tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/brain-science-9068/articlesBrain science – The Conversation2024-02-07T17:30:26Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2224582024-02-07T17:30:26Z2024-02-07T17:30:26ZThe brain is the most complicated object in the universe. This is the story of scientists’ quest to decode it – and read people’s minds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573721/original/file-20240206-26-8guoy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=299%2C119%2C3586%2C2874&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">HuthLab researchers (l-r) Alex Huth, Shailee Jain and Jerry Tang behind an fMRI scanner in the University of Texas's Biomedical Imaging Center.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cns.utexas.edu/news/podcast/brain-activity-decoder-can-reveal-stories-peoples-minds">Nolan Zunk/UT Austin</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the middle of 2023, a <a href="https://news.utexas.edu/2023/05/01/brain-activity-decoder-can-reveal-stories-in-peoples-minds/">study</a> conducted by the HuthLab at the University of Texas sent shockwaves through the realms of neuroscience and technology. For the first time, the thoughts and impressions of people unable to communicate with the outside world were translated into continuous natural language, using a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and brain imaging technology.</p>
<p>This is the closest science has yet come to reading someone’s mind. While advances in neuroimaging over the past two decades have enabled non-responsive and minimally conscious patients to control a computer cursor with their brain, HuthLab’s research is a significant step closer towards accessing people’s actual thoughts. As Alexander Huth, the neuroscientist who co-led the research, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/science/ai-speech-language.html">told the New York Times</a>:</p>
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<p>This isn’t just a language stimulus. We’re getting at meaning – something about the idea of what’s happening. And the fact that’s possible is very exciting.</p>
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<p>Combining AI and brain-scanning technology, the team created a non-invasive brain decoder capable of <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.29.509744v1">reconstructing continuous natural language</a> among people otherwise unable to communicate with the outside world. The development of such technology – and the parallel development of <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2516-1091/ac23e6/meta">brain-controlled motor prosthetics</a> that enable paralysed patients to achieve some renewed mobility – holds tremendous prospects for people suffering from neurological diseases including <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/locked-syndrome#:%7E:text=Locked%2Din%20syndrome%20is%20a,communicate%20with%20blinking%20eye%20movements">locked-in syndrome</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/quadriplegia">quadriplegia</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Report on HuthLab’s ‘mind reading’ research by CBS Austin.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In the longer term, this could lead to wider public applications such as fitbit-style <a href="https://insider.fitt.co/a-50k-fitbit-for-your-brain/">health monitors for the brain</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-94544-6_4">brain-controlled smartphones</a>. On January 29, Elon Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1752098683024220632">announced</a> that his Neuralink tech startup had implanted a chip in a human brain for the first time. He had previously told followers that Neuralink’s first product, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1752118131579867417">Telepathy</a>, would one day allow people to control their phones or computers “just by thinking”.</p>
<p>But alongside such technological developments come major <a href="https://theconversation.com/mri-scans-and-ai-technology-really-could-read-what-were-thinking-the-implications-are-terrifying-205503">ethical and legal concerns</a>. It’s not only privacy but the <a href="https://theconversation.com/freedom-of-thought-is-being-threatened-by-states-big-tech-and-even-ourselves-heres-what-we-can-do-to-protect-it-220266">very identity of people</a> that may be at risk. As we enter this new era of so-called <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2408019-mind-reading-ai-can-translate-brainwaves-into-written-text/#:%7E:text=Using%20only%20a%20sensor%2Dfilled,person's%20thoughts%20into%20written%20words.">mind-reading technology</a>, we will also need to consider how to prevent its potential to help people being outweighed by its potential to do harm.</p>
<h2>Humanity’s greatest mapping challenge</h2>
<p>The brain is the <a href="https://today.uconn.edu/2018/03/complicated-object-universe/">most complicated object in the universe</a>. It contains more than 89 billion neurons, each connected to around 7,000 other neurons that send between ten and 100 signals every second. The development of AI was based on the brain and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-will-soon-become-impossible-for-humans-to-comprehend-the-story-of-neural-networks-tells-us-why-199456">concept of neurons working together</a>. Now, the way AI works with deep learning is helping us understand much more clearly how the brain works.</p>
<p>By fully mapping the structure and function of a healthy human brain, we can determine with great precision what goes awry in diseases of the brain and mind. In 2009, <a href="https://humanconnectome.org/">the Human Connectome Project</a> was launched by the US National Institute of Health with the goal of building a map of the structure and function of a healthy human brain. Similar initiatives were launched in Europe in 2013 (<a href="http://www.humanbrainproject.eu/">the Human Brain Project</a>) and China in 2016 (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627316308005?via%3Dihub">the China Brain Project</a>).</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Human Connectome video by BrainFacts.org.</span></figcaption>
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<p>This daunting endeavour may still take generations to complete – but the scientific ambition of mapping and reading people’s brains dates back more than two centuries. With the world having been circumnavigated many times over, Antarctica discovered and much of the planet charted, humanity was ready for a new (and even more complicated) mapping challenge – the human brain.</p>
<p>These efforts began in earnest in the late 18th century with the development of a systematic framework for scientists to ask how the brain and its regions produce psychological experiences – our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. One of the earliest attempts was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/phrenology">phrenology</a>, pioneered by the Austrian physician and anatomist Franz Joseph Gall.</p>
<p>While this long-discredited science may now be best known for the <a href="https://artsci.case.edu/dittrick/online-exhibits/explore-the-artifacts/phrenology-bust-1850/">decorative busts</a> sold in flea markets, it was all the rage by the early 19th century. Gall and his assistant Johann Spurzheim suggested that the brain was organised along 35 psychological functions, each linked to a different underlying region.</p>
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<p><em>Across the world, we’re seeing unprecedented levels of mental illness at all ages, from children to the very old – with huge costs to families, communities and economies. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/tackling-the-mental-health-crisis-147216?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=ArticleTop&utm_campaign=MentalHealthSeries">In this series</a>, we investigate what’s causing this crisis, and report on the latest research to improve people’s mental health at all stages of life.</em></p>
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<p>Just as you might start lifting dumbbells if you want larger biceps, phrenology argued that the more you use a particular psychological function, the more the brain region underlying it should grow – leading to a corresponding lump in your skull. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1445-2197.2005.03426.x">According to Gall and Spurzheim</a>, some of these functions (including memory, love of offspring and the instinct to kill) were shared with animals, whereas others (such as wit, poetic ability and morality) were uniquely human.</p>
<p>Throughout the British empire and later in the US, phrenology was used to justify classism, colonialism, slavery and white supremacy. Queen Victoria had readings done on her children, but Napoleon Bonaparte was not a fan. When Gall moved to Paris in 1807 to perform much of his phrenological theorising, France’s emperor pronounced: “It is an ingenious fable which might seduce the <em>gens du monde</em>, but could not stand the scrutiny of the anatomist.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572529/original/file-20240131-15-j86pu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old shop window with a large phrenology sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572529/original/file-20240131-15-j86pu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572529/original/file-20240131-15-j86pu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572529/original/file-20240131-15-j86pu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572529/original/file-20240131-15-j86pu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572529/original/file-20240131-15-j86pu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572529/original/file-20240131-15-j86pu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572529/original/file-20240131-15-j86pu0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A phrenology shop in New Orleans in 1936.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phrenology_Shop_in_New_Orleans_1936_by_Peter_Sekaer.jpg">Peter Sekaer/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>In the 1860s, “locationist” views of how the brain worked made a comeback – though the scientists leading this research were keen to distinguish their theories from phrenology. French anatomist Paul Broca discovered a region of the left hemisphere responsible for producing speech – thanks in part to his patient, Louis Victor Leborgne, who at age 30 <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/the-man-who-couldnt-speakand-how-he-revolutionized-psychology/">lost the ability to say anything</a> other than the syllable “tan”. Today, <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_655">Patient Tan</a> remains one of psychology’s most famous case studies, and <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/brocas_area_is_the_brains_scriptwriter_shaping_speech_study_finds">Broca’s area</a>, in the frontal cortex, is one of the most important language regions of the brain, playing a critical part in putting our thoughts into words.</p>
<p>Similarly, German neuroanatomist Korbinian Brodmann’s <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/461884a#:%7E:text=Korbinian%20Brodmann's%20Localisation%20in%20the,cell%20type%20and%20laminar%20structure.">map of 52 distinct regions of the cerebral cortex</a>, first published in 1909, is still an important tool of contemporary neuroscience – and today’s neuroscientists continue to ask <a href="https://psu.pb.unizin.org/psych425/chapter/locationist-and-one-network-views-of-emotions-in-the-brain/">some of the same questions</a> as these pioneers: are our thoughts, feelings and behaviour produced by the collective action of the brain, or specific brain regions?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572528/original/file-20240131-15-6poatr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of different areas of the brain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572528/original/file-20240131-15-6poatr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572528/original/file-20240131-15-6poatr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572528/original/file-20240131-15-6poatr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572528/original/file-20240131-15-6poatr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572528/original/file-20240131-15-6poatr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572528/original/file-20240131-15-6poatr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572528/original/file-20240131-15-6poatr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Brodmann’s brain map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brodmann_areas.jpg">Vysha/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>In modern neuroscience studies, hi-tech scanning tools such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allow researchers to map the brain by measuring changes in local blood flow that are linked to changes in local neural activity. This approach depends on <a href="https://academic.oup.com/brain/article-abstract/51/3/310/309681?redirectedFrom=fulltext">the findings</a> of American physiologist John Fulton almost a century ago. Fulton was treating Walter K, a 26-year-old sailor suffering from headaches and vision failure. When using his eyes after leaving a dark room, the patient sensed a noise in the back of his head, located over the visual cortex. This stronger pulse of activity was not replicated by other sensory inputs, for example when smelling tobacco or vanilla.</p>
<p>Over the remainder of the 20th century, this first observation of the link between local cerebral blood flow and brain function was built on by neuroscientists including American <a href="https://dm5migu4zj3pb.cloudfront.net/manuscripts/101000/101994/JCI48101994.pdf">Seymour Kety</a> and Swedish collaborators <a href="https://karger.com/ced/article-pdf/11/1/71/2335730/000047614.pdf">David Ingvar</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24955823">Neils Lassen</a>. Their pioneering work paved the way for modern brain mapping, led by the ground-breaking work of <a href="https://www.braingate.org/about-braingate/">BrainGate</a> – a multidisciplinary research unit originating in the neuroscience department at Brown University in the US state of Rhode Island.</p>
<h2>The first clinical trial</h2>
<p>Prototype brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) record and decode a patient’s brain activity, translating it into actions that can be carried out by a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8979628/">neural cursor, prosthetic limb or powered exoskeleton</a>. The ultimate goal is wireless, non-invasive devices that help patients communicate and move with precision in the real world. AI is critical to this goal, and is <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(21)00096-6#secst0015">already being used to help BCI systems</a> produce finely controlled, rapid <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-2552/abfaaa/meta">motor movements</a>.</p>
<p>In 2004, <a href="https://www.braingate.org/about-braingate/">BrainGate</a> began the first clinical trial using BCIs to enable patients with impaired motor systems (including spinal cord injuries, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32809731/#:%7E:text=Brainstem%20infarction%20is%20an%20area,provide%20precise%20diagnosis%20and%20management.">brainstem infarctions</a>, locked-in syndrome and muscular dystrophy) control a computer cursor with their thoughts.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p><a href="https://www.patientcareonline.com/view/paralyzed-man-thinks-robotic-devices-motion">Patient MN</a>, a quadriplegic since being stabbed in the neck in 2001, was the trial’s first patient. After neuroscientist Leigh Hochberg’s team implanted electrodes over the hand-arm region of the patient’s primary motor cortex, they <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04970">reported</a> that Patient MN was able to open emails, draw figures using a paint program, and operate a television using a cursor. In addition, brain activity was linked to the patient’s prosthetic hand and robotic arm, enabling rudimentary actions including grasping and transporting an object. What’s more, these tasks could be done while the patient was having a conversation, suggesting they did not even demand the full concentration of the patient.</p>
<p>Other quadriplegic patients subsequently used BCI devices connected to multi-joint robotic arms to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11076">pick up and drink from a cup</a> – and in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1545968314554624">2015</a>, a patient with locked-in syndrome was shown operating a point-and-click keyboard five years after the device’s implantation. Advanced decoding algorithms saw their cursor control <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.3953">improve</a> such that patients went from typing <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aac7328">24 characters per minute</a> in 2015 to <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/18554">39 characters per minute</a> two years later.</p>
<p>Also in 2017, BrainGate clinical trials reported the first evidence that BCIs could be used to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140673617306013?via%3Dihub">help patients regain movement</a> of their own limbs by bypassing the damaged portion of the spinal cord. One patient with a <a href="https://www.spinalinjury101.org/details/levels-of-injury">high-cervical</a> spinal cord injury was able to reach and grasp a cup eight years after sustaining his injury.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cg5RO8Qv6mc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">BrainGate breakthrough video by Brown University.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Then in 2021, the Braingate team reported that quadriplegic patients were now using a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8218873/">wireless system in their own homes</a> to control a tablet computer – an important first step toward a future where BCI devices can help people move and communicate outside the confines of the hospital or laboratory. Furthermore, the researchers said they anticipate “significant advances and paradigm shifts in neural signal processing, decoding algorithms and control frameworks” in the quest to make such devices available to the wider public.</p>
<p>Beyond Braingate’s successes, another team led by American neurosurgeon Edward Chang <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06443-4">recently reported</a> using surgically implanted <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/39/22/4299.full.pdf">electrocorticogram</a> electrodes to create a “digital avatar” that could convey what a paralysed patient wants to say. With the help of AI, the BCI decoded muscle movements related to speech the patients were thinking in their minds (as opposed to decoding the actual semantic content).</p>
<p>Activity patterns emerging from the specific brain region that is critical for speech are the key focus for this type of BCI. One expert not involved in the research <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/23/paralysed-woman-able-to-speak-through-digital-avatar-for-first-time">told the Guardian</a>: “This is quite a jump from previous results. We’re at a tipping point.”</p>
<h2>A new era of ‘mind reading’ technology</h2>
<p>Brain activity has long been recorded by non-invasive imaging methods such as fMRI and electroencephalography (EEG). But having been primarily envisaged as a tool for diagnostics and monitoring, it is now also a core element of the latest neural communication and prosthetic devices.</p>
<p>A landmark moment came in 2012, when a team led by Canada-based neuroscientist <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvUvY_JrUgA">Adrian Owen</a> used neuroimaging to establish a <a href="https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/75999517/Sorger_2012_Brain_computer_interfaces_for_communcication_with.pdf">line of communication</a> with people suffering from <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/disorders-of-consciousness/">disorders of consciousness</a>. Despite being behaviourally non-responsive and minimally conscious, these patients were able to answer yes-or-no questions just by using their minds. For patients unable to communicate via facial or eye movements (methods that had been available to locked-in patients for many years), this was a very promising evolution.</p>
<p>Now, a decade on, the <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.29.509744v1.full">HuthLab research</a> at the University of Texas constitutes a paradigmatic shift in the evolution of communication-enabling neuroimaging systems.</p>
<p>In the study’s first stage, participants were placed in an fMRI scanner and their brain activity was recorded while they listened to 16 hours of podcasts (the model training dataset consisted of 82 five to 15-minute stories taken from the <a href="https://themoth.org/radio-hour">Moth Radio Hour</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/modern-love-podcast">Modern Love)</a>. This brain activity data was then linked to audio fragments the participants were listening to, in order to map what their brain activity patterns looked like when they had specific semantic content in their minds.</p>
<p>Next, the same participants were exposed to new audio fragments they had never heard before, or alternatively were asked to imagine a story. The decoder was then applied to this new set of brain activity data, to “reconstruct” the stories the participants had been listening to or imagining – with some <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.29.509744v1.full">striking results</a>. For instance, when a patient was played this audio:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t have my driver’s licence yet and I just jumped out right when I needed to, and she says: ‘Well, why don’t you come back to my house and I’ll give you a ride?’ I say OK.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>… the decoder reconstructed it as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She is not ready – she has not even started to learn to drive, yet I had to push her out of the car. I said: ‘We will take her home now’ and she agreed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While there were also a considerable number of mistakes over the entirety of the trial, the reconstruction of continuous language solely on the base of brain activity patterns, including some exact word matches, is arguably the closest we have yet come to truly reading someone’s thoughts.</p>
<p>Whereas the brain’s capacity to produce motor intentions is shared across species, the ability to produce and perceive language is uniquely human. Thus, decoding actual semantic content from brain activity in regions used in language perception (primarily the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11109/#:%7E:text=The%20association%20cortices%20include%20most,and%20the%20generation%20of%20behavior.">association</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499919/">prefrontal</a> regions of the brain’s cortex) seems more fundamental to what makes us human.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572526/original/file-20240131-19-2rcmmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Columns of text comparing actual words with those decoded by the HuthLab brain technology" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572526/original/file-20240131-19-2rcmmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572526/original/file-20240131-19-2rcmmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572526/original/file-20240131-19-2rcmmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572526/original/file-20240131-19-2rcmmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572526/original/file-20240131-19-2rcmmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572526/original/file-20240131-19-2rcmmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572526/original/file-20240131-19-2rcmmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Semantic examples from the HuthLab study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UT Austin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also, the HuthLab study used non-invasive fMRI technology – a form of neuroimaging that measures oxygen levels of blood in the brain in order to make inferences on brain activity. The disadvantage of fMRI is that it can only take slow measurements of brain signals (typically, one brain volume every two or three seconds). The study overcame this by using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_artificial_intelligence">generative AI</a> language models (akin to ChatGPT) that predict the probability of word sequences, and thus what words are most likely to come next in someone’s thoughts.</p>
<p>The researchers also worked with patients watching silent short film clips. They demonstrated that the system could be used not only to decode semantic content entertained through auditive perception, but also through visual perception.</p>
<p>Importantly, they also explicitly addressed the potential threat to a person’s mental privacy posed by this kind of technology. Jerry Tang, one of the study’s lead researchers, <a href="https://cns.utexas.edu/news/podcast/brain-activity-decoder-can-reveal-stories-peoples-minds">stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We take very seriously the concerns that it could be used for bad purposes and have worked to avoid that. We want to make sure people only use these types of technologies when they want to and that it helps them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The very fact this semantic decoder has to be trained on each person separately, with their cooperation over a long period of time, constitutes a robust safeguard. In other words, one of the major hurdles in the development of language decoders – the fact they are not universally applicable – constitutes one of the strongest safeguards against privacy violations.</p>
<p>However, while there is no risk of a malevolent company being able to read the thoughts of a random person in the street any time soon, there are nonetheless important ethical, legal and data protection concerns that must be considered as this technology develops.</p>
<p>We have already seen the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-scandal-fallout.html">consequences</a> of unfettered corporate access to personal data and online behaviour. Although we are a long way off from neural data being collected and processed at such scale, it is important to consider burgeoning ethical questions in the early stages of technological progress.</p>
<h2>The ethical implications are immense</h2>
<p>Losing the ability to communicate is a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17483107.2022.2146217">deep cut to one’s sense of self</a>. Restoring this ability gives the patient greater control over their lives and their ability to navigate the world – but it could also give other entities, such as corporations, researchers and other third parties, an uncomfortable degree of insight into, or even control over, the lives of patients.</p>
<p>Even other types of intimate biological data, such as that about our genomes or our biometrics, do not come as close to approximating our private inner lives as neural data. The ethical implications of providing access to such data to scientific and corporate entities are potentially immense.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572536/original/file-20240131-25-g07hqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Text of UN resolution 51/3" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572536/original/file-20240131-25-g07hqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572536/original/file-20240131-25-g07hqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572536/original/file-20240131-25-g07hqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572536/original/file-20240131-25-g07hqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572536/original/file-20240131-25-g07hqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572536/original/file-20240131-25-g07hqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572536/original/file-20240131-25-g07hqb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UN resolution 51/3.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G22/525/01/PDF/G2252501.pdf?OpenElement">UNHRC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is reflected in <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2023/call-inputs-study-human-rights-council-advisory-committee-neurotechnology-and#:%7E:text=At%20its%20fifty%2Dfirst%20session,promotion%20and%20protection%20of%20all">Resolution 51/3</a> of the UN Human Rights Council, which commissioned a study on “the impact, opportunities and challenges of neurotechnology with regard to the promotion and protection of all human rights” in time for the council’s 57th session in September 2024. However, whether the introduction of novel human rights is warranted to address the challenges posed by neurotechnology remains a hotly debated issue among human rights experts and advocacy groups.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://neurorightsfoundation.org/mission">NeuroRights Foundation</a>, based at Columbia University in New York, argues that novel rights surrounding neurotechnologies will be needed for all humans to preserve their privacy, identity, and free will. The potential vulnerability of disabled patients makes this a particularly important problem. For example, Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease that affects movement, is co-morbid with dementia, which affects the ability to reason and think clearly.</p>
<p>In line with this approach, <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/neurotech-neurorights">Chile was the first country</a> that adopted legislation to address the risks inherent to neurotechnology. It not only <a href="https://courier.unesco.org/en/articles/chile-pioneering-protection-neurorights">introduced a new constitutional right</a> to mental integrity, but is also in the process of adopting a bill that bans selling neurodata, and subjects all neurotech devices to be regulated as medical devices, even those intended for the general consumer. The proposed legislation recognises the intensely personal nature of neural data and considers it <a href="https://restofworld.org/2021/chile-neuro-rights/">akin to organ tissue</a> which cannot be bought or sold, only donated. But this legislation has also faced criticism, with legal scholars <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2589295921000059?casa_token=A9_9ASQthlMAAAAA:FXJiHZARnjPp6IjA7jHBqHzrHCAxoTY0s9um1nWWi9rE5so52ssahLBwwwkb5YTQGKR-sznGAg">questioning</a> the need for new rights and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12152-022-09504-z#Sec1">pointing out</a> that this regime could stifle beneficial BCI research for disabled patients.</p>
<p>While the legal action taken by Chile is the most impactful and far-reaching to date, <a href="https://spanish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/leon-declaracion-european-neurotechnology-human-rights/">other countries</a> are considering following suit by updating existing laws to address the developments in neurotechnologies.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ybUnmQ05vX4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Chile’s pioneering neurotechnology regulation – report by Al Jazeera English.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the cornerstones of ethical research is the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430827/#:%7E:text=Introduction,undergo%20the%20procedure%20or%20intervention.">principle of informed consent</a>. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26497727/">Particular attention</a> must be paid to the capacity of paralysed patients and their family members to understand and consent to novel experimental therapies. Patients with a very limited ability to communicate may not be able to answer more extensive questions associated with the obtaining of informed consent, which is often more complex than a simple opt-in procedure. Also, not all potential risks and side-effects (both physical and mental) can be foreseen, making it difficult for physicians to adequately inform their patients.</p>
<p>At the same time, it is important <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-015-9712-7">to keep in mind</a> that denying treatment to a patient whose only hope may be communicating through BCI presents a significant opportunity cost, such as a lifetime without communication, that may be very well greater than the costs of participation in experimental treatments. The appropriate balance to strike for clinicians and researchers will be challenging to determine.</p>
<p>In a burgeoning new era of big (brain) data, longstanding ethical concerns about the hacking, leaking, unauthorised use or commercial exploitation of personal data will be amplified in the case of sensitive data on a person’s thoughts or movements (as controlled through neuroprosthetics). Paralysed patients may be particularly vulnerable to neurodata theft given their reliance on caregivers, and increasingly, the BCI technologies themselves, to communicate and move around the world. Care must be taken to ensure that information disclosed by a BCI represents a patient’s true and consensual thoughts.</p>
<p>And while it is likely that the first advances in neurotech will be therapeutic in nature, such as for disabled and neurodivergent patients, future advances are likely to involve consumer applications such as <a href="https://bci.games/">entertainment</a>, as well as for <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-computer-interfaces-could-allow-soldiers-to-control-weapons-with-their-thoughts-and-turn-off-their-fear-but-the-ethics-of-neurotechnology-lags-behind-the-science-194017#:%7E:text=For%20example%2C%20a%20soldier%20in,more%20rapid%20response%20to%20threats.">military and security</a> purposes. The growing availability of neurotechnology in a commercial context that is generally subject to far less regulation only amplifies these ethical and legal concerns.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/freedom-of-thought-is-being-threatened-by-states-big-tech-and-even-ourselves-heres-what-we-can-do-to-protect-it-220266">Freedom of thought is being threatened by states, big tech and even ourselves. Here’s what we can do to protect it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Data protection laws should be assessed on their ability to account for the new risks arising from increasing access to and collection of neurodata by organisations and entities of different types. Take the example – for the time being completely hypothetical – of using BCI to infer the thoughts of suspects in police interrogations.</p>
<p>One might say that BCI cannot be used in police interrogations as the error rate of misinterpreting a person’s neural data is currently unacceptably high, although accuracy could improve in the future. Or, one might say that BCI should never be used to “read” a person’s brain without their consent, regardless of the technology’s accuracy. Or, one might say that using BCI for interrogations is justified under certain extreme circumstances, such as when crucial information is needed to save someone’s life, and the suspect is refusing to cooperate.</p>
<p>Different people, societies, and cultures will disagree on where to draw the line. We are at an early stage of technological development and as we begin to uncover the great potential of BCI, both for therapeutic applications and beyond, the need to consider these ethical questions and their implications for legal action becomes more pressing.</p>
<h2>Decoding our neuro future</h2>
<p>This is a groundbreaking moment in our quest to understand the inner workings of our brains and minds. In the past year alone, neuroscientists have <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06094-5">reversed spinal disabilities</a>, translated MRI data into text to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01304-%209.epdf">understand what someone is thinking</a>, and begun to <a href="https://twitter.com/neuralink/status/1661857379460468736?cxt=HHwWgMDSoeqejZAuAAAA">conduct clinical trials</a> to help people interact with objects using thoughts alone, something already seen in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcz-Hq1NP98">trials with monkeys</a> two years ago. Such developments could all lead to transformative impacts on people’s lives.</p>
<p>At the same time, it’s important to note that research such as the HuthLab study uses a very small sample, and that the training process for its semantic decoder is complex, time-consuming and expensive. Add to this the fact that fMRI, although non-invasive, is a non-wearable neuro-imaging technique, and it is clear these methods are not set to leave a strictly organised laboratory setting any time soon.</p>
<p>However, the HuthLab researchers <a href="https://cns.utexas.edu/news/podcast/brain-activity-decoder-can-reveal-stories-peoples-minds">suggest</a> that in time, fMRI could be replaced by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNRIS) which, by “measuring where there’s more or less blood flow in the brain at different points in time”, could give similar results to fMRI using a wearable device.</p>
<p>Certainly, the <a href="https://www.neurotech.com/investment-digest">exponential global investment</a> in the development of neurotechnologies such as this, by governments and private actors alike, shows that the world is eager to create accessible BCIs that are suited to function as medical devices, but also as commercial consumer goods. By the middle of 2021, the total investment in neurotechnology companies amounted to just over US$33 billion (around £26 billion).</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M-slagG1OKE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Neuralink’s first human brain implant – report by Sky News.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the most high-profile companies is Musk’s <a href="https://neuralink.com/">Neuralink</a>. “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” Musk tweeted on January 29, of his neurotech startup’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/30/1227850900/elon-musk-neuralink-implant-clinical-trial">first implanted chip in a human brain</a>. The implant is said to include 1,024 electrodes, yet is only slightly larger than the diameter of a red blood cell. <a href="https://twitter.com/neuralink/status/1716973591684653555">According to Neuralink</a>: “Its small size allows threads to be inserted with minimal damage to the [brain] cortex.”</p>
<p>While this wireless implant is currently being developed as a medical device, aiming at enhancing the quality of life for patients suffering from various neurological diseases (Neuralink’s clinical trial has enlisted people aged 22 and above living with quadriplegia), Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1752119586470949056">stated on X-Twitter</a> that the ultimate aim is to create a device that “enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking”.</p>
<p>Indeed, commercial neuro-imaging devices are already on the market. The <a href="https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/journal-of-biomedical-optics/volume-27/issue-07/074710/Kernel-Flow--a-high-channel-count-scalable-time-domain/10.1117/1.JBO.27.7.074710.full?webSyncID=cc96715c-8678-b272-ce9d-a31d41322dc9&sessionGUID=467762ac-1ce5-a61d-96e9-9042d3bc6d99&_ga=2.177093349.1194737154.1696754253-1060044912.1696754253&cm_mc_uid=86756417056816967542535&cm_mc_sid_50300000=84585101696754253521&SSO=1">Kernel Flow</a>, for example, is a commercially available, wearable headset that uses fNRIS technology to monitor brain activity. Another prominent player in commercial neuro-imaging, Emotiv, has developed <a href="https://www.emotiv.com/?campaignid=17057185126&adgroupid=138768698289&network=g&device=c&utm_term=emotiv%20eeg&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_content=644974459432&utm_campaign=Brand&hsa_acc=5401365090&hsa_cam=17057185126&hsa_grp=138768698289&hsa_ad=644974459432&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-343485221404&hsa_kw=emotiv%20eeg&hsa_mt=p&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpompBhDZARIsAFD_Fp9Pf4GC78tnxQw2h90QpHzibYCJenjkzWEsTArqRrXxCWkfdVmK1VkaAjeREALw_wcB">earpods incorporating EEG technology</a> that are able to monitor brain activity for signs of focus, attention and stress – with the stated ambition of boosting the wearer’s productivity at work.</p>
<p>While the era of big data has enabled increasingly personalised and complex approximations of people’s inner lives through our biometrics, genetics and online presence, nothing has been so powerful as to capture the inner workings of our minds – yet.</p>
<p>But as HuthLab’s research suggests, and Musk’s pronouncements claim, this may now not be so very far away. The dawn of a new era of brain-computer interfaces should be treated with great care and great respect – in acknowledgement of its immense potential to both help, and harm, our future generations.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
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<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Sheir received funding from the EPSRC (grant number EP/V026518/1). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timo Istace receives funding from Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas J. Kelley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Elon Musk’s Neuralink begins inserting chips into human brains, we trace the history of ‘mind reading’ technology and assess the potential risks and rewardsNicholas J. Kelley, Assistant Professor in Social Psychology, University of SouthamptonStephanie Sheir, Research Associate, Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub, University of BristolTimo Istace, PhD Researcher in Neurotechnology and the Law, University of AntwerpLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140742023-09-27T01:49:24Z2023-09-27T01:49:24ZNobody knows how consciousness works – but top researchers are fighting over which theories are really science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550467/original/file-20230926-23-njxkao.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C2596%2C1720&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/human-eye-detail-1196228368">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Science is hard. The science of consciousness is particularly hard, beset with philosophical difficulties and a scarcity of experimental data. </p>
<p>So in June, when the results of a head-to-head experimental contest between two rival theories were announced at the 26th annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness in New York City, they were met with some fanfare. </p>
<p>The results were inconclusive, with some favouring “integrated information theory” and others lending weight to the “global workspace theory”. The outcome was covered in both <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/search-neural-basis-consciousness-yields-first-results">Science</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02120-8">Nature</a>, as well as larger outlets including the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/science/consciousness-theories.html">New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2023/06/28/thousands-of-species-of-animals-likely-have-consciousness">The Economist</a>.</p>
<p>And that might have been that, with researchers continuing to investigate these and other theories of how our brains generate experience. But on September 16, apparently driven by media coverage of the June results, a group of 124 consciousness scientists and philosophers – many of them leading figures in the field – published an <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/zsr78/">open letter</a> attacking integrated information theory as “pseudoscience”.</p>
<p>The letter has generated an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02971-1">uproar</a>. The science of consciousness has its factions and quarrels but this development is unprecedented, and threatens to do lasting damage.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1703782006507589781"}"></div></p>
<h2>What is integrated information theory?</h2>
<p>Italian neuroscientist Giulio Tononi first <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2202-5-42">proposed</a> integrated information theory in 2004, and it is now on “<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.14787">version 4.0</a>”. It is not easily summarised. </p>
<p>At its core is the idea that consciousness is identical to the amount of “integrated information” a system contains. Roughly, this means the information the system as a whole has over and above the information had by its parts. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-us-conscious-50011">What makes us conscious?</a>
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<p>Many theories start by looking for correlations between events in our minds and events in our brains. Instead, integrated information theory begins with “phenomenological axioms”, supposedly self-evident claims about the nature of consciousness. </p>
<p>Notoriously, the theory implies consciousness is extremely widespread in nature, and that even very simple systems, such as an inactive grid of computer circuitry, have some degree of consciousness. </p>
<h2>Three criticisms</h2>
<p>This open letter makes three main claims against integrated information theory. </p>
<p>First, it argues this is not a “leading theory of consciousness” and has received more media attention than it deserves. </p>
<p>Second, it <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/zsr78/">expresses concerns</a> about its implications:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If [integrated information theory] is either proven or perceived by the public as such, it will not only have a direct impact on clinical practice concerning coma patients, but also a wide array of ethical issues ranging from current debates on AI sentience and its regulation, to stem cell research, animal and organoid testing, and abortion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The third claim has provoked the most outcry: integrated information theory is “pseudoscience”.</p>
<h2>Is integrated information theory a leading theory?</h2>
<p>Whether you agree with integrated information theory or not – and I myself have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2018/1/niy007/5047367">criticised</a> it – there is little doubt it is a “leading theory of consciousness”. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nc/article/2022/1/niac011/6663928">survey</a> of consciousness scientists conducted in 2018 and 2019 found almost 50% of respondents said the theory was either probably or definitely “promising”. It was one of four theories featured in a keynote debate at the 2022 meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, and was one of four theories featured in a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-022-00587-4">review</a> of the state of consciousness science that Anil Seth and I published last year. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01284-5">By one account</a>, integrated information theory is the third-most discussed theory of consciousness in the scientific literature, out-stripped only by global workspace theory and recurrent processing theory. Like it or not, integrated information theory has significant support in the scientific community.</p>
<h2>Is it more problematic than other theories?</h2>
<p>What about the potential implications of integrated information theory – its impact on clinical practice, the regulation of AI, and attitudes to stem cell research, animal and organoid testing, and abortion? </p>
<p>Consider the question of fetal consciousness. According to the <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/zsr78/">letter</a>, integrated information theory says “human fetuses at very early stages of development” are likely conscious. </p>
<p>The details matter here. I was the co-author of the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923002033">paper</a> cited in support of this claim, which in fact argues that no major theory of consciousness – integrated information theory included – posits the emergence of consciousness before 26 weeks gestation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A colourful stylised line drawing of a brain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550324/original/file-20230926-19-pbmu01.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C3994%2C2389&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550324/original/file-20230926-19-pbmu01.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550324/original/file-20230926-19-pbmu01.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550324/original/file-20230926-19-pbmu01.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550324/original/file-20230926-19-pbmu01.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550324/original/file-20230926-19-pbmu01.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550324/original/file-20230926-19-pbmu01.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All theories of consciousness inevitably have ethical and legal implications.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/vector-colorful-illustration-human-brain-synapses-1056342728">Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>And while we should be mindful of the legal and ethical implications of integrated information theory, we should also be mindful of the implications of <em>all</em> theories of consciousness. </p>
<p>Are the implications of integrated information theory more problematic than those of other leading theories? That’s far from obvious, and there are certainly versions of other theories whose implications would be every bit as radical as those of integrated information theory. </p>
<h2>Is it pseudoscience?</h2>
<p>And so, finally, to the charge of pseudoscience. The letter provides no definition of “pseudoscience”, but suggests the theory is pseudoscientific because “the theory as a whole” is not empirically testable. It also claims integrated information theory wasn’t “meaningfully tested” by the head-to-head contest earlier this year.</p>
<p>It’s true the theory’s core tenets are very difficult to test, but so too are the core tenets of any theory of consciousness. To put a theory to the test one needs to assume a host of bridging principles, and the status of those principles will often be disputed. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-is-the-proof-in-pseudoscience-22184">Where is the proof in pseudoscience?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But none of this justifies treating integrated information theory – or indeed any other theory of consciousness – as pseudoscience. All it takes for a theory to be genuinely scientific is that it generates testable predictions. And whatever its faults, the theory has certainly done that.</p>
<p>The charge of pseudoscience is not only inaccurate, it is also pernicious. In effect, it’s an attempt to “deplatform” or silence integrated information theory – to deny it deserves serious attention. </p>
<p>That’s not only unfair to integrated information theory and the scientific community at large, it also manifests a fundamental lack of faith in science. If the theory is indeed bankrupt, then the ordinary mechanisms of science will demonstrate as much.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Bayne is affiliated with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). </span></em></p>Big names in consciousness research have signed an open letter attacking ‘integrated information theory’ as pseudoscience, sparking uproar.Tim Bayne, Professor of Philosophy, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2054462023-08-07T12:44:39Z2023-08-07T12:44:39ZNew neurotechnology is blurring the lines around mental privacy − but are new human rights the answer?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540894/original/file-20230802-27-zju7b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1017%2C677&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman tries out neurotechnology equipment during Tech Week in Bucharest, Romania, in May 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woman-tries-neuro-technology-equipment-at-the-tech-expo-news-photo/1258279319?adppopup=true">Cristian Cristel/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Neurotechnologies – devices that interact directly with the brain or nervous system – were once dismissed as the stuff of science fiction. Not anymore. Several companies are developing and some are even testing “<a href="https://theconversation.com/melding-mind-and-machine-how-close-are-we-75589">brain-computer interfaces</a>,” or BCIs, of which the most high-profile is likely Elon Musk’s Neuralink. He announced on Jan. 29, 2024, that the first human in the company’s clinical trials <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1752098683024220632">has received a brain implant</a>.</p>
<p>Like other companies, Neuralink’s immediate goal is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-neuralink-human-brain-implant-e92ca9621c9331487c94e9b537c2d537">to improve autonomy</a> for patients with severe paralysis or other neurological disorders.</p>
<p>But not all BCIs are envisioned for medical use: There are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fninf.2020.553352">EEG headsets</a> that sense electrical activity inside the wearer’s brain <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386137">covering a wide range of applications</a>, from entertainment and wellness to education and the workplace. Yet, Musk’s ambitions go beyond these therapeutic and nonmedical uses. Neuralink aims to eventually help people “<a href="https://twitter.com/neuralink/status/1648478559093264387">surpass able-bodied human performance</a>.”</p>
<p>Neurotechnology research and patents have soared at least twentyfold over the past two decades, <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386137">according to a United Nations report</a>, and devices are getting more powerful. Newer devices have the potential to <a href="https://theconversation.com/helping-or-hacking-engineers-and-ethicists-must-work-together-on-brain-computer-interface-technology-77759">collect data from the brain and other parts of the nervous system</a> more directly, with higher resolution, in greater amounts and in more pervasive ways.</p>
<p>However, these improvements have also raised concerns about mental privacy and human autonomy – questions I think about in my research on the <a href="https://rockethics.psu.edu/people/laura-cabrera/">ethical and social implications of brain science and neural engineering</a>. Who owns the generated data, and who should get access? Could this type of device threaten individuals’ ability to make independent decisions? </p>
<p>In July 2023, the U.N. agency for science and culture held a <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ethics-neurotechnology-unesco-leaders-and-top-experts-call-solid-governance">conference on the ethics of neurotechnology</a>, calling for a framework to protect human rights. Some critics have even argued that societies should recognize a new category of human rights, “<a href="https://neurorightsfoundation.org/mission">neurorights</a>.” In 2021, Chile became <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01396-0">the first country</a> whose constitution addresses concerns about neurotechnology. </p>
<p>Advances in neurotechnology do raise important privacy concerns. However, I believe these debates can overlook more fundamental threats to privacy.</p>
<h2>A glimpse inside</h2>
<p>Concerns about neurotechnology and privacy focus on the idea that an observer can “read” a person’s thoughts and feelings just from recordings of their brain activity. </p>
<p>It is true that some neurotechnologies can record brain activity with great specificity: for example, developments on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-019-0407-2">high-density electrode arrays</a> that allow for high-resolution recording from multiple parts of the brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Someone standing outside the frame adjusts a glowing monitor hooked up to a computer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paradromics, an Austin-based company, is developing a brain-computer interface to aide disabled and nonverbal patients with communication.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aamir-ahmed-khan-phd-principal-electrical-engineer-for-news-photo/1247658566?adppopup=true">Julia Robinson for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Researchers can make inferences about mental phenomena and interpret behavior based on this kind of information. However, “reading” the recorded brain activity is not straightforward. Data has already gone through filters and algorithms before the human eye gets the output.</p>
<p>Given these complexities, my colleague <a href="https://infosci.cornell.edu/content/susser">Daniel Susser</a> and I wrote an article in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2023.2188275">American Journal of Bioethics – Neuroscience</a> asking whether some worries around mental privacy might be misplaced. </p>
<p>While neurotechnologies do raise significant privacy concerns, we argue that the risks are similar to those for more familiar data-collection technologies, such as everyday <a href="https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10625-businesses-collecting-data.html">online surveillance</a>: the kind most people experience through internet browsers and advertising, or wearable devices. Even browser histories on personal computers are capable of revealing highly sensitive information.</p>
<p>It is also worth remembering that a key aspect of being human has always been inferring other people’s behaviors, thoughts and feelings. Brain activity alone does not tell the full story; other behavioral or physiological measures are also needed to reveal this type of information, as well as social context. A certain surge in brain activity might indicate either fear or excitement, for example.</p>
<p>However, that is not to say there’s no cause for concern. Researchers are exploring new directions in which multiple sensors – such as headbands, wrist sensors and room sensors – can be used to capture multiple kinds of behavioral and environmental data. Artificial intelligence could be used to combine that data into <a href="https://braininitiative.nih.gov/news-events/blog/nih-issues-new-funding-opportunity-establish-data-coordination-and-artificial">more powerful interpretations</a>. </p>
<h2>Think for yourself?</h2>
<p>Another thought-provoking debate around neurotechnology deals with cognitive liberty. According to the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120206215115/http:/www.cognitiveliberty.org/faqs/faq_general.htm">Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics</a>, founded in 1999, the term refers to “the right of each individual to think independently and autonomously, to use the full power of his or her mind, and to engage in multiple modes of thought.”</p>
<p>More recently, other researchers have resurfaced the idea, such as in legal scholar <a href="https://law.duke.edu/fac/farahany/">Nita Farahany’s</a> book “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250272966/thebattleforyourbrain">The Battle for Your Brain</a>.” Proponents of cognitive liberty argue broadly for the need to protect individuals from having their mental processes manipulated or monitored without their consent. They argue that greater regulation of neurotechnology may be required to protect individuals’ freedom to determine their own inner thoughts and to control their own mental functions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a gray turtleneck stands with what looks like a black and white bike helmet on his head." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seung Wan Kang, founder and CEO of iMediSync Inc., displays the company’s iSyncWave, which allows people to measure their brainwaves at home, at CES 2023 in Las Vegas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/founder-and-ceo-of-imedisync-inc-dr-seung-wan-kang-displays-news-photo/1454097687?adppopup=true">Ethan Miller/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>These are important freedoms, and there are certainly specific features – like those of novel BCI neurotechnology and nonmedical neurotechnology applications – that prompted important questions. Yet I would argue that the way cognitive freedom is discussed in these debates sees each individual person as an isolated, independent agent, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137402240">neglecting the relational aspects</a> of who we are and how we think. </p>
<p>Thoughts do not simply spring out of nothing in someone’s head. For example, part of my mental process as I write this article is recollecting and reflecting on research from colleagues. I’m also reflecting on my own experiences: the many ways that who I am today is the combination of my upbringing, the society I grew up in, the schools I attended. Even the ads my web browser pushes on me can shape my thoughts.</p>
<p>How much are our thoughts uniquely ours? How much are my mental processes already being manipulated by other influences? And keeping that in mind, how should societies protect privacy and freedom?</p>
<p>I believe that acknowledging the extent to which our thoughts are already shaped and monitored by many different forces can help set priorities as neurotechnologies and AI become more common. Looking beyond novel technology to strengthen current privacy laws may give a more holistic view of the many threats to privacy, and what freedoms need defending.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Aug. 7, 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Y. Cabrera receives funding from National Institutes of Health, and the National Network Depression Centers. She is affiliated with IEEE, and the International Neuroethics Society. </span></em></p>More invasive devices have prompted new debates about privacy and freedom. But it’s important to keep in mind that other technologies already sense and shape our thoughts, a neuroethicist argues.Laura Y. Cabrera, Associate Professor of Neuroethics, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065732023-05-31T20:07:02Z2023-05-31T20:07:02ZHave we got the brain all wrong? A new study shows its shape is more important than its wiring<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529233/original/file-20230531-29-nf3bmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3600%2C2700&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The human brain is made up of around 86 billion neurons, linked by trillions of connections. For decades, scientists have believed that we need to map this intricate connectivity in detail to understand how the structured patterns of activity defining our thoughts, feelings and behaviour emerge. </p>
<p>Our new study, published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06098-1">Nature</a>, challenges this view. We have discovered that patterns of activity in our neurons are more influenced by the shape of the brain – its grooves, contours, and folds – than by its complex interconnections.</p>
<p>The conventional view is that specific thoughts or sensations elicit activity in specific parts of the brain. However, our study reveals structured patterns of activity across nearly the entire brain, relating to thoughts and sensations in much the same way that a musical note arises from vibrations occurring along the entire length of a violin string, not just an isolated segment.</p>
<h2>Function follows form</h2>
<p>We uncovered this close relationship between shape and function by examining the natural patterns of excitation that can be supported by the anatomy of the brain. In these patterns, called “eigenmodes”, different parts of the brain are all excited at the same frequency. </p>
<p>Consider the musical notes played by a violin string. The notes arise from preferred vibrational patterns of the string that occur at specific, resonant frequencies. These preferred patterns are the eigenmodes of the string. They are determined by the string’s physical properties, such as its length, density, and tension.</p>
<p>In a similar way, the brain has its own preferred patterns of excitation, which are determined by its anatomical and physical properties. We set out to identify which specific anatomical properties of the brain most strongly affect these patterns.</p>
<h2>A tale of two brains</h2>
<p>According to conventional wisdom, the brain’s complex web of connections <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.0811168106">fundamentally sculpts its activity</a>.</p>
<p>This perspective views the brain as a collection of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature18933">discrete regions</a>, each specialised for a specific function, such as vision or speech. These regions <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn2575">communicate</a> via interconnecting fibres called axons.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529081/original/file-20230530-23-x8028u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of a brain, showing one half as a web of dots and lines, and the other as a convoluted surface with wave patterns regions shaded red and blue." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529081/original/file-20230530-23-x8028u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529081/original/file-20230530-23-x8028u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529081/original/file-20230530-23-x8028u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529081/original/file-20230530-23-x8028u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529081/original/file-20230530-23-x8028u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529081/original/file-20230530-23-x8028u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529081/original/file-20230530-23-x8028u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=969&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conventional models divide the brain into a web of discrete nodes. Our analysis suggests large-scale brain activity is instead dominated by waves of excitation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Pang</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An alternative view, embodied by an approach to modelling brain activity called <a href="https://mna.episciences.org/9228">neural field theory</a>, eschews this division of the brain into discrete areas. </p>
<p>This view focuses on how <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2018.20">waves of cellular excitation</a> move continuously through brain tissue, like the ripples formed by raindrops falling into a pond. Just as the shape of the pond constrains the possible patterns formed by the ripples, wavelike patterns of activity are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811916300908">influenced by the three-dimensional shape</a> of the brain.</p>
<h2>Comparing the two views</h2>
<p>To compare the two views of the brain, we tested how easily the conventional, discrete view and the continuous, wave-based view can explain more than <a href="https://neurovault.org/">10,000 different maps of brain activity</a>. The activity maps were obtained from thousands of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments as people performed a wide array of cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor tasks.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/electricity-flow-in-the-human-brain-can-be-predicted-using-the-simple-maths-of-networks-new-study-reveals-200831">Electricity flow in the human brain can be predicted using the simple maths of networks, new study reveals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We attempted to describe each activity map using eigenmodes based on the brain’s connectivity and eigenmodes based on the brain’s shape. We found that eigenmodes of brain shape – not connectivity – offer the most accurate account of these different activation patterns.</p>
<h2>Brain waves and icebergs</h2>
<p>We used computer simulations to confirm that the close link between brain
shape and function is driven by wavelike activity propagating throughout the brain. </p>
<p>The simulations relied on a simple wave model that is widely used to study other physical phenomena, such as earthquakes and ocean currents. The model only uses the shape of the brain to constrain how the waves evolve through time and space.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529215/original/file-20230531-23-380kl.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An animation showing multicoloured waves of activity propagating around the brain." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529215/original/file-20230531-23-380kl.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529215/original/file-20230531-23-380kl.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529215/original/file-20230531-23-380kl.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529215/original/file-20230531-23-380kl.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529215/original/file-20230531-23-380kl.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529215/original/file-20230531-23-380kl.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529215/original/file-20230531-23-380kl.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Simulations of waves in the brain resemble real activity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Pang</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite its simplicity, this model explained brain activity better than a more sophisticated, <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/23/7886">state-of-the-art model</a> that tries to capture key physiological details of neuronal activity and the intricate pattern of connectivity between different brain regions.</p>
<p>We also found that most of the 10,000 different brain maps that we studied were associated with activity patterns spanning nearly the entire brain. This result again challenges conventional wisdom that activity during tasks occurs in discrete, isolated regions of the brain. In fact, it indicates that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661397010012">traditional approaches to brain mapping</a> may only reveal the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding how the brain works.</p>
<p>Together, our findings suggest that current models of brain function need to be updated. Rather than focusing solely on how signals pass between discrete regions, we should also investigate how waves of excitation travel through the brain. </p>
<p>In other words, ripples in a pond may be a more appropriate analogy for large-scale brain function than a telecommunication network.</p>
<h2>A new approach to brain mapping</h2>
<p>Our approach draws on centuries of work in physics and engineering. In these fields, the function of a system is understood with respect to the constraints imposed by its structure, as embodied by the system’s eigenmodes. </p>
<p>This approach has not been traditionally used in neuroscience. Instead, typical brain mapping methods rely on <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hbm.460020402">complex statistics to quantify brain activity</a> without any reference to the underlying physical and anatomical basis of those patterns.</p>
<p>The use of eigenmodes offers a way to use physical principles to understand how diverse patterns of activity arise from brain anatomy. </p>
<p>Our discovery also offers immediate practical benefits, since eigenmodes of brain shape are much simpler to quantify than those of brain connectivity.</p>
<p>This new approach opens possibilities for studying how brain shape affects function through evolution, development and ageing, and in brain disease.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/illuminating-the-brain-one-neuron-and-synapse-at-a-time-5-essential-reads-about-how-researchers-are-using-new-tools-to-map-its-structure-and-function-187607">Illuminating the brain one neuron and synapse at a time – 5 essential reads about how researchers are using new tools to map its structure and function</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fornito receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Australian Research Council, and the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation.. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Pang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research may upend our understanding of the brain, showing that travelling waves of neuronal excitation dominate the activity associated with our thoughts and feelings.James Pang, Research Fellow in Psychology, Monash UniversityAlex Fornito, Professor of Psychology, Turner Institute for Brain & Mental Health, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1942112022-11-16T00:16:26Z2022-11-16T00:16:26ZDo viruses play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s? Uncharted Brain podcast part 3<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494687/original/file-20221110-5951-1ev6rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C716%2C3846%2C2367&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The herpes virus: could it play a role in Alzheimer's disease? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-negatively-stained-transmission-electron-micrograph-tem-of-numerous-30199519.html?imageid=3FB2D82E-CE7E-4AEC-85D3-FB486D05A2DD&p=9949&pn=1&searchId=3caeb13d53fa71294990d14ccdd45a53&searchtype=0">Scott Camazine / Alamy Stock Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are many competing theories about what causes Alzheimer’s disease. For more than 30 years, Ruth Itzhaki has been accumulating evidence that viruses are involved in its development in the brain.</p>
<p>We investigate this evidence in the third episode of <em>Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia</em>, a new podcast series available via <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">The Anthill</a> podcast. </p>
<iframe src="https://embed.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/637264845d3b47001122ce41" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="190px"></iframe>
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<p>Itzhaki, a neurobiologist and Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of Oxford, believes the common cold sore virus (herpes simplex 1 or HSV1) could be playing a vital role in Alzheimer’s. But she has faced years of hostility from many within the scientific community who didn’t take the theory seriously.</p>
<p>Reflecting on a career dedicated to one of the more controversial lines of research, she told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are just so many people who have Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, and of course it’s going to get worse as people live longer … This is another reason why I feel so angry that people are not willing to look, not just at our work but at other outside views which could hold the key – or one of the keys. They should be much more open-minded.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now, though, it seems the tide of opinion is at last turning in Itzhaki’s favour. More researchers have begun developing the research she pioneered, with an <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/2/e032112">anti-viral trial</a> for Alzheimer’s – the first ever – now taking place at Columbia University Medical Center in the US. The leader of that trial, D.P. Devanand told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think what happens is a particular idea or theory gains momentum so everybody follows that … [and] loses track of the fact that there may be other things that you need to consider. And to some extent that did happen in the field of Alzheimer’s, but at least now I think it’s a much broader approach. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Listen to the full episode to hear more about the role that viruses may play in Alzheimer’s, from some of the scientists at the forefront of this research. You can also <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-work-investigating-the-links-between-viruses-and-alzheimers-disease-was-dismissed-for-years-but-now-the-evidence-is-building-184201">read an article that Ruth Itzhaki</a> wrote about her research as part of The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/insights">Insights project</a>. </p>
<p><em>Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia</em> is hosted by Paul Keaveny, investigations editor at The Conversation in the UK, and Gemma Ware, co-host of The Conversation Weekly podcast. The series is produced and written by Tiffany Cassidy, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive producer is Gemma Ware.</p>
<p>All episodes of the series are available on <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-anthill/view">The Anthill</a> podcast channel. </p>
<p>You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also sign up to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dana Cairns does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. D. P. Devanand has received research grants from the National Institute on Aging and Alzheimer's Association that are funding his clinical trials on valacyclovir treatment of Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment, respectively.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Itzhaki is currently working with Dr David Kaplan and Dr Dana Cairns at Tufts University on the effects of infection on their 3D brain model. Also with Professors Ken Muir and Curtis Dobson and Dr Artitaya Lophatananon at Manchester University on epidemiological aspects of HSV1 and Alzheimer's.</span></em></p>Listen to the third episode of our series Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia via The Anthill podcast.Paul Keaveny, Investigations Editor, Insights, The ConversationGemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1942012022-11-16T00:12:59Z2022-11-16T00:12:59ZHow a study which began just after the end of the second world war is discovering clues to Alzheimer’s – Uncharted Brain podcast part 1<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494688/original/file-20221110-18-3hxhvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C209%2C7106%2C4693&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A study which began in 1946 is unlocking new clues to dementia. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cropped-view-senior-man-playing-puzzles-1272319945">LightField Studios/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scientists have been doing an array of regular health checks on the same group of people since they were born in 1946 – the world’s longest running cohort study. Now the brains of some of its participants are revealing new insights into the risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. </p>
<p>We find out more in the first episode of <em>Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia</em>, a new podcast series available via <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460">The Anthill</a>.</p>
<iframe src="https://embed.acast.com/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/637260070e233c0011b76ce5" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="190px"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-564" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/564/df7570dc1ec7680034215f0ca19d2e0378e13f3b/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Based on a representative sample of 5,362 babies all born in the same week in the UK in 1946, the <a href="https://www.nshd.mrc.ac.uk/">National Survey of Health and Development</a> (NSHD) began as a one-off investigation of the cost of childbirth and the quality and efficiency of obstetric services. From there it became the longest continuously running study of health over the human life course in the world – also known as the British 1946 birth cohort. </p>
<p>Since 2016, just over 500 of the cohort have also been studied for signs of dementia and ageing using cutting-edge imaging and AI technology. The results from these studies have revealed several important insights about risk factors for dementia, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cognitive function in childhood relates to cognitive performance 70 years later.</li>
<li>Education does not just increase opportunities but is significantly associated with brain health in later life.</li>
<li>Midlife appears to be the time when hypertension and cardiovascular risk may influence dementia risk.</li>
</ul>
<p>The journalist <a href="https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/blog/why-ive-been-sharing-my-health-data-for-over-70-years/">David Ward</a> is one of the study participants whose brain is being studied as part of the dementia research. He’s talked and written about what it’s like to be studied in such depth for 76 years. He told us: “I keep saying that when I die, as the coffin goes down the crem, or possibly the church, there will be the national survey with its clipboard, following me and just checking on the size of the coffin – how expensive it was, how many flowers there were on top of it, whether the mourners were all wearing black, all this stuff … I love it.” </p>
<p>Marcus Richards and Jon Schott, two of the researchers from UCL in the UK behind the study, told us they were “humbled” by the devotion showed by study members. They take responsibility in knowing so much about them, and providing a duty of care when they detect problems. Schott told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The aspiration for this study is that it’ll be the first ever cradle-to-grave study, and it will follow people through their natural life course.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He said that within the next 15 years, as the participants reach their 90s, it’s likely a lot will develop dementia. “My hope is that within that timescale, we may have new therapies and new treatments that can help,” he added.</p>
<p>Listen to the episode to find out more about the findings and their significance. You can also read an article that <a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-been-studying-the-same-people-for-76-years-this-is-what-weve-found-out-about-alzheimers-disease-183949">Marcus Richards and Jon Schott wrote</a> about their research as part of The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/insights">Insights project</a>. </p>
<p><em>Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia</em> is hosted by Paul Keaveny, investigations editor at The Conversation in the UK and Gemma Ware, co-host of The Conversation Weekly podcast. The series is produced and written by Tiffany Cassidy with sound design by Eloise Stevens. The executive producer is Gemma Ware.</p>
<p>All episodes of the series are available on <a href="https://podfollow.com/the-anthill/view">The Anthill</a> podcast channel. </p>
<p>You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also sign up to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Richards receives funding from the UK Medical Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan M Schott receives funding from Alzheimer's Research UK, Medical Research Council, Alzheimer's Association, Selfridge's Group Foundation, Brain Research UK, the Wolfson Foundation and the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre. He is Chief Medical Office for Alzheimer's Research UK and Clinical Advisor to UK Dementia Research Institute.</span></em></p>Listen to the first episode of our series Uncharted Brain: Decoding Dementia via The Anthill podcast.Paul Keaveny, Investigations Editor, Insights, The ConversationGemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1759862022-02-14T20:03:11Z2022-02-14T20:03:11ZHow recess helps students learn<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445989/original/file-20220211-15-l0twvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C4004&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Giving kids time outside for physical and social activity helps them get ready to learn.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/weaverville-elementary-school-students-play-during-recess-news-photo/1228186292">Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As parents and schools seek to support <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcv2.12005">students’ social and emotional needs</a> – and teach them what they need to learn – some education leaders are missing one particularly effective opportunity.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Education has offered guidance on <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/lost-instructional-time.pdf">how to help students navigate the stress and trauma</a> of the pandemic and readjust to in-person schooling after long periods of closed schools. But as someone <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=73yFKNcAAAAJ">who studies recess</a> in connection with child development, I couldn’t help but notice recess was missing from the federal guidance and from many local efforts to support students as the pandemic continues to unfold.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1249%2FMSS.0000000000001936">physical activity</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2019.1633924">social connection</a> that take place at recess help children’s brains work and develop properly by lowering their levels of stress, regulating their nervous system and allowing them to be more engaged once back in the classroom. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Children play on a playground structure" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many school playgrounds were closed during the pandemic. This one in Brentwood, Calif., reopened in May 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/school-board-member-nick-melvoin-and-local-district-west-news-photo/1316128584">Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG, MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stress and the brain</h2>
<p>The brain function of a person in a calm state is largely governed by the prefrontal cortex, which handles what are often called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415622634">executive functions</a>” and the ability to regulate behavior and emotions. This makes it possible for people to follow instructions, use context clues to solve problems, pay attention and incorporate new information into existing knowledge. People with higher levels of executive function tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.01.014">perform better in school</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1076/chin.9.4.267.23513">feel better about themselves</a>. </p>
<p>The brain function of a person under high levels of distress shifts to less advanced areas of the brain that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2010.00145.x">handle more reactive behaviors</a>. This disrupts those executive functions and can make the person withdrawn, distractible or hyperactive. All of those can interfere with the person’s ability to learn.</p>
<p>This stress-related shift in brain function can also affect students’ motivation. Chronic, prolonged and unpredictable stress <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s12276-020-00532-4">inhibits the release of dopamine</a>, a brain chemical that helps people feel a sense of pleasure and reward during learning. In this state, learning challenges are likely to be perceived as threats, which will continue to activate more reactive brain regions and more deeply hurt the person’s ability to learn.</p>
<h2>3 ways recess helps learning</h2>
<p>The opportunity to spend time outdoors playing is so important that the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text-childrens-version">United Nations has declared it a right of every child</a>. My research collaborators and I have found that when children have recess in a safe environment that includes positive interactions with adults and peers, students have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13065">fewer problems with executive functions and better classroom behavior</a>. Brain science research supports this by showing how three <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.03.001">different aspects of recess decrease stress</a> and improve executive function, helping children learn more successfully throughout the school day.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C5025%2C3335&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A child wearing a mask kicks a soccer ball in the air as other kids stand nearby" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C5025%2C3335&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">When students have time to play outside during school, their brains return to class more ready to learn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakCalifornia/a6276d557ed04e26b57b6baaa7f934c7/photo">AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez</a></span>
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<ol>
<li><p>My research shows kids get a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.07.005">large proportion of their outdoor and movement time</a> at recess. We know that getting more physical activity at school is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021766">better for executive functions and can actually increase academic performance</a> </p></li>
<li><p>My research also shows that recess is full of repetitive and patterned movements – <a href="https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-018-3861-0/tables/2">running and chasing, swinging, playing ball games and jumping rope</a> – which <a href="https://www.childtrauma.org/_files/ugd/aa51c7_9f78028438d44cf7b5aac0ac8639de4f.pdf">restore students’ access to higher-level brain</a> functions. This is why multiple recess opportunities each day, at regular intervals, can improve students’ <a href="https://jkw.wskw.org/index.php/jkw/article/view/98/174">attention, learning and overall well-being</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Recess is a time when kids can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2014.932504">form meaningful relationships</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543063001051">practice social skills</a> – which can be critical to <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1037%2F0022-0663.100.1.67">success in school</a>.</p></li>
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<p>Research clearly shows the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00537.x">benefits of recess for children</a>. Consistent, predictable recess time – even more than once a day – helps children reduce stress, form social connections at school and get their brains more ready to learn.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Massey has received funding from S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation; U.S. Play Coalition, Playworks. </span></em></p>The physical activity and social connection that take place at recess help children be more engaged once back in the classroom.William Massey, Assistant Professor of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653422021-08-19T10:43:09Z2021-08-19T10:43:09ZThe biological switch that could turn neuroplasticity on and off in the brain – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416766/original/file-20210818-27-1r7iutw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=161%2C224%2C5757%2C3592&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Astrocytes: these cells could be part of the key to unlocking the mystery of how brains change their structure. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/astrocytes-brain-glial-cells-3d-illustration-1412136197">Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast is taking a short break in August. For the next few weeks we’re bringing you extended versions of some our favourite interviews from the past few months.</em></p>
<p>This week, how researchers discovered a biological switch that could turn neuroplasticity on and off in the brain. What might that mean?</p>
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<p>Neuroplasticity is the ability of neurons in the brain to change their structure. It’s what allows the brains of young animals to change more easily than brains of old animals – and it’s one of the reasons why it’s easier for children to learn languages than adults. </p>
<p>There’s still a lot researchers don’t know about this critical function of the brain. But we do know that many diseases are caused by too little or too much neuroplasticity, and so being able to dial it up or down could have some really important medical benefits. </p>
<p>Sarah Ackerman, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Neuroscience and Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Oregon, studies fruit flies and the mechanisms that turn neuroplasticity on and off in their brains. She talked to us about her team’s <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03441-2">new research findings</a> into how these changes are controlled by a type of brain cell called astrocytes. The goal is to help fight diseases, but this work could also potentially unlock the superpowered learning that comes with a malleable brain. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/astrocyte-cells-in-the-fruit-fly-brain-are-an-on-off-switch-that-controls-when-neurons-can-change-and-grow-158601">Astrocyte cells in the fruit fly brain are an on-off switch that controls when neurons can change and grow</a>
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<p>This episode of The Conversation Weekly features an extended version of an interview <a href="https://theconversation.com/scotland-why-may-election-is-crucial-for-independence-movement-and-the-uk-podcast-159883">first published on April 29</a>. The episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/?hl=en">theconversationdotcom</a>. or via email on podcast@theconversation.com. You can also sign up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter?utm_campaign=PodcastTCWeekly&utm_content=newsletter&utm_source=podcast">The Conversation’s free daily email here</a>.</p>
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From the archive: new research helps unpick clues about the brain’s ability to change its structure. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly PodcastDaniel Merino, Associate Breaking News Editor and Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly PodcastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1459182021-05-12T12:47:02Z2021-05-12T12:47:02ZPregnant women’s brains show troubling signs of stress – but feeling strong social support can break those patterns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399485/original/file-20210507-19-lqcsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=970%2C1389%2C5772%2C3928&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just feeling that there's someone out there she can count on can help a mom-to-be.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/beautiful-young-pregnant-woman-relaxing-on-balcony-royalty-free-image/999890406">d3sign/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Even before the pandemic, there was plenty for expectant mothers to worry about. Pregnant women must withstand a barrage of arguably well-intentioned, but often hyperbolic, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/things-not-to-do-while-pregnant#dont-eat-these-foods">warnings about their health and what’s to come</a>, including concerns about everything from what to eat, to what to wear, to how to feel. Health professionals know that <a href="https://adaa.org/find-help-for/women/perinatalmoodisorders">mothers-to-be experience predictable increases in anxiety levels</a> before infants are born. <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2021/one-year-pandemic-stress-parents">Maternal mental health has been steadily deteriorating</a> in the U.S., particularly among poor and minority women.</p>
<p>The calls to “be afraid, be very afraid” are, of course, countered by the equally strong cautions for pregnant women to not worry too much, lest it lead to long-term negative outcomes for them and their infants.</p>
<p>Such warnings are not entirely off base. Maternal stress hormones cross the placenta and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2017-02140">affect the vulnerable fetus</a>. Fetal exposure to the stress hormone cortisol has been linked to an array of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00207450701820944">negative outcomes</a>, including miscarriage and preterm birth, and irritable temperament for the child and increased risk of emotional problems during childhood. One thing researchers know is that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890856709625478">anxious mothers tend to have anxious children</a>. This common, albeit not prescriptive, phenomenon is likely due to numerous factors, both pre- and postpartum.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=l2DzSjIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">In our laboratory</a>, we focus on what happens when women start their pregnancies already worried or anxious and what clues we can uncover about how to help them and their children. Our research suggests that worry during pregnancy can have long-term impacts on how mothers’ brains communicate – but also that there might be some simple steps that can help rein in the effects.</p>
<h2>Maternal brains change during pregnancy</h2>
<p>The fetal brain isn’t the only one that is vulnerable during pregnancy. There’s evidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4458">the maternal brain reorganizes</a> in ways that likely prepare a pregnant woman to care for another human being. The experience of stress during pregnancy can thus hijack a period of change meant to allow for positive adaptations and instead open the door for anxiety problems.</p>
<p>We are interested in whether there might be easy, approachable ways to offset some of these negative effects. So we invite pregnant women into our lab, where we can record their naturally occurring brain activity using electroencephalography. This EEG technique gives us a great sense of how quickly and how strongly brains react to particular stimuli.</p>
<p>In a recent study from our lab, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13647">measured pregnant women’s neural reactivity</a> while they viewed emotional and nonemotional pictures. For most people, including pregnant women, their brains show more activity when they’re presented with a negative image or sound – like a crying baby – than with a neutral image or sound – such as a blanket.</p>
<p>We found that for some women in their third trimester of pregnancy, this effect was disrupted; instead of reacting more strongly to a negative image, expectant mothers’ brains showed the same response to negative and neutral pictures. Basically these mothers-to-be did not, at the neural level, distinguish neutral from negative images.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399494/original/file-20210507-13-1s9x3ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="visualization of brain electrical activity over time" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399494/original/file-20210507-13-1s9x3ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399494/original/file-20210507-13-1s9x3ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399494/original/file-20210507-13-1s9x3ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399494/original/file-20210507-13-1s9x3ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399494/original/file-20210507-13-1s9x3ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399494/original/file-20210507-13-1s9x3ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399494/original/file-20210507-13-1s9x3ev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Using EEG, researchers recorded the electrical activity of women’s brains when they saw neutral (in black) and negative (in red) images and compared the responses over time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tristin Nyman and Rebecca Brooker</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>We can’t be sure whether what we observed was these women’s brains reacting to neutral pictures as though they were negative, or to negative pictures as though they were neutral. But we did see that the difference between the two emotional categories was smaller compared to what we would expect.</p>
<p>In the context of our interest in worry and anxiety, this finding is concerning. It looks like these women are at risk of responding to even nonthreatening information as though it is problematic. That is, the line between what is worrisome and what should not be becomes blurred, even at the level of neural activity. Other research suggests that this may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.09.003">hurt the mother-infant relationship over time</a>. Researchers found that when women’s brains were more reactive to neutral information, similar to what we think may be happening in our study, mothers reported more difficulty interpreting emotions in their infant.</p>
<p>Critically, though, we saw this mixed-up reaction only in pregnant women who reported having low levels of social support. We asked our volunteers to create lists of people they felt they could talk to if they were in a difficult situation or needed help. We also asked them to tell us if they thought, as they reflected on these lists, that the social support available to them was adequate. When women reported more satisfaction with their social support networks, the neural response was just as we expected, with a clear distinction between negative and neutral information.</p>
<p>Our findings are consistent with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.01.038">studies of nonpregnant individuals</a>, suggesting that adequate social support calms the body’s responses to stress. Our work identifies social support as a specific and easily targeted step for protecting pregnant women in ways that can influence neural function during a sensitive period of reorganization.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399787/original/file-20210510-5687-1no81ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="family portrait of multiple generations with pregnant woman in the center" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399787/original/file-20210510-5687-1no81ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399787/original/file-20210510-5687-1no81ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399787/original/file-20210510-5687-1no81ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399787/original/file-20210510-5687-1no81ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399787/original/file-20210510-5687-1no81ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399787/original/file-20210510-5687-1no81ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399787/original/file-20210510-5687-1no81ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">What mattered was whether a woman felt that she was supported during pregnancy, not an objective reality of how many people were on standby to help her.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-family-relaxing-at-home-royalty-free-image/961476054">Cavan Images/Cavan via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Adequate support is in the eye of the beholder</h2>
<p>What especially caught our eye in these findings is that we used a measure of social support that was based on a woman’s perception about how much backup was available to her should she need it. Whether or not her belief is accurate is unknown.</p>
<p>However, more and more neuroscientific evidence underscores the degree to which people live in their own subjective realities. It is intuitive, and supported by <a href="https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/hastorf_cantril_saw_game.html">decades of work</a> in sociology <a href="https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/product/Social-Psychology/p/1319191789">and social psychology</a>, that people base their thoughts, feelings and actions on what they believe to be true about the world regardless of whether it’s accurate.</p>
<p>In this case, a woman’s feelings about her available social support are based on how good she feels about that network rather than whether anyone else thinks she has enough people to talk to if a problem arises.</p>
<p>It follows, then, that changing a mom-to-be’s perception that she has sufficient social support can change the way that her brain processes emotional information to make it more closely resemble typical, healthy function.</p>
<p>Our research suggests there’s an easy and inexpensive way to support pregnant mothers that can alter neural reactivity to negative information and may serve to protect both maternal and child outcomes – simply help mom feel more supported. That doesn’t need to mean encouraging women to join clubs or groups or find new friends or therapists. Rather, pregnant women may benefit from simply recognizing the power and benefit of the networks they already have in place.</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145918/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Brooker receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. Research discussed in the article was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tristin Nyman receives funding from the the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health. The content she shares here is solely her responsibility and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p>Fetal brains are changing rapidly over the course of pregnancy, but so are the brains of mothers-to-be. Neuroscience research shows one way worry can start taking hold – and a simple way to help.Rebecca Brooker, Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityTristin Nyman, Ph.D. Student in Psychological & Brain Sciences, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1598832021-04-29T10:54:32Z2021-04-29T10:54:32ZScotland: Why May election is crucial for independence movement, and the UK – podcast<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly podcast</a>, as Scotland prepares to vote in landmark parliamentary elections on May 6, we explore why the question of independence from the UK is dominating the debate. And a team of researchers working with fruit flies, has discovered a biological switch that can turn neuroplasticity on and off in the brain. What might that mean?</p>
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<p>It’s been seven years since Scotland voted to remain in the UK in the 2014 independence referendum. At the time, it was billed as a once-in-a-generation vote, but now Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, argues that the UK’s Brexit from the European Union is a change significant enough to warrant a second referendum. Meanwhile, support has been growing for independence <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3ea5b867-9a3c-404e-b2f9-c644fee4e3bd">over the past few years</a>.</p>
<p>Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) is the largest pro-independence group. If pro-independence parties hold a majority in the Scottish parliament after the May 6 election – Sturgeon will ask the UK government in Westminster, led by Boris Johnson, for a second referendum on Scottish independence. But he’s unlikely to agree. </p>
<p>In this episode, we speak to three experts to explain what’s at stake and what could happen next. Kezia Dugdale, is director of the <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/johnsmith/">John Smith Centre</a> and a lecturer in public policy at the University of Glasgow, as well as a former leader of the Scottish Labour Party. She explains that a person’s stance on independence is “still the biggest dominating factor over how you will vote in party-political terms” in Scotland. Dugdale predicts that if there is a pro-independence majority, but Johnson’s government refuses to grant Scotland permission to hold a second referendum, “there’ll be a lot of Punch and Judy-style back and forth”. But she says that every time the UK government says no it will work in the SNP’s favour because, “it reaffirms everything they tell the electorate about the UK government not observing the will of the people of Scotland”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-has-changed-peoples-minds-on-independence-qanda-with-kezia-dugdale-former-scottish-labour-leader-159858">'Brexit has changed people's minds on independence': Q&A with Kezia Dugdale, former Scottish Labour leader</a>
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<p>Darren Nyatanga, a PhD candidate at the University of Liverpool, where he’s researching the constitutional impacts of Brexit on the UK union, explains the process through which a second referendum could happen. He says the referendum’s legitimacy is vital, particularly given the SNP’s wish for an independent Scotland to rejoin the EU. “If the EU does not recognise the legitimacy of independence,” he says, then its unlikely they will be forthcoming in “accepting them as a member state”.</p>
<p>And economist Graeme Roy, dean of external engagement at the <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/socialsciences/">College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow</a>, sets out the economic arguments used by both sides in the independence debate. Roy says that a lot has changed economically for Scotland since the 2014 referendum, particularly due to falling revenues from North Sea oil. “That really matters in a Scottish context,” he says, because it has higher public expenditure than the rest of the UK, “so oil revenues would have been one way to help it support that.”</p>
<p>For our next story, we hear about some new research into neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to change its structure. The brains of young animals can change more easily than adults – which is why, for example, kids can learn languages more easily than adults. Many diseases are caused by to little or too much neuroplasticity – and being able to turn it off and on has obvious medical benefits. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03441-2">New research</a> published recently by Sarah Ackerman, postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Neuroscience and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Oregon, and her team, on their research using fruit flies, looked into what controls these changes. The goal is to help fight diseases, but this work could also potentially unlock the superpowered learning that comes with a malleable brain. We talk to her about what she’s found. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/astrocyte-cells-in-the-fruit-fly-brain-are-an-on-off-switch-that-controls-when-neurons-can-change-and-grow-158601">Astrocyte cells in the fruit fly brain are an on-off switch that controls when neurons can change and grow</a>
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<p>And Moina Spooner, commissioning editor at The Conversation in Nairobi, Kenya, gives us her recommended reads for the week.</p>
<p>The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/?hl=en">theconversationdotcom</a>. or via email on podcast@theconversation.com. You can also sign up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter?utm_campaign=PodcastTCWeekly&utm_content=newsletter&utm_source=podcast">The Conversation’s free daily email here</a>.</p>
<p>A transcript of this episode <a href="https://theconversation.com/scottish-independence-whats-at-stake-in-may-elections-160042">is available here.</a></p>
<p>News clips in this episode are from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TmUP1StPf0">BBC</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlMKebueygY">News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNMA9kra_fg">ITV</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYJPh0TIPKQ">Sky News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWNjKsUJnQU">Channel 4 News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7GM4nK5axc">The Telegraph</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1PQBND3Xa4">CBS News</a>. </p>
<p><em>You can listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a>, or find out how else to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159883/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Plus, how researchers have discovered a biological switch that can turn neuroplasticity on and off in the brain. Listen to episode 13 of The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly PodcastDaniel Merino, Associate Breaking News Editor and Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly PodcastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1032572018-10-02T08:57:25Z2018-10-02T08:57:25ZPhantosmia: when you smell smells that aren’t there<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238467/original/file-20180928-72336-5kri1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/549368284?src=FqiGfofHNKI67U7_1pf7Tw-1-74&size=huge_jpg">file404/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever smelled odours other people can’t smell? If you have, you may have experienced phantosmia – the medical name for a smell hallucination. </p>
<p>Phantosmia odours are often foul; some people smell faeces or sewage, others describe smelling smoke or chemicals. These episodes can be sparked by a loud noise or change in the flow of air entering your nostrils. Spookily, some people seem to have a premonition that they are <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/fullarticle/482912">going to happen</a>. The first time they occur, the phantom smell can linger for a few minutes, and the episodes may repeat daily, weekly or monthly for up to a year. </p>
<p>Since our sense of smell dominates the flavour of food in our mouth, any food consumed during a phantosmic episode will be tainted with the properties of the phantom odour. It is easy to see how these symptoms can severely affect a person’s quality of life. In extreme cases, it can even induce <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/31ed/fbc664380bb907fb91b958114b33b650fc76.pdf">suicidal thoughts</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-strange-science-of-odour-memory-74403">The strange science of odour memory</a>
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</p>
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<h2>Related conditions</h2>
<p>People with phantosmia often also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5863552/">report a closely related condition</a> known as “parosmia”. This is where an actual smell is perceived as something quite different, such as the smell of a rose being perceived as cinnamon, although it is more often perceived as something unpleasant. </p>
<p>Both phantosmia and parosmia are known as “qualitative olfactory disorders” in that it is the perceived quality of the odour that has changed. In contrast, quantitative disorders are where the strength of the odour has changed and include conditions such as anosmia (loss of sense of smell) and hyperosmia (enhanced sense of smell to an abnormal level). Quantitative conditions can be measured using an objective standardised test. </p>
<p>It is rare for someone to experience phantosmias without some other existing quantitative condition, such as anosmia. And, interestingly, phantosmias are often found in the nostril with the least sense of smell. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/seeing-music-or-tasting-numbers-heres-what-we-can-learn-from-people-with-synaesthesia-71758">'Seeing' music or 'tasting' numbers? Here's what we can learn from people with synaesthesia</a>
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<h2>Who gets it?</h2>
<p>Usually, the first phantosmia experience happens between <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Distortion+of+olfactory+perception%3A+diagnosis+and+treatment.+Leopold+D">15 and 30 years of age and appears to affect more females than males</a>. It has been found in a number of different patient populations, including those with depression, migraine, epilepsy and schizophrenia. </p>
<p>Rates for phantosmia vary widely from 0.8 to 25%, being much higher for those people <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1097/00005537-199606000-00014">with existing olfactory conditions</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238477/original/file-20180928-48665-mjc0fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238477/original/file-20180928-48665-mjc0fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238477/original/file-20180928-48665-mjc0fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238477/original/file-20180928-48665-mjc0fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238477/original/file-20180928-48665-mjc0fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238477/original/file-20180928-48665-mjc0fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238477/original/file-20180928-48665-mjc0fu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In extreme situations, people have an olfactory bulb removed by surgery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/nasal-receptors-olfactory-bulb-vector-666118021?src=wrUurLu55Rqtb4S8z5vrCw-1-1">gritsalak karalak/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>We don’t know what causes phantosmia, but it is thought to originate from either central brain areas, including those that control emotion or peripheral areas more related to smell function, such as those areas involved in detecting odours. </p>
<p>Some people find that administering saline drops to the nose can alleviate the phantosmia, as can drugs used to treat existing neurological conditions, such as antidepressants and anti-epileptic medication. In extreme situations, and only after extensive medical consultation, some patients have the offending olfactory bulb (we have one for each nostril – see illustration above) removed by surgery, but this is a <a href="https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/62231/">very risky procedure</a> and would lead to permanent loss of smell for that nostril. Fortunately, though, phantosmia usually resolves on its own without the need for treatment. </p>
<p>If you start to smell odours that others can’t, you might wish to consult your GP, if only to rule out serious underlying disorders that may be causing the phantom smell. But just remember that in the vast majority of cases, phantosmia is a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20714205">harmless condition</a> rather than a sign of a serious underlying condition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorenzo Stafford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Smelling odours that aren’t there can be annoying. It can also be a sign of a serious underlying condition.Lorenzo Stafford, Senior Lecturer, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/894392018-02-06T11:36:31Z2018-02-06T11:36:31ZTeens aren’t just risk machines – there’s a method to their madness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204906/original/file-20180205-14083-1bn3d07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C22%2C1111%2C718&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just because everyone else is doing it...</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shanepope/2661228337">Shane Pope</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You know the conventional wisdom: Adolescents are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/well/family/teenagers-do-dumb-things-but-there-are-ways-to-limit-recklessness.html">impulsive by nature</a>, like bombs <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/opinion/sunday/the-dangers-of-friends.html">ready to go off</a> at the most minor trigger. Parents feel they must cross their fingers and hope no one lights the fuse that will lead to an explosion. Adults often try restricting and monitoring teens’ behavior, in an effort to protect these seemingly unthinking riskseekers. That’s the tale told in the media, anyway.</p>
<p>Neuroscience evidence has seemed to bolster the case that adolescents are just wired to make bad decisions. Studies suggest that brain regions associated with self-control and long-term planning, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00712.x">such as the prefrontal cortex</a>, are still developing. At the same time, adolescence is a time of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.07.083">increased activity in a brain region associated with reward</a>, the ventral striatum. The story goes that these out-of-control teens are both extra sensitive to rewards and unable to rein in impulses – and thus naturally risky. They just can’t control themselves because their brains are unevenly developed.</p>
<p>As psychologists who focus on adolescents and their developing brains, we believe that teens have gotten an unfair rap. There are important developmental reasons adolescents act the way they do. They’re driven to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3313">explore their environments and learn</a> everything they can about their surroundings. A teenager’s job, developmentally speaking, is to try out new behaviors and roles. Doing that sometimes involves risk – but not necessarily risk for its own sake.</p>
<h2>Teens have their own priorities</h2>
<p>Adolescents are just as capable as adults of controlling their behaviors to achieve their goals.</p>
<p>In fact, adolescents are actually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.07.007">more accurate than adults</a> at laboratory tasks that measure cognitive control; they do just fine at things like updating knowledge of rules when they change or maintaining numbers in working memory. Person-to-person differences in these types of abilities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2345-13.2013">within age groups are larger</a> than the effect of being an adolescent or an adult.</p>
<p>Adolescents even do just as well, if not better, than adults at tasks that come with potential rewards. For example, adolescents are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhp225">faster and more accurate</a> than adults at refraining from pressing a button when they know strong performance on the task comes with a reward. Teens <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02121.x">perform better even in emotional contexts</a> if they are rewarded for success. </p>
<p>In both of these scenarios, being focused on getting a reward is helpful. In fact, if the stakes are high, teens <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12092">are more deliberative</a> and show more activity in control regions of the brain than adults.</p>
<p>However, if researchers use incentives as a distraction, teens <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2010.01.006">do worse than adults</a> at tasks that involve cognitive control. For example, one study found adolescents were slower and less accurate at ignoring previously rewarding stimuli when they need to direct their decision-making attention elsewhere.</p>
<p>So teens don’t make decisions like adults. The real difference lies in what adolescents value: Gaining peer acceptance or a reward may outweigh the value adults place on delaying reward for a long-term nonsocial goal, such as financial stability.</p>
<h2>A time of exploration and learning</h2>
<p>Way back in human evolutionary history, when lifespans were shorter, adolescents needed to explore their world to find food and mates. While stakes are different for modern teens, exploration is still important, as they learn skills essential for adulthood. Adolescence is the time when teens master how to navigate social relationships, develop more of a sense of who they are, and figure out how to do things independently.</p>
<p>Learning and exploring, by definition, require teens to have experiences where the outcome is unknown in advance. A big part of that means taking some risks to explore and figure out new information.</p>
<p>Imagine never leaving your neighborhood because you know it’s safe. Walking to a new area might be more dangerous, but it could offer better restaurants or more part-time jobs. It might also provide more diverse social opportunities, such as team sports or exposure to additional romantic prospects.</p>
<p>The essence of exploration is venturing into the unknown for the chance at something better.</p>
<p>This plays in to the way adolescents have a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40962">greater tolerance for ambiguity</a> than adults. Given the chance at winning a greater reward, teens are more willing to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1207144109">choose an option with more “risk,”</a> or uncertainty of winning or losing, than the “safe” option where the odds of winning and losing are spelled out.</p>
<p>In the end, learning about the world necessarily involves risk. You don’t know for sure what you might learn until you try it. This fact is reflected in the brain’s architecture, as the same regions recruited during reward processing and risk taking are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02174-z">also involved in learning</a>. In fact, the people who activated those reward regions the most during a risk-taking task in the lab also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01061">learned the fastest on the task</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204907/original/file-20180205-14089-1pofbr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Teens are negotiating their internal and external worlds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/9365503766">Ed Yourdon</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Exploring the self</h2>
<p>There is one other aspect of adolescent exploration that doesn’t fit with the standard story: It looks different from teen to teen. Most teenagers aren’t the stereotypical whirlwinds of risk taking. If adolescence is focused on learning about the world more than taking risks for their own sake, then many teens will learn without putting themselves in harm’s way. What determines the nature of teenage exploration?</p>
<p>Part of the task of adolescence is trying out different “selves” and discovering who you are. Adolescent exploration helps teens form their identity. This period is a time of increased autonomy, socialization and self-consciousness.</p>
<p>The ways teens choose to explore their world depend on <a href="https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WH7NT">how they think about themselves and their social world</a>. For example, consider a high schooler deciding to ditch soccer practice to talk to a crush or sneak to the mall. Does the teen identify as an athlete? Is soccer an important part of her self? Do her friends compare who scored more goals?</p>
<p>Across adolescence, teens begin to actively question and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9401-4">think about their identity</a>. Regions of the brain that help process self and social information also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nss113">continue to mature during these years</a>. When teens think about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2014.01.003">themselves and what other people think about them</a>, these same brain regions light up.</p>
<p>An intriguing finding is that the same brain region that plays a role in learning and reward processing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4074-12.2013">is also active</a> when teens think about themselves. Such an overlap hints that for teens, evaluating themselves is intertwined with learning about themselves, too - and they may be intrinsically motivated to do both. </p>
<h2>Consider what teens are trying to do</h2>
<p>Much of the public discussion about teens surrounds why they take seemingly needless risks. A better way of thinking about adolescence might be as a sensitive period for learning about oneself and exploring the social world.</p>
<p>Sometimes exploration can lead to more risk taking. But those risks are taken in service of preparing for adulthood, by acquiring skills and knowledge; and not all learning involves risk.</p>
<p>What does this mean for parents and teachers? Some teen behavior appears irrational or distasteful to adults. Adult and teen brains face different challenges and so they value different things. Teens are still exploring the world that adults have already come to know. When judging teens, adults should consider the elevated value to adolescents of learning about themselves and their social world. Their behavior might start to seem less irrational.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Flannery receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elliot Berkman manages Berkman Consultants, LLC. He receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Pfeifer receives funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She is part of the leadership for the Center on the Developing Adolescent. </span></em></p>Adolescents have important developmental work to do. Despite what worried grownups think, taking needless risks isn’t the goal for teens. Being risky is part of exploring and learning about the world.Jessica Flannery, Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology, University of OregonElliot Berkman, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of OregonJennifer Pfeifer, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/896922018-01-05T11:21:37Z2018-01-05T11:21:37ZHow Alzheimer’s disease spreads throughout the brain – new study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200907/original/file-20180105-26154-13d7znc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Harmful tau protein spreads through networks. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating brain illness that affects an <a href="https://www.alz.org/global/">estimated 47m people</a> worldwide. It is the most common cause of dementia in the Western world. Despite this, there are currently no treatments that are effective in curing Alzheimer’s disease or preventing its relentless progression.</p>
<p>Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the build-up of two abnormal proteins, beta-amyloid and tau. Tau is particularly important because it causes neurons and their connections to die, preventing brain regions from communicating with each other normally. In the majority of cases, tau pathology first appears in the memory centres of the brain, known as the entorhinal cortex and hippocampal formation. This has been shown to occur many years before patients have any symptoms of disease. </p>
<p>Over time, tau begins to appear in increasing quantities throughout the brain. This causes the characteristic progression of symptoms in Alzheimer’s diseases, where initial memory loss is followed by more widespread changes in thinking and behaviour that lead to a loss of independence. How this occurs has been controversial. </p>
<h2>Transneuronal spread</h2>
<p>In our study, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/brain/awx347/4775021">published in Brain</a>, we provide the first evidence from humans that tau spreads between connected neurons. This is an important step, because stopping this spread at an early stage might prevent or freeze the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. </p>
<p>This idea, called “transneuronal spread”, has been proposed before and is supported by studies in mice. If abnormal tau is injected into a healthy mouse brain, it quickly spreads and causes the mice to manifest dementia symptoms. However, it had not previously been shown that this same process occurs in humans. The evidence from mouse studies was controversial, as the amount of tau injected was relatively high, and disease progression occurred much more rapidly than it does in humans. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200871/original/file-20180104-26157-wo7nzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200871/original/file-20180104-26157-wo7nzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200871/original/file-20180104-26157-wo7nzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200871/original/file-20180104-26157-wo7nzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200871/original/file-20180104-26157-wo7nzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200871/original/file-20180104-26157-wo7nzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200871/original/file-20180104-26157-wo7nzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200871/original/file-20180104-26157-wo7nzr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artist’s impression of tau spreading between connected neurons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our study, we combined two advanced brain imaging techniques. The first, positron emission tomography (PET), allows us to scan the brain for the presence of specific molecules. With this, we were able to directly observe the abnormal tau in living patients, to see exactly how much of it was present in each part of the brain. </p>
<p>The second, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), measures blood flow in the brain in real time. This allowed us to observe the activity produced by brain regions communicating with each other. For the first time, by scanning the same people with both methods, we were able to directly relate the connections of the brain to the distribution of abnormal tau in living humans with Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>We used a mathematical technique called “graph analysis” to analyse brain connectivity. This technique involved splitting the brain up into 598 regions of equal size. We then treated the connectivity between regions like a social network, assessing factors such as the number of contacts a brain region had, how many “friendship” groups it took part in, and how many of a brain region’s contacts were also contacts of each other. </p>
<p>In a flu epidemic, people <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-networks-will-help-plan-for-the-next-flu-pandemic-22023">with a large number of social contacts</a> are most likely to become infected and then to pass the infection on to others. Similarly, the transneuronal spread hypothesis predicts that strongly connected brain regions will accrue most tau. This is what we observed. This relationship was present within each brain network individually, as well as across the whole brain.</p>
<p>We were also able to exclude potential alternative explanations for the appearance of tau throughout the brain. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627311005617">It had previously been suggested</a> that tau might appear at brain regions that were vulnerable because of high metabolic demand or a lack of support from their neighbours. While it is possible that these factors are important in neuronal death, our observations were not consistent with them being the primary drivers of the initial accumulation of abnormal tau. </p>
<p>In addition, by looking at patients with a range of disease severity, from mild cognitive impairment through to established Alzheimer’s disease, we were able to disentangle the causes of tau accumulation from its consequences. We showed that increasing amounts of tau in Alzheimer’s disease caused the brain to become less connected overall, and the connections that remained became increasingly random.</p>
<h2>Long-range connections</h2>
<p>Finally, we contrasted the findings in Alzheimer’s disease to a rarer condition called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/86/18/1736.short">which affects approximately three in every 100,000 people</a>. This condition is also caused by tau, but it remains confined to the base of the brain. We demonstrated that in PSP the evidence did not support transneuronal spread. This might be because of the different structure of abnormal tau pathology in the two diseases. In Alzheimer’s disease, tau is present in “paired helical filaments”, while in PSP it is in “straight filaments”.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200909/original/file-20180105-26139-1dqt6go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200909/original/file-20180105-26139-1dqt6go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200909/original/file-20180105-26139-1dqt6go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200909/original/file-20180105-26139-1dqt6go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200909/original/file-20180105-26139-1dqt6go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200909/original/file-20180105-26139-1dqt6go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200909/original/file-20180105-26139-1dqt6go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Damaged communications.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-twisted-pair-utp-network-copper-786715279">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We showed that as PSP progresses, direct long-range connections are preferentially damaged, meaning that information had to take a more indirect route across the brain. This might explain why, when asked a question, patients with PSP usually respond slowly but correctly.</p>
<p>Overall, evidence of transneuronal spread in humans with Alzheimer’s disease provides proof of concept for exciting new treatment strategies to lock up tau pathology before it can cause significant damage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas E Cope receives funding from the Patrick Berthoud Charitable Trust and the Association of British Neurologists.
The NIMROD study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and Biomedical Research Unit in Dementia, PSP Association, the Wellcome Trust, and the Medical Research Council. </span></em></p>Harmful proteins spread between connected neurons much like flu spreads through a social network. The finding may provide future opportunities for halting Alzheimer’s.Thomas E Cope, Academic Clinical Fellow, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/850662017-12-05T04:07:42Z2017-12-05T04:07:42ZA new collaborative approach to investigate what happens in the brain when it makes a decision<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197377/original/file-20171202-5392-1edrpfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1319%2C238%2C2973%2C2330&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's going on in there when you decide?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businesswoman-making-decision-360687236">Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Decisions span a vast range of complexity. There are really simple ones: Do I want an apple or a piece of cake with my lunch? Then there are much more complicated ones: Which car should I buy, or which career should I choose?</p>
<p>Neuroscientists like me have identified some of the individual parts of the brain that contribute to making decisions like these. Different areas <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12077">process sounds</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0105-17.2017">sights</a> or pertinent <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05457">prior knowledge</a>. But understanding how these individual players work together as a team is still a challenge, not only in understanding decision-making, but for the whole field of neuroscience.</p>
<p>Part of the reason is that until now, neuroscience has operated in a traditional science research model: Individual labs work on their own, usually focusing on one or a few brain areas. That makes it challenging for any researcher to interpret data collected by another lab, because we all have slight differences in how we run experiments.</p>
<p>Neuroscientists who study decision-making set up all kinds of different games for animals to play, for example, and we collect data on what goes on in the brain when the animal makes a move. When everyone has a different experimental setup and methodology, we can’t determine whether the results from another lab are a clue about something interesting that’s actually going on in the brain or merely a byproduct of equipment differences.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.braininitiative.nih.gov/">The BRAIN Initiative</a>, which the Obama administration launched in 2013, started to encourage the kind of collaboration that neuroscience needs. I just think it hasn’t gone far enough. So I co-founded a project called the <a href="https://www.internationalbrainlab.com/">International Brain Laboratory</a> – a virtual mega-laboratory composed of many labs at different institutions – to show that the proverb “alone we go fast, together we go far” holds true for neuroscience. The first question the collaboration is tackling focuses on decision-making by the brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We know a lot, but not enough, about how the cogs all fit together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/p_revagar/28777007826">Piyushgiri Revagar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The brain’s decision team</h2>
<p>Individual neuroscience labs have already uncovered a lot about how particular brain areas contribute to decision-making.</p>
<p>Say you’re choosing between an apple or a piece of cake to go with lunch. First, you need to know that apples and cake are the two options. That requires action from brain areas that process sensory information – your eyes see the apple’s bright red skin, while your nose takes in the sweet smell of cake.</p>
<p>Those sensory areas often connect to what we call association areas. Researchers have traditionally thought they play a role in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3865">putting different pieces of information</a> together. By collating information from the eyes, the ears and so on, the association areas may give a more coherent, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14066">big-picture view</a> of what’s happening in the world. </p>
<p>And why choose one action over another? That’s a question for the brain’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2008.08.003">reward circuitry</a>, which is critical in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2357">weighing the value of different options</a>. You know that the cake will taste sweetly delicious now, but you might regret it when you’re heading to the gym later.</p>
<p>Then, there’s the frontal cortex, which is believed to play a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35036228">role in controlling voluntary action</a>. Research suggests it’s involved in committing to a particular action once enough incoming information has arrived. It’s the part of the brain that might tell you the piece of cake smells so good that it’s worth all of the calories.</p>
<p>Understanding how these different brain areas typically work together to make decisions could help with understanding what happens in diseased brains. Patients with disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease often use sensory information in an unusual way, especially if it’s complex and uncertain. Research on decision-making may also inform treatment of patients with other disorders, such as substance abuse and addiction. Indeed, <a href="https://archives.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol18N4/DirRepVol18N4.html">addiction is perhaps a prime example</a> of how decision-making can go very wrong.</p>
<h2>A lab collaborative spread around the world</h2>
<p>Right now, neuroscientists are taking lots of closeup snapshots of what happens in particular areas of the brain when it makes a decision. But they aren’t coordinating with each other much, so these closeup pieces don’t fit together to give us the big picture of decision-making that we need. </p>
<p>That’s why a team of us joined up to form the International Brain Laboratory. With support from the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility, the Wellcome Trust, and the Simons Foundation (also a funder of The Conversation US), we aim to create that big picture by designing one large-scale experiment that uses the exact same approach to study many different brain areas. Because the brain is so complex, we need the expertise of many different labs that each specialize in particular brain areas. But we need them to coordinate and use the same approach so that we can put all of their different pieces of the picture together. </p>
<p>We’re bringing together a team of 21 scientists who will work very closely to understand how billions of neurons work together in a single brain to make decisions. About a dozen different labs will each do part of one big experiment by measuring neuron activity in animals engaged in exactly the same game. Our team members will record activity from hundreds of neurons in each animal’s brain. We’ll collect tens of thousands of neuronal recordings that we can analyze together.</p>
<h2>Keep it simple</h2>
<p>In real-world decisions, you’re combining lots of different pieces of information – your sensory signals, your internal knowledge about what’s rewarding, what’s risky. But implementing that in a laboratory context is pretty hard.</p>
<p>We’re hoping to recreate a mouse’s natural foraging experience. In real life, there are many different paths an animal can take as it navigates the world looking for something to eat. It wants to find food, because food is rewarding. It uses incoming sensory cues, like, “Oh, I see a cricket over there!” An animal might combine that with a memory of reward, like, “I know this area has lush berry bushes, I remember that from yesterday, so I’ll go there.” Or, “I know over here there was a cat last time, so I’d better avoid that area.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Imagining the world from a mouse’s perspective is essential for International Brain Laboratory scientists when picking a lab task that mimics a real-world decision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elena Nikanorovna</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At first pass, the setup we’re using for the International Brain Laboratory doesn’t look very natural at all. The mouse has a little device that it uses to report decisions – it’s actually a wheel from a Lego set. For example, it might learn that when it sees an image of a vertical grating and turns the wheel until the image is centered, it gets a reward. If you think about what foraging is – exploring the environment, trying to find rewards, making use of sensory signals and prior knowledge – this simple Lego wheel activity does capture its essence.</p>
<p>We really had to think about the trade-off between having a behavior that was complex enough to give us insight into interesting neural computations, and one that was simple enough that it could be implemented in the same way in many different experimental laboratories. The balance we struck was a decision-making task that starts simple and becomes more and more complex as an individual animal achieves different stages of training. </p>
<p>Even in the simplest, very earliest stage we’re looking at, where the animals are just making voluntary movements, they’re deciding when to make a movement to harvest a reward. I’m sure we can go much further, but even if that’s as far as we get, having neural measurements from all over the brain during a simple behavior like this will be very interesting. We don’t know how it happens in the brain that you decide when to take a particular action and how to execute that action. Having neural measurements from all over the brain of what happened just before the animal spontaneously decided to go and get a reward will be a huge step forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Churchland receives funding from NIH, Simons Foundation, The Office of Naval Research, the Pew Trusts and the Klingenstein-SImons Foundation. </span></em></p>A new initiative called the International Brain Laboratory is tackling this fundamental mystery of neuroscience in an unusual way.Anne Churchland, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Cold Spring Harbor LaboratoryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/839302017-11-02T02:55:11Z2017-11-02T02:55:11ZBrain science should be making prisons better, not trying to prove innocence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192826/original/file-20171101-19858-1aguezj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neuroscience can help incarcerated brains.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-a-man-in-window-143580/">Donald Tong</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every week, I wait for the cold steel bars to close behind me, for count to be called, and for men who have years – maybe the rest of their lives – to spend in this prison to come talk with me. I am a clinical psychologist who studies chronic antisocial behavior. My staff and I converted an office in a Connecticut state prison into research space that allows us to measure neural and behavioral responses.</p>
<p>Recently, Joe, a man serving a life sentence, came into our prison lab. Before I could even review our research consent form, he said, “You know it is all about the brain.” Joe asked if we could provide evidence that “something” in his brain was responsible for his crime. If not, could we just “zap” his brain to remove bad “stuff,” like on TV? </p>
<p>In that moment, I realized that he, like many other inmates and people in the general public, holds unfounded expectations about the wonders of neuroscience. They believe that researchers like me now can so clearly trace connections between brain and behavior that we can use our knowledge to determine guilt or innocence, decide criminal sentences or definitively assess risk and needs.</p>
<p>These expectations place a great burden on a science still in its infancy. There are many concerns about the appropriate use of neuroscience in a criminal justice setting. But there are plenty of well-supported neuroscientific findings that could make a real difference in our correctional system right now – both for those who are incarcerated and everyone else.</p>
<h2>What’s still neuroscience fiction</h2>
<p>Despite what Hollywood portrays in TV shows like “<a href="https://www.nbc.com/law-order?nbc=1">Law & Order</a>” or in movies like “<a href="http://sideeffectsmayvary.com">Side Effects</a>” and “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/">Minority Report</a>,” much of the science that makes for good entertainment doesn’t actually exist.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Is it or is it not true that your brain made you do it?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://allthingslawandorder.blogspot.com/2011/12/law-order-svu-spiraling-down-recap.html">NBC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For instance, despite Joe’s request, we can’t just peek into a brain and see clear evidence of innocence or guilt. A brain scan can’t show beyond a reasonable doubt that certain structures or abnormalities affected the mental state of a particular individual at the time of a crime. Electrical activity in the brain as measured by an EEG can’t distinguish between criminal conduct and common forms of antisocial behavior such as lying or cheating – qualitatively different behaviors. </p>
<p>As of yet, there’s no neuroscience measure that can predict whether an individual will engage in criminal conduct in the future. And neuroscience is no better at providing mitigating evidence during sentencing than other more reliable and less expensive tools, like a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9343-2">history</a> of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579498001539">exposure</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204013506920">violence</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, when neuroscientific assessments are presented to the court, they <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/27977480">can sway juries, regardless of their relevance</a>. Using these techniques to produce expert evidence doesn’t bring the court any closer to truth or justice. And with a single brain scan costing thousands of dollars, plus expert interpretation and testimony, it’s an expensive tool out of reach for many defendants. Rather than helping untangle legal responsibility, neuroscience here causes an even deeper divide between the rich and the poor, based on pseudoscience.</p>
<p>While I remain skeptical about the use of neuroscience in the judicial process, there are a number of places where its findings could help corrections systems develop policies and practices based on evidence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A prisoner poses inside his solitary confinement cell at the Washington Corrections Center, where he spends 23 hours a day alone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Solitary-Confinement-Nature/fb8738ef11674a6ea9c7855046a62f0e/1/0">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Solitary confinement harms more than helps</h2>
<p>Take, for instance, the use within prisons of solitary confinement as a punishment for disciplinary infractions. In 2015, the Bureau of Justice reported that nearly 20 percent of federal and state prisoners and 18 percent of local jail inmates <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5433">spent time in solitary</a>. </p>
<p>Research consistently demonstrates that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.140.11.1450">time spent in solitary</a> increases the chances of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128702239239">persistent emotional trauma and distress</a>. <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/dag/file/815551/download">Solitary can lead to</a> hallucinations, fantasies and paranoia; it can increase anxiety, depression and apathy as well as difficulties in thinking, concentrating, remembering, paying attention and controlling impulses. People placed in solitary are more likely to engage in self-mutilation as well as exhibit chronic rage, anger and irritability. The term “isolation syndrome” has even been coined to capture the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/barack-obama-why-we-must-rethink-solitary-confinement/2016/01/25/29a361f2-c384-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html">severe and long-lasting effects</a> of solitary.</p>
<p>At first glance, replacing solitary confinement with other forms of disciplinary action may appear only to improve the lives of inmates, always a hard sell for the public and for some politicians. But keeping prisoners isolated for 23 hours a day also poses grave dangers for correctional personnel who need to manage and interact with someone who is now even more likely to act out, be less able to follow direction and who perceives the environment in a distorted way.</p>
<p>The use of solitary actually exacerbates the problems it tries to address. And when inmates are released to the community, they bring all the negative consequences of this treatment with them.</p>
<h2>Living within a prison environment</h2>
<p>A neuroscience-informed approach would also suggest a number of improvements to today’s overburdened American prisons.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nationinside.org/campaign/prison-ecology/">Prison Ecology Project</a> maps the intersection of mass incarceration and environmental degradation. It reports that at least 25 percent of California state prisons have been cited for major water pollution problems. In Colorado, 13 prisons are located in contaminated areas that violate standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. And in several other states there are known ecological violations in overpopulated prisons.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10190">Overcrowding contributes to deficits</a> in the neural mechanisms needed for managing stress. <a href="http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?2002/5/17/35/31836">Noise pollution increases stress hormones and cardiovascular risks</a>. Ecological toxins, such as inadequate sewage and waste disposal, poor water quality, and the presence of asbestos and lead produce deficits and dysfunctions in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031912-114413">brain</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1280407/">behavior</a>. These factors negatively affect brain regions responsible for emotion, cognition and behavioral control and worsen already problematic behavioral tendencies.</p>
<p>Importantly, the effects are felt not only by the inmates. Prison personnel work long hours in the same environment. <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/208756NCJRS.pdf">Correctional officers</a> have higher rates of mortality, stress disorders, divorce, substance abuse <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13811119708258270">and suicide</a> than workers in many other occupations. They, along with inmates, are being poisoned by an environment that is toxic on a number of levels. Their families and communities feel the effects, too, when these workers return home suffering the physical and mental health consequences of such dangerous conditions.</p>
<h2>Neuroscience approaches to mental health</h2>
<p>On any given day, <a href="http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/storage/documents/treatment-behind-bars/treatment-behind-bars.pdf">up to a fifth</a> of incarcerated American adults <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18086741">suffer from serious mental illness</a>. Personality, mood, trauma and psychotic disorders are prevalent; substance use disorders are widespread. <a href="https://www.appi.org/American_Psychiatric_Association_Publishing_Textbook_of_Forensic_Psychiatry_Third_Edition">These disorders</a> often are linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.180.6.490">impulsivity and violence</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192887/original/file-20171101-19894-6rvd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192887/original/file-20171101-19894-6rvd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192887/original/file-20171101-19894-6rvd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192887/original/file-20171101-19894-6rvd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192887/original/file-20171101-19894-6rvd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192887/original/file-20171101-19894-6rvd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192887/original/file-20171101-19894-6rvd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192887/original/file-20171101-19894-6rvd72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some prison counseling programs try to help mentally ill inmates learn more about their conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Prisons-Mental-Health/2335976428be4dbc9b0bd649a2dd4265/7/0">AP Photo/Mike Groll</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Neuroscience can help replace the current “one size fits all” approach to treating the sorts of personality and substance use disorders that affect so many incarcerated individuals. These disorders have various subtypes, each with different underlying mechanisms that have different appropriate treatments. Whether through the use of psychotherapy or psychopharmacology, treating them all the same can actually worsen symptoms and contribute to recidivism.</p>
<p>My own research provides one successful example of how neuroscience can help practitioners target treatment to specific skills deficits particular to various offenders. We found that six weeks of computerized cognitive training aimed at helping inmates with specific cognitive-affective dysfunctions – such as paying attention to different pieces of information in their environment or acting without overreacting to emotion – resulted in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702614560744">significant neural and behavioral changes</a>. By matching the treatment to the underlying cognitive-affective dysfunctions, we were able to change the neural and behavioral problems of some of the most hard-to-treat offenders.</p>
<p>Similarly, there is evidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2012.04.033">strategies targeting empathy</a> in specific types of offenders lead to lasting behavior change, even in populations considered to be the most recalcitrant.</p>
<p>A more personalized treatment approach is very cost-effective, both in terms of resource utilization and its effect on recidivism. Unfortunately, it’s not currently the norm in most prison mental health programs or, for that matter, in treatment outside the prison system. </p>
<h2>Using the solid neuroscience we do have</h2>
<p>So, for now, Joe, I’m sorry we cannot help “prove” your lack of criminal intent and I don’t think that we are going to be “zapping” your brain any time soon. </p>
<p>But neuroscience can improve the current criminal justice landscape, which is plagued by racial, ethnic and economic disparities. Strategies based on robust, empirical neuroscientific evidence can provide win-win outcomes for correctional personnel, inmates and society at large. Improving conditions for all those who work and live on the inside will also improve public safety when inmates are released.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83930/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arielle Baskin-Sommers receives funding from National Institutes of Health and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. </span></em></p>Hollywood pushes a fantasy version of what neuroscience can do in the courtroom. But the field does have real benefits to offer, right now: solid evidence on what would improve prisons.Arielle Baskin-Sommers, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Yale UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/727082017-09-12T07:49:25Z2017-09-12T07:49:25ZHow a baby’s brain prepares for the outside world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184940/original/file-20170906-9835-1ns2xxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-born-infant-asleep-blanket-delivery-709551982">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The developing brain is not merely a downsized version of that of an adult, but is uniquely designed to prepare itself for the external world. It has structures and functions whose sole role is to set up the basic circuits required for life after birth, which then disappear once they have done their duty. We know from studying babies born prematurely that even at this very early stage the brain is extremely active, but in a way that is highly specific to this time of life. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165017310000238">Animal studies</a> have shown that immature brain cells fire away all by themselves, a little bit like pacemaker cells in the heart. The firing of these cells is extremely coordinated so that it can provide the initial instructions for the wiring and maintenance of the brain’s neuronal circuits. These are fundamental initial steps, which if interrupted or disturbed, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089662731100403X">can alter the whole process by which the brain matures</a>. Given their importance, we wanted to study these steps in premature newborns.</p>
<h2>Bursts of activity</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185118/original/file-20170907-9563-1dq0fmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185118/original/file-20170907-9563-1dq0fmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185118/original/file-20170907-9563-1dq0fmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185118/original/file-20170907-9563-1dq0fmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185118/original/file-20170907-9563-1dq0fmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185118/original/file-20170907-9563-1dq0fmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185118/original/file-20170907-9563-1dq0fmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adult undergoing EEG.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tim_uk/8135755109/in/photolist-doVSxP-G3g1k-5VDyqv-FBYA1T-FiHZud-rcyuVn-8YcnSJ-cmQnAY-882E4T-885Rhh-885R7S-66Z1y4-4pbXk3-885RZd-a5PQfo-bppsV1-sitvg-882EgR-q628i2-9yxW41-R39NVM-anW3Rb-2hbRCx-anW3Vf-5sHYA-99k8e1-8q5acv-4p7T66-4pbXw9-6hAta2-6hWtFf-7dgkPS-eBjJCT-e7Fb1J-czwxDy-b6NTin-eLYRop-dLy5Wo-a8CrYt-a8CrKi-6B9akn-q1gqgm-a8FiCd-dLsxX4-6toVX-a8FifY-dqP5yk-dqP5uX-a8FjMd-d6Yeo9">Tim Sheerman-Chase/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the neurons inside the brain communicate with one another using electric signals, we can measure this activity as “brainwaves” using EEG (electroencephalography) sensors positioned on the head. Some of us at University College London have successfully used this method over the last 20 years to look at <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474442214703035">activity during seizures</a> and to study how a baby’s brain can process <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982211008852">touch and pain</a> even before the time of normal birth. </p>
<p>EEG can also be used to record the activity in a premature baby’s brain when resting, and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2467981X16300191">has shown</a> it consists of enormous bursts which are not normally seen at any other time. But while we have long known about what the activity looks like with EEG and when it happens, we have never known where in the brain the activity is actually occurring.</p>
<p>The key to solving this question was to combine EEG recordings with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). When neurons in the brain fire, they require fuel (oxygen and glucose) which is brought to an “active” area via the bloodstream. </p>
<p>Using fMRI, it is possible to accurately measure changes in oxygen and blood flow levels across the whole brain, with a precision of a few millimetres. But this is only on a timescale that the MRI scanner and relatively sluggish blood flow changes allow. Therefore, the combination of EEG (which can measure fast electrical activity but struggles to locate it) and fMRI (which measures the coupled slow blood flow response but can precisely locate it) was ideal to discover where the bursts of activity are coming from inside a premature baby’s brain.</p>
<h2>‘Island’ discovery</h2>
<p>This kind of experiment had never been done before and we knew it would be extremely challenging, so we collaborated with a team at King’s College London who had extensive experience and knowledge of fMRI methods. We recorded the brain activity of ten premature infants while they were naturally asleep with the two techniques simultaneously. </p>
<p>And the first data in our study, <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/27814">published in eLife</a>, suggested where the premature brain waves were being generated. </p>
<p>Each baby had frequent activity bursts in their EEG and with fMRI we were able to see that most of them were coming from a tucked away pyramid-shaped brain region called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_cortex">the insula</a>. This is an island of cortex (“insula” is Latin for island) which in adults covers very diverse roles as it puts together basic physical information with emotional, cognitive and motivational signals. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185115/original/file-20170907-9542-bfpr4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185115/original/file-20170907-9542-bfpr4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185115/original/file-20170907-9542-bfpr4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185115/original/file-20170907-9542-bfpr4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185115/original/file-20170907-9542-bfpr4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185115/original/file-20170907-9542-bfpr4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185115/original/file-20170907-9542-bfpr4y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The insula region.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_cortex#/media/File:Sobo_1909_633.png">Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We showed in our study that this specific brain region – to which little attention has been paid up until now – also plays a major role in generating the critical activity that shapes the developing brain. Indeed, it grows quicker than other brain regions and forms connections with the rest of the brain over the last trimester of gestation in the womb. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/22/5/1016/278277/The-Effect-of-Preterm-Birth-on-Thalamic-and">How premature a baby is</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4631947/">recreational drug use</a> in pregnancy have an adverse effect on this brain region.</p>
<p>The rate of premature births is rising in many European countries and especially in the UK, where the number of babies born at 22-25 weeks gestation and admitted to intensive care in recent years <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e7976">has increased by 44%</a>. </p>
<p>These infants are more likely to survive thanks to modern advances in hospital care, but they are exposed to a greater risk of neuro-developmental problems. This could be because they were born too early and their brain is just not ready as it is still going through those developmental steps that should have happened in the protected environment of the womb. As a result, the preterm brain is more susceptible to injuries that may lead to disabilities. </p>
<p>It is therefore of fundamental importance to understand how the developing brain works to inform the care of this vulnerable population. And our results may offer new and exciting opportunities for monitoring how the brain and its activity develops in premature babies and a new understanding of how early injury ultimately leads to disabilities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorenzo Fabrizi receives funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tomoki Arichi receives funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK.</span></em></p>Baby’s brains have special activity to help them develop – now researchers have found where some of this happens.Lorenzo Fabrizi, MRC Research Fellow, UCLTomoki Arichi, Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/829262017-09-04T11:25:23Z2017-09-04T11:25:23ZWhen it comes to keeping our brains young, we need to rise to new challenges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183985/original/file-20170830-23670-m9qu0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still got it. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professor-gesturing-intelligence-over-dark-background-2471721?src=fTxnv4_cZWQ1yUURtdBZ9Q-2-30">Gino Santa Maria</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we get older, our thinking skills often deteriorate: we get slower, more forgetful, less good at learning new things. Yet not everyone experiences these changes to the same degree. Some remain mentally sharp into their sixties, seventies and beyond; others experience declines which can make it harder for them to live independently.</p>
<p>Researchers see hope in this variation. It is a sign that decline might not be inevitable. Together with the fact that people are <a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/worlds-older-population-grows-dramatically">tending to</a> live longer, it’s no surprise that this is an area being pursued by specialists around the world. </p>
<p>Broadly speaking, the thinking skills that decline earlier <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/21693/">are the ones</a> that allow us to quickly process information or respond to things. This perhaps starts in our early twenties. <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/21693/">On the other hand</a>, we retain and may even continue to develop mental skills associated with accrued knowledge through midlife and into old age. A good example would be our vocabulary. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183987/original/file-20170830-12933-zdtqxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lube me!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professor-gesturing-intelligence-over-dark-background-2471721?src=fTxnv4_cZWQ1yUURtdBZ9Q-2-30">Lightspring</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another thing that happens as we get older is our brains get smaller – known as brain atrophy. One relatively recent report <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.22959/abstract">indicated that</a> adults in their seventies experienced about 0.7% loss of grey matter per year, and about 1% of white matter. Both are important for our thinking skills – our “little grey cells” might be the familiar term regarding what underlies complex thinking skills like language and reasoning, for example, but the white matter plays a vital role in connecting different areas of the brain.</p>
<p>Brain atrophy is associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline, albeit the research is <a href="http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/81/1/13">not</a> entirely <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4832269/">consistent</a>. But crucially, this shrinkage varies from person to person. In the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4832269/">same study</a> of seventy-somethings, for example, men were found to lose a bit more grey matter than women. Those who are less physically active have <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/79/17/1802">also been shown</a> to have more shrinkage.</p>
<h2>The fear factor</h2>
<p>This much we know, but we’re still developing our understanding of what might influence our thinking skills as we age. In the meantime, there remain challenges in providing the public with clear information about how best to preserve their brain health. </p>
<p>Changes in thinking skills are <a href="http://www.ageuk.org.uk/health-wellbeing/staying-sharp/">often reported</a> to be among people’s greatest fears about ageing. On the one hand, it is a good thing to have a healthy concern about this issue, since it might encourage people to make sensible lifestyle choices to maximise their health. Having said that, some of these fears may be the result of misinformation. News headlines <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/756453/Dementia-leisure-activities-middle-age-help-prevent-disease-later-life">often wrongly use</a> phrases like dementia and Alzheimer’s as shorthand for any research into changes in thinking skills, for example. </p>
<p>I was recently involved in a <a href="https://healthyageing.hw.ac.uk/research.html">UK-wide survey</a> into this area, questioning over 3,000 adults aged 40 and older. We’re still analysing the results, but can share some top-line findings – indeed we took them “on tour” recently to the <a href="https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/news/academics-tread-the-boards-at-this-year-s.htm">Edinburgh Festival Fringe</a>. </p>
<p>For example, the middle-aged adults in the survey were more pessimistic than over-70s about when mental decline might begin. The 40-year-olds expected it between ten to 15 years earlier than the older respondents – possibly a sign that the reality does not live up to the scaremongering when you get there. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183992/original/file-20170830-9222-2sor7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hangin’ in there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grandmother-glasses-points-finger-562720921?src=4DnGdBaJWSTEEm2tOLeVRg-1-2">Pavel Kubarkov</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nine in ten respondents thought there were things we can do to protect or maintain thinking skills, though fewer than six in ten were confident about what these might be. This suggests room for improvement, though it is arguably a strong foundation on which to build further public health messages. </p>
<h2>The hacks and the whack</h2>
<p>So how best to preserve our brains? For some lifestyle choices, the evidence is relatively consistent. Smoking, for example, is detrimental. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20875635">It thins</a> the outer layers of the brain, which are vital for functions including memory, reasoning and language. The good news for former smokers is that this thinning appears to “reverse” if you give up, though a full return to thick cortical layers is estimated to <a href="http://www.nature.com/mp/journal/v20/n6/full/mp2014187a.html">take about 25 years</a>. </p>
<p>Being physically active is also generally linked to better thinking skills and <a href="http://www.neurology.org/content/79/17/1802">brain health</a>. For the inactive among us, even making initial changes in terms of <a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/199487">walking more</a> have been documented as worthwhile. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183989/original/file-20170830-29224-1bxc6ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Whew.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professor-gesturing-intelligence-over-dark-background-2471721?src=fTxnv4_cZWQ1yUURtdBZ9Q-2-30">Julien Tromeur</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some other things, the evidence is flimsier. Headlines that some game or puzzle is the key to remaining sharp won’t be going away. But to put it mildly, the whole “brain training” area is highly contested. You wouldn’t expect anything less for an industry already worth well over $1 billion (£774m) and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/23/brain-games-memory-loss-open-letter">predicted to</a> top $6 billion by 2020.</p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/rbtfl/hK6Y5zBI1Rv.M/full">most recent review</a> of the literature has concluded the same as previous ones: people tend to become better at whatever game they are playing over time, and there are instances where this transfers to other skills. Broadly, however, the benefits appear limited. </p>
<p>Rather than playing the same repetitive game, perhaps a better possibility for boosting brain health is doing something novel and more challenging – learning a new thing, meeting people or engaging in new experiences. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.24158/abstract">Learning a new language</a> has been promoted, for example, while researchers are also finding some empirical support for the benefits of mastering <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797613499592">digital photography</a> or <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/geront/gnu057">tablet computers</a>, or <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1552-5260(15)00061-8">volunteering</a>. While these activities are quite diverse, the key ingredient is the new learning – and that can continue to increase as your expertise grows.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that brain ageing remains a developing research area with much still unknown. It is certainly <a href="http://www.ageuk.org.uk/health-wellbeing/staying-sharp/">worth getting</a> a bit more active and giving yourself a bit of a challenge, but there is also much to be said for choosing that new activity according to whatever makes us happy – be it learning Russian, how to tango or whatever. </p>
<p>Retaining our thinking skills is obviously important, but happiness and fulfilment is <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aphw.12090/full">linked with</a> its own health benefits. I can’t promise that staying cheerful will allow you to retain the mind of a 20-year-old into your dotage, but it certainly looks worthwhile overall.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan J Gow receives funding from Velux Stiftung and has previously been funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust.</span></em></p>Brain games, learning languages, rowing? Beware of snake oil salesman claiming we know it all.Alan J Gow, Associate Professor, Psychology, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/782912017-06-08T09:02:44Z2017-06-08T09:02:44ZEver thought a loved one was an imposter? That’s the Capgras delusion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170871/original/file-20170524-31352-1v8bxgl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-serious-liar-guy-hugging-woman-610349306?src=N2RHxuIyGIfltrUkcD8ZMQ-1-72">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Consider what it would be like to wake up one morning to find that a person who has been part of your life for years has been “abducted”. If that wasn’t bad enough, an impostor who looks just like your loved one has taken their place. Subtle differences in appearance or behaviour betray the impostor.</p>
<p>This is exactly what happened to David.</p>
<p>David sustained a severe head injury during a road accident, and remained in a coma for five weeks. Serious injuries also led to the loss of his right arm. When he regained consciousness, David’s mental capacities appeared to be intact. He was articulate and intelligent. Except for one bizarre belief: that both his parents had been replaced. The woman who came in the morning to prepare his breakfast was a better cook than his mother, and his father’s double was a better driver. </p>
<p>David was diagnosed as having a rare delusional misidentification syndrome called the Capgras delusion. The illusion of the “look-alike” was <a href="http://www.histoiredelafolie.fr/psychiatrie-neurologie/lillusion-des-sosies-dans-un-delire-systematise-chronique-par-joseph-capgras-j-reboul-lachaux-1923">first reported in 1923</a> by two French psychiatrists, Joseph Capgras and Jean Reboul-Lachaux. Their patient, Madame M, for the last ten years, had been:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Transforming everyone in her entourage, even those closest to her, such as her husband and daughter, into various and numerous doubles … her children had been the object of substitutions; one was abducted when he was with his nurse and replaced by someone else … Her husband, Mr C. was also reported as disappeared, a double took his place; she wanted to get a divorce from this double and made a request for a separation to the courts. Her husband had been murdered and the “men” came to see her were double*<em>s?</em>* … she counted at least 80.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although people are usually the objects of the delusion, there <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6869616">have also been reports</a> of pets being substituted, and work tools and other personal possessions being replaced with inferior items. Capgras has also been experienced by people with visual impairment. In one account, a patient known as M.H thought that her pet cat had been replaced by a replica because of changes in its miaow.</p>
<h2>What causes Capgras?</h2>
<p>No one is quite sure what is causing Capgras, and there are no shortage of theories. A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3697906">Freudian perspective</a> suggests that Capgras is motivated by an inability to reconcile unacceptable and extreme emotions felt for a close family member, such as feeling sexually attracted to a parent. In order to deal with this inner conflict, the subconscious engages in a process known as “splitting”, creating a separate negative persona – in this case, an impostor who is responsible for generating the unacceptable feelings of sexual attraction – from the positive persona, the real mother.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170876/original/file-20170524-31373-1o7w9i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170876/original/file-20170524-31373-1o7w9i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170876/original/file-20170524-31373-1o7w9i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170876/original/file-20170524-31373-1o7w9i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170876/original/file-20170524-31373-1o7w9i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170876/original/file-20170524-31373-1o7w9i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170876/original/file-20170524-31373-1o7w9i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Freudian reading: a subconscious way to protect from dangerous thoughts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/prague-czech-republic-may-19-unique-427239913?src=gp81S9LJ-Ka3ei_CSnllzg-1-52">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other theories associate Capgras <a href="http://bit.ly/2qjjS2V">to changes in brain chemistry</a> that arise in psychotic conditions such as paranoid schizophrenia; or damage to the brain as a result of trauma, stroke, or the degenerative brain changes that cause dementia.</p>
<p>In David’s case, his neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran suggested his delusion was caused by a disconnection between two key brain areas: the fusiform face area (FFA) and the amydgala. The FFA is tasked with recognising faces – “That person looks like my mum” – and the amygdala with imbuing an emotional response – “That person also feels like mum.” A disconnection between these areas would result in a mismatch – “That person looks like mum but doesn’t feel like my mum.” </p>
<p>To test this explanation, Haydn Ellis and colleagues <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12144-999-1018-y?LI=true">recorded the emotional reaction</a> to photographs of familiar and unfamiliar faces using measures of skin conductivity (GSR) – as we sweat more during emotionally arousal, skin conductivity increases. They used as subjects five people with Capgras and a psychiatric condition, such as paranoid schizophrenia or persecutory delusions, along with five psychiatric controls with similar diagnoses as the Capgras group but not Capgras, and healthy volunteers. The healthy volunteers and psychiatric controls showed higher GSR to familiar than to unfamiliar faces, whereas GSR in the Capgras group stayed at the same level for both sets of faces. </p>
<p>However, these findings and Ramachandran’s explanation fail to explain why these anomalous experiences aren’t dismissed in the same manner as <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fighting-fear/201301/theory-deja-vu-and-jamais-vu">déjà vu or jamais vu</a>. </p>
<p>A study I did with <a href="https://femioyebode.wordpress.com/about/">Femi Oyebode</a> of another Capgras patient <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/49328">sheds light on this</a>. A structural brain scan showed damage in the pre-frontal cortex, where goals, strategies and decisions are made. Damage to these processes could conceivably result in a failure to realise that an anomalous experience – “This person looks like my mum but doesn’t feel like my mum” – is being generated internally rather than reflecting changes in the external world. Coupled with a tendency to jump to conclusions, this paves the way for an abnormal belief to develop, take hold, and why it is so difficult for Capgras to be dismissed. </p>
<p>The Capgras delusion is so much more than a bizarre delusion pulled out of the “X-Files” of neurology. While fascinating in it’s own right, Capgras offers scientists a window of opportunity to explore how we recognise people in everyday life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78291/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Edelstyn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A strange delusion which may have its origins in damage to a particular process in the brain, is also one that can help us to understand how we recognise each other.Nicola Edelstyn, Professor in Cognitive Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/745652017-06-01T11:07:26Z2017-06-01T11:07:26ZLooking at buildings can actually give people headaches – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171781/original/file-20170601-25673-1nxv59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=675%2C203%2C3506%2C2287&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwward0/20558926533/sizes/l">wwward0/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s three o'clock – you’re at work, struggling to focus during the afternoon lull. You gaze out of your office window, hoping for some relief, but instead you feel a headache coming on. Flat grey concrete lines the streets, while windows form repetitive glassy intervals in stark brick walls. With monotonous straight lines as far as the eye can see, there’s nowhere pleasant to rest your gaze. It may seem a superficial problem, but <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/2016-238.pdf">our research</a> has found that looking at urban landscapes may actually give you a headache. </p>
<p>Over tens of thousands of years, the human brain evolved to effectively process scenes from the natural world. But the urban jungle poses a greater challenge for the brain, because of the repetitive patterns it contains. Mathematician Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier showed that we can think of scenes as being made up of striped patterns, of different sizes, orientations and positions, all added together. These patterns are called Fourier components. </p>
<p>In nature, as a general rule, components with low spatial frequency (large stripes) have a high contrast and components with high frequency (small stripes) have a lower contrast. We can call this simple relationship between spatial frequency and contrast a “rule of nature”. Put simply, scenes from nature have stripes that tend to cancel each other out, so that when added together no stripes appear in the image. </p>
<h2>Hurts to look at</h2>
<p>But this is not the case with scenes from the urban environment. Urban scenes break the rule of nature: they tend to feature regular, repetitive patterns, due to the common use of design features such as windows, staircases and railings. Regular patterns of this kind are rarely found in nature. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Easier on the eye?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsaiian/24191293645/sizes/l">Top: Sam Beebe/Flickr, bottom: Tsaiian/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because the repetitive patterns of urban architecture break the rule of nature, it is more difficult for the human brain to process them efficiently. And because urban landscapes are not as easy to process, they are less comfortable to look at. Some patterns, such as the stripes on door mats, carpets and escalator stair treads <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/1980-22.pdf">can trigger</a> headaches and even epileptic seizures. </p>
<p>We came to these conclusions by measuring the efficiency with which the brain processes images of natural and urban scenes. There are two ways of measuring efficiency; the first is to build simple computer models of the way that nerve cells compute what we see. </p>
<p><a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royopensci/2/2/140535.full.pdf">One model</a> was built by Paul Hibbard (University of Essex) and Louise O'Hare (University of Lincoln), <a href="https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/discomfort-from-urban-scenes(d4f9d78b-69c8-4759-ba27-3414b6315be8).html">and another</a> at the University of St Andrews by <a href="https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/olivier-penacchio(55a99138-c2b7-4ee5-bd0a-e11ab3cd4550).html">Olivier Penacchio</a> and colleagues. Both models show that when the brain processes images that depart from the rule of nature, the activity of the nerve cells is increased, and becomes less sparsely distributed. In other words, such images take more effort for the brain to process. </p>
<p>For <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/2015-224.pdf">our own research</a>, Olivier and I designed a computer program that measures how well images adhere to the rule of nature. After running the program, we found that departure from the rule of nature predicts how uncomfortable people find it to look at any given image – whether it’s an image of a building or a work of art.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">They don’t make ‘em like they used to.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonk/341676552/">jonjk</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We then analysed images of apartment buildings, and found that over the last 100 years, the design of buildings has been departing further and further from the rule of nature; more and more stripes appear decade by decade, making the buildings less and less comfortable to look at.</p>
<h2>O₂ joy</h2>
<p>Another way to measure the efficiency of the brain’s visual processes is to measure the amount of oxygen used by the visual part of the brain, located at the back of the head. When the brain uses oxygen, it changes colour. We can track these changes by shining infrared light onto the scalp, and measuring the scattered light which bounces back off the brain and through the skull. Typically, oxygen usage is greater when people look at uncomfortable images, such as urban scenes. </p>
<p>We found that the rule of nature not only predicts the levels of discomfort suggested by computer models, it also predicts <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/2016-238.pdf">how much oxygen</a> is used by the brain. That is, our brains use more oxygen when we look at scenes which depart from the rule. Since headaches tend to be associated with excess oxygen usage, this may explain why some designs give us headaches. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Better out than in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pics-or-it-didnt-happen/3376032104/sizes/l">vincentq/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People who get migraines are particularly susceptible to the discomfort from repetitive patterns; these patterns increase the use of oxygen (which in those who sufferer migraines is <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/2011-200.pdf">already abnormally high</a>). The patterns can give rise to a headache, possibly as a result. Indeed, some individuals with migraine cannot function in certain modern offices, because the patterns bring on a headache every time they enter the building. </p>
<p>Perhaps it’s time for the rule of nature to be incorporated into the software that is used to design buildings and offices. Or interior designers can vary the wall designs, blinds and carpets they install, to avoid adding more stripes indoors. Of course, some repetitive patterns are an unavoidable result of modular construction. But many stripes are there quite unnecessarily, simply as design features – to catch the eye. Unfortunately, they may end up hitting the head, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arnold J Wilkins has received funding from the Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p>Repetitive patterns from windows, blinds and stairs are really uncomfortable to look at.Arnold J Wilkins, Professor of Psychology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/747482017-05-01T20:05:08Z2017-05-01T20:05:08ZA short history of anaesthesia: from unspeakable agony to unlocking consciousness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166194/original/file-20170421-20054-iqgbuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">General anaesthesia has come a long way since its first public demonstration in the 19th century, depicted here.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:History_of_surgical_anaesthesia,_Morton,_Diorama_Wellcome_L0003392.jpg">Wellcome Library, London/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We expect to feel no pain during surgery or at least to have no memory of the procedure. But it wasn’t always so.</p>
<p>Until the discovery of general anaesthesia in the <a href="https://www.woodlibrarymuseum.org/history-of-anesthesia/">middle of the 19th century</a>, surgery was performed only as a last and desperate resort. Conscious and without pain relief, it was beset with unimaginable terror, unspeakable agony and considerable risk. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, few chose to write about their experience in case it reawakened suppressed memories of a necessary torture.</p>
<p>One of the most well-known and <a href="http://burneycentre.mcgill.ca/other_lettersjournalshemlow.html">vivid records</a> of this “terror that surpasses all description” was by <a href="http://burneycentre.mcgill.ca/bio_frances.html">Fanny Burney</a>, a popular English novelist, who on the morning of September 30, 1811 eventually submitted to having a mastectomy:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When the dreadful steel was plunged into the breast … I needed no injunctions not to restrain my cries. I began a scream that lasted unintermittently during the whole time of the incision … so excruciating was the agony … I then felt the Knife [rack]ling against the breast bone – scraping it. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But it wasn’t only the patient who suffered. Surgeons too had to endure considerable anxiety and distress.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/hmed.2014.75.3.174">John Abernethy</a>, a surgeon at London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital at the turn of the 19th century, <a href="http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1046414">described</a> walking to the operating room as like “going to a hanging” and was sometimes known to shed tears and vomit after a particularly gruesome operation.</p>
<h2>Discovery of anaesthesia</h2>
<p>It was against this background that general anaesthesia was discovered.</p>
<p>A young US dentist named <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/williammorton">William Morton</a>, spurred on by the business opportunities afforded by technical advances in artificial teeth, doggedly searched for a surefire way to relieve pain and boost dental profits. </p>
<p>His efforts were soon rewarded. He discovered when he or small animals inhaled sulfuric ether (now known as <a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/diethyl_ether">ethyl ether</a> or simply ether) they passed out and became unresponsive.</p>
<p>A few months after this discovery, on October 16, 1846 and with much showmanship, Morton anaesthetised a young male patient in a public demonstration at <a href="http://www.massgeneral.org/anesthesia/about/history.aspx">Massachusetts General Hospital</a>. </p>
<p>The hospital’s chief surgeon then removed a tumour on the left side of the jaw. This occurred without the patient apparently moving or complaining, much to the surgeon’s and audience’s great surprise.</p>
<p>So began the story of general anaesthesia, which for good reason is now widely regarded as one of the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/innovations-list/309536/">greatest discoveries</a> of all time.</p>
<h2>Anaesthesia used routinely</h2>
<p>News of ether’s remarkable properties spread rapidly across the Atlantic to Britain, ultimately stimulating the discovery of <a href="https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/chloroform">chloroform</a>, a volatile general anaesthetic. </p>
<p>According to its discoverer, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-James-Young-Simpson-1st-Baronet">James Simpson</a>, it had none of ether’s “<a href="https://soap.org/chloroform.php">inconveniences and objections”</a> – a pungent odour, irritation of throat and nasal passages and a perplexing initial phase of physical agitation instead of the more desirable suppression of all behaviour.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166196/original/file-20170421-20068-bb7yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166196/original/file-20170421-20068-bb7yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166196/original/file-20170421-20068-bb7yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166196/original/file-20170421-20068-bb7yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166196/original/file-20170421-20068-bb7yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166196/original/file-20170421-20068-bb7yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166196/original/file-20170421-20068-bb7yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166196/original/file-20170421-20068-bb7yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This chloroform inhaler was the type John Snow used on Queen Victoria to ease the pain of childbirth. Chloroform vapours were delivered down a tube via the brass and velvet face mask.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snow-type_chloroform_inhaler,_London,_England,_1848-1870_Wellcome_L0058154.jpg">Science Museum, London/Wellcome Images/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Chloroform subsequently became the most commonly used general anaesthetic in British surgical and dental anaesthetic practice, mainly due to the founding father of scientific anaesthesia <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1325279/">John Snow</a>, but remained non-essential to the practice of most doctors.</p>
<p>This changed after Snow gave Queen Victoria chloroform during the birth of her eighth child, Prince Leopold. The publicity that followed made anaesthesia more acceptable and demand increased, whether during childbirth or for other reasons. </p>
<p>By the end of the 19th century, anaesthesia was commonplace, arguably becoming the first example in which medical practice was backed by emerging scientific developments.</p>
<h2>Anaesthesia is safe</h2>
<p>Today, sulfuric ether and chloroform have been replaced by much safer and more effective agents such as <a href="https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/medicine/49">sevoflurane</a> and <a href="https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/medicine/41">isoflurane</a>. </p>
<p>Ether was highly flammable so could not be used with <a href="http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2111163-overview">electrocautery</a> (which involves an electrical current being passed through a probe to stem blood flow or cut tissue) or when monitoring patients electronically. And chloroform was associated with an unacceptably high rate of deaths, mainly due to cardiac arrest (when the heart stops beating).</p>
<p>The practice of general anaesthesia has now evolved to the point that it is among the safest of all major routine medical procedures. For around <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/9728/chapter/1">300,000</a> fit and healthy people having elective medical procedures, one person dies due to anaesthesia.</p>
<p>Despite the increasing clinical effectiveness with which anaesthesia has been administered for over the past 170 years, and its scientific and technical foundations, we still have only the vaguest idea about how anaesthetics produce a state of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-us-conscious-50011">unconsciousness</a>.</p>
<h2>Anaesthesia remains a mystery</h2>
<p>General anaesthesia needs patients to be immobile, pain free and unconscious. Of these, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-anyone-there-about-consciousness-and-its-disorders-54035">unconsciousness is the most difficult</a> to define and measure.</p>
<p>For example, not responding to, or then not remembering, some event (such as the voice of the anaesthetist or the moment of surgical incision), while clinically useful, is <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-find-way-to-predict-who-is-likely-to-wake-up-during-surgery-53217">not enough to decisively determine</a> whether someone is or was unconscious.</p>
<p>We need some other way to define consciousness and to understand its disruption by the biological actions of general anaesthetics. </p>
<p>Early in the 20th century, we thought anaesthetics worked by dissolving into the fatty parts of the outside of brain cells (the cell membrane) and interfering with the way they worked.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v5/n9/full/nrn1496.html">we now know anaesthetics directly affect the behaviour of a wide variety of proteins</a> necessary to support the activity of neurones (nerve cells) and their coordinated behaviour.</p>
<p>For this reason the only way to develop an integrated understanding of the effects of these multiple, and individually insufficient, neuronal protein targets is by developing testable, <a href="http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v20/n3/full/nn.4497.html">mathematically formulated</a> theories.</p>
<p>These theories need to not only describe how consciousness emerges from brain activity but to also explain how this brain activity is affected by the multiple targets of anaesthetic action.</p>
<p>Despite the tremendous advances in the science of anaesthesia, after almost 200 years we are still waiting for such a theory.</p>
<p>Until then we are still looking for the missing link between the physical substance of our brain and the subjective content of our minds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74748/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Liley receives funding from the James S. McDonnell Foundation. He owns shares in Cortical Dynamics Ltd. </span></em></p>Terrifying accounts of surgery 200 years ago remind us how far general anaesthesia has come. Yet we still know little about how anaesthetics alter consciousness.David Liley, Professor, Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/738762017-03-13T17:09:08Z2017-03-13T17:09:08ZHow mapping teenagers’ brains has helped us understand more about schizophrenia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160492/original/image-20170313-19270-r2aw65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The brain's structural network. The hubs of this network continue to develop during adolescence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">KIrstie Whitaker</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I was studying for my PhD at the <a href="http://neuroscience.berkeley.edu/" title="Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley">University of California at Berkeley</a>, I spent an awful lot of my weekends asking teenagers to lie still in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. While they were lying as still as they could they also had to answer questions they saw on the screen.</p>
<p>We were interested in which parts of the brain these young people were using when they completed an analogical reasoning task. They saw three pictures and were asked to choose the fourth picture to complete the relationships, for example dress is to wardrobe, as milk is to <em>fridge</em>.</p>
<p>We found that association cortex – the parts of the brain that bring together information from many other regions – was used to answer these questions and, importantly, that these regions are activated more and more as you get older. The study was recently published in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/desc.12531/full">Developmental Science</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160482/original/image-20170313-19278-1noi3sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160482/original/image-20170313-19278-1noi3sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160482/original/image-20170313-19278-1noi3sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160482/original/image-20170313-19278-1noi3sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160482/original/image-20170313-19278-1noi3sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160482/original/image-20170313-19278-1noi3sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160482/original/image-20170313-19278-1noi3sq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A question teenagers answered during a functional MRI scan. Association cortex was activated during this task (top right, orange) and regions in prefrontal cortex were more active as participants got older (bottom right, red).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kirstie Whitaker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fast forward a few years and I’m now a member of the <a href="http://www.nspn.org.uk/">Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network</a> (NSPN), a collaboration between the <a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/" title="University of Cambridge">University of Cambridge</a> and <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/" title="University College London">University College London</a>, funded by the <a href="https://wellcome.ac.uk/" title="Wellcome Trust">Wellcome Trust</a>.</p>
<p>NSPN aims to better understand the biological mechanisms that lead to young people developing a variety of mental health disorders. The network includes experts in <a href="http://www.psychiatry.cam.ac.uk/epicentre/" title="University of Cambridge EpiCentre research group">epidemiology</a>, <a href="http://dev.psychiatry.cam.ac.uk/" title="University of Cambridge developmental psychiatry research group">adolescent psychopathology</a>, <a href="http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/Dolan/index.html" title="UCL cognition, emotion & psychiatric disorders research group">cognition</a> and <a href="http://www.bmu.psychiatry.cam.ac.uk/" title="University of Cambridge brain mapping unit">brain development</a> who are investigating the question of adolescent mental health from multiple angles.</p>
<h2>Beautiful brains</h2>
<p>I’m in the MRI team, which has collected brain scans from 300 young people between the ages of 14 and 24. This time, instead of asking them to complete questions while they were lying in the scanner, we took structural MRI scans. These are different to the brain scans we use to assess what the brain is doing (“functional MRI”) and they look really beautiful.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160485/original/image-20170313-19259-33h0oh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160485/original/image-20170313-19259-33h0oh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160485/original/image-20170313-19259-33h0oh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160485/original/image-20170313-19259-33h0oh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160485/original/image-20170313-19259-33h0oh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160485/original/image-20170313-19259-33h0oh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160485/original/image-20170313-19259-33h0oh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vertical slice through the author’s head using a structural MRI. Cortical thickness (the distance between the red and yellow lines) decreases during the teenage years as adolescents refine their brain networks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kirstie Whitaker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the measures we extract is “cortical thickness” – the depth of the outside layer of the brain (the cortex) that contains synapses. A synapse is where two brain cells (neurons) join together and transmit messages. We have around <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12543266">100 billion neurons but 100 trillion synapses</a> in our brains. It is the complexity of these connections that allows humans to generate and understand complex thoughts and feelings, including being able to solve analogies in the real world.</p>
<h2>Changing minds</h2>
<p>In work published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601745113">Proceedings of the National Academy of Science</a> in 2016 the NSPN consortium showed that the cortex got thinner between the ages of 14 and 24. In particular, association cortex – the same regions that are used for complex thought and reasoning – showed the greatest amount of change.</p>
<p>This finding may seem counter-intuitive – at first glance you’d imagine that getting better at something would mean having more brain cells working on the project. In fact, you are born with more neurons than you’ll ever have again, and one of the most important developmental processes is “synaptic refinement” – pruning away some of the connections to ensure your brain is working efficiently.</p>
<p>We also looked at the brain as a network. You can imagine an airline network with connections going around the world between different airports. The really important locations are network “hubs” – they have lots of flights in and out every day. In the brain, we found that these hubs are located in association cortex. It makes sense that the brain regions that are important for complex thought need information to liaise with many other different parts of the brain.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ztm2knaLBFc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The brain as a network: different brain regions (nodes) are connected by edges. These regions show prolonged development during adolescence and are important for complex thought.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that the hubs of the brain’s structural network change most during adolescence. This is likely to reflect prolonged development for these regions – the other parts of the brain are closer to their adult structure and have slowed down by the age of 14. If you think back to my descriptions of synapses being pruned away, it makes sense to keep as many as you need for a long time, until you’re sure of which connections are going to allow you to best reason in the complex world around you.</p>
<p>I made a big deal earlier about the fact that we can not see the actual cells and connections in the brain using MRI. However, innovative work by <a href="http://pv226.user.srcf.net/?p=7" title="Petra Vertes">Petra Vértes</a> and data shared by the <a href="http://human.brain-map.org/">Allen Institute for Brain Science</a> gives us some clues as to what is going on at the cellular level in these brain regions.</p>
<p>The Allen Institute has measured the expression of 20,000 genes at 500 locations around the brains of six brains donated to research after their owner died. Vértes showed that the brain regions in association cortex – the same ones that change structurally the most during the teenage years – have <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601745113">greater expression of genes related to synaptic plasticity</a>. This means that genes controlling how our brain cells adapt their connections based on our experiences are more active in these regions.</p>
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<p>These regions are also related to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601745113">genes associated with schizophrenia</a> – a psychiatric disorder that is most likely to emerge during the late teenage years. Our work provides evidence for a mechanism as to why people with a genetic risk for schizophrenia may not experience symptoms until they are around 20-years-old. The affected brain regions are still developing and it may take these many years before the differences in brain structure are big enough to cause the hallucinations and delusions associated with this mental health disorder.</p>
<p>There is still a long way to go in our search to understand the biological underpinnings of mental health disorders. We will continue to work together, both within the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network and with other researchers around the world, to find treatments for mental health disorders, and, if possible, to find ways to prevent the symptoms from emerging all together.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The author is appearing on March 21 as part of the <a href="http://www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/looking-forward-great-14-days">Cambridge Science Festival</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirstie Whitaker receives funding from the Mozilla Science Lab and as a Research Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute.</span></em></p>The human brain develops rapidly between the ages of 14 and 24.Kirstie Whitaker, Research Associate, Department of Psychiatry, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/693202016-11-29T13:05:43Z2016-11-29T13:05:43ZWhy running could keep you awake at night<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147907/original/image-20161129-10954-1uvj66v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’ve probably heard people say they enjoy running because it lets them switch off. Perhaps you feel that way yourself. Well <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13138">recent research in mice</a> suggests there may actually be a scientific basis for this, because brain activity really does decrease when you’re performing a simple, repetitive action. What’s more, while running may tire your body out, such exercise might actually reduce your brain’s need for sleep.</p>
<p>Being awake and being asleep aren’t two mutually exclusive, uniform states. At times you can be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26575212">more deeply asleep</a> or more wide awake than others, and the boundary between the two <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21906025">can be blurred</a>. Your normal behaviour, such as the ability to react quickly to unexpected events, deteriorates as you stay awake beyond your regular bedtime. We don’t know exactly why this is but it may be that parts of your brain <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sleeping-while-awake/">go to sleep</a> even when you’re technically awake. But with the right motivation, we can also force ourselves to stay awake and even restore our performance temporarily.</p>
<p>How long we need to sleep or can stay awake for depends to some extent <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19075716">on our genes</a>, but <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11123523">evidence suggests</a> they are also affected by what activities we do while we’re awake. Surprisingly, we still don’t know what is it about being awake that puts pressure on our bodies to sleep, but scientists often refer to is as <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Sleep_homeostasis">“Process S”</a>. Like an hourglass, the levels of Process S indicate how long we’ve been awake or asleep and how likely we are to fall asleep or wake up at any given moment.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23651209">Recent evidence suggests</a> that sleep is initiated not by the brain as a whole but by local networks of neurons that were used more while awake. My colleagues and I wondered if parts of the brain responsible for certain behaviours had more of an affect on our ability to stay awake than others.</p>
<h2>Up all night with the mice</h2>
<p>To test this theory, we made use of a well-known tendency for mice to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24850923">run spontaneously on a wheel</a>, sometimes covering many kilometres every night. When mice run like this, they spend considerably <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15901653">more time awake</a>, as if their need to sleep were accumulating at a slower rate, or if something were overriding it. To shed light on this mysterious process, we investigated exactly what happens in the brain of spontaneously running mice.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27748455">In our study</a>, we recorded the electrical activity of individual nerve cells in each mouse’s neocortex – the outer layer of the brain – as they ran on a wheel. Typically, when a mouse (or a human) is awake and active, neurons fire at a high rate. This is because the brain has to monitor the surroundings, coordinate movements, and take decisions instantaneously. This constant brain activity requires a lot of energy – an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh6wBJQ9XHE">estimated 20% of all energy</a> used by the body.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147918/original/image-20161129-10954-h16ogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147918/original/image-20161129-10954-h16ogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147918/original/image-20161129-10954-h16ogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147918/original/image-20161129-10954-h16ogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147918/original/image-20161129-10954-h16ogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147918/original/image-20161129-10954-h16ogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147918/original/image-20161129-10954-h16ogm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Not now, we’re sleeping.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rene-germany/2151338763">Rene Schwietzke/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Surprisingly, we found that when the mice ran at high speed, some of their neurons stopped firing altogether. And the overall brain activity in the motor and sensory areas of the neocortex decreased on average by at least 30%. Paradoxically, this suggests that, overall, active physical behaviour and intense movement do not necessarily require a more active brain.</p>
<p>We also noticed that when the animals engaged in lots of different behaviour, their neurons would spike in a variety of different ways, from slow to fast discharge. But during the monotonous process of running, the neural spikes became much more consistent. This suggests that running is associated not only with less activity overall but also with an emergence of a more stable, uniform brain state.</p>
<p>Our next question was whether this would make a difference to overall brain activity during the course of extended waking periods. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27133462">Previous studies</a> suggested that the longer you stay awake, the more excitable your brain becomes (the more likely your neurons are to fire). We found that our mice’s neurons on average produced more spikes before they went to sleep than in the period soon after waking up, a few hours earlier. But if the mice spent a lot of time running, this increase in spiking didn’t happen. This suggests that if the neurons are not used then they don’t become more excitable.</p>
<h2>Running state of mind</h2>
<p>Based on these observations, we concluded that if a mouse’s day was dominated by tasks requiring repetitive or rhythmic movements (such as running), its brain would be in a fundamentally different state to normal. This state may even allow the brain to rest without entering deep sleep and provide some of the same benefits. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26115758">Recent evidence</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25262058">consistently suggests</a> that short periods of exercise may be beneficial for cognitive functions in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23589831">a similar way to sleep</a>.</p>
<p>Other examples from nature support this idea. For example, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27485308">birds sleep far less</a> when they’re flying non-stop for <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020212">many days or migrating</a>. There is even some evidence of a similar effect in humans, such as a link between meditation and a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4054695">reduced need for sleep</a>. We don’t know for sure why this happens but it may be that meditation is associated with a brain state where time effectively runs slower. And it could be the same for the mice on the wheel.</p>
<p>There are still many questions to be answered about why we need to sleep and how it effects our brains. But what is becoming increasingly clear is that we cannot understand the mystery of sleep without understanding what happens when we’re awake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vladyslav Vyazovskiy receives funding from The European Commission, MRC, BBSRC, Wellcome Trust and The European Space Agency </span></em></p>Recent research suggests running allows the brain to rest and reduces the need for sleep.Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, Associate professor of neuroscience, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/675032016-10-24T15:10:12Z2016-10-24T15:10:12ZWhy being dishonest is a slippery slope<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142919/original/image-20161024-28394-62fxhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Imagine you are a lawyer faced with the task of sending out an invoice to your client. As you sit there, it occurs to you that no one would be any the wiser (but you would be somewhat richer) if you surreptitiously added a few extra hours to your client’s bill. You’ve never done this before and it feels bad. But is there any real harm? </p>
<p>Aside from any negative impact for the client, there could well be a problem for the person being dishonest. Assuming you don’t get caught, taking the first step towards dishonesty can cause you to be more and more dishonest when similar opportunities present themselves in the future. </p>
<p>In an experiment we carried out with colleagues Stephanie Lazzaro and Dan Ariely – published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn.4426">Nature Neuroscience</a> – we gave 80 people the opportunity to lie again and again on a <a href="https://youtu.be/RqEcI3wW1_4">financial task</a> in order to gain money at another person’s expense. We found that people started with small lies, but slowly, over the course of the experiment, lied more and more. This escalation of dishonesty was observed only when participants lied for their own benefit, not when they did so solely for the benefit of others.</p>
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<p>Outside the laboratory, there are many reasons for why dishonesty may escalate – incentives may become larger or past lies might need to be covered up. Examining people’s brain activity while they were being dishonest in our task revealed another reason – a biological process called emotional adaption. </p>
<p>What does emotion have to do with dishonesty? Well, that bad feeling you have when you think about cheating can stop you from doing it. In its absence, you are more likely to lie. In <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=57177">one study</a>, a group of students were given pills called beta-blockers that reduced emotional arousal just before taking an exam. These students were twice as likely to cheat on the exam compared to students who received a placebo. </p>
<p>Most of us do not pop a pill before we lie. But the results of our experiment showed that the brain’s <a href="http://affectivebrain.com/?page_id=2894">emotion network responds less and less</a> with each additional lie. The greater the drop in the brain’s sensitivity to dishonesty, the more people lied the next time they got a chance. In other words, people adapted to their own dishonesty and less was holding them back from telling bigger lies. </p>
<p>It was not the case that brain activity simply decreased over time. The reduction in sensitivity was very specific – it was specific to the exact amount someone lied and it was detected only in the brain’s emotion network, not in other brain areas. We also knew the brain activity we were looking at was specific to that person’s lies, because one person’s brain response only predicted that person’s subsequent dishonesty and the results could not be used to predict the dishonesty of anyone else.</p>
<p>An easy way to think about this process is to compare it to smelling perfume. Imagine you bought a brand new perfume. You apply it in the morning and instantly you can detect its powerful scent. The next day you do the same, but now the smell is not as strong. Two months pass and you can hardly sense its presence. So you start applying it more liberally, baffled by the fact that no one will sit beside you on your commute to work anymore. This happens because neurons in your olfactory bulb desensitise to the smell of the perfume.</p>
<p>Repeated dishonesty is a bit like a perfume you apply over and over. Initially your response to your own acts of dishonesty is strong, but over time it decreases. Like the students taking the beta-blockers, your capacity for being dishonest increases.</p>
<p>This may sound bleak. Yet, our data also revealed a positive side of human nature. Participants could have cheated much more than they did, but they didn’t. They were also more likely to cheat when cheating helped others as well as themselves compared to when cheating was purely selfish. </p>
<p>Previous <a href="http://pps.sagepub.com/content/10/6/738.short">research</a> by Ariely and others shows that dishonesty can be curbed through interventions such as reminding people of their values, emphasising the honest actions of others and wiping the slate clean through acts of confession. Interventions like these could be used to nudge people away from dishonest acts before they escalate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tali Sharot receives funding from The Wellcome Trust. The research was also supported by funding from the Institute for Advance Hindsight.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Garrett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Once you’ve been dishonest, it’s harder to stop – here’s why.Tali Sharot, Director of the Affective Brain Lab and Reader (Associate Professor) of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCLNeil Garrett, Postdoctoral Researcher, Princeton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652802016-10-03T09:00:49Z2016-10-03T09:00:49ZThe future of brain and machine is intertwined, and it’s already here<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139826/original/image-20160929-27034-mo9d37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C998%2C667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-326869577/stock-photo-human-brain-technology-and-cybernetics.html?src=ML5xwbVK6JtHG1SYV4mBUg-1-81">vitstudio/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine a condition that leaves you fully conscious, but unable to move or communicate, as some victims of severe strokes or other neurological damage experience. This is locked-in syndrome, when the outward connections from the brain to the rest of the world are severed. Technology is beginning to promise ways of remaking these connections, but is it our ingenuity or the brain’s that is making it happen? </p>
<p>Ever since an 18th-century biologist called Luigi Galvani <a href="http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/featured/galvani.cfm">made a dead frog twitch</a> we have known that there is a connection between electricity and the operation of the nervous system. We now know that the signals in neurons in the brain are propagated as pulses of electrical potential, whose effects can be detected by electrodes in close proximity. So in principle, we should be able to build an outward neural interface system – that is to say, a device that turns thought into action.</p>
<p>In fact, we already have the first outward neural interface system to be tested in humans. It is <a href="http://www.braingate.org/">called BrainGate</a> and consists of an array of micro-electrodes, implanted into the part of the brain concerned with controlling arm movements. Signals from the micro-electrodes are decoded and used to control the movement of a cursor on a screen, or <a href="http://uncovercalifornia.com/content/24679-microelectrodes-help-neck-down-paralysis-patient-move-robotic-arm">the motion of a robotic arm</a>. </p>
<p>A crucial feature of these systems is the need for some kind of feedback. A patient must be able to see the effect of their willed patterns of thought on the movement of the cursor. What’s remarkable is the ability of the brain to adapt to these artificial systems, <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v15/n5/full/nrn3724.html">learning to control them better</a>. </p>
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<h2>Virtual reality</h2>
<p>Inward neural interfaces – ones that provide inputs to the brain – also depend on the brain’s ability to adapt to them. <a href="http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/num2/2004/5/the-design-and-function-of-cochlear-implants/1">Cochlear implants</a>, which can restore some measure of hearing to the profoundly deaf, have been around for several decades now. These take signals from an external microphone, and after signal processing, transmit a series of pulses to electrodes that excite the auditory nerve. The pulses are designed to mimic the way different frequencies are encoded by a functioning cochlea, but the match is imperfect, and the restoration of the ability to understand speech, for example, depends on the brain’s impressive ability to learn to adapt to the new kinds of input.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350946216300271">first trials</a> of retinal implants <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00407602">have now taken place</a>, in which signals from a camera are used to stimulate retinal neurons in vision-impaired patients. Second Sight’s <a href="http://www.secondsight.com/">Argus II system</a> shows some encouraging results, with patients able to pick out shapes and detect the motion of objects. For the first time, people who have become blind due to the degeneration of their own photoreceptor cells – which convert light into signals in the eyes – can have some measure of artificial vision restored.</p>
<p>The key message of all this is that brain interfaces now are a reality and that the current versions will undoubtedly be improved. In the near future, for many deaf and blind people, for people with severe disabilities – including, perhaps, locked-in syndrome – there are very real prospects that some of their lost capabilities might be at least partially restored.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139827/original/image-20160929-27034-1gtfb2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139827/original/image-20160929-27034-1gtfb2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139827/original/image-20160929-27034-1gtfb2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139827/original/image-20160929-27034-1gtfb2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139827/original/image-20160929-27034-1gtfb2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139827/original/image-20160929-27034-1gtfb2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139827/original/image-20160929-27034-1gtfb2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139827/original/image-20160929-27034-1gtfb2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mind control.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/4306147303/in/photolist-7yw8z2-8eMAbP-duRER9-9AVSAU-bzZ8CV-HpWVLX-3QUATT-8hfbmZ-cHCgFN-eEYnNN-h4ajn-4xgXB7-nD3mGq-3k2gV-5JBAU2-8iUR9r-rQJkQk-r3Qvfz-2Xjtj-ejnYRJ-6ATnuz-h4aHE-pRNurq-MTSjx-5Vb35-97sSmx-9finZk-bBvH3n-62wJCo-8ZEaL1-dZNX8D-fHXyiA-5586KV-7LtEVK-aBSSrp-6LmfnK-drLsQs-dhKdje-bqcNQk-aqqxY8-mCPdo-8VAFHR-8rXyFK-e51YpT-n9qj6i-a89oiS-bYbjd7-o2gyyF-J6T21a-ci5b3E">Ars Electronica/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Until then, our current neural interface systems are very crude. One problem is size; the micro-electrodes in use now, with diameters of tens of microns, may seem tiny, but they are still coarse compared to the sub-micron dimensions of individual nerve fibres. And there is a problem of scale. The BrainGate system, for example, consists of 100 micro-electrodes in a square array; compare that to the many tens of billions of neurons in the brain. The fact these devices work at all is perhaps more a testament to the adaptability of the human brain than to our technological prowess.</p>
<h2>Scale models</h2>
<p>So the challenge is to build neural interfaces on scales that better match the structures of biology. Here, we move into the world of nanotechnology. There has been much work in the laboratory to make nano-electronic structures small enough to read out the activity of a single neuron. In the 1990s, Peter Fromherz, at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, <a href="http://www.biochem.mpg.de/en/eg/fromherz">was a pioneer</a> of using silicon <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/an-organic-transistor-that-mimics-a-brain-synapse/">field effect transistors</a>, similar to those used in commercial microprocessors, to interact with cultured neurons. In 2006, Charles Lieber’s <a href="http://cml.harvard.edu">group at Harvard</a> succeeded in using transistors made from single carbon nanotubes – whiskers of carbon just one nanometer in diameter – to measure the propagation of single nerve pulses along the nerve fibres.</p>
<p>But these successes have been achieved, not in whole organisms, but in cultured nerve cells which are typically on something like the surface of a silicon wafer. It’s going to be a challenge to extend these methods into three dimensions, to interface with a living brain. Perhaps the most promising direction will be to create a 3D “scaffold” incorporating nano-electronics, and then to persuade growing nerve cells to infiltrate it to create what would in effect be cyborg tissue – living cells and inorganic electronics intimately mixed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139830/original/image-20160929-27014-9h86qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139830/original/image-20160929-27014-9h86qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139830/original/image-20160929-27014-9h86qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139830/original/image-20160929-27014-9h86qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139830/original/image-20160929-27014-9h86qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139830/original/image-20160929-27014-9h86qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139830/original/image-20160929-27014-9h86qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139830/original/image-20160929-27014-9h86qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Robocop: getting closer?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/elbragon/3946793538/in/photolist-71Lmds-71Lksm-q2UFRi-H8T62-8Zhqy6-8uZ95n-5tEFkP-78tAQC-7LxCNz-8kToQY-5tK3Km-9enysY-nntQ3B-3ysG46-7d3FMq-cEudeQ-cEueJh-cEuex3-cEudLW-hPVqM3-CD741-hPULY8-9bDy1F-EBSK4-7zhXhE-4RpCkG-4EEakj-cEudif-cEufFy-cEudn5-cEudR3-cEudBy-cEudKy-cEue2q-9kpVk7-6rkFdz-4SXDa1-7zecN2-7zhZrL-a3df91-8kc4Zm-zEKev-8LNdWM-7zhXZC-7HppQ1-7BMN9n-rHSSZ-7WuLpS-eFpEu-9bGE8E">Marcelo Braga/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This prospect might be achievable in our lifetimes, but what does remain very far away is the transhumanist dream of being able to obtain a complete readout of the brain – a transcript of the state of the mind. Neural interfaces will remain only the narrowest and most partial of windows on the huge complexity of the inner life of a brain, though even that partial window will be life-transforming for some.</p>
<p>As brain interfaces improve, they will bring real benefits to many, and some ethical issues too. As the techniques become more routine, it’s likely that people will find non-medical uses for them. We might find ourselves controlling computer games, or taking direct control of machines at work. We will still be a long way from the seamless integration of humans and machines, but the science fiction vision of the cyborg will become real enough to give us pause for thought.</p>
<p><em>This piece is co-published with the World Economic Forum as part of its Final Frontier series. <a href="https://www.weforum.org/focus/agenda-in-focus-the-final-frontier?delete_local=36">You can read more here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Jones is a Council Member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.</span></em></p>We might think our technological innovations are driving us towards a cyborg future, but is it the brain doing all the work?Richard Jones, Professor of Physics, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/638532016-08-11T18:20:24Z2016-08-11T18:20:24ZCircadian rhythms and sleep loss: what happens in your brain when you pull an all-nighter?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133835/original/image-20160811-20932-1ln87sr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just. So. Sleepy.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Ever wondered what happens inside your brain when you stay awake for a day, a night and another day, before you finally go to sleep? Well, we just found out.</p>
<p>It has been <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0045987">known for many years</a> that how sleepy we are, how well we can add up numbers, pay attention or conduct a working memory task depends on how long we have been awake and the time of day. Typically if we stay awake over a period of two days (a day, a night and then the next day) the first 16 hours or so is of wakefulness – performance is good and doesn’t change much. </p>
<p>But then, as we enter the “biological night time”, as indicated by a rise of the hormone melatonin, performance deteriorates rapidly and reaches a minimum at around 6-8am the following morning. On the second day, performance can get a little better (but still well below that of day one) and only returns to normal, baseline levels after a good night’s sleep. </p>
<p>The key characteristic of this performance timeline is that it doesn’t deteriorate linearly based on how long you’ve been awake but is instead modulated by the time of day. In fact, we know now that it isn’t actually “time of day” but “internal biological time of day” that causes the effects of sleep loss. At the behavioural level, then, brain function is determined by the combined effects of circadian rhythmicity and sleep homeostasis – the sleep pressure that builds up during wakefulness and dissipates during sleep.</p>
<h2>Circadian rhythm</h2>
<p>Circadian rhythmicity can be observed in many aspects of behaviour and physiology and is generated by circadian clocks in nearly every cell in the brain and body. Locally, these rhythms <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096289241300113X">are generated</a> by a feedback loop of clock proteins onto clock genes that express genetic information that is then translated into proteins.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133841/original/image-20160811-25924-1dgoexm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133841/original/image-20160811-25924-1dgoexm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133841/original/image-20160811-25924-1dgoexm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133841/original/image-20160811-25924-1dgoexm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133841/original/image-20160811-25924-1dgoexm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133841/original/image-20160811-25924-1dgoexm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133841/original/image-20160811-25924-1dgoexm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Where your hypothalamus is.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothalamus#/media/File:LocationOfHypothalamus.jpg">National Institutes of Health/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All these clocks – including brain clocks – are synchronised by a central director/conductor located in a brain area called the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus. This area of the brain also drives the rhythm of melatonin in blood and saliva.</p>
<p>So how does this combined action of circadian rhythmicity and sleep homeostasis work? Well, during the biological day the circadian clock generates an alerting or wakefulness promoting signal that becomes stronger as the day progresses and reaches maximum strength in the evening. This may seem a bit paradoxical, but this signal needs to become stronger as the day progresses because sleep pressure also increases the longer we’re awake – so something needs to keep us alert. </p>
<p>But as we enter the biological night, the wakefulness promoting circadian signal dissipates and turns into a sleep promoting signal with a maximum strength at around 6-8am. Again, this may seem a bit paradoxical but under normal conditions when we sleep at night, this comes in handy because the sleep promoting signal allows us to continue to sleep well even after six or seven hours when the sleep pressure has dissipated.</p>
<p>Problems arise when we stay awake at night and the next day, however. During the night, sleep pressure remains high and even increases because we are awake. The circadian signal no longer opposes this pressure and we struggle to stay awake and to perform. The next day, the circadian clock, which still ticks whether we are asleep or not, starts promoting awake signals again so it becomes a little bit easier to perform and stay awake. </p>
<h2>What does this look like in the brain?</h2>
<p>This is all fine and good and makes sense. Indeed, this working model is widely accepted from what we’ve seen happen when it comes to behaviour. But what does this combined action of circadian rhythm and sleep homeostasis look like within the human brain?</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133839/original/image-20160811-20932-2w65od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133839/original/image-20160811-20932-2w65od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133839/original/image-20160811-20932-2w65od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133839/original/image-20160811-20932-2w65od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133839/original/image-20160811-20932-2w65od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133839/original/image-20160811-20932-2w65od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133839/original/image-20160811-20932-2w65od.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Let’s take a look…</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-311949818/stock-photo-conceptual-image-of-a-man-from-side-profile-showing-brain-and-brain-activity-retro-stale.html?src=rRTNhXiSt2Szl3aiVeafMg-1-14">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our team of researchers, from the University of Liege and the University of Surrey, scanned the brains of 33 people using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – which gives a detailed picture of levels of neuronal activity throughout the brain – who were sleep deprived over two days and following a period of recovery sleep. We also measured melatonin levels to have a good indicator of internal biological time, which varies between individuals. Our results are <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aad2993">published in Science</a>. </p>
<p>For each participant, 13 brain images were obtained while they were conducting a simple reaction time task. Twelve brain images were collected during the sleep deprivation at times characterised by those rapid changes previously observed for performance in the evening and in the morning. The thirteenth image was taken after recovery sleep. </p>
<p>Activity in several brain regions, and in particular subcortical areas (such as the thalamus, a major centre for relaying information to the cortex), followed a 24-hour rhythmic (circadian) pattern the timing of which, surprisingly, varied across brain regions. Other brain regions – in particular frontal brain areas including <a href="http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s4/chapter09.html">higher-order association areas</a> – showed a reduction in activity with time awake followed by a return to pre-sleep deprivation levels after recovery sleep. Some brain regions displayed a pattern which was a combination of a rhythmic pattern and a decline associated with time awake. </p>
<p>Even more surprising, these effects of sleep loss on brain activity were much more widespread when the participants performed a simple reaction time task compared to a more complex memory-reliant task. </p>
<p>What all this means is that various brain regions appear to be differently affected by sleep loss and the circadian rhythm, and overall the results demonstrate both the pervasiveness of these effects, but also the similarity and local nature of these influences. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133837/original/image-20160811-18023-1m10ccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133837/original/image-20160811-18023-1m10ccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133837/original/image-20160811-18023-1m10ccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133837/original/image-20160811-18023-1m10ccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133837/original/image-20160811-18023-1m10ccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133837/original/image-20160811-18023-1m10ccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133837/original/image-20160811-18023-1m10ccl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maybe not the best time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-350933045/stock-photo-two-busy-workers-checking-the-documents-at-night-in-office.html?src=DJnzlXOirn1gQIVbqAKTeA-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The variety in brain responses shows just how complex the mechanisms are by which the brain responds to sleep loss. It helps us to understand how the brain might maintain performance during the day and night. These results may reassure shift workers and people working very long hours struggling to pay attention and concentrate on their job, particularly in the early morning hours. Yes, your brain is going to be different at night than during the day. They also suggest that if you’re working late, it might be better to wrap it up, get some sleep and start again in the morning.</p>
<p>It may even help us to better understand why many symptoms in psychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions wax and wane, and why in the early morning after a night without sleep we struggle to maintain attention, whereas in the evening it is not an issue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63853/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derk-Jan Dijk receives/received funding from BBSRC, Wolfson-Royal Society,AFOSR-US, pharmaceutical companies, lighting industry. None of this funding is directly related to the contents of the article.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pierre Maquet receives funding from Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (Belgium), Actions de Recherche Concertée of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, University of Liège research funds, Fondation Médicale Reine Elisabeth, Fondation Simone et Pierre Clerdent.</span></em></p>Performance changes if you stay awake over two days – but not in the linear way you might expect.Derk-Jan Dijk, Professor of Sleep and Physiology and Director of Surrey Sleep Research Centre, University of SurreyPierre Maquet, Research Director, Cyclotron Research, Université de LiègeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.