tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/neuroscience-427/articlesNeuroscience – The Conversation2024-03-26T16:04:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2164762024-03-26T16:04:24Z2024-03-26T16:04:24ZExploring the roots of stupidity: first understand the psychology of what lies behind irrational opinions<p>Most people, at one time or another, act foolishly. However, truly ignorant individuals exhibit a lack of introspection and stubbornly cling to their opinions, regardless of how irrational they may be. These people demonstrate unwavering self-assurance and are often oblivious to their own inadequacies. They craft retrospective justifications to validate their beliefs and hold onto them.</p>
<p>Even when presented with opportunities for personal growth and change, they seem incapable of breaking free from their entrenched habits. Reasoning with stubborn individuals can be as perplexing as it is frustrating. Many have written it off as a hopeless task. </p>
<p>As American writer Mark Twain <a href="https://marktwainstudies.com/the-apocryphal-twain-never-argue-with-stupid-people-they-will-drag-you-down-to-their-level-and-beat-you-with-experience/">once cautioned</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.</p>
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<p>To argue against stupidity only seems to reinforce it. These individuals thrive on power and control, defending their position and denying their foolishness, regardless of counterarguments.</p>
<p>Despite these challenges, it is still possible to sway such people towards more sensible behaviour. It all starts with understanding the roots of stupidity. From a psychological perspective, stupidity is often considered an outcome of cognitive biases or errors in judgment.</p>
<h2>Why biases persist</h2>
<p>Many prominent psychologists attribute irrational beliefs and foolish actions to our cognitive limitations. Research into human cognition and decision-making has shed light on why <a href="https://www2.psych.ubc.ca/%7Eschaller/Psyc590Readings/TverskyKahneman1974.pdf">these biases persist</a>. It reveals that humans are not purely rational beings. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555">They switch between fast, intuitive thinking and slow, rational thinking</a>, depending on the situation. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20920513/">Neuroscientists</a> have also weighed in, noting that the brain’s frontal lobes, responsible for rational thinking, can be overridden by the amygdala, a more primitive system for processing threats. In emergency situations requiring quick decisions, the slower, deliberate information processing is often set aside. </p>
<p>Numerous cognitive biases can help explain some of the nonsensical decisions people make. For instance, individuals can be susceptible to confirmation bias, where they favour information that aligns with their preexisting beliefs. They may also succumb to “anchoring”, becoming overly influenced by the first piece of information they receive (the anchor), even when this information turns out to be irrelevant or arbitrary. </p>
<p>The overconfidence effect is another potential factor at play, causing people to overrate their abilities and knowledge and the accuracy of their beliefs. There is also the phenomenon of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/za/basics/groupthink">groupthink</a>, where groups prioritise consensus and conformity over critical evaluation. </p>
<p>Flawed decisions could also be the result of fundamental <a href="https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/the-fundamental-attribution-error">attribution error</a>. This involves incorrectly attributing others’ behaviour to internal factors, such as personality, rather than to external factors, like situational influences. </p>
<p>Also, the <a href="https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/availability-heuristic">availability heuristic</a> explains the tendency to rely on information that comes to mind quickly and easily when making decisions. </p>
<p>While these cognitive biases don’t inherently imply stupidity, when left unaddressed, they can pose significant risks.</p>
<h2>Managing the misguided</h2>
<p>When individuals recognise their cognitive biases, they become more willing to participate in productive discussions and gain deeper insights into their own behaviour. Rather than trying to persuade them through rational discourse, one can encourage them to examine these biases. </p>
<p><strong>Promote reflective thinking:</strong> People can be taught how to properly decode the information they encounter. They can learn to discern whether their own observations and beliefs are grounded in accurate evidence. </p>
<p><strong>Advocate greater self-awareness:</strong> When people acquire self-awareness, they are able to reflect on their behaviour more objectively. </p>
<p><strong>Keep people grounded:</strong> Self-absorbed people often lack interest in the opinions of others. They need to attain a more grounded perspective on life and cultivate their capacity for self-evaluation. Empathy is another great remedy for foolishness. </p>
<p><strong>Satire as a tool:</strong> Satire has the potential to stimulate reflection and critical thinking. It gets people to question their assumptions without attacking individuals personally. </p>
<p><strong>Let them learn the hard way:</strong> Instead of instructing individuals to avoid specific foolish activities, one may encourage them to go ahead. It can be risky, but the hope is that when their actions lead to disastrous outcomes, they will learn from the experience. </p>
<p><strong>Lead by example:</strong> An effective leader, whether in government, business or any other sector, requires a combination of intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, empathy and compassion. Additional qualities are critical thinking, problem-solving skills, proficiency in handling complex issues, and the ability to collaborate with others and distinguish between the wise and the foolish. </p>
<p>A leader like this can set an example that contrasts with the conduct of foolish leaders. </p>
<h2>Stupidity in a ‘post-truth’ era</h2>
<p>In today’s “post-truth” era we find ourselves grappling with a daily barrage of public discourse that blurs the line between fact and fantasy. We are fooled by errors and lies, and social media appears to be amplifying such stupidity. The rise of social media has made human follies more visible than ever. We tend to underestimate the number of ignorant individuals in our midst, and the influence such people can exert over large groups.</p>
<p>The dangerous combination of power and stupidity can disrupt the lives of countless people. Unfortunately, as long as there are foolish supporters enabling such leaders, people will be trapped in their own collective foolishness. A significant counterforce against collective stupidity is the presence of institutional safeguards. </p>
<p>Citizens must cultivate a robust civic culture, fostering a society where they can exert influence on their government. There need to be laws that discourage misinformation and legal avenues to counter fake news, especially when it causes personal harm. </p>
<p>Education can lead people to discover and acknowledge their own ignorance, nurturing a more thoughtful and informed society that is better equipped to confront the pitfalls of stupidity.</p>
<p><em>This is an edited version of <a href="https://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/how-handle-foolish-people"> an article published</a> by Insead Knowledge.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Manfred Kets de Vries 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>Truly ignorant individuals lack introspection and stubbornly cling to their irrational opinions.Manfred Kets de Vries, Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development and Organisational Change, INSEADLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2261752024-03-22T16:20:37Z2024-03-22T16:20:37ZYour brain can reveal if you’re rightwing – plus three other things it tells us about your politics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582865/original/file-20240319-16-j5ck59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=182%2C47%2C3013%2C1743&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-vector/human-brain-technology-background-neon-colors-2277475403">Shutterstock/MrVander</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years ago, the leader of Mexico’s PRI party told the New York Times that he, “would stick to tried and trusted campaign tools, like polls and political intuition”, and rely on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/world/americas/mexicos-governing-party-vows-to-stop-using-neuromarketing-to-study-voters.html?_r=0">“the old-fashioned way”</a> to win the country’s election.</p>
<p>His party had been caught using neuroscience to gauge voters’ opinions about their candidate for the presidency and the party was embarrassed. Subsequently, we know from other sources the party carried on using neuroscience techniques. Someone even described their approach as <a href="http://www.alcaldesdemexico.com/notas-principales/neuropolitica-una-nueva-forma-de-ganar-elecciones">“the new way to win elections”</a>. </p>
<p>The approach is called neuropolitics and uses brain science to understand our politics. It applies the insights of neurology to explain why we take part in protests, vote for particular parties and even why we lie about our true feelings in opinion polls, potentially skewing the results to give the public a false impression of who is going to win.</p>
<p>I studied neuroscience before I gained a doctorate in political science. Back then the study of the brain was a utopian strain of research, but things have changed. And this has political implications. The Mexican case is one example of politicians exploiting neuroscience to their electoral advantage, but there are many others, which I write about in my new book The Political Brain. </p>
<p>It might seem like science fiction. But it is a fact. We already know a lot about how our brains influence our political beliefs and reveal our political views. Here are just four things your brain can reveal about your politics – and believe me, there are plenty more.</p>
<h2>1. Which politicians you like</h2>
<p>Let’s start with the basics. Advances in social neuroscience mean that we can identify the parts of the brain that get activated when you watch political advertisements – and a host of other things. We can do this because of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI scans).</p>
<p>When we think, the brain needs oxygen. This oxygen is carried around with blood. Because blood contains iron, which is magnetic, it shows up in a magnetic scanner. So, if I see photos of a person in distress, more blood will flow to an area on the side of the brain called insula. </p>
<p>To take an example, when we want to buy something – or when we like a particular election candidate – we activate a part of the brain that is called the ventral striatum. It is part of the so-called basal ganglia, a part of the brain that is associated with rewards. </p>
<p>So, if your brain is activated when you see candidate A, it is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1509/jmr.13.0593">a cue that you will vote for him or her</a>. </p>
<p>This also works at the microlevel. When we like something, the area is bombarded with a neurotransmitter called dopamine. When we see photos or films of a candidate we like, there is more dopamine in the ventral striatum.</p>
<h2>2. If you’re centre-left</h2>
<p>We need to be cautious because the brain is a complex machine, and no single area is responsible for how we think. But some areas are associated with political thinking. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/">study</a> – co-written by actor <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/colin-firth-actor-writer-academy-award-winner-scientist-14276499/#:%7E:text=A%20study%20on%20political%20orientation,but%20about%20which%20I'm">Colin Firth</a> – found that “greater liberalism [left-wing thinking] was associated with increased grey matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex”. This part of the brain is associated with empathy. So, maybe this research proves that those on the left are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/">more empathetic.</a>. </p>
<p>We should perhaps add that The King’s Speech, Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones’ Diary star was guest editing the BBC radio programme Today when he commissioned researchers to carry out the study. He doesn’t have a secret second career as a neuroscientist, though the work he proposed is legitimate science that has been through rigorous peer review and published in a top biology journal.</p>
<h2>3. If you’re centre-right</h2>
<p>That was the leftwing brain. What about conservatives or the centre-right? Well, individuals of this persuasion tend to be sceptical of change and cautious when they make choices. The brain region associated with these traits is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, on the topside of the brain.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-signs-that-you-might-be-rightwing-221930">Five signs that you might be rightwing</a>
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</em>
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<p>Sure enough, researchers found that this part was activated when subjects were exposed to video clips with political messages or images of people living <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17470910902860308?casa_token=PhgOQe0CEEQAAAAA:DdtdJf5-r2-li20J9Nmxwu0wTMxGmMMTUl7bjEGwvDCQucU20hhrJHgZkCYDXh_VzFqbHjfi65urKA">alternative lifestyles</a> – something that perhaps suggests a negative response to these lifestyles. </p>
<h2>4. If you’re receptive to authoritarianism</h2>
<p>So far we have looked at moderate leftists and moderate conservatives, but some people take more extreme positions. Some describe themselves as religious fundamentalists and are willing to use violence to stop abortion, for example. Others self-identify with the far right of the political spectrum.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22612576/">small study of these people</a> found that their brains – when under the fMRI scanner – show signs of damage to the so-called ventro-medial prefrontal cortex. This is an area that is associated with social intelligence and tolerance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration of a brain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582851/original/file-20240319-9351-5z2yxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582851/original/file-20240319-9351-5z2yxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582851/original/file-20240319-9351-5z2yxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582851/original/file-20240319-9351-5z2yxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582851/original/file-20240319-9351-5z2yxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582851/original/file-20240319-9351-5z2yxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582851/original/file-20240319-9351-5z2yxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are the routes to fascism all in our heads?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Betacam-SP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is tempting to draw conclusions, but it should be added that those with extreme views on both the far right and the far left <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/differences-in-negativity-bias-underlie-variations-in-political-ideology/72A29464D2FD037B03F7485616929560">show activation of the amygdala</a> when they are shown clips of political opponents. Amygdala is the part of the brain that kicks in if we are in mortal danger, such as when we see a snake.</p>
<h2>The predicting brain</h2>
<p>Some might find this scary. Maybe it is. Whatever you think, we already know that we can <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4245707/">predict ideology with up to 85% accuracy</a>.</p>
<p>Neuropolitics is certainly weird, and perhaps even worrying but when used to in pure research, it opens the prospect of combining the natural sciences with the moral sciences. A bit like the philosopher <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4705">David Hume</a> dreamed of doing in the 18th century, when he endeavoured to “introduce the experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects”, we too can combine science and philosophy.</p>
<p>You might choose to ignore it. But, it is already being used in the real world of political advertising. It is no longer fiction. when it is abused, it can be dangerous. That’s why we need to talk about it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226175/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Qvortrup 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>Neuropolitics is the science of using your brain activity to predict your political preferences. You might not like it but it’s already in use.Matt Qvortrup, Chair of Applied Political Science, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254122024-03-19T16:12:24Z2024-03-19T16:12:24ZThe middle-aged brain changes a lot – and it’s key to understanding dementia<p>Our brains change more rapidly at various times of our lives, as though life’s clock was ticking faster than usual. Childhood, adolescence and very old age are good examples of this. Yet for much of adulthood, the same clock seems to tick fairly regularly. One lap around the Sun; one year older. </p>
<p>However, there may be a stage of life when the brain’s clock starts speeding up. The brain starts changing without you necessarily noticing it. It may even be caused (partly) by what’s in your blood. This stage of brain ageing during your 40s to 50s, or “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2024.02.001">middle-ageing</a>”, may predict your future health.</p>
<p>Psychologists studying how our mental faculties change with age find that they decline gradually, starting in our <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367038/">20s and 30s</a>. However, when assessing people’s memory of everyday events, the change over time appears to be especially <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28798624/">rapid and unstable during middle age</a>. That is, even among healthy people, some experience rapidly deteriorating memory, while for others, it may even improve.</p>
<p>This suggests that the brain may be going through accelerating, as opposed to gradual, change during this period. Several structures of the brain have been found to change in midlife. The hippocampus, an area critical for forming <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458013001590?via%3Dihub">new memories</a>, is one of them. </p>
<p>It shrinks throughout much of adulthood, and this shrinkage seems to accelerate around the time of middle age. Abrupt shifts in the size and function of the hippocampus during middle age could underlie memory changes like the ones <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64595-z">mentioned above</a>.</p>
<p>Ultimately, what allows the brain to carry out its functions are the connections between brain cells – the white matter. These connections mature slowly throughout adulthood, especially the ones connecting areas of the brain that deal with cognitive functions such as memory, reasoning and language. </p>
<p>Interestingly, during middle age, many of them go through a turning point, from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5932">gaining volume to losing volume</a>. This means that signals and information cannot be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-023-01272-0">transmitted as fast</a>. Reaction time starts <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2021.661514/full">deteriorating </a> around the same time.</p>
<p>Through the white matter connections, brain areas talk to each other and form interconnected networks that can perform cognitive and sensory functions, including memory or vision. While the sensory networks deteriorate gradually throughout adulthood, the cognitive networks start deteriorating <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1415122111">faster during middle age</a>, especially those involved in memory.</p>
<p>Much like how highly connected people in society tend to form cliques with each other, brain regions do the same through their connections. This organisation of the brain’s communication allows us to perform some of the complex tasks we might take for granted, such as planning our days and making decisions. </p>
<p>The brain seems to peak in this regard by the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyp.14159">time we hit middle age</a>. Some have even referred to middle age as a “<a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/financial-decision-making-and-the-aging-brain">sweet spot</a>” for some types of decision-making, but then the network “cliques” start to break up.</p>
<p>It’s worth stating at this point why these subtle changes matter. The global population aged 60 and over is set to roughly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06516">double by 2050</a>, and with this, unfortunately, will come a considerable increase in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00249-8/fulltext">dementia case numbers</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A blurry photo of an elderly couple." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582395/original/file-20240317-22-pddnzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582395/original/file-20240317-22-pddnzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582395/original/file-20240317-22-pddnzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582395/original/file-20240317-22-pddnzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582395/original/file-20240317-22-pddnzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582395/original/file-20240317-22-pddnzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582395/original/file-20240317-22-pddnzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&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">As the population ages, dementia cases will inevitably rise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-couple-man-woman-still-together-225478723">oneinchpunch/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Focus has been too much on the brain in old age</h2>
<p>Science has long focused on very old age, when the detrimental effects of time are most obvious, but, by then, it can often be too late to intervene. Middle age could be a period when we can detect early risk factors of future cognitive decline, such as in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)30367-6/fulltext">dementia</a>. Critically, the window of opportunity to intervene may also still be open.</p>
<p>So, how do we detect changes without having to give everyone an expensive brain scan? As it turns out, the contents of blood may cause the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-022-01238-8">brain to age</a>. With time, our cells and organs slowly deteriorate, and the immune system can react to this by starting the process of inflammation. Inflammatory molecules can then end up in the bloodstream, make their way to the brain, interfere with its <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10357">normal functioning</a> and possibly impair cognition.</p>
<p>In a fascinating study, scientists from Johns Hopkins and the University of Mississippi analysed the presence of inflammatory molecules in the blood of middle-aged adults and were able to predict future cognitive change <a href="https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000007094?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed">20 years down the line</a>. This highlights an important emerging idea: age in terms of biological measures is more informative about your future health than age in terms of years lived. </p>
<p>Importantly, biological age can often be <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-021-00044-4">estimated</a> with readily available and cost-effective tests used in the clinic.</p>
<p>“Middle ageing” may be more consequential for our future brain health than we think. The hurried ticking of the clock could be slowed from outside the brain. For example, physical exercise confers some of its beneficial effects on the brain through <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-022-01238-8">blood-borne messengers</a>. These can work to oppose the effects of time. If they could be harnessed, they might steady the pendulum.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:y.nolan@ucc.ie">y.nolan@ucc.ie</a> receives funding from Science Foundation Ireland. She s affiliated with APC Microbiome Ireland. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sebastian Dohm-Hansen Allard 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>Middle age could be a period when we can detect early risk factors of future cognitive decline.Sebastian Dohm-Hansen Allard, PhD Candidate, Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College CorkYvonne Nolan, Professor in Neuroscience, University College CorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222452024-03-19T12:26:43Z2024-03-19T12:26:43ZHow much stress is too much? A psychiatrist explains the links between toxic stress and poor health − and how to get help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579438/original/file-20240303-22-dk7t8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C12%2C8348%2C5957&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Toxic stress increases the risks for obesity, diabetes, depression and other illnesses.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/depressed-man-covering-face-amidst-orange-rays-royalty-free-image/1227304528?phrase=stress+&adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt/Digital Vision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 taught most people that the line between tolerable and toxic stress – defined as persistent demands that lead to disease – varies widely. But some people will age faster and die younger from toxic stressors than others. </p>
<p>So how much stress is too much, and what can you do about it?</p>
<p>I’m a <a href="https://researchdirectory.uc.edu/p/wulsinlr">psychiatrist specializing in psychosomatic medicine</a>, which is the study and treatment of people who have physical and mental illnesses. My research is focused on people who have psychological conditions and medical illnesses as well as those whose stress exacerbates their health issues.</p>
<p>I’ve spent my career studying mind-body questions and training physicians to treat mental illness in primary care settings. My <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/toxic-stress/677FA62B741540DBDB53E2F0A52A74B1">forthcoming book</a> is titled “Toxic Stress: How Stress is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It.” </p>
<p>A 2023 study of stress and aging over the life span – one of the first studies to confirm this piece of common wisdom – found that four measures of stress all speed up the pace of biological aging in midlife. It also found that persistent high stress ages people in a comparable way to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001197">effects of smoking and low socioeconomic status</a>, two well-established risk factors for accelerated aging. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Children with alcoholic or drug-addicted parents have a greater risk of developing toxic stress.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The difference between good stress and the toxic kind</h2>
<p>Good stress – a demand or challenge you readily cope with – is good for your health. In fact, the rhythm of these daily challenges, including feeding yourself, cleaning up messes, communicating with one another and carrying out your job, helps to regulate your stress response system and keep you fit. </p>
<p>Toxic stress, on the other hand, wears down your stress response system in ways that have lasting effects, as psychiatrist and trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk explains in his bestselling book “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/313183/the-body-%20keeps-the-score-by-bessel-van-der-kolk-md/">The Body Keeps the Score</a>.” </p>
<p>The earliest effects of toxic stress are often persistent symptoms such as headache, fatigue or abdominal pain that interfere with overall functioning. After months of initial symptoms, a full-blown illness with a life of its own – such as migraine headaches, asthma, diabetes or ulcerative colitis – may surface. </p>
<p>When we are healthy, our stress response systems are like an orchestra of organs that miraculously tune themselves and play in unison without our conscious effort – a process called self-regulation. But when we are sick, some parts of this orchestra struggle to regulate themselves, which causes a cascade of stress-related dysregulation that contributes to other conditions.</p>
<p>For instance, in the case of diabetes, the hormonal system struggles to regulate sugar. With obesity, the metabolic system has a difficult time regulating energy intake and consumption. With depression, the central nervous system develops an imbalance in its circuits and neurotransmitters that makes it difficult to regulate mood, thoughts and behaviors. </p>
<h2>‘Treating’ stress</h2>
<p>Though stress neuroscience in recent years has given researchers like me <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001051">new ways to measure and understand stress</a>, you may have noticed that in your doctor’s office, the management of stress isn’t typically part of your treatment plan. </p>
<p>Most doctors don’t assess the contribution of stress to a patient’s common chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, partly because stress is complicated to measure and partly because it is difficult to treat. In general, doctors don’t treat what they can’t measure. </p>
<p>Stress neuroscience and epidemiology have also taught researchers recently that the chances of developing serious mental and physical illnesses in midlife rise dramatically when people are exposed to trauma or adverse events, especially during <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/ace-brfss.html">vulnerable periods such as childhood</a>. </p>
<p>Over the past 40 years in the U.S., the alarming rise in <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/health-equity/diabetes-by-the-numbers.html">rates of diabetes</a>, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity-child-17-18/overweight-obesity-child-H.pdf">obesity</a>, depression, PTSD, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db433.htm">suicide</a> and addictions points to one contributing factor that these different illnesses share: toxic stress. </p>
<p>Toxic stress increases the risk for the onset, progression, complications or early death from these illnesses. </p>
<h2>Suffering from toxic stress</h2>
<p>Because the definition of toxic stress varies from one person to another, it’s hard to know how many people struggle with it. One starting point is the fact that about 16% of adults report having been exposed to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/fastfact.html">four or more adverse events in childhood</a>. This is the threshold for higher risk for illnesses in adulthood.</p>
<p>Research dating back to before the COVID-19 pandemic also shows that about 19% of adults in the U.S. have <a href="https://doi.org/10.7249/TL221">four or more chronic illnesses</a>. If you have even one chronic illness, you can imagine how stressful four must be. </p>
<p>And about 12% of the U.S. population <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/introducing-second-edition-world-banks-global-subnational-atlas-poverty">lives in poverty</a>, the epitome of a life in which demands exceed resources every day. For instance, if a person doesn’t know how they will get to work each day, or doesn’t have a way to fix a leaking water pipe or resolve a conflict with their partner, their stress response system can never rest. One or any combination of threats may keep them on high alert or shut them down in a way that prevents them from trying to cope at all. </p>
<p>Add to these overlapping groups all those who struggle with harassing relationships, homelessness, captivity, severe loneliness, living in high-crime neighborhoods or working in or around noise or air pollution. It seems conservative to estimate that about 20% of people in the U.S. live with the effects of toxic stress.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Exercise, meditation and a healthy diet help fight toxic stress.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Recognizing and managing stress and its associated conditions</h2>
<p>The first step to managing stress is to recognize it and talk to your primary care clinician about it. The clinician may do an assessment involving a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001051">self-reported measure of stress</a>. </p>
<p>The next step is treatment. Research shows that it is possible to retrain a dysregulated stress response system. This approach, <a href="https://lifestylemedicine.org/">called “lifestyle medicine</a>,” focuses on improving health outcomes through changing high-risk health behaviors and adopting daily habits that help the stress response system self-regulate.</p>
<p>Adopting these lifestyle changes is not quick or easy, but it works. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/index.html">National Diabetes Prevention Program</a>, the <a href="https://www.ornish.com/">Ornish “UnDo” heart disease program</a> and the <a href="https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand_tx/tx_basics.asp">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs PTSD program</a>, for example, all achieve a slowing or reversal of stress-related chronic conditions through weekly support groups and guided daily practice over six to nine months. These programs help teach people how to practice personal regimens of stress management, diet and exercise in ways that build and sustain their new habits.</p>
<p>There is now strong evidence that it is possible to treat toxic stress in ways that improve health outcomes for people with stress-related conditions. The next steps include finding ways to expand the recognition of toxic stress and, for those affected, to expand access to these new and effective approaches to treatment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lawson R. Wulsin received funding in 2010 from the Veterans Administration support a secondary analysis of data from the Framingham Heart Study, which was published and contributed in part to the substance of this article. </span></em></p>No one can escape stress, but sometimes it takes a physical and emotional toll that translates to disease and other health effects. The good news is that there are new approaches to treating it.Lawson R. Wulsin, Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine, University of Cincinnati Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132002024-03-05T13:59:52Z2024-03-05T13:59:52ZRobber flies track their beetle prey using tiny microbursts of movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553851/original/file-20231015-26-ku2y0f.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Robber flies visually track their prey before spearing it with their proboscis.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>April in the Florida Panhandle. It was hot, humid, and a thunderstorm was lurking. But as a fresh graduate student, I was relieved for the escape from my first brutal Minnesota winter. I was accompanying my adviser, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OpaFwzoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido</a>, on a project that would end up dominating <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oux0RxAAAAAJ&hl=en">my Ph.D. work</a>. Out in the scrubland, my eyes darted at every movement, on the alert for an insect that likes shiny beads. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/43.2.227"><em>Laphria saffrana</em></a>, also known as robber flies, are chunky black and yellow flies. Most of a laphria’s head is made up of its large eyes, between which sits a formidable proboscis – a long, tubular mouthpart that can deliver a potent venom capable of incapacitating prey in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>The photos Paloma showed me before we got there, though stunning, were of no help in looking for the fly. There were insects flying in every direction, their movements a blur, making it impossible to pick out any details. I only had a split second to figure out whether the thing I was seeing was a laphria, a similarly colored yellowjacket wasp, or something else entirely. </p>
<p>Despite their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.02.032">relatively crude vision</a>, the flies I was looking for are far more adept than I am at picking out the insects they’re targeting. Somehow they’re able to zero in on their prey of choice: beetles. Based on her field observations the previous year, Paloma thought they did this by looking for the flash of beetle wings.</p>
<p>If she was right, laphria have hit upon an ingenious trick that balances the need for speed, accuracy and specificity. Here are some of the clues we’ve found to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.019">the secrets of their success</a>. </p>
<h2>Following the flash</h2>
<p>Paloma had previously studied other predator insects such as dragonflies and killer flies. Their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/compound-eye">compound eyes</a> don’t provide a lot of detail about the visual world, making it possible to trick them into chasing simple beads as if they were their prey insects.</p>
<p>But when Paloma tried the same sleight of hand on laphria, they wouldn’t go for the regular black beads. They chased only clear beads. </p>
<p>The one important difference between laphria and the other predators Paloma had studied is that they’re picky eaters. Their prey of choice are beetles. So, Paloma and our collaborator, Jennifer Talley, speculated that the reason laphria are attracted to shiny beads is because they reflected light and flashed like the clear wings of a beetle.</p>
<p>In Florida, we tested this idea by swapping out the plain black beads for a panel of LED lights that we could program to flash in sequence at a frequency that matched the wing beats of beetles, which can be anywhere from 80 to 120 beats per second. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The experimental setup, with a robber fly sitting on a log facing the LED light panel.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an outdoor enclosure, Paloma placed previously caught robber flies one after the other on a log. Outside, Jennifer and I controlled the LED panel in front of the log and the high-speed cameras that captured the action.</p>
<p>The LED pixels flashed in sequence, simulating a moving target. Laphria tracked the lights with keen interest only when they flashed at the same frequency at which beetles flapped their wings.</p>
<p>But even as our initial experiments began confirming the hypothesis, a new puzzle presented itself. How do the flies accurately track their prey?</p>
<h2>Unique strategy to track and identify</h2>
<p>Before they give chase, all visual predators, including laphria, need to accurately track their prey’s movements. Although many animals have this ability, what we found in laphria was, to our surprise, a slightly tweaked formula compared with other predators. Their strategy allows them not only to accurately track but also count those flashes from their prey’s wing movements.</p>
<p>When I looked at the high-speed videos of laphria tracking the flashing LEDs and actual beetles, I noticed that they primarily moved their head in short bursts, called <a href="https://eyewiki.aao.org/Saccade">saccades</a>, interspersed with little or no other movements. These saccades are extremely quick, lasting less than 40 milliseconds, and the time between them is only slightly longer. To the naked eye, this looks like continuous motion, but our high-speed videos show otherwise. The degree to which the flies moved their heads during each burst depended on the speed of the target and how far off center it was from the direction of the fly’s gaze.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Watch a robber fly watching moving lights it perceives as a prey beetle.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.019">What our findings told us</a> is that instead of continuously moving their heads to maintain the position of the target within the most sensitive parts of their eyes, laphria allow it to pass over their retina, moving only when it slips out of focus. We think this strategy helps them count the flashes of the prey’s beating wings, which determines their continued interest.</p>
<p>That is, the laphria know the wingbeat frequency of their most tasty prey and so pay attention to flashes that match. If the flash count matches their expectations, they will continue to track the target after it slips out of the sensitive zone of their eyes.</p>
<p>To bring it back into focus, though, they have to account for its speed and the position where they last saw it. Because the size of the saccade matches the speed of the prey, we think the laphria are keeping track of how fast the prey moves while at the same time counting the flashes from its wingbeats. So once a beetle slips out of focus, the predator knows how much to move its head to refocus.</p>
<p>Even though people track moving objects all the time – like while playing sports such as baseball or tennis or even just while watching a bird fly by – <a href="https://www.freethink.com/series/the-edge/eye-tracking">it’s a complex process</a>. It involves dynamic cross-talk between the visual and muscular systems.</p>
<p>Regardless of the motivation, the goal while visually tracking a target is the same – to train the most sensitive zone of the eyes, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554706/">known as the fovea</a>, onto the item of interest. <em>Laphria saffrana</em> have seemingly tweaked that rule so they can learn more about the target. Their customized prediction strategy allows them to accurately locate and quickly chase down their very specific dietary needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siddhant Pusdekar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not much is known about the predator fly Laphria saffrana. New research identified how they count the wingbeats of their favored prey, letting it slip out of focus before adjusting their heads.Siddhant Pusdekar, Graduate Researcher in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of MinnesotaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2241312024-02-26T17:24:36Z2024-02-26T17:24:36ZInsomnia: how chronic sleep problems can lead to a spiralling decline in mental health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577722/original/file-20240224-24-su6ra5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C142%2C3629%2C2310&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-vector/man-insomnia-cannot-sleep-hand-drawn-1965734296">APIMerah/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>I’ll often lie awake until three or four in the morning, before drifting off for just a few hours. Then comes the dreaded alarm clock. My mind and body are exhausted all the time – there’s always this knot of anxiety in my chest, doing away with any hope of a good night’s sleep.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Simon* is a NHS mental health nurse who, like millions of people in the UK, suffers from insomnia: a sustained difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep. His job is to support the recovery of people with severe mental illness, but his own sleep problems have had a profoundly negative impact on his mental health.</p>
<p>Most of us experience a bad night’s sleep from time to time, but can usually get back on track within a night or two. People suffering from insomnia, by contrast, have sleep problems that last for months or years at a time, taking a major toll on their health and wellbeing.</p>
<p>Around <a href="https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.26929#:%7E:text=a%20cognitive%20system.-,CONCLUSION,%2C%20social%2C%20and%20physical%20domains.">a third</a> of people will experience insomnia at some point in their life, with women and older people more often affected. Nearly 40% of sufferers <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2772563">fail to recover within five years</a>. People with insomnia have an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1556407X22000182?via%3Dihub">cardiovascular disease</a>. Insomnia is also a major risk factor for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.13628">mental illness</a>, and often co-occurs with mood disorders such as depression and anxiety.</p>
<hr>
<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>
<hr>
<p>Many different life events can increase your chances of sustained sleep deprivation. Both the financial burden and confinement arising from the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-14048-1">greater risk</a> of insomnia, which is in turn likely to have led to a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945721004196?via%3Dihub">rise in mental health problems</a>.</p>
<p>And yet, very little is known about why and how a prolonged absence of sleep gives rise to mental illness. Our team at the University of York has pioneered research into whether sleep deprivation <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661321000577">disrupts the brain’s ability to suppress intrusive memories</a> and distressing thoughts – classic symptoms of psychiatric disturbance. </p>
<p>It has also led us to ask whether it might one day be possible to treat mental illness while patients are sleeping – for example, by using sounds to normalise irregular patterns of brain activity during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.</p>
<h2>Why are some people so badly affected?</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>They put their hand over my face so I couldn’t breathe. Now I can’t wear anything that covers my mouth or nose for fear of reliving [that experience]. Mask wearing was a big problem for me during the pandemic – and it was always worse when I slept badly. Just the sight of other people wearing masks could bring it all back.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Helen* is a domestic abuse survivor who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a debilitating condition characterised by flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety. She told us her symptoms would always get worse after a bad night’s sleep – a pattern reported by other PTSD sufferers we spoke to.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577724/original/file-20240224-26-m8ngfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of woman in bed covering her face with her hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577724/original/file-20240224-26-m8ngfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577724/original/file-20240224-26-m8ngfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577724/original/file-20240224-26-m8ngfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577724/original/file-20240224-26-m8ngfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577724/original/file-20240224-26-m8ngfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577724/original/file-20240224-26-m8ngfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577724/original/file-20240224-26-m8ngfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>We can all sometimes encounter intrusive and unwanted thoughts, usually in response to reminders – for example, seeing a former partner and being reminded of an unpleasant breakup. While unsettling, these thoughts are infrequent, short-lived and, usually, quickly forgotten. This is in stark contrast to the highly lucid, distressing thoughts experienced by people with PTSD. Sufferers often engage in avoidant behaviour, such as not leaving home to reduce the likelihood of having to confront reminders of their trauma. </p>
<p>However, the symptoms of PTSD can also partly be explained by a breakdown of the brain mechanisms we rely on to push such intrusive thoughts out of conscious awareness. Because intrusive thoughts arise from unpleasant memories, another way people ward them off is by suppressing the offending content from their memory. But PTSD sufferers often <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797615569889">exhibit a deficit</a> in their ability to engage in this process of memory suppression, resulting in persistent unwanted patterns of thinking.</p>
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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>
<hr>
<p>And what if lack of sleep reduces our ability to suppress unwanted thoughts and memories? This could lead to a downward spiral of more persistent and frightening intrusive thoughts, severe anxiety, and chronic sleeplessness – culminating in psychiatric disturbance.</p>
<p>Although a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2017.55">wealth of research</a> has shown that sleep deprivation leads to psychological instability, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2167702620951511">our study</a> was the first study to examine how an inability to control intrusive thoughts might underpin this relationship. For this reason, we worked with young adults without a diagnosed mental health disorder, allowing us to determine how even healthy brain processes go awry when people do not get enough sleep.</p>
<h2>How sleep deprivation affects our brain</h2>
<p>Our group of young adults (aged 18–25) were asked to memorise face-image pairs, comprising a male or female face with a neutral expression next to a unique scene. They would memorise each pair over and over again, so that any face presented in isolation would serve as a powerful reminder of the scene it was paired with – in the same way a reminder of an unpleasant event in the real world can trigger a distressing thought.</p>
<p>The face-scene learning took place late in the evening – after which half the participants went to sleep in our laboratory, and the other half stayed awake for the entire night – watching movies, playing games and going for short walks outside. They could eat and drink, but psychological stimulants such as caffeine were strictly prohibited. We would wake anyone in this group who nodded off.</p>
<p>Next morning, all participants were shown the faces only, in random order, with the following instructions. If the face was inside a green frame, the participant should allow the associated scene to come into their mind. A red frame meant they should engage in memory suppression to block out the scene – in the same way we sometimes purge unwanted thoughts from our conscious experience.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577966/original/file-20240226-24-8ldt9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Explanation of face-image sleep and memory suppression experiment." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577966/original/file-20240226-24-8ldt9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577966/original/file-20240226-24-8ldt9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577966/original/file-20240226-24-8ldt9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577966/original/file-20240226-24-8ldt9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577966/original/file-20240226-24-8ldt9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577966/original/file-20240226-24-8ldt9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577966/original/file-20240226-24-8ldt9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sleep and memory suppression experiment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.epoc-york.com/research">Scott Cairney/University of York</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our sleep-deprived participants reported having more “intrusions” (failed memory suppression attempts) than those who had slept normally. And only well-rested participants got better at suppressing the unwanted memories over time. This suggests that sleeplessness does long-term harm to our ability to suppress intrusive memories and, hence, unwanted thoughts.</p>
<p>What’s going wrong inside a sleep-deprived person’s brain? To address this question, we <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.07.565941v1">repeated our study</a>, but this time with participants undergoing <a href="https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/divisions/fmrib/what-is-fmri/introduction-to-fmri">functional magnetic resonance imaging</a> (fMRI) – a powerful neuroimaging technique that allows us to determine which brain regions are engaged during particular cognitive operations (in this case, keeping intrusive memories at bay).</p>
<p>Memory suppression <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661314000746?via%3Dihub">relies on a brain region</a> known as the right <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsolateral_prefrontal_cortex">dorsolateral prefrontal cortex</a> (rDLPFC). When a reminder triggers retrieval of an unwanted memory, the rDLPFC inhibits activity in the brain’s memory processing centre, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocampus">hippocampus</a>, to push that memory out of the person’s mind.</p>
<p>Our fMRI study showed that, when participants were attempting to suppress unwanted memories, activity in rDLPFC was reduced after a night of sleep deprivation relative to a night of restful sleep. Moreover, activity in the hippocampus was stronger after sleep deprivation than restful sleep, suggesting that a breakdown of control by rDLPFC had allowed unsolicited memory operations to emerge with impunity, opening the door to intrusive patterns of thinking.</p>
<h2>Can better sleep improve our mental health?</h2>
<p>REM sleep, discovered by <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.118.3062.273">Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman</a> in 1953, is a unique stage of sleep characterised by rapid movement of the eyes and a high propensity for vivid dreaming.</p>
<p>As the brain enters REM sleep, it undergoes dramatic changes that are thought to play an important role in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2890316/">regulating our mental health</a>. For example, levels of the neurotransmitter <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/acetylcholine">acetylcholine</a>, which modulates the processing of disturbing memories, are markedly increased in REM sleep relative to other sleep stages, mirroring levels seen in wakefulness. Abnormalities of REM sleep are <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032813-153716">linked</a> to various psychiatric mood disorders including PTSD, and associated with the intense nightmares experienced following trauma.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-short-history-of-insomnia-and-how-we-became-obsessed-with-sleep-211729">A short history of insomnia and how we became obsessed with sleep</a>
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<p>So, could the brain mechanisms that allow us to control intrusive memories be especially influenced by the amount of REM sleep we obtain over the course of a night? To investigate this, our fMRI study included <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31277862/">polysomnography</a> – a sleep monitoring technique that enabled us to identify when participants were in REM sleep, based on both their eye movement and discrete brainwave patterns.</p>
<p>Among our participants who slept, those who had more REM sleep showed stronger engagement of their rDLPFC when suppressing unwanted memories the next morning. This suggests REM sleep may indeed support mental health by restoring the brain systems that help to shield us from unwelcome thoughts.</p>
<h2>The emotional intensity of our memories</h2>
<p>When we think back to a traumatic or painful life event, we get a sense of the unpleasant feelings, such as sadness or anger, that accompanied the original experience. However, the intensity of these feelings is usually much reduced, allowing us to draw on past events without being consumed by negative emotions.</p>
<p>Suppressing unwanted thoughts has been shown to <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/71309">weaken the memories</a> that lead to them, meaning they are less likely to intrude into our consciousness in the future. This relates not only to the content of the memories (the “what, when and who”) but also <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/37/27/6423.long">their emotional charge</a> – the intensity of the emotions we felt at the time. In other words, memory suppression helps us move on from prior adversity by gradually cleansing our memories of unpleasant experiences, and the negative emotions associated with them.</p>
<p>Conversely, failing to suppress an unwanted memory is likely to cause its emotional charge to linger, meaning that emotional responses to future reminders will remain more intense. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577728/original/file-20240224-16-qbm7dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of exhausted man in bed, suffering with insomnia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577728/original/file-20240224-16-qbm7dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577728/original/file-20240224-16-qbm7dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577728/original/file-20240224-16-qbm7dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577728/original/file-20240224-16-qbm7dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577728/original/file-20240224-16-qbm7dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577728/original/file-20240224-16-qbm7dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577728/original/file-20240224-16-qbm7dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&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"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/man-insomnia-cannot-sleep-hand-drawn-1819333274">APIMerah/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We tested this by showing our participants scenes that were either emotionally negative (such as a car crash) or neutral (such as a forest). In the morning, after completing the memory retrieval and suppression task (with green and red-framed faces), participants were then asked to give intensity ratings for the negative and neutral scenes again.</p>
<p>Our findings were clear – and corroborated by further tests using an objective index of emotional arousal, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695635/#:%7E:text=The%20skin%20conductance%20response%20(SCR)%20is%20an%20indirect%20measure%20of,emotional%20valence%20(Bradley%20et%20al.)">skin conductance responses</a>. Among participants who had slept, emotional responses to the suppressed negative scenes became less intense over time. But among the sleep-deprived, emotional ratings for negative scenes remained elevated, regardless of whether the scenes were suppressed or not. This suggests that a breakdown of memory suppression mechanisms after sleep loss prevented participants from being able to “deal with” these negative emotions.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/insomnia-and-mental-disorders-are-linked-but-exactly-how-is-still-a-mystery-212106">Insomnia and mental disorders are linked. But exactly how is still a mystery</a>
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<p>In the context of psychiatric mood disorders that co-occur with chronic sleep disturbance, failure to suppress memories of emotionally disturbing events, together with an inability to reduce the unpleasant feelings embedded within those memories, could contribute to a strong tendency of mood-disordered individuals to focus on negative interpretations of the past.</p>
<p>Furthermore, anxiety arising from intrusive memories may also obstruct the sleep that is needed for recovery, leading to a vicious cycle of emotional dysregulation and sleeplessness.</p>
<h2>The importance of forgetting</h2>
<p>In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the main characters have their memories of their turbulent relationship erased. Far from improving their quality of life, this leads to further complications, serving as a cautionary tale. </p>
<p>However, there are situations where aiding the forgetting process may help. For example, people who have experienced traumatic experiences can struggle to cope with unwanted memory intrusions. In these extreme cases, where the usual brain processes that allow for forgetting aren’t functioning properly, it could be beneficial to induce forgetting.</p>
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<p>Generally, forgetting is thought of as “bad”, with people worrying about forgetting where they put the car keys, or when their wedding anniversary is. But far from being a problem, this is how <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-forgetting-is-a-normal-function-of-memory-and-when-to-worry-223284">memory is supposed to work</a>. Sometimes, we want to just forget information that isn’t relevant to our daily lives, to prevent it from interfering with our goals. And sometimes, we want to forget embarrassing or emotionally scarring events.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the purpose of a functioning memory system is to make sensible and accurate decisions in the present, based on our past experience. The “adaptive” nature of forgetting allows us to get rid of irrelevant memories, making sure the memories that remain are as relevant to future decisions as possible. From this perspective, forgetting is as important as remembering. Simply put, forgetting is a feature of memory, not a bug.</p>
<p>While forgetting is a catch-all term we use for the loss of a memory, it isn’t a single process in the brain. Memories can be forgotten via active processes, such as memory suppression. But this can also happen via passive processes including “decay”, where the physical trace of a memory in the brain breaks down over time, or “interference”, where new memories that are similar to previous ones lead to confusion-impaired retrieval. For example, if you park your car in a new location in the supermarket you often visit, you might forget this new location because the usual place you park comes more readily to mind.</p>
<p>Forgetting is a complex phenomenon that unfolds over different timescales and via different processes, both while awake and asleep. While some memories can fragment, others are forgotten as a whole, so that all aspects of the memory are <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2019-38883-001.html">no longer accessible</a>. </p>
<p>That forgetting is likely to occur during sleep has been underappreciated by psychologists, because research on sleep has largely focused on the role it plays in strengthening memories. But <a href="https://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/29/11/401.long">we</a> and <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/37/3/464">other researchers</a> have recently reasoned that if forgetting is a fundamental part of a functioning memory system, then sleep should play as much of a role in forgetting as it does in retention.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577727/original/file-20240224-16-ist89m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of sleep-deprived man in bed, covering his head with pillows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577727/original/file-20240224-16-ist89m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577727/original/file-20240224-16-ist89m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577727/original/file-20240224-16-ist89m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577727/original/file-20240224-16-ist89m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577727/original/file-20240224-16-ist89m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577727/original/file-20240224-16-ist89m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577727/original/file-20240224-16-ist89m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&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="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/man-insomnia-cannot-sleep-hand-drawn-1936830988">APIMerah/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Previous <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1179013?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed">research</a>, including <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30153-2">our own</a>, has shown that the presentation of specific sounds during sleep can boost memory. If you were to learn the location of a cat on a computer screen, and during learning we played a “meow” sound, the presentation of the same sound during sleep would lead to better location memory following sleep. This selective boosting of a specific memory during sleep is called “targeted memory reactivation”.</p>
<p>We have <a href="https://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/29/11/401.long">recently shown</a> that this technique can also be used to induce “selective forgetting”. We asked our participants to learn pairs of words or names before going to sleep. We used famous names, location and object words to allow participants to create vivid images in their minds for each pair, so they would be more likely to remember them after a night’s sleep.</p>
<p>But we also made sure the pairs overlapped by sharing one common word. When people learn these overlapping pairs, they compete against each other, and this competition can lead to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1995-04358-001">forgetting</a> some of the words. We thought a similar forgetting effect might be seen by using targeted memory reactivation when participants were sleeping. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-forgetting-is-a-normal-function-of-memory-and-when-to-worry-223284">Why forgetting is a normal function of memory – and when to worry</a>
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<p>We found the presentation of the word during sleep caused reactivation and strengthening for one pair, but this had a disruptive effect for the other pair. This suggests we could use targeted memory reactivation to selectively strengthen and weaken memories during sleep, presuming we can create interference between two memories. This could be beneficial in the case of people whose brain processes aren’t functioning properly, not allowing them to “healthily forget” disturbing and intrusive memories.</p>
<p>Although such a treatment is still a long way off, our work raises the possibility of using sound cues during sleep – in combination with psychological techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy – to decrease the crippling emotional grip a particular memory has on a patient.</p>
<h2>Modifying REM sleep to improve mental health</h2>
<p>Given the strong link between REM sleep and mental health disorders, REM sleep may represent a powerful therapeutic target for treating and preventing various psychiatric conditions. By delivering sounds in synchrony with naturally occurring brain rhythms, it is possible to modify patterns of brain activity that are associated with memory processing in REM sleep.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/44/4/zsaa227/5960115">one study</a>, we used a computerised algorithm to track rapidly emerging patterns of brain activity in real time while people were asleep (based on polysomnography data). When the algorithm detects the emergence of a particular brain rhythm, it delivers short bursts of sound to increase the intensity of that brain rhythm (akin to pushing a swing as it reaches the highest point of its cycle).</p>
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<p>We have showed this technique can be used to modify distinct brain rhythms in REM sleep. In future, such auditory stimulation could potentially provide a means of renormalising aberrant patterns of brain activity in REM sleep to treat psychiatric disturbance. For example, by integrating this technology with devices that are already available for people to monitor their sleep at home, the playing of particular sounds while someone is sleeping could provide a simple and cost-effective therapy for reducing mood disturbance.</p>
<p>However, this is a long way from being a reality, and many studies would be required to evaluate the feasibility of such an approach before it could be used as a therapeutic tool.</p>
<h2>Targeting sleep in psychiatric hospitals</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>High-risk patients undergo routine observations, sometimes as regularly as every ten minutes, all night and every night. Torches are shone into their rooms – to check they’re breathing – and there’s a lot of noise as doors are open and closed. It has a terrible impact on their sleep.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Heather* is a consultant forensic psychiatrist who works on a secure mental health ward in the North of England. She describes how the ward regime (in this case, routine welfare checks on high-risk individuals performed throughout the night) impact on patients’ sleep.</p>
<p>A number of people with severe mental illness receive treatment in secure inpatient units. Although the goal of these psychiatric hospitals is to provide a therapeutic setting to support the improvement of mental health, many features of the inpatient environment, such as noise at night or the ward regime, can worsen patients’ sleep disturbances – intensifying the symptoms of their illness, including low mood, impulsivity and aggression.</p>
<p>At the same time, chronic sleeplessness often reduces patients’ engagement with psychological therapies (due to them sleeping in the day or lacking motivation), lengthening their admission and recovery time.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577726/original/file-20240224-22-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of a man sitting up in bed, suffering with insomnia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577726/original/file-20240224-22-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577726/original/file-20240224-22-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577726/original/file-20240224-22-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577726/original/file-20240224-22-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577726/original/file-20240224-22-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577726/original/file-20240224-22-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577726/original/file-20240224-22-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&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"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/man-insomnia-cannot-sleep-hand-drawn-1964955184">APIMerah/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In a recent international scoping review, we found that only a small number of non-pharmacological sleep interventions had been tested in psychiatric inpatient settings, despite <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.03.23286483v1">clear evidence</a> that these improve both sleep and mental health outcomes.</p>
<p>New digital technologies can give a clear indication of patient welfare without the need for the noise and disruption Heather describes, providing an environment that is more conducive to healthy sleep. Future studies could test the potential for integrating these digital technologies with sleep-based therapies to speed up recovery times.</p>
<p>Achieving this goal is not only contingent on more research, but also on the capacity for carrying out scientific studies at scale. For example, all of the studies we have described were performed in tightly controlled laboratory environments, usually involving large and expensive pieces of equipment (for example, polysomnography systems). Though <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797619873344?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed">recent efforts have shown promise</a> in the feasibility of moving these techniques into people’s homes, much more work needs to be done outside of the lab before digitised, sleep-focused interventions for mental illness become a reality.</p>
<p>We envisage a future in which sleep is a routine target for reducing or preventing symptoms of mental illness, both in psychiatric inpatient settings and in people’s homes. Although there is much work still to do, sleep research is at an exciting juncture between bench and bedside, and offers a viable solution to the growing global burden of mental illness.</p>
<p><em>*Some names in this article have been changed to protect the anonymity of the interviewees.</em></p>
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<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">
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<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>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-brain-is-the-most-complicated-object-in-the-universe-this-is-the-story-of-scientists-quest-to-decode-it-and-read-peoples-minds-222458?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The brain is the most complicated object in the universe. This is the story of scientists’ quest to decode it – and read people’s minds
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ocd-is-so-much-more-than-handwashing-or-tidying-as-a-historian-with-the-disorder-heres-what-ive-learned-219281?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">OCD is so much more than handwashing or tidying. As a historian with the disorder, here’s what I’ve learned
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/noise-in-the-brain-enables-us-to-make-extraordinary-leaps-of-imagination-it-could-transform-the-power-of-computers-too-192367?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Noise in the brain enables us to make extraordinary leaps of imagination. It could transform the power of computers too
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/unlocking-new-clues-to-how-dementia-and-alzheimers-work-in-the-brain-uncharted-brain-podcast-series-194773?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Unlocking new clues to how dementia and Alzheimer’s work in the brain – Uncharted Brain podcast series
</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<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/224131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Cairney has received funding from the Medical Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aidan Horner receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>We envisage a future in which sleep is a routine target for reducing or preventing symptoms of mental illness, both in psychiatric settings and people’s homesScott Cairney, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of YorkAidan Horner, Associate Professor in Psychology and Neuroscience, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225132024-02-19T19:04:30Z2024-02-19T19:04:30ZHow long does back pain last? And how can learning about pain increase the chance of recovery?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576603/original/file-20240219-18-edti6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C60%2C6639%2C4406&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/upset-mature-woman-suffering-backache-after-1504807832">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Back pain is common. One in thirteen people have it right now and worldwide a staggering 619 million people will <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186678/">have it this year</a>.</p>
<p>Chronic pain, of which back pain is the most common, is the world’s <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186678/">most disabling</a> health problem. Its economic impact <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92510/">dwarfs other health conditions</a>. </p>
<p>If you get back pain, how long will it take to go away? We scoured the scientific literature to <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/196/2/E29.full.pdf">find out</a>. We found data on almost 20,000 people, from 95 different studies and split them into three groups: </p>
<ul>
<li>acute – those with back pain that started less than six weeks ago</li>
<li>subacute – where it started between six and 12 weeks ago</li>
<li>chronic – where it started between three months and one year ago. </li>
</ul>
<p>We found 70%–95% of people with acute back pain were likely to recover within six months. This dropped to 40%–70% for subacute back pain and to 12%–16% for chronic back pain.</p>
<p>Clinical guidelines point to graded return to activity and pain education under the guidance of a health professional as the best ways to promote recovery. Yet these effective interventions are underfunded and hard to access.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-cognitive-functional-therapy-how-can-it-reduce-low-back-pain-and-get-you-moving-207009">What is cognitive functional therapy? How can it reduce low back pain and get you moving?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>More pain doesn’t mean a more serious injury</h2>
<p>Most acute back pain episodes are <a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/getattachment/75af0cfd-6182-4328-ad23-04ad8618920f/attachment.aspx">not caused</a> by serious injury or disease.</p>
<p>There are rare exceptions, which is why it’s wise to see your doctor or physio, who can check for signs and symptoms that warrant further investigation. But unless you have been in a significant accident or sustained a large blow, you are unlikely to have caused much damage to your spine. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Factory worker deep-breathes with a sore back" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575505/original/file-20240214-24-yvwksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575505/original/file-20240214-24-yvwksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575505/original/file-20240214-24-yvwksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575505/original/file-20240214-24-yvwksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575505/original/file-20240214-24-yvwksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575505/original/file-20240214-24-yvwksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575505/original/file-20240214-24-yvwksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Your doctor or physio can rule out serious damage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-man-worker-warehouse-have-accident-2181811499">DG fotostock/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even very minor back injuries can be brutally painful. This is, in part, because of how we are made. If you think of your spinal cord as a very precious asset (which it is), worthy of great protection (which it is), a bit like the crown jewels, then what would be the best way to keep it safe? Lots of protection and a highly sensitive alarm system.</p>
<p>The spinal cord is protected by strong bones, thick ligaments, powerful muscles and a highly effective alarm system (your nervous system). This alarm system can trigger pain that is so unpleasant that you cannot possibly think of, let alone do, anything other than seek care or avoid movement. </p>
<p>The messy truth is that when pain persists, the pain system becomes more sensitive, so a widening array of things contribute to pain. This pain system hypersensitivity is a result of neuroplasticity – your nervous system is becoming better at making pain. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-pain-and-what-is-happening-when-we-feel-it-49040">Explainer: what is pain and what is happening when we feel it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reduce your chance of lasting pain</h2>
<p>Whether or not your pain resolves is not determined by the extent of injury to your back. We don’t know all the factors involved, but we do know there are things that you can do to reduce chronic back pain:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>understand how pain really works. This will involve intentionally learning about modern pain science and care. It will be difficult but rewarding. It will help you work out what you can do to change your pain </p></li>
<li><p>reduce your pain system sensitivity. With guidance, patience and persistence, you can learn how to gradually retrain your pain system back towards normal.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>How to reduce your pain sensitivity and learn about pain</h2>
<p>Learning about “how pain works” provides the most sustainable <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj-2021-067718">improvements in chronic back pain</a>. Programs that combine pain education with graded brain and body exercises (gradual increases in movement) can reduce pain system sensitivity and help you return to the life you want. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Physio helps patient use an exercise strap" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575501/original/file-20240214-22-gzb0hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575501/original/file-20240214-22-gzb0hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575501/original/file-20240214-22-gzb0hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575501/original/file-20240214-22-gzb0hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575501/original/file-20240214-22-gzb0hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575501/original/file-20240214-22-gzb0hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575501/original/file-20240214-22-gzb0hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some programs combine education with gradual increases in movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-physiotherapist-exercising-senior-patient-physic-2130321380">Halfpoint/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These programs have been in development for years, but high-quality clinical trials <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2794765">are now emerging</a> and it’s good news: they show most people with chronic back pain improve and many completely recover.</p>
<p>But most clinicians aren’t equipped to deliver these effective programs – <a href="https://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(23)00618-1/fulltext">good pain education</a> is not taught in most medical and health training degrees. Many patients still receive ineffective and often risky and expensive treatments, or keep seeking temporary pain relief, hoping for a cure. </p>
<p>When health professionals don’t have adequate pain education training, they can deliver bad pain education, which leaves patients feeling like they’ve just <a href="https://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(23)00618-1/fulltext">been told it’s all in their head</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/opioids-dont-relieve-acute-low-back-or-neck-pain-and-can-result-in-worse-pain-new-study-finds-203244">Opioids don't relieve acute low back or neck pain – and can result in worse pain, new study finds</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Community-driven not-for-profit organisations such as <a href="https://www.painrevolution.org/">Pain Revolution</a> are training health professionals to be good pain educators and raising awareness among the general public about the modern science of pain and the best treatments. Pain Revolution has partnered with dozens of health services and community agencies to train more than <a href="https://www.painrevolution.org/find-a-lpe">80 local pain educators</a> and supported them to bring greater understanding and improved care to their colleagues and community. </p>
<p>But a broader system-wide approach, with government, industry and philanthropic support, is needed to expand these programs and fund good pain education. To solve the massive problem of chronic back pain, effective interventions need to be part of standard care, not as a last resort after years of increasing pain, suffering and disability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Wallwork receives payments for lectures on pain and rehabilitation. Sarah was funded by an NHMRC Investigator Grant awarded to GL Moseley (ID 1178444).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorimer Moseley has received support from: Reality Health, ConnectHealth UK, Institutes of Health California, AIA Australia, Workers’ Compensation Boards and professional sporting organisations in Australia, Europe, South and North America. Professional and scientific bodies have reimbursed him for travel costs related to presentation of research on pain and pain education at scientific conferences/symposia. He has received speaker fees for lectures on pain, pain education and rehabilitation. He receives royalties for books on pain and pain education. He is non-paid CEO of the non-profit Pain Revolution, an unpaid Director of Painaustralia and an unpaid Director of Australian Pain Solutions Research Alliance.</span></em></p>Back pain is common. One in thirteen people have it right now and worldwide a staggering 619 million people will have it this year. Chronic pain, of which back pain is the most common, is the world’s most…Sarah Wallwork, Post-doctoral Researcher, University of South AustraliaLorimer Moseley, Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Foundation Chair in Physiotherapy, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2238732024-02-19T17:10:03Z2024-02-19T17:10:03ZFrom bridge to chess, why men outperform women at ‘mindsports’ – and what to do about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576463/original/file-20240219-24-m3v5sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C40%2C3805%2C3414&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elite bridge player Margherita Chavarria from Italy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Francesca Canali from the World Bridge Federation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Why do men strongly outperform women at “mindsports” such as chess and bridge? <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00948705.2018.1520125?journalCode=rjps20">Mindsports</a> mainly use the brain and require skills such as memory, critical thinking, problem solving, strategic planning, mental discipline and judgment. Without physical differences in strength, how do we explain why the top level of such games tends to be dominated by men? </p>
<p>A defining characteristic of bridge, which I study, is that it is always <a href="https://www.scipod.global/professor-samantha-punch-benefits-of-bridge-the-partnership-mindsport/">played in partnership</a>. Each game consists of four players divided into two pairs who compete against each other to win tricks. Major bridge events have open and women’s categories, often held concurrently, with very few women playing in the open. </p>
<p>While this allows women to compete at an international level, it feeds into perceptions about women’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16078055.2022.2051068">inability to succeed</a> at the highest level.</p>
<p>Women have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222216.2021.1887782">limited visibility</a> at the top levels of bridge. The chief tournament directors and those on international executive committees are most often men (although this is starting to change). The captains and coaches of the women-only teams are nearly always men. Female sponsors <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41978-021-00099-y">prefer to hire male professional players</a> as partners and teammates.</p>
<p>Male domination at both the top levels of administration and of the game means there can be a lack of recognition of the structural barriers for women. </p>
<p>Research conducted by the academic project <a href="https://bridgemindsport.org/">Bridge: A MindSport for All (Bamsa)</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14927713.2022.2160787">found that</a> gender stereotypes and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-neurosexism-is-holding-back-gender-equality-and-science-itself-67597">“neurosexism”</a> (claiming there are differences between female and male brains that can explain women’s inferiority), can partly explain differences in achievement.</p>
<p>That’s because sexist arguments that male brains are superiorly wired for logic and mathematics can be used to offer men more opportunities and training than women. </p>
<p>This is despite the fact that modern research shows there <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-male-and-female-brains-really-different-54092">isn’t such a thing</a> as a distinctly male or female brain. Most brains <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1509654112">are a mosaic</a> of what we think of as feminine and masculine features. And the more mixed our brains, <a href="https://theconversation.com/male-vs-female-brains-having-a-mix-of-both-is-common-and-offers-big-advantages-new-research-153242">the better our mental health</a>. </p>
<p>The brain also changes a lot depending on our environment – if we are constantly encouraged or discouraged to do certain things, such as nurturing, this will affect our brain wiring – a process called <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/neuroplasticity">neuroplasticity</a>.</p>
<p>Research has also shown that when people are reminded of a negative gender stereotype, such as women not being good at maths or men not being good at emotions, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-terrifying-power-of-stereotypes-and-how-to-deal-with-them-101904">they actually perform worse</a> on tasks measuring such ability. Men also <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/05/the-confidence-gap/359815/">have higher levels of general confidence</a> than women, which is a reflection of society and can be an advantage in mindsports. </p>
<p>In my research, I interviewed 52 top bridge players (20 women and 32 men) from Europe and the US. We discovered that some bridge players, both men and women, believed that female brains are simply better suited to emotion, nurturing and multi-tasking than to mental toughness and competitiveness.</p>
<p>We discovered that many <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14927713.2022.2160787">used outdated neuroscientific arguments</a> about the gendered brain as a purely biological organ, fixed in its processes and isolated from the external world. There seemed to be a general acceptance that male players are inevitably “better”. </p>
<p>The damage of such widespread beliefs is down to a general lack of knowledge of contemporary neuroscience. Neurosexist arguments and gendered stereotyping, whether intentional or not, create social barriers. These can have negative consequences on participation and inclusion in bridge and other mindsports. </p>
<p>Players themselves may also inadvertently engage in casual sexism and discriminatory language. In the competitive bridge environment, for example, “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16078055.2022.2051068">playing like a man</a>” provides the most status for women. Such dialogue can become normalised “banter”, leading to less respect or recognition of the expertise of top female bridge players.</p>
<p>The Bamsa research suggests that men’s dominance in elite mindsport can ultimately be explained through historic and structural <a href="https://bridgemindsport.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BAMSA-Bridging-Brains-Poster.pdf">opportunities that privilege men</a> rather than brain differences. For example, women may be constrained by factors such as childcare and other caring duties, which reduces time to practice, play and concentrate. </p>
<p>Research on chess has similarly shown that the underperformance of female chess players can be <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.440">largely attributed to gender stereotypes</a> and socialisation. </p>
<h2>The paradox of women-only events</h2>
<p>Given the <a href="https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/26652/">everyday sexism</a> that exists in the worlds of bridge, chess and beyond, women-only events are important spaces. These can help women develop and compete in a less pressured arena relatively free of discrimination and the male gaze. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LrPTGNxeKH8?wmode=transparent&start=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The women-only game can be considered a valuable space given wider constraints and expectations of society. However, at the same time, the existence of the women-only game serves to reinforce deeply entrenched ideas about women’s abilities to play top-level tournaments. To get rid of women’s bridge or chess would be to remove a needed women-only space, but to keep it reinforces difference and skill-based inequality. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16078055.2022.2051068">paradox of the women’s game</a> is that it both enables and constrains women, it is simultaneously both the problem and the solution. Given the complexity of the issue, there is no simple fix to the conundrum. What is clear is that stereotyping and sexism are unlikely to encourage younger women to dedicate the necessary time and effort to becoming an elite player. </p>
<p>Possible solutions include a gender policy at the world level, raising awareness and unconscious-bias training. The new Bamsa project is focusing on developing mindsport education in schools. The future continuity of bridge relies on it being inclusive and welcoming (as well as competitive and challenging). </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://bridgemindsport.org/home/research/bridging-gender/">result of the Bamsa research</a>, the European Bridge League has recently also <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/wbc-onlinetraining/policy">developed a gender policy</a> that raises awareness of gender-based obstacles, suggests best practices and outlines what disciplinary action should be taken if the policy is breached. It is anticipated that this can be extended globally via the World Bridge Federation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Punch has collaborated on this research with Jessica Cleary - University of Stirling, Dr Elizabeth Graham - University of Stirling, Dr Charlotte McPherson - King's College London, Dr Ashley Rogers - University of Stirling and Dr Miriam Snellgrove - University of Glasgow. She receives research funding for the project Bridge: A MindSport for All from a Keep Bridge Alive Crowdfund Campaign within the global bridge community (players, clubs and bridge organisations): <a href="https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/u5c0e5e7810869">https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/u5c0e5e7810869</a> </span></em></p>Male domination in bridge means there can be a lack of recognition of the structural barriers for women.Samantha Punch, Professor of Sociology, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209352024-02-15T13:34:14Z2024-02-15T13:34:14ZBacteria in your gut can improve your mood − new research in mice tries to zero in on the crucial strains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569636/original/file-20240116-23-4k79iu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3295%2C2549&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The difference between one mouse's fear and another mouse's calm might be in their gut bacteria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katriel Cho</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Probiotics-Consumer/">Probiotics</a> have been getting a lot of attention recently. These bacteria, which you can consume from fermented foods, yogurt or even pills, are linked to a number of <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/14598-probiotics">health and wellness benefits</a>, including reducing gastrointestinal distress, urinary tract infections and eczema. But can they improve your mood, too?</p>
<p>Behavior and mental health are complicated. But the short answer, according to my team’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2023.11.001">recently published research</a>, is likely yes.</p>
<p>The beneficial bacteria in probiotics become part of a community of other microscopic organisms living in your digestive system called the <a href="https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/science/microbiome">gut microbiome</a>. Your gut microbiome contains trillions of a diverse range of bacteria, fungi and viruses. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.02029">Hundreds of species of bacteria</a> are native to the intestinal tract. Each species can be broken down into hundreds of strains that can also be dramatically different from each other in their metabolism, byproducts and environmental preferences.</p>
<p>This bacterial diversity is why not all probiotics are built the same. Many research groups have shown that specific strains of <em>Lactobacillus</em> have <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15143258">mood-enhancing effects</a>. </p>
<p>But these effects seem to happen only with the right mix of bacteria in the right conditions. For example, a probiotic that can reduce symptoms of stress in someone who is worried about their calculus final may not work in someone with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575084/original/file-20240212-16-hxn0sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Yogurt parfair on a tablecloth" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575084/original/file-20240212-16-hxn0sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575084/original/file-20240212-16-hxn0sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575084/original/file-20240212-16-hxn0sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575084/original/file-20240212-16-hxn0sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575084/original/file-20240212-16-hxn0sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575084/original/file-20240212-16-hxn0sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575084/original/file-20240212-16-hxn0sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The probiotics in your yogurt may play a role in boosting mood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/shallow-focus-photo-of-clear-drinking-glass-GbCEo-Nwyj4">Tanaphong Toochinda/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Studying mood in mice</h2>
<p>In my work <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=X8XcETAAAAAJ&hl=en">as a neuroscientist</a>, I study how the gut influences the brain. My team and I recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2023.11.001">conducted experiments</a> in mice that support the idea that gut microbiota play a role in regulating stress.</p>
<p>So how do you measure the mood of mice? </p>
<p>First, we needed to understand how stressed mice behave. So we placed them under <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2023.11.001">short periods of stress</a>: They are restrained for two hours each day, given enough room to move around but not enough to groom or stand up. We envision this as the same type of stress people experience when they’re confined to a car or cubical for hours at a time. </p>
<p>Stressed mice soon exhibited depression- and anxiety-like behaviors, which we measured by monitoring how much time they spent hiding when placed in a new environment or how quickly they try to right themselves when flipped upside down.</p>
<p>While it isn’t surprising that stressed mice hide longer and are slower to right themselves, the power of their poop to change their behavior was. </p>
<p>To see if stressed behavior could be transferred through the microbiome, we used another group of mice that were entirely clean. These mice were free from any bacteria, fungi or viruses and lived in a rubber bubble. They essentially had no microbiome at all.</p>
<p>We exposed them to poop from either stressed mice or normal mice by sprinkling soiled bedding in their enclosures. Microbes from the donor mice started to populate the gut microbiomes of the clean mice.</p>
<p>Within a few weeks, the clean mice exposed to poop from stressed mice started to develop stress- and anxiety-like behavior, even though nothing else had changed. Meanwhile, clean mice exposed to poop from normal mice had no differences in their behavior. This finding suggests that the microbes in poop changed the mice’s behavior.</p>
<h2>Which bacteria affect mood?</h2>
<p>The results of our experiments led us back to our original question: Which bacteria can change your mood? </p>
<p>We started by comparing the microbes in the poop of stressed and normal mice. In our analysis, we found that a group of bacteria called <em>Lactobacillus</em> was greatly reduced in the stressed mice. Research has linked this group of bacteria to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100169">stress reduction</a> before. However, <em>Lactobacillus</em> contains over 170 different species and even more strains. </p>
<p>Currently, the probiotic supplements available to patients are <a href="https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics-what-you-need-to-know">unregulated and often untested</a>. In order to reliably get the most effective strains to patients, they need to be properly tested. So we had to come up with a way to test how different strains affect anxious behavior. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574702/original/file-20240209-28-2yorsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Microscopy image of rod-shaped Lactobacillus stained blue" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574702/original/file-20240209-28-2yorsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574702/original/file-20240209-28-2yorsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574702/original/file-20240209-28-2yorsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574702/original/file-20240209-28-2yorsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574702/original/file-20240209-28-2yorsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574702/original/file-20240209-28-2yorsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574702/original/file-20240209-28-2yorsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Lactobacillus</em> are a diverse range of bacteria that can provide potential health benefits in people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lactobacillus_paracasei.jpg">Dr. Horst Neve/Max Rubner-Institut via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead of tackling this colossal task alone, we created a method that other microbiome scientists can also use to look at this group of bacteria as systematically as possible. </p>
<p>To recreate the same experimental conditions for each species of microbe, we created a group of mice with only six species of bacteria in their microbiome, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ilar/ilv012">bare minimum needed</a> for normal and healthy development, which did not include <em>Lactobacillus</em>. This way, we could add individual strains of <em>Lactobacillus</em> back into the mice’s gut microbiome and observe the effects of each strain on their behavior and biology. </p>
<p>We’ve <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2023.11.001">tested two strains</a> so far: <em>Lactobacillus intestinalis</em> ASF360 and <em>Lactobacillus murinus</em> ASF361. Mice with these two strains of <em>Lactobacillus</em> are more resilient to stress and have quieted neural pathways associated with fear.</p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Our study on how different strains of <em>Lactobacillus</em> affect mood is just the beginning. We hope that our research will open avenues for other scientists to test different probiotics. </p>
<p>While researchers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.023">reaching a consensus</a> that the bacteria in your digestive tract can influence your mood, and vice versa, there is still a lot of testing to be done in both animals and in people.</p>
<p>Our team is starting to develop ways to systematically test which bacteria may provide the best health outcomes in people and which probiotics are the most effective. In the meantime, give the <em>Lactobacillus</em> in your gut some love through a healthy, probiotics-rich diet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220935/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Merchak has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (T32 NS115657, F31 AI174782).</span></em></p>The organisms living in your gut microbiome can influence your mental and physical health. Researchers have developed a way to better test for those biological effects.Andrea Merchak, Postdoctoral Associate in Neuroscience, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225562024-02-14T13:25:12Z2024-02-14T13:25:12ZSeveral companies are testing brain implants – why is there so much attention swirling around Neuralink? Two professors unpack the ethical issues<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575184/original/file-20240213-26-hubky4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C2083%2C1427&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brain-computer interfaces have the potential to transform some people's lives, but they raise a host of ethical issues, too.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/artificial-intelligence-brain-royalty-free-image/1195715936?phrase=brain+computer&adppopup=true">Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Putting a computer inside someone’s brain used to feel like the edge of science fiction. Today, <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-106118">it’s a reality</a>. Academic and commercial groups are testing “brain-computer interface” devices to enable people with disabilities to function more independently. Yet Elon Musk’s company, Neuralink, has put this technology front and center in debates about safety, ethics and neuroscience.</em> </p>
<p><em>In January 2024, Musk announced that Neuralink <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1752098683024220632">implanted its first chip</a> in a human subject’s brain. The Conversation reached out to two scholars at the University of Washington School of Medicine – <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/bhdept/nancy-s-jecker-phd-sheher">Nancy Jecker, a bioethicst</a>, and <a href="https://neurosurgery.uw.edu/bio/andrew-l-ko-md">Andrew Ko, a neurosurgeon</a> who implants brain chip devices – for their thoughts on the ethics of this new horizon in neuroscience.</em> </p>
<h2>How does a brain chip work?</h2>
<p>Neuralink’s coin-size device, called N1, is designed to enable patients to carry out actions just by concentrating on them, without moving their bodies.</p>
<p>Subjects in <a href="https://neuralink.com/pdfs/PRIME-Study-Brochure.pdf">the company’s PRIME study</a> – short for Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface – undergo surgery to place the device in a part of the brain that controls movement. The chip records and processes the brain’s electrical activity, then transmits this data to an external device, such as a phone or computer.</p>
<p>The external device “decodes” the patient’s brain activity, learning to associate certain patterns with the patient’s goal: moving a computer cursor up a screen, for example. Over time, the software can recognize a pattern of neural firing that consistently occurs while the participant is imagining that task, and then execute the task for the person. </p>
<p><a href="https://neuralink.com/#mission">Neuralink’s current trial</a> is focused on helping people with paralyzed limbs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7o39CzHgug">control computers or smartphones</a>. Brain-computer interfaces, commonly called BCIs, can also be used to control devices <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17483107.2023.2211602">such as wheelchairs</a>.</p>
<h2>A few companies are testing BCIs. What’s different about Neuralink?</h2>
<p>Noninvasive devices positioned on the outside of a person’s head <a href="https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/challenges-and-advances-brain-computer-interfaces">have been used in clinical trials for a long time</a>, but they have not received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for commercial development. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575212/original/file-20240213-18-6c2r7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young woman in a green shirt sits with a wired contraption on her head as four other people look on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575212/original/file-20240213-18-6c2r7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575212/original/file-20240213-18-6c2r7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575212/original/file-20240213-18-6c2r7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575212/original/file-20240213-18-6c2r7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575212/original/file-20240213-18-6c2r7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575212/original/file-20240213-18-6c2r7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575212/original/file-20240213-18-6c2r7t.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">A visitor experiences a BCI system during the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/visitor-experiences-domestic-brain-computer-interface-news-photo/1648339155?adppopup=true">Li Xin/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are other brain-computer devices, like Neuralink’s, that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00304-4">fully implanted and wireless</a>. However, <a href="https://neuralink.com/pdfs/PRIME-Study-Brochure.pdf">the N1 implant</a> combines more technologies in a single device: It can target individual neurons, record from thousands of sites in the brain and recharge its small battery wirelessly. These are important advances that could produce better outcomes.</p>
<h2>Why is Neuralink drawing criticism?</h2>
<p>Neuralink <a href="https://twitter.com/neuralink/status/1661857379460468736?lang=en">received FDA approval</a> for human trials in May 2023. Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1752098683024220632">announced the company’s first human trial</a> on his social media platform, X – formerly Twitter – in January 2024.</p>
<p>Information about the implant, however, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/want-details-elon-musks-brain-implant-trial-youll-have-ask-him-2024-02-02/">is scarce</a>, <a href="https://neuralink.com/pdfs/PRIME-Study-Brochure.pdf">aside from a brochure</a> aimed at recruiting trial subjects. Neuralink did not register at <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/">ClinicalTrials.gov</a>, as is <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/policy/faq">customary, and required by some academic journals</a>. </p>
<p>Some scientists are troubled by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00304-4">this lack of transparency</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.112.965798">Sharing information about clinical trials is important</a> because it helps other investigators learn about areas related to their research and can improve patient care. Academic journals can also be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459211007467">biased toward positive results</a>, preventing researchers from learning from unsuccessful experiments. </p>
<p>Fellows at the Hastings Center, a bioethics think tank, have warned that Musk’s brand of “<a href="https://www.thehastingscenter.org/the-neuralink-patient-behind-the-musk/">science by press release, while increasingly common, is not science</a>.” They advise against relying on someone with a huge financial stake in a research outcome to function as the sole source of information.</p>
<p>When scientific research is funded by <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105396">government agencies</a> or <a href="https://sciencephilanthropyalliance.org/">philanthropic groups</a>, its aim is to promote the public good. Neuralink, on the other hand, embodies <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/what-is-private-equity">a private equity model</a>, which is <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/4365741-private-equity-is-buying-up-health-care-but-the-real-problem-is-why-doctors-are-selling/">becoming more common</a> <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12719/ethically-challenged">in science</a>. Firms pooling funds from private investors to back science breakthroughs may strive to do good, but they also strive to maximize profits, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-107555">can conflict with patients’ best interests</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575187/original/file-20240213-22-j0czv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A phone screen shows a white page that says 'Elon Musk,' positioned below an abstract black design and the word 'NEURALINK.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575187/original/file-20240213-22-j0czv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575187/original/file-20240213-22-j0czv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575187/original/file-20240213-22-j0czv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575187/original/file-20240213-22-j0czv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575187/original/file-20240213-22-j0czv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575187/original/file-20240213-22-j0czv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575187/original/file-20240213-22-j0czv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neuralink’s first human implant was announced on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in January 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/elon-musk-account-on-twitter-and-neuralink-emblem-displayed-news-photo/1247138943?adppopup=true">NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/musks-neuralink-faces-federal-probe-employee-backlash-over-animal-tests-2022-12-05/">investigated animal cruelty</a> at Neuralink, according to a Reuters report, after employees accused the company of rushing tests and botching procedures on test animals in a race for results. The agency’s inspection found no breaches, according to a letter from the USDA secretary to lawmakers, which Reuters reviewed. However, the secretary did note an “adverse surgical event” in 2019 that Neuralink had self-reported. </p>
<p>In a separate incident also reported by Reuters, the Department of Transportation <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-brain-implant-company-violated-us-hazardous-material-transport-rules-2024-01-26/">fined Neuralink</a> for violating rules about transporting hazardous materials, including a flammable liquid. </p>
<h2>What other ethical issues does Neuralink’s trial raise?</h2>
<p>When brain-computer interfaces are used to help patients who suffer from disabling conditions function more independently, such as by helping them communicate or move about, this can profoundly improve their quality of life. In particular, it helps people recover a sense of their own agency or autonomy – one of <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/bhdept/ethics-medicine/bioethics-topics/articles/principles-bioethics">the key tenets</a> of medical ethics. </p>
<p>However well-intentioned, medical interventions can produce unintended consequences. With BCIs, scientists and ethicists are particularly concerned about the potential 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">identity theft, password hacking and blackmail</a>. Given how the devices access users’ thoughts, there is also the possibility that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02419-x">their autonomy</a> could be manipulated by third parties. </p>
<p>The ethics of medicine requires physicians to help patients, while minimizing potential harm. In addition to errors and privacy risks, scientists worry about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00304-4">potential adverse effects</a> of a completely implanted device like Neuralink, since device components are not easily replaced after implantation.</p>
<p>When considering any invasive medical intervention, patients, providers and developers seek a balance between risk and benefit. At current levels of safety and reliability, the benefit of a permanent implant would have to be large to justify the uncertain risks.</p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>For now, Neuralink’s trials are focused on patients with paralysis. Musk has said his ultimate goal for BCIs, however, is to help humanity – <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/7/17/20697812/elon-musk-neuralink-ai-brain-implant-thread-robot">including healthy people</a> – “<a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/30/1007786/elon-musks-neuralink-demo-update-neuroscience-theater/">keep pace” with artificial intelligence</a>.</p>
<p>This raises questions about another core tenet of medical ethics: <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41465-018-0108-x">justice</a>. Some types of supercharged brain-computer synthesis could exacerbate social inequalities if only wealthy citizens have access to enhancements.</p>
<p>What is more immediately concerning, however, is the possibility that the device could be increasingly shown to be helpful for people with disabilities, but become unavailable due to loss of research funding. For patients whose access to a device is tied to a research study, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2023.04.016">prospect of losing access after the study ends</a> can be devastating. This raises thorny questions about whether it is ever ethical to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2016-103868">provide early access</a> to breakthrough medical interventions prior to their receiving full FDA approval.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365700467_The_Unique_and_Practical_Advantages_of_Applying_A_Capability_Approach_to_Brain_Computer_Interface">Clear ethical and legal guidelines are needed</a> to ensure the benefits that stem from scientific innovations like Neuralink’s brain chip are balanced against patient safety and societal good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Brain-computer interface devices have the potential to boost users’ autonomy, especially for people who experience paralysis. But that comes with risks, as well.Nancy S. Jecker, Professor of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine, University of WashingtonAndrew Ko, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery, School of Medicine, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2216842024-01-28T13:55:15Z2024-01-28T13:55:15ZThe contraceptive pill also affects the brain and the regulation of emotions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570657/original/file-20231221-19-oxth15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C0%2C988%2C667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Like natural hormones, known as endogenous hormones, the artificial hormones contained in the pill, known as exogenous hormones, can have effects on the brain.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Oral contraceptives, also known as birth control pills, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.18356/1bd58a10-en">used by more than 150 million women worldwide</a>. Approximately one-third of teenagers in <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/82-003-x/2015010/article/14222-eng.pdf">North America</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.2387">Europe</a> use them, making them the most prescribed drug for teenagers.</p>
<p>It is well known that oral contraceptives have the power to alter a woman’s menstrual cycle. What’s less well known is that they can also have an effect on the brain, particularly in the regions that are important for regulating emotions.</p>
<p>As a doctoral student and professor of psychology at UQAM, we were interested in the impact of oral contraceptives on the brain regions involved in emotional processes. We published our <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1228504">results in the scientific journal Frontiers in Endocrinology</a>.</p>
<h2>How does the pill work?</h2>
<p>There are several methods of hormonal contraception, but the most common type in North America is the contraceptive pill, more specifically, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2022.101040">combined oral contraceptives</a> (COCs). These are made up of two artificial hormones that simulate one of the types of estrogen (generally ethinyl estradiol) and progesterone.</p>
<p>Like natural hormones, known as endogenous hormones, the artificial hormones contained in the pill, known as exogenous hormones, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2022.101040">have an effect on the brain</a>. They bind to receptors in different areas and signal the brain to reduce the production of endogenous sex hormones. It is this phenomenon that leads to the cessation of menstrual cycles, preventing ovulation.</p>
<p>In other words, while using COCs, users’ bodies and brains are not exposed to the fluctuations in sex hormones typically seen in women with a natural cycle.</p>
<h2>The pill’s effects on the brain: neuroscience to the rescue!</h2>
<p>When they start taking COCs, teenage girls and women are informed of their different side effects, mainly physical (nausea, headaches, weight changes, breast tenderness). However, the fact that sex hormones affect the brain, particularly in areas important for regulating emotions, is not generally discussed.</p>
<p>Studies have associated the use of COCs with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.019">poorer ability to regulate emotions</a> and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.2387">higher risk of developing psychopathologies</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, women are more likely than men to suffer from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.03.006">anxiety and chronic stress disorders</a>. Given the widespread use of COCs, it is important to gain a better understanding of their effects on the anatomy of the brain regions that are responsible for emotional regulation.</p>
<p>We therefore conducted a study to examine the effects of COCs on the anatomy of brain regions involved in emotional processes. We were interested in the effects associated with their current use, but also in the possibility of lasting effects, i.e. whether COCs could affect brain anatomy even after women stopped taking them.</p>
<p>To do this, we recruited four profiles of healthy individuals: women currently using COCs, women who had used COCs in the past, women who had never used any method of hormonal contraception, and men.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567191/original/file-20231221-24-r2t5pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="magnetic resonance imaging" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567191/original/file-20231221-24-r2t5pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567191/original/file-20231221-24-r2t5pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567191/original/file-20231221-24-r2t5pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567191/original/file-20231221-24-r2t5pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567191/original/file-20231221-24-r2t5pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567191/original/file-20231221-24-r2t5pd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567191/original/file-20231221-24-r2t5pd.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">Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to analyze the morphology of certain regions of the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using brain imaging, we found that only women currently using COCs had a slightly thinner ventromedial prefrontal cortex than men. This part of the brain is known to be essential for regulating emotions such as fear. The scientific literature shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0502441102">the thicker this region is, the better the emotional regulation will be</a>.</p>
<p>COCs could therefore alter emotional regulation in women. Although we have not directly tested the link between brain morphology and mental health, our team is currently investigating other aspects of the brain and mental health, which will allow us to better understand our anatomical findings.</p>
<h2>An effect associated with the dose, but that doesn’t last</h2>
<p>We tried to better understand what could explain the effect using COCs on this region of the brain. We discovered that it was associated with the dose of ethinyl estradiol. In fact, among COC users, only those using a low-dose COC (10-25 micrograms) – not a higher dose (30-35 micrograms) – were associated with a thinner ventromedial prefrontal cortex.</p>
<p>It may seem surprising that a lower dose was associated with a cerebral effect…</p>
<p>Given that all COCs reduce concentrations of endogenous sex hormones, we propose that estrogen receptors in this brain region may be insufficiently activated when low levels of endogenous estrogen are combined with a low intake of exogenous estrogen (ethinyl estradiol).</p>
<p>Conversely, higher doses of ethinyl estradiol could help to achieve adequate binding to estrogen receptors in the prefrontal cortex, simulating moderate to high activity similar to that of women with a natural menstrual cycle.</p>
<p>It is important to note that this lower grey matter thickness was specific to current COC use: women who had used COCs in the past showed no thinning compared to men. Our study therefore supports the reversibility of the impact of COCs on cerebral anatomy, in particular on the thickness of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.</p>
<p>In other words, the use of COCs could affect brain anatomy, but in a reversible way.</p>
<h2>And now?</h2>
<p>Although our research has no direct clinical orientation, it is helping to advance our understanding of the anatomical effects associated with the use of COCs.</p>
<p>We are not calling for women to stop using their COCs: adopting such discourse would be both too hasty and alarming.</p>
<p>It’s also important to remember that the effects reported in our study appear to be reversible.</p>
<p>Our aim is to promote basic and clinical research, but also to increase scientific interest in women’s health, an area that is still understudied.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221684/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Brouillard is a student member of the Research Centre of the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal. She holds a doctoral scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie-France Marin is a regular researcher at the Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addictology at the Université de Montréal. She was supported by a salary grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (2018-2022) and currently holds a Canada Research Chair in Hormonal Modulation of Cognitive and Emotional Functions (2022-2027). The project discussed in the article is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and has received support from pilot project funds from the Research Centre of the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal and the Quebec Bioimaging Network.</span></em></p>Oral contraceptives modify the menstrual cycle. What’s less well known is that they also reach the brain, particularly the regions important for regulating emotions.Alexandra Brouillard, Doctorante en psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Marie-France Marin, Professor, Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2201342024-01-22T13:32:06Z2024-01-22T13:32:06ZAlcohol and drugs rewire your brain by changing how your genes work – research is investigating how to counteract addiction’s effects<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569941/original/file-20240117-21-ycbpim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3600%2C1810&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Alcohol and other drugs can overpower the reward pathways of the brain.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/illustration-of-a-brain-cocktail-isolate-don-a-royalty-free-image/1263367270">Simona Dumitru/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people are wired to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/306396/the-compass-of-pleasure-by-david-j-linden/9780143120759">seek and respond to rewards</a>. Your brain interprets food as rewarding when you are hungry and water as rewarding when you are thirsty. But addictive substances like alcohol and drugs of abuse can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(16)00104-8">overwhelm the natural reward pathways</a> in your brain, resulting in intolerable cravings and reduced impulse control. </p>
<p>A popular misconception is that addiction is a result of low willpower. But an explosion of knowledge and technology in the field of <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/molecular-genetics/">molecular genetics</a> has changed our basic understanding of addiction drastically over the past decade. The general consensus among scientists and health care professionals is that there is a <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/557515/never-enough-by-judith-grisel/9780525434900">strong neurobiological and genetic basis</a> for addiction.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XgunjGkAAAAJ&hl=en">behavioral neurogeneticist</a> <a href="https://www.kaunlab.com">leading a team</a> investigating the molecular mechanisms of addiction, I combine neuroscience with genetics to understand how alcohol and drugs influence the brain. In the past decade, I have seen changes in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of addiction, largely due to a better understanding of how genes are dynamically regulated in the brain. New ways of thinking about how addictions form have the potential to change how we approach treatment.</p>
<h2>Alcohol and drugs affect brain gene activity</h2>
<p>Each of your brain cells has your genetic code stored in long strands of DNA. For all that DNA to fit into a cell, it needs to be packed tightly. This is achieved by winding the DNA around “spools” of protein <a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/histone">called histones</a>. Areas where DNA is unwound contain active genes coding for proteins that serve important functions within the cell.</p>
<p>When gene activity changes, the proteins your cells produce also change. Such changes can range from a single neuronal connection in your brain to how you behave. This genetic choreography suggests that while your genes affect how your brain develops, <a href="https://theconversation.com/brains-work-via-their-genes-just-as-much-as-their-neurons-47522">which genes are turned on or off</a> when you are learning new things is dynamic and adapts to suit your daily needs.</p>
<p>Recent data from animal models suggests that alcohol and drugs of abuse directly influence <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1649-20.2020">changes in gene expression</a> in areas of the brain that help drive memory and reward responses. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567627/original/file-20240103-29-mcair4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram magnifying the nucleus of a neuron, showing spirals of DNA wound around bundles of protein" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567627/original/file-20240103-29-mcair4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567627/original/file-20240103-29-mcair4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567627/original/file-20240103-29-mcair4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567627/original/file-20240103-29-mcair4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567627/original/file-20240103-29-mcair4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567627/original/file-20240103-29-mcair4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567627/original/file-20240103-29-mcair4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Within each neuron in the brain, how tightly DNA is wound around or bound to histones and other proteins determines which genes are expressed and which proteins are produced.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karla Kaun and Vinald Francis</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1649-20.2020">many ways</a> addictive substances can change gene expression. They can alter which proteins bind to DNA to turn genes on and off and which segments of DNA are unwound. They can change the process of how DNA is read and translated into proteins, as well as alter the proteins that determine how cells use energy to function.</p>
<p>For example, alcohol can cause an alternative form of a gene to be expressed in the memory circuits <a href="https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.120.303101">in flies</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30926-z">and people</a>, resulting in changes in dopamine receptors and transcription factors involved in reward signaling and neuronal function. Similarly, cocaine can cause an alternative form of a gene to be expressed in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2021.08.008">reward centers</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.11.027">of mice</a>, leading them to seek out more cocaine.</p>
<p>Exactly how these drugs cause changes in gene regulation is unknown. However, a direct link between alcohol consumption and changes in gene expression in mice provides a clue. A byproduct of alcohol being broken down in the liver called acetate can cross the blood-brain barrier and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1700-7">unwind DNA from histones</a> in mouse memory circuits. </p>
<p>Alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and opioids also all activate important signaling pathways that are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.12725">central regulators of metabolism</a>. This suggests they can also affect many aspects of neuronal function and consequently affect which genes are expressed.</p>
<h2>Changing brain gene activity with lifestyle</h2>
<p>How addictive substances change cell function is complex. The version of a gene you’re born with can be modified in many ways before it becomes a functional protein, including exposure to alcohol and drugs. Rather than discouraging researchers, this complexity is empowering because it provides evidence that changes to gene expression in your brain aren’t permanent. They can also be altered by medications and lifestyle choices.</p>
<p>Many commonly prescribed medications for mental health disorders also affect gene expression. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41398-019-0589-0">Antidepressants and</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2013.05.028">mood stabilizers</a> can change how DNA is modified and which genes are expressed. For example, a commonly prescribed drug for depression called escitalopram affects how tightly wound DNA is and can change the expression of genes important to brain plasticity.</p>
<p>Additionally, <a href="https://theconversation.com/customizing-mrna-is-easy-and-thats-what-makes-it-the-next-frontier-for-personalized-medicine-a-molecular-biologist-explains-216127">mRNA-based therapies</a> can specifically change which genes are expressed to treat diseases like cancer. In the future, we may discover similar therapies for alcohol and substance use disorder. These treatments could potentially target important <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.tins.2021.09.006">signaling pathways linked to addiction</a>, altering how brain circuits function and how alcohol and drugs affect them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569945/original/file-20240117-29-n459lb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of person sitting with crossed legs on a yoga mat, hands resting on knees with pointer finger touching thumb" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569945/original/file-20240117-29-n459lb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569945/original/file-20240117-29-n459lb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569945/original/file-20240117-29-n459lb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569945/original/file-20240117-29-n459lb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569945/original/file-20240117-29-n459lb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569945/original/file-20240117-29-n459lb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569945/original/file-20240117-29-n459lb.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">Exercise and other lifestyle choices can affect gene regulation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/indonesian-woman-is-meditating-in-a-half-lotus-royalty-free-image/1391023941?adppopup=true">Afriandi/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lifestyle choices can also affect gene expression in your brain, though researchers don’t yet know whether they can alter the changes induced by addictive substances. </p>
<p>Like alcohol and drugs, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-you-eat-can-reprogram-your-genes-an-expert-explains-the-emerging-science-of-nutrigenomics-165867">dietary changes</a> can affect gene expression in many ways. In flies, a high sugar diet can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc8492">reprogram the ability to taste sweetness</a> by tapping into a gene expression network involved in development.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2022.100152">Intensive</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.11.004">meditation</a>, even after only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.11.003">one day</a>, can also affect gene regulation in your brain through similar mechanisms. Attending a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2022.100152">monthlong meditation retreat</a> reduces the expression of genes that affect inflammation, and experienced meditators can reduce inflammatory genes after just <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.11.003">one day of intensive meditation</a>. </p>
<p>Work in animal models has also shown that exercise changes gene expression by altering both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2020.147191">histones</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2021.101398">and the</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2010.07508.x">molecular tags</a> directly attached to DNA. This increases the activity of genes important to the activity and plasticity of neurons, supporting the idea that <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-intensity-exercise-improves-memory-and-wards-off-dementia-127001">exercise improves learning and memory</a> and can decrease the risk of dementia.</p>
<p>From <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000297">Dry January</a> and beyond, many factors can have profound effects on your brain biology. Taking steps to reduce consumption of alcohol and drugs and picking up healthy lifestyle practices can help stabilize and bring long-lasting benefits for your physical and mental health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karla Kaun receives funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.</span></em></p>Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms of addiction can change how researchers and clinicians approach treatments.Karla Kaun, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Brown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168592024-01-22T13:29:39Z2024-01-22T13:29:39ZWhy do people have different tastes in music? A music education expert explains why some songs are universally liked, while others aren’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566074/original/file-20231215-21-eo0769.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C2121%2C1409&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The types of music you listen to can reflect your personality traits. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/group-of-young-friends-listening-to-music-with-royalty-free-image/1156897122?phrase=listening+to+music&adppopup=true">Smile/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Why do we have a certain taste in music, different than others? – Shirya R., age 11</strong></p>
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<hr>
<p>When you turn on the radio, you might hear songs you like and other songs you just skip past. But even the songs you don’t like usually have some fans. Maybe you don’t like older music, but your parents or grandparents might love it <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-old-people-hate-new-music-123834">because they grew up</a> with it. It’s familiar and comfortable. When you’re older, you’ll likely return to music you love too.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QXuOzQIAAAAJ&hl=en">music education professor</a> who teaches music psychology, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about music preferences and how music weaves its way through people’s brains.</p>
<p>Some composers produce music with <a href="https://theconversation.com/burt-bacharach-mastered-the-art-of-the-perfect-pop-song-and-that-aint-easy-199660">cross-generational appeal</a>. Look at the song “True Colors,” which artists have remade time and time again. It was originally released in 1986 by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPn0KFlbqX8">Cyndi Lauper</a>.</p>
<p>Ten years later, Disney World’s Epcot used it as part of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUm22pobGU4">pre-show video</a>. Ten years after that, it made its way to our ears again as part of the “Trolls” movie. Now, if you scour the internet, you’ll find lots of covers of this song.</p>
<p>How can this one song appeal to many different people over time, while other songs do not? Why do some people have wildly different tastes in music, even while certain songs can unite people from a variety of backgrounds and generations? </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘True Colors’ from the movie ‘Trolls,’ starring Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Researchers have looked at <a href="https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/">how music works in the brain</a>. They suggest people like music with unexpected twists and turns, which sometimes cause <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-only-some-people-get-skin-orgasms-from-listening-to-music-59719">pleasurable physical reactions</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.565815">or chills</a>. This finding suggests that humans have created and listened to music over time <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw009">because it is pleasurable or rewarding</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">When you listen to music, you might get chills.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Emotions and personality</h2>
<p>Some researchers suggest people experience emotions through music, or that they choose music based on what they want to feel. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022406">2011 study</a> suggests musical preference may reflect the emotions people feel when listening to music, regardless of the music’s style.</p>
<p>Some people respond to mellow and relaxing music. Others’ emotions are triggered by classical-style music. Still others emotionally react to singer-songwriter music like country, folk and some pop music. Preferences for certain types or styles of music might come from the time and place they’re first heard, or it may simply be specific to each person, regardless of what’s going on around them. </p>
<p>Though people might like certain music at one point in their lives, their music preferences change over time based on their lived experiences. When you’re struggling through a tough time, you might choose music that reflects what you wish was happening and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-022-09454-7">search for happy songs</a>. On the flip side, sometimes people <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00404">gravitate toward sad songs</a>. People want to move through grief, so they may search for songs that help them make sense of their emotions.</p>
<p>However, people’s choices don’t account for the whole picture. Musical taste goes <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1062146">deeper than the music type or genre</a>. People who like pop or rock music don’t all like the same pop or rock music. </p>
<p>Studies on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618761659">personality and social media interaction</a> suggest your musical tastes can tell others what kind of personality you have. If someone knows what kind of music you like, that might tell them something about your personality. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000397">research suggests</a> your music preferences mirror your unique personality. So, people who already know you may be able to suggest music that you would like to hear.</p>
<p>For example, those who are more open might prefer mellow, sophisticated music like Billie Eilish’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW8VLC9nnTo">What Was I Made For?</a>” or intense music like Imagine Dragons’ “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5M2WZiAy6k">Natural</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000397">The research found</a> extroverts may lean toward contemporary music. Agreeable people prefer unpretentious music, like Garrett Kato & Elina’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgxNu8fBrgw">Never Alone</a>.” Conscientious people lean toward <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o5NTQMzNPo">unpretentious music</a> or intense music like Marshmello’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYfejxVZ7lg">Power</a>.” People who are more anxious might prefer many different types of music.</p>
<p>People may like music by artists they like, rather than how the music sounds. Some prefer music from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000293">artists who are like them</a>, especially when they can view their profiles on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618761659">social media</a>.</p>
<p>Why does knowing what music others like matter? Knowing about different people’s musical preferences and personalities <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evVRxrOo5iw">can bridge gaps between people</a> with different personalities and identities. </p>
<h2>The music people stream</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0508-z">study of 765 million songs streamed</a> by people worldwide revealed several reasons people listen to music. People’s preferences tended to change based on the time of day, their age and particular styles of music. Most people listened to more relaxing music at night but more intense music during the day. </p>
<p>Music streamed in Latin America often produced quicker physical and emotional reactions. Music streamed in Asia was usually relaxing. People who stay up later at night listened to less intense music. Depending on where participants lived, the length of the day also played a part in their music listening habits. In short, people’s environments and their individual moods shaped their preferences.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Harmony in the Brain: Unraveling the Neuroscience of Music.</span></figcaption>
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<p>So, why do we have different tastes in music? People have complex personalities, and the music they like may be related to this. People’s brains work in unique ways as they process music. Some may have a physical reaction to certain music, while others may not. People may like music because a musician’s views might be like their own views. That said, some songs surprise, intrigue and entertain a wide variety of listeners, which makes them universally liked.</p>
<p>The bottom line? Each person is unique in many ways, and their musical tastes reflect that uniqueness.</p>
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<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216859/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Kuehne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Lots of factors can influence your music taste, from your age and where you’re from to the personality traits you have.Jane Kuehne, Associate Professor of Music Education, Auburn UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165502024-01-17T13:06:08Z2024-01-17T13:06:08ZIs our sense of fairness driven by selfishness? We’re studying the brain to find out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569302/original/file-20240115-17-bhx103.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C82%2C4954%2C3235&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even kids know how to share.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/four-young-children-indoors-eating-pizza-15488146">Monkey Business Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’ve all been there. You’re dying to grab that last piece of cake on the table during an office meeting, but you are not alone. Perhaps you just cut off a small piece – leaving something behind for your colleagues, who do exactly the same thing. And so you all watch the piece of cake getting smaller and smaller – with nobody wanting to take the last piece.</p>
<p>Whenever we make choices in a social setting about how much we want to share with others we must navigate between <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-a-true-altruist-or-driven-by-self-interest-brain-scan-may-give-verdict-55545">our own selfish interests</a> and social norms for fairness. </p>
<p>But how fair are we truly? And under which circumstances do we offer others a fair share of the cake? Neuroscientific research has started revealing answers. Our own team used electric brain stimulation on 60 volunteers to figure out which parts of the brain were involved.</p>
<p>Humans have a strong preference for proactively conforming to social norms – even if there’s no punishment for not doing so. This has been extensively studied with economic games in which participants can decide how to distribute an amount of money between themselves and others. </p>
<p>Past research suggests that we simply <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/114/3/817/1848113?redirectedFrom=fulltext">prefer an equal split</a> between ourselves and others. Interestingly, this is not only in situations when we are disadvantaged compared to others (disadvantageous inequity) and may have something to gain from the sharing of resources, but also in cases when we are better off than others (advantageous inequity).</p>
<p>This ultimately suggests that our sense of fairness isn’t solely driven by a selfish desire to be better off than others. </p>
<p>What’s more, the preference for a fair share between ourselves and others <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-016-0042#Abs1">emerges early in childhood</a>, suggesting it is to some extent hardwired. </p>
<p>The willingness to equally share resources with others persists even at the expense of sacrificing personal benefits. And when others give us an unfair share, we often feel <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1129156?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed">a strong urge to punish them</a> to protect our own interest. However, we typically do this even if it means that both of us end up with nothing in the end.</p>
<p>This raises the question of which psychological mechanisms support actions of different types of fairness decisions. Depending on whether we or the others find ourselves in a less favourable position, do the same psychological mechanisms drive our willingness to ensure a fair share with others? </p>
<h2>Understanding others</h2>
<p>One explanation for our tendency to be fair, even when we are better off than others, is that we understand other people’s perspectives. This might in fact encourage our willingness to sacrifice personal benefits for them. </p>
<p>Therefore, by taking the other’s perspective into account, we try to create a more equal environment by reducing inequality. Research has suggested that a small brain region facilitates our ability to navigate complex social environments: the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569784/original/file-20240117-27-4btohg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image pinpointing the temporoparietal junction." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569784/original/file-20240117-27-4btohg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569784/original/file-20240117-27-4btohg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569784/original/file-20240117-27-4btohg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569784/original/file-20240117-27-4btohg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569784/original/file-20240117-27-4btohg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569784/original/file-20240117-27-4btohg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569784/original/file-20240117-27-4btohg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&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">The temporoparietal junction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The rTPJ plays a crucial role in understanding the thoughts and perspectives of others and might therefore help us make pro-social decisions. Given this, it has been proposed that this brain region <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(12)00487-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627312004874%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">contributes to our willingness to sacrifice personal benefits</a> for the sake of others. </p>
<p>But what about when we’re not better off than others? It may be that advantageous and disadvantageous inequity are based on different psychological mechanisms, potentially represented in different brain regions. </p>
<p>Some researchers suggest that the right lateral prefrontal cortex (rLPFC), a brain region which drives the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2933">rejection of unfair offers</a> and promotes the decision to punish social norm violators, might be involved. This is what ultimately makes us dislike being treated unfairly, particularly by those who are better off than us – unleashing <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1082976">negative emotions such as anger or envy</a>.</p>
<h2>Overcoming selfish motives</h2>
<p>Our recent research <a href="https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/18/1/nsad061/7335678?login=true">offers new insights</a> and reveals that the rTPJ and the rLPFC do indeed play different roles when it comes to fairness. </p>
<p>In our experiment, 60 participants made fairness decisions while undergoing a non-invasive type of electric brain stimulation called <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7867505/">transcranial alternating current stimulation</a> – applying a current to the scalp over a certain brain area to make it active. This enabled us to assess the involvement of specific brain regions. </p>
<p>Specifically, our study explored whether the same brain rhythms underlie the processes involved in making fairness decisions and take another’s perspective into account. We did that by electrically stimulating each brain area with different types of oscillations, or rhythms, and seeing how that affected people’s fairness decisions.</p>
<p>Our findings provide direct evidence that oscillations in the rTPJ play a crucial role for switching between one’s own and the other’s perspective. And when we do that, it ultimately helps us make proactive, fair decisions that also benefit others. A different type of underlying oscillation in the rLPFC instead seems to make people more utilitarian to overcome their less favourable position.</p>
<p>Future research will need to explore this link more deeply. But it does seem that fairness is not only driven by restricting one’s own selfish desires – which makes sense when you consider that cooperation is probably the single <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.7466396">most important factor</a> in the evolutionary success of our species. Being selfish doesn’t always make us successful.</p>
<p>However, the process of trying to make fair decision is, as we all know, complex. The fact that there are different brain regions involved in doing so ultimately shows why this is the case.</p>
<p>We all have the capacity to be selfish. But we are also simply hardwired to balance our own perspective with understanding the minds of others – and empathising with them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patricia Christian receives funding for her postdoctoral fellowship from the Wenner-Gren foundation. She receives no funding from an organisation or company that would benefit from this article. </span></em></p>The preference for fairness emerges early in childhood, suggesting it is to some extent hardwired.Patricia Christian, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska InstitutetLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2202662024-01-08T16:43:08Z2024-01-08T16:43:08ZFreedom of thought is being threatened by states, big tech and even ourselves. Here’s what we can do to protect it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568035/original/file-20240105-27-gzzeml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C46%2C5184%2C3383&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/danang-vietnam-august-2019-photo-taken-2185304981">Beauty Is In The Eye Inc/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of free speech sparked into life 2,500 years ago <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/reading-room/2022-08-17-review-free-speech-a-history-from-socrates-to-social-media-by-jacob-mchangama-basic-books-2022">in Ancient Greece</a> – in part because it served a politician’s interests. The ability to speak freely was seen as essential for the new Athenian democracy, which the politician <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Aspects-of-Greek-History-750-323BC-A-Source-Based-Approach/Buckley/p/book/9780415549776">Cleisthenes</a> both introduced and benefited from.</p>
<p>Today, we debate the boundaries of free speech around kitchen tables and watercoolers, in the media and in our courtrooms. The <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/human-rights-act/article-9-freedom-thought-belief-and-religion">right to freedom of thought</a>, however, is more rarely discussed. But thanks to the growing influence of social media, big data and new technology, this “<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3291586">forgotten freedom</a>” needs our urgent attention.</p>
<p>In democratic societies ruled by ballots not bullets, power is won through persuasion. Efforts at persuasion are ramping up: there will be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_national_electoral_calendar">more than 50 national elections</a> involving half the world’s population in 2024, including in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/01/03/2024-is-the-biggest-election-year-in-history-here-are-the-countries-going-to-the-polls-this-year/">seven of the ten most populous countries</a>. The results will <a href="https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/four-2024-elections-will-shape-second-half-decade">shape our century</a>, making it paramount that we protect people’s ability to think and vote freely. </p>
<p>But corporate and political actors know more about how our minds work than we do. They activate our biases rather than appeal to our reason, push us to share information without thinking, and control our attention to the point of addiction.</p>
<p>Advances in neuroscience may heighten this threat to free thought. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg are among those in a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/5/4/23708162/neurotechnology-mind-reading-brain-neuralink-brain-computer-interface">race to read our minds</a> with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). In 2021, the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a76380-interim-report-special-rapporteur-freedom-religion-or-belief">UN warned of</a> the risks of neural technologies predicting, identifying and modifying our thoughts. Manhattan projects of the mind threaten to make lab rats of us all.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567634/original/file-20240103-25-nqv1bk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Suited man standing next to a brain imaging device." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567634/original/file-20240103-25-nqv1bk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567634/original/file-20240103-25-nqv1bk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567634/original/file-20240103-25-nqv1bk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567634/original/file-20240103-25-nqv1bk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567634/original/file-20240103-25-nqv1bk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567634/original/file-20240103-25-nqv1bk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567634/original/file-20240103-25-nqv1bk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink received regulatory approval to conduct the first clinical trial in humans in 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_and_the_Neuralink_Future.jpg">Steve Jurvetson/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We could respond by calling on our right to freedom of thought. It’s there waiting for us, created in 1948 by the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> (Article 18) and later <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights">becoming international law</a>. But anyone reaching for this right may be horrified to find it hollow, bereft of any clear definition and unfit for purpose.</p>
<p>In recent years, the UN has sought to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13642987.2023.2227100">give this right more substance</a>. One of its special rapporteurs, Ahmed Shaheed, has made a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a76380-interim-report-special-rapporteur-freedom-religion-or-belief">series of recommendations</a> (which I will outline) that should, eventually, lead to a better defined, more muscular right to free thought. This process has promise – it could help shield our thoughts from prying eyes and protect our minds from manipulation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-what-extent-are-you-truly-free-71188">To what extent are you truly free?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>But it also has the potential for harm. In international law, freedom of thought is an absolute right. This means it could run roughshod over other important concerns. Activists could, for example, use this right to silence their political opponents by claiming their opponents’ speech is manipulating thoughts.</p>
<p>This right could also go wrong by failing to protect all forms of thought. We must ask where “thinking” ends and “speaking” begins in today’s world: should performing an online search, writing a personal diary, or asking a question in a WhatsApp group be regarded as forms of thought, or outright speech?</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<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>
<hr>
<p>History suggests the right to free thought will only become globally relevant if political factions <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674064348">or states</a> use it to serve their purposes. And this looks increasingly likely as accusations of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/04/cambridge-analytica-data-leak-global-election-manipulation">mental manipulation</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48065622">“thoughtcrime” creation</a> fly between the political right and left, and the US looks for new weapons in its <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/cold-war-ii-niall-ferguson-emerging-conflict-china">developing cold war with China</a>.</p>
<p>For both technological and (geo)political reasons, the right to freedom of thought’s time may have come. Whatever it is decided to mean, it will bind us all. As I argue in my new book <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/work/freethinking/">Freethinking</a>, this makes it crucial that we can all have input into its design. </p>
<h2>Free thought past</h2>
<p>The term “freethinker” came into common use during the Enlightenment in late 17th-century Europe, describing people who questioned religious authorities. Today, freethinking typically refers to being <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203429488-94/value-free-thought-1944-kenneth-blackwell-harry-ruja-bernd-frohmann-john-slater-sheila-turcon">guided by evidence and reason, not authority</a> – although this hasn’t stopped people who play fast and loose with evidence appropriating the term too.</p>
<p>Up against the freethinkers are those who seek to control thought to achieve and cement power. George Orwell’s classic vision of this threat, Nineteen Eighty-Four, actually came out 20 years after <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/thought-crime">Japan’s Peace Preservation Law</a> had already termed many people on the political left as “thought criminals”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T8BA7adK6XA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nineteen Eighty-Four official trailer (1984)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Orwell’s novel, the ruling party aims to “extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought”. Beginning in childhood, people are taught to deny the evidence of their eyes and ears. No one is to be left alone to think – yet nor are they able to think with others. People are encouraged to stop themselves on the threshold of dangerous thoughts, as the terrifying Thought Police find and punish those who commit “thoughtcrime”.</p>
<p>The ruling party also uses extensive surveillance, parallels to which can be seen today. Consider the effects of Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations that the US was heavily surveilling the internet. This led to <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2412564">a 10% drop</a> in internet searches that could have got Americans in trouble with their government, such as “domestic security”, “nuclear” and “organized crime”. Americans’ suspicion that they were being watched harmed their freedom of thought.</p>
<p>New technologies drive new laws. Just as photography spurred <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/mslr2008&div=7&g_sent=1&casa_token=kSy5i8DmOnMAAAAA:SOLEoYd1oW26YL0UiKKPWV9aKVd7KfdzUfLUOgUyAMRLC2FF8L3RVWY33iU9bZ8gNTkQX8tW6w&collection=journals">a right to privacy</a> in 1890, today <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-84494-3">scholars</a> want to develop the right to freedom of thought in response to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24756752">neurotechnology</a> and the <a href="https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/Rethinking%20Freedom%20of%20Thought%20for%20the%2021st.pdf">digital world</a>. This means confronting the gulf between the extensive lauding of this right and the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13642987.2023.2227100">bewildering neglect</a> of what it practically involves. Enter the UN.</p>
<h2>Free thought present</h2>
<p>In October 2021, special rapporteur Shaheed <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a76380-interim-report-special-rapporteur-freedom-religion-or-belief">presented a report</a> on the right to freedom of thought. To underpin this right, he proposed four pillars which I summarise as follows, including some questions I think we should consider about them:</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567687/original/file-20240103-510735-l12yif.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Universal Declaration of Human Rights document" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567687/original/file-20240103-510735-l12yif.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567687/original/file-20240103-510735-l12yif.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567687/original/file-20240103-510735-l12yif.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567687/original/file-20240103-510735-l12yif.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=809&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567687/original/file-20240103-510735-l12yif.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1017&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567687/original/file-20240103-510735-l12yif.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1017&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567687/original/file-20240103-510735-l12yif.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1017&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"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_universal_declaration_of_human_rights_10_December_1948.jpg">UN via Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>1. Mental privacy.</strong> People cannot be forced to reveal their thoughts. This means we must scrutinise technological developments that open new windows into our minds. But should our minds always be private?</p>
<p><strong>2. Mental immunity.</strong> People cannot be punished for their thoughts. This idea has existed since ancient Rome, though today we need to decide what exactly should count as a “thought”.</p>
<p><strong>3. Mental integrity.</strong> People and organisations cannot alter others’ thoughts without permission. We know subliminal advertising is wrong because it bypasses our conscious mind – but beyond this, we enter a grey zone. When does persuasion become impermissible manipulation?</p>
<p><strong>4. Mental fertility.</strong> This enshrines a government’s duty to create an enabling environment for free thought. But will governments really do this if free thought challenges their power? And even if they want to, how can they design a society that promotes free thought?</p>
<p>To build on these pillars, we need to answer basic questions about what thought is and what makes it free. Before we can protect thought, we must first define it.</p>
<h2>Free thought future</h2>
<p>Traditionally, the law views thoughts as happening inside our brains. Yet philosophers (and, increasingly, psychologists and technologists) have <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3328150">long claimed that</a> thought “ain’t just in the head”, proposing that our minds extend into the world. </p>
<p>A notebook can be the functioning memory of someone with dementia. Writing in a diary, as Winston Smith did illegally in Nineteen Eighty-Four, can also represent thinking. Writing doesn’t only express thought; sometimes “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511583360">the thinking is the writing</a>”. Similarly, some internet searches can be a form of thinking as we use them to question, reason and reflect.</p>
<p>If the right to freedom of thought is deemed to cover our “extended minds”, this will have important consequences. Authorities <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2016/08/how-your-google-searches-can-be-used-against-you-court">often access the internet search histories</a> of people accused of crimes, using this as evidence. In homicide trials, searches such as “how to get rid of someone annoying” or “chloroform” have been <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2016/08/how-your-google-searches-can-be-used-against-you-court">cited in court</a>. But if such searches are deemed to constitute thinking, then accessing someone’s search history could become a violation of their mental privacy.</p>
<p>Speaking aloud can also be regarded as a form of thinking – we sometimes speak to find out what we think. As novelist <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1600910X.2019.1630846">E.M. Forster asked</a>: “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”</p>
<p>But we also speak aloud in order to think with other people – and we may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geb.2009.09.003">think better with others</a> than we do alone. Thought can be at its most powerful when it is social, rather than the solitary act depicted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thinker">Auguste Rodin</a>. So, for thought to be truly free, we require public as well as private thinking spaces.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567693/original/file-20240103-29-s0we6w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rodin's statue The Thinker in a leafy garden." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567693/original/file-20240103-29-s0we6w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567693/original/file-20240103-29-s0we6w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567693/original/file-20240103-29-s0we6w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567693/original/file-20240103-29-s0we6w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567693/original/file-20240103-29-s0we6w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567693/original/file-20240103-29-s0we6w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567693/original/file-20240103-29-s0we6w.jpeg?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">Thinking is not always best done alone, despite Rodin’s famous depiction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rodin%27s_The_Thinker_-_panoramio.jpg">Roman Suzuki/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To facilitate this, we may need a new legal concept of “<a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/work/freethinking/">thoughtspeech</a>”. This would represent the thinking aloud we do with others in the name of “good faith truth-seeking”. Thoughtspeech could be protected as absolutely as the thoughts inside our head: while one could (and should) still disagree with others, attempts to silence or punish thoughtspeech would be a human rights violation.</p>
<p>However, an obvious concern is that this concept could be misused to justify hate speech that <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combatting-discrimination/racism-and-xenophobia/combating-hate-speech-and-hate-crime_en#:%7E:text=Hate%20motivated%20crime%20and%20speech,or%20national%20or%20ethnic%20origin.">Europe</a>, but <a href="https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/hate">not the US</a>, has deemed illegal. The protestation that “I’m just asking questions” can easily be employed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00207659.2021.1939946">as a cover to demonise people</a>. At the same time, a creeping prohibition of asking difficult or challenging questions is also potentially dangerous, not least to society’s minorities who seek to challenge the status quo. Where necessary, courts would have to decide whether the claimed thoughtspeech was genuine truth-seeking in good faith, or had darker motives.</p>
<p>To see these thorny questions in practice, consider how, in Ireland, both <a href="https://www.kildarestreet.com/debate/?id=2023-04-26a.380">the left</a> and right have argued that the proposed <a href="https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/bill/2022/105/eng/ver_b/b105b22d.pdf">criminal justice (incitement to violence or hatred and hate offences) bill</a> 2022 will create “thought crimes”. Section 10(3) of this bill states that if you possess hateful material that you haven’t shown anyone, and it is reasonable to assume this material is not just intended for personal use, then you are presumed to be breaking the law. The police could then seek a warrant to enter your premises and access this information.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-big-tech-show/the-big-tech-show-irelands-new-hate-speech-law-will-create-thought-crimes/a978548546.html">politician claimed</a> this bill would not create thought crimes because it involved “production of material”, and that “nobody is ever going to be prosecuted for what they’re thinking inside their heads”. This illustrates the restricted view of thought that some politicians hold – and suggests that legislators could leave much of our thinking naked and vulnerable.</p>
<p>Once we have settled on what thought is, we must work out what makes it free. The <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32022R2065">EU’s Digital Services Act</a> forbids online platforms from deceiving or manipulating users, or impairing their ability to make “free and informed decisions”. But what counts as manipulation or impairing free decision-making?</p>
<p>Psychology suggests that free thinking requires us to control our attention, be able to reason and reflect, and to not need superhuman courage to think aloud with others. This makes platforms and products problematic that either capture our attention to the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/14/2612">point of addiction</a>, or employ “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jla/laaa006">dark patterns</a>” that undermine reflection and reasoning.</p>
<p>For instance, in the “false demand” dark pattern, a shopping website may falsely tell you that “Abby in London” has just bought a pillow. This could undermine your reasoning by triggering a panicky sense of scarcity in you, or setting a false norm of others buying the pillow, making you more likely to purchase.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567710/original/file-20240103-19-2ta8k1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three UK local election ballot papers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567710/original/file-20240103-19-2ta8k1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567710/original/file-20240103-19-2ta8k1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567710/original/file-20240103-19-2ta8k1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567710/original/file-20240103-19-2ta8k1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567710/original/file-20240103-19-2ta8k1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567710/original/file-20240103-19-2ta8k1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567710/original/file-20240103-19-2ta8k1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UK local election ballot papers with candidates listed in alphabetical order.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballot_papers_for_the_2021_United_Kingdom_local_elections.jpg">domdomegg/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The designers of systems need not even intentionally play on our mental biases for their products to be problematic. For instance, listing candidates in alphabetical order on a voting ballot paper may seem neutral, but the candidate named first gains a small <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2016.06.019">but measurable advantage</a>. This is partly because we have a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2016.09.002">mental bias to prefer</a> the first item on a list. </p>
<p>Some US states don’t use <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379414000584">alphabetical ordering on ballots</a> for this reason. Instead they randomly rotate the order of candidates’ names on ballots across districts. Yet, elsewhere, <a href="https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-acting-returning-officers-administering-a-uk-parliamentary-election-great-britain/voter-materials/production-ballot-papers/ballot-paper-design/candidate-details">including in the UK</a>, this alphabetical practice continues. Alphabetical ordering arguably violates voters’ right to freedom of thought.</p>
<p>I believe the right to freedom of thought should protect thinking wherever it occurs – in our heads, our diaries, on the internet, or when we’re engaged in good faith truth-seeking when thinking aloud with others. And crucially, to keep thoughts free, our environment must be designed and regulated to let us control our attention, think logically and reflectively, and not fear punishment for our thoughts. Unfortunately, new technologies threaten this ideal.</p>
<h2>The power to punish thought</h2>
<p>New technologies have the potential to undermine three of the UN’s pillars of free thought – mental privacy, immunity, and integrity. It is well known, for example, that social media can use knowledge of how our minds work to hijack our attention, discourage reflection, and facilitate the punishment of wrongthink, thereby <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-022-00567-7">harming our autonomy</a>. Less well known is how social media revives an old social pattern that threatens free thought.</p>
<p>Our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in egalitarian communities with no dominant individuals. This was due to a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/204166">reverse dominance hierarchy</a>” which meant that, if someone tried to rise above others, the group would work together to humble, exclude or even kill this would-be “tall poppy”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567734/original/file-20240103-23-v2f60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cave painting of hunter gatherers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567734/original/file-20240103-23-v2f60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567734/original/file-20240103-23-v2f60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567734/original/file-20240103-23-v2f60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567734/original/file-20240103-23-v2f60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567734/original/file-20240103-23-v2f60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567734/original/file-20240103-23-v2f60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567734/original/file-20240103-23-v2f60j.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">Our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in egalitarian communities without dominant individuals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ancient-prehistoric-cave-painting-known-white-2005544015">R.M. Nunes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My book <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/work/spite/">Spite</a> (2020) explains how anthropologists believe this was possible due to humans’ ability to moralise, wield weapons and use language. Language in particular, especially gossip, helped coordinate actions against tall poppies. When agriculture was invented, larger groups, private property and recognised authority figures came on to the scene, enabling a <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/christopher-boehm/moral-origins/9780465020485/">more hierarchical form of life</a>.</p>
<p>Social media has bought back the reverse dominance hierarchy. People online can unite to moralise and gossip, sometimes with the effect of bringing down individuals. And while this can helpfully check people who abuse their power, it can also harm freethinkers who disturb the status quo and undermine what they see as society’s “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_lie">noble</a>” (or ignoble) lies.</p>
<p>And not only can new technologies facilitate the punishment of thought, they also have the potential to powerfully manipulate our thoughts. AI will soon know exactly what to say to us to maximise the chances of us performing a desired behaviour. As OpenAI’s CEO <a href="https://youtu.be/e1cf58VWzt8?feature=shared&t=526">Sam Altman has warned</a> in relation to the 2024 elections:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What if an AI reads everything you have ever written online – every tweet, every article, every everything – then right at the exact moment, sends you one message, customised just for you, that really changes how you think about the world?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The power disparity between us and AI means that courts could deem AI to have improper undue influence over our minds.</p>
<p>New technologies can also uncover our hidden thoughts. This goes beyond what Big Brother was capable of. As Orwell wrote in Nineteen Eighty-Four, even the ruling party “had never mastered the secret of finding out what another human being was thinking”. </p>
<p>Today, brain-reading technology that detects thoughts via brain scans or neural interfaces threatens to uncover this secret. Meta (Facebook’s owner) <a href="https://ai.meta.com/blog/brain-ai-image-decoding-meg-magnetoencephalography/">recently showed</a> it could determine what people were seeing by examining their brainwaves using magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology. Behaviour-reading techniques that use our actions, such as <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-00779-011">musical preferences</a> or what we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218772110">“like” on Facebook</a>, can also be used to infer our internal states. </p>
<p>Now, imagine if a government had someone in custody suspected of having planted a nuclear bomb in a city. There would be a strong temptation to use mind-reading technology to identify the location of the bomb from that individual’s brain – but this would violate the suspect’s right to free thought. Some people, perhaps many, would argue that this right <em>should</em> be violated in such circumstances. </p>
<p>Perhaps the future could include places where free thought is legally limited. While this is a challenging idea, it would be ironic if we failed to think critically about free thought itself. Legal scholar Jan Christoph Bublitz has speculated on the idea of “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24756752">zones of restricted freedom of thought</a>” in places vulnerable to terrorism, such as airports. In these zones, our thoughts could be permissibly accessed by the state to prevent calamities. </p>
<p>Likewise, the philosopher <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Moral-Landscape/Sam-Harris/9781439171226">Sam Harris has suggested</a> that once mind reading technology can detect lies, it could be used to create “zones of obligatory candour”. These would be locations, such as courtrooms, where lies would be automatically detected from your brainwaves.</p>
<p>Yet, concerns about mind-reading technologies are frequently blighted by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2023.2227100">hyperbole, alarmism and exaggeration</a>. One does not simply fall into an MRI scanner; one must consent. Once inside, <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.29.509744v1">we must cooperate</a> with researchers for brain-reading to work. The extent to which our mental content can be accurately identified is often over-hyped, as it requires extremely specific conditions.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-ai-have-a-right-to-free-speech-only-if-it-supports-our-right-to-free-thought-212555">Does AI have a right to free speech? Only if it supports our right to free thought</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>It’s also important to recognise that the same technologies that threaten free thought can also benefit thought. Brain-computer interfaces, where we interact with computers simply by thinking, could <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/09/29/1080472/elon-musk-bandwidth-brains/">boost our mental bandwidth</a>. AI systems such as ChatGPT can stimulate new ideas. So, over-regulating these technologies could be seen as harming free thought.</p>
<p>Clearly, we need to protect free thought in response to new technologies. But in my view, overreacting with unnecessary laws won’t lead to freer minds – it will simply enable other people’s anxieties to rule our lives.</p>
<h2>Protecting employees’ and users’ thoughts</h2>
<p>Traditionally, governments were seen as the main threat to our freedoms. Today, corporations, particularly those involved in controlling flows of information such as media and technology companies, vie for this crown. </p>
<p>Such companies influence what information we do and don’t see. They can also overwhelm us with too much content, creating “<a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/poze19712-002/html">reverse censorship</a>” that harms our ability to think. Corporations also threaten free thought through their ability to fire employees for thoughtcrime, potentially in response to a public outcry. </p>
<p>The British philosopher Bertrand Russell warned <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Thought_and_Official_Propaganda">a century ago</a> that “thought is not free if the profession of certain opinions makes it impossible to earn a living”. Russell said this problem would grow unless the public insisted that employers controlled nothing in their employees’ lives except their work. Today, employers can influence their employees’ <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26842250">morality</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526488664">opinions</a>, and even <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2012/10/employers-increasingly-telling-employees-workers-how-to-vote.html">voting decisions</a>. As a starting point, we need laws that protect employees from being fired for their thinking.</p>
<p>To take another example, while the anti-discriminatory aims of implicit bias training are laudable, corporations could require employees to reveal their thoughts when doing it. The designers of a common element of this training, the implicit association test, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-02892-004">admit it is</a> “a method that gives the clearest window now available into a region of the mind that is inaccessible to question-asking methods”. Forcing someone into this training could therefore be a breach of mental privacy.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/social-networking-sites-may-be-controlling-your-mind-heres-how-to-take-charge-88516">Social networking sites may be controlling your mind – here's how to take charge</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Turning from employees to users, perhaps big tech companies should be required to design their products to support, promote and protect their users’ free thoughts. For example, social media platforms could set their default options to those that minimise the risk of addiction.</p>
<p>Woodrow Wilson once noted that chewing tobacco “gave a man time to think between sentences”. Big tech could provide digital gum in the form of options that <a href="https://profilebooks.com/work/how-to-think/">give users time for thought</a>, like timeouts before responding to posts or making purchases. X (formerly Twitter) already <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jun/11/twitter-aims-to-limit-people-sharing-articles-they-have-not-read">asks users</a> if they want to share articles they have not yet read.</p>
<p>Similarly, search engines could offer options to show information that challenges users’ existing views rather than confirming their opinions. Websites <a href="https://ground.news/">such as Ground News</a> already highlight which stories are primarily featuring on left or right media, helping people see what is happening outside their own thought bubbles.</p>
<p>Big tech companies such as <a href="https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/our-ongoing-commitment-to-human-rights/">Google</a> and <a href="https://humanrights.fb.com/annual-human-rights-report/">Meta</a> assess their human rights impacts, including through <a href="https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Human-Rights-Due-Diligence-of-Metas-Impacts-in-Israel-and-Palestine-in-May-2021.pdf">independent assessments</a>. But freedom of thought is often overlooked. And while the UN has issued its Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, these have been described as “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/business.pdf">woefully inadequate</a>” by Human Rights Watch as they lack any enforcement mechanism.</p>
<h2>It’s not just ‘them’, it’s us</h2>
<p>It is not just governments and corporations that threaten free thought – we the people do too. Free thinking has often been risky. “Tell the truth and run,” an old Yugoslavian proverb counsels. </p>
<p>Throughout history, though, some societies have tried to protect free thought and truth-telling. The ancient Athenians had the concept of a “parrhesiast”, someone who spoke truth despite the risks. An example of this came when the aged statesman Solon challenged <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250009104/thecourageoftruth">politician Pisistratus’s</a> quest for power in Athens. After arriving at the Greek Assembly dressed in armour to highlight Pisistratus’s aim to use force, Solon declared:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am wiser than those who have failed to understand the designs of Pisistratus, and I am more courageous than those who have understood but remain silent out of fear.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To benefit from the parrhesiast, Athenians had to be willing to bear what philosopher Michel Foucault calls “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250009104/thecourageoftruth">the injuries of truth</a>”. In this parrhesiastic contract, the truth-teller risked speaking out and the listeners promised not to punish them. There again, Solon was not thanked for his contribution, being labelled mad by his colleagues.</p>
<p>Creating a safe space for truth requires a “<a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/work/freethinking/">deep enlightenment</a>” that goes beyond simply educating people to think critically. Designing a society that protects and promotes free thought among its population at all levels could even include city planning.</p>
<p>A Brazilian colleague once told me how the design of the country’s modern capital, Brasília, with its lack of street corners, was meant to prevent people assembling and thinking together – because such thinking could one day threaten the ruling powers. Indeed, the Portuguese for street corners can translate as “points of solidarity”. The <a href="https://politicalscience.yale.edu/publications/seeing-state-how-certain-schemes-improve-human-condition-have-failed">design of Brasília</a> is an offence against free thought.</p>
<p>Rather, we need to design physical and virtual spaces that protect, promote and support “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262581080/the-structural-transformation-of-the-public-sphere/">people’s public use of their reason</a>”. This function was partially performed by coffee houses during the Enlightenment. New spaces should allow a diverse range of voices to be brought together in debate – in order to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X10000968">help us best find truth</a>. Yet all of this hinges on simultaneously building <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Trust/Francis-Fukuyama/9780684825250">a culture of trust</a> that makes people feel safe to think.</p>
<h2>The oxygen of freethinking</h2>
<p>The principle of free thought is in trouble. Today, public thinking is difficult unless you are rich, reckless or anonymous. Online public spaces, such as much social media, typically prioritise engagement and profit over truth-seeking, and can exclude challenging views. A corporate-controlled mainstream news media routinely excludes or distorts important perspectives <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801488870/framed/">such as labour issues</a>. Some academics feel compelled to publish ideas anonymously in outlets such as the <a href="https://journalofcontroversialideas.org/">Journal of Controversial Ideas</a>. These are all warning lights of flashing failure on the dashboard of democracy.</p>
<p>The first freethinkers challenged religious authorities and were associated with egalitarianism and the political left. Yet they had their own “<a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/enlightenment/">faith of the Enlightenment</a>” – the belief that developing one’s own reason could create a better life. Today, as well as sharing this faith in reason, many of us have faith that <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/13399/the-end-of-history-and-the-last-man-by-fukuyama-francis/9780241991039">liberal democracy creates the best form of life</a>.</p>
<p>However, some modern freethinkers are pushing back against these faiths. Such individuals tend to be pro-hierarchy and on the political right. The <a href="https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/A-Conservative-Manifesto.pdf">conservative</a> psychologist Jordan Peterson <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEP5ubPMGDU">argues</a> that we’re at the start of a “counter enlightenment”, while legal scholar Adrian Vermeule maligns the “<a href="https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/01/liturgy-of-liberalism">evidence-based freethinkers of the quiet car</a>” who won’t speak out about liberalism’s problems. Alternatively, so-called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12331">Dark Enlightenment</a>” thinkers such as <a href="https://www.unqualified-reservations.org/">Curtis Yarvin</a> and <a href="https://www.imperiumpress.org/shop/the-dark-enlightenment/">Nick Land</a> question the benefits of democracy. </p>
<p>Whatever you think of these views, an important question is: will the descendants of the egalitarian left, who used freethinking to challenge societal norms, support the hierarchical right’s freedom to do the same? Or do they regard the political right as <a href="https://www.marcuse.org/herbert/publications/1960s/1965-repressive-tolerance-fulltext.html">in need of silencing</a> rather than debating?</p>
<p>Of course, freethinking on the left is silenced too – including those who oppose the “religion” of capitalism. Consider what happened when a declared socialist, Jeremy Corbyn, ran for prime minister in the 2017 UK parliamentary elections. An academic report on his <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/research/research-projects/representations-of-jeremy-corbyn">coverage by the mainstream media</a> concluded by asking whether it was:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>acceptable that the majority of British newspapers uses its mediated power to attack and delegitimise the leader of the largest opposition party against a rightwing government to such an extent and with such vigour?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Whatever one’s views on democracy, liberalism, capitalism, or any other important topic, freethinking on these issues can prove profoundly valuable. If someone’s ideas have value, we may adopt them to live better lives. If we adjudge them mistaken, we will still emerge with a better understanding of precisely why our own ideas are valuable, having remade them as <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34901/34901-h/34901-h.htm">living truths rather than dead dogmas</a>.</p>
<p>Free thought is not merely about gaining more perspectives. It is about duelling perspectives. The left and right could find common ground not in a <a href="https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/campus-disinvitation-database">commitment to mutual cancellation</a>, but in a renewed dedication to debate. We must embrace the value of thinking. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, we often find thought a painful effort. Evolution has shaped us to make decisions using minimal energy, pressuring us to become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2018.1459314">cognitive misers</a> who are “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2018.1459314">as stupid as we can get away with</a>”, as psychologist Keith Stanovich argues. Many of us are not merely disinclined to think but actively prefer electrocution to being left alone with our thoughts, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1250830">according to one 2014 study</a>.</p>
<p>The rise of generative AI threatens to make this situation worse. One vision of the future imagines <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/291221/the-singularity-is-near-by-ray-kurzweil/">a singularity</a> where we merge with machines by connecting our brains directly to AI. But what if we approach a bifurcation point rather than a singularity? Humans could become a mere source of animalistic appetites and desires, while machines do the thinking for us.</p>
<p>If we abandon free thought, homo sapiens will have been a brief candle between ape and AI. Humanity’s flame cannot continue to burn in an authoritarian vacuum – it requires the oxygen of freethinking. A right to free thought can give us this air, but we still have to breathe in.</p>
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<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">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon McCarthy-Jones receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program via a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network.</span></em></p>Corporate and political actors know more about how our minds work than we do. The right to free thought can no longer be our ‘forgotten freedom’Simon McCarthy-Jones, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169802023-12-21T21:37:49Z2023-12-21T21:37:49ZThe Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank: a goldmine for research on brain diseases<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557356/original/file-20231005-26-rmh9lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C1508&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The experimental methods available today allow us to break the brain down into its elementary components in order to understand its functions and dysfunctions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Human beings have always been fascinated by the brain. </p>
<p>Although scientific knowledge about this 1.3 kg of fragile substance embedded in our cranium has long been incomplete, dazzling technical breakthroughs made in recent years are now ushering in a Golden Age of molecular neuroscience. </p>
<p>These breakthroughs have been made possible partly thanks to brain banks, which preserve human brains in the best possible conditions for scientific research. Here in Montréal, we have one of the world’s largest such banks, the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank (DBCBB), <a href="https://douglasbrainbank.ca">founded in 1980 at the Douglas Hospital</a>. </p>
<p>The DBCBB, which receives several brains each month, has collected over 3,600 specimens to date. Every year, its team processes dozens of tissue requests from scientists in Québec, Canada and abroad, preparing some 2,000 samples for research. </p>
<p>Over the past 40 years, these efforts have led to a considerable number of discoveries about different neurological and psychiatric diseases. </p>
<p>As a full professor in the department of psychiatry at McGill University, researcher at the Douglas Research Centre and director of the DBCBB since 2007, I work in close collaboration with <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/psychiatry/gustavo-turecki">Dr. Gustavo Turecki</a>, co-director of the DBCBB and responsible for the component devoted to psychiatric illnesses and suicide.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C2%2C1535%2C1231&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="cerebral hemisphere" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C2%2C1535%2C1231&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552153/original/file-20231004-17-mdh992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank, which receives several brains each month, has collected over 3,600 specimens to date.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Naguib Mechawar)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A brief history of research on the human brain</h2>
<p>Scientists only began to identify the microscopic elements that make up the human brain in the second half of the 19th century. </p>
<p>That was when brains were preserved for the first time in formalin, a solution that preserves biological tissue so that it can be handled more easily and stored over a longer term.</p>
<p>At the same time, precision instruments and protocols were being developed that made it possible to examine the microscopic characteristics of nervous tissue.</p>
<p>Until the middle of the 20th century, researchers were mainly satisfied with preserving the brains of patients, taken during autopsies, so they could use them to identify possible macroscopic or microscopic changes linked to either neurological or psychiatric symptoms.</p>
<p>This is in fact what the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer did when he analyzed the brain of one of his patients suffering from dementia. In 1906, he described, for the first time, the microscopic lesions which characterize the disease that now bears his name.</p>
<p>Until the end of the 1970s, numerous collections of brain specimens preserved in formalin were built in hospital environments, a bit like the cabinets of curiosities of olden days.</p>
<p>Towards the end of the 20th century, new experimental approaches were developed allowing the high-resolution analysis of cells and molecules within biological tissues.</p>
<p>It then became necessary to collect and preserve human brains, obtained with the consent of the individual or his or her family, in conditions compatible with modern scientific techniques.</p>
<p>Researchers began freezing one of the cerebral hemispheres in order to measure its various molecular components. The other hemisphere was preserved in formalin to be used for macroscopic and microscopic anatomical studies.</p>
<p>This was the context in which the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank was created.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The DBCBB premises" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552154/original/file-20231004-25-z5k7jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Montréal is home to one of the world’s largest brain banks, the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank, which was founded in 1980 at the Douglas Hospital.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Naguib Mechawar)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New experimental approaches are yielding results</h2>
<p>Leading researchers from many universities around the world now use DBCBB samples to advance their research. This, of course, includes a number of teams in Québec.</p>
<p>For example, with his team from the Douglas Research Centre, which is affiliated with McGill University, <a href="https://douglas.research.mcgill.ca/judes-poirier/">Judes Poirier</a> discovered that the APOE4 gene is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0140-6736(93)91705-Q">risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease</a>. More recently, the team of <a href="https://crhmr.ciusss-estmtl.gouv.qc.ca/en/researcher/gilbert-bernier">Gilbert Bernier</a>, professor in the department of neuroscience at Université de Montréal, discovered that the lesions characteristic of this disease are associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37444-3">abnormal expression of the BMI1 gene</a>.</p>
<p>With regard to psychiatric illnesses, and more specifically depression, major progress has been made recently by the <a href="https://douglas.research.mcgill.ca/mcgill-group-suicide-studies-mgss/">McGill Group for Suicide Studies</a>. </p>
<p>Using cutting-edge methods to isolate and analyze human brain cells, Turecki’s team has succeeded in precisely identifying the cell types whose function is affected in men <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-0621-y">who have suffered from major depression</a>, and then discovering that the cell types involved in this illness differ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38530-5">between men and women</a>. </p>
<p>These experimental approaches generate huge data sets that can be examined in subsequent studies. This is the case, for example, of work carried out in my laboratory, which identified signs of persistent changes in neuroplasticity within the prefrontal cortex of people with a history of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01372-y">child abuse</a>. In fact, the studies mentioned above enabled us to discover at least one of the cell types involved in this phenomenon. </p>
<p>In short, the experimental methods we have today allow us to break the brain down into its elementary components in order to understand its functions and dysfunctions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cerebral hemispheres preserved in formalin" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552155/original/file-20231004-27-62uc6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leading researchers from many universities around the world benefit from Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank samples to advance their research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Naguib Mechawar)</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Identify, prevent, screen and treat</h2>
<p>Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the entire DBCBB team, as well as the unfailing support of all its partners, patrons (often anonymous) and funding bodies — particularly the FRQS research fund and Québec’s suicide research network, the <a href="https://reseausuicide.qc.ca">Réseau québécois sur le suicide, les troubles de l'humeur et les troubles associés</a> — this invaluable resource has not only managed to survive, but to grow and become one of the largest brain banks in the world. </p>
<p>There is every reason to believe that, in the years to come, the DBCBB will play an important role in the increasingly precise identification of the biological causes of brain diseases, and, as a result, will contribute to the identification of new targets for better approaches to prevention, screening and treatment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216980/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naguib Mechawar has received funding from CIHR, NSERC, HBHL (CFREF) and FQRS (NEURON ERA-NET and RQSHA).</span></em></p>Montréal is home to one of the world’s largest brain banks, the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank, where discoveries about different neurological and psychiatric diseases are made.Naguib Mechawar, Neurobiologiste, Institut Douglas; Professeur titulaire, Département de psychiatrie, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179902023-12-20T13:17:01Z2023-12-20T13:17:01ZDo you eat with your eyes, your gut or your brain? A neuroscientist explains how to listen to your hunger during the holidays<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566694/original/file-20231219-19-9np3p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2119%2C1414&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The particular stressors of the holiday season can make it difficult to listen to your body.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cropped-closeup-photo-of-young-woman-in-red-and-royalty-free-image/1346694165">InspirationGP/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The holiday season is upon us, and with it, opportunities to indulge in festive treats. The proverbial saying “you eat with your eyes first” seems particularly relevant at this time of year. </p>
<p>The science behind eating behavior, however, reveals that the process of deciding what, when and how much to eat is far more complex than just consuming calories when your body needs fuel. Hunger cues are only part of why people choose to eat. As a scientist interested in the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F31UkfUAAAAJ&hl=en">psychology and biology that drives eating behavior</a>, I’m fascinated with how the brain’s experiences with food shape eating decisions. </p>
<p>So how do people decide when to eat? </p>
<h2>Eating with your eyes</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2015.08.006">Food-related visual cues</a> can shape feeding behaviors in both people and animals. For example, wrapping food in McDonald’s packaging is sufficient to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.161.8.792">enhance taste preferences</a> across a range of foods – from chicken nuggets to carrots – in young children. Visual food-related cues, such as presenting a light when food is delivered, can also promote <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6836286">overeating behaviors</a> in animals by overriding energy needs.</p>
<p>In fact, a whole host of sensory stimuli – noises, smells and textures – can be associated with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2013.01.002">pleasurable consequences of eating</a> and influence food-related decisions. This is why hearing a catchy radio jingle for a food brand, seeing a television ad for a restaurant or walking by your favorite eatery can shape your decision to consume and sometimes overindulge.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566695/original/file-20231219-23-bbv1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of person holding plate of gingerbread cookies" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566695/original/file-20231219-23-bbv1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566695/original/file-20231219-23-bbv1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566695/original/file-20231219-23-bbv1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566695/original/file-20231219-23-bbv1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566695/original/file-20231219-23-bbv1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566695/original/file-20231219-23-bbv1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566695/original/file-20231219-23-bbv1i7.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">Your senses feast on food as much as your stomach does.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mixed-race-female-holds-plate-of-gingerbread-royalty-free-image/1360401442">Catherine McQueen/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, your capacity to learn about food-related cues extends beyond just stimuli from the outside world and includes the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011643">internal milieu of your body</a>. In other words, you also tend to eat with your stomach in mind, and you do so by using the same learning and brain mechanisms involved in processing food-related stimuli from the outside world. These internal signals, also called <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.558246">interoceptive cues</a>, include feelings of hunger and fullness emanating from your gastrointestinal tract.</p>
<p>It’s no surprise that the signals from your gut help set the stage for when to eat, but the role these signals play is more profound than you might expect.</p>
<h2>Trust your gut</h2>
<p>Feelings of hunger or fullness act as important interoceptive cues influencing your decision-making around food. </p>
<p>To examine how interoceptive states shape eating behaviors, researchers trained laboratory rats to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peptides.2005.02.014">associate feelings of hunger or satiety</a> with whether they receive food or not. They did this by giving rats food only when they were hungry or full, such that the rats were forced to recognize those internal cues to calculate whether food would be available or not. If a rat is trained to expect food only when hungry, it would generally avoid the area where food is available when it feels full because it does not expect to be fed.</p>
<p>However, when rats were injected with a hormone that <a href="https://doi.org/10.2337/diabetes.50.8.1714">triggers hunger</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00012.2004">called ghrelin</a>, they approached the food delivery location more frequently. This suggests that the rats used this artificial state of hunger as an interoceptive cue to predict food delivery and subsequently behaved like they expected food.</p>
<p>Interoceptive states are sufficient to shape feeding behaviors even in the absence of external sensory cues. One particularly striking example comes from mice that have been genetically engineered to be unable to taste food but nevertheless show preferences for specific foods <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2008.01.032">solely by caloric content</a>. In other words, rodents can use internal cues to shape their food-related decision-making, including when and where to eat and which foods they prefer.</p>
<p>These findings also suggest that feelings of hunger and the detection of nutrients is not restricted to the stomach. They also involve areas of the brain important for regulation and homeostasis, such as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.048">lateral hypothalamus</a>, as well as centers of the brain involved in learning and memory, such as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.10.012">hippocampus</a>.</p>
<h2>What happens in vagus</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3071">gut-brain axis</a>, or the biochemical connection between your gut and your brain, shapes feeding behaviors in many ways. One of them involves the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537171/">vagus nerve</a>, a cranial nerve that helps control the digestive tract, among other things. </p>
<p>The vagus nerve rapidly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat5236">communicates nutrient information</a> to the brain. Activating the vagus nerve can induce a pleasurable state, such that mice will voluntarily perform a behavior, such as poking their nose through an open port, to stimulate their vagus nerve. Importantly, mice also learn to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.08.049">prefer foods and places</a> where vagal nerve stimulation occurred.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Vy6vl8RZrw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Your gut and brain are intimately connected.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The vagus nerve plays an essential role in not only communicating digestive signals but also an array of other interoceptive signals that can affect how you feel and behave. In people, vagal nerve stimulation can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wnn.0000213908.34278.7d">improve learning and memory</a> and can be used to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-017-0537-8">treat major depression</a>.</p>
<h2>Benefits of interoceptive awareness</h2>
<p>Your body’s capacity to use both external and internal cues to regulate how you learn and make decisions about food highlights the impressive processes involved in how you regulate your energy needs.</p>
<p>Poor interoceptive awareness is associated with a range of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000062">dysfunctional feeding behaviors</a>, such as eating disorders. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2017.00032">anorexia may result</a> when interoceptive signals, such as feelings of hunger, are unable to trigger the motivation to eat. Alternatively, the inability to use the feeling of fullness to dampen the rewarding and pleasurable consequences of eating palatable food could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.08.020">result in binge eating</a>. </p>
<p>Your interoceptive signals play an important role in regulating your daily eating patterns. During the holidays, many stressors from the outside world surround eating, such as packed social calendars, pressures to conform and feelings of guilt when overindulging. At this time, it is particularly important to cultivate a strong connection to your interoceptive signals. This can help promote <a href="https://theconversation.com/intuitive-eating-a-diet-that-actually-makes-sense-112800">intuitive eating</a> and a more holistic approach to your dietary habits. Rather than fixating on external factors and placing conditions on your eating behavior, enjoy the moment, deliberately savor each bite and provide time for your interoceptive signals to function in the role they are designed to play. </p>
<p>Your brain evolved to sense your current energy needs. By <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.06.004">integrating these signals</a> with your experience of your food environment, you can both optimize your energetic needs and enjoy the season.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217990/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Johnson receives funding from the National Institute of Health</span></em></p>You likely know that the sight and smell of food can trigger cravings. But internal cues from your gut and your brain play just as important a role in the decisions you make around food.Alex Johnson, Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200442023-12-18T16:17:12Z2023-12-18T16:17:12ZA new supercomputer aims to closely mimic the human brain — it could help unlock the secrets of the mind and advance AI<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566252/original/file-20231218-15-hajmbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C9%2C6470%2C3940&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/businessman-touching-digital-human-brain-cell-582507070">Sdecoret / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A supercomputer scheduled to go online in April 2024 will rival the estimated rate of operations in the human brain, <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/more_news_stories/world_first_supercomputer_capable_of_brain-scale_simulation_being_built_at_western_sydney_university">according to researchers in Australia</a>. The machine, called DeepSouth, is capable of performing 228 trillion operations per second. </p>
<p>It’s the world’s first supercomputer capable of simulating networks of neurons and synapses (key biological structures that make up our nervous system) at the scale of the human brain.</p>
<p>DeepSouth belongs to an approach <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-021-00184-y">known as neuromorphic computing</a>, which aims to mimic the biological processes of the human brain. It will be run from the International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems at Western Sydney University.</p>
<p>Our brain is the most amazing computing machine we know. By distributing its
computing power to billions of small units (neurons) that interact through trillions of connections (synapses), the brain can rival the most powerful supercomputers in the world, while requiring only the same power used by a fridge lamp bulb.</p>
<p>Supercomputers, meanwhile, generally take up lots of space and need large amounts of electrical power to run. The world’s most powerful supercomputer, the <a href="https://www.hpe.com/uk/en/compute/hpc/cray/oak-ridge-national-laboratory.html">Hewlett Packard Enterprise Frontier</a>, can perform just over one quintillion operations per second. It covers 680 square metres (7,300 sq ft) and requires 22.7 megawatts (MW) to run. </p>
<p>Our brains can perform the same number of operations per second with just 20 watts of power, while weighing just 1.3kg-1.4kg. Among other things, neuromorphic computing aims to unlock the secrets of this amazing efficiency.</p>
<h2>Transistors at the limits</h2>
<p>On June 30 1945, the mathematician and physicist <a href="https://www.ias.edu/von-neumann">John von Neumann</a> described the design of a new machine, the <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/194089">Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (Edvac)</a>. This effectively defined the modern electronic computer as we know it. </p>
<p>My smartphone, the laptop I am using to write this article and the most powerful supercomputer in the world all share the same fundamental structure introduced by von Neumann almost 80 years ago. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/von-neumann-architecture">These all have distinct processing and memory units</a>, where data and instructions are stored in the memory and computed by a processor.</p>
<p>For decades, the number of transistors on a microchip doubled approximately every two years, <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/591665">an observation known as Moore’s Law</a>. This allowed us to have smaller and cheaper computers. </p>
<p>However, transistor sizes are now approaching the atomic scale. At these tiny sizes, excessive heat generation is a problem, as is a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which interferes with the functioning of the transistors. <a href="https://qz.com/852770/theres-a-limit-to-how-small-we-can-make-transistors-but-the-solution-is-photonic-chips#:%7E:text=They're%20made%20of%20silicon,we%20can%20make%20a%20transistor.">This is slowing down</a> and will eventually halt transistor miniaturisation.</p>
<p>To overcome this issue, scientists are exploring new approaches to
computing, starting from the powerful computer we all have hidden in our heads, the human brain. Our brains do not work according to John von Neumann’s model of the computer. They don’t have separate computing and memory areas. </p>
<p>They instead work by connecting billions of nerve cells that communicate information in the form of electrical impulses. Information can be passed from <a href="https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-basics/brain/brain-physiology/action-potentials-and-synapses">one neuron to the next through a junction called a synapse</a>. The organisation of neurons and synapses in the brain is flexible, scalable and efficient. </p>
<p>So in the brain – and unlike in a computer – memory and computation are governed by the same neurons and synapses. Since the late 1980s, scientists have been studying this model with the intention of importing it to computing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Microchip." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566265/original/file-20231218-25-yjbwxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The continuing miniaturisation of transistors on microchips is limited by the laws of physics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-presentation-new-generation-microchip-gloved-691548583">Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Imitation of life</h2>
<p>Neuromorphic computers are based on intricate networks of simple, elementary processors (which act like the brain’s neurons and synapses). The main advantage of this is that these machines <a href="https://www.electronicsworld.co.uk/advances-in-parallel-processing-with-neuromorphic-analogue-chip-implementations/34337/">are inherently “parallel”</a>. </p>
<p>This means that, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.95.3.933">as with neurons and synapses</a>, virtually all the processors in a computer can potentially be operating simultaneously, communicating in tandem.</p>
<p>In addition, because the computations performed by individual neurons and synapses are very simple compared with traditional computers, the energy consumption is orders of magnitude smaller. Although neurons are sometimes thought of as processing units, and synapses as memory units, they contribute to both processing and storage. In other words, data is already located where the computation requires it.</p>
<p>This speeds up the brain’s computing in general because there is no separation between memory and processor, which in classical (von Neumann) machines causes a slowdown. But it also avoids the need to perform a specific task of accessing data from a main memory component, as happens in conventional computing systems and consumes a considerable amount of energy. </p>
<p>The principles we have just described are the main inspiration for DeepSouth. This is not the only neuromorphic system currently active. It is worth mentioning the <a href="https://www.humanbrainproject.eu">Human Brain Project (HBP)</a>, funded under an <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/content/fet-flagships.html">EU initiative</a>. The HBP was operational from 2013 to 2023, and led to BrainScaleS, a machine located in Heidelberg, in Germany, that emulates the way that neurons and synapses work. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/science-development/focus-areas/neuromorphic-computing/hardware/">BrainScaleS</a> can simulate the way that neurons “spike”, the way that an electrical impulse travels along a neuron in our brains. This would make BrainScaleS an ideal candidate to investigate the mechanics of cognitive processes and, in future, mechanisms underlying serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.</p>
<p>Because they are engineered to mimic actual brains, neuromorphic computers could be the beginning of a turning point. Offering sustainable and affordable computing power and allowing researchers to evaluate models of neurological systems, they are an ideal platform for a range of applications. They have the potential to both advance our understanding of the brain and offer new approaches to artificial intelligence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Domenico Vicinanza 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>Neuromorphic computers aim to one day replicate the amazing efficiency of the brain.Domenico Vicinanza, Associate Professor of Intelligent Systems and Data Science, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2193782023-12-18T13:23:43Z2023-12-18T13:23:43ZDo you hear what I see? How blindness changes how you process the sound of movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565875/original/file-20231214-23-s4v8j4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1462&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sighted people would have a hard time crossing the street by sound alone.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/full-length-of-blind-woman-crossing-road-with-stick-royalty-free-image/1210268422">Maskot/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Almost nothing in the world is still. Toddlers dash across the living room. Cars zip across the street. Motion is one of the most <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/0954-898X/6/3/003">important features in the environment</a>; the ability to predict the movement of objects in the world is often directly related to survival – whether it’s a gazelle detecting the slow creep of a lion or a driver merging across four lanes of traffic.</p>
<p>Motion is so important that the primate brain evolved a dedicated system for processing visual movement, known as the middle temporal cortex, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53860-4.00005-2">over 50 million years ago</a>. This region of the brain contains neurons specialized for detecting moving objects. These <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264086.013.76">motion detectors</a> compute the information needed to track objects as they continuously change their location over time, then sends signals about the moving world to other regions of the brain, such as those involved in planning muscle movements.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565877/original/file-20231214-21-e83re8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram of brain with the middle temporal gyrus — a strip on the bottom side of the brain — highlighted in yellow" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565877/original/file-20231214-21-e83re8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565877/original/file-20231214-21-e83re8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565877/original/file-20231214-21-e83re8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565877/original/file-20231214-21-e83re8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565877/original/file-20231214-21-e83re8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565877/original/file-20231214-21-e83re8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565877/original/file-20231214-21-e83re8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The middle temporal cortex is involved in processing visual movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray726_middle_temporal_gyrus.png">Gray, vectorized by Mysid, colored by was_a_bee/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s easy to assume that you see and hear motion in a similar way. However, exactly how the brain processes auditory motion has been an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2007.03.003">open scientific question</a> for at least 30 years. This debate centers on two ideas: One supports the existence of specialized auditory motion detectors similar to those found in visual motion, and the other suggests that people hear object motion as discrete snapshots.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WtPLYRIAAAAJ&hl=en">computational</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5LuGpVgAAAAJ&hl=en">neuroscientists</a>, we became curious when we noticed a blind woman confidently crossing a busy intersection. <a href="https://faculty.washington.edu/ionefine/">Our laboratory</a> has spent the past 20 years examining where auditory motion is represented in the brains of blind individuals.</p>
<p>For sighted people, crossing a busy street based on hearing alone is an impossible task, because their brains are used to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.20.001391">relying on vision</a> to understand where things are. As anyone who has tried to find a beeping cellphone that’s fallen behind the sofa knows, sighted people have a very limited ability to pinpoint the location or movement of objects based on auditory information.</p>
<p>Yet people who become blind are able to make sense of the moving world using only sound. How do people hear motion, and how is this changed by being blind?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565879/original/file-20231214-27-s4v8j4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial view of pedestrians on a crosswalk, a few cars waiting at the edges" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565879/original/file-20231214-27-s4v8j4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565879/original/file-20231214-27-s4v8j4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565879/original/file-20231214-27-s4v8j4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565879/original/file-20231214-27-s4v8j4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565879/original/file-20231214-27-s4v8j4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565879/original/file-20231214-27-s4v8j4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565879/original/file-20231214-27-s4v8j4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People who are blind are better able to track auditory motion in noisy conditions compared with sighted people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/pedestrians-on-zebra-crossing-new-york-city-royalty-free-image/1048763642">Orbon Alija/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Crossing a busy street by sound alone</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310156120">recently published study</a> in the journal PNAS, we tackled the question of how blind people hear motion by asking a slightly different version of it: Are blind people better at perceiving auditory motion? And if so, why?</p>
<p>To answer this question, we used a simple task where we asked study participants to judge the direction of a sound that moved left or right. This moving sound was embedded in bursts of stationary background noise resembling radio static that were randomly positioned in space and time.</p>
<p>Our first question was whether blind participants would be better at the task. We measured how loud the auditory motion had to be for participants to be able to perform the task correctly 65% of the time. We found that the hearing of blind participants was no different from that of sighted participants. However, the blind participants were able to determine the direction of the auditory motion at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310156120">much quieter levels</a> than sighted participants. In other words, people who became blind early in life are better at hearing the auditory motion of objects within a noisy world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565949/original/file-20231215-28-skziw1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="showing motion of object from one corner of a plane to another, where the blind participant is able to detect the position of the object more closely than the sighted participant" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565949/original/file-20231215-28-skziw1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565949/original/file-20231215-28-skziw1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565949/original/file-20231215-28-skziw1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565949/original/file-20231215-28-skziw1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565949/original/file-20231215-28-skziw1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565949/original/file-20231215-28-skziw1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565949/original/file-20231215-28-skziw1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blind participants were able to determine the position of the object as it starts and stops moving more closely than sighted participants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310156120">Ione Fine and Woon Ju Park</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 examined how the noise bursts interfered with the ability to tell the direction of motion. For both sighted and blind participants, only the noise bursts at the beginning and the end of each trial had an effect on performance. These results show that people do not track objects continuously using sound: Instead they infer auditory motion from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310156120">location of sounds at their beginning and end</a>, more consistent with the snapshot hypothesis. </p>
<p>Both blind and sighted people inferred movement from the start and stop of sounds. So why were blind people so much better at understanding auditory motion than sighted people? </p>
<p>Further analysis of the effects of background noise on the ability to track auditory motion showed that blind participants were affected only by noise bursts occurring at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310156120">same locations in space and moments in time</a> as the onset and offset of the moving sound. This means that they were more sensitive to the beginning and end of the actual auditory motion and less susceptible to irrelevant noise bursts.</p>
<h2>When you hear what I see</h2>
<p>As any parent of a blind child will tell you, understanding motion is just <a href="https://nfb.org/our-community/parents-blind-children">one of the many ways</a> that blind children learn to interact with the world using different cues and actions. </p>
<p>A sighted baby recognizes their parent’s face as they approach the crib, while a blind baby recognizes the sound of their footsteps. A sighted toddler looks toward the dog to attract their parent’s attention, while a blind toddler might <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579403000142">pull their parent’s hand</a> in the direction of the barking. </p>
<p>Understanding the ability of blind people to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-vision-102016-061241">learn how to successfully interact</a> with a world designed for the sighted provides a unique appreciation of the extraordinary flexibility of the human brain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219378/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work was supported by NIH National Eye Institute Grants R01EY014645 (to I.F.) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Woon Ju Park receives funding from an NIH National Eye Institute Grant K99EY034546 and was supported by a Weill Neurohub Postdoctoral Fellowship. </span></em></p>Detecting and tracking motion is key to survival. The ability to extract auditory information from a noisy environment changes when your brain isn’t wired to rely on vision.Ione Fine, Professor of Psychology, University of WashingtonWoon Ju Park, Research Scientist, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140532023-12-15T13:22:43Z2023-12-15T13:22:43ZRacism produces subtle brain changes that lead to increased disease risk in Black populations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565115/original/file-20231212-21-79wl3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C30%2C6659%2C4436&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Coping with everyday affronts comes at a cost and requires a certain level of emotional suppression. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/composite-of-portraits-with-varying-shades-of-skin-royalty-free-image/1249641728?phrase=discrimination&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">RyanJLane/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. is in the midst of a racial reckoning. The COVID-19 pandemic, which took a particularly <a href="https://covidtracking.com/race">heavy toll on Black communities</a>, turned a harsh spotlight on long-standing health disparities that the public could no longer overlook.</p>
<p>Although the health disparities for Black communities have been well known to researchers for decades, the pandemic put real names and faces to these numbers. Compared with white people, Black people are at much greater risk for developing a range of health problems, including <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/heart-disease-and-african-americans">heart disease</a>, <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/diabetes-and-african-americans">diabetes</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2018.09.009">dementia</a>. For example, Black people are twice as likely as white people to <a href="https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf">develop Alzheimer’s disease</a>.</p>
<p>A vast and growing body of research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043750">racism contributes to systems that promote health inequities</a>. Most recently, our team has also learned that racism directly contributes to these inequities on a neurobiological level.</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://www.negarfani.com/">clinical</a> <a href="https://www.mcleanhospital.org/profile/nathaniel-harnett">neuroscientists</a> who study the multifaceted ways in which racism affects how our brains develop and function. We use brain imaging to study how trauma such as sexual assault or racial discrimination can cause stress that leads to mental health disorders like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. </p>
<p>We have studied trauma in the context of a study known as the <a href="https://www.gradytraumaproject.com/">Grady Trauma Project</a>, which has been running for nearly 20 years. This study is largely focused on the trauma and stress of Black people in the metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, community.</p>
<h2>How discrimination alters the brain</h2>
<p>Racial discrimination is commonly experienced through subtle indignities: a woman clutching her purse as a Black man walks by on the sidewalk, a shopkeeper keeping close watch on a Black woman shopping in a clothing store, a comment about a Black employee being a “diversity hire.” These slights are often referred to as <a href="https://www.med.unc.edu/inclusion/justice-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-j-e-d-i-toolkit/microaggressions-microaffirmations/#">microaggressions</a>.</p>
<p>Decades of research has shown that the everyday burden of these race-related threats, slights and exclusions in day-to-day life translates into a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043750">real increase in disease risk</a>. But researchers are only beginning to understand how these forms of discrimination affect a person’s biology and overall health.</p>
<p>Our team’s research shows that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.05.004">everyday burden of racism</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1480">affects the function</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.011">structure</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01445-8">of the brain</a>. In turn, these changes play a major role in risk for health problems.</p>
<p>For instance, our studies show that racial discrimination <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1480">increases the activity of brain regions</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01737-7">such as the prefrontal cortex</a>, that are involved in regulating emotions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Scientist and technologist view brain images." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Negar Fani and a team member view brain images.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patrick Heagney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This increased activity in prefrontal brain regions occurs because responding to these types of affronts requires high-effort coping strategies, such as suppressing emotions. People who have experienced more racial discrimination also show more activation in brain regions that enable them to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2021.100967">inhibit and suppress anger, shock or sadness</a> so that they can curate a socially acceptable response. </p>
<h2>A cost for overcompensating</h2>
<p>Despite the fact that high-energy coping allows people to manage a constant barrage of threats, this comes at a cost.</p>
<p>The more brain energy you use to suppress, control or manage your feelings, the more energy you take away from the rest of the body. Over time, and without prolonged periods of rest, relief and restoration, this can contribute to other problems, a process that public health researcher <a href="https://psc.isr.umich.edu/news/a-monumental-new-book-weathering-arline-geronimuss-lifes-work/">Arline Geronimus termed “weathering</a>.” Having these brain regions in continual overdrive is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113169">linked with</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs12110-010-9078-0">accelerated biological aging</a>, which can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ssmph.2018.11.003">create vulnerability for health problems</a> and early death. </p>
<p>In our research, we have found that this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01445-8">weathering process is evident</a> in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.011">gradual degradation</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.05.004">of brain structure</a>, particularly in the heavily myelinated axons of the brain, known as “<a href="https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002344.htm#">white matter</a>,” which serve as the brain’s information highways. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Computer-generated image of white matter tracts in the brain." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rendering of white matter fibers − shown in color − throughout the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Negar Fani</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002261.htm">Myelin</a> is a protective sheath around nerve fibers that allows for improved communication between brain cells. Similar to highways for vehicles, without sufficient maintenance of the myelin, degradation will occur. </p>
<p>Erosion in these brain pathways can affect self-regulation, making a person more vulnerable to developing unhealthy coping strategies for stress, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15060710">emotional eating or substance use</a>. These behaviors, in turn, can increase one’s risk for a wide variety of health problems. </p>
<p>These racism-related changes in the brain, and their direct effects on coping, may help to explain why Black people are twice as likely to develop brain health problems such as <a href="https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf">Alzheimer’s disease</a> compared with white people.</p>
<h2>Recognizing racial gaslighting</h2>
<p>In our view, what makes racism particularly insidious and pernicious to the health of Black people is the societal invalidation that accompanies it. This makes racial trauma effectively invisible. Racism, whether it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616659391">originates from people</a> or from institutional systems, is often rationalized, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2020.09.001">excused or dismissed</a>. </p>
<p>Such invalidation leads those who experience racism to second-guess themselves: “Am I just being too sensitive?” People who have the temerity to report racist events are often ridiculed or met with skepticism. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00361-5">extends to</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732220984183">academic spheres</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.009">as well</a>.</p>
<p>This continual questioning and doubting of the circumstances around racist experiences, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2017.1403934">racial gaslighting</a>, may be part of what depletes the brain of its resources, causing the weathering that ultimately increases vulnerability to brain health problems.</p>
<p>Interrupting this cycle requires that people learn to identify their biases toward people of color and people in marginalized groups more generally, and to understand how those biases may lead to discriminatory words and behavior. We believe that by finding their blind spots, people can see ways in which their actions and behaviors could be viewed as hurtful, exclusionary or offensive. Through recognition of these experiences as racist, people can become allies rather than skeptics. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.institutionalcourage.org/">Institutions can help</a> to create a culture of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20220045">healing, validation and support</a> for people of color. A validating, supportive institutional culture may help people of color normalize their reactions to these stressors, in addition to the connection – and restoration – they may find within their communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214053/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Negar Fani receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and Emory University School of Medicine. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathaniel Harnett receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College. </span></em></p>Racial threats and slights take a toll on health, but the continual invalidation and questioning of whether those so-called microaggressions exist has an even more insidious effect, research shows.Negar Fani, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Emory UniversityNathaniel Harnett, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2196692023-12-13T19:01:44Z2023-12-13T19:01:44ZHuman intelligence: how cognitive circuitry, rather than brain size, drove its evolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565513/original/file-20231213-20-grbqn0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C33%2C2779%2C1837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia/Foley</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s one of the great paradoxes of evolution. Humans have demonstrated that having <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-humans-have-such-large-brains-our-study-suggests-ecology-was-the-driving-force-96873">large brains</a> are key to our evolutionary success, and yet such brains are extremely rare in other animals. Most get by on tiny brains, and don’t seem to miss the extra brain cells (neurons). </p>
<p>Why? The answer that most biologists have settled on is that large brains are costly in terms of the energy they require to run. And, given the way natural selection works, the benefits <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9234964/">simply don’t exceed the costs</a>. </p>
<p>But is it just a matter of size? Does the way our brains are laid out also affect their costs? A new study, <a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adi7632">published in Science Advances</a>, has produced some intriguing answers. </p>
<p>All our organs have running costs, but <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2744104">some are cheap and others expensive</a>. Bones, for example, are relatively cheap. Although they make up around 15% of your weight, they only use 5% of your metabolism. Brains are at the other end of the spectrum, and at about 2% of typical human body weight, running them uses around 20% of our metabolism. And this without doing any conscious thinking – it even happens when we’re asleep.</p>
<p>For most animals, the benefits of serious thinking are simply not worth it. But for some reason – the greatest puzzle in human evolution, perhaps – humans found ways to overcome the costs of having a larger brain and reap the benefits.</p>
<p>All this is fairly well known, but there is a more tantalising question. Certainly humans have to bear the greater costs of our brains because they are so large, but are there different costs because of the special nature of our cognition? Does thinking, speaking, being self-conscious or doing sums cost more than typical day-to-day animal activities?</p>
<p>It’s not an easy question to answer, but the team behind the new study, led by Valentin Riedl of the Technical University of Munich, Germany, have risen to the challenge. </p>
<p>The authors had a number of known points to start with. The basic design and structure of neurons is much the same across the brain – and across species. The neuronal density is also the same for humans and other primates, so these are unlikely to be the driver of intelligence. If they were, some animals with large brains such as orcas and elephants would likely be smarter than humans.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elephant and woman in village Surin Thailand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565485/original/file-20231213-19-jr94u6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565485/original/file-20231213-19-jr94u6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565485/original/file-20231213-19-jr94u6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565485/original/file-20231213-19-jr94u6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565485/original/file-20231213-19-jr94u6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565485/original/file-20231213-19-jr94u6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565485/original/file-20231213-19-jr94u6.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">Elephants have larger brains than humans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">venusvi/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They also knew that across human evolution, the neocortex – the largest part of the outermost layer of the brain, known as cerebral cortex – has expanded at a greater rate than other parts. This region, which involves the prefrontal cortex, is responsible for tasks involving attention, thought, planning, perception and episodic memory – all needed for higher cognitive function.</p>
<p>These two observations led them to investigate whether there are different costs of signalling across different regions of the brain.</p>
<p>The team scanned the brains of 30 people using a technique that could simultaneously measure glucose metabolism (a measure of energy consumption) and the level of signalling across the cortex. They could then look at the correlation between these two elements and see whether different parts of the brain used different levels of energy – and if so how. </p>
<h2>Surprising findings</h2>
<p>Neurobiologists will surely ponder and explore the fine details of the results, but from an evolutionary point of view, they are thought-provoking. What they found is that the difference in energy consumption between different areas of the brain is big. Not all bits of the brain are equal, energetically speaking.</p>
<p>Not only that, but the parts of the human brain that have expanded most had higher costs than expected. The neocortex in fact demanded around 67% more energy than sensorimotor networks per gram of tissue. </p>
<p>This means that during the course of human evolution, not only did the metabolic costs of our brains go up as they became larger, but they did so at an accelerating rate as the neocortex expanded faster than the rest of the brain. </p>
<p>Why should that be the case? A neuron is a neuron, after all. The neocortex relates directly to higher cognitive function. </p>
<p>The signals sent across this area are mediated through brain chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline (neuromodulators), which create circuits in the brain to help maintain a general level of excitement (in a neurological sense of the word meaning being awake, not having fun). These circuits, which regulate some brain areas more than others, control and modify the ability of neurons across the brain to communicate with each other.</p>
<p>In other words, they keep the brain active for memory storage and thinking – a generally higher level of cognitive activity. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the higher level of activity involved in our advanced cognition comes at a higher energetic cost.</p>
<p>Ultimately then, it seems the human brain evolved to such advanced levels of cognition not just because we have large brains, nor even just because certain areas of our brain grew disproportionately big, but because – at a cost – the connectivity improved.</p>
<p>Many animals with large brains, such as elephants and orcas, are highly intelligent. But it seems it is possible to have a large brain without developing the “right” circuitry for human-level cognition.</p>
<p>The results help us understand why larger brains are so rare. A larger brain can enable more complex cognition to evolve. It is not just a matter of scaling up brains and energy at the same rate though, but taking on additional costs.</p>
<p>This doesn’t really answer the ultimate question – how did humans manage to break through the brain-energy ceiling? As so often in evolution, the answer must lie in ecology, the ultimate source of energy. To grow and maintain a large brain – whatever social, cultural, technological or other things it is used for – <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.1991.0111">requires a dependable and high quality diet</a>.</p>
<p>To learn more, we need to explore the last million years, the period when our ancestors’ brains really expanded, to investigate this interface between energy expenditure and cognition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219669/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The human brain uses up 20% of the energy we consume.Robert Foley, Emeritus Professor of Human Evolution, University of CambridgeMarta Mirazon Lahr, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology & Director of the Duckworth Collection, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169782023-12-07T22:50:53Z2023-12-07T22:50:53ZCould visiting a museum be the secret to a healthy life?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557354/original/file-20231016-28-1a079n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C1%2C986%2C655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does the simple fact of being in contact with art have any specific effects?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s Saturday morning. You are barely awake, with a cup of coffee in your hand, and your gaze wanders to the window. It’s raining. So you make up your mind. This afternoon, you will go to a museum.</p>
<p>But what if, without realizing it, you just made a good decision for your health?</p>
<p>That’s the hypothesis put forward by the <a href="https://www.medecinsfrancophones.ca/a-propos/lassociation/">Association des Médecins francophones du Canada</a> in 2018, when it launched the <a href="https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/news/museum-prescriptions/">museum prescriptions program</a> in partnership with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The project, now completed, has enabled thousands of patients to get a doctor’s prescription to visit a museum, either on their own or accompanied. The aim of the prescription was to promote the recovery and well-being of patients with chronic illnesses (hypertension, diabetes), neurological conditions, cognitive disorders or mental health problems. The decision to write the prescription was left to the discretion of the doctor.</p>
<p>Five years in, this pioneering initiative has inspired other innovative projects. So we are now seeing an increasing number of museum-based wellness activities ranging from <a href="https://museumlondon.ca/yoga-at-the-museum">museum yoga</a> to <a href="https://agakhanmuseum.org/programs/mindfulness-and-education-sessions">guided meditations</a> with works of art, as well as the practice of <a href="https://www.gallery.ca/magazine/your-collection/the-art-of-slow-looking-a-painting-by-jean-paul-riopelle?_gl=1*ys4kk2*_ga*MTY5MjQ1NTg3Mi4xNjk5NTUxNTQ3*_ga_83BW334MD2*MTY5OTU1MTU0Ni4xLjAuMTY5OTU1MTU0Ni4wLjAuMA..">slow contemplation</a> or “slow looking.” </p>
<p>There’s no shortage of possibilities, and they all help to reinforce the same idea, that art is good for us.</p>
<h2>Beyond first impressions</h2>
<p>These initiatives have recently made headlines in national media on both sides of the Atlantic, in <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/museotherapie-je-crois-que-nous-sommes-dans-un-moment-de-bouillonnement-2414180">France</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-museum-fine-arts-medecins-francophone-art-museum-therapy-1.4859936">Canada</a>, and are gaining in visibility in the general public. Because of the popularity of these activities, more and more claims are being made that a visit to the museum can have “powerful anti-stress properties,” be a “miracle cure for stress,” or have other “incredible benefits.”</p>
<p>Talk about enthusiasm!</p>
<p>Yet, as a certified neuroscientist, I can’t help but wonder why, given the extraordinarily relaxing effects that are being claimed, crowds aren’t flocking to our museums every day. </p>
<p>And that gives us all the more reason to look at the scientific reports and studies that have recently been published on the subject.</p>
<h2>Is art good for you? From intuition to observation</h2>
<p>In 2019, the World Health Organization published an extensive report compiling evidence on the role of arts and cultural activities <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/329834">in promoting health and well-being</a>. The authors of this report attempted to move away from the sweeping claim that the benefits of art could constitute a universal solution to health problems, like a type of home remedy. </p>
<p>Instead, they encourage new, more precise and rigorous approaches to looking at the question, based on observation of the psychological, physiological and behavioural responses induced by certain specific components of artistic activity (aesthetic engagement, sensory stimulation, physical activity, etc.).</p>
<h2>Actor or spectator?</h2>
<p>What’s specific about a museum visit is that it is a so-called receptive artistic activity – in other words, it is not about producing art (painting, drawing, composing). It does, however, have the advantage of being accessible and already well established in our collective habits, making it a good candidate for health prevention.</p>
<p>The question is whether art exposure, alone, is enough to reap its benefits. In other words, does the simple fact of being in contact with art have specific effects?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="woman in a museum" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554091/original/file-20231016-15-yh6rw2.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">Could exposure to art lead to healthier aging?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Healthier consumers of culture</h2>
<p>Research has been carried out in England on samples of several thousand individuals whose long-term health indicators were monitored, and who were asked for 10 years to report on their habits in terms of <a href="https://www.elsa-project.ac.uk">cultural and artistic activities</a>.</p>
<p>This research shows that individuals who regularly (every two or three months, or more) visit cultural venues (theatres, opera houses, museums, galleries) have a 50 per cent lower risk of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/cultural-engagement-and-cognitive-reserve-museum-attendance-and-dementia-incidence-over-a-10year-period/0D5F792DD1842E97AEFAD1274CCCC9B9">dementia</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6429253/">depression</a>, and a 40 per cent lower risk of developing a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/75/3/571/5280637">geriatric frailty syndrome</a> (age-related decline in health and loss of functional independence).</p>
<p>Does that mean that exposure to art could lead to healthier aging?</p>
<p>Perhaps, but whether cultural involvement is the cause of the improvement in health markers observed in these studies, has yet to be confirmed. To do this, cohort studies and <a href="https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/48952.html">randomized controlled trials</a> are required. However, this type of study has yet to be done.</p>
<h2>In search of the active ingredients</h2>
<p>There is one other question, and it’s a big one! It’s the question of <em>why</em>.</p>
<p>Why would art, and visual art in particular, do me good? What happens in my body when I encounter a work of art, and how does this contact transform me and help to keep me healthier – if this is the case?</p>
<p>This was the question Mikaela Law, a psychology researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and her colleagues asked in 2021. They <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/6/e043549.abstract">reviewed the scientific literature</a> for studies on the physiological response to the visual arts and its effect on self-reported stress. </p>
<p>Some of the studies listed in her work show that contact with artwork can lower blood pressure, heart rate and the cortisol secreted in saliva. Such changes reflect a reduction in the body’s state of guardedness, also called stress. This change appears to be perceived by the individual, reflected by the reduction in the stress he or she feels after exposure.</p>
<p>Other studies, on the other hand, have observed no effects. </p>
<p>So, if contact with visual art is likely to bring about physical and psychological relaxation for the viewer, it may not be a sufficient condition for improved health.</p>
<p>This conclusion invites us to qualify our conclusions and reflect more deeply on what happens at the moment of an encounter with a work that might condition its effects on an individual’s psyche.</p>
<p>Today is Saturday…</p>
<p>You’ve decided you’re going to the museum. </p>
<p>This decision will likely be good for your health. </p>
<p>It’s also likely to depend on the museum you choose, and how you visit it. </p>
<p>However one thing’s certain: going to a museum means you will greatly increase your chances of having a pleasant day!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216978/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Dupuy works in partnership with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and has received funding from MITACS, the Université de Montréal and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec.</span></em></p>Can a trip to a museum help cure mental dullness? Here’s what the science has to say.Emma Dupuy, Postdoctoral researcher, cognitive neuroscience, Université de MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2180342023-12-06T19:07:07Z2023-12-06T19:07:07ZNoam Chomsky turns 95: the social justice advocate paved the way for AI. Does it keep him up at night?<p>Noam Chomsky, the <a href="https://ricknabb.medium.com/happy-noam-chomsky-day-825a63deea4d">revered</a> and <a href="https://www.openculture.com/2011/01/william_f_buckley_threatens_to_smash_noam_chomsky_in_the_face_1969.html">reviled</a> genius once famously described as “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/25/archives/the-chomsky-problem-chomsky.html">the most important intellectual alive</a>”, turns 95 today. He is a monumental figure in <a href="https://linguistics.ucla.edu/undergraduate/what-is-linguistics/">modern linguistics</a>, and only a slightly lesser deity in psychology, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxvSQnmcYLo">philosophy</a> and political activism.</p>
<p>His work establishing <a href="https://cogsci.jhu.edu/about/">cognitive science</a> as a discipline is so fundamental to the rise of AI that it’s rarely acknowledged anymore.</p>
<p>Amid the ongoing <a href="https://theconversation.com/turmoil-at-openai-shows-we-must-address-whether-ai-developers-can-regulate-themselves-218759">alarm</a> that language-simulating machines could become a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-year-of-chatgpt-5-ways-the-ai-marvel-has-changed-the-world-218805">net negative for humanity</a>, have we wandered too far from Chomsky’s vision of a science of the human mind?</p>
<h2>The root of Chomsky’s fame</h2>
<p>Chomsky burst onto the academic scene in 1957 with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_Structures">Syntactic Structures</a>, a highly technical linguistics monograph that revolutionised the study of language.</p>
<p>His real stardom, however, came in 1959 with his <a href="https://chomsky.info/1967____/">legendary review</a> of B. F. Skinner’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbal_Behavior">Verbal Behaviour</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner">Skinner</a>, a psychologist and behaviourist, was enjoying the limelight in psychology circles with his theory of “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LEcM0E0io">operant conditioning</a>”.</p>
<p>It explains how <a href="https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/lumenpsychology/chapter/operant-conditioning/">reinforcement and punishment</a> can be used to create associations in people’s minds, which then encourage certain behaviours. For instance, a gold star awarded by a teacher for good behaviour will encourage more of it from students. </p>
<p>In Verbal Behaviour, Skinner tried to expand this idea into linguistics by breaking language down into components that are supposedly acquired via operant conditioning. </p>
<p>Chomsky completely disagreed. He tore Skinner’s theories apart, showing language couldn’t possibly be understood in this way. </p>
<p>For one thing, he pointed out, children don’t get enough exposure to language to learn every possible sentence. For another, language is creative: we frequently utter sentences that have never been heard before, meaning they can’t have been acquired through a simple process of <a href="https://www.psychologistworld.com/behavior/stimulus-response-theory">reward and punishment</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-ai-kill-our-creativity-it-could-if-we-dont-start-to-value-and-protect-the-traits-that-make-us-human-214149">Will AI kill our creativity? It could – if we don’t start to value and protect the traits that make us human</a>
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<h2>The cognitive revolution and AI</h2>
<p>Chomsky’s scathing review did more than shut behaviourism <a href="https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.17.1-2.12and">out of linguistics</a>. </p>
<p>He showed how useful it could be to examine the mind instead of just behaviour in language-related areas like <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cognitive_Science_Hexagon.svg">anthropology, psychology and neuroscience</a>. This helped set the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Mind_s_New_Science.html?id=K0pkNQ3iusYC&redir_esc=y">cognitive revolution</a> in motion, eventually giving rise to <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/cognitivescience/">the field</a> of cognitive science.</p>
<p>A core idea Chomsky pioneered, together with other cognitive scientists, is that human cognition (thinking, memory, learning, language, perception and decision-making) can be understood in terms of <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computational-mind/">computational processes</a>. While there were already <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_psychology">various theories</a> to explain different aspects of cognition, none offered the seductive framework of the computer metaphor: our brains are the hardware, cognition is the software, and our thoughts and feelings are the outputs.</p>
<p>Chomsky’s approach is a thread that has connected generations of AI researchers, arguably beginning with his MIT colleague and AI pioneer <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/keeping-those-words-in-mind/202206/how-cognitive-science-and-artificial-intelligence-are">Marvin Minsky</a> – one of the organisers of the 1956 <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/dartmouth-ai-workshop">Dartmouth research workshop</a> that kicked off AI research. </p>
<p>In those early days of AI, Chomsky’s theories about language paved the way to expand <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing">Alan Turing’s ideas</a> about <a href="https://www.nature.com/natmachintell/">machine intelligence</a> into <a href="https://www.ibm.com/topics/natural-language-processing">language processing</a>.</p>
<h2>Generative and deep</h2>
<p>Specifically, two key concepts popularised by Chomsky are still embedded in AI today.</p>
<p>The first is “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_grammar">generative grammar</a>”. This is the idea that there is a specific set of rules that determines what makes a sentence grammatically correct (or incorrect) in any given language.</p>
<p>The second idea is that of “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_structure_and_surface_structure">deep structure</a>”. Chomsky said linguists were paying too much attention to the traditional grammar, or “surface structure”, of particular languages. This refers to the various components (such as words, syllables and phrases) that comprise a spoken sentence.</p>
<p>Instead, Chomsky wanted to work out the “deep structure” of all language, of which we are largely unconscious. This deep structure is what determines the semantic component of a sentence – that is, its underlying meaning.</p>
<p>It’s not hard to see how Chomsky’s ideas of generative grammar and deep structure jibe with today’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_artificial_intelligence">generative AI</a> and <a href="https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-deep-learning/">deep learning</a>.</p>
<p>Chomsky set the basic challenge for this entire effort: work out the deep rules that generate language. Without this, experts couldn’t have delved so deeply into neural networks. They wouldn’t have understood language well enough to even begin.</p>
<h2>Chomsky’s thoughts on AI</h2>
<p>Sixty years later, models such as <a href="https://chat.openai.com/">ChatGPT</a> have caught up with Chomsky.</p>
<p>While some linguists believe the success of large language models (LLMs) <a href="https://lingbuzz.net/lingbuzz/007180">invalidates Chomsky’s approach</a> to language, he argues the models simply <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-test/">imitate</a> rather than truly “learn”. According to Chomsky, the knowledge of the deep rules of language they contain is a statistical mess, not a meaningful analysis. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/opinion/noam-chomsky-chatgpt-ai.html">New York Times guest essay</a> with Ian Roberts and Jeffrey Watumull titled The False Promise of ChatGPT, Chomsky says it is “comic and tragic” that “so much money and attention should be concentrated on so little a thing”.</p>
<p>His main complaint is that such systems are a dead end in the search for true <a href="https://openai.com/blog/planning-for-agi-and-beyond">artificial general intelligence</a> (AGI). Rather, he views them as a souped-up <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocomplete">autocomplete</a> – useful for creating computer code or <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-study-buddy-that-raises-serious-questions-how-uni-students-approached-ai-in-their-first-semester-with-chatgpt-207915">cheating on essays</a>, but not much else. </p>
<p>He worries their popularity will delay the exploration of other AI architectures that don’t rely on the brute-force statistical crunching of data. Above all, he doesn’t believe <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkRft71_JrY">neural networks</a> (the basis of much of today’s AI) are the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/noam-chomsky-on-where-artificial-intelligence-went-wrong/261637/?single_page=true">correct architecture</a> for replicating human intelligence.</p>
<p>Despite being unimpressed by ChatGPT, Chomsky does see potential for AI to play the monster in a grim future. In the essay, he wrote ChatGPT’s responses can exude “the banality of evil: plagiarism and apathy and obviation”. </p>
<p>Still, he seems to regard AI as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0LwhVGZKac">secondary worry</a> compared with <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Climate_Crisis_and_the_Global_Green_New.html?id=PlT5DwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">climate change</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-time-to-reconsider-the-idea-of-the-banality-of-evil-216737">Is it time to reconsider the idea of 'the banality of evil'?</a>
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<h2>Commercial AI: the revenge of behaviourists?</h2>
<p>There’s an important difference between Chomsky’s <a href="https://ethics.org.au/big-thinker-noam-chomsky/">ethical</a> and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/158840-optimism-is-a-strategy-for-making-a-better-future-because">optimistic</a> work in cognitive science and what’s currently going on in the AI industry.</p>
<p>Advances in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_model">modelling cognition</a> are no longer happening mainly at universities. Instead, huge firms such as Google, Microsoft and OpenAI are hoarding resources.</p>
<p>Some researchers are now <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/llm-ai-chatgpt-neuroscience/674216/">turning to AI models</a> for clues about <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-chatgpt-isnt-conscious-but-future-ai-systems-might-be-212860">human thinking</a>. If you agree with Chomsky <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-told-ai-neural-networks-learn-the-way-humans-do-a-neuroscientist-explains-why-thats-not-the-case-183993">and others</a> this is unlikely to yield much insight. But that’s not the point of these models, is it?</p>
<p>Their purpose is to <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/big-tech-revenue-profit-by-company/">make money</a>. Users <a href="https://theconversation.com/prompt-engineering-is-being-an-ai-whisperer-the-job-of-the-future-or-a-short-lived-fad-211833">prompt</a> them with a stimulus and get a <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/glossary/direct-response-marketing">response</a>. If it’s useful, they’ll prompt again. Over time, the model will learn which <a href="https://www.marketingstudyguide.com/stimulus-response-theory-in-marketing/">stimulus and response</a> patterns work, and will use this knowledge to become more addictive and influential – reinforcing our <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement">use of them</a> and potentially even <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-can-now-learn-to-manipulate-human-behaviour-155031">changing our behaviours</a>.</p>
<p>Stimulus, response, reinforcement and behaviour. Sound familiar? </p>
<p>Chomsky fought hard to keep behaviourism out of linguistics and contributed greatly to our understanding of how language may be linked with processes in the mind. Ironically, it seems these contributions have driven us into the perfect arena for <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/behaviorism-experiments/">behaviourist experimentation</a> facilitated by AI.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Shackell 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>Could Chomsky have foreseen where his contributions would lead us?Cameron Shackell, Sessional Academic and Visitor, School of Information Systems, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2178892023-12-06T13:27:31Z2023-12-06T13:27:31ZHow electroconvulsive therapy heals the brain − new insights into ECT, a stigmatized yet highly effective treatment for depression<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563043/original/file-20231201-17-j1qrjt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2059%2C1454&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Electroconvulsive therapy involves inducing a controlled seizure under anesthesia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/human-brain-impulse-concept-futuristic-royalty-free-illustration/1177917141">Inkoly/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When most people hear about <a href="https://theconversation.com/electroconvulsive-therapy-a-history-of-controversy-but-also-of-help-70938">electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT</a>, it typically conjures terrifying images of cruel, outdated and pseudo-medical procedures. Formerly known as electroshock therapy, this perception of ECT as dangerous and ineffective has been reinforced in pop culture for decades – think the 1962 novel-turned-Oscar-winning film “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/One-Flew-over-the-Cuckoos-Nest-film-by-Forman">One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest</a>,” where an unruly patient is subjected to ECT as punishment by a tyrannical nurse.</p>
<p>Despite this stigma, ECT is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmra2034954">highly effective treatment for depression</a> – up to 80% of patients experience at least a 50% reduction in symptom severity. For one of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9">most disabling illnesses</a> around the world, I think it’s surprising that ECT is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/yct.0000000000000320">rarely used</a> to treat depression.</p>
<p>Contributing to the stigma around ECT, psychiatrists still don’t know exactly how it heals a depressed person’s brain. ECT involves using <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538266/">highly controlled doses of electricity</a> to induce a brief seizure under anesthesia. Often, the best description you’ll hear from a physician on why that brief seizure can alleviate depression symptoms is that ECT <a href="https://www.uhhospitals.org/services/adult-psychiatry-psychology/ect-suite/about-ect-procedure">“resets” the brain</a> – an answer that can be fuzzy and unsettling to some.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=tDUCQ3UAAAAJ">data-obsessed neuroscientist</a>, I was also dissatisfied with this explanation. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02631-y">our newly</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02634-9">published research</a>, my colleagues and I in <a href="https://voyteklab.com">the lab of</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ydFvGx0AAAAJ&hl=en">Bradley Voytek</a> at UC San Diego discovered that ECT might work by resetting the brain’s electrical background noise.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AcmarVpo2xE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Despite its high effectiveness in alleviating depression symptoms, misperceptions about ECT made it unpopular.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Listening to brain waves</h2>
<p>To study how ECT treats depression, my team and I used a device called an <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563295/">electroencephalogram, or EEG</a>. It measures the brain’s electrical activity – or brain waves – via electrodes placed on the scalp. You can think of brain waves as music played by an orchestra. Orchestral music is the sum of many instruments together, much like EEG readings are the sum of the electrical activity of millions of brain cells.</p>
<p>Two <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-00744-x">types of electrical activity</a> make up brain waves. The first, oscillations, are like the highly synchronized, melodic music you might hear in a symphony. The second, aperiodic activity, is more like the asynchronous noise you hear as musicians tune their instruments. These two types of activities coexist in the brain, together creating the electrical waves an EEG records.</p>
<p>Importantly, tuning noises and symphonic music shouldn’t be mistaken for one another. They clearly come from different processes and serve different purposes. The brain is similar in this way – aperiodic activity and oscillations are different because the biology driving them is distinct.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563769/original/file-20231205-27-cj7f46.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram showing EEG reading of neural oscillations and aperiodic activity" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563769/original/file-20231205-27-cj7f46.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563769/original/file-20231205-27-cj7f46.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=134&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563769/original/file-20231205-27-cj7f46.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563769/original/file-20231205-27-cj7f46.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=134&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563769/original/file-20231205-27-cj7f46.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=169&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563769/original/file-20231205-27-cj7f46.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=169&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563769/original/file-20231205-27-cj7f46.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=169&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 diagram shows two EEG readings: One signal contains slow neural oscillations and the other contains only aperiodic activity. Although these signals can be tricky to visually distinguish, certain data analysis methods can help tease them apart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sydney Smith</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, the methods neuroscientists have traditionally used to analyze these signals are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-00744-x">unable to differentiate</a> between the oscillations (symphony) and the aperiodic activity (tuning). Both are critical for the orchestra, but so far neuroscientists have mostly ignored – or entirely missed – aperiodic signals because they were thought to be just the brain’s background noise.</p>
<p>In our new research, my team and I show that ignoring aperiodic brain activity <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02631-y">likely explains</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02634-9">the confusion</a> behind about how ECT treats depression. It turns out we’ve been missing this signal all along.</p>
<h2>Connecting aperiodic activity and ECT</h2>
<p>Since the 1940s, ECT has been associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.99.4.525">increases in slow oscillations</a> in the brain waves of patients. However, those slow oscillations have never been linked to how ECT works. The degree to which slow oscillations appear is not consistently related to how much symptoms improve following ECT. Nor have ideas about how the brain produces slow oscillations connected those processes to the pathology underlying depression. </p>
<p>Because these two types of brain waves are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12021-022-09581-8">difficult to separate in measurements</a>, I wondered if these slow oscillations were in fact incorrectly measured aperiodic activity. Returning to our orchestra analogy, I believed that scientists had misidentified the tuning sounds as symphony music.</p>
<p>To investigate this, my team and I gathered three EEG datasets: one from nine patients with depression undergoing ECT in San Diego, another from 22 patients in Toronto receiving ECT and a third from 22 patients in Toronto participating in a clinical trial of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.58.3.303">magnetic seizure therapy, or MST</a>, a newer alternative to ECT that starts a seizure with magnets instead of electricity.</p>
<p>We found that aperiodic activity increases by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02634-9">more than 40% on average</a> following ECT. In patients who received MST treatment, aperiodic activity increases more modestly, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02631-y">by about 16%</a>. After accounting for changes in aperiodic activity, we found that slow oscillations do not change much at all. In fact, slow oscillations were not even detected in some patients, and aperiodic activity dominated their EEG recordings instead.</p>
<h2>How ECT treats depression</h2>
<p>But what does aperiodic activity have to do with depression?</p>
<p>A long-standing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2010.120">theory of depression</a> states that severely depressed patients have too few of a type of brain cell called inhibitory cells. These cells can turn other brain cells on and off, and maintaining the balance of these on and off states is critical for healthy brain function. This balance is particularly relevant for depression because the brain’s ability to turn cells off plays an important role in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2174%2F1570159X1304150831150507">how it responds to stress</a>, a function that, when not working properly, makes people particularly vulnerable to depression.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563047/original/file-20231201-21-7jfwil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Microscopy image of a long green neuron touching a red neuron" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563047/original/file-20231201-21-7jfwil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563047/original/file-20231201-21-7jfwil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563047/original/file-20231201-21-7jfwil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563047/original/file-20231201-21-7jfwil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563047/original/file-20231201-21-7jfwil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563047/original/file-20231201-21-7jfwil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563047/original/file-20231201-21-7jfwil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=749&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 microscopy image shows a mouse inhibitory neuron (red) contacting a pyramidal neuron (green).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/J8HizN">McBain Laboratory, NICHD/NIH via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.078">mathematical model</a> of cell type-based electrical activity, I linked increases in aperiodic activity, like those seen in the ECT patients, to a huge <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02634-9">change in the activity</a> of these inhibitory cells. This change in aperiodic activity may be restoring the crucial on and off balance in the brain to a healthy level. </p>
<p>Even though scientists have been recording EEGs from ECT patients for decades, this is the first time that brain waves have been connected to this particular brain malfunction.</p>
<p>Altogether, though our sample size is relatively small, our findings indicate that ECT and MST likely treat depression by resetting aperiodic activity and restoring the function of inhibitory brain cells. Further study can help destigmatize ECT and highlight new directions for the research and development of depression treatments. Listening to the nonmusical background noise of the brain could help solve other mysteries, like how the brain changes in aging and in illnesses like schizophrenia and epilepsy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217889/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sydney E. Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Electroconvulsive therapy often evokes inaccurate images of seizing bodies and smoking ears. Better understanding of how it reduces depression symptoms can illuminate new ways to treat mental illness.Sydney E. Smith, Ph.D. Candidate in Computational Neuroscience, University of California, San DiegoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169822023-11-22T13:17:37Z2023-11-22T13:17:37ZIn the face of death, destruction and displacement, beauty plays a vital role in Gaza<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560196/original/file-20231117-30-92u3yz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C79%2C1273%2C769&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Palestinian boy climbs on a painted wall in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City in 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57cf18ae6b8f5ba693497e1a/1474043441471-IU9GCH5Y6Z8XP9M8EYQJ/ap_63282323864.jpg?format=2500w">AP Photo/Hatem Moussa</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A small group of children in Gaza sit on a lavender and white blanket around a small tray of beverages, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzLUHMvtgo3/">singing “Happy Birthday”</a> to a young girl. Like kids her age around the world, she wears a sweatshirt with prints of Elsa and Anna, characters from “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/">Frozen</a>”; unlike most kids, she’s celebrating against a backdrop of a war that, according to United Nations estimates as of Nov. 10, 2023, <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-44">has already killed more than 4,500 Palestinian children</a>. </p>
<p>Celebrating anything might seem odd or even inappropriate in the face of so much devastation – and in the middle of what <a href="https://time.com/6334409/is-whats-happening-gaza-genocide-experts/">many are calling genocide</a>.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75786">in the research</a> of refugees that I’ve conducted with interdisciplinary artist and scholar <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14036096.2013.789071">Devora Neumark</a>, we’ve found that the urge to beautify one’s surroundings is widespread and profoundly beneficial – particularly so in the harrowing circumstances of loss, displacement and danger.</p>
<p>When people find themselves displaced from their homes, finding or creating beauty can be just as vital as food, water and shelter.</p>
<h2>Gaza today</h2>
<p>In the first six weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-40">70%</a> of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have had to leave <a href="https://sheltercluster.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/public/docs/Shelter%20Cluster_Gaza_Factsheet_%202%20November%202023.pdf?VersionId=yrMZO8faThzipir9nFzf8RNaOaefLSE5">or have lost their homes</a>. </p>
<p>Over half crowd into some type of emergency shelter, while others squeeze into relatives’ and neighbors’ homes. Food is scarce and increasingly expensive. According to the U.N., people are getting only <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-10#:%7E:text=As%20hostilities%20entered%20the%20tenth,Ministry%20of%20Health%20in%20Gaza">3% of the water</a> they need each day. Much of the water they do have is polluted.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bird's eye view of buildings destroyed by bombs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.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">The rubble of the Yassin mosque, at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AP23282360829019-1696857723.jpg">Hatem Moussa/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Crops <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/6/our-hearts-burn-gazas-olive-farmers-say-israel-war-destroys-harvest">are dying</a>. Moms <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20231106-malnourished-sick-and-scared-pregnant-women-in-gaza-face-unthinkable-challenges">are not producing breast milk</a>. People are getting <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/disease-runs-rampant-gaza-clean-water-runs-rcna125091">sick</a>. There are severe shortages of <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190108-lack-of-medicated-baby-formula-puts-life-of-gaza-children-at-stake/">baby formula</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-hospital-procedures-without-anaesthetics-prompted-screams-prayers-2023-11-10/">anesthesia</a> for those <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/nightmarish-gazas-pregnant-women-endure-c-sections-without-anesthesia-15823792">needing surgery</a>. The lack of space and overwhelming stress and fear <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/oct/13/gaza-diary-we-survived-another-night-every-inch-of-my-body-aches-lack-of-sleep-is-torture">add sleep</a> to the list of things that are hard to come by.</p>
<p>These needs are urgent and essential. Without them people will die. <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-32">Too many already have</a>, while the conditions for those who live are horrific. They make it hard to see much else. </p>
<p>But the endless images of bombs and blood <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DaysofPalestine/posts/palestinian-school-girls-in-uniform-take-part-in-a-traditional-dabka-as-musician/2754532801440104/?locale=hi_IN">hide the story of the life</a>, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gaza-colorful-neighborhood-video_n_55c26079e4b0138b0bf4dc42">color</a> and <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/features/%E2%80%9Cwe-paint-safeguard-our-heritage%E2%80%9D">creativity</a> that existed in Gaza. And they hide the beauty that persists despite war. </p>
<p>Beauty is often viewed as a luxury. But this isn’t the case. It’s the opposite.</p>
<h2>A human impulse</h2>
<p>Beauty has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800205">a hallmark</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt28557b">every human civilization</a>. Art philosopher <a href="https://books.google.it/books/about/The_Abuse_of_Beauty.html?id=hUFMv8LxuVUC&redir_esc=y">Arthur Danto</a> wrote that beauty, while optional for art, is not an option for life. Neuroscientists have shown that our brains are biologically <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/12/how-the-human-brain-is-wired-for-beauty/672291/">wired for beauty</a>: The neural mechanisms that influence attention and perception have adapted to notice color, form, proportion and pattern.</p>
<p>We’ve found that refugees worldwide, often with limited or no legal rights, <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75786">still invest considerable effort in beautifying</a> their surroundings. Whether they’re staying in shelters or makeshift apartments, they paint walls, hang pictures, add wallpaper and carpet the floors. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120927755">They transform</a> plain and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.587063">seemingly temporary</a> accommodations into <a href="https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.43234">personalized spaces</a> – into semblances of home. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three people cover a tent with decorative fabric" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A decorative tarp added to a shelter at the Jeddah camp in Iraq.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://sheltercluster.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/public/docs/GSC-Achievements-Report-2022_0.pdf?VersionId=ZQC_sNMTIhYrmybN1zjKIvMgqHcbYSEp">Sami Abdulla</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Refugees <a href="https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2021.160103">rearrange spaces</a> to share meals, celebrate holidays and host parties – to greet friends, hold <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1798747">dances</a> and say goodbyes. They burn incense, serve tea in decorative porcelain and recite prayers on ornate mats. These simple acts <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75786">carry profound significance</a>, even amid challenges.</p>
<p>Urban studies scholars Layla Zibar, Nurhan Abujidi and Bruno de Meulder <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv25wxbvf.7">have told the story of Um Ibrahim</a>, a Syrian refugee. When she was pregnant, she and her husband transformed the tent they were issued at a refugee camp in the Kurdistan region of Iraq into home. They built brick walls. She planned paint colors and furniture. Around her, neighbors potted plants and set up chairs to create front porches on their temporary shelters to be able to gather with friends. They turned roads into places for celebrating special occasions. They painted a flag at the entrance of the camp. </p>
<p>They made a new home, but they also made it feel like it “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv25wxbvf.7">used to in Syria</a>.” </p>
<h2>Creating hope in a hopeless place</h2>
<p>The benefits of beauty are both practical and transformative, especially for refugees. </p>
<p>Many refugees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192%2Fpb.bp.114.047951">experience trauma</a>. All <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdt004">experience loss</a>. Beautifying is a way to exert agency, grieve and heal.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2013.789071">Simple acts</a> – rearranging a home, sweeping the floor or intentionally placing an object – allow refugees to infuse an area with their <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv25wxbvf.9">own identity and taste</a>. They provide a way to cope when one has little control over anything else. Often, once someone is labeled a refugee, all their other identities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2015.1113633">are overshadowed or disappear</a>. </p>
<p>Devora Neumark’s study of over 200 individuals who experienced forced displacement found that beautifying the home helped <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2013.789071">heal intergenerational trauma</a> caused by forced displacement. </p>
<p>Neumark observed that as children participated in efforts to beautify their home, it seemed to positively influence their own coping mechanisms and well-being.</p>
<p>Furthermore, if children could imagine their homes prior to displacement through the stories and images shared with them – what scholar Marianne Hirsch calls “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/472334.Family_Frames">postmemories</a>” – then the actions taken to beautify their present-day homes could be transformative. They served as a bridge connecting the past with the present and facilitated the ongoing process of healing and preserving identity. </p>
<p>Ultimately, making a space feel more comfortable, secure and personalized is a tangible expression of hope <a href="https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40141">for a future</a>. </p>
<h2>Cultivating love and life</h2>
<p>Even prior to the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Palestinians lived in the face of immense injustice and violence. </p>
<p>Our Palestinian research partner, who must remain anonymous for security reasons, described that their home in the refugee camp feels like living in jail, but that they still make it a beautiful place to live. </p>
<p>Prior to the start of the latest war, neighborhoods featured <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/features/%E2%80%9Cwe-paint-safeguard-our-heritage%E2%80%9D">striking murals</a> and <a href="https://banksyexplained.com/the-segregation-wall-palestine-2005/">embellished walls</a>. <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/02/gaza-mosque-history-islamic-civiliation-mamluk.html">Intricate mosaics</a> adorned buildings, and <a href="https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/colorful-neighborhood-in-gaza-celebrates-ramadan-with-vibrant-colors/">paint livened</a> the facades of homes. Neighbors would gather to pray, putting on new clothes, spraying perfume and burning incense to prepare for the rituals. As Christmas approached, Palestinian Christians, along with some Muslims, would <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2221441/middle-east">decorate their homes</a>. Both faiths would gather for <a href="https://www.newarab.com/media/images/gaza-begins-christmas-celebrations">annual tree lightings</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People sit on a colorful carpet on a makeshift table eating prepared food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.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">Palestinians sit down for a meal of quail meat in a home at a refugee camp in Gaza in November 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/november-2020-palestinian-territories-khan-yunis-news-photo/1229669375?adppopup=true">Mohammed Talatene/Picture Alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Geographer David Marshall described how youth living in a Palestinian refugee camp used beauty to focus on the positives in their environment and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2013.780713">dream about</a> a future beyond their camp – and the walls that constrained their lives. </p>
<p>In our community-based storytelling project in a Palestinian refugee camp this past summer, we witnessed the commitment to making homes beautiful in the thriving gardens that were created within very crowded quarters. Neighbors shared how their gardens <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pandemics-gardening-boom-shows-how-gardens-can-cultivate-public-health-181426">calm them</a>, provide a place to gather with friends and serve as a reminder of fields they once tended.</p>
<p>In her 2021 research, Corinne Van Emmerick, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology, described Fatena, a Palestinian who was living in a refugee camp. She had <a href="https://romatrepress.uniroma3.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/15.Aesthetics-from-the-Interstices.pdf">flowers on everything</a> – the roof, walls and windowsills. They were expensive and needed “lots of love.” But, Fatena added, they gave her “love back.”</p>
<h2>A form of resistance and resilience</h2>
<p>One Guinean refugee interviewed as part of Neumark’s study said, “As refugees we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2013.789071">lose our sense of beauty</a>, and when that happens, we lose our sense of everything, of life itself.”</p>
<p>If the opposite of this is true, then clearly beauty cannot be thought of as superficial or an afterthought. One study of Bosnian refugees found that their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840490506392">ability to notice beauty</a> was a sign of improved mental health.</p>
<p>Creating, witnessing and experiencing beauty offers a connection to the familiar, works to preserve cultural identity and fosters belonging. </p>
<p>It’s what ensures that a little girl in Gaza not only has her birthday celebrated, but that it is also made as beautiful as possible.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl wears a birthday hat and holds three balloons in front of a destroyed building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.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">
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<span class="caption">A Palestinian girl celebrates in front of a house destroyed by Israeli shelling during the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/palestinian-girl-during-a-party-amuse-children-in-front-of-news-photo/526077258?adppopup=true">Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><em>Devora Neumark, an interdisciplinary artist and researcher whose trauma-informed work explores the intersections between a home beautification and the human experience in the context of displacement, contributed to writing this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216982/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Acker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When people find themselves displaced from their homes, finding or creating beauty can be just as vital as food, water and shelter − and serves as a form of resistance and resilience.Stephanie Acker, Visiting Scholar of International Development, Community and Environment, Clark UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.