Welcome to the 70th edition of Encephalon, the blog carnival that offers some of the best neuroscience and psychology blog posts every other week.
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Mysteries of Brain and Mind
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Cognitive Daily,
by Dave Munger
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Guys on dates want to know: Is it really impossible to ignore an attractive face?
Recent research seems to demonstrate that, indeed, attractive faces can distract us from a variety of tasks. Dating Tip of the Week: what about impressing your date with a homecooked dinner next time and avoid potential misunderstandings? |
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Neuroanthropology,
by Greg Downey
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BIG NEWS: First Neuroanthropology Conference!
The first Neuroanthropology Conference will be held 8 October 2009 at the University of Notre Dame. Great theme, great speakers. Will it offer a cross-cultural analysis of the research mentioned above? |
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On Neurons, Journeys, and Chemical Friends
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BrainHealthHacks,
by Ward Plunet
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The power of one - neuron
We have all been told about the power one person, that one person can make a difference. Well, does the general principle also hold true about a single neuron? Can a single neuron make a difference - change your sleep state, motor movement, or induce a behavior? |
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Neurophilosopher,
by Mo
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New cells in the adult brain migrate long distances by crawling along blood vessels
The journey undertaken by newly generated neurons in the adult brain is like the cellular equivalent of the arduous upstream migration of salmon returning to the rivers in which they were hatched. |
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Neurotopia,
by Scicurious
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The elegant logic of dopamine
What do we know about the formation of dopamine neurons and the regulation of gene expression?. A simple and elegant recent study provides some much-needed, critical information that could drastically affect how we pursue new therapies dopaminergic diseases such as Parkinson's. |
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Brain Stimulant,
by Mike
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Brain Synapse Computational Capacity
Evolution has exploited multiple avenues to increase the brain's computational capacity. This is great news for all humans, except perhaps for those trying to model the mind exactly by building computer brain simulations, since they will likely have to model all of these protein interactions to function in a manner similar to a real brain. |
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On Brain Functions
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SharpBrains,
by Tracy Alloway
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10% Students may have working memory problems: Why does it matter?
In screening of over 3000 school-aged students in mainstream schools, 1 in 10 was identified as having working memory difficulties. Why does this matter? Clue: Working memory seems to be even more important to learning than other cognitive skills such as IQ. |
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Neurotopia,
by Scicurious
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Cake or Death? It's all a matter of self-control, and your vmPFC
A recent MRI study helps pinpoint where signals for self-control may originate, and could be a big deal clinically. Not necessarily as a diet aid, but rather for problems where there's a lack of self-control, as in addiction. |
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The Mouse Trap,
by Sandy Gautam
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Low Latent Inhibition, high faith in intuition and psychosis/creativity
What is the relationship between low latent inhibition (brain's capacity to screen from current attentional focus stimuli previously tagged as irrelevant), high faith in intuition and psychosis/creativity? |
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Frontiers in Perception
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Dr. Deb,
by Deb Serani
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Can You Find The Twelve Faces?
How many faces can you see in this image? |
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Mind Hacks,
by Vaughan Bell
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Deeper into the neuroscience of hypnosis
A new article from Trends in Cognitive Sciences explores how cognitive neuroscientists are becoming increasingly interested in understanding hypnosis and are using it to simulate unusual states of consciousness in the lab. Might hypnosis help you see the Twelve Faces above? or perhaps 25 of them? |
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Next edition will be hosted by Neuroanthropology on Monday, May 25th. If you can't wait until to read more, you may be interested in the new in-depth feature, Cognitive Monthly, offered by Cognitive Daily blog for $2/ month. This month's issue, "The Illusion of Theater," discusses the "remarkable science behind what theatrical professionals seem, to laypeople, to do intuitively: create an environment that encourages us to believe that what we see on stage is a true representation of reality."
My apologies for not writing in a few days...the Global Agenda Summit in Dubai has required all my attention - I will summarize the great experience when I land back in San Francisco tomorrow night.
The concepts of night and day do become challenging when working for a few days in a place with a 12-hour time difference with one's home base. Sleep is indeed very important to maintain top cognitive shape...which leads me to a fascinating news announcement:
Health insurance firms offering online cognitive therapy for insomnia (Los Angeles Times)
- "helping consumers get a good night's sleep has become a priority for most of the top-tier U.S. health insurance companies, including WellPoint, Aetna, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente and several Blue Cross plans. Their new programs don't involve sleeping pills. Instead, insurers are advocating the use of cognitive behavior therapy. Traditionally, the therapy has been done largely through face-to-face sessions, but many of the programs are now available online."
- "And use of sleeping pills has skyrocketed. A study this year Continue Reading »
Very interesting new market development:
עסקה חדשה בקנדה לסטארט-אפ הישראלי אייס; עשוי לרשום הכנסות של עשרות ...
The Marker, Israel - Oct 28, 2008
מנתונים שפירסמה באחרונה חברת המחקר SharpBrains, עולה כי שוק התוכנות לאימון המוח הכפיל עצמו בתוך פחות משנתיים. ההצלחה הבולטת בתחום היא של חברת נינטנדו ...
In other words, Applied Cognitive Engineering (ACE) and USA Hockey have partnered to bring to market a cognitive simulation game to improve the performance of ice hockey players - similar to what ACE has been offering to professional and amateur basketball players.
ACE has raised $2.5M, and ACE and USA Hockey have received a joint $800k development grant from the BIRD Foundation for the co-development of a training system for Ice Hockey players. (The article mentions SharpBrains' Market Report as a sign of how the market is growing, since we cover ACE).
For more context on cognitive simulations, you will enjoy this Interview with Prof. Daniel Gopher:
Alvaro Fernandez: Tell us a bit about your overall research interests.
Daniel Gopher: My main interest has been how to expand the limits of human attention, information processing and response capabilities which are critical in complex, real-time decision-making, high-demand tasks such as flying a military jet or playing professional basketball. Using a tennis analogy, my goal has been, and is, how to help develop many “Wimbledon”-like champions. Each with their own styles, but performing to their maximum capacity to succeed in their environments.
What research over the last 15-20 years has shown is that cognition, or what we call thinking and performance, is really a set of skills that we can train systematically. And Continue Reading »
There were a few interesting research papers presented at the last American Psychological Association conventions around the theme:
Playing Video Games Offers Learning Across Life Span, Say Studies
-- Skills Transfer to Classroom, Surgical Procedures, Scientific Thinking (press release).
Probably the most interesting study was that of 303 laparoscopic surgeons, which "showed that surgeons who played video games requiring spatial skills and hand dexterity and then performed a drill testing these skills were significantly faster at their first attempt and across all 10 trials than the surgeons who did not the play video games first."
The note goes further to explain the implications from this research:
"The big picture is that there are several dimensions on which games have effects, including the amount they are played, the content of each game, what you have to pay attention to on the screen, and how you control the motions," said Gentile. "This means that games are not "good' or bad,' but are powerful educational tools and have many effects we might not have expected they could."
Very thoughtful quote. Please note a few elements about Continue Reading »
The article Clumsy kids more likely to become obese adults: study (CBC)...
- "The study was based on tests of about 11,000 people in Britain who were tested for hand control, co-ordination and clumsiness at age seven and 11, and were then followed until age 33."
- "Prof. Scott Montgomery of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and his colleagues at Imperial College London in England said they purposely chose measurements of fine hand control such as picking up matches, rather than those likely to be influenced by participating in sports, such as catching balls."
- "While it is often assumed that the cognitive impairments seen in adult obesity are a consequence of excess weight, that could be putting the chicken before the egg, the researchers say"
...reminds me of Judith Beck's words on how to "Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person"
- "The main message of cognitive therapy overall, and its application in the diet world, is straight-forward: problems losing weight are not one’s fault. Problems simply reflect lack of skills--skills that can be acquired and mastered through practice. Continue Reading »
Welcome to the 30th edition of Medicine 2.0, the blog carnival devoted to articles that analyze the current and potential impact of web 2.0 technologies on medicine and healthcare.
"Medicine 2.0" 101
The first question is, of course, "What exactly is Medicine 2.0?". The second, "Who cares?". The third, "Why?"
Anthropologists are here to help. Who better to help understand emerging artifacts of
the health and medical tribe, as evidenced by the fantastic lecture An Anthropological Introduction To Youtube given to the Library of Congress by Professor Michael Wesch. As Open Thinking suggests, the video which is 55 minutes long provides an "excellent backgrounder on social media, user-generated content, and online communities through the lens of anthropology."
If you are more the PowerPoint type, you can access the great slide presentation and list of websites provided by eHealth: see Web 2.0 in Clinical Research.
The Future of Medicine and Health 2.0
Admittedly, the Medicine 2.0 field is still small and emerging. But, how will it grow? What new healthcare outcomes will it enable and support? What may be the trade-offs to consider, if any? Continue Reading »
Here you are have the twice-a-month newsletter with our 10 most popular blog posts. Please 
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Our first Brain Training/ Fitness Webinar Series was a success with several hundred participants and great feedback. If you could not participate, you can still review the presentation slides by clicking Here. A key message from the series: it is exciting that our brains remain more flexible, at all ages, than was once thought possible. The implications? Every single owner of a brain can benefit from learning more about how to maintain the "It" in "Use It or Lose It." And which tools, if any, can be helpful. But, remember, there are no magic pills for cognitive health and performance.
Market News
National Neurotechnology Initiative: Neurotech leaders ask for help to support a pending bill on funding for applications of brain research.
Lumos Labs raises $3 m in venture capital: This website provides a stimulating Continue Reading »
As noted in our Market Report, we expect the field of cognitive training (or "brain fitness") software to grow in a variety of education and health-related areas over the next years. One of the most promising areas in our view: helping children and adults with attention deficits improve brain function to reduce ADHD symptoms.
I am glad to present this in-depth discussion on the results of two recent high-quality scientific studies. Let me start with Dr. Rabiner's conclusion:
"Results from these two cognitive training studies highlight that cognitive training interventions may provide an important complement to traditional medication treatment and behavior therapy. Both studies included appropriate control groups, employed random assignment, and had outcome measures provided by individuals who were "blind" to which condition children were assigned to. They are thus well-designed studies from which scientifically sound conclusions can be drawn. They add to the growing research base that intensive practice and training focused of key cognitive skills can have positive effects that extend beyond the training situation itself."
Without futher ado...enjoy the article!
- Alvaro
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Two New Cognitive Training Studies for ADHD Yield Promising Findings
-- By Dr. David Rabiner
Although medication treatment is effective for many children with ADHD, there remains an important need to explore and develop interventions that can complement or even substitute for medication. This is true for a variety of reasons including:
Continue Reading »
A few quick updates: 
1) Yesterday we had a fun webinar with John Medina, author of Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.
You may enjoy checking out the slides we discussed.
2) Please remember that there is another webinar coming, next Tuesday. I hope you can join us!
Webinar: In “The Science and Practice of Brain Fitness,” I will provide an overview of the Brain 101, latest research findings and implications for how to improve brain health and performance based on my class at UC-Berkeley Lifelong Learning Institute and speaking engagements.
- Target audience: Anyone who wants to learn more about brain health and performance. This is designed to be not a technical session, but a fun, stimulating hour.
- Date and time: Tuesday June 10th, 2pm EDT/ 11am PDT
Register: Here
Continue Reading »
universities including the University of California, San Diego. He co-founded the 
(Jossey-Bass, 2006), is highly recommended for educators and parents alike. He wrote this 