MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'cognitive science'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:08:26 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096345&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F02%2Fthe-critical-thinking-coach-interview-with-stephen-haggerty-part-2%2F This is part 2 of an interview with Stephen Haggerty (read part 1 here), a Critical Thinking Teacher of the Year award winner at Eastern Kentucky University. Does one need to be highly intelligent to be a good critical thinker? Highly intelligent…what does that mean?  Does that term imply book intelligence? Street smarts?  I would argue anyone could engage in higher-level thinking if they are trained in the terminology and how to apply it. It takes a lot of practice to be a critical and creative thinker who communicates effectively, but I do believe if one is dedicated to being more successful in life, then they can learn to apply the principles of critical and creative thinking through effective communication. It seems some critical thinking advocates view critical thinking as nothin... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096345 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:10:16 +0100 5096345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968694&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36506&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainSciencePodcastBlog%2F%7E3%2FXjSCPI9gHS0%2Fwhy-neuroscience-matters.html On May 11, 2011 Ginger Campbell, MD gave a talk entitled "Why Neuroscience Matters" at the London Skeptics in the Pub. Episode 42 of Books and Ideas is an edited version of that talk, including the lively Q and A with the audience. Listen to Episode 42 of Books and Ideas Free Episode Transcript (Download PDF)     Subscribe to Books and Ideas Podcast:   References  Bayes, A., Grant, S., et al. "Characterization of the proteome, diseases and evolution of the human postsynaptic density." Nature Neuroscience 14, 19–21 (2011) (Published online 12/23/2010). Libet, B. "Do We Have Free Will?" Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6. No. 8-9, 1999, pp. 47-57. On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not (2008) by Robert Burton; p 127. Philosophy in t... the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968694 Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:00:30 +0100 4968694 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968582&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F23%2Ffrustrated-by-devices-read-the-manual%2F Handsome, well-made tools are a joy to use; confusing devices are a drain. So often, I find, things once easy to operate — TVs, irons, dishwashers, alarm clocks, washing machines — are now humiliatingly challenging. Cognitive-science professor Donald Norman points out that when we expect a device — like a toaster or video camera — will be fairly simple to operate, and it’s not, we assume we’re at fault, instead of holding the object responsible. One Sunday afternoon, when I was frantically trying to synchronize the data on my laptop with my desktop, I kept getting strange error messages. In desperation, I asked my husband to take a look. “Oh. Our internet service isn’t working,” he announced after fifteen seconds on the computer. I’d assumed I was doing ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968582 Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:22:03 +0100 4968582 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4848003&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F20%2Fmyths-about-rationality%2F Rationality has been a popular topic of discussion for many years.  There is a huge body of literature, popular and scholarly, that addresses rational thinking skills.  It seems as if everyone has an opinion on rationality.  Rationality is often misunderstood, and the word loses its importance when it is defined in terms so broad or ambiguous that it can mean virtually anything.  This confusion has contributed to myths concerning rationality. In a recent interview I asked cognitive scientist Keith Stanovich: What are the two most common myths about rationality? I am aware there are more than a few, but if you were limited to discussing two, what would they be and how do we combat these erroneous thoughts? Here is Dr. Stanovich’s answer: I discuss many of these in all my books, ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4848003 Fri, 20 May 2011 16:33:15 +0100 4848003 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636555&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36506&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainSciencePodcastBlog%2F%7E3%2F2MrgmzutFLQ%2Fembodied-cognition-with-lawrence-shapiro-bsp-73.html Discussion) Brooks, R. (1991) "New Approaches to Robotics," Science 253: 1227-32. Brooks, R. (1991) "Intelligence without Representation," Artificial Intelligence 47: 139-59. Clark, A. and Chalmer, D. (1998) "The Extended Mind." Analysis 58: 7-19. Glenberg, A. and Kaschak, M. (2002) "Grounding Lanquage in Action," Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 9: 558-65. Ehrlich, S., Levine, S., and Golden-Meadows, S. (2006) "The Importance of Gesture in Children's Spatial Reasoning," Developmental Psychology 42: 1259-68. Thelan, E. and Smith,L. (1994) A Dynamical Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action (Cambridge: MIT Press) See Episode Transcript for additional references.  Subscribe to the Brain Science Podcast: Annoucements:   Join the discussion of this episode in... the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636555 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:00:06 +0100 4636555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4470451&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2F12%2Fare-we-rational-animals-part-2%2F This is the second in a two-part discussion about human rationality. Click to read Part 1, Are We Rational Animals?. Intelligence as a predictor of rationality Some may be surprised to learn that high levels of intelligence do not necessarily indicate high levels of rationality.  In fact, some people may rank high in intelligence while low in rationality.  There is more to sound thinking than intelligence. Below is a list of rational thinking tasks and their association with cognitive ability/intelligence from Stanovich (2010, p.221). Tasks that fail to show associations with cognitive ability Noncausal base-rate usage (Stanovich & West, 1998c, 1999, 2008) Conjunction fallacy between subjects (Stanovich & West, 2008) Framing between subjects (Stanovich & West, 2008) Anchori... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4470451 Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:44:23 +0100 4470451 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4450332&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2F08%2Fim-a-skeptic-not-a-cynic%2F “Jamie why are you so skeptical?” “Why do you have such a negative view of the world?” “You are so cynical.” I hear comments and questions such as these on a regular basis.  My answers to these questions: It is not a bad thing to be skeptical. I am not cynical (at least not most of the time). What is a skeptic? Some people believe that skepticism is the rejection of new ideas. Often people confuse “skeptic” with “cynic.” Skeptic is derived from the Greek skeptikos, which means, “inquiring” or “to look around.” The skeptic requires evidence before claims are accepted as fact (fact, not in layman terms, but fact as tentative). It is important to consider who’s making the claim, but no matter who it may be, evidence is required. The person�... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4450332 Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:36:45 +0100 4450332 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4419283&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2011%2F01%2F31%2Fcognitive-atlas%2F , a machine-readable ontology and semantic database of assertions about cognitive studies, with bibliographic links and brain area localization. (Source: neurodudes) neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4419283 Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:52:06 +0100 4419283 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4338023&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F01%2F12%2Fcritical-thinking-what-is-true-and-what-to-do%2F Many researchers suggest that a key characteristic of critical thinking is the ability to recognize one’s own fallibility when evaluating and generating evidence — recognizing the danger of weighing evidence according to one’s own beliefs.  The expanding literature on informal reasoning emphasizes the importance of detaching one’s own beliefs from the process of argument evaluation (Kuhn, 2007; Stanovich & Stanovich, 2010). The emphasis placed on unbiased reasoning processes has led researchers to highlight the importance of decontextualized reasoning.  For example (Stanovich & Stanovich, 2010, p. 196): Kelley (1990) argues that “the ability to step back from our train of thought . . . . is a virtue because it is the only way to check the results of our thinking... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4338023 Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:24:20 +0100 4338023 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4302190&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2FY4Cf0l5FmIA%2F Think we all have different tastes where beauty is concerned? Well, cognitive psychology shows us that an average face (made from several other faces) is almost always judged as more attractive than its constituent faces… Why? It may be for the simple reason that an average face is closer to the mental idea we have of a prototypical face and thus easier for the brain to process. Want to experience it? Follow this link to the the Face Research Lab and create your own average faces. Enjoy. Happy stimulating New Year to you! (Source: SharpBrains) SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4302190 Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:32:55 +0100 4302190 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4281398&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36506&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainSciencePodcastBlog%2F%7E3%2F7ey3Ju7TBKk%2Fcelebrating-4-years-of-the-brain-science-podcast-bsp-71.html Discussion Forum: Join our Facebook Fan Page: Send me feedback at gincampbell at mac dot com or leave voice mail at 205-202-0663.       (Source: the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell) the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4281398 Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:08:44 +0100 4281398 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4098202&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F10%2F20%2Fhow-pairs-of-humans-combine-uncertain-information%2F Imagine there are two referees who have different opinions about where a ball landed, in particular whether it went over some line. How can they cooperate to make a better decision than either one could individually? We could flip a coin to decide which ref to believe. But this merely gives us a decision performance which is the average of the decision performance of each individual ref. So this is no good. We could figure out which ref is better and then always believe that ref whenever the two refs disagree. But in that case the second ref isn’t contributing anything, so we may as well just have one ref. However, if the two refs have some estimate of their uncertainty, then we can do better. If d1 represents where ref one thinks the ball landed, and d2 represents what ref 2 thinks... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4098202 Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:34:42 +0100 4098202 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4086389&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F10%2F20%2Fhow-pair-of-humans-combine-uncertain-information%2F Imagine there are two referees who have different opinions about where a ball landed, in particular whether it went over some line. How can they cooperate to make a better decision than either one could individually? We could flip a coin to decide which ref to believe. But this merely gives us a decision performance which is the average of the decision performance of each individual ref. So this is no good. We could figure out which ref is better and then always believe that ref whenever the two refs disagree. But in that case the second ref isn’t contributing anything, so we may as well just have one ref. However, if the two refs have some estimate of their uncertainty, then we can do better. If d1 represents where ref one thinks the ball landed, and d2 represents what ref 2 thinks... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4086389 Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:34:42 +0100 4086389 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4003005&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F09%2F26%2Fwhy-tononi-is-wrong%2F In a recent NY Times article, Tononi chooses to propose a rather sketchily-described “Shannon informational” model to supplant a gamma synchrony model partly on these grounds; “Dr. Tononi sees serious problems in these models. When people lose consciousness from epileptic seizures, for instance, their brain waves become more synchronized. If synchronization were the key to consciousness, you would expect the seizures to make people hyperconscious instead of unconscious, he said. “ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/science/21consciousness.html?_r=1 Jouny et al (2010) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19910249 surely should have suggested that this is premature closure, with an INCREASE in signal complexity – that is, decline in synchrony – associated with seizure Our study of... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4003005 Mon, 27 Sep 2010 03:40:23 +0100 4003005 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3946585&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F09%2F06%2Fnyt-article-on-study-habits-research%2F http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html Basically, all of the following improve recall: spacing out study time over a longer period of time alternating between multiple topics in one study session studying the same thing in different locations taking a test In summary, recalling and using knowledge in a variety of contexts helps you remember it. (Source: neurodudes) neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3946585 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:26:49 +0100 3946585 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3938419&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F09%2F06%2Fnyt-article-on-study-habits-research%2F http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html Basically, all of the following improve recall: spacing out study time over a longer period of time alternating between multiple topics in one study session studying the same thing in different locations taking a test In summary, recalling and using knowledge in a variety of contexts helps you remember it. (Source: neurodudes) neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3938419 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:26:49 +0100 3938419 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3933170&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F09%2F03%2Fre-examining-neurosexism%2F My dad brought this interesting book review to my attention: Peeling Away Theories on Gender and the Brain (NYT) In her book Delusions of Gender (which I have not read though am intrigued to do so), cognitive neuroscientist Cordelia Fine places several modern studies of early differences in brain anatomy/function into a long line of sexist explanations for supposed differences in male and female behaviors. The basic argument is that there has been no convincing connection made between any measured structural differences (which she argues might not exist) to behavioral differences. Just another case of correlation (maybe) and not causation. Here’s a description of study that you might already be familiar with and Fine’s take on it: Dr. Baron-Cohen’s lab conducted research on ... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3933170 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:22:47 +0100 3933170 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3569964&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F05%2F16%2Fthe-evolutionary-psychology-of-war%2F Nothing too shocking here for students of evolutionary psychology but it’s always interesting to see real world examples of how our shared behavior. There is a new book by Sebastian Junger called War, in which he recounts how men do not fight for larger ideological goals (eg. “a safer Iraq”, “finding Bin Laden”) but instead they can overcome fears because “they’re more concerned about their brothers than what happens to themselves individually”. Here’s Junger on Good Morning America: After the jump some more from Junger and a nice talk from Robert Sapolsky about similar behaviors in chimps. Another example from soldiers in Afghanistan is the “blood-in, blood-out” ritual for increasing group cohesiveness and testing individ... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3569964 Sun, 16 May 2010 20:29:44 +0100 3569964 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3549447&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F05%2F10%2Fthe-moral-life-of-babies-nytimes%2F The Moral Life of Babies – NYTimes.com. Paul Bloom talks about research on the morality of small children, and ways in which their morality is similar to and different from adults. Concise descriptions of supporting experiments is given throughout. Basically, babies prefer nice people over mean people, but prefer people who punish mean people over people who reward mean people. But babies are not impartial; for example, they give favorable treatment to other babies who are wearing the same tee-shirt as themselves. Also has some content about the cognition of babies in general. Experiments show that, at various young ages, “..babies think of objects largely as adults do, as connected masses that move as units, that are solid and subject to gravity and that move in continuous pat... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3549447 Mon, 10 May 2010 07:13:45 +0100 3549447 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3463759&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.discovermagazine.com%2Fgnxp%2F2010%2F04%2Fmirror-neurons-reemerge%2F A few years ago I was hearing a lot about mirror neurons. There was a hyped up article on The Edge website about them, MIRROR NEURONS and imitation learning as the driving force behind “the great leap forward” in human evolution. But I haven’t heard much since then, though I’m not neuro nerd so perhaps I’m out of the loop. So I pass on this link with interest, Single-Neuron Responses in Humans during Execution and Observation of Actions: Direct recordings in monkeys have demonstrated that neurons in frontal and parietal areas discharge during execution and perception of actions…Because these discharges “reflect” the perceptual aspects of actions of others onto the motor repertoire of the perceiver, these cells have been called mirror neurons. Their o... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3463759 Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:52:41 +0100 3463759 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3378661&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FtfNGj26XUGE%2Fwe_be_symbolic.php The Evolution Of Symbolic Language by Terrence Deacon and Ursula Goodenough. Deacon's The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain is a book I liked a great deal, though in hindsight I don't think I had the background to appreciate it in any depth (nor do I now). Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3378661 Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:25:18 +0100 3378661 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3322508&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2010%2F03%2F02%2Fover-time-distribution-of-shot-lengths-in-movies-has-moved-closer-to-pink-noise%2F The statistics of shot durations in 150 films from 1935 to 2005 were analyzed. From about 1970 to the present, the power spectrum of shot durations in individual films has tended to become more like pink noise (power ~= 1/f). Also, autocorrelation shows that the lengths of nearby shots has become more and more correlated. The authors, Cutting, DeLong, and Nothelfer, speculate that the pink noise bit is being driven by some process that is related to attention, since there are some other results (which they cite) showing the relevance of pink noise to attention. However, IMDB ratings were not positively correlated with the pink-noise-ness of the movie (partial correlation with release date factored out). Incidentally, this guy did his PhD thesis on cognitive science explanations for film e... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3322508 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:12:47 +0100 3322508 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3311866&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FkZ67VSatIWY%2Fanthropology_as_a_dog_side-eff.php Social Cognition in Dogs, or How did Fido get so smart?. This you know: Domesticated dogs seem to have an uncanny ability to understand human communicative gestures. If you point to something the dog zeroes in on the object or location you're pointing to (whether it's a toy, or food, or to get his in-need-of-a-bath butt off your damn bed and back onto his damn bed). Put another way, if your attention is on something, or if your attention is directed to somewhere, dogs seem to be able to turn their attention onto that thing or location as well. Amazingly, dogs seem to be better at this than primates (including our nearest cousins, the chimpanzees) and better than their nearest cousins, wild wolves. But there are two explanations for how/why dogs are better than primates at this task: And ... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3311866 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:36:30 +0100 3311866 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3307019&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FyErWmdwuTQw%2Fface_recognition_is_highly_her.php Human face recognition ability is specific and highly heritable: Compared with notable successes in the genetics of basic sensory transduction, progress on the genetics of higher level perception and cognition has been limited. We propose that investigating specific cognitive abilities with well-defined neural substrates, such as face recognition, may yield additional insights. In a twin study of face recognition, we found that the correlation of scores between monozygotic twins (0.70) was more than double the dizygotic twin correlation (0.29), evidence for a high genetic contribution to face recognition ability. Low correlations between face recognition scores and visual and verbal recognition scores indicate that both face recognition ability itself and its genetic basis are largely attr... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3307019 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:42:44 +0100 3307019 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3291974&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FSom_FZSZb_M%2Fthe_new_york_times_on_amy_bish.php Covers all the major angles. Nice that there's a newspaper which can support this sort of reporting (on the other hand). Not surprising that Amy Bishop seems to have some history of delusions of grandeur, she's claiming that both she and her husband have an I.Q. of 180. That's 5.3 standard deviations above the mean. Assuming a normal distribution that's a 1 in 20 million probability. Of course the tails of the distribution are fatter beyond 2 standard deviations than expectation for I.Q., but at these really high levels (above 160) I'm skeptical that most tests are measuring anything real. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3291974 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:20:45 +0100 3291974 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2879734&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FVPWGugEBuB4%2Fmost_people_are_not_stupid.php More Singularity stuff. I'm Not Saying People Are Stupid, says Eliezer Yudkowsky in response to my summary of his talk. The last line of his post says: "I'm here because I'm crazy," says the patient, "not because I'm stupid." So the issue is craziness, not stupidity in Eliezer's reading. The problem I would say is that stupid people have the "Not Even Crazy" problem. They often can't get beyond their basic cognitive biases because they don't have a good grasp of a rational toolkit, nor are they comfortable and fluent in analysis and abstraction. I can grant that many smart people are wrong or crazy, but at least there's a hope of having them internalize Bayes' rule. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2879734 Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:07:06 +0100 2879734 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2855655&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F10%2F02%2Fgeorge-lakoff-on-the-metaphorical-situation-of-moral-politics%2F From University of California Television: “UC Berkeley professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics George Lakoff explores how successful political debates are framed by using language targeted to people’s values instead of their support for specific government programs in this public lecture sponsored by the Helen Edison Series at UC San Diego.” * * * * * * For a sample of related Situationist posts, see “The Situation of Metaphors,” “Ideology Shaping Situation, or Vice Versa?,” and “Your Brain on Politics.” (Source: The Situationist) The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2855655 Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:01:37 +0100 2855655 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2807739&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F6hiu_s-gcV8%2F Title: The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness - Practical Advice to Keep Your Brain Sharp - Two community-based book talks hosted by New York Public Library and supported by the Einstein Aging Study at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Description: A fit brain? Can you exercise your brain and become mentally fit? Can you continue to learn and increase your brain’s capacity at any age? Alvaro Fernandez, CEO and Co-Founder of SharpBrains, says Yes!, and in this program he will show you how. Based on research compiled from leading scientists in fields of Neuroscience, Gerontology, and Cognitive Science, and presented in his book “The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness”, Alvaro Fernandez will provide ways to maintain and improve your cognitive health. He will: - Debunk 10 Myths of Br... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2807739 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:08:07 +0100 2807739 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2800608&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34994&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnxp.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F09%2Fright-handed-ape.php Via Anthropology.net, The prehistory of handedness: Archaeological data and comparative ethology:Homo sapiens sapiens displays a species wide lateralised hand preference, with 85% of individuals in all populations being right-handed for most manual actions. In contrast, no other great ape species shows such strong and consistent population level biases, indicating that extremes of both direction and strength of manual laterality (i.e., species-wide right-handedness) may have emerged after divergence from the last common ancestor. To reconstruct the hand use patterns of early hominins, laterality is assessed in prehistoric artefacts. Group right side biases are well established from the Neanderthals onward, while patchy evidence from older fossils and artefacts indicates a preponderance of ... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2800608 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:20:00 +0100 2800608 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2626201&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FArkdXksc_GA%2Fbabies_can_understand_meaning.php We know that dogs can read human faces, it turns out that babies can infer the meaning of different dog barks: New research shows babies have a handle on the meaning of different dog barks - despite little or no previous exposure to dogs. Infants just 6 months old can match the sounds of an angry snarl and a friendly yap to photos of dogs displaying threatening and welcoming body language. (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2626201 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:01:22 +0100 2626201 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2598414&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2Fljq6MvgprlY%2Fgood_to_the_bone_adducing_hone.php Randall Parker points me to a new paper from Joshua Greene which describes the neurological responses of individuals when do, or don't, lie, when lying might be in their self-interest. From EurekaAlert: The research was designed to test two theories about the nature of honesty - the "Will" theory, in which honesty results from the active resistance of temptation, and the "Grace" theory in which honesty is a product of lack of temptation. The results of this study suggest that the "Grace" theory is true, because the honest participants did not show any additional neural activity when telling the truth. ... Using fMRI, Greene found that the honest individuals displayed little to no additional brain activity when reporting their prediction of the coin toss. However, the dishonest participants... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2598414 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:14:32 +0100 2598414 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2512352&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FSTDL2od259g%2Fempathy_neurobiology.php Related to yesterday's post,The neural bases of empathic accuracy: Theories of empathy suggest that an accurate understanding of another's emotions should depend on affective, motor, and/or higher cognitive brain regions, but until recently no experimental method has been available to directly test these possibilities. Here, we present a functional imaging paradigm that allowed us to address this issue. We found that empathically accurate, as compared with inaccurate, judgments depended on (i) structures within the human mirror neuron system thought to be involved in shared sensorimotor representations, and (ii) regions implicated in mental state attribution, the superior temporal sulcus and medial prefrontal cortex. These data demostrate that activity in these 2 sets of brain regions trac... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2512352 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:13:53 +0100 2512352 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2452907&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2009%2F06%2F04%2Fgive-it-up-for-science%2F No, not that. Neurodudes reader Deanna Saunders from the Sloman lab at Brown wants survey participants for a brief cognitive psychology survey. I took it and I must say it was kind of fun. She tells me that it’s about the effects of decision making on learning. (I’ve got to say I always appreciate the surveys that give you a little debriefing after the survey explaining some of the stimuli and the intended effects. Sadly, this survey doesn’t seem to have that.) Here it is for those of you with a few extra minutes for science: Click here for the survey. Better than the Colbert bump is the Neurodudes bump! (Source: neurodudes) neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2452907 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:11:25 +0100 2452907 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2452908&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2009%2F06%2F04%2Flongitudinal-study-on-happiness-and-success%2F The Atlantic’s Joshua Shenk has a fascinating story about a long-running study, started in the 1930s (!), that attempts to discern what makes people happy in life. The study has collected extensive data on subjects over a 70 year period. I couldn’t stop reading the article… what an amazing dataset. But, before I say more about that, here is Shenk’s synopsis of a single case file (ie. actual data) from the study: Case No. 158 An attractive, amiable boy from a working-class background, you struck the study staff as happy, stable, and sociable. “My general impression is that this boy will be normal and well-adjusted—rather dynamic and positive,” the psychiatrist reported. After college, you got an advanced degree and began to climb the rungs in your profession. ... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2452908 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:56:14 +0100 2452908 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2295396&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34994&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnxp.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F03%2Fbrain-gene-expression-differences-as.php Transcriptional neoteny in the human brain:In development, timing is of the utmost importance, and the timing of developmental processes often changes as organisms evolve. In human evolution, developmental retardation, or neoteny, has been proposed as a possible mechanism that contributed to the rise of many human-specific features, including an increase in brain size and the emergence of human-specific cognitive traits. We analyzed mRNA expression in the prefrontal cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques to determine whether human-specific neotenic changes are present at the gene expression level. We show that the brain transcriptome is dramatically remodeled during postnatal development and that developmental changes in the human brain are indeed delayed relative to other prim... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2295396 Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:52:00 +0100 2295396 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2112204&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2009%2F01%2F17%2Fsocial-neuroscience-fmri-specious-correlations%2F Nature is reporting on potential flaw in multiple imaging (fMRI) studies of social neuroscience. Ed Vul (a graduate student in my dept) and colleagues have a paper in press that says that many of the high correlations between brain regions and social behavior are implausible, given the inherent variability/noise in fMRI. Furthermore, based on a survey of methods from individual investigators, they created a list of papers that commit, in their view, a statistical mistake (non-independence). Naturally, the authors named in the paper aren’t happy and, according to the Nature article, several rebuttals are in the works. At the very least, to my non-expert eyes, this seems like an important discussion to have about data analysis and methodology. (Source: neurodudes) neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2112204 Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:02:11 +0100 2112204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2079027&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F495728856%2F This article provides is a very good market overview. The reporter and I also discussed in depth the need for better consumer education and professional development, so people can make informed decisions, and for cognitive assessments to serve as independent baseline, help identify priorities and measure results. Please note that our market estimates do include revenues of computerized cognitive assessments, today mostly used in clinical trials, and wthin the military and sports teams. 2) Navigating the brain fitness landscape: do's and don'ts (McKnight's Long Term Care News) Comment: "Choosing the right cognitive fitness product or program for senior living residents is harder than it sounds. But understanding residents' needs, identifying your objectives and considering the total c... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2079027 Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:03:07 +0100 2079027 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2006970&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F473213588%2F Today's news: McDonnell Foundation grant harnesses cognitive science to improve student learning (press release) - "Using what cognitive psychologists are discovering in the laboratory to improve learning in the classroom is the goal of a $6.47 million collaborative activity grant to Washington University from the James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF)." - "The aim of the grant is to take the knowledge that cognitive psychologists have gained about learning and memory from laboratory experimentation and to develop techniques to improve learning in the classrooms," said Henry L. "Roddy" Roediger III, Ph.D., principal investigator on the grant and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences. Comment: this is great news, but it... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2006970 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:30:59 +0100 2006970 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1933484&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F11%2F05%2Fmoral-grammar-and-intuitive-jurisprudence-abstract%2F John Mikhail’s recently posted his forthcoming chapter, “Moral Grammar and Intuitive Jurisprudence: A Formal Model of Unconscious Moral and Legal Knowledge” (forthcoming in The Psychology of Learning and Motiation: Moral Cognition and Decision Making (D. Medin, L. Skitka, C. W. Bauman, D. Bartels, eds., 2009) on SSRN.  Here’s the abstract. * * * Could a computer be programmed to make moral judgments about cases of intentional harm and unreasonable risk that match those judgments people already make intuitively? If the human moral sense is an unconscious computational mechanism of some sort, as many cognitive scientists have suggested, then the answer should be yes. So too if the search for reflective equilibrium is a sound enterprise, since achieving this state of... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1933484 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:01:45 +0100 1933484 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1908829&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34994&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnxp.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F10%2Fsome-people-better-language-learners.php Well, I assume most people probably accept that some people are better than average at learning languages, while others are not as good. But the reasons for this aren't quite clear. PNAS has a paper out on this topic, Brain potentials to native phoneme discrimination reveal the origin of individual differences in learning the sounds of a second language. I find the ScienceDaily summary comprehensible, and one of the researchers says:"Therefore, these results show that there is a positive correlation between specific speech discrimination abilities and the ability to learn a second language, which means that the individual ability to distinguish the specific phonemes of the language, both in the case of the mother tongue and in the case of other languages, is, without a doubt, a decisive fa... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1908829 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:23:00 +0100 1908829 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1889209&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F424916302%2F Michael I. Posner is a prominent scientist in the field of cognitive neuroscience. He is currently an emeritus professor of neuroscience at the University of Oregon (Department of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences). In August 2008, the International Union of Psychological Science made him the first recipient of the Dogan Prize "in recognition of a contribution that represents a major advance in psychology by a scholar or team of scholars of high international reputation." Dr. Posner, many thanks for your time today. I really enjoyed the James Arthur Lecture monograph on Evolution and Development of Self-Regulation that you delivered last year. Could you provide a summary of the research you presented? I would emphasize that we human beings can regulate our ... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1889209 Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:28:03 +0100 1889209 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1841017&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2008%2F09%2F30%2Flog-or-linear-distinct-intuitions-of-the-number-scale%2F Stanislas Dehaene, Véronique Izard, Elizabeth Spelke, and Pierre Pica. Log or linear? Distinct intuitions of the number scale in Western and Amazonian indigene cultures. Science, 320(5880):1217–1220, May 2008. The Mundurucu are an indigenous culture whose language does not contain exact words for numbers above 5. Dehaene, Izard, Spelke, and Pica basically gave subjects an empty horizontal line and then gave them a bunch of numbers and told them to place the numbers where they belong on the line (the line was not entirely empty; the left and right hand sides were labeled with a small number and a big number). Western adults tend to place the numbers linearly, whereas the Mundurucu tend to place them logarithmically. Western children also place them logarithmically, and even Western ... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1841017 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:26:56 +0100 1841017 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1841018&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2008%2F09%2F30%2Fnew-yorker-article-on-number-sense%2F From March. Actually, the topic of the article is Dehaene, but it talks about some studies too. Excerpts after the break, interspersed with hyperlinks to citations that I looked up. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/03/080303fa_fact_holt?currentPage=all …Mr. N, had sustained a brain hemorrhage that left him with an enormous lesion in the rear half of his left hemisphere. He suffered from severe handicaps: his right arm was in a sling; he couldn’t read; and his speech was painfully slow. He had once been married, with two daughters, but was now incapable of leading an independent life and lived with his elderly parents. Dehaene had been invited to see him because his impairments included severe acalculia, a general term for any one of several deficits in number processing.... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1841018 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:06:52 +0100 1841018 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1826755&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F400952839%2F Great article in the New York Times titled Training Young Brains to Behave. A couple of quotes: - "But just as biology shapes behavior, so behavior can accelerate biology. And a small group of educational and cognitive scientists now say that mental exercises of a certain kind can teach children to become more self-possessed at earlier ages, reducing stress levels at home and improving their experience in school. Researchers can test this ability, which they call executive function, and they say it is more strongly associated with school success than I.Q." - “We know that the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until the 20s, and some people will ask, ‘Why are you trying to improve prefrontal abilities when the biological substrate is not there yet?’ ” said Adele Di... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1826755 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:45:26 +0100 1826755 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1535800&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F316524706%2Fsteven_pinker_interview.php Steven Pinker: The evolutionary man. Also check out the GNXP interview with Pinker from 2 years ago. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1535800 Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:45:09 +0100 1535800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1419169&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F05%2F04%2Fthe-situationism-of-the-late-charles-tilly%2F Wikipedia on Charles Tilly: Examining political, social, and technological change in Europe from the Middle Ages to the present, Tilly attempted to explain the the unprecedented success of the nation-state as the dominant polity on Earth. According to his theory, military innovation in pre-modern Europe (especially gunpowder and mass armies) made war extremely expensive. As a result, only states with a sufficient amount of capital and a large population could afford paying for their security and ultimately survive in the hostile environment. Institutions of the modern state (such as taxes) were created to allow war-making. Another focus of Tilly’s work is the area of contentious politics. In opposition to individualistic, dispositional analyses of contentious politics, his work empha... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1419169 Sun, 04 May 2008 04:01:06 +0100 1419169 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1336244&cid=t_100957_109_f&fid=34759&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fmixingmemory%2F%7E3%2F260404107%2Fmoral_psychology_on_blogging_h.php You can see Josh Knobe, of Experimental Philosophy fame, and Paul Bloom, who doesn't have a blog but has one of them professorship things up at some podunk little school in New Haven, CT, talking about research in moral psychology here. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Mixing Memory) Mixing Memory blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1336244 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:07:59 +0100 1336244 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1146439&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F215402931%2Fa_moral_instinct.php Steven Pinker has a new essay in The New York Times Magazine, The Moral Instinct. Chris of Mixing Memory is critical of Pinker when he goes outside of his specialization in the psychology of language...but I did enjoy the ending: Far from debunking morality, then, the science of the moral sense can advance it, by allowing us to see through the illusions that evolution and culture have saddled us with and to focus on goals we can share and defend. As Anton Chekhov wrote, "Man will become better when you show him what he is like." Knowledge is power. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1146439 Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:43:41 +0100 1146439 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1132270&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F212264461%2F Dr. Robert Sylwester is an educator of educators, having received multiple awards during his long career as a master communicator of the implications of brain science research for education and learning. He is the author of several books and many journal articles, and member of our Scientific Advisory Board. His most recent book is The Adolescent Brain: Reaching for Autonomy (Corwin Press, 2007). He is an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Oregon. I am honored to interview him today. Alvaro Fernandez: Let's start with that eternal source of debate. What do we know about the respective roles of genes and our environment in brain development? Robert Sylwester: Genetic and environmental factors both contribute to brain maturation. Genetics probably play a stronger role in... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1132270 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:41:45 +0100 1132270 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=952108&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F10%2F15%2Flevels-of-analysis%2F Salon features an interview today with Steve Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein: Proud atheists: Steven Pinker, Rebecca Goldstein interview | Salon Books After reiterating the physicalist view of the mind, the article ends with this quote from Pinker (reminiscent of Marr’s levels of analysis): […] But just by looking at the brain itself, will you ever be able to understand the creative mind? PINKER: I suspect not. In fact, the reason I’m not a neurobiologist but a cognitive psychologist is that I think looking at brain tissue is often the wrong level of analysis. You have to look at a higher level of organization. For the same reason that a movie critic doesn’t focus a magnifying glass on the little microscopic pits in a DVD, even though a movie is nothing but a patt... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=952108 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:44:16 +0100 952108 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=952146&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F170140597%2Fsteven_pinker_rebecca_goldstei.php Salon has a must read interview of Steven Pinker & Rebecca Goldstein. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=952146 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:16:21 +0100 952146 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=936854&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F167276947%2Ffk_you.php Steven Pinker on why we curse. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=936854 Tue, 09 Oct 2007 06:05:21 +0100 936854 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=914090&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F09%2F29%2Fpostdoctoral-position-in-nonlinear-dynamics-of-memory-and-active-perception%2F POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH in NONLINEAR DYNAMICS of MEMORY and ACTIVE PERCEPTION Biologically Inspired Neural & Dynamical Systems (BINDS) Laboratory University of Massachusetts Amherst The postdoc work will be concentrating on: How memories are modified, what other systems take part of it, how can the system benefit from changing memories? These questions are asked from the functional and computational view, and will be tackled using theories of dynamical systems, knowledge of neurobiology and memory system, mathematical analysis and control. The modeling created will then be transferred into crisp principles and from there to machine learning, detection, and navigation. The successful candidate will have a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Engineering or a rel... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=914090 Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:22:29 +0100 914090 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=865477&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F09%2F11%2Fyour-brain-is-a-cartographer%2F The concept that the brain holds maps of the surface of the body in the primary sensory and motor cortex is a fascinating but well known fact to the field of neuroscience since the early work of Wilder Penfield. What is less broadly appreciated is the concept of “peripersonal space”. A new book by Sandra and Matthew Blakeslee describes peripersonal space in the following way: The maps that encode your physical body are connected directly, immediately, personally to a map of every point in that space and also map out your potential to perform actions in that space. Your self does not end where your flesh ends, but suffuses and blends with the world, including other beings. […] Your brain also faithfully maps the space beyond your body when you enter it using tools. Take h... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=865477 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:06:39 +0100 865477 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=819523&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F08%2F24%2Fcompany-using-in-silico-embodiment-to-build-artificial-intelligence%2F If there’s one lesson to be learned from almost 60 years of AI research its almost certainly to be skeptical of anyone who says they have found THE ANSWER to producing human level intelligence from computers. Even in the face of this, however, I am intrigued by a new company’s approach to developing Artifical General Intelligence (AGI), a term which is meant to indicate Strong AI rather than Weak AI. That’s probably because its founder, Ben Goertzel, manages to skillfully walk the tightrope between staying conservative about how much they realistically accomplish and still managing to inspire hope that their methodology has the potential to get close to AGI. This is best demonstrated in a recent talk that Goertzel gave at Google on his approach to AGI. His company, No... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=819523 Fri, 24 Aug 2007 05:06:25 +0100 819523 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=791322&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F08%2F10%2Fsevere-lifelong-case-of-hydrocephalus-but-iq-of-75-2%2F The man had a normal job and is a married father of two children. Nature news Lionel Feuillet, Henry Dufour and Jean Pelletier. Brain of a white-collar worker. The Lancet, Volume 370, Issue 9583, 21 July 2007-27 July 2007, Page 262. (Source: neurodudes) neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=791322 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 06:46:03 +0100 791322 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=765684&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=34736&url=http%3A%2F%2Fchanneln.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F07%2Fpinkerpalooza.html [Paris Hilton, photo by Daniel C. Dennett]title The Cognitive Nichedescription Via Pinkerfest! at Jaime Diskin's blog. The extensive Freethought Media Steve Pinker multimedia archive includes this lecture on the Cognitive Niche from the Second World Conference on the Future of Science: Evolution (video archives).producer Edgefeaturing Steve Pinkerformat wmvdate 23/09/06length 00: 33:37link http://www.reitstoen.com/pinker.phpdirect video link mms://media.tin.it/users/matrix/sapere/futuroscienza/23092006/adsl/02_eng_23_09_2006.wmvTags: webcast brain psychology evolution cog sci cognitive science (Source: Channel N) Channel N blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=765684 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 03:52:00 +0100 765684 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=716620&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F130868320%2Fvariation_as_the_ultimate.php Many of you have heard of the Ultimatum Game: The ultimatum game is an experimental economics game in which two parties interact anonymously and only once, so reciprocation is not an issue. The first player proposes how to divide a sum of money with the second party. If the second player rejects this division, neither gets anything. If the second accepts, the first gets his demand and the second gets the rest. In theory a "rational" player should accept whatever is offered when there isn't a repeated iteration. Reality is different. From The Economist: ...Those results recorded, Dr Burnham took saliva samples from all the students and compared the testosterone levels assessed from those samples with decisions made in the one-round game. As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Soc... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=716620 Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:54:45 +0100 716620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=713130&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F07%2F03%2Fdecreased-demands-on-acc-and-pfc-reveal-the-benefits-of-forgetting%2F This study provides fMRI evidence that, after forgetting some memories, the brain has to work less hard. Brice A Kuhl, Nicole M Dudukovic, Itamar Kahn and Anthony D Wagner. Decreased demands on cognitive control reveal the neural processing benefits of forgetting. Nature Neuroscience - 10, 908 - 914 (2007) Pop sci article. Subjects memorized some cue-associate word pairs (i.e. a query word, and a response that they are supposed to give when asked that particular query). Each cue had multiple alternative associates (i.e. each query word had several alternative responses). We call alternative associates for the same cue “competing memories”. Then, subjects practiced retrieving only some of the associates for the cues (I’ll call those the “selected associates&#82... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=713130 Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:27:11 +0100 713130 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=547451&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F04%2F16%2Fcognitive-dysfunction-in-young-subjects-who-have-a-gene-for-frontotemporal-dementia%2F This isn’t news but is rather an interesting thing I learned today. There is a family with an inherited form of frontotemporal dementia. In this family, the onset of dementia occurred between 57-63 years of age. A study was done which did psychological tests on members of this family. It was found that young people (younger than 35) who carried the gene for the disorder had measurable frontal-executive dysfunction (whereas controls, young people in the same family who did not carry the gene, did not have dysfunction). Specifically, “Carriers had significantly lower scores than noncarriers on verbal fluency, WCST categories completed, Stroop interference, and the WAIS-R similarities subtest. Performance results on the digit span subtest of the WAIS-R test and Trails B were ... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=547451 Mon, 16 Apr 2007 23:37:00 +0100 547451 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=536990&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35077&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurophilosophy.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F04%2F11%2Falien-abduction-reincarnation-memory-errors%2F We rarely remember things as they actually happened. Rather, as memories are encoded, they are altered in order to be made compatible with our existing knowledge; upon retrieval, memories are reconstructed rather than reproduced. Because the extent to which this reconstruction occurs can vary, some memories are very accurate while others are a mixture of [...] (Source: Neurophilosophy) Neurophilosophy blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=536990 Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:54:17 +0100 536990 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=523147&cid=t_100957_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F106904826%2Fcognitive_neuroscience_god.php You know you've hit the big time when you are on CNN. Kind of like Anna Nicole. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=523147 Thu, 05 Apr 2007 18:38:20 +0100 523147 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=511505&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35077&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurophilosophy.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F03%2F30%2Fhow-the-brain-limits-our-ability-to-multitask%2F Multitasking refers to the simultaneous performance of two or more tasks, switching back and forth between different tasks, or performing a number of different tasks in quick succession. consists of two complementary stages: goal-shifting, in which one decides to divert their attention from one task to another, and rule activation, by which the instructions [...] (Source: Neurophilosophy) Neurophilosophy blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=511505 Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:41:43 +0100 511505 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=490050&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F03%2F21%2Fpfc-lesion-can-make-you-an-ethical-utilitarian%2F A set of 6 subjects with bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) answered ethical questions in a way more consistent with utilitarian ethical philosophy than the control subjects. For example, they would be more willing to kill someone by pushing them off a bridge if that would save 5 other people. This supports the view that social emotions underly ethical judgments. Michael Koenigs, Liane Young, Ralph Adolphs, Daniel Tranel, Fiery Cushman, Marc Hauser and Antonio Damasio.Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgements. Nature. Published online 21 March 2007 Utilitarianism in a nutshell Utilitarianism is an ethical philosophy where, rather than classifying types of actions into good or evil, you look at the consequences of an action in a g... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=490050 Thu, 22 Mar 2007 01:55:51 +0100 490050 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=475521&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=34756&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbrainethics.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F03%2F14%2Fmost-exiting-dscovery-or-theory-of-the-past-ten-years%2F I am a sucker for lists, so please bear with me: In a forthcoming editorial, Shbana Rahman, the editor of the great journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, is celebrating the ten years anniversary of TICS by printing short reflections on what has been the most “exciting discovery or theory of the past ten years” by a number of fat cats in the cognitive neurosciences: John Anderson, Nick Chater, Jon Driver, Jerry Fodor, Marc Hauser, Phil Johnson-Laird, Steven Kosslyn, Jay McClelland, George A. Miller, Lynn Nadel, Steven Pinker, Zenon Pylyshyn, Trevor Robbins, and Vincent Walsh. Naturally, there are as many different answers as people asked: the shift from computational models to probalistic models (Chater), Gergely and Csibra’s experiments on rational imitation in infants (H... BRAINETHICS blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=475521 Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:42:13 +0100 475521 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=471487&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=34756&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbrainethics.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F03%2F14%2Fmost-exiting-dscovery-or-theory-of-the-past-ten-years%2F I am a sucker for lists, so please bear with me: In a forthcoming editorial, Shbana Rahman, the editor of the great journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, is celebrating the ten years anniversary of TICS by printing short reflections on what has been the most “exiting discovery or theory of the past ten years” by a number of fat cats in the cognitive neurosciences: John Anderson, Nick Chater, Jon Driver, Jerry Fodor, Marc Hauser, Phil Johnson-Laird, Steven Kosslyn, Jay McClelland, George A. Miller, Lynn Nadel, Steven Pinker, Zenon Pylyshyn, Trevor Robbins, and Vincent Walsh. Naturally, there are as many different answers as people asked: the shift from computational models to probalistic models (Chater), Gergely and Csibra’s experiments on rational imitation in infants (Ha... BRAINETHICS blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=471487 Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:07:47 +0100 471487 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=486193&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F03%2F05%2Fhawkins-releases-numenta-code%2F Entrepreneur-turned-cognitive neuroscientist Jeff Hawkins is distributing a “research release” of their experimental code base implementing his idea of hierarchical temporal memory described in his book, “On Intelligence”. Hawkins drew inspiration for the model from his own reading about the structure and function of the human neocortex and believes that it represents the foundation for developing intelligent machines. Jeff explains this surprising move to open source the code for the Numenta Platform for Intelligent Computing (NuPIC) on the Numenta web site: Why are we making NuPIC available now? We have been contacted by dozens of researchers and scientists who are excited about HTM and by our work at Numenta. These people are anxious to work on HTM, are willin... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=486193 Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:57:50 +0100 486193 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=486195&cid=t_100957_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2007%2F02%2F24%2Fmore-on-quad-nets-new-brainmind-theory%2F In September, 2006, I described my “new brain/mind theory” here and received some challenging criticism from Eric Thomson and Mike S. (see below). To meet these challenges, I prepared a reduced model discussed in a web page linked to a paper in .pdf form. Since my approach is based on little-known thermodynamics, I have also written about mechanical metaphors that may be helpful in explaining my ideas. “Timing devices” in the new paper are like RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computers) in comparison to Quad Nets that are like CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computers). “Quad Nets” is based on “critical point thermodynamics” and I am confident that they are new. However, “timing devices” may have been explored by others and I will... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=486195 Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:43:25 +0100 486195