For questions about the biology of the nervous system.
4
votes
1answer
175 views
How can motivation be increased by improving brain chemistry with nutrition and activities?
I'm reading some material about motivation and brain chemistry.
One of the interesting articles is "7 Ways to Increase Motivation by Improving your Brain Chemistry". I'm interested in a more ...
15
votes
3answers
4k views
Why would the brain flip the images perceived by your eyes?
The following is a common scientific statement, which you don't have to google long for to find:
The eye views images upside-down in the manner of a camera lens, but
our brains reinterpret this ...
6
votes
1answer
148 views
What is the brain power devoted to vision and haptics?
I heard a talk by Vincent Hayward on the sense of touch as a multi-modal system, where he claimed that the brain power devoted to haptics is at least as big as the one devoted to vision. I have found ...
11
votes
2answers
205 views
How are newly created neurons recruited into existing networks?
As far as I understand, the basics of neurogenesis (abstracted down to the level that makes sense to a computer scientist) is as follows:
Neural progenitor cells differentiate into new neurons that ...
9
votes
1answer
125 views
Is there evidence that STDP is responsible for the ability to infer causation?
Spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) is a property of synapses that modifies their efficacy based on timing relationships between action potentials in the pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neuron. A ...
6
votes
2answers
303 views
In what ways can neurons fire randomly?
When developing a model of a biologically-plausible neural network, it is important to know all the circumstances under which neurons can fire. But, I am limiting this question to random firing. In ...
6
votes
1answer
164 views
How does neural spiking begin in the fetus?
I'm interested in modeling human brain spiking activity. How does the very first spiking activity begin in the fetus?
I imagine all spiking activity is initiated by the senses and internal ...
10
votes
2answers
380 views
Biological plausibility of bayesian models of cognition
Inspired by this question: What are drawbacks to probabilistic models of cognition?
I would like to know more about the biological plausibility of Bayesian models of cognition. Is there any neural ...
8
votes
1answer
124 views
What explains variability in the mean firing rate across biological neurons?
Biological neurons have a trade-off between high information transfer (high firing rate) and energy conservation (low firing rate). One would suspect that the maximization of this function has a ...
8
votes
1answer
91 views
What is the role of traveling waves in circuit formation during cortical development?
Propagating waves of activity have been characterized in various regions of the brain such as the visual cortex (Nauhaus et al., 2012). Recently they have been reported for the first time to occur ...
10
votes
2answers
397 views
What are current neuronal explanations and models of 'consciousness'?
I would like to understand more about consciousness from a neuroscientific perspective. I have a limited understanding of it in the philosophical/psychological sense through lectures.
Although it is ...
3
votes
2answers
238 views
Where is the visual “image” that we “see” finally assembled?
David Hubel's online book, Eye, Brain and Vision describes in great detail our early visual system. The image that we are conscious of when we open our eyes goes through a complex path:
The final ...
8
votes
3answers
306 views
What are the key examples of the use of computational methods in the study of biological neural networks?
In an upcoming postdoc, I'm going to be looking through biological neural network data in the hopes of finding some interesting "patterns". I'm coming at this field from a mathematics/computer ...
7
votes
1answer
87 views
Can processing effort for sub-tasks in neural networks be measured?
I often heard statements like:
80% of your brain processing is computing the effect of gravity
or, similarily:
You only use 20% of your brain power
My question isn't about the truth of ...
5
votes
1answer
113 views
Hebbian Learning Rule, Local or Global?
I just learned about the Hebbian Learning Rule. It essentially says "Neurons that fire together, wire together". I'm wondering if the learning rule is affected by the spatial distance of the two ...
8
votes
1answer
106 views
Computational Model Linking Neural Activity to Behavior
A big question in neuroscience is how neural activity represents knowledge. We can use modelling to explore how different levels of neural activity- subthreshold currents, action potentials, local ...
7
votes
1answer
306 views
What form might Jungian archetypes take in the brain?
Modern psychology and psychiatry are very well grounded in scientific principles. Both, however, have a history in various analytical philosophies. Jung had the notion of an archetype, a universally ...
4
votes
3answers
145 views
Theoretical limit to the use of mental faculty of the brain
A lot of articles stress the importance of having to train the brain (By training the brain, I mean the cognitive faculty of the brain for learning things and not brain's normal functions) since the ...
9
votes
1answer
219 views
How does body temperature and oxygenation affect thinking ability?
I'm interested if the brain works better when the temperature is higher than usual and the amount of oxygen in the air is a bit lower than in fresh mountain air. This has been my personal experience.
...
4
votes
2answers
145 views
Does each sensory neuron type have a characteristic spike sequence pattern?
Background
It is known that all sensory information is input to the brain as neural spike sequences. Now, to distinguish between the spike sequences generated by retinal red/blue/green cone cells ...
7
votes
0answers
32 views
What are some known roles or correlations of glucocorticoid receptor function to behaviour?
The NR3C1 gene encodes for a neuron-specific glucocorticoid receptor (GR), of which methylation levels have been shown to relate to altered maternal care and stress response in rodents (Weaver et al., ...
10
votes
3answers
237 views
What is the term for a psychological effect which does not have a neurobiological/genetic basis?
When a psychological condition is the result of irregular brain structures or neurotransmitter imbalances we say the condition has a neurobiological basis; this is analogous to the classic Nature in ...
9
votes
1answer
82 views
Has an upper-limit on the physical spacing represented by grid cells in Entorhinal cortex been probed?
There is considerable research reporting activity of unit recordings from grid cells in the Entorhinal cortex (e.g. [1]) - typically of rats running around in enclosed spaces.
Is there any ...
1
vote
1answer
139 views
Neural basis of primitive reflexes [closed]
The Wikipedia article on primitive reflexes states that they originate in the CNS. So far, I haven't been able to find precisely where in the CNS any of these reflexes originate. Here's the list of ...
6
votes
2answers
127 views
What does daytime actigraphy reveal about an active and awake brain?
I have interest in the study of human motion (
Actigraphy), and have built a couple of smartphone apps using its principles. The apps look at gross motor activity of an individual. Up until now, most ...
10
votes
1answer
152 views
What is a reliable physiological measure (e.g., serotonin levels) of positive affect?
Is there a reliable physiological measure or correlate to positive affect?
What does research say on this?
I thought that serotonin levels are correlated with self-reported happiness levels, but, ...
13
votes
0answers
321 views
What neural structures motivate humans to decide to “throw it all away”?
In the original formulation of this question, I was trying to understand what motivates "cut and run" behavior in humans. I was defining this anecdotally to include people that have severed ties with ...
7
votes
2answers
221 views
Is an autistic person's brain different from a non-autistic one?
Are there any differences between the autistic person's brain and the non-autistic one?
To be more specific, are there any differences in brain structure or brain activity, that can be used to ...
10
votes
1answer
128 views
What structures in the brain are called upon to strengthen coupling between bilateral movements?
It is very difficult for the normally-coordinated person to be able to pat his/her head and rub his/her stomach at the same time (or pick a similar activity). It seems to be possible to maintain the ...
6
votes
2answers
131 views
Are different types of long term memories stored in different parts of the brain?
I recently had some questions concerning the capacity of the brain's memory:
Are different types of long term-memories like know-how, your-life, etc. remembered in different parts of the brain?
If ...
7
votes
3answers
184 views
Neurotransmitter based imaging techniques
All the brain imaging techniques I know fall into two categories:
Tracking blood
Either by looking at the magnetic (fMRI), or near-infared absorption (diffuse optical imaging, NIRS) properties of ...
1
vote
1answer
140 views
Physiological differences between brains of Conservatives and Liberals
I work for a non-profit research organization and I have been assigned to do research on this topic. I have been doing my best to find studies on this topic but every website and article seems to ...
5
votes
1answer
159 views
Measuring changes in hemispheric dominance over time
I've recently started using my trackball left-handed after being right-handed my whole life. The motivation is partly to balance out wrist strain, and partly to see how much my brain rejects the idea.
...
4
votes
1answer
95 views
What neurobiological changes are associated with the end of the critical period in children?
Developing children are in a critical period during which they are much better at learning certain tasks like speaking a language. After the critical period ends, children have a qualitatively more ...
6
votes
1answer
118 views
Introductory resources on developmental psychology/neuroscience
I'd like to be able to answer questions such as:
What neuro/psychological functions underly competences such as empathy (or others - see background below)?
What neurotransmitters are of particular ...
3
votes
1answer
229 views
How does posture affect cerebral blood flow?
This is a follow-up question to an answer on Quora:
In the upright posture, venous outflow is considerably less pulsatile
(57%) and occurs predominantly through the vertebral plexus, while in
...
4
votes
3answers
129 views
Is there a complete cortico-cortical connectivity map based on a useful partitioning of the cortex?
I have something like Brodmann Areas in mind, but any complete list of cortex regions would do. I'm primarily interested in human brains here. Ultimately I'd like enough information to be able to ...
1
vote
1answer
67 views
Details About How Information Is Stored in the Neural Structure? [closed]
In one of Karl Lashley's 1950 papers, it is pointed out that information is not stored locally in certain area of the brain. Instead, it's stored distributively over the structure of the brain. I'm ...
8
votes
1answer
196 views
What are the major structures of the medial temporal lobe?
Basic question here from a behavioral researcher: What are the major structures of the medial temporal lobe (MTL)? Can anyone link to a good diagram of these structures?
10
votes
2answers
424 views
What can we learn from the neural networks of C.elegans to understand human brains?
Recently I am reading some works about Caenorhabditis Elegans. A C.elegans has 302 neurons and we already know the function and connection of every one of their neurons so that we can exactly ...
7
votes
0answers
275 views
Do expert computer gamers have unusual physiological or mental characteristics? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Any work being done on Perception, Action, and/or Cognition in Video games?
Are there any research studies that show this?
See a thread on Quora for some initial ...
8
votes
2answers
293 views
What do the super-large brains of whales and elephants map to?
Elephants and whales have brains that are much larger than those of humans. It is presumed that much of their brain is used up for their larger bodies (after all, there is a allometric scaling between ...
10
votes
1answer
215 views
Modern replacement for Panksepp's “Affective Neuroscience” book?
Jaak Panksepp's book (Amazon link here) is a phenomenal and highly readable systems-based introduction to not only affective neuroscience, but the neuroscience of motivation in general. The problem ...
13
votes
3answers
603 views
Why does neuroplasticity decrease in adults?
Although adult brains are malleable and even undergo limited neuorgenesis, the extent of the neuroplasticiy is much lower than in children. This is most obvious in language acquisition, and recovery ...
2
votes
0answers
146 views
Are end-stage Alzheimer's patients still conscious? [closed]
I asked the same question at Reddit here, but none of the responses were convincing.
So here's the thing: to the extent of what we know about consciousness, are end-stage Alzheimer's patients still ...
3
votes
3answers
142 views
What are the effects of implanting electrodes into the brains of monkeys?
If one implants electrodes into a monkey's brain in order to allow the monkey to control a mechanical arm, then is the monkeys able to move both it's natural and it's mechanical arms at once?
What ...
1
vote
1answer
170 views
Are there axioms in the mind? [closed]
While studying artificial neural networks, I stumbled upon the following question:
Are there any hard-wired axioms in the brain that must exist equally in every conscious mind?
I could imagine that, ...
5
votes
1answer
140 views
What is a neurobiological explanation of borderline personality disorder?
In other words, how do the brains of those with BPD differ from those who don't have BPD?
The Wikipedia article doesn't even contain any possible explanations whatsoever.
-3
votes
1answer
161 views
Do people feel emotions less strongly as they grow older? [closed]
I'm specifically interested in whether or not their maximum ability to feel an emotion decreases as they grow older (so by that I'm meaning - let's ignore the effects of tolerance induced by life ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
Why are some people unable to easily memorize the lyrics to a song?
Although I have listened some songs hundred of times I can't sing the lyrics to any of these songs from beginning to end without pauses. However I am able to whistle the whole song without difficulty. ...
