Figuring out how the brain decides between two options is difficult. This is especially true for the human brain, whose activity is typically accessible only via the small and occasionally distorted window provided by new imaging technologies (such as functional MRI (fMRI)). In contrast, it is typically more accurate to observe monkey brains since the …
Continue reading “Cingulate Cortex and the Evolution of Human Uniqueness”
I recently watched this talk (below) by Joaquin Fuster. His theories provide a good integration of cortical functions and distributed processing in working and long-term memory. He also has some cool videos of likely network interactions across cortex (in real time) in his talk. Here is a diagram of Dr. Fuster’s view of cortical hierarchies: …
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a method for safely measuring brain activity, has been around for about 15 years. Within the last 10 of those years a revolutionary, if mysterious, method has been developing using the technology. This method, resting state functional connectivity (rs-fcMRI), has recently gained popularity for its putative ability to measure how …
Continue reading “Measuring Innate Functional Brain Connectivity”
In 1992 Rizzolatti and his colleagues found a special kind of neuron in the premotor cortex of monkeys (Di Pellegrino et al., 1992). These neurons, which respond to perceiving an action whether it’s performed by the observed monkey or a different monkey (or person) it’s watching, are called mirror neurons Many neuroscientists, such as V. …
Topic 3: Spatial Knowledge Animal studies have shown that the hippocampus contains special cells called “place cells”. These place cells are interesting because their activity seems to indicate not what the animal sees, but rather where the animal is in space as it runs around in a box or in a maze. (See the four …
23) Motor cortex is organized by movement direction (Schwartz & Georgopoulos – 1986, Schwartz – 2001) Penfield had shown that motor cortex is organized in a somatotopic map. However, it was unclear how individual neurons are organized. What does each neuron’s activity represent? The final location of a movement, or the direction of that movement? …
Continue reading “History’s Top Brain Computation Insights: Day 23”
Most neuroscientists don't use human subjects, and many tend to forget this important point: All neuroscience with non-human subjects is theoretical. If the brain of a mouse is understood in exquisite detail, it is only relevant (outside veterinary medicine) in so far as it is relevant to human brains. Similarly, if a computational model can …
Most researchers in neuroscience use animal models. Though most neuroscientists are interested in understanding the human brain, they can use more invasive techniques with animal brains. In exchange for these invasive abilities they must assume that other animals are similar enough to humans that they can actually learn something about humans in the process. Functional …
Continue reading “Eliminating Common Misconceptions About fMRI”
