk of Anxiety Disorders in Adulthood:<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/001392.html">(Evidence towards biological bases of anxiety disorders)</a></span><br /><br /><br />Selective Mutism is a widely misunderstood, ignored and under-researched childhood anxiety disorder:<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/health/psychology/12mute.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&incamp=article_popular_2">The Child Who Would Not Speak A Word</a></span>Vivhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496513850815261000noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-36258046023790526152009-04-20T12:15:00.000-07:002009-04-21T07:11:25.961-07:00Seeing Red, Feeling Blue<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhtcZcFQ10Y28UR6FmH7szxaugkTUhH7RbCunWg6xL-m7-vl6Z1Xwc5MGGAYqFO-x8f0Vl1rKaw8qh9vwRhG3CPIMqZFFI8_TmBK0yvdPMl_CRbdb4VCtUWBYUF2fW3bI-uUOHIWB5Vg/s1600-h/redblue.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 351px; height: 169px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhtcZcFQ10Y28UR6FmH7szxaugkTUhH7RbCunWg6xL-m7-vl6Z1Xwc5MGGAYqFO-x8f0Vl1rKaw8qh9vwRhG3CPIMqZFFI8_TmBK0yvdPMl_CRbdb4VCtUWBYUF2fW3bI-uUOHIWB5Vg/s320/redblue.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326854590394415970" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performance</span><br />In the recent University of British Columbia study, researchers Mehta and Zhu explored the differences between red and blue in relation to cognitive performance. Their study involved 600 participants who performed various tasks while looking at computer screens, which displayed red, blue or neutral backgrounds. In a task of word recall, they found that participants looking at words against a red screen had a higher rate of accurate word recall than those looking at the blue or neutral screens. In another task, Meha and Shu had participants think of creative ways to use a brick. While all groups had to think of the same number of uses, judges of the study later concurred that participants in the blue screen group found more creative uses for the brick than those in either red or neutral group. From their study, Mehta and Zhu found that the color red enhances performance on tests of recall and attention to detail, while the color blue enhances performance on tests requiring imagination.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0M7wc-lXKDXl_EaxNVOq5H6pMK8OQzINTIGAJOoUFHTKgHJpzDhe2gZOZ9WUx2Lz1HpbKbFyiw5iZUMI21X7YPeC68sN5rbA5umIEfQva_rpodiDy00Xrxbf9Ai0hkXuY6mAEjDL_t2w/s1600-h/06color_grph.xlarge.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 125px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0M7wc-lXKDXl_EaxNVOq5H6pMK8OQzINTIGAJOoUFHTKgHJpzDhe2gZOZ9WUx2Lz1HpbKbFyiw5iZUMI21X7YPeC68sN5rbA5umIEfQva_rpodiDy00Xrxbf9Ai0hkXuY6mAEjDL_t2w/s400/06color_grph.xlarge.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326855528891742514" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Red Enhances Human Performance</span><br />In a related study at the Durham University of England, anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton found that the color red enhances performance in competitive sports. As in nature where red is connected to testosterone and masculinity, in the human world male dominance can be influenced by the wearing of red. In their study of Olympic competitions, Hill and Barton found that wearing red is consistently connected with a higher probability of winning (competitors wearing red in boxing, tae kwon do, and wrestling defeated their blue-uniformed opponents about 60% of the time). This study suggests that the evolution of sexual selection, in which red symbolizes dominance, plays a role in human response to color.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwEDrDsQpp6lISzKQlZuotSIXfsrGUdlZhbBQRXeoWkpisEcxLmf0eFTY9iKENVKTzNn2_e3xvK5wEOtR_7jZWB9Bmk6D1CKz7LVsougkpY1aeiiXWH42Ajwva4K6pzJbfXdjUROvLGq0/s1600-h/red_vs_blue_uppercut.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 367px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwEDrDsQpp6lISzKQlZuotSIXfsrGUdlZhbBQRXeoWkpisEcxLmf0eFTY9iKENVKTzNn2_e3xvK5wEOtR_7jZWB9Bmk6D1CKz7LVsougkpY1aeiiXWH42Ajwva4K6pzJbfXdjUROvLGq0/s320/red_vs_blue_uppercut.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326856391624548018" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Romantic Red</span><br />In a study on male physical attraction to women at the University of Rochester, researcher Andrew Elliot and Daniela Niesta found that men who viewed photographs of women wearing red shirts perceived the women as more attractive and desirable, and were more willing to take them on a date and pay for the date, than women wearing blue shirts. Participants were not aware that the influence of color on attractiveness/attraction was being measured in the study, and they indicated that color did not play a role in their rating of the women. <img src="file:///Users/aidansf/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot-1.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br />Elliot and Niesta note that:<br />-Color is a common language within and across species<br />-The mere perception of color is sufficient to produce affect, cognition and behavior consistent with that meaning.<br />-Red carries meaning of sex and romance.<br />-Found in folktales, literature (<span style="font-style: italic;">The Scarlet Lette</span>r –Hawthorne), theater (<span style="font-style: italic;">A Streetcar Named Desire</span>), red light districts and red lipstick (which has been used since Ancient Egyptians, 10,000 BCE).<br />-Red in animals, reddening during mating.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Color and Psychological Functioning</span><br />In another study on the effects of red by Elliot from the University of Rochester, he found that even an unconscious awareness of red in a testing scenario affects the ability of the test taker to perform. More specifically, he found that the presence of the color red during testing negatively affects performance<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGNxeg4vN3mAMS51dquz6EIUTGfxYntiziOwCfon4fK_DqocXZMfV85PK4VNZgPJkfAVlIBLGmlf51QlAv7WKBzASJ_lKH9d8IeAhOvSxBroJ8Jw5OI7t-nZvDfcnsZXU7w2n7NnqpW4Q/s1600-h/wrong-way-sign-higher-res.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 179px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGNxeg4vN3mAMS51dquz6EIUTGfxYntiziOwCfon4fK_DqocXZMfV85PK4VNZgPJkfAVlIBLGmlf51QlAv7WKBzASJ_lKH9d8IeAhOvSxBroJ8Jw5OI7t-nZvDfcnsZXU7w2n7NnqpW4Q/s320/wrong-way-sign-higher-res.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326889422219255090" border="0" /></a>. Elliot believes this effect is related to the meanings and specific information that red often conveys, such as a teacher’s red markings on an assignment or a red sign indicating danger. Interestingly, this study seems to contradict Hill’s study on red and Olympic competition. Elliot suggests that a distinction should be made between viewing and wearing red, for it is possible that viewing red caused the blue player to perform badly (as opposed to Hill’s theory that wearing red caused the red player to perform better.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spatial Color</span><br />Finally, the influence of red, blue and yellow was measured in an experiment conducted by a group of interior designers. In this experiment three identical white rooms, each 18ft x 20ft x 10ft in dimension and containing a bar with twelve white bar stools and four white computers, were “bathed” in either red, yellow or blue light. Guests were then invited to attend a cocktail party in one of the three rooms. The results showed that guests in the yellow room consumed almost twice as much food and drink than those in the other two rooms. In terms of physical interaction, guests in the blue room occupied the perimeter of the space while guests in the red and yellow rooms were far more socially interactive with each other, forming small clusters in the middle of the rooms. These findings suggest that blue may induce more antisocial behavior than red or yellow, and yellow may increase appetite.<br /><br />These studies on color point to the peculiar relationship between unconscious sensory perception and cognitive functioning.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bibliography:</span><br /><br />“Color Study Looks at Effects of Red and Blue,” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/science/06color.html?emc=eta1<br /><br />“Design: Spatial Color” http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003685899<br /><br />Elliot, Andrew & Marcus A. Maier. “Color and Psychological Functioning: The Effect of Red on Performance Attainment.” Journal of Experimental Psychology 136(1): 154-168.<br /><br />Elliot, Andrew & Daniela Niesta. “Romantic Red: Red Enhances Men’s Attraction to Women,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95(5): 1150-1164.<br /><br />Hill, Russell A. & Robert A. Barton, “Psychology: Red enhances human performance in contests,” Nature 435 (293)<br /><br />Mehta, R. & Zhu, R.J. “Blue or red? Exploring the effect of color on cognitive task performances,” Science 323(5918):1226-9.Aidanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02514163428027070981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-54522273872620377292009-04-19T20:50:00.000-07:002009-04-19T20:54:50.098-07:00Color Study Looks at Effects of Red and Blue<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/science/06color.html?emc=eta1">Reinvent Wheel? Blue Room. Defusing a Bomb? Red Room. </a>Aidanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02514163428027070981noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-10025627183079569592009-04-19T13:21:00.000-07:002009-04-19T15:27:32.277-07:00Composing Concertos in the Key of Rx<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdU7et0A5nD142F9kO_A3LrQpKNdLCirr14kLpmiYB8iWyT4tHIgYYWcdAtKLjUEwMwvy_yjHaCSJyRr3TqqWxxSUMm9o7-fQ7oYz729wFQdcUr8UdoQuRbcb6AG1ctos5tAARZgfcIYo/s1600-h/29gure_190.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 190px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdU7et0A5nD142F9kO_A3LrQpKNdLCirr14kLpmiYB8iWyT4tHIgYYWcdAtKLjUEwMwvy_yjHaCSJyRr3TqqWxxSUMm9o7-fQ7oYz729wFQdcUr8UdoQuRbcb6AG1ctos5tAARZgfcIYo/s320/29gure_190.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326501240342424514" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A Musical Pharmacologist? </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Vera Brandes is the director of a research program involving music and medicine at Paracelsus Private Medical University in Salzburg, Austria. Through various research projects, the goal of the program is to further integrate music therapy practices into medicinal treatments. Brandes has deemed herself the first “musical pharmacologist” in the sense that she is literally prescribing music in place of pills. Brandes has been active in the field since 1995, co-organizing the Mozart & Science congress as well as the I.M.A.R.A.A. (International Music and Research Association of Austria). Both organizations strive to create a dialogue between science and music, and to demonstrate how this pairing could be beneficial to many people. <br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Music and "Diseases of Civilization"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Brandes research team focuses on music therapy primarily for psychosomatic disorders. These disorders include insomnia, depression, as well as high blood pressure. Brandes promotes the concept that specific music can regulate activity in the brain. This regulation depends upon the interplay between chronobiology (biorhythms the body produces) and psychophysiology (the connection between physical processes with emotional reactions). Specific songs are then created to cater to specific maladies, providing the certain amount of “rhythm, harmony, or dissonance and timbre.” (Gurewitsch, pg. 4)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Your Brain on Music </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The story of your brain on music is the story of an exquisite orchestration of brain regions, involving both the oldest and newest parts of the human brain, and regions as far apart as the cerebellum in the back of the head and the frontal lobes just behind your eyes.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">-Daniel Levitin</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Although the entire article centers on music and its affects on the brain, nowhere does it specifically state what neurological processes are activated when listening to music. Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist at McGill University, has devoted an entire book to this, aptly named </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is Your Brain on Music</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Brain regions are stimulated in a specific order when listening to a piece of music:<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The auditory cortex</span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> processes the components of sound;</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the frontal regions</span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> are responsible for determining the musical structure of a piece; </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the mesolimbic syste</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">m</span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is then activated. This system produces arousal, pleasure, as well as dopamine production. Increased dopamine levels are associated with positive mood, giving a scientific basis for why listening to music can induce positive feelings.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The cerebellum</span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">basal ganglia</span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, which process rhythm and meter, are active throughout the listening. Tapping along while listening to a piece of music also activates the cerebellum. Trying to remember a familiar song activates </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the hippocampus</span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Listening to lyrics involve </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Broca’s and Wernicke’s are</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a</span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Performing and reading activate the visual cortex as well as the frontal lobe and motor cortex. Music often triggers emotional responses in listeners, activating the amygdala. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Music Therapy and Hypertension</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In Brandes’ </span><a href="http://www.musik-medizin.at/Brandes%20et.al.%20APS%200308.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">pilot study</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, her team researched music therapy as it related to hypertensive patients where “no organic cause can be found.” (Gurewitsch, pg. 3) Brandes hypothesized that preset kinds of music could alter the body’s parasympathetic tone, thus normalizing high blood pressure. The study tested thirty-two hypertensive patients between the ages of thirty and seventy-eight. There were also twenty-nine insomniacs serving as control subjects. The study was a month long, and required participants to listen to the specific music program five times a week for thirty minutes.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Patients also participated in three “stress and relaxation sessions” over the course of five weeks. The hypertensive patients were then assigned to treatment group. Group A received music between visits one and two. Group B received no music between visits one and two, but did between visits two and three. The control group received music between visits one and two. The results showed an increase in heart-rate variability in group A at the end of the three visits, when compared to the B and control group. Matthew Gurewtisch, author of </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Composing Concertos in the Key of Rx</span></span></span></i><span style="font-style:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, cites this as a “major indicator of autonomous nervous function.” The automatic nervous function acts as a kind of control system, maintaining the body’s homeostasis. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Brandes commented that even after the study was over, positive feedback continued, as the heart frequency variability of the patients doubled.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The organism had assimilated </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the impulse given by the music and maintained it autonomously," Brandes states. "Just as is to be expected of an effective </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">regulation therapy, in this case the ‘medicine’ music provided a way to help the body to help itself." The higher the heart rate variability of a patient, the more they are able to maintain a healthy blood pressure. As a result of the trials the control group had a better nights sleep, however had no change in heart rate variability. This further demonstrates that the increased heart rate variability in group A and B was a direct result of the music they were exposed to.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"A Glorified Jukebox?"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><img src="webkit-fake-url://1A7A0B5F-0B06-4016-BC10-DD7D5E38AF33/jukebox.jpeg" alt="jukebox.jpeg" /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13px; "><a href="http://www.sourcetone.com/user/radio">sourcetone interactive radio</a></span><br /></p><p></p></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; ">Bibliography</span><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Brandes, Vera, Roland Haas, and Claudia Fischer. </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sanoson: Music that Works</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><www.sanoson.at></www.sanoson.at></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Brandes, Vera. "The Effect of Receptive Music Therapy on Heart Rate Variability in Hypertensive Patients." </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Music-Medicine-Research Program</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Paracelsus Private Medical University. </span><http://www.musik-medizin.at/index.html><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></http://www.musik-medizin.at/index.html></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Levitin, Daniel J. </span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This Is Your Brain on Music The Science of a Human Obsession</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. New York: Plume, 2007.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The New York Times</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> 25 Mar. 2009. </span></span></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-38746179558607907442009-04-19T09:58:00.000-07:002009-04-19T10:12:36.674-07:00Composing Concertos in the Key of Rx<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); text-decoration: underline;"><div><br /></div><div>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/arts/music/29gure.html<br /></div></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); ">for some reason this link says you have to be a member to read the article, however if you google the title of the article you can read it on the New York Times website. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I'm not quite sure why it wont let you read the article...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-73458200599487277382009-04-17T13:35:00.000-07:002009-04-21T06:39:24.835-07:00Itching Phantoms<span style="font-weight: bold;">Is The Itch an epidemic?</span><br /><br />• The Itch is the most frequent complaint from dermatologists’ patients (Gieler & Walter 2008).<br />• Approximately 8 to 10% of the world’s human population suffers from chronic itching, medically known as <span style="font-style: italic;">neurodermatitis</span> (Gieler & Walter 2008).<br />• In 2006 approximately 300 million people suffered from scabies, a skin disorder in which biting mites cause irritation and itchiness (The Lancet Infectious Diseases as cited in Miller 2007).<br />• Also in 2006, a study found that 42% of nearly 19,000 kidney-dialyses patients, representing 12 countries, reported a moderate to severe itch (Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation as cited in Miller 2007).<br />• In August 2007 an estimated 31.6 million Americans experienced skin itchiness induced by eczema (Dermatitis as cited in Miller 2007).<br />• The Fourth International Workshop for the Study of the Itch took place in San Francisco in April 2007.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Itch as seen in the brain.</span><br /><br />Scientists believe itching evolved as a survival tactic to ward off potential hazards such as insects by drawing attention to the vulnerable area. As Atul Gawande (2008) references in his article, the definition of The Itch, termed by physicians as <span style="font-style: italic;">pruritus</span>, has not been replaced since 1660 when the German physician Samuel Hafenreffer referred to it as, “An unpleasant sensation that provokes the desire to scratch.” This definition addresses the two main components of <span style="font-style: italic;">pruritus</span>: the negative sensation itself and our bodies’ instinctive treatment for it- scratching. Leknes et al. (2006) found that two types of itching, histamine and allergen-induced, both stimulated limbic and ventral prefrontal activation. The researchers go on to explain that the activation of both regions correlates with the individual’s desire to itch. In addition, the two areas are associated with motivation processing. Scratching offers an immediate reward. Although an individual may understand intellectually that scratching is not remedial in the long term, the brain can override this logic because it focuses on immediate rather than future rewards.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1f2aQwP_0lsr4Ugq9nwszUeAwZQlq4_R0_wcMa3tnet5PkIci1M9R5b38jRpi01u3bptKcsa4HH_v5yWt-2WPO2oDzlUkSlKBNgSNQ6xSzLGeyF1KZDnY0m5dkDlSuXXBzUmy6MeIsfg/s1600-h/brain+itch.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 110px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1f2aQwP_0lsr4Ugq9nwszUeAwZQlq4_R0_wcMa3tnet5PkIci1M9R5b38jRpi01u3bptKcsa4HH_v5yWt-2WPO2oDzlUkSlKBNgSNQ6xSzLGeyF1KZDnY0m5dkDlSuXXBzUmy6MeIsfg/s320/brain+itch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325771851275644114" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In terms of M.’s case, and any other patient suffering from chronic itching, the extensive circuitry involved in The Itch can be extremely problematic. Treatment must mitigate the sensation but also our motor response.<br /><br />A study done at the Bender Institute of Neuroimaging at the University of Giessen in Germany used fMRI to show that histamine-induced itching did not activate the sensorimotor cortex, but rather areas of the frontal lobe, left temporal lobe and the left hemisphere of the cerebellum (Gieler & Walter 2008). Furthermore, research done by Handwerker evidences the stimulation of the amygdala and Hideki Mochizuki in Japan documented the activation of the cingulum, “a switching center that processes emotions, and the insula, an area also associated with emotion and disgust, both fire during itching-but not during pain” (Gieler & Walter 2008). The cingulum is a fiber tract of white matter, above the corpus collasum. In patients with neurodermatitis scratching does not inhibit the cingulum, thus The Itch is exacerbated by emotions (Gieler & Walter 2008).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJelJfL2GkXIn5zxIa7DB_cH8l5ldJND7kePUZyfMe8tTZ6dIIAm0sK95XXl9SVmHXQiyvS_BKatQCs36hhLYfmmXCwODwvkc_uqNxYmisCA4KRobX0PtEmY_d32qO5twa216bq3fSy2c/s1600-h/i_12_cr_con_1e.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJelJfL2GkXIn5zxIa7DB_cH8l5ldJND7kePUZyfMe8tTZ6dIIAm0sK95XXl9SVmHXQiyvS_BKatQCs36hhLYfmmXCwODwvkc_uqNxYmisCA4KRobX0PtEmY_d32qO5twa216bq3fSy2c/s320/i_12_cr_con_1e.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327138154162990866" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />The Itch versus Pain.</span><br /><br />Historically, <span style="font-style: italic;">pruritus</span> was considered as a lesser form of pain. This is known as the intensity theory (Gieler & Walter 2008). Both sensations travel from the periphery to the spinal cord along C-fibers. Less stimulation in C-fibers was believed to produce itchiness. If stimulation were increased the itchiness would turn into pain. As Gawande (2008) explains, The Itch is not a subset of pain, but rather an entirely separate sensation. Even so, it is interesting that because there are connections between itch and pain pathways, they influence each other (Gieler & Walter 2008); pain tends to quell itching, and painkillers tend to produce itchiness. (Miller 2007). In addition, scratching and rubbing offer momentary relief because they trigger pain and touch receptors, subduing <span style="font-style: italic;">pruritus</span> (Gieler & Walter 2008). In 1997, Martin Schmelz, now working at the University of Manheim in Germany, declared that his research team had found C-fibers that did not react to painful heat or pinching, but was stimulated when histamine was injected into the skin of healthy individuals (Miller 2007). In addition, H. Erik Torebjork from Sweden reported that nerve fibers associated with itching are not myelinated. Thus, blocking electrical stimulation along myelinated nerve fibers will not stop the itching sensation (Perkins 1997).<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Relieving The Itch.</span><br /><br />Research for treatment for <span style="font-style: italic;">pruritus</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">neurodermatitis</span> is ongoing. One promising drug is a blocker for gastrin-releasing peptide receptors (GRPR). A study done with mice shows the absence of the gene for GRPR results in mitigated itching. In addition, calming techniques such as autogenic training “(in which patients repeat a set of visualizations) and Jacobson’s progressive muscle relaxation (in which patients relax muscles to relieve tension), have proved effective in supplementing medical treatment” (Gieler & Walter 2008). Such treatments are logical knowing that stress is the second most prominent catalyst for itching. Allergens are first. Dalgard et al. (2006) found from a questionnaire that the 27% of subjects that reported itching were younger, generally female, non-Norwegian, were of lower-income, more distressed and undergone more negative life events and finally had poorer social support. In 1949 a study done by Dr. Cormia proposed that patients experiencing localized itching were suffering from family resentment. Electroshock therapy was suggested as treatment (Science 1949).<br /><br />Following the experimental lecture, “Itching- what’s behind it?” Niemeier et al. (1999) surmises that itching can be alleviated by verbal and visual stimulation. The first half of the lecture featured “itchy” topics—pictures of fleas, mites, scratch marks on the skin, allergic reactions etc.—while the second exhibited more soothing topics—pictures of baby skin, soft down, bathers, mother with child in her arms etc. Video documentation shows more scratching, and by logical deduction increased itchiness, amongst audience members in the first half of the lecture.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRGFqck9MgNYRpO3R0viC_i2LdPMd1tHJ2AQTk4lLsSxbngLq-Un4zrmGMsFIe3w9PPiLyyj2yAaFEMUCj3KypbcV4k7bJmweGyqQZpWyMfI9GRUoJtXD5td-PJ7pxFlfCzFCD9YXIbY/s1600-h/lecture+itching.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRGFqck9MgNYRpO3R0viC_i2LdPMd1tHJ2AQTk4lLsSxbngLq-Un4zrmGMsFIe3w9PPiLyyj2yAaFEMUCj3KypbcV4k7bJmweGyqQZpWyMfI9GRUoJtXD5td-PJ7pxFlfCzFCD9YXIbY/s320/lecture+itching.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325774189710429522" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This leads to the discussion of contagious itching being a product of mirror neurons, similar to yawning.<br /><br />The majority of the research focuses on localizing <span style="font-style: italic;">pruritus</span>, but what if, like in M.’s case, this proves impossible? What if, as Anne Louise Oaklander believed, The Itch had migrated from its proper nerve fibers and established a new loop? What if M.’s brain circuitry had gone haywire? Indeed our brain’s circuitry can go haywire very easily. Gawande (2008) mentions phantom limb; coinciding with phantom limbs is the transformation of somatotopic maps, or as Ramachandran (1998) refers to as “the remapping hypothesis.” and subsequently the projection of sensations to phantom limbs. For example, Ramachandran (1998) found in eight out of eighteen patients, tactile stimulation to the face results in stimulation of the phantom arm.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUKqtbzVENv2SqfIaySNxzkiXvJnGmGXvEuZwK5PRAJNjRqneg52-EwtZ1XuroifX38algbvpjjg-WE7KTZpBsX9whzmiTe4U_HaKCnG7isgY-stYsz4YmO4HJlvZ1HRVu1HBOEJIRY8/s1600-h/homonculus.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUKqtbzVENv2SqfIaySNxzkiXvJnGmGXvEuZwK5PRAJNjRqneg52-EwtZ1XuroifX38algbvpjjg-WE7KTZpBsX9whzmiTe4U_HaKCnG7isgY-stYsz4YmO4HJlvZ1HRVu1HBOEJIRY8/s320/homonculus.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325772793021595586" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Ramachandran (1998) hypothesizes that the reworking of neuronal circuits does not entail creating new synaptic connections but rather revealing pre-existing ones. If this is indeed the case, the human brain is setup for remapping. To a certain extent, treatment for a circuit that goes awry is an attempt to mitigate the human brain’s innate plasticity.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Looking at phantoms.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">..but first a little experiment.</span><br /><br />Ramachandran & Rogers-Ramachandran (1996) explains that phantom limbs are the result of contradictory feedback; specifically, the motor intention to move a limb, is not reinforced by sensory, proprioceptive information. In normal individuals, the frontal lobe, controlling motor actions, communicates (sometimes via the cerebellum) with the parietal lobe. With each motor action, sensory information is attached. In phantom limbs that are rigid, to the point of paralysis, the brain has learned incorrectly that the limb is unable to move. This is where mirror therapy applies. Ramachandran & Rogers-Ramachandran (1996) constructed a virtual reality box, in which the patient perceives the phantom limb moving in the mirror, but in reality they are looking at the reflection of their existing limb. The patient is tricking his brain into receiving false proprioceptive information. With repeated mirror therapy patients are able to unclench fists, relieving pain, and in some cases the phantom limb has vanished.<br /><br /><a href="http://healthskills.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/youtube-mirror-box-videos/">http://healthskills.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/youtube-mirror-box-videos/</a><br /><br />Similarly, mirror therapy has been tried on patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). CRPS is similar to phantom limb pain in the sensations it induces- burning, cramping and mislocalized (McCabe et al. 2002). The “phantom” pain may exceed the original pain resulting from trauma, etc. McCabe et al. (2002) argues that similar to phantom limbs, CRPS results from incongruent feedback. In other words, the connection between sensory information and visual confirmation is disrupted. In early CRPS cases the mirror exercises was found to have analgesic effect, however, the mirror did not benefit those with chronic CRPS (McCabe et al. 2002).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBKkh_msRJ1VWsmA_RmnAGFpwX4C91NbsVxggdZ8MYBqOPe1H8enXdKqili1IFjpHRjYzBdRLIlrxOucrFbirFdLKaKeYmQEi-mOHrZhyphenhyphenr0-AgG0EWNfelXilJX_oQy1V8AikmZLJMggw/s1600-h/pain+mirror.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 232px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBKkh_msRJ1VWsmA_RmnAGFpwX4C91NbsVxggdZ8MYBqOPe1H8enXdKqili1IFjpHRjYzBdRLIlrxOucrFbirFdLKaKeYmQEi-mOHrZhyphenhyphenr0-AgG0EWNfelXilJX_oQy1V8AikmZLJMggw/s320/pain+mirror.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325773431799046690" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Although the virtual reality box has proved affective, Murray et al. (2006) explains the box’s limitations: a narrow spatial dimension and the requirement that the patient only focus on the reflection and ignore the intact limb. He and is colleagues propose “Immersive Virtual Reality,” (IVR). Using a head-mounted display, patients visualize a virtual reality in which their intact limb is superimposed as their phantom limb. The research is in its initial stages but is promising. The researchers’ main concern is the argument that the IVR is a distraction versus a pain mitigator. Patients are required to complete four motor tasks that occupy their attention, distracting them from the pain.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Can mirrors combat The Itch? And further speculations.</span><br /><br />At the end of Gawande’s (2008) article he mentions a conversation he has with Ramachandran, in which the neuroscientists suggests mirror therapy for M. There are obvious similarities with pruritus and pain. McCabe et al. (2002) explains, “The classical picture of a pain mechanism as a single hard-wired, dedicated pathway is no longer widely held. Instead, converging evidence from physiological and functional imaging studies suggests a much more diffuse and plastic system, involving the cord, brainstem, thalamus and cortex. In addition, psychological statues such as attention, anticipation and preparation for action may be inherent, essential components modulating the experience of pain.” Pain could be substituted with itch in the above quotation. In phantom limb patients, the brain learns the fixed position of the limb. In CRPS, the brain learns the pain, because it is not finding any relief. What if The Itch is learned as well? If the sensorimotor cortex is not activated at all, as found with histamine-induced itching, this can be even more problematic.<br /><br />Referring back to M.’s case, the area of her scalp that itched was indeed numb. The specific nerves responsible for the Itch had been killed. However, with no relief (such as scratching) the brain eventually learns that that area of the scalp itches and will persist to itch. M. has yet to try mirror therapy, according to the most recent updates on her case. A couple self-prescribed mirror therapy to help with the husband’s Anesthesia Dolorosa, after reading Gawande’s (2008) article. Anesthesia is a complication from neurosurgery in which facial sensation is reduced to pain (facial-neuralgia.org 2006). The husband was given Neurontin, which alleviated some of the pain from Trigeminal Neuralgia, contracted in 1997. However it had a dual-depressant affect, which had to be counteracted with stimulants such as caffeine, methylphenidate, (Ritalin) and Dexedrine. The husband developed a tolerance and subsequent addiction to the stimulants, as well as cardiac problems. He had to stop using any of the medications, including Neurontin, however, the pain was too severe. The couple decided to try mirror therapy at home and found it was extremely successful. The wife considers it a miracle.<br /><br /><a href="http://anadmiracle.blogspot.com/">http://anadmiracle.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />At the present time research is being done to locate the specific modalities of <span style="font-style: italic;">pruritus</span>, however, it seems that The Itch is part of a much larger conceptual issue; the brain is adversely susceptible to its on plasticity. A virtual reality, whether it is using a mirror or a computer, must counteract the reality that exists in our brain, separate to the external world, and idiosyncratic to each individual.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Bibliography<br /></div><br />“All-over” Itching May Spell Family Resentment (1949). The Science News-Letter, 56,<br />25. Retrieved on April 4, 2009 from, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3927072<br /><br />Anesthesia Dolorosa (2006). Facial Neuralgia Resources. Retrieved on April 16, 2009<br />from, http://facial-neuralgia.org/conditions/ad.html<br /><br />Dalgard, F., Lien, L., Dalen, I. (2007). Itch in the community: associations with<br />psychosocialfactors among adults. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 21, 9.<br /><br />Gawande, Atul (2008). The Itch. The New Yorker. Retrieved on February 11, 2009<br /> from, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_gawande<br /><br />Gilier, Uwe, Walter, Bertram (2008). Chronic Itching: Causes and Cures/ How to get<br />relief from the insatiable need to scratch. Scientific American. Retrieved April 17, 2009 from, http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=chronic-itching<br /><br />Leknes, Siri G., Bantick, Susanna, Willis, Carolyn M., Wilkinson, John D., Wise,<br />Richard G., Tracey, Irene (2006). Itch and Motivation to Scratch: An Investigation of the Central and Peripheral Correlates of Allergen- and Histamine-Induced Itch in Humans. Journal of Neurophysiology, 97. Retrieved on April 15, 2009 from, http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/1/415<br /><br /><br />McCabe, C.S., Haigh, R.C., Ring, E. F. J., Halligan, P.W., Wall, P.D., Blake, D.R.<br />(2003). A controlled pilot study of the utility of mirror visual feedback in the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome (type 1). Rheumatology, 42. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from, http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/42/1/97<br /><br />Miller, Greg (2007). Grasping for Clues to the Biology of Itch. Science, 318.<br /><br />Murray, Craig D., Pettifer, Stephen, Howard, Toby, Patchick, Emma L., Caillette,<br />Fabrice, Kulkarni, Jai, Bamford, Candy (2007). The Treatment of phantom limb pain using immersive virtual reality: Three case studies. Disability & Rehabilitation. Retrieved on April 14, 2007 from, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09638280601107385<br /><br />Niemeier, V., Kupfer, J., Gieler, U. (2000). Observations during an Itch-Inducing<br />Lecture. Dermatology Psychosomatics, 1. Retrieved on April 17, 2009 from, http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Doi=57993<br /><br />Parker-Pope, Tara (2008). Dr. Gawande Answers Questions About ‘The Itch.’ The New<br />York Times Well. Retrieved on April 15, 2009 from, http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/dr-gawande-answers-questions-about-the-itch/?scp=1&sq=tara%20parker%20itch&st=cse<br /><br />Perkins, S. (1997). Scientists finally find where to scratch. Science News, 152.<br /><br />Ramachandran, V.S. (1998). Consciousness and Body Image: Lessons from Phantom<br />Limbs, Capgras Syndrome and Pain Asymbolia. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 353, 1377. Retrieved on April 15, 2009 from, http://www.jstor.org/stable/56900<br /><br />Ramachandran, V.S., Rogers-Ramachandran (1996). Proceedings: Biological Sciences.<br /> Retrieved on April 15, 2009 from, http://www.jstor.org/stable/50718<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03607271390183447629noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-66716296074675698372009-04-17T13:33:00.000-07:002009-04-17T13:34:59.623-07:00The Itchhttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/30/080630fa_fact_gawande/Nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03607271390183447629noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-59435738256052579822009-04-07T08:25:00.000-07:002009-04-07T09:08:06.390-07:00Does Nostalgia Have A Purpose? (Or, Is Watching Old Reruns of "Bewitched" Actually Good for Me?)Nostalgia, that "warm and fuzzy" feeling we get when we recall <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpcCoW5gA7w">certain memories from our past</a>, has undergone something of a renewal lately, at least in the scientific community. In older times, it was considered to be a psychiatric disorder, complete with "symptoms" and a typical "demographic." Originally coined as another term for homesickness, the word has come to mean a general longing for an idyllic past. Most people accept that, far from being abnormal, nostalgia is something experienced by everyone at times, and for a while that's where the consensus on it rested, as shallow and harmless flights of fancy.<div><br /></div><div>However, the human brain does nothing frivolously, and there has been new evidence recently to suggest that nostalgia serves a useful purpose in the brain. For instance, the times when people are most likely to experience nostalgia are those when they are feeling lonely or uncertain about their futures. And, despite its reputation as a longing feeling, nostalgia is generally a positive experience, in which even negative memories are tinged with a sense of triumph over adversity. Several new studies have pointed out that nostalgia is probably a beneficial mechanism, a sort of natural antidote to depression. It makes us feel loved, wanted and supported by others -- which is why our friends and families tend to figure prominently in our reminisces. It has been discovered that people who tend to feel a lot of nostalgia also tend to have higher self-esteem and to form more secure social bonds. But is it possible that this is simply a chicken-and-egg scenario, wherein people with happier lives tend to more often indulge in remembering the good times? Then again, even people without a generally positive outlook on life can commonly experience, and benefit from, nostalgic memory.</div><div><br /></div><div>Memories are not concrete data hard-coded into our brains. Every memory we have is colored with many shades of context. We have a tendency to remember things in temporal "clumps," so a memory from a certain period in our lives can call up otherwise unrelated memories from the same time. This could be due to the hypothesis that when we form new brain cells, they start out especially sensitive to emotional stimuli, then mature and become just like any other brain cells. But a bunch of neurons that all mature at the same time will have absorbed similar emotional input from the time they spent being formed together, and could fire one another as adult cells if the same emotional trigger is encountered again years later. It is true that strong emotional triggers, such as smells and music, are the most likely to set off a nostalgic event in the brain. However, this is only one theory, as modern neurological explanations for nostalgia are still in their infancy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nostalgia, like all types of memory, is highly associative. An interesting phenomenon when it comes to nostalgia and our experience of time is that we can actually be reminded of the "good old days" by something we never actually encountered while we were living through them. If I've learned to associate the Terminator movies with the 1980s, for example, they can give me a feeling of nostalgia, even though I didn't actually watch them until after the year 2000 (and all of them except the first one were made after 1990). False nostalgia can even be induced to get people to remember fondly something that never occurred or wasn't even that important to them (advertisers are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thPtCIOaRZw">masters at this.</a>) It all hinges on getting the brain to associate something specific with that nebulous "good" period of time we've stored in our memories.</div><div><br /></div><div>But why do we tend to remember some things in our past as better than they actually were? Well, most of our nostalgic memories are formed when we are young, from childhood to our mid-20s. These are the times we'll be happily reminiscing about for the rest of our lives, even if many of the experiences we had during those years were not positive at all. The fact is, our brains are always modifying old memories to better serve our psychological purposes. This flexibility in our sense of our pasts, as with most things the brain does, is actually an advantage; it can help us to overcome trauma and to desirably modify our future behavior. This can explain why we become so angry when the rose-tinted memory we have is modified by a source outside ourselves. (See an example <a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/219386_nocookie.html">here</a>. The outrage!) It is an attack not only on our memory, but the sense of happiness and well-being that we've been able to derive from it. Our brains are using these memories as tools to make us feel good about ourselves and our pasts, which can serve to encourage us to make better futures. </div>Hasmidashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10610645129695649697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-74304069809247584222009-04-06T21:09:00.000-07:002009-04-06T21:49:31.315-07:00What's the Matter With Lying?<span style="font-family:times new roman;">The recent study on lying conducted by Dr. Adrian Raine and Yaling Yang at the </span><st1:place style="font-family: times new roman;" st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Southern California</st1:placename></st1:place><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> is the first of its kind to prove a consistent structural abnormality in the brains of pathological liars. Using magnetic resonance imaging, Yang wa</span><span style="font-family:times new roman;">s able to measure a significant difference in the proportions of prefrontal white and gray matter among adults recruited from a temporary employment office in </span><st1:city style="font-family: times new roman;" st="on"><st1:place st="on">Los Angeles</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family:times new roman;">. Those who classified as ‘liars’ had much more white matter and slightly less gray matter in their prefrontal cortex than the members of both normal and antisocial control groups. According to their report, Yang and Raine's results, “Provide the first evidence of a structural</span><sup style="font-family: times new roman;"> </sup><span style="font-family:times new roman;">brain deficit in liars, implicate the prefrontal cortex as</span><sup style="font-family: times new roman;"> </sup><span style="font-family:times new roman;">an important (but not sole) component in the neural circuitry</span><sup style="font-family: times new roman;"> </sup><span style="font-family:times new roman;">underlying lying and provide an initial neurobiological correlate</span><sup style="font-family: times new roman;"> </sup><span style="font-family:times new roman;">of a deceitful personality.”
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<br /><p style="font-weight: bold;">THE STUDY</p><p style="font-weight: bold;"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CGLANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C04%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p style="font-weight: normal;">From their pool of volunteers Yang and Raine interviewed and tested participants and separated them into three groups: 12 adults whom they classified, according to certain criteria, as regular ‘liars;’ 21 normal, relatively honest adults; and 16 adults with antisocial personality disorder but no history of pathological lying. The liars targeted in the study were those with histories of manipulative and conning behavior and malingering (lying about ones health for personal gain). Yang and Raine then examined the volunteers’ brains using magnetic resonance imaging and found a considerable discrepancy between the grey/white matter ratios of the liars and of the two control groups. Liars showed 14 percent less gray matter in their prefrontal cortex than the normal individuals, but had 26 percent more <i style="">white</i> matter than the antisocial subjects and 22 more than the normal subjects. The Liars also exhibited a prefrontal gray/white matter that was much lower than both control groups.</p> <p></p> <p>
<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JEJmEdxx09w/SdrTzW922TI/AAAAAAAAADY/njYXPUM4qwc/s1600-h/322f1g.gif"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CGLANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C04%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 285px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JEJmEdxx09w/SdrTzW922TI/AAAAAAAAADY/njYXPUM4qwc/s400/322f1g.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321798788983478578" border="0" /> <b style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">1</b><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Prefrontal grey and white matter volumes in liars (</span><img style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" src="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/math/squf.gif" alt="{blacksquare}" border="0" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">), normal controls (</span><img style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" src="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/math/squ.gif" alt="{square}" border="0" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">) and antisocial controls (&</span><img style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" src="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/vol187/issue4/images/medium/graysqu.gif" alt="{graysqu}" width="10" border="0" height="11" /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">).</span></a></p><p>
<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JEJmEdxx09w/SdrTinzO8AI/AAAAAAAAADA/c0PeHEB18qI/s1600-h/323f2g.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 306px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JEJmEdxx09w/SdrTinzO8AI/AAAAAAAAADA/c0PeHEB18qI/s400/323f2g.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321798501444546562" border="0" /></a><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JEJmEdxx09w/SdrTzW922TI/AAAAAAAAADY/njYXPUM4qwc/s1600-h/322f1g.gif">Prefrontal grey/white matter ratio in liars (<img src="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/math/squf.gif" alt="{blacksquare}" border="0" />), normal controls (<img src="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/math/squ.gif" alt="{square}" border="0" />) and antisocial controls (<img src="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/vol187/issue4/images/medium/graysqu.gif" alt="{graysqu}" width="10" border="0" height="11" />).</a></p><p>
<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JEJmEdxx09w/SdrQmWeGJsI/AAAAAAAAACo/dKzSry8wZmI/s1600-h/clip_image002_000.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 229px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JEJmEdxx09w/SdrQmWeGJsI/AAAAAAAAACo/dKzSry8wZmI/s400/clip_image002_000.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321795266977081026" border="0" /></a></p>
<br /><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CGLANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->
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<br /></a></p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link style="font-weight: bold;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CGLANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C03%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype style="font-weight: bold;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype style="font-weight: bold;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype style="font-weight: bold;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-weight: bold;">
<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">WHITE MATTER</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CGLANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C04%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CGLANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C05%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNormal">White Matter comprises 40-50% of the volume of a normal adult brain. It is a network made up of millions of axons that facilitate connections between the nerve cells (grey matter) in different parts of the brain. According to Dr. Sean A. Spence, Professor of Psychiatry at the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Sheffeld</st1:placename></st1:place>, “White matter<sup> </sup>projections are especially abundant in the frontal lobes, consistent<sup> </sup>with the prefrontal executive role in modulating emergent behaviour<sup> </sup>via subordinate brain structures. Hence,<sup> </sup>white matter is pivotal to the connectivity and cognitive function<sup> </sup>of the human brain.” An excess of white matter would naturally correspond with the ability to links certain thoughts together in fabricating and fine-tuning a lie. Moreover, the liars in this particular study exhibited a slight deficit in grey matter in the prefrontal cortex which is where moral judgments, among other things, are processed. Consequently, as Raine put it, “They’ve got the equipment to lie, and they don’t have the disinhibition that the rest of us have in telling the big whoppers,”</p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><o:p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">
<br /></span></o:p></p><p><o:p><span style="font-weight: bold;">IMPLICATIONS</span>
<br /></o:p></p> <p>Though this study focuses on just one part of the neural circuitry involved in lying, it raises many crucial questions about the potential of white matter connectivity, about the definition of “pathological lying” and different kinds of deceptions, about structural abnormalities as causes or affects of behavior, and about the relationship between neurological development and ones proclivity to lie.
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<br /></p><span style="font-weight: bold;">BIBLIOGRAPHY
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<br /></span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >"Radio Lab: Into the Brain of a Liar."<i> Radio Lab</i>. Narr. Robert Krulwich. National Public Radio.
<br />6 March 2008</span>
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<br /></span><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CGLANDE%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C07%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:usefelayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@SimSun"; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12;" >Spence, Sean A. "Prefrontal white matter -- the tissue of lies." <em>The British Journal of Psychiatry.</em> 187 2005: 326-327.
<br />
<br />Yang, Yaling and Adrian Raine. "Prefrontal white matter in pathological liars."<em>The British Journal of Psychiatry.</em> 187 2005: 326-327.
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<br /></span> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-87891410653783350692009-04-06T15:27:00.000-07:002009-04-06T15:31:07.530-07:00Benefits of Nostalgia<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=20060511-000003&page=1">Article from Psychology Today</a>Hasmidashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10610645129695649697noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-23714577766728892022009-04-04T19:15:00.001-07:002009-04-04T19:16:16.554-07:00The Brains of Liars<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:13px;">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87922568</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-84077738750578196262009-03-09T22:09:00.000-07:002009-03-09T22:30:28.054-07:00BPD and the Brain<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/071808/borderline-personality-disorder.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 650px; height: 395px;" src="http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/071808/borderline-personality-disorder.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/071808/borderline-personality-disorder.gif<br /><br />Borderline Personality Disorder and the Brain<br /><br />Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is an emotional disorder. People with this disorder tend to react to situations differently; they experience intense emotions that can at times change rapidly, yet at other times they linger for a torturously long time. People with BPD may have trouble calming themselves down after feeling a strong emotion. (Linehan, 2007)<br /><br />As we know from our readings, the brain can change for any number of reasons, such as genes; exposure to unhealthy conditions or substances during gestation; stressful events during infancy, childhood, or later trauma; alcohol and/or substance abuse. <br /><br />The areas of the brain that may be involved in BPD include the limbic system, the prefrontal cortex, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. <br /><br />Limbic System and Prefrontal Cortex<br />As we have learned in class, the limbic system is an area of the brain that among other things, has to do with emotions, memory, and pleasure. The amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, and the hippocampus, which is involved in learning and memory, are included in the limbic system. <br /><br />Studies have shown that people with BPD have smaller amygdalas, and certain areas of the amygdala are more reactive to emotional stimulation. (Schmal et al. 2003; Tebartz van Elst et al. 2003) In one study, the amygdala was monitored to see how it reacted to faces with different types of emotional expressions. People with BPD had stronger activation in their left amygdalas. (Herperts et al. 2001)<br /><br />Research has shown that people with BPD also tend to have a smaller hippocampus.than those who do not. (Schmal et al. 2003; Tebartz van Elst et al. 2003) Similarly, people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) tend to have a smaller hippocampus, but people with BPD are the only ones who have smaller hippocampi and amygdalas. <br /> <br />The prefrontal cortex, the piece of the brain whose importance was made most famous by Phineas Gage, shows evidence that it is involved in the activity of the limbic system. In fact, this evidence seems to suggest that activity in the prefrontal cortex regulates activity in this emotional center of the brain. Research on BPD demonstrates lower activity in patients in certain areas of the prefrontal cortex when they are exposed to stressful memories. (Schmal et al. 2003) This suggests that low activity in the prefrontal cortex may not be active enough in certain ways to effectively regulate the amydala, causing the person’s intense emotions to make them feel as if they are “spinning out of control.”<br /><br />The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis <br />The HPA axis is the other neurological system related to the brain. Both the hypothalamus and pituitary gland influence the body’s response to stress, and higher activity in the HPA axis leads to greater concentrations of cortisol, the stress hormone. A hyperactive HPA axis means a hyperactive biological stress response.<br /><br />People who have BPD can get thrown over the edge over even minor stressors, and may go through periods of extremely tense irritability. In other words, they have an exaggerated stress response. <br />People with BPD demonstrate exaggerated cortisol responses compared to people without BPD. (Grossman, Yehuda, and Siever 1997; Lieb Rexhausen, et al. 2004.) Other research has shown that a hyperactive HPA axis may predispose people to attempt suicide. (van Heeringen et al. 2000)<br />Stressful and/or traumatic events can also increase the likelihood of exaggerated cortisol levels. <br /><br />There are also several theories about dopamine and serotonin genes which I will talk about tomorrow in my presentation!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/vol6/issue3/images/large/f021101.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1280px; height: 584px;" src="http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/vol6/issue3/images/large/f021101.jpeg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Kristen Gullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17011009790877016436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-44901233127899186752009-03-09T19:06:00.000-07:002009-03-09T19:23:32.281-07:00The Extended Mind<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/images/cyborg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 260px;" src="http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/images/cyborg.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Extended Mind</span><br />In their essay “The Extended Mind” (1998), Andy Clark and David J Chalmers attempt to answer the question “where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin?” This may, in fact, be a misleading question, simply due to human preconceptions about the meaning of the word “mind” and the readiness with which we view it as interchangeable with the word “brain”. A more truthful, or comprehendible, explanation of their thesis would be: an attempt to better understand the boundaries of individual cognition. While most of us can readily understand the hypothesis that individual cognition ends where the brain ends, with the clear delineation of skull and skin, Chalmers and Clark also reference the lesser know hypothesis of <span style="font-style: italic;">semantic externalism</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Semantic Externalism and the Twin Earth Thought Experiment</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Semantic externalism</span> is a theory initially proposed by Hilary Putnam in his essay “The Meaning of ‘Meaning’” (1975); this idea was subsequently expanded on by Tyler Burge in his 1982 essay, “Other Bodies”. In his essay, Putnam asks us to imagine a parallel universe exactly the same, in every way, to our own. In this parallel universe “Twin Earth” would exist as indistinguishable from our own Earth, except for one small difference. What the inhabitants of “Twin Earth” refer to as “water” is not H20 it is, in fact, a more complex formula, referred to, within “The Meaning of ‘Meaning’,” as XYZ. Superficially, however, XYZ is also indistinguishable from H2O. Putnam is careful to note that this experiment should be set a few centuries in the past so that neither the inhabitants of Earth nor the inhabitants of Twin Earth would be capable of understanding the underlying chemical differences between the two.<br /><br />Putnam’s conclusion, therefore, in the Twin Earth Thought Experiment is that the brain is incapable of processing the entirety of meaning and that certain meanings exist entirely outside the human mind (as completely external). Therefore, <span style="font-style: italic;">semantic externalism</span> is the theory that, as Putnam so eloquently put it, “meaning ain’t all in the head”.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Active Externalism</span><br />Clark and Chalmers are quick to distinguish their own theory of<span style="font-style: italic;"> active externalism</span> from Putnam’s, then, better known theory of <span style="font-style: italic;">semantic externalism</span>. They also note that while the two theories are extremely different from one another, one does not necessarily preclude the other. They explain this distinction by asserting that a person’s understanding of the word “water” is based on their historical experience of water and therefore, has “no role in driving the cognitive process in the here-and-now.”<span style="font-style: italic;"> Active externalism</span> on the other hand, describes a coupling of the human organism and some external features which “play a crucial role in the here-and-now”. It is this coupling of the human organism and the external environment that composes <span style="font-style: italic;">extended cognition</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Extended Cognition</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Extended cognition</span> challenges the idea that thought is limited to the brain. To clarify, Clark and Chalmers assert that rather than taking a metaphorical picture of our environment and then considering it internally “in our heads” our internal picture is actually very limited (consider the Daniel Simons <a href="http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/flashmovie/15.php">attentional focus demonstration</a> referred to in the article “<a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/feb/15-how-google-is-making-us-smarter">Why Google is Making Us Smarter</a>”) and that we must constantly refer back to our environment in order to draw on the information needed for our specific purposes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://home.cmit.net/rwolbeck/programmingtutorial/code/fullscreen%20tetris.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 578px; height: 432px;" src="http://home.cmit.net/rwolbeck/programmingtutorial/code/fullscreen%20tetris.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>If we are playing a game of Tetris, for instance, we do not imagine the falling shape in its correct position before pressing the button to rotate it. We press the button and rotate the shape in order to figure out what the correct position would be. Pressing the button, therefore, is an <span style="font-style: italic;">epistemic action</span> or an “action [that] alter[s] the world so as to aid and augment cognitive processes such as recognition and search.” This distinguishes it from <span style="font-style: italic;">pragmatic actions</span>, which are taken to fulfill their own isolated purpose.<br /><br />Pressing the button becomes part of our cognitive process, therefore, not separate from it. Thus our cognition extends <span style="font-style: italic;">beyond </span>our brains to include the button. Together, our brains and the button form a coupled system which, Clark and Chalmers argue, is a “cognitive system in its own right.” If, they contend, we would have no problem considering something part of the cognitive process were it done in the head then we should have no problem considering it part of the cognitive process at all.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Extended Belief</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Extended belief</span> takes the assertions of <span style="font-style: italic;">extended cognition</span> and<span style="font-style: italic;"> active externalism </span>one step further. If someone keeps information written in a notepad can that information be seen as his or her belief? Clark and Chalmers have compiled a checklist of criteria necessary to define information contained within an external source as <span style="font-style: italic;">extended belief</span>.<br />1. Consistency – the external source of information must be a constant in the life of the agent.<br />2. Accessibility – the external source of information must be readily accessible with little effort on the part of the agent.<br />3. Reliability – the agent must readily endorse the information provided by the source.<br />4. History – the agent must have endorsed the information provided by the source in the past. (Clark and Chalmers note that this fourth criterion for <span style="font-style: italic;">extended belief</span> is arguable)<br />Although they do not mention it as one of their criteria, portability is mentioned as a criterion earlier in the essay. It is possible that portability is an obvious criterion for achieving accessibility.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Wrapping It Up</span><br />While the theory of the<span style="font-style: italic;"> extended mind</span> might seem flighty, an interesting subject to ponder at best, it actually has a great deal of applicability in the study of cognition. Clark and Chalmers are quick to note that the distinction that they make is not simply terminological. Clark has gone on to write a book called Natural Born Cyborgs which is centered on the idea that our current use of coupled systems and the readiness with which the brain adapts to using new tools to aid its cognitive processes all point to a very real future wherein the delineations of organic and artificial intelligence become increasingly fuzzy. Clark and Chalmers note how significant an understanding of the <span style="font-style: italic;">extended mind </span>could be. “… explanatory methods that might once have been thought appropriate only for the analysis of "inner" processes are now being adapted for the study of the outer, and there is promise that our understanding of cognition will become richer for it. “dahliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11291518917851605018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-10875168250032528732009-03-09T19:00:00.001-07:002009-03-09T19:00:34.559-07:00Borderline Personality Disorder and the Brainhttp://www.topnews.in/health/brain-malfunction-linked-borderline-personality-disorder-identified-23881Kristen Gullhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17011009790877016436noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-6465005190547660392009-03-02T11:13:00.000-08:002009-03-02T11:24:54.931-08:00How Google is Making Us SmarterPlease take a moment before reading the article to watch the following video. Count the number of times any of the players dressed in white pass a ball. Write the number down on a piece of paper, then continue on to the article.<br /><a href="http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/flashmovie/15.php"><br />VIDEO</a><br /><br /><a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/feb/15-how-google-is-making-us-smarter">ARTICLE</a>dahliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11291518917851605018noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-65100821790853133252009-02-24T08:07:00.000-08:002009-02-24T08:59:17.115-08:00The brain is a very responsive organ that interacts with the body in an attempt to react with the environment and all the external experiences with grace (and hopefully survival). Traumatic events disrupt this 'grace' and it is up to the body to find a way to return- so survival can be a likely future event. This presentation explores what causes the body to return to homeostasis following a traumatic event and why exactly some individuals can’t.<div><br />It was first noted that an individual’s inability to recover from trauma might have some relation to the neural processing in the brain when it became viewed as a disorder. “For the Ancient Greeks, it was a ‘divine madness’ that infected the minds of soldiers. During the US Civil War, it became known as ‘soldier’s heart’. By the First World War it was called shell shock. Today the condition is known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” (New York times)</div><div><br />Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs when some individuals cannot seem to re</div><div>cover from the traumatic event and return to homeostasis. PTSD is not only dependent on the traumatic event, but also individual differences, such as preexisting traits or the specific composure of the neuroendocrine system of an individual, and the psychological, genetic, physical and social characteristics of that individual.</div><div><br />PTSD can be a permanent disorder because it changes the bodies response to stress. Specifically, it affects stress hormones and chemicals that carry information through neurotransmitters.<div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">How does your body normally respond to trauma?</span></div><div><br />Normally, your body responds to stress in the following way: <a href="http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/WanadooFilms/Thriller/Exorcist2.jpg">something traumatic happens</a>- you get scared, hit by a car, kidnapped, you hear a loud noise, etc.- so your body responds accordingly. The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), which becomes more active during stress to comprise the fight-or-flight response, releases a catecholamine hormone (epinephr</div><div>ine, norephinephrine, dopamine, etc.) into the system by the adrenal glands in situations of stress. In response, cortisol is released from the adrenal cortex of the adrenal gland. Often called the “stress hormone,” cortisol responds to the increased catecholamine by increasing blood pressure and blood sugar and reducing immune responses. These occurrences help return the anxious body to homeostasis. In the words of LeDoux and Yehuda, “a critical feat</div><div>ure of the stress response is the autoregulation initiated by cortisol negative-feedback inhibition that restores stress-related reactions to baseline after the termination of the acute stressor.”(LeDoux) The stressful event then becomes a memory. Following any learn</div><div>ing event, the long-term memory is not instantaneously formed. Rather, information regarding the event is slowly assimilated into long-term storage. It is through the release of adrenaline that these stressful memories can begin to be consolidated. The amygdala, which is essential for decoding emotions and processing memory, sends impulses to the hypothalamus for important activation of the SNS. The amygdala’s activity is increased with more emotional activity. The central nuclei of the amygdala are involved in the genesis of many fear resp</div><div>onses including immobilization, rapid heart beat, increased respiration, and stress-hormone release. The amygdala is also involved in the modulation of memory consolidation. Therefore, since during the consolidation of a memory, it can be modulated, the emotional decoding of stressful situations can affect the way that the memory is stored. Emotional arousal following a stressful situation influences the strength of the memory. The greater the emotional arousal leads to an enhanced retention of that event- thus the more emotional the stimuli, the stronger</div><div> the memory.</div><div><div><br /><a href="http://www.cnsforum.com/imagebank/item/HPA_NORM_DPN_3/default.aspx">HPA Axis and overall functioning of feedback loop</a><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">What happens if the body cannot return to homeostasis?</span></div><div>Sometimes, differing circumstances inhibit the bodies ability return to homeostasis. Sometimes the stressful event is so strong, or certain neural s</div><div>tructures are not quite able to respond to an event with the appropriate SNS respons</div><div>e, the body cannot recover.</div><div><br /></div><div>Figure 1 <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Figure 2</div><div><br /></div><div><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJqG760B5-Tf9TSJ54wjic_Hv88gOQCStzD5eFzO5AWd8xnqt7aVj1CswxQTgl3pzrx5orK54FbjhO9DDzndQpHySLZ7QiQ0rbXuvXStiiYI50bJ6QosxhLalkZtMqCmfJJxGwyiRIs8/s200/amygdala.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306398929842527394" /><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC64rxww81KHARVxpHR96BoG-WLp366744mdcFqOq3iBfTZD3HazUhJGcg-WsGMDgobAgTx4WFOQ_MNYSDhcqV1NBoZjUMOLwWBGhwxlpNKITQpdM0i_aqruHu7a4GBuQoX0-hwHJnP48/s200/PTSD+CUP.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306397883107986018" /> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>In the first diagram, a traumatic event can remove you from your safe zone and push y</div><div>ou into a war zone. It is the bodies job to try to return you to your safe place, but when you have PTSD, this process is more difficult. In the second diagram, you can see that everyone has a certain level of good stress- it is healthy. In the second cup, bad stress is introduced- paying bills, relationships, getting fired, etc. This all still leaves room for other things to occur. However, in the last cup, the stress is so consuming that there is no room for anything </div><div>else. PTSD takes up a lot of space in our ability to handle actions. A person who suffers PTSD would be in a constant state of ‘war zone.’ This means that even the smallest arousals would prompt and immediate overreaction. Researchers have described war veterans as being in a sustained physiological state of hyperarousal.</div><div><br />The question that LeDoux and Yehuda pose is: why is it that the majority of trauma-exposed persons do not develop PTSD? They try to prove that PTSD cannot be understood independent of personal factors that can be extrapolated from a traumatic event alone. “Rather, PTSD represents a specific phenotype associated with a failure to recover from the normal affects of trauma.” (LeDoux) LeDoux and Yehuda therefore set out to find the individual, preexisting conditions that would explain the development of the disorder and the failure to return to homeostasis. </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">What exactly is PTSD? What are the side effects?</span></div><div><br /></div><div>PTSD exhibits three distinct symptoms. </div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Reexperiencing symptoms</span>- spontaneous, insuppressible recollections of the event.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Avoidance symptoms</span>- restricting oneself from the event; withdrawal emotionally and socially.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Hyperarousal symptoms</span>- physiologically manifested: insomnia, irritability, impaired concetration.</div><div><br /></div><div>6.8% of people in the U.S. develop PTSD at some point in their life, yet more than 75% of people are exposed to at least one traumatic event that could lead to PTSD.</div><div><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What do neuroscientists believe happens to cause this?</span><br /><br />LeDoux and Yehuda believe that several factors cause PTSD to occur in particular individuals, and they believe this has to do with preexisting conditions. Some of these factors include lower levels of cortisol, higher levels of catecholamines, a smaller hippocampus (which some would say is the result of PTSD) etc.</div><div><br /></div><div>Researchers believe that acute exposure to a traumatic event includes “increases in</div><div> sympathetic, and decreases in parasympathetic, tone and the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, and catecholamines from the pituitary, adrenal cortex, and adrenal medulla.” This occurs out of the bodies attempt to accommodate immediate demands on the body. PTSD, therefore, comes out of a person’s inability to respond to the immediate demand in a stressful situation. </div><div><br />PTSD is associated with low levels of cortisol and high levels of catecholamenes. There was notably a low secretion of cortisol and a high secretion of catecholamines with a norepinephrine to cortisol ratio higher than non-diagnosed individuals. This was exhibited in war veterans, abused children, and other people suffering from PTSD. But, what could cause this reaction? Could the initial stressor be so intense that levels of adrenaline quickly consolidated the memory before cortisol came in for the uptake? Could the amygdala further strengthen this memory bond? LeDoux and Yehuda beg to differ.</div><div><br /></div><div>They assert: “because the release of adrenaline facilitates consolidation of the threat memory, failure to contain the SNS response might lead to more strongly encoded, hence more </div><div>subjectively distressing memories of the event. If low cortisol levels represent a preexistin</div><div>g characteristic, reinforced by “overconsolidation” at the time of trauma, then failing to properly contain the SNS response to traumatic reminders could perpetuate the intrusive and hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD, leading to the elaboration of avoidance symptoms that commonly occurs in the disorder.” Compounded with low cortisole levels- or a low level of hormones that respond to adrenaline and help return the body to homeostasis- the body cannot return to homeostasis in a normal way.</div><div><br /></div><div>Further, high levels of cortisol released during stress- in response to a high release of catecholamenes- were associated with damage to neurons in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brainmaps-macaque-hippocampus.jpg">CA3 region</a> of the</div><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 86px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3iBIDZW7uXKWd7ukStNC26RZsPJ0ymeo_HQKtbrhrnIY1cmsZnAurdro9itNrMKHmNt_uTlzZoaGUEHTP_4qMSUGguyFGEiieRAhivLtxFbmokca546YbAX8U-RR8KSs7b49bhRIAEj8/s200/hippocampus.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306402339680880258" /><div> hippocampus and a loss of neurons and dendritic branching in this area. This is because glucocorticoids such as coritisol disrupt cellular metabolism, or the cells burning of energy, and increases the vulnerability of hippocampal neurons to excitatory amino acids like glutamate. The hippocampus is very sensitive to stressful situations and this is correlated to memory loss and damage. Exposure to abuse in early childhood is often correlated with reduced volume of the hippocampus and thus a hindered ability to learn and remember things. These children typically have delayed recall of the abusive memories.</div><div><br /></div><div>LeDoux and Yehuda studied the hippocampus further to question whether a smaller hippocampus was a predisposition or a result of PTSD. They assert that it is difficult to say that, due to cortisol toxicity the hippocampus is reduced in volume. LeDoux and Yehuda suggest that a smaller hippocampus is a preexisting condition because due to a lack of initial memory, recalling the events may make it difficult for persons to “contextualize and reinterpret the experience of trauma in a way that can facilitate recovery.” (LeDoux) </div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh65wjbjfkGE4o-dMatarvYfev2T1xCjVtCGa1sKyASHAqDefZ92qRQfemwdsRvL74nktWUWNva05SrYrBk1qUQv0VNPfka-FpSzyI8NJ5kzuDIcCHiC2hYe44zcLETufobA0KKk1F3Mho/s200/amygdala+funciton.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306400553001187714" /><br /></div><div>In regards to the amygdala, a hypothesis of fear conditioning could explain why, following the traumatic</div><div> event, there was still persistence biological and psychological fear. Fear conditioning occurs through the convergence of information from the initial traumatic event to trauma-related cues in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala “where synaptic plasticity occurs.” This is in turn connected to the hypothalamus. The ability to properly process a threat is key to the release of the hormones previously discussed such as catecholamines, ACTH, and cortisol. It is believed that chronic exposure or reliving of stress can lead to hyperactivity in the amygdala. As seen in the diagram of HPA axis, the balanced flow is crucial, and in PTSD, the hypersensitivity of the amygdala throws this process off. The hypersensitivity of the amygdala in assessing threat is then connected to the hypothalmus and brainstem areas that in turn control behavior and central arousal responses that help the organism cope with threat. This can happen at a totally unconscious level in an individual. It is not, however, known whether a hyperactive amygdala is a response to PTSD or a preexisting condition.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/99/16/10789/F2.small.gif">Normal Amygdala versus hyperactive amygdala</a></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">How did they prove this?</span><br /><br />As in the newspaper article, the research team led by UC Irvine neuroscientists tested this idea with rats. When rats entered in to a particular room, they received a foot shock. When this shock was activated by a stimulation to the amygdala, the rats tended to know what rooms not to go in. When the shock was compounded with a deactivating agent, they tended to easily forget the foot shock. This highlights the interconnected importance of the emotional processing of an event in the amygdala and how that transfers in to long-term memory.</div><div><br /></div><div>On top of this, damage to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) inhibits fear extinction. Specifically, the way the mPFC interacts with the amygdala causes lasting traumatic memories and responses. The mPFC helps regulate fears that have been acquired, a</div></div><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0XP2Sa1ozpvbjfk4m7x5QDMGuVoAurybtaLy71OaDumfyynbGNSMAkqmr2OJ4thHz5VAZXMzhg0wDHumPvQXlYwzXQg4fQBjTHwny7SuyPb39T2_1xkvz06jBPHKo5Hlpkh1trL7468/s320/medial+prefrontal+cortex.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306408066857465490" />nd mediate conditioned fear responses- as described above. Those with PTSD showed to have a "failure of activation in metabolism in parts of the mPFC." (Bremner)<div><div><br />While this is all incredibly important in understanding how people deal with trauma and why recovery is difficult, and sometimes impossible for some, it is also very illuminating in understanding the way short-term and long-term memory work in general. This helps understand exactly why things that are emotionally arousing stand out in our memory and why things that are kind of dull do not. It also gives us insight into the importance of traumat</div><div>ized people giving verbal testimonies to their experiences. How facing your traumatic memory can allow you to understand it better; how you can unlearn the initial fear of the event through therapy; how fear conditioning in the amygdala can be counter acted with consistent conscious recollection of the traumatic event until it doesn’t release such dramatic internal neural responses; and how some cortisol drugs just might do the trick.<br /><br />bibliography<br />http://www.ptsdforum.org/thread63.html<br />http://www.cnsforum.com/imagebank/item/HPA_NORM_DPN_3/default.aspx<br />Yehuda and LeDoux, Response Variation following Trauma: A Translational Neuroscience Approach to Understanding PTSD http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(07)00704-0<br /></div><div>Bremner. "The Lasting Effects of Psychological Trauma on Memory and the Hippocampus." www.lawandpsychiatry.com</div></div></div>Kimberly Grauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14994961572430518220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-28162461956383550022009-02-24T07:35:00.000-08:002009-02-24T07:43:22.447-08:00Kimberly Grauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14994961572430518220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-87076590484035747002009-02-24T05:21:00.000-08:002009-02-24T08:46:45.126-08:00Hypnosis Presentation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Vertigo%20pic%204.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 272px;" src="http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/Vertigo%20pic%204.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Origins of Hypnosis<br /><br />Hypnosis s famous for its roots in pseudoscience and metaphysical innuendo. Dr. Franz Mesmer in the 18th centuryclaimed he could influence his patients minds by manipulating their "magnetic fluids." At first he used actual magnets, before later favoring careful hand movements from a distance to his subjects.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.fredericlouvet.com/images/Mesmerism.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 447px; height: 267px;" src="http://www.fredericlouvet.com/images/Mesmerism.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Franz Mesmer<br /><br />It would be Dr. James Braid, a scottish philosipher who would hone Mesmer's in a rational matter, devoid of any supernatural claims. He would latter coin the term 'Hypnotism'.<br /><br />"It may here be requisite for me to explain, that by the term Hypnotism, or Nervous Sleep, which frequently occurs in the following pages, I mean a peculiar condition of the nervous system, into which it may be thrown by artificial contrivance, and which differs, in several respects, from common sleep or the waking condition. I do not allege that this condition is induced through the transmission of a magnetic or occult influence from my body into that of my patients; nor do I profess, by my processes, to produce the higher [i.e., supernatural] phenomena of the Mesmerists. My pretensions are of a much more humble character, and are all consistent with generally admitted principles in physiological and psychological science. Hypnotism might therefore not inaptly be designated, Rational Mesmerism, in contra-distinction to the Transcendental Mesmerism of the Mesmerists." -Observations on Trance or Human Hybernation, 1850, 'Preface.'<br /><br />Braid found that he induced trances with intense, unwavering stares.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thebraidsociety.com/images/braid-28.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 669px;" src="http://www.thebraidsociety.com/images/braid-28.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />James Braid<br /><br />Raz's Study<br /><br />Hypnosis has since undergone many connotations and applications. Recently, scientists like Amir Raz, a former professional magician and current assistant professor at Columbia University, have been attempting to bring hypnotism back into the realm of neurological study.<br /><br />Raz conducted a study with groups of adults who were highly susceptible to hypnotic influence to see if they could perform a "stroop test" with greater aptitude after hypnotic induction<br /><br />A stroop test is an experiment in which subjects are asked to identify colors as quickly as possible. The colors however are presented in the context of colored letters spelling the names of different colors, for instance the word "Blue" with yellow lettering. This briefly confuses the subjects, as their literate associative minds are forced to reconcile with sensory input before generating a response.<br /><br />Raz found that through hypnotic induction, he could override the literate functions in his subjects. After suggesting to his subjects through hypnosis that the words would appear as gibberish.<br /><br />As the study progressed, Raz found that subjects highly susceptible to hypnosis did not show brain activity in the areas used for visual language recognition, and thus recognized the colors instantly.<br /><br />This data indicates that the powers of hypnotic suggestion are powerful enough to temporarily suspend ones recognition of language. By suggestion, Raz was able to manipulate the higher brain functions of his subjects so as to manipulate or at least "deafen" lower function sensory input. <br /><br />The implications of this and similar studies are manifold. Hypnosis while often dramatized and embellished, is a very real phenomenon. Hypnosis does indeed have many current clinical uses for treating depression, performance anxiety, addiction and other things. It can however also be used in studies similar to Raz's in order to more specifically identify brain structure and cognition. Hypothetically, if one were to devise a test similar to the stroop test, with more layers of sensory input (smell, touch sound etc.) one could use hypnotic suggestion to more firmly postulate the "pecking order" of each of these sensory inputs in the gestalt of experience.<br /><br /><a href="http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/59/12/1155"><br />Dr. Amir Raz Stroop test Case Study</a><br /><a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2004/nov/hypnosis-works/article_view?searchterm=hypnosis&b_start:int=2">Additional Material</a><br /><br />Images from:<br />http://thisdistractedglobe.com<br />http://www.fredericlouvet.com/<br />http://www.thebraidsociety.com/Aaron Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14984091360796513005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-54068237561708829982009-02-24T01:20:00.000-08:002009-02-24T01:30:30.552-08:00False memory presentation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQTx3hsSgDTivcifjMm6SLLMxAElhbbfAgSzy61C2_GiBOedMSCG8_nScuW8kjJ_Mhg3OKuON-NHNiXkc3obUe1XMH_ZOaMGZGYABRvylxJMEwX0NETpNp2oz2zWaIyswfW1xBPPC6mM/s1600-h/F1.medium.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 109px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQTx3hsSgDTivcifjMm6SLLMxAElhbbfAgSzy61C2_GiBOedMSCG8_nScuW8kjJ_Mhg3OKuON-NHNiXkc3obUe1XMH_ZOaMGZGYABRvylxJMEwX0NETpNp2oz2zWaIyswfW1xBPPC6mM/s320/F1.medium.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306292342583926434" border="0" /></a>Here is my hopefully successful attempt at creating a presentation exploring Yoko Okado and Craig Stark's findings regarding the encoding of false memories.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />What is false memory?</span><br /><br />False memory refers to altered or distorted memories which are experienced by the subject as accurate. Okado and Stark describe a number of forms false memories take: "changes in the context of a memory," for example (in which the source of a memory is inaccurately attributed, so that a subject may report that he or she personally experienced an event rather than having seen it on television, heard about it from a friend, or dreamed it), or "changes in the content of a memory," in which details in the memory (such as the season or year in which an event took place, what someone was wearing, et cetera) are confused.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />How were false memories created in this study?</span><br /><br />Okado and Stark describe an experiment in which subjects were twice shown eight vignettes: first in an Original Event phase, and secondly in a Misinformation phase. In the Misinformation phase, the vignettes contained changes made to 12 "critical items." In order to further clarify subjects' experiences of memory, a "source memory test" was administered which asked the subjects to attribute their memory to a specific source.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What did the fMRIs show?</span><br /><br />I quote from Okado & Stark to ensure that I don't misrepresent their findings:<br /><br />"During encoding of the Original Event, there was significantly more activity when participants subsequently remembered the item shown in this phase (a true memory), compared with when participants subsequently did not remember the item. That is, there was more encoding activity when an item was later remembered compared with when it was forgotten (or another item was remembered instead). During the Misinformation phase, this same Dm effect was observed. There was more activity for subsequent false memories than for subsequent true memories. This difference in activity was significant in the left hippocampus tail, but not in the left perirhinal cortex. Again, there was more encoding activity for items subsequently remembered (Misinformation items) compared with items subsequently not remembered (Original Event items).<br /><br />"In the left hippocampus tail, activity for subsequently true memories was greater during the Original Event phase than during the Misinformation phase, and activity for subsequently false memories was significantly greater during the Misinformation phase than during the Original Event phase. In the left perirhinal cortex, the same pattern of results was observed. <span style="font-style: italic;">Thus, the relative activity during the two encoding phases was predictive of which version of the item would later be remembered.</span> " (italics mine)<br /><br />"The traditional Dm effect (greater activity for subsequently remembered items than for forgotten items) was observed in the left hippocampus tail and left perirhinal cortex. When encoding activity was greater during the Original Event phase, the Original Event items (true memories) were subsequently recollected. When encoding activity was greater during the Misinformation phase, the Misinformation items (false memories) were subsequently recollected. Thus, in these two regions, activity was correlated with successful encoding of an item later remembered, whether it was from the Original Event phase or from the Misinformation phase."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What is the significance of these results?</span><br /><br />What is significant about this study is that it allows us to look at the formation of false memories, and shows that activity in specific regions of the brain can be correlated to memory formation regardless of whether the memory is "true" or "false."<br /><br />It can be misleading to talk about "true" or "false" memories in this context, as what is really being addressed in this study is misattribution and confusion (in the literal sense of two experiences being mixed together and thus remembered as one). The "false" memories (as I understand it) were memories which either attributed the Misinformation phase changes in vignettes to the original vignette or registered the Misinformation phase changes in the vignettes as the only version seen. In this sense these are not "false" memories; the subject did, in fact, see these versions of the vignettes-- but the activity levels shown in the fMRIs suggest that they encoded the Original Event vignettes weakly, and the Misinformation vignettes strongly, leading to the errors in memory described.<br /><br />This suggests that memories are in some sense "rewritable." A weakly encoded memory, when confronted by a more strongly encoded memory with an overlapping context, can be altered to reflect the more strongly encoded memory-- without the subject becoming aware of the alteration. It is truly a sub-conscious change.<br /><br />My remaining questions include: what prompts this "rewriting"? How weak or strong must an encoded memory be for it to be susceptible or resistant to this? Is there any distinction between the process of "original" memory formation and memory alteration, or are all our memories essentially shifting, constantly edited narratives?<br /><br />Okado and Stark's paper, "Neural activity during encoding predicts false memories created by misinformation," can be found <a href="http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/12/1/3.full">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2612751775464279475.post-48114414343882100842009-02-23T05:08:00.000-08:002009-02-23T05:09:45.637-08:00This Is Your Brain Under Hypnosis<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/science/22hypno.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=hypnosis&st=cse">The New York Times</a>Aaron Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14984091360796513005noreply@blogger.com6