Brian: a pure python neural simulator
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Brian is a new simulator for spiking neural networks available on almost all platforms. The motivation for this project is that a simulator should not only save the time of processors, but also the time of scientists. Brian is easy to learn and use, highly flexible and easily extensible. (Source: Neurobot)
Source: Neurobot - May 8, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Software Source Type: blogs
Iq
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title Stephen Murdoch Discusses IQdescription Author Stephen Murdoch discusses the history of IQ tests, including abuses, and why it's a surprisingly emotional topic.producer The Commonwealth Club of California and FORA.tvfeaturing Stephen Murdochformat Flash, mp3, mp4date 16/04/08length 00:44:43link http://fora.tv/2008/04/16/Stephen_Murdoch_Discusses_IQ Tags: brain video vodcast IQ intelligence neuroethics cog_sci history psychology law eugenics education tests (Source: Channel N)
Source: Channel N - May 7, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Sandra Kiume Tags: newtag Source Type: blogs
Psychology of intelligence analysis
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(Hat tip: Boing Boing)
The CIA has posted the full text of one of its guidebooks, "Psychology of Intelligence Analysis", published in 1999 by the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence.
Haven't had time to play with it yet, but these quotes sound fascinating:
- "Of the diverse problems that impede accurate intelligence analysis, those inherent in human mental processes are surely among the most important and most difficult to deal with. Intelligence analysis is fundamentally a mental process, but understanding this process is hindered by the lack of conscious awareness of the workings of our own minds....
Source: SharpBrains - May 7, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Peak Performance Professional Development Source Type: blogs
Ubuntu and you (well me really)
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For the last week I've been using Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (aka Hardy Heron) on my laptop almost exclusively. I'm making an effort to try to move all of my computing to Linux (from Windows) over this summer, and my science laptop is my first victim. My computer is an important apparatus for my science, and I've written about some of the programs I use here and here. But migrating to a new environment means finding new ways to do old things, and I thought I'd share my experience so far. This is entirely motivated by the idea that science should be open access, and as such every aspect of the process should be open sourced as well, i...
Source: Somatopsychic - May 7, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: linux apparatus Source Type: blogs
Brain exercise: software vs. crosswords
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Today I had a great conversation with Martin Buschkuehl, one of the U Michigan researchers involved in the cognitive training study that has received much media attention since early last week, when the study was published at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
I will publish the interview notes next week. For the moment, let me paraphrase his answer to the question: "Why are computerized programs like the one you used fundamentally different from, say, simply doing many crossword puzzles?".
His answer was that for 3 reasons:
Adaptive: The constant adaptability of the challenge level, thanks ...
Source: SharpBrains - May 7, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness assessments brain age brain exercise cognitive health crosswords IQ test Martin Buschkuehl Neurosoftware Physical Fitness PNAS smarter stress management technology newtag Source Type: blogs
Award-winning neuroethics
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title Teen Braindescription Neuroethics and the teen brain. The brain continues developing until about age 25. Questions of moral and legal culpability between ages 18-25, when the brain hasn't developed impulse control and good judgement in the PFC, are explored. Is 18 the right age for legal adulthood? Repercussions include a more educational prison that could keep young adults from being housed with hardcore life offenders and becoming the same. In theory. Host Jonica Newby (above right) won a Eureka Prize for Science Journalism for her work on this episode of the science TV programme Catalyst.producer ABC [Australia]fe...
Source: Channel N - May 7, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: S. Kiume Tags: newtag Source Type: blogs
...and now for some egg in a bottle
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The classic experiment in a new venue (Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net)
Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net - May 6, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: query Source Type: blogs
Brain and cognition expert contributors
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As you have probably noticed, a growing number of Expert Contributors are writing in our blog, so that we can collectively discuss the latest research and trends on cognitive and brain health, and the implications of brain research in general for our everyday lives.
If you haven't done so already, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter (above) and our RSS feed (on the right).
Below you have the profiles of some of our Contributors and links to their best articles with us so far. Enjoy!
Dr. Pascale Michelon has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington University in Sain...
Source: SharpBrains - May 6, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Education Health & Wellness altruism Applied Learning attention training brain brain fitness program cognifit cognition Cognitive Neurology cognitive psychology compassion Duke University Haifa Harv Source Type: blogs
The truth about ttx!
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If the Fish Liver Can’t Kill, Is It Really a Delicacy? [NYT, login]
Amazing. It looks like TTX (tetrodotoxin, a potent voltage-gated sodium channel blocker well-known to electrophysiologists) is not made by the pufferfish (which I had always assumed), rather it is from the bacteria/food consumed by the fish.
Decades earlier, another Japanese scientist had identified fugu’s poison as tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin that leaves victims mentally aware while they suffer paralysis and, in the worst cases, die of heart failure or suffocation. There is no known antidote.
Researchers surmised that fugu probably got the toxin by eat...
Source: neurodudes - May 5, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Neville Tags: Genetics and molecular Misc Neuropharmacology Source Type: blogs
What works: dyslexic ceo
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Great little story from CNNmoney.com about how a dyslexic CEO was able to build a successful $36 million business despite struggling to read and write. Highlights: - Hired a writer, drew ideas for business plans- Use crayon and pencil to convey with ideas, meet with top executives to explain ideas to their departments- Phone or personal meetings instead of email- First names and personality or doodle physical traits to remember- Tape record notes, tape record phone calls - Franklin Talking DictionaryFor some middle, high, college, and beyond dyslexics, having a system for improving the efficiency of communication or learni...
Source: Eide Neurolearning Blog - May 5, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: dyslexia gifted dyslexics business Source Type: blogs
Neurotechnology conference in boston this week
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Full agenda is available here. Speakers are mostly a mix of neurotech CEOs and VCs (and Rep. Patrick Kennedy).
I’ve heard that there are no more free passes for students. (sadly) If anyone attends and would be willing to write-up something about the conference, please let me know and I’d be glad to put it on neurodudes. (Source: neurodudes)
Source: neurodudes - May 5, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Neville Tags: Conferences Source Type: blogs
Exercise your brain in the cognitive age
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In the past two days, The New York Times has published two excellent articles on brain and cognitive fitness. Despite appearing in separate sections (technology and editorial), the two have more in common than immediately meets the eye. Both raise key questions that politicians, health policy makers, business leaders, educators and consumers should pay attention to.
1) First, Exercise Your Brain, or Else You’ll ... Uh ..., by Katie Hafner (5/3/08). Some quotes:
- "At the same time, boomers are seizing on a mounting body of evidence that suggests that brains contain more plasticity than previously though...
Source: SharpBrains - May 3, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Peak Performance Professional Development Health & Wellness Brain Fitness Industry Alzheimers disease baby boomers brain fitness consulting brain fitness exercises Cognitive Age cognitive fitness Cognitive functions Cognitive Tra Source Type: blogs
Comment 5 (nature neuroscience turns 10!)
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It's worth reiterating that Nature Neuroscience, along with every other journal on the market, is primarily a publication (and a good publication, I think), not an arbiter of good science.
As a publication, the journal is justifiably celebrating the fact that it has snapped up some high impact papers over its relatively short lifetime, allowing it to compete well in the market for subscriptions. I don't think Nat. Neurosci is suggesting that its papers are particularly "important" in the long run. It is merely the case that they have been widely read, as indicated, albeit imperfectly, by the only easily available statisti...
Source: Action Potential - May 3, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: DSKS Source Type: blogs
Word game: stimulate your temporal lobe
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This article was written by Pascale Michelon, Ph. D., for SharpBrains.com. Copyright 2008. Dr. Michelon has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington University in Saint Louis, in the Psychology Department. She conducted several research projects to understand how the brain makes use of visual information and memorizes facts. She is now an Adjunct Faculty at Washington University, and teaches Memory Workshops in numerous retirement communities in the St Louis area.
No Tags (Source: SharpBrains)
Source: SharpBrains - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Brain teasers Health & Wellness Source Type: blogs
The game brain
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Yep - another fine New York Times interview about neuro gymnastics:Boomers, Exercise Your Brains, or Else You’ll...Uh...By KATIE HAFNERPublished: May 3, 2008"The fear of a decaying brain has inspired a mini-industry of products from dietary supplements to computer games."[ ... Read the full article ... ] (Source: BrainBlog)
Source: BrainBlog - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: neuropsychology neuroscience aging technology neurodegenerative cognition dementia game brain Source Type: blogs
The future of neurotechnology and beyond at cimit next week
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Join me this Tuesday from 4-6 in Boston when I speak at the weekly CIMIT forum at MGH on the The Neurotechnology Industry: 2008 and Beyond. I will explore trends driving the development of next generation drugs, devices and diagnostics for the brain and nervous system including trends in public and private financing, public policy initiatives and technologies. Joining me in the second hour will be Steven Schiff, MD, PhD, Director, Penn State Center for Neural Engineering will be presenting, Towards Model Based Control of Epileptic Seizures. Steven Schachter, MD, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School; Neurotechnolo...
Source: Brain Waves - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Neurotech Industry Source Type: blogs
Neurotech industry conference 2008
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Next week is our 3rd annual Neurotech Industry Investing and Partnering conference. We are hosting it in Boston this year and to our pleasant surprise the event is nearly sold out. There is a fantastic line up of nearly 50 neurotech executives who will be sharing how their drug, device or diagnostic will reshape their marketspace. I'm definitely looking forward the meeting and networking with the other attendees from across commercial neuroscience as well. Hope to see you there. (Source: Brain Waves)
Source: Brain Waves - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Neurotech Industry Source Type: blogs
Trends in neuroscience
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No, not the journal. Real trends, measured, peer-reviewed and published. PloS One has 49 new papers out and one of them investigates all abstracts from the Annual Meetings of the Society for Neuroscience from 2001-2006. Lin et al. findan apparent growth of behavioral/systems neuroscience with a corresponding shrinkage of cellular/molecular neuroscience over the six year periodTo see what they mean, you just have to look at their Fig. 10 (but do take a good lok at the Y-axes!):The left graph shows the development of behavioral/systems neuroscience and the right graph the cellular/molecular trend.Some referees at the German ...
Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: query Source Type: blogs
Interesting police blotter tidbits: paranormal rape
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Delusions are the strangest things...
Once, back in the day, when I was interning in Ted Kennedy's press office we got a call from a woman (this was a pretty usual occurrence) demanding to know why the CIA, et. al. were monitoring her brainwaves. Our quick thinking secretary (a Harvard grad making 16k a year for the privilege of working in the Senate) told her to hold he was going to go check the list. He let her sit for a few minutes, got back on the phone, and told her she wasn't on the list and there must be a mistake. He would have her mind control removed immediately and he was sorry for the mix up. She never did call...
Source: Omni Brain - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Brains and Stuff Source Type: blogs
Brain science podcast #36: art glenberg on embodied cognition
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Source: the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: docartemis Tags: Interviews Neuroscience Podcast Show Notes brain science Art Glenberg brain science podcast cognitive psychology embodied cognition experiemental psychology Ginger Campbell Source Type: blogs
The mysterious memristor
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1 May 2008—Anyone familiar with electronics knows the trinity of fundamental components: the resistor, the capacitor, and the inductor. In 1971, a University of California, Berkeley, engineer predicted that there should be a fourth element: a memory resistor, or memristor. But no one knew how to build one. Now, 37 years later, electronics have finally gotten small enough to reveal the secrets of that fourth element. The memristor, Hewlett-Packard researchers revealed today in the journal Nature, had been hiding in plain sight all along—within the electrical characteristics of certain nanoscale devices. They think the n...
Source: Neurobot - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Stories Source Type: blogs
Is ben stein senile?
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First, Ben Stein is mocking US school kids for their ignorance in history and puts all the blame on the US school system (he may have a point or two there, lol). Then he goes on to make a movie, recently started at theaters in the US, in which he claims that people got problems at universities if they believe in IDiocy. Without going into any details which have been covered at lentgth elsewhere (see also this notable comment), the main statement of the movie is similar to claiming that if your religion tells you that 2+2=3 and you insist on it in math class, you get expelled. I hate to correct a native English speaker, but...
Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: query Source Type: blogs
Bees, salmon and now bats - what's next?
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This may be just some sort of weid coincidence. Or maybe no real conincidence at all, just coinciding in the media. Or maybe this has been going on all the time, only this time the media are picking it up. But I sure haven't heard of three such catastrophes within a year before. Bees, salmon and bat populations show dramatic declines, all within this past year or two. Coincidence? Signs of what is yet to come? Who knows? (Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net)
Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: query Source Type: blogs
Job-interview in tübingen
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I'm basically on my way to another job interview, this time in Tübingen. Before I leave, though, I'll post a few small things I just needed to get off my chest (Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net)
Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: query Source Type: blogs
Neuroplasticity through mind hygiene
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Stephanie West Allen, our lawyer-blogger friend and Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz, a research psychiatrist at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles and a neuroplasticity expert, have written a thought-provoking article for The Complete Lawyer.
See Article: Exercise Mind Hygiene On A Daily Basis. Excerpt:
- "Here’s an example of a Golden Moment of Choice: You have decided that you are going to keep your promise and get home each evening in time to put the kids to bed. When 7 p.m. rolls around, you recognize that you can move in one of two directions: you can keep working or get going. Beca...
Source: SharpBrains - May 2, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Uncategorized Health & Wellness Source Type: blogs
Upcoming event: american pain society, 8-10 may 2008, tampa florida
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The annual meeting of the APS takes place next week in Florida. Visit the conference homepage for details: Link.From the conference homepage:Conference Purpose and Objectives"The 27th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society will offer current information about the diagnosis, treatment, and management of acute pain, chronic cancer and noncancer pain, and recurrent pain. In-depth workshops are planned and are designed to enhance research or clinical skills pertinent to the management of pain; they will feature content appropriate for professionals at several experience levels."Each year the APS Scientific Prog...
Source: BrainBlog - May 1, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: neuropsychology symptom neuroscience conference pain Source Type: blogs
Gruesome japanese anatomical illustrations
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I love antique anatomical drawings of the brain. I even have a couple in my office that I should probably take a picture of to show off to you guys. These illustrations from Japan are particularly interesting. According to Pink Tentacle:
The Kaibo Zonshinzu anatomy scrolls, painted in 1819 by Kyoto-area physician Yasukazu Minagaki (1784-1825), consist of beautifully realistic, if not gruesome, depictions of scientific human dissection.
Unlike European anatomical drawings of the time, which tended to depict the corpse as a living thing devoid of pain (and often in some sort of Greek pose), these realistic illustrations sh...
Source: Omni Brain - May 1, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Brains and Stuff Source Type: blogs
Brain fitness update: use it and improve it
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Here you are have the bi-monthly update with our 10 most Popular blog posts. (Also, remember that you can subscribe to receive our RSS feed, or to our newsletter, at the top of this page, if you want to receive this digest by email).
In this edition of our newsletter we bring a few articles and recent news pieces that shed light on what "Use It or Lose It" means, and why we can start going beyond that to say "Use It and Improve It."
The Neuron, The Brain, and Thinking Smarter
New Neurons: Good News, Bad News: Dr. Bill Klemm, a professor of Neuroscience at Texas A&M University, summarizes the r...
Source: SharpBrains - April 30, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Health & Wellness Brain Fitness Industry Brain Fitness Newsletter attention basketball experiment Bill Klemm Brain health brain health resources Brain Training Cognitive Neuroscience David Rabiner fluid intelligence gorilla exp Source Type: blogs
Brain fitness market: executive summary
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No Tags (Source: SharpBrains)
Source: SharpBrains - April 30, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
New migraine treatment for migraine headaches
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Migraine is a very common medical condition. Migraine headaches are the second most common cause for work absences secondary only to low back pain. Unfortunately migraine is the most prevalent in the working population age group. Fortunately many new migraine treatments have been developed. The newest migraine medication that has been FDA approved is Treximet. Treximet is a combination medication. It has Imitrex with RT technology in combination with naproxen sodium (the active ingredient in Aleve.) Imitrex was the first drug in the class of triptan medications that are migraine treatment specific. Studies have shown that ...
Source: Sarasota Neurology - April 30, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Dr. K Tags: Migraines Source Type: blogs
Nature network journal club: curbing cocaine addiction using gene therapy
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The next installment of the Nature Network Neuroscience group journal club is now live. The paper discusses a potential therapeutic strategy involving the upregulation of the dopamine receptor D2R that may be beneficial in the treatment of cocaine abuse and... (Source: Action Potential)
Source: Action Potential - April 30, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: ngray Tags: Noah Gray Source Type: blogs
Comment 12 (retraction reaction)
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The issue of scientists trying to replicate a study done previously in the same lab and coming up with different results is certainly not uncommon. As a scientist I would admit that things can get somewhat delicate for all parties involved and that there is a large ethical grey zone on how to deal with this. In some cases, there might be “innocent” reasons for a discrepancy, in other cases it could be a sign of something more serious. However, those issues do not apply if somebody finds inconsistencies in a study done by another group. There simply isn’t a science fraternity where everyone is held to code of silence ...
Source: Action Potential - April 30, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Michael Source Type: blogs
Comment 11 (retraction reaction)
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Alex, you have quite a distorted view as to how journals view misconduct. There is no incentive for the journal to ignore the issue of potential misconduct involving one of their publications. On the contrary, most editors are eager to "clean up their own trash" as opposed to having another journal publish a separate paper refuting or dismissing a suspect manuscript.
Journals and editors have little power or ability to police the data provided to them in a submission. Even reviewers usually have to take the authors at their word. However, at the first sign or indication of inconsistency or potential malpractice within a s...
Source: Action Potential - April 30, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Noah Gray Source Type: blogs
Comment 10 (retraction reaction)
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To Linc: I am afraid to say so, but your situation is hopeless. Even journalists are not interested in revealing fraud stories, not to mention insitutions. The Science is no-law territory, it is not covered by normal laws. Example? As you wrote: investigation of scientific crimes (which cost real money) is done by amateurs appointed by organisations where crime was committed and by officials who are partly responsible for this crime in their own insitutions (if we vbelive that director takes responsibility for his institution). In case of bank fraud: can you imagine that police forward accusations to bank and bank appoints...
Source: Action Potential - April 30, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alex Source Type: blogs
Comment 1 (nature neuroscience turns 10!)
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The question is how many of these papers will withstand the test of time, which you do not answer. I see at least two papers among the most cited that definitely describe artifacts. Nevertheless they keep getting cited because the corresponding fields are "soft" and less rigorous than other more advanced fields of neuroscience. (Source: Action Potential)
Source: Action Potential - April 30, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Met. E. Source Type: blogs
Postdoctoral position in cortically-coupled computer vision
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Columbia University, Department of Biomedical Engineering
The Laboratory for Intelligent Imaging and Neural Computing (LIINC) at Columbia University has an immediate opening for one (most probably two) Postdoctoral Fellow(s) to participate in in the "Cortically-coupled Computer Vision (C3Vision)" research program. (Source: Neurobot)
Source: Neurobot - April 29, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Jobs Source Type: blogs
Memory training and fluid intelligence
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Quick update: 2 very interesting news, 2 excellent blog carnivals.
1) Forget Brain Age: Researchers Develop Software That Makes You Smarter (Wired). Thanks Senia!
- "In a limited trial, he and his team were able to make 34 test subjects significantly better at answering IQ test questions after training them on a completely separate memory task"
-"These are intriguing results," Geary said. However, Geary noted that to claim actual increases in fluid intelligence, the subjects would have to show the performance gains over a long-term period --- or even permanently.
-The Michigan researchers are now en...
Source: SharpBrains - April 29, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Alvaro Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Education Brain Fitness Industry brain age Brain Training Buschkuehl Cognitive Training fluid intelligence health Memory Training mental exercise mental performance Nintendo Brain Age Psychology smart bra Source Type: blogs
What's good about a 2.2% funding rate?
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In the latest issue of Nature Genetics, the Editorial is full of praise for the European funding of PostDocs and young faculty.Recognizing this, two of the programs of the European Union's seventh framework for research funding (FP7) address the career needs of researchers rather well.In particular, it lauds the ERC starting grant:The helping hand at the next career hurdle is the wonderful new European Research Council (ERC), mandated to encourage basic research and to fund individual investigators competitively, judged by peer review on the basis of excellence.[...]We commend the ERC for the transparency and efficiency of...
Source: bjoern.brembs.net - a neuroscientist's blog : RSS feed of bjoern.brembs.net - April 29, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: query Source Type: blogs
Multiple tenure track faculty positions in systems and computational biology
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The Albert Einstein College of Medicine, one of the leading medical schools in New York City, is seeking to fill multiple tenure track faculty positions in the newly formed Department of Systems and Computational Biology. Established in April 2008, the major goal of the new department is to advance our understanding of living systems by developing theoretical, computational and experimental approaches to study complex biological systems. (Source: Neurobot)
Source: Neurobot - April 29, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Jobs Source Type: blogs
Postdoc position available: modelling development of retinotopic maps
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A postdoctoral position is being offered under a joint computational/experimental Wellcome Trust Programme Grant awarded to Dr Stephen Eglen (Cambridge) in collaboration with Professor David Willshaw (Edinburgh) and Professors Ian Thompson and Uwe Drescher (Kings College London). The aim of the grant is to evaluate the relative contributions of electrical activity as against molecular guidance cues in the development of ordered nerve connections in the vertebrate visual system. (Source: Neurobot)
Source: Neurobot - April 29, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Jobs Source Type: blogs
Control of mental activities by internal models in the cerebellum
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This article examines the conceptual bases and experimental evidence for this hypothesis. (Source: neurodudes)
Source: neurodudes - April 29, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Stephen Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
A computational neuroanatomy for motor control
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An extremely interesting trend in neuroscience has been to use the language of Control Theory to explain brain function. A recent paper by Shadmehr and Krakauer does a very nice job of summarizing this trend and assembling a comprehensive theory of how the brain controls the body. Using control theory, they put forward a mathematically precise description of their theory. Because their theory uses blocks that are direct analogues of specific brain regions like the basal ganglia, motor cortex, and cerebellum, they can use brain lesion studies to undergird their ideas about these components. From the paper:
The theory explai...
Source: neurodudes - April 29, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Stephen Tags: Cortex Motor systems Robotics Source Type: blogs
Comment 3 (nature neuroscience turns 10!)
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Noah,
Maybe this not the forum to compare commercial products but I had never heard of Scopus before and interestingly enough they tend to come up with 10% more citations per paper, compared to the other product out there. On the other hand, there are lots of spelling mistakes (particular in the name of the authors) that make it hard to find a paper in the first place.
On topic: It would be interesting to find out whether some of those highly cited papers tend to have a large percentage of citations outside their immediate field (not sure how ‘outside’ would best be defined; perhaps by the citing and the cited pape...
Source: Action Potential - April 29, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Michael Source Type: blogs
Virtual neurorobotics
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Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno have an interesting and ambitious set-up for doing research in AI that the describe in a recent paper.
From the paper:
We define virtual neurorobotics as follows: a computer-facilitated behavioral loop wherein a human interacts with a projected robot that meets five criteria: (1) the robot is sufficiently embodied for the human to tentatively accept the robot as a social partner, (2) the loop operates in real time, with no pre-specified parcellation into receptive and responsive time windows, (3) the cognitive control is a neuromorphic brain emulation incorporating realistic ne...
Source: neurodudes - April 28, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Stephen Tags: Neural network models Robotics Source Type: blogs
Postdoctoral position – ventral tegmental area
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Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in the computational and experimental neuroscience laboratory at the University of Arizona (Fellous laboratory, link below). The applicant will lead a project designed to understand the network computations performed within the ventral tegmental area of the rat. The applicant will use a combination of in vivo behaving (tetrodes), in vitro patch clamp and computational modeling techniques. (Source: Neurobot)
Source: Neurobot - April 28, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: Jobs Source Type: blogs
Tms neurorehab
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[Image: illustration by Elena Allen/UC Berkeley]title Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and the Rehabilitation of Spatial Cognitiondescription TMS used to investigate normal neural mechanisms of spatial processing and attention, use for neurorehab of attention dysfunction and spatial cognition, some limitations of TMS, and potential uses of the technology. Nice production, presented in four fifteen-minute streaming segments, or you can download or request a DVD of the complete lecture.producer The Neuro-Cognitive Rehabilitation Research Networkfeaturing Christopher D. Chambers, Ph.D.format Flash, MPEG4 (zipped), free DVDd...
Source: Channel N - April 28, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: S. Kiume Tags: newtag Source Type: blogs
Decision making before awareness...drifting into neurophilosophy
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Researchers have found that before test subjects made a conscious decision about pushing a button, a change had already been seen in brain activity that was able to predict the decision 70% of the time. This is creating a stir in the scientific and scientific-loving Internet community, especially as scientists like NIH scientist Mark Hallett are saying that they doubt that they doubt free will exists as a separate independent force. Whoa. This is how quickly neuroscience can slide into neurophilosophy. But this theory, that free will is an illusion, is centuries old (Free Will at Wikipedia). Certainly this mostly predictiv...
Source: Eide Neurolearning Blog - April 28, 2008 Category: Neurologists Tags: neurophilosophy decision-making fMRI Source Type: blogs
Comment 2 (nature neuroscience turns 10!)
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Hi Met. Could you elaborate on this topic; which papers and which fields are "soft"? (Source: Action Potential)
Source: Action Potential - April 28, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Noah Gray Source Type: blogs
Best way to describe neuron shape?
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Neurons come in many shapes and sizes. Frequently, the shape of a neuron is characteristic to its type. Several theoretical papers have demonstrated that the shape of a neuron can crucially determine its pattern of activity, independently of other factors (Mainen & Sejnowski, 1996, for example). Several resources on the web such as neuromorpho.org and the Cell Centered Database are dedicated to maintaining repositories of different neuronal shapes (also known as morphologies).
Any computer scientist worth their salt, noticing this trend, is tempted to say: if neuronal shape is so important, maybe we ought to have good...
Source: neurodudes - April 27, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: Stephen Tags: Computation within single neurons Neural network models Source Type: blogs
Transcript of györgy buzsáki’s interview is now on-line
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Episode 31 of the Brain Science Podcast was a challenging interview with György Buzsáki about his book Rhythms of the Brain. Thanks to listener Diane Jacobs we now have a transcript available for Episode 31.
Click here for the transcript.
Be sure to visit Diane’s Blog at http://humanantigravitysuit.blogspot.com/. When it comes to reading books about neuroscience, Diane makes me feel like a slacker. (Source: the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell)
Source: the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell - April 27, 2008 Category: Neurologists Authors: docartemis Tags: Neuroscience Other links announcements brain science brain science podcast Diane Jabobs Gyorgy Buzsaki podcast transcripts Source Type: blogs
