tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/decoding-the-brain-9349/articlesDecoding the brain – The Conversation2014-05-26T05:00:00Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/253902014-05-26T05:00:00Z2014-05-26T05:00:00ZIs the key to consciousness in the claustrum?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49050/original/xwq794zz-1400631242.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where do our thoughts gather?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/artimagesmarkcummins/404745523">www.ruffrootcreative.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Consciousness is one of the most fascinating and elusive phenomena we humans face. Every single one of us experiences it but it remains surprisingly poorly understood.</p>
<p>That said, psychology, neuroscience and philosophy are currently making interesting progress in the comprehension of this phenomenon.</p>
<p>The main player in this story is something called the <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/claustrum">claustrum</a>. The word originally described an enclosed space in medieval European monasteries but in the mammalian brain it refers to a small sheet of neurons just below the <a href="http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/p/cerebral-cortex.htm">cortex</a>, and possibly derived from it in brain development.</p>
<p>The cortex is the massive folded layer on top of the brain mainly responsible for many higher brain functions such as language, long-term planning and our advanced sensory functions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48027/original/2smtwwwy-1399518111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48027/original/2smtwwwy-1399518111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48027/original/2smtwwwy-1399518111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48027/original/2smtwwwy-1399518111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48027/original/2smtwwwy-1399518111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48027/original/2smtwwwy-1399518111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48027/original/2smtwwwy-1399518111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48027/original/2smtwwwy-1399518111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&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 location of the claustrum (blue) and the cingulate cortex (green), another brain region likely to act as a global integrator. The person whose brain is shown is looking to the right (see the inset in the top right corner).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brain Explorer, Allen Institute for Brain Science</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, the claustrum is strongly reciprocally connected to many cortical areas. The visual cortex (the region involved in seeing) sends axons (the connecting “wires” of the nervous system) to the claustrum, and also receives axons from the claustrum.</p>
<p>The same is true for the auditory cortex (involved in hearing) and a number of other cortex areas. A wealth of information converges in the claustrum and leaves it to re-enter the cortex.</p>
<h2>The connection</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/crick-bio.html">Francis Crick</a> – who together with <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1962/watson-facts.html">James Watson</a> gave us the structure of DNA – was interested in a connection between the claustrum and consciousness.</p>
<p>In a recent paper, published in <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnint.2014.00020/abstract">Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience</a>, we have built on the ideas he described in his <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1569501/">very last scientific publication</a>.</p>
<p>Crick and co-author <a href="http://www.alleninstitute.org/our-institute/our-team/profiles/christof-koch">Christoph Koch</a> argued that the claustrum could be a <a href="http://www.klab.caltech.edu/news/crick-koch-05.pdf">coordinator of cortical function</a> and hence a “conductor of consciousness”. </p>
<p>Such percepts as colour, form, sound, body position and social relations are all represented in different parts of the cortex. How are they bound to a unified experience of consciousness? Wouldn’t a region exerting a (even limited) central control over all these cortical areas be highly useful?</p>
<p>This is what Crick and Koch suggested when they hypothesised the claustrum to be a “conductor of consciousness”. But how could this hypothesis about the claustrum’s role be tested?</p>
<h2>Plant power alters the mind</h2>
<p>Enter the plant <em><a href="https://www.erowid.org/plants/salvia/salvia.shtml">Salvia divinorum</a></em>, a type of mint native to Mexico. The Mazatecs civilisation’s priests would chew its leaves to get in touch with the gods.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46689/original/q6jqppb3-1397735835.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46689/original/q6jqppb3-1397735835.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46689/original/q6jqppb3-1397735835.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46689/original/q6jqppb3-1397735835.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46689/original/q6jqppb3-1397735835.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46689/original/q6jqppb3-1397735835.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46689/original/q6jqppb3-1397735835.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/46689/original/q6jqppb3-1397735835.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=665&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>Salvia divinorum</em> (Herba de Maria).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Salvia_divinorum_-_Herba_de_Maria.jpg">Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s a powerful psychedelic, but not of the usual type. Substances such as <a href="https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd.shtml">LSD</a> and <a href="https://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms.shtml">psylocibin</a> (the active compound in “magic” mushrooms) mainly act by binding to the serotonin neuromodulator receptor proteins.</p>
<p>It is not completely understood how these receptors bring about altered states of consciousness, but a reduction of the inhibitory (negative feedback) communication between neurons in the cortex likely plays a role.</p>
<p>In contrast, <em>Salvia divinorum</em> acts on the <a href="http://www.guidetopharmacology.org/GRAC/ObjectDisplayForward?objectId=318">kappa-opiate receptors</a>. These are structurally related, but their activation has quite different effects than the <a href="http://www.guidetopharmacology.org/GRAC/ObjectDisplayForward?objectId=319">mu-opiate receptors</a> which bind substances such as morphine or heroin.</p>
<p>In contrast to the mu-opiate receptors, which are involved in the processing of pain, the role of the kappa-opiate receptors is somewhat poorly understood.</p>
<p>Where are these kappa-opiate receptors located in the brain? You might have guessed it, they are most densely concentrated in the claustrum (and present at lower densities in a number of other brain regions such as the frontal cortex and the amygdala).</p>
<p>So, the activity of <em>Salvia</em> likely inhibits the claustrum via its activation of the kappa-opiate receptors. Consuming <em>Salvia</em> might just cause the inactivation of the claustrum necessary to test Crick and Koch’s hypothesis.</p>
<h2>Any volunteers?</h2>
<p>Did we administer this psychedelic to a group of volunteers to then record their hallucinations and altered perceptions? Well, no. To get ethics approval for such an experiment with a substance outlawed in Australia would be near impossible.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48054/original/smbk235y-1399531285.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48054/original/smbk235y-1399531285.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48054/original/smbk235y-1399531285.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48054/original/smbk235y-1399531285.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48054/original/smbk235y-1399531285.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48054/original/smbk235y-1399531285.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48054/original/smbk235y-1399531285.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48054/original/smbk235y-1399531285.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How to tap in to the consciousness?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonscott/416717165">Flickr/Simon Scott</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While <em>Salvia</em> is not known to be toxic or addictive, the current societal climate is not very sympathetic towards psychoactive substances other than alcohol. </p>
<p>But fortunately we had an alternative. The website <a href="https://www.erowid.org/">Erowid.org</a> hosts a database of many thousand trip reports, submitted by psychedelic enthusiasts, describing often in considerable detail what went on in their minds when consuming a wide selection of substances.</p>
<p>We analysed trip reports from this website written by folks who had consumed <em>Salvia divinorum</em> and, for comparison, LSD. </p>
<p>We found that subjects consuming <em>Salvia</em> were more likely to experience a few select psychological effects:</p>
<ul>
<li>they were more likely to believe they were in an environment completely different from the physical space they were actually in</li>
<li>they often believed to be interacting with “beings” such as hallucinated dead people, aliens, fairies or mythical creatures</li>
<li>the often reported “ego dissolution”, a variety of experiences in which the self ceased to exist in the user’s subjective experience.</li>
</ul>
<h2>… and this means?</h2>
<p>Altered surroundings, other beings and ego dissolution – this surely hints at a disturbance of the “conductor of consciousness”, as expected if the conductor claustrum is perturbed by <em>Salvia divinorum</em>.</p>
<p>If a region central to the integration of consciously represented information is disturbed in its function, we would expect fundamental disturbances in the conscious experience. The core of a person’s consciousness seems to be altered by <em>Salvia divinorum</em>, rather than merely some distortions of vision or audition.</p>
<p>We believe that the psychological effects of <em>Salvia divinorum</em>, together with the massive concentration of the kappa-opiate receptors (the target molecules of <em>Salvia divinorum</em>) in the claustrum support its role as a central coordinator of consciousness. </p>
<p>It’s worth noting that our results were not black-and-white. The users of LSD also experienced (albeit to a lesser degree) translation into altered environments, fairies and ego dissolution.</p>
<p>This, together with a review of the literature convinced us that the claustrum is one of the conductors of consciousness, with brain areas cingulate cortex and pulvinar likely being the other ones.</p>
<p>Still, the claustrum appears to be special in the brain’s connectivity and we think that <em>Salvia</em> can inactivate it. We hope that the experimental neuroscience community will take advantage of the window into the mind which this unique substance provides.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Klaus M. Stiefel 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>Consciousness is one of the most fascinating and elusive phenomena we humans face. Every single one of us experiences it but it remains surprisingly poorly understood. That said, psychology, neuroscience…Klaus M. Stiefel, Researcher at the MARCS Institute, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/240852014-03-12T06:37:16Z2014-03-12T06:37:16ZChattering brain cells hold the key to the language of the mind<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43603/original/f86qz8qt-1394548042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shhhh ...</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Culture_of_rat_brain_cells_stained_with_antibody_to_MAP2_(green),_Neurofilament_(red)_and_DNA_(blue).jpg">Gerry Shaw</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Let’s say Martians land on the Earth and wish to understand more about humans. Someone hands them a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare and says: “When you understand what’s in there, you will understand everything important about us.” </p>
<p>The Martians set to work – they allocate vast resources to recording every detail of this great tome until eventually they know where every “e”, every “a”, every “t” is on every page. They remain puzzled, and return to Earth. “We have completely characterised this book,” they say, “but we still aren’t sure we really understand you people at all.”</p>
<p>The problem is that characterising a language is not the same as understanding it, and this is the problem faced by brain researchers too. Neurons (brain cells) use language of a kind, a “code”, to communicate with each other, and we can tap into that code by listening to their “chatter” as they fire off tiny bursts of electricity (nerve impulses). We can record this chatter and document all its properties. </p>
<p>We can also determine the location of every single neuron and all of its connections and its chemical messengers. Having done this, though, we still will not understand how the brain works. To understand a code we need to anchor that code to the real world.</p>
<h2>Place, memory and administration</h2>
<p>We easily anchor Shakespeare’s code (we find out that “Juliet” refers to a specific young woman, “Romeo” to a specific young man) but can we do this for the brain? It seems we can. By recording the chatter of neurons while animals (and sometimes humans) perform the tasks of daily life, researchers have discovered that there are regions where the neural code relates to the real world in remarkably straightforward ways. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&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 sense of place, located.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray739-emphasizing-hippocampus.png">Gray's anatomy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The best known of these is the code for “place”, discovered in a small and deeply buried part of the brain called the <a href="http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s4/chapter05.html">hippocampus</a>. A given hippocampal neuron starts chattering furiously whenever its owner (rat, mouse, bat, human) goes to a particular place. Each neuron tends to be most excited at a particular place (near the door, halfway along a wall) and so a large collection of neurons can, between them, be ready to “speak up” for any place in the environment. It is as if these neurons encode space, to form something akin to a mental map. </p>
<p>To determine where you are, you simply consult your hippocampus and see which neuron is active. (In practice, of course, many neurons will be active in that place and not just one – otherwise every time a neuron died you would lose a small piece of your map.) These neurons in the hippocampus are called “place neurons”, and are remarkable entities that form the foundation not only for our mental map of the space around us, but also for memories of the events that occur in that space – a kind of biographical record. Their importance is evident in the terrible disorientation and amnesia that result from their degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. When the brain loses its link to its place in the world, and to its past, its owner loses all sense of self.</p>
<p>There are many other neurons in the brain whose code seems decipherable. Neurons that activate when facing a particular direction, or near a wall, or when you see your grandmother … Gradually we are piecing together the network of nodes in the brain that connect the inner code to the world outside.</p>
<p>This is not all that neurons do, of course. Much of the brain is involved with internal “administration”. For example, a large part of the <a href="http://neurolex.org/wiki/Nlx_anat_20090601">frontal lobe</a> (the brain behind the forehead) is involved in making decisions – how to prioritise activities, what to do next, and so on. Many neurons, scattered throughout the brain, have housekeeping duties to do with maintaining the code, improving and refining it, preserving the relevant parts as memory and discarding the rest.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?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">Admin centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray726_frontal_lobe.png">Gray, vectorised by Mysid, coloured by was_a_bee.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the most numerous neurons seem simply to have the job of suppressing their neighbours, so that the neural conversation, as it were, does not degenerate into the equivalent of uncontrollable shouting (which, in technical terms, we recognise as epilepsy).</p>
<h2>Still room for psychology</h2>
<p>It is clear that to understand the brain we need to investigate all aspects of its functioning, not just those that relate to internal administration but also those that connect to the outside world. </p>
<p>We need to determine how brain activity relates to what the brain’s owner is thinking, feeling and doing with respect to the world outside that brain – that is, we need to anchor the code to the real world. </p>
<p>For this, we need scientists who study thoughts, feelings and behaviour – psychologists – as much as we need those who study anatomy and physiology. Study of the brain requires investigation at all levels – otherwise, we will have a complete characterisation, but no understanding, of this remarkable organ.</p>
<p><em>Decoding the brain, a special report produced in <a href="http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2014/03/12/724">collaboration with the Dana Centre</a>, looks at how technology and person-to-person analysis will shape the future of brain research. Click here to read more Conversation UK articles on <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-scans-are-fascinating-but-behaviour-tells-us-more-about-the-mind-24151">why behaviour tells us more about the brain than scans</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/unpicking-the-autism-puzzle-by-linking-empathy-to-reward-24050">linking empathy to reward</a> in autism.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24085/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I receive, or have received, funding for my work from the BBSRC, MRC, Wellcome trust and European Commission FP7
I am non-shareholding director of the biomedical instrumentation company Axona Ltd, which makes data acquisition systems for in vivo electrophysiological recording
</span></em></p>Let’s say Martians land on the Earth and wish to understand more about humans. Someone hands them a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare and says: “When you understand what’s in there, you will understand…Kate Jeffery, Director of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/240502014-03-12T06:37:14Z2014-03-12T06:37:14ZUnpicking the autism puzzle by linking empathy to reward<p>Empathy is at the heart of human social life. It allows us to respond appropriately to others’ emotions and mental states. A perceived lack of empathy is also one of the symptoms that defines autism. Understanding this is key to devising effective therapies.</p>
<p>While empathic behaviour takes many forms, it is worthwhile to note at least two main sets of processes that are involved in empathising. One of these processes is a bottom-up, automatic response to others’ emotions. The classic example of this is breaking into giggles upon seeing another person giggle, without really knowing the reason why. The other is a top-down response, where we need to work out what another person must be feeling – a bit like solving a puzzle. </p>
<p>My research focuses on the bottom-up automatic component of empathy. This component is sometimes called “emotional contagion”. Emotional contagion happens spontaneously, and has important consequences for social behaviour. It helps us understand another person’s emotion expression better by “embodying” their emotion. </p>
<p>It also helps build social bonds; we bond more with those who smile and cry with us. But what factors determine who we spontaneously imitate? And what makes some people spontaneously imitate more than others? This is particularly relevant for understanding some of the behavioural features of autism, which has been associated with a lack of this spontaneous imitation.</p>
<h2>Empathy and autism</h2>
<p>One factor that has been suggested to play a central role in how much we spontaneously mimic another person is how rewarding that other person is to us. Anecdotally, it is noted that people spontaneously imitate their close friends more than strangers. In a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01377.x/abstract;jsessionid=641F97E088E4C6FF558BA6982D9544A7.f01t02?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+Saturday,+15+March+from+10:00-12:00+GMT+(06:00-08:00+EDT)+for+essential+maintenance&userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=">set of experiments</a>, we tested this suggestion by manipulating the value participants associate with different faces, using a classic conditioning task. </p>
<p>Some faces were paired with rewarding outcomes (for example these faces would appear most of the times you win in a card game) while others were paired with unrewarding outcomes (these faces would appear most times you lose). Following the conditioning task, people were shown happy faces made by the high-reward and the low-reward faces. Using facial <a href="http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/test_procedures/neurological/electromyography_emg_92,P07656/">electromyography</a> (a technique that records tiny facial muscular movements that can not often be detected by the naked eye), we found that individuals showed greater spontaneous imitation of rewarding faces compared to faces conditioned with low reward. </p>
<p>Crucially, this relationship between reward and spontaneous imitation varied with the level of autistic traits. Autistic traits measure the symptoms of autism in the general population. These are distributed across the population, with individuals with a clinical diagnosis of autism represented at one end of this spectrum. In our study, people with high autistic traits showed a similar extent of spontaneous imitation for both types of face, while those with low autistic traits showed significantly greater imitation for high-reward faces. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43615/original/83m3t9qw-1394557582.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43615/original/83m3t9qw-1394557582.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43615/original/83m3t9qw-1394557582.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43615/original/83m3t9qw-1394557582.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43615/original/83m3t9qw-1394557582.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43615/original/83m3t9qw-1394557582.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43615/original/83m3t9qw-1394557582.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=647&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What does the face say?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown_paper_bag_with_happy_smiley_over_head.jpg">mistermundo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In another group of volunteers, we did this <a href="http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/01/19/scan.nsu010.short">same experiment inside the MRI scanner</a>. We found that autistic traits predicted how strongly the brain areas involved in imitation and reward were connected to each other, when people were looking at the high-reward and the low-reward faces. </p>
<p>The emerging picture from this set of studies suggests the reduced spontaneous imitation seen in autism may not represent a problem with imitation as such, but one due to how the brain regions involved in imitation are connected to those that are involved in processing rewards. This has important implications for designing of autism therapy, many of which use a reward-learning model to encourage socially appropriate behaviour.</p>
<h2>The future of brain imaging</h2>
<p>New technologies are constantly expanding the scope of experiments and the inferences we draw from them. Human brain imaging is now being done at a resolution higher than ever before in multiple international initiatives (for example in the <a href="https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/en_GB">Human Brain Project</a>). </p>
<p>A high resolution map of the human brain will allow a more detailed insight into the nature of these neural connections. This, in turn, could provide targets for potential future interventions. Another aspect where new technologies will change the landscape of this research is computational, one that will allow us to combine insights from different techniques. </p>
<p>At this point, there is no standard model to combine data across different techniques that we use routinely in our research (for example facial electromyography, <a href="http://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/research/introduction-to-fmri/what-is-fmri/what-does-mri-measure;d=Rk1SSUI=">functional MRI</a>, <a href="http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/psychology/ppl/hf49/manuscripts/Eyetracking-and-Eyewitness-Memory.pdf">eyegaze tracking</a>). Using computers to build such models that allow a combination of the results from different techniques will help generate insights far beyond that possible for each individual technique.</p>
<p><em>Decoding the brain, a special report produced in <a href="http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2014/03/12/724">collaboration with the Dana Centre</a>, looks at how technology and person-to-person analysis will shape the future of brain research. Click here to read more Conversation UK articles on <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-scans-are-fascinating-but-behaviour-tells-us-more-about-the-mind-24151">why behaviour tells us more about the brain than scans</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-scans-are-fascinating-but-behaviour-tells-us-more-about-the-mind-24151">chattering brain cells</a> in autism.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24050/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhismadev Chakrabarti receives funding from Medical Research Council UK.</span></em></p>Empathy is at the heart of human social life. It allows us to respond appropriately to others’ emotions and mental states. A perceived lack of empathy is also one of the symptoms that defines autism. Understanding…Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/241512014-03-11T06:18:14Z2014-03-11T06:18:14ZBrain scans are fascinating but behaviour tells us more about the mind<p>Imagine you’ve suddenly been given a job as a car mechanic but there’s a slight hitch: you know nothing whatsoever about cars, there are no books to help you, no internet and no-one who is willing to tell you anything. You’ve got some cars that work perfectly and a handful that seem not to work so well or are behaving differently. What do you do? </p>
<p>You will probably come to the conclusion that the easiest way to find out how cars work is to look at the engines of the ones that won’t start, are making an unusual noise, or won’t drive in a straight line, and see how they are different from the cars that are working normally. This same principle can be applied to understanding how the mind works.</p>
<p>In 1861, a doctor named <a href="http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/130/5/1432.full">Paul Broca</a> was working with a patient “Tan”, a name bestowed upon him because it was one of the only things he could say. Tan had gradually lost his speech over a 21-year period, yet he was still able to understand what was said to him and had no obvious loss of intellectual function. Broca was an astute man and when this patient died he made a request to look at Tan’s brain. As he suspected, he found that a specific area of the brain had been damaged, a part of the frontal lobe, so he concluded that this area must be vital for speaking but not so for understanding speech.</p>
<p>Broca’s work paved the way for modern cognitive neuropsychology: the idea that we can identify mental functions that are independent of each other and that these may depend on different processes in the brain. </p>
<p>In a more recent example, a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6505484">farmer known as “MX”</a> complained that he could not recognise faces. In fact, by the time he turned up to do the tests, his ability to recognise human faces had recovered but he was still unable to recognise his cows. To counteract this, there is a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8446761">study of a shepherd</a> who retained his ability to recognise his sheep but could no longer recognise human faces. The inference here is that recognising human and animal faces may be different processes.</p>
<p>So we can learn a lot about how the brain works by studying people who have specific difficulties, for example those who have had a brain injury, or who develop dementia. Indeed we can also learn from those with unusual talents or abilities, such as the autistic savant who can memorise a whole piece of music on one listening. What is different about these brains? </p>
<p>Nowadays of course, it is possible to use modern techniques to look inside the brain, rather like opening up the bonnet of the car, but this doesn’t always tell us the answers we need, nor does it tell us anything about the actual mental processes, such as how we remember or how we think. To do this, we need to know more than what we can learn from a brain scan about which parts of the brain are active. We need to know what the brain is doing; this is where cognitive profiling comes in.</p>
<h2>Beyond the scan</h2>
<p>By looking at how people perform on a range of different mental tests, such as remembering a list of words or completing a problem-solving task, we can look for recurring patterns of strengths and weaknesses, which in turn allows us to identify the underlying mental processes. </p>
<p>When we apply this approach to a specific disorder, such as autism, it helps us understand the reasons for particular behaviour and also provides important clues for understanding the brain changes. For example, researchers have discovered that children with a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder tend to process information differently to other children and this explains why they can be easily overwhelmed in a new or busy environment. <a href="http://www.ucp.pt/site/resources/documents/ICS/GNC/ArtigosGNC/AnaMariaAbreu/D_HaFr06.pdf">This finding</a> has also helped neuroscientists to find specific brain changes.</p>
<p>As well as helping us understand the nature of specific disorders, the cognitive profiling approach can be used in a clinical setting. For example, in my research we use cognitive profiling to distinguish Alzheimer’s Disease from other types of dementia. At an individual clinical level, this informs medical treatment and enables us to evaluate the efficacy of that treatment. Importantly, it also allows psychologists to provide a set of tailored strategies to improve day-to-day living, such as specific memory techniques and other psychological support. At a theoretical level this also provides important insight into how different forms of dementia affect memory, for example, and also sheds light on the processes involved in normal human memory.</p>
<p>While we are continuing to make excellent progress on understanding how we think, speak and remember, and why this is different in some people, we still have a lot to learn about how the brain makes the mind. Our research with people who have had a traumatic brain injury, for example, is indicating that some people who appear to have no damage to the structure of their brain according to standard MRI scans, still show quite significant difficulties in certain tasks and in their day-to-day lives.</p>
<p>Brain scans clearly do not tell us everything. It is exciting that we can now “look under the bonnet” of the brain but it is important that we continue to look at how people are thinking too.</p>
<p><em>Decoding the brain, a special report produced in <a href="http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2014/03/12/724">collaboration with the Dana Centre</a>, looks at how technology and person-to-person analysis will shape the future of brain research. Click here to read more Conversation UK articles on <a href="https://theconversation.com/chattering-brain-cells-hold-the-key-to-the-language-of-the-mind-24085">chattering brain cells</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/unpicking-the-autism-puzzle-by-linking-empathy-to-reward-24050">linking empathy to reward</a> in autism.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Loveday receives funding from Wellcome Trust.</span></em></p>Imagine you’ve suddenly been given a job as a car mechanic but there’s a slight hitch: you know nothing whatsoever about cars, there are no books to help you, no internet and no-one who is willing to tell…Catherine Loveday, Neuropsychologist, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.