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Category: neuroplasticity

Neurofeedback as a tool to modulate cognition and behavior

Neurofeedback as a tool to modulate cognition and behavior

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Article here from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2017, 11:51.  The abstract (note my italicized highlighting): “Neurofeedback is attracting renewed interest as a method to self-regulate one’s own brain activity to directly alter the underlying neural mechanisms of cognition and behavior. It not only promises new avenues as a method for cognitive enhancement in healthy subjects, but also as a therapeutic tool. In the current article, we present a review tutorial discussing key aspects relevant to the development of electroencephalography (EEG)…

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Book discussion event on embodied cognition

Book discussion event on embodied cognition

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Our discussions all, to some extent, relate to cognition. An important area of inquiry concerns whether some form of physical embodiment is required for a brain to support cognition in general and the self-aware sort of cognition we humans possess. THE BOOK Philosophy In The Flesh: The Embodied Mind And Its Challenge To Western Thought, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. Please note, while the title includes “Philosophy,” we are not a philosophy group and the book and discussion will…

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Free Frontier e-books July 2018

Free Frontier e-books July 2018

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Here‘s the link to their lineup of new free e-books. Maybe we could even use one of them for a book discussion? I’m inclined toward the one titled Insight and Intuition: Two Sides of the Same Coin? Their blurb for the latter: In the field of intuition it is widely accepted that problem solving proceeds in a more or less graded fashion from problem formulation to problem solution as previously encoded information is activated by clues to coherence. The resulting…

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Homo deus

Homo deus

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Power Valued Over Truth Dear Ed and All, “We are the ones that create human nature by inculcating cooperation and care over selfishness and power.” The view you express, Ed, contesting Harari’s claim in Homo deus, seems to edge up closely to the “pre-modern” standard social science of model of human nature, i.e., that it is almost solely a product of culture, with no or minimal influence of naturally selected genes and very fancy naturally selected epigenetic mechanisms for gene…

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Can children learn to read without explicit instruction from adults?

Can children learn to read without explicit instruction from adults?

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.11.1″ background_color=”rgba(0,42,255,0.39)” next_background_color=”#ffffff”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.11.1″] An experiment in a remote Ethiopian village demonstrates the potential of mobile devices to enable children to learn and teach each other how to read without traditional schooling. [/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https://tnp_encoded_videos.s3.amazonaws.com/web_videos/121006_TNP_BREAZEAL_720_9100.mp4″ _builder_version=”3.11.1″] [/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.11.1″] See also: How Reading Rewires Your Brain for Empathy [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.11.1″ prev_background_color=”rgba(0,42,255,0.39)”][/et_pb_section]

The evolutionary and present significance of reading

The evolutionary and present significance of reading

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In her new book, Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, author Maryanne Wolf explores how reading affects the brain and mind. What different effects result from consuming digital media rather than print media and long forms rather than tweets, posts, and other microcontent? In her excellent recent article, she says, Will new readers develop the more time-demanding cognitive processes nurtured by print-based mediums as they absorb and acquire new cognitive capacities emphasized by digital media? For example, will…

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Newly discovered form of interneural communication

Newly discovered form of interneural communication

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Two independent teams of scientists from the University of Utah and the University of Massachusetts Medical School have discovered that a gene crucial for learning, called Arc, can send its genetic material from one neuron to another by employing a strategy commonly used by viruses. The studies, both published in Cell, unveil a new way that nervous system cells interact. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/memory-gene-goes-viral

Algorithm brings whole-brain simulation within reach

Algorithm brings whole-brain simulation within reach

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An improvement to the Neural Simulation Tool (NEST) algorithm, the primary tool of the Human Brain Project, expanded the scope of brain neural data management (for simulations) from the current 1% of discrete neurons (about the number in the cerebellum) to 10%. The NEST algorithm can scale to store 100% of BCI-derived or simulated neural data within near-term reach as supercomputing capacity increases. The algorithm achieves its massive efficiency boost by eliminating the need to explicitly store as much data…

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Next discussion meeting Apr 2: Brain-Computer Interface, now and future

Next discussion meeting Apr 2: Brain-Computer Interface, now and future

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During our next discussion meeting, we’ll explore the status, future potential, and human implications of neuroprostheses–particularly brain-computer interfaces. If you are local to Albuquerque, check our Meetup announcement to join or RSVP. The announcement text follows. Focal questions What are neuroprostheses? How are they used now and what may the future hold for technology-enhanced sensation, motor control, communications, cognition, and other human processes? Resources (please review before the meeting) Primary resources • New Brain-Computer Interface Technology (video, 18 m) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgFzmE2fGXA • Imagining…

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