tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/brain-imaging-1109/articlesBrain imaging – The Conversation2024-01-28T13:55:15Ztag: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/2192362023-12-22T02:25:14Z2023-12-22T02:25:14ZAlpha, beta, theta: what are brain states and brain waves? And can we control them?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567204/original/file-20231222-17-kl638p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=69%2C77%2C5106%2C3368&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s no shortage of apps and technology that claim to shift the brain into a “theta” state – said to help with relaxation, inward focus and sleep. </p>
<p>But what exactly does it mean to change one’s “mental state”? And is that even possible? For now, the evidence remains murky. But our understanding of the brain is growing exponentially as our methods of investigation improve.</p>
<h2>Brain-measuring tech is evolving</h2>
<p>Currently, no single approach to imaging or measuring brain activity gives us the whole picture. What we “see” in the brain depends on which tool we use to “look”. There are myriad ways to do this, but each one comes with trade-offs. </p>
<p>We learnt a lot about brain activity in the 1980s thanks <a href="https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200607/history.cfm">to the advent</a> of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).</p>
<p>Eventually we invented “functional MRI”, which allows us to link brain activity with certain functions or behaviours in real time by measuring the brain’s use of oxygenated blood during a task. </p>
<p>We can also measure electrical activity using EEG (electroencephalography). This can accurately measure the timing of brain waves as they occur, but isn’t very accurate at identifying which specific areas of the brain they occur in.</p>
<p>Alternatively, we can measure the brain’s response to magnetic stimulation. This is very accurate in terms of area and timing, but only as long as it’s close to the surface.</p>
<h2>What are brain states?</h2>
<p>All of our simple and complex behaviours, as well as our cognition (thoughts) have a foundation in brain activity, or “neural activity”. Neurons – the brain’s nerve cells – communicate by a sequence of electrical impulses and chemical signals called “neurotransmitters”. </p>
<p>Neurons are very greedy for fuel from the blood and require a lot of support from companion cells. Hence, a lot of measurement of the site, amount and timing of brain activity is done via measuring electrical activity, neurotransmitter levels or blood flow.</p>
<p>We can consider this activity at three levels. The first is a single-cell level, wherein individual neurons communicate. But measurement at this level is difficult (laboratory-based) and provides a limited picture.</p>
<p>As such, we rely more on measurements done on a network level, where a series of neurons or networks are activated. Or, we measure whole-of-brain activity patterns which can incorporate one or more so-called “brain states”. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2023.04.001">a recent definition</a>, brain states are “recurring activity patterns distributed across the brain that emerge from physiological or cognitive processes”. These states are functionally relevant, which means they are related to behaviour.</p>
<p>Brain states involve the synchronisation of different brain regions, something that’s been most readily observed in animal models, usually rodents. Only now are we starting to see some evidence in human studies.</p>
<h2>Various kinds of states</h2>
<p>The most commonly-studied brain states in both rodents and humans are states of “arousal” and “resting”. You can picture these as various levels of alertness.</p>
<p>Studies show environmental factors and activity influence our brain states. Activities or environments with high cognitive demands drive “attentional” brain states (so-called task-induced brain states) with increased connectivity. Examples of task-induced brain states include <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/fulltext/S0166-2236(23)00101-7#%20">complex behaviours</a> such as reward anticipation, mood, hunger and so on.</p>
<p>In contrast, a brain state such as “mind-wandering” seems to be divorced from one’s environment and tasks. Dropping into daydreaming is, by definition, without connection to the real world. </p>
<p>We can’t currently disentangle multiple “states” that exist in the brain at any given time and place. As mentioned earlier, this is because of the trade-offs that come with recording spatial (brain region) versus temporal (timing) brain activity.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-all-in-your-mind-how-meditation-affects-the-brain-to-help-you-stress-less-97777">It's not all in your mind: how meditation affects the brain to help you stress less</a>
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<h2>Brain states vs brain waves</h2>
<p>Brain state work can be couched in terms such as alpha, delta and so forth. However, this is actually referring to brain <em>waves</em> which specifically come from measuring brain activity using EEG. </p>
<p>EEG picks up on changing electrical activity in the brain, which can be sorted into different frequencies (based on wavelength). Classically, these frequencies have had specific associations:</p>
<ul>
<li>gamma is linked with states or tasks that require more focused concentration</li>
<li>beta is linked with higher anxiety and more active states, with attention often directed externally</li>
<li>alpha is linked with being very relaxed, and passive attention (such as listening quietly but not engaging)</li>
<li>theta is linked with deep relaxation and inward focus</li>
<li>and delta is linked with deep sleep. </li>
</ul>
<p>Brain wave patterns are used a lot to monitor sleep stages. When we fall asleep we go from drowsy, light attention that’s easily roused (alpha), to being relaxed and no longer alert (theta), to being deeply asleep (delta).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567205/original/file-20231222-16-r93ni6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567205/original/file-20231222-16-r93ni6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567205/original/file-20231222-16-r93ni6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567205/original/file-20231222-16-r93ni6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567205/original/file-20231222-16-r93ni6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567205/original/file-20231222-16-r93ni6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567205/original/file-20231222-16-r93ni6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567205/original/file-20231222-16-r93ni6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brainwaves are grouped into five different wavelength categories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Can we control our brain states?</h2>
<p>The question on many people’s minds is: can we judiciously and intentionally influence our brain states? </p>
<p>For now, it’s likely too simplistic to suggest we can do this, as the actual mechanisms that influence brain states remain hard to detangle. Nonetheless, researchers are investigating everything from the use of drugs, to environmental cues, to practising mindfulness, meditation and sensory manipulation.</p>
<p>Controversially, brain wave patterns are used in something called “neurofeedback” therapy. In these treatments, people are given feedback (such as visual or auditory) based on their brain wave activity and are then tasked with trying to maintain or change it. To <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36416067/">stay in a required state</a> they may be encouraged to control their thoughts, relax, or breathe in certain ways. </p>
<p>The applications of this work are predominantly around mental health, including for individuals who have experienced trauma, or who have difficulty self-regulating – which may manifest as poor attention or emotional turbulence.</p>
<p>However, although these techniques have intuitive appeal, they don’t account for the issue of multiple brain states being present at any given time. Overall, clinical studies have been <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33370575/">largely inconclusive</a>, and proponents of neurofeedback therapy remain frustrated by a lack of orthodox support.</p>
<p>Other forms of neurofeedback are delivered by MRI-generated data. Participants engaging in mental tasks are given signals based on their neural activity, which they use to try and “up-regulate” (activate) regions of the brain involved in positive emotions. This could, for instance, be useful for helping <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33370575/">people with depression</a>.</p>
<p>Another potential method claimed to purportedly change brain states involves different sensory inputs. Binaural beats are perhaps the most popular example, wherein two different wavelengths of sound are played in each ear. But the evidence for such techniques <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37205669/">is similarly mixed</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-binaural-beats-and-do-they-affect-our-brain-180235">What are 'binaural beats' and do they affect our brain?</a>
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<p>Treatments such as neurofeedback therapy are often very costly, and their success likely relies as much on the therapeutic relationship than the actual therapy.</p>
<p>On the bright side, there’s no evidence these treatment do any harm – other than potentially delaying treatments which have been proven to be beneficial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219236/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Hillier receives funding from Medical Research Future Fund/NHMRC. </span></em></p>What we ‘see’ in the brain depends on which tool we use to ‘look’ – but each one comes with trade-offs.Susan Hillier, Professor: Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2054462023-08-07T12:44:39Z2023-08-07T12:44:39ZNew neurotechnology is blurring the lines around mental privacy − but are new human rights the answer?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540894/original/file-20230802-27-zju7b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1017%2C677&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman tries out neurotechnology equipment during Tech Week in Bucharest, Romania, in May 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/woman-tries-neuro-technology-equipment-at-the-tech-expo-news-photo/1258279319?adppopup=true">Cristian Cristel/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Neurotechnologies – devices that interact directly with the brain or nervous system – were once dismissed as the stuff of science fiction. Not anymore. Several companies are developing and some are even testing “<a href="https://theconversation.com/melding-mind-and-machine-how-close-are-we-75589">brain-computer interfaces</a>,” or BCIs, of which the most high-profile is likely Elon Musk’s Neuralink. He announced on Jan. 29, 2024, that the first human in the company’s clinical trials <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1752098683024220632">has received a brain implant</a>.</p>
<p>Like other companies, Neuralink’s immediate goal is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-neuralink-human-brain-implant-e92ca9621c9331487c94e9b537c2d537">to improve autonomy</a> for patients with severe paralysis or other neurological disorders.</p>
<p>But not all BCIs are envisioned for medical use: There are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fninf.2020.553352">EEG headsets</a> that sense electrical activity inside the wearer’s brain <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386137">covering a wide range of applications</a>, from entertainment and wellness to education and the workplace. Yet, Musk’s ambitions go beyond these therapeutic and nonmedical uses. Neuralink aims to eventually help people “<a href="https://twitter.com/neuralink/status/1648478559093264387">surpass able-bodied human performance</a>.”</p>
<p>Neurotechnology research and patents have soared at least twentyfold over the past two decades, <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386137">according to a United Nations report</a>, and devices are getting more powerful. Newer devices have the potential to <a href="https://theconversation.com/helping-or-hacking-engineers-and-ethicists-must-work-together-on-brain-computer-interface-technology-77759">collect data from the brain and other parts of the nervous system</a> more directly, with higher resolution, in greater amounts and in more pervasive ways.</p>
<p>However, these improvements have also raised concerns about mental privacy and human autonomy – questions I think about in my research on the <a href="https://rockethics.psu.edu/people/laura-cabrera/">ethical and social implications of brain science and neural engineering</a>. Who owns the generated data, and who should get access? Could this type of device threaten individuals’ ability to make independent decisions? </p>
<p>In July 2023, the U.N. agency for science and culture held a <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ethics-neurotechnology-unesco-leaders-and-top-experts-call-solid-governance">conference on the ethics of neurotechnology</a>, calling for a framework to protect human rights. Some critics have even argued that societies should recognize a new category of human rights, “<a href="https://neurorightsfoundation.org/mission">neurorights</a>.” In 2021, Chile became <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01396-0">the first country</a> whose constitution addresses concerns about neurotechnology. </p>
<p>Advances in neurotechnology do raise important privacy concerns. However, I believe these debates can overlook more fundamental threats to privacy.</p>
<h2>A glimpse inside</h2>
<p>Concerns about neurotechnology and privacy focus on the idea that an observer can “read” a person’s thoughts and feelings just from recordings of their brain activity. </p>
<p>It is true that some neurotechnologies can record brain activity with great specificity: for example, developments on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-019-0407-2">high-density electrode arrays</a> that allow for high-resolution recording from multiple parts of the brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Someone standing outside the frame adjusts a glowing monitor hooked up to a computer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540896/original/file-20230802-28078-h65qq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paradromics, an Austin-based company, is developing a brain-computer interface to aide disabled and nonverbal patients with communication.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aamir-ahmed-khan-phd-principal-electrical-engineer-for-news-photo/1247658566?adppopup=true">Julia Robinson for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers can make inferences about mental phenomena and interpret behavior based on this kind of information. However, “reading” the recorded brain activity is not straightforward. Data has already gone through filters and algorithms before the human eye gets the output.</p>
<p>Given these complexities, my colleague <a href="https://infosci.cornell.edu/content/susser">Daniel Susser</a> and I wrote an article in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2023.2188275">American Journal of Bioethics – Neuroscience</a> asking whether some worries around mental privacy might be misplaced. </p>
<p>While neurotechnologies do raise significant privacy concerns, we argue that the risks are similar to those for more familiar data-collection technologies, such as everyday <a href="https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10625-businesses-collecting-data.html">online surveillance</a>: the kind most people experience through internet browsers and advertising, or wearable devices. Even browser histories on personal computers are capable of revealing highly sensitive information.</p>
<p>It is also worth remembering that a key aspect of being human has always been inferring other people’s behaviors, thoughts and feelings. Brain activity alone does not tell the full story; other behavioral or physiological measures are also needed to reveal this type of information, as well as social context. A certain surge in brain activity might indicate either fear or excitement, for example.</p>
<p>However, that is not to say there’s no cause for concern. Researchers are exploring new directions in which multiple sensors – such as headbands, wrist sensors and room sensors – can be used to capture multiple kinds of behavioral and environmental data. Artificial intelligence could be used to combine that data into <a href="https://braininitiative.nih.gov/news-events/blog/nih-issues-new-funding-opportunity-establish-data-coordination-and-artificial">more powerful interpretations</a>. </p>
<h2>Think for yourself?</h2>
<p>Another thought-provoking debate around neurotechnology deals with cognitive liberty. According to the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120206215115/http:/www.cognitiveliberty.org/faqs/faq_general.htm">Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics</a>, founded in 1999, the term refers to “the right of each individual to think independently and autonomously, to use the full power of his or her mind, and to engage in multiple modes of thought.”</p>
<p>More recently, other researchers have resurfaced the idea, such as in legal scholar <a href="https://law.duke.edu/fac/farahany/">Nita Farahany’s</a> book “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250272966/thebattleforyourbrain">The Battle for Your Brain</a>.” Proponents of cognitive liberty argue broadly for the need to protect individuals from having their mental processes manipulated or monitored without their consent. They argue that greater regulation of neurotechnology may be required to protect individuals’ freedom to determine their own inner thoughts and to control their own mental functions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a gray turtleneck stands with what looks like a black and white bike helmet on his head." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540895/original/file-20230802-27-br3v8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Seung Wan Kang, founder and CEO of iMediSync Inc., displays the company’s iSyncWave, which allows people to measure their brainwaves at home, at CES 2023 in Las Vegas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/founder-and-ceo-of-imedisync-inc-dr-seung-wan-kang-displays-news-photo/1454097687?adppopup=true">Ethan Miller/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>These are important freedoms, and there are certainly specific features – like those of novel BCI neurotechnology and nonmedical neurotechnology applications – that prompted important questions. Yet I would argue that the way cognitive freedom is discussed in these debates sees each individual person as an isolated, independent agent, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137402240">neglecting the relational aspects</a> of who we are and how we think. </p>
<p>Thoughts do not simply spring out of nothing in someone’s head. For example, part of my mental process as I write this article is recollecting and reflecting on research from colleagues. I’m also reflecting on my own experiences: the many ways that who I am today is the combination of my upbringing, the society I grew up in, the schools I attended. Even the ads my web browser pushes on me can shape my thoughts.</p>
<p>How much are our thoughts uniquely ours? How much are my mental processes already being manipulated by other influences? And keeping that in mind, how should societies protect privacy and freedom?</p>
<p>I believe that acknowledging the extent to which our thoughts are already shaped and monitored by many different forces can help set priorities as neurotechnologies and AI become more common. Looking beyond novel technology to strengthen current privacy laws may give a more holistic view of the many threats to privacy, and what freedoms need defending.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Aug. 7, 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205446/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Y. Cabrera receives funding from National Institutes of Health, and the National Network Depression Centers. She is affiliated with IEEE, and the International Neuroethics Society. </span></em></p>More invasive devices have prompted new debates about privacy and freedom. But it’s important to keep in mind that other technologies already sense and shape our thoughts, a neuroethicist argues.Laura Y. Cabrera, Associate Professor of Neuroethics, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1951182022-11-25T21:17:12Z2022-11-25T21:17:12ZMonkeys’ brains are wired to read body language – just like ours<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497300/original/file-20221125-14-6j56gr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C4354%2C2896&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/rhesus-macaque-little-monkey-arunachala-mountain-1222575103">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic drove a surge in remote work and learning, videoconferencing apps such as Zoom saw their user numbers boom. Plenty of other options were available, but the exponential growth in videoconferencing underlines an essential aspect of human communication: to do it effectively, we need to see each other.</p>
<p>And it’s not just about facial expressions. Body language is also a very powerful form of social communication used to express how we feel to the people around us. </p>
<p>Indeed, body language is so important that a part of our brain called the visual cortex has dedicated areas tuned to different kinds of body postures and expressions. </p>
<p>And, as we show in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add6865">new research published in Science Advances</a>, humans are not alone in this: the brains of rhesus monkeys, like ours, are wired to react to body language, not only in members of their own species but also in humans and other animals.</p>
<h2>Brains watching bodies</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2566760/">Numerous</a> <a href="https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcs.1335">studies</a> have reported that the “body-selective areas” of our brains are more activated when we look at body postures conveying fear than when we look at more calm body postures.</p>
<p>However, we are the only primates that walk around on two legs with our arms normally free to wave and pose. This led us to wonder whether the capacity for recognising body language is unique to humans. </p>
<p>In our new research, we used a noninvasive technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity in four rhesus monkeys (<em>Macaca mulatta</em>) while we showed them pictures of different body postures. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-furious-body-cues-tell-us-more-than-faces-11029">Are you furious? Body cues tell us more than faces </a>
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<p>These monkeys are our close evolutionary relatives. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aam6383?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed">Other studies</a> have examined how they process what they observe in social situations, but it has long been unclear how they process body language. </p>
<p>Like human participants in previous studies, the monkeys were first trained to sit comfortably in the scanner. Then, during the experimental scan sessions, they were shown photographs of monkeys that were either scared of something in their environment or calmly going about their business. </p>
<h2>The body language network</h2>
<p>Facial features in the photos were blurred, to ensure facial expressions could not contribute to the brain activity measured during the experiment. </p>
<p>To locate parts of the monkey brain (if any) that encoded emotional body language, we subtracted the neural signal observed when viewing calm monkey bodies from the signal observed when viewing scared monkey bodies.</p>
<p>As a result, we identified a network of body-selective regions located along a deep groove in the brain called the superior temporal sulcus. This closely resembles a network found in the human brain.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497316/original/file-20221125-22-cfvx65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A brain scan showing activity in yellow and red and an active area outlined in white." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497316/original/file-20221125-22-cfvx65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497316/original/file-20221125-22-cfvx65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497316/original/file-20221125-22-cfvx65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497316/original/file-20221125-22-cfvx65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497316/original/file-20221125-22-cfvx65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497316/original/file-20221125-22-cfvx65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497316/original/file-20221125-22-cfvx65.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&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">Scans showed increased activity in linked areas (outlined in white) of rhesus monkeys’ brains when they were shown photos of other monkeys in fearful postures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add6865">Taubert et al. / Science Advances</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Our finding establishes what neuroscientists call a “key functional homology” between humans and rhesus monkeys. In other words, both species have body-selective brain regions with the same visually evoked response to emotional body language. </p>
<p>From an anthropological perspective, this result suggests we are not the only primates that use body postures to communicate how we feel. </p>
<h2>Inter-species communication</h2>
<p>The most intriguing part of our results was the discovery that this response to body language was not limited to the bodies of other rhesus monkeys. Photographs of humans and even of domestic cats in both calm and frightened states evoked similar brain activity.</p>
<p>This is particularly interesting when you consider that the monkeys in this study were living and working with human researchers and caregivers, like many domesticated species (pets) and captive animals housed in zoological parks. Thus, these results open up the possibility that the animals we interact with and see around us have the capacity to recognise our body language. </p>
<p>This is a potentially important consideration as the human population expands and pushes into areas where we can expect frequent conflicts between humans and animals. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-faces-familiar-feelings-expressions-may-be-recognisable-across-time-and-cultures-144729">Ancient faces, familiar feelings: expressions may be recognisable across time and cultures</a>
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<p>Non-human primates are highly adaptable, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3049098/">intelligent</a>, and dextrous, and they are <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/primate-sociality-and-social-systems-58068905">able to work together</a>. These qualities mean they present one of the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-011-3110-0_8">greatest challenges</a> to human–wildlife conflict mitigation and coexistence. </p>
<p>Indeed, in some places populations of monkeys are real threats. In Amboseli National Park in Kenya, for example, where a population of savannah baboons is attracted to man-made watering holes and wells, there has been escalating violence and a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320722002932">marked increase</a> in the baboon mortality rate. </p>
<p>Perhaps understanding that we can communicate intentions and feelings across species via body language will provide a means of avoiding conflict. </p>
<h2>Shared social intelligence</h2>
<p>Researchers and clinical psychologists have often focused on the human ability to read and recognise facial expressions. Our results, however, underscore the importance of body language as another communication tool. </p>
<p>Emerging evidence suggests bodies and postures also <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1224313">play an important role</a> in social behaviour because they help to contextualise facial expressions. They might be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518222000109">more useful</a> when standing at a distance and deciding whether to approach or avoid another person. </p>
<p>The next step in our research is to explore how these various body-selective brain regions work with the known face-selective brain network, and how these regions contribute to our understanding of social encounters. For now, what seems undeniable is that our remarkable social intelligence is shared by our primate cousins.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/150-years-ago-charles-darwin-wrote-about-how-expressions-evolved-pre-empting-modern-psychology-by-a-century-170880">150 years ago, Charles Darwin wrote about how expressions evolved – pre-empting modern psychology by a century</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Taubert receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is affiliated with the National Institute of Mental Health, USA. </span></em></p>Rhesus monkeys respond to fearful body language in members of their own species, as well as humans and cats.Jessica Taubert, Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1890372022-09-08T12:32:01Z2022-09-08T12:32:01ZMeditation holds the potential to help treat children suffering from traumas, difficult diagnoses or other stressors – a behavioral neuroscientist explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482393/original/file-20220901-5045-612xxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5463%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Meditation and mindfulness techiques are becoming increasingly common in school settings.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/girl-meditating-with-mother-on-field-royalty-free-image/1002493430?adppopup=true">Alexander Egizarov/EyeEm</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Children actively meditating experience lower activity in parts of the brain involved in rumination, mind-wandering and depression, <a href="https://wsuthinklab.mystrikingly.com/">our team</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.29917">found in the first brain-imaging study</a> of young people under 18 years old. Over-activity in this collection of brain regions, known as the default mode network, is thought to be involved in the generation of negative self-directed thoughts – such as “I am such a failure” – that are prominent in mental disorders like depression.</p>
<p>In our study, we compared a simple form of distraction – counting backward from 10 – with two relatively simple forms of meditation: focused attention to the breath and mindful acceptance. Children in an MRI scanner had to use these techniques while watching distress-inducing video clips, such as a child receiving an injection.</p>
<p>We found that meditation techniques were more effective than distraction at quelling activity in that brain network. This reinforces research from our lab and others showing that meditation techniques and martial arts-based meditation programs are effective for reducing pain and stress in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S283364">children with cancer or other chronic illnesses</a> – and in their siblings – as well as in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12307">schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>This study, led by <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aneesh-Hehr">medical student Aneesh Hehr</a>, is important because meditation techniques such as focused attention on the breath or mindful acceptance <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21981">are popular in school settings</a> and are increasingly used to help children cope with stressful experiences. These might include exposures to trauma, medical treatments or even COVID-19-related stress.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SpjWb9teKSY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Here’s what happened at one elementary school that made meditation part of its curriculum.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Researchers know a lot about what is happening in the brain and body in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.03.021">adults while they meditate</a>, but comparable data for children has been lacking. Understanding what is happening in children’s brains when they meditate is important because the developing brain is wired differently from the adult brain. </p>
<p>These findings are also important because caregivers and health care providers often use distraction methods like iPads or toys to help children cope with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2011.08.001">pain and distress</a>, such as medical procedures. However, those techniques may largely rely on the prefrontal cortex, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1120408109">which is underdeveloped in youth</a>. </p>
<p>This means that stress and emotion regulation techniques that rely on the prefrontal cortex may work well for adults but are likely to be less accessible to children. Meditation techniques may not be dependent upon the prefrontal cortex and may therefore be more accessible and effective for helping children manage and cope with stress. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We still have a great deal to learn about how meditation affects brain development in children. This includes what types of meditation techniques are most effective, the ideal frequency and duration, and how it affects children differently.</p>
<p>Our study focused on a relatively small sample of 12 children with active cancer, as well as survivors who may have experienced significant distress over the diagnosis, treatment and uncertainty about the future. Future studies with larger sample sizes – including children with a wider diversity of diagnoses and exposures to early adversity or trauma – will help researchers like us to better understand how meditation affects the brain and body in children. </p>
<p>Our findings underscore the need to understand precisely how meditation techniques work. Exciting recent studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25197">have begun to examine</a> how participating in mindfulness and meditation-based programs can shape brain functioning in children. </p>
<p>Understanding how these techniques work is also essential for optimizing how they could be applied in health care settings, such as coping with needle-related procedures or for helping children manage the negative effects of stress and trauma.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hilary A. Marusak 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>A new study provides the first glimpse into what happens in children’s brains as they meditate.Hilary A. Marusak, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1784992022-03-07T20:56:11Z2022-03-07T20:56:11ZEven mild cases of COVID-19 can leave a mark on the brain, such as reductions in gray matter – a neuroscientist explains emerging research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449924/original/file-20220303-8225-6rnqah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=116%2C44%2C5874%2C3943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new brain-imaging study finds that participants who had even mild COVID-19 showed an average reduction in whole brain sizes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/medical-background-of-healthy-brain-and-diseased-royalty-free-image/1365700653?adppopup=true">Kirstypargeter/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Researchers have been steadily gathering important insights into the effects of COVID-19 on the body and brain. Two years into the pandemic, these findings are raising concerns about the long-term impacts the coronavirus might have on biological processes such as aging. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=By7qto8AAAAJ&hl=en">cognitive neuroscientist</a>, I have focused in <a href="https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/psychology/profile/jessica-bernard/">my past research</a> on understanding how normal brain changes related to aging affect people’s ability to think and move – particularly in middle age and beyond. </p>
<p>But as evidence came in showing that COVID-19 could affect <a href="https://theconversation.com/deciphering-the-symptoms-of-long-covid-19-is-slow-and-painstaking-for-both-sufferers-and-their-physicians-164754">the body and brain</a> for months following infection, my research team shifted some of its focus to better understanding how the illness might influence the natural process of aging. This was motivated in large part by compelling new work from the United Kingdom investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the human brain. </p>
<h2>Peering in at the brain’s response to COVID-19</h2>
<p>In a large study published in the journal Nature on March 7, 2022, a team of researchers in the UK <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04569-5">investigated brain changes in people ages 51 to 81</a> who had experienced COVID-19. This work provides important new insights about the impact of COVID-19 on the human brain. </p>
<p>In the study, researchers relied on a database called the <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">UK Biobank</a>, which contains brain imaging data from over 45,000 people in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15948-9">U.K. going back to 2014</a>. This means that there was baseline data and brain imaging of all of those people from before the pandemic. </p>
<p>The research team compared people who had experienced COVID-19 with participants who had not, carefully matching the groups based on age, sex, baseline test date and study location, as well as common risk factors for disease, such as health variables and socioeconomic status. </p>
<p>The team found marked differences in gray matter – or the neurons that process information in the brain – between those who had been infected with COVID-19 and those who had not. Specifically, the thickness of the gray matter tissue in brain regions known as the frontal and temporal lobes was reduced in the COVID-19 group, differing from the typical patterns seen in the people who hadn’t had a COVID-19 infection. </p>
<p>In the general population, it is normal to see some change in gray matter volume or thickness over time as people age. But the changes were more extensive than normal in those who had been infected with COVID-19.</p>
<p>Interestingly, when the researchers separated the individuals who had severe enough illness to require hospitalization, the results were the same as for those who had experienced milder COVID-19. That is, people who had been infected with COVID-19 showed a loss of brain volume even when the disease was not severe enough to require hospitalization.</p>
<p>Finally, researchers also investigated changes in performance on cognitive tasks and found that those who had contracted COVID-19 were slower in processing information than those who had not. This processing ability was correlated with volume in a region of the brain known as the cerebellum, indicating a link between brain tissue volume and cognitive performance in those with COVID-19. </p>
<p>This study is particularly valuable and insightful because of its large sample sizes both before and after illness in the same people, as well as its careful matching with people who had not had COVID-19. </p>
<h2>What do these changes in brain volume mean?</h2>
<p>Early on in the pandemic, one of the most common reports from those infected with COVID-19 was the loss of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0916-2">sense of taste and smell</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman with COVID-19 symptoms tries to sense the smell of a fresh tangerine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.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">Some people with COVID-19 have experienced either the loss of, or a reduction in, their sense of smell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sick-woman-trying-to-sense-smell-of-fresh-tangerine-royalty-free-image/1298987743?adppopup=true">Dima Berlin via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Strikingly, the brain regions that the U.K. researchers found to be affected by COVID-19 are all linked to the olfactory bulb, a structure near the front of the brain that passes signals about smells from the nose to other brain regions. The olfactory bulb has connections to regions of the temporal lobe. Researchers often talk about the temporal lobe in the context of aging and Alzheimer’s disease, because it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1801093115">where the hippocampus</a> is located. The hippocampus is likely to play a key role in aging, given its involvement in memory and cognitive processes. </p>
<p>The sense of smell is also important to Alzheimer’s research, as some data has suggested that those at risk for the disease <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0197-4580(01)00337-2">have a reduced sense of smell</a>. While it is too early to draw any conclusions about the long-term impacts of COVID-related effects on the sense of smell, investigating possible connections between COVID-19-related brain changes and memory is of great interest – particularly given the regions implicated and their importance in memory and Alzheimer’s disease. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a0pPgXEaTyA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An overview of how our sense of smell is connected to receptors in the brain.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The study also highlights a potentially important role for the cerebellum, an area of the brain that is involved in cognitive and motor processes; importantly, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.02.011">it too is affected in aging</a>. There is also an emerging line of work <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awx257">implicating the cerebellum in Alzheimer’s</a> disease. </p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>These new findings bring about important yet unanswered questions: What do these brain changes following COVID-19 mean for the process and pace of aging? Also, does the brain recover from viral infection over time, and to what extent? </p>
<p>These are active and open areas of research we are beginning to tackle in my laboratory in conjunction with our ongoing work investigating brain aging. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Brain scans from a person in their 30s and a person in their 80s, showing reduced brain volume in the older adult brain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brain images from a 35-year-old and an 85-year-old. Orange arrows show the thinner gray matter in the older individual. Green arrows point to areas where there is more space filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) due to reduced brain volume. The purple circles highlight the brains’ ventricles, which are filled with CSF. In older adults, these fluid-filled areas are much larger.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Bernard</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our lab’s work demonstrates that as people age, the brain thinks and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa005">processes information differently</a>. In addition, we’ve observed changes over time in how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.10.005">people’s bodies move</a> and how people learn new motor skills. Several <a href="https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2001.3.3/dcpark">decades of work</a> have demonstrated that older adults have a harder time processing and manipulating information – such as updating a mental grocery list – but they typically maintain their knowledge of facts and vocabulary. With respect to motor skills, we know that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107620">older adults still learn</a>, but they do so more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2010.21451">slowly then young adults</a>.</p>
<p>When it comes to brain structure, we typically see a decrease in the size of the brain in adults over age 65. This decrease is not just localized to one area. Differences can be seen across many regions of the brain. There is also typically an increase in cerebrospinal fluid that fills space due to the loss of brain tissue. In addition, white matter, the insulation on axons – long cables that carry electrical impulses between nerve cells – is also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641003696775">less intact in older adults</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2014/demo/p25-1140.html">Life expectancy has increased</a> in the past decades. The goal is for all to live long and healthy lives, but even in the best-case scenario where one ages without disease or disability, older adulthood brings on changes in how we think and move. </p>
<p>Learning how all of these puzzle pieces fit together will help us unravel the mysteries of aging so that we can help improve quality of life and function for aging individuals. And now, in the context of COVID-19, it will help us understand the degree to which the brain may recover after illness as well. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/preliminary-research-finds-that-even-mild-cases-of-covid-19-leave-a-mark-on-the-brain-but-its-not-yet-clear-how-long-it-lasts-166145">an article originally published</a> on Sept. 24, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Bernard receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p>New research offers insights into the brain after COVID-19 that may have implications for our understanding of long COVID-19 and how the disease affects our senses of taste and smell.Jessica Bernard, Associate Professor, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1499072021-09-30T12:29:56Z2021-09-30T12:29:56Z50 years ago, the first CT scan let doctors see inside a living skull – thanks to an eccentric engineer at the Beatles’ record company<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423940/original/file-20210929-26-mhu7qn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C0%2C4034%2C2996&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Godfrey Hounsfield stands beside the EMI-Scanner in 1972.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-25-000-macrobert-award-and-gold-medal-were-presented-by-news-photo/828266748"> PA Images via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The possibility of precious objects hidden in secret chambers can really ignite the imagination. In the mid-1960s, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-2327.194414">British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield</a> pondered whether one could detect hidden areas in Egyptian pyramids by capturing cosmic rays that passed through unseen voids.</p>
<p>He held onto this idea over the years, which can be paraphrased as “<a href="https://birorgukportal.force.com/CPBase__item?id=a0j20000006wvWqAAI">looking inside a box without opening it</a>.” Ultimately he did figure how to use high-energy rays to reveal what’s invisible to the naked eye. He invented a way to see inside the hard skull and get a picture of the soft brain inside.</p>
<p>The first computed tomography image – a CT scan – of the human brain was made 50 years ago, on Oct. 1, 1971. Hounsfield never made it to Egypt, but his invention did take him to Stockholm and Buckingham Palace.</p>
<h2>An engineer’s innovation</h2>
<p>Godfrey Hounsfield’s early life did not suggest that he would accomplish much at all. He was not a particularly good student. As a young boy his teachers <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/godfrey-hounsfield-intuitive-genius-of-ct/oclc/823708300&referer=brief_results">described him as “thick</a>.”</p>
<p>He joined the British Royal Air Force at the start of the Second World War, but he wasn’t much of a soldier. He was, however, a wizard with electrical machinery – especially the <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-radar-changed-the-second-world-war">newly invented radar</a> that he would jury-rig to help pilots better find their way home on dark, cloudy nights.</p>
<p>After the war, Hounsfield followed his commander’s advice and got a degree in engineering. He practiced his trade at EMI – the company would become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/RCT.0b013e318249416f">better known for selling Beatles albums</a>, but started out as Electric and Music Industries, with a focus on electronics and electrical engineering.</p>
<p>Hounsfield’s natural talents propelled him to lead the team building the most advanced mainframe computer available in Britain. But by the ‘60s, EMI wanted out of the competitive computer market and wasn’t sure what to do with the brilliant, eccentric engineer.</p>
<p>While on a forced holiday to ponder his future and what he might do for the company, Hounsfield met a physician who complained about the poor quality of X-rays of the brain. <a href="https://www.medmuseum.siemens-healthineers.com/en/stories-from-the-museum/our-brain?">Plain X-rays show marvelous details of bones</a>, but the brain is an amorphous blob of tissue – on an X-ray it all looks like fog. This got Hounsfield thinking about his old idea of finding hidden structures without opening the box.</p>
<h2>A new approach reveals the previously unseen</h2>
<p>Hounsfield formulated a new way to approach the problem of imaging what’s inside the skull.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423821/original/file-20210929-18-8ywyce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="schematic of three X-ray beams through one 'slice' of brain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423821/original/file-20210929-18-8ywyce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423821/original/file-20210929-18-8ywyce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423821/original/file-20210929-18-8ywyce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423821/original/file-20210929-18-8ywyce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423821/original/file-20210929-18-8ywyce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423821/original/file-20210929-18-8ywyce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423821/original/file-20210929-18-8ywyce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=712&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">X-rays beam through each ‘slice’ of brain, oriented at each degree from 1 to 180 in a semicircle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Edmund S. Higgins</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, he would conceptually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1259/0007-1285-46-552-1016">divide the brain into consecutive slices</a> – like a loaf of bread. Then he planned to beam a series of X-rays through each layer, repeating this for each degree of a half-circle. The strength of each beam would be captured on the opposite side of the brain – with stronger beams indicating they’d traveled through less dense material.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423822/original/file-20210929-24-lb50bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="simplified illustration of more X-rays making it through softer material" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423822/original/file-20210929-24-lb50bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423822/original/file-20210929-24-lb50bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423822/original/file-20210929-24-lb50bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423822/original/file-20210929-24-lb50bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423822/original/file-20210929-24-lb50bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423822/original/file-20210929-24-lb50bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423822/original/file-20210929-24-lb50bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calculating the strength of each X-ray once it’s passed through the object, and working backward with an impressive algorithm, it is possible to construct an image.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Edmund S. Higgins</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, in possibly his most ingenious invention, Hounsfield created an algorithm to reconstruct an image of the brain based on all these layers. By working backward and using one of the era’s fastest new computers, he could calculate the value for each little box of each brain layer. Eureka!</p>
<p>But there was a problem: EMI wasn’t involved in the medical market and had no desire to jump in. The company allowed Hounsfield to work on his product, but with scant funding. He was forced to scrounge through the scrap bin of the research facilities and cobbled together a primitive scanning machine - small enough to rest atop a dining table.</p>
<p>Even with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1259/0007-1285-49-583-604">successful scans of inanimate objects</a> and, later, <a href="https://www.jweekly.com/1997/04/25/kosher-cow-brains-help-pioneer-ct-scan-technology/">kosher cow brains</a>, the powers that be at EMI remained underwhelmed. Hounsfield needed to find outside funding if he wanted to proceed with a human scanner. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423636/original/file-20210928-14-96ensy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="line drawing of CT scanner" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423636/original/file-20210928-14-96ensy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423636/original/file-20210928-14-96ensy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423636/original/file-20210928-14-96ensy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423636/original/file-20210928-14-96ensy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423636/original/file-20210928-14-96ensy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423636/original/file-20210928-14-96ensy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423636/original/file-20210928-14-96ensy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schematic diagram of the CT scanner included in Hounsfield’s U.S. patent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CT_US4115698_Fig1.jpg">Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hounsfield was a brilliant, intuitive inventor, but not an effective communicator. Luckily he had a sympathetic boss, Bill Ingham, who saw the value in Hounsfield’s proposal and struggled with EMI to keep the project afloat. </p>
<p>He knew there were no grants they could obtain quickly, but reasoned the U.K. Department of Health and Social Security could purchase equipment for hospitals. Miraculously, Ingham sold them four scanners before they were even built. So, Hounsfield organized a team, and they raced to build a safe and effective human scanner. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Hounsfield needed patients to try out his machine on. He found a somewhat reluctant neurologist who agreed to help. The team installed a full-sized scanner at the <a href="http://www.impactscan.org/CThistory.htm?">Atkinson Morley Hospital in London</a>, and on Oct. 1, 1971, they scanned their first patient: a middle-aged woman who showed signs of a brain tumor.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1259/bjr/29444122">It was not a fast process</a> – 30 minutes for the scan, a drive across town with the magnetic tapes, 2.5 hours processing the data on an EMI mainframe computer and capturing the image with a Polaroid camera before racing back to the hospital.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423942/original/file-20210929-64926-b3svf8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="pixelated image of a brain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423942/original/file-20210929-64926-b3svf8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423942/original/file-20210929-64926-b3svf8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423942/original/file-20210929-64926-b3svf8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423942/original/file-20210929-64926-b3svf8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423942/original/file-20210929-64926-b3svf8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423942/original/file-20210929-64926-b3svf8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423942/original/file-20210929-64926-b3svf8.png?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">The first clinical CT scan, with brain tumor visible as darker blob.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK546157/figure/ch8.fig2/">'Medical Imaging Systems: An Introductory Guide,' Maier A, Steidl S, Christlein V, et al., editors.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And there it was – in her left frontal lobe – a cystic mass about the size of a plum. With that, every other method of imaging the brain was obsolete.</p>
<h2>Millions of CT scans every year</h2>
<p>EMI, with no experience in the medical market, suddenly held a monopoly for a machine in high demand. It jumped into production and was initially very successful at selling the scanners. But within five years, bigger, more experienced companies with more research capacity such as GE and Siemens were producing better scanners and gobbling up sales. EMI eventually exited the medical market – and <a href="https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/GrantContemporaryStrategyAnalysis/docs/Grant_Cases_Guide_Chapter_10.pdf">became a case study</a> in why it can be better to partner with one of the big guys instead of trying to go it alone.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423941/original/file-20210929-66198-1pskqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hounsfield in tuxedo shaking hands with King facing away from camera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423941/original/file-20210929-66198-1pskqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423941/original/file-20210929-66198-1pskqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423941/original/file-20210929-66198-1pskqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423941/original/file-20210929-66198-1pskqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=641&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423941/original/file-20210929-66198-1pskqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423941/original/file-20210929-66198-1pskqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423941/original/file-20210929-66198-1pskqvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">King Carl Gustaf awards the Nobel Prize to Hounsfield in Stockholm on Dec. 11, 1979.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/british-scientist-sir-godfrey-hounsfield-joint-nobel-news-photo/51867039">Keystone/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hounsfield’s innovation transformed medicine. He <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1979/press-release/">shared the Nobel Prize</a> for Physiology or Medicine in 1979 and was knighted by the Queen in 1981. He continued to putter around with inventions until his final days in 2004, when he died at 84. </p>
<p>In 1973, American <a href="https://doi.org/10.1197/jamia.M2127">Robert Ledley</a> developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.186.4160.207">a whole-body scanner</a> that could image other organs, blood vessels and, of course, bones. Modern scanners are faster, provide better resolution, and most important, do it with less radiation exposure. There are even mobile scanners.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423640/original/file-20210928-26-3rul6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423640/original/file-20210928-26-3rul6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423640/original/file-20210928-26-3rul6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423640/original/file-20210928-26-3rul6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423640/original/file-20210928-26-3rul6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423640/original/file-20210928-26-3rul6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423640/original/file-20210928-26-3rul6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423640/original/file-20210928-26-3rul6h.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">Modern CT scans provide much higher resolution images of the ‘slices’ of the brain than Hounsfield’s original scan did in 1971.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By 2020, technicians were performing <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723115909.htm">more than 80 million scans annually in the U.S.</a>. Some physicians argue that number is excessive and maybe a third are unnecessary. While that may be true, the CT scan has <a href="https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/medical-x-ray-imaging/computed-tomography-ct">benefited the health</a> of many patients around the world, helping identify tumors and determine if surgery is needed. They’re particularly useful for a quick search for internal injuries after accidents in the ER.</p>
<p>And remember Hounsfield’s idea about the pyramids? In 1970 scientists placed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic-ray_observatory">cosmic ray detectors</a> in the lowest chamber in the Pyramid of Khafre. They concluded that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.167.3919.832">no hidden chamber was present within the pyramid</a>. In 2017, another team placed cosmic ray detectors in the Great Pyramid of Giza and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2017.22939">found a hidden, but inaccessible, chamber</a>. It’s unlikely it will be explored anytime soon. </p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the spelling of the name of Hounsfield’s boss at EMI, Bill Ingham.</em></p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149907/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edmund S. Higgins 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>On Oct. 1, 1971, Godfrey Hounsfield’s invention took its first pictures of a human brain, using X-rays and an ingenious algorithm to identify a woman’s tumor from outside of her skull.Edmund S. Higgins, Affiliate Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Family Medicine, Medical University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661452021-09-24T12:37:13Z2021-09-24T12:37:13ZPreliminary research finds that even mild cases of COVID-19 leave a mark on the brain – but it’s not yet clear how long it lasts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422498/original/file-20210921-19-1kb6j0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C25%2C5700%2C3763&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The new findings, although preliminary, are raising concerns about the potential long-term effects of COVID-19.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/coronavirus-covid-19-royalty-free-image/1220459949?adppopup=true">Yuichiro Chino via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With more than <a href="https://theconversation.com/18-months-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-a-retrospective-in-7-charts-166881">18 months of the pandemic</a> in the rearview mirror, researchers have been steadily gathering new and important insights into the effects of COVID-19 on the body and brain. These findings are raising concerns about the long-term impacts that the coronavirus might have on biological processes such as aging. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=By7qto8AAAAJ&hl=en">cognitive neuroscientist</a>, <a href="https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/psychology/profile/jessica-bernard/">my past research</a> has focused on understanding how normal brain changes related to aging affect people’s ability to think and move – particularly in middle age and beyond. But as more evidence came in showing that COVID-19 could affect <a href="https://theconversation.com/deciphering-the-symptoms-of-long-covid-19-is-slow-and-painstaking-for-both-sufferers-and-their-physicians-164754">the body and brain</a> for months or longer following infection, my research team became interested in exploring how it might also impact the natural process of aging. </p>
<h2>Peering in at the brain’s response to COVID-19</h2>
<p>In August 2021, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.11.21258690">preliminary but large-scale study</a> investigating brain changes in people who had experienced COVID-19 drew a great deal of attention within the neuroscience community. </p>
<p>In that study, researchers relied on an existing database called the <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">UK Biobank</a>, which contains brain imaging data from over 45,000 people in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15948-9">U.K. going back to 2014</a>. This means – crucially – that there was baseline data and brain imaging of all of those people from before the pandemic. </p>
<p>The research team analyzed the brain imaging data and then brought back those who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 for additional brain scans. They compared people who had experienced COVID-19 to participants who had not, carefully matching the groups based on age, sex, baseline test date and study location, as well as common risk factors for disease, such as health variables and socioeconomic status. </p>
<p>The team found marked differences in gray matter – which is made up of the cell bodies of neurons that process information in the brain – between those who had been infected with COVID-19 and those who had not. Specifically, the thickness of the gray matter tissue in brain regions known as the frontal and temporal lobes was reduced in the COVID-19 group, differing from the typical patterns seen in the group that hadn’t experienced COVID-19. </p>
<p>In the general population, it is normal to see some change in gray matter volume or thickness over time as people age, but the changes were larger than normal in those who had been infected with COVID-19.</p>
<p>Interestingly, when the researchers separated the individuals who had severe enough illness to require hospitalization, the results were the same as for those who had experienced milder COVID-19. That is, people who had been infected with COVID-19 showed a loss of brain volume even when the disease was not severe enough to require hospitalization.</p>
<p>Finally, researchers also investigated changes in performance on cognitive tasks and found that those who had contracted COVID-19 were slower in processing information, relative to those who had not. </p>
<p>While we have to be careful interpreting these findings as they await formal peer review, the large sample, pre- and post-illness data in the same people and careful matching with people who had not had COVID-19 have made this preliminary work particularly valuable.</p>
<h2>What do these changes in brain volume mean?</h2>
<p>Early on in the pandemic, one of the most common reports from those infected with COVID-19 was the loss of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0916-2">sense of taste and smell</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman with COVID-19 symptoms tries to sense the smell of a fresh tangerine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423005/original/file-20210923-14-2b3ens.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">Some COVID-19 patients have experienced either the loss of, or a reduction in, their sense of smell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sick-woman-trying-to-sense-smell-of-fresh-tangerine-royalty-free-image/1298987743?adppopup=true">Dima Berlin via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Strikingly, the brain regions that the U.K. researchers found to be impacted by COVID-19 are all linked to the olfactory bulb, a structure near the front of the brain that passes signals about smells from the nose to other brain regions. The olfactory bulb has connections to regions of the temporal lobe. We often talk about the temporal lobe in the context of aging and Alzheimer’s disease because it is where the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1801093115">hippocampus</a> is located. The hippocampus is likely to play a key role in aging, given its involvement in memory and cognitive processes. </p>
<p>The sense of smell is also important to Alzheimer’s research, as some data has suggested that those at risk for the disease <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0197-4580(01)00337-2">have a reduced sense of smell</a>. While it is far too early to draw any conclusions about the long-term impacts of these COVID-related changes, investigating possible connections between COVID-19-related brain changes and memory is of great interest – particularly given the regions implicated and their importance in memory and Alzheimer’s disease. </p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>These new findings bring about important yet unanswered questions: What do these brain changes following COVID-19 mean for the process and pace of aging? And, over time does the brain recover to some extent from viral infection?</p>
<p>These are active and open areas of research, some of which we are beginning to do in my own laboratory in conjunction with our ongoing work investigating brain aging. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Brain scans from a person in their 30s and a person in their 80s, showing reduced brain volume in the older adult brain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418981/original/file-20210901-23-1110r23.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brain images from a 35-year-old and an 85-year-old. Orange arrows show the thinner gray matter in the older individual. Green arrows point to areas where there is more space filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) due to reduced brain volume. The purple circles highlight the brains’ ventricles, which are filled with CSF. In older adults, these fluid-filled areas are much larger.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jessica Bernard</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our lab’s work demonstrates that as people age, the brain thinks and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa005">processes information differently</a>. In addition, we’ve observed changes over time in how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.10.005">peoples’ bodies move</a> and how people learn new motor skills. Several <a href="https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2001.3.3/dcpark">decades of work</a> have demonstrated that older adults have a harder time processing and manipulating information – such as updating a mental grocery list – but they typically maintain their knowledge of facts and vocabulary. With respect to motor skills, we know that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107620">older adults still learn</a>, but they do so more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2010.21451">slowly then young adults</a>.</p>
<p>When it comes to brain structure, we typically see a decrease in the size of the brain in adults over age 65. This decrease is not just localized to one area. Differences can be seen across many regions of the brain. There is also typically an increase in cerebrospinal fluid that fills space due to the loss of brain tissue. In addition, white matter, the insulation on axons – long cables that carry electrical impulses between nerve cells – is also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641003696775">less intact in older adults</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2014/demo/p25-1140.html">life expectancy has increased</a> in the past decades, more individuals are reaching older age. While the goal is for all to live long and healthy lives, even in the best-case scenario where one ages without disease or disability, older adulthood brings on changes in how we think and move.</p>
<p>Learning how all of these puzzle pieces fit together will help us unravel the mysteries of aging so that we can help improve quality of life and function for aging individuals. And now, in the context of COVID-19, it will help us understand the degree to which the brain may recover after illness as well. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Bernard receives funding from the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Mental Health. </span></em></p>Reduced brain volume in people who have experienced COVID-19 resembles brain changes typically seen in older adults. The implications of these findings are not yet clear.Jessica Bernard, Associate Professor, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1292012020-02-13T07:57:10Z2020-02-13T07:57:10ZLove: is it just a fleeting high fuelled by brain chemicals?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310913/original/file-20200120-69539-14hnq9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The real thing?
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-couple-kissing-field-asian-woman-286019726">Oneinchpunch/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>I am head over heels in love but my cynical friends keep telling me that love is nothing but a cocktail of pheromones, dopamine and oxytocin, and that these wear off after a couple of years. The thought scares me, it makes the whole thing seem meaningless. Is love really just brain chemistry?</em> Jo, London.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Licence my roving hands, and let them go,</p>
<p>Before, behind, between, above, below.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is no accident that arguably <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50340/to-his-mistress-going-to-bed">the most erotic line</a> of English poetry is all prepositions. The essence of love, at least of passionately romantic love, is revealed in its very grammar. We <em>fall</em> in love, not wander into it. And, as you say, we fall <em>head over heels</em>, not dragging our feet – often at <em>first sight</em> rather than on careful inspection. We fall in love <em>madly</em>, <em>blind</em> to the other’s vices, not in rational appraisal of their virtues.</p>
<p>At its root, romantic love is spontaneous, overwhelming, irresistible, <em>ballistic</em>, even if, over time, its branches take on <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118951866.ch10">more complex hues</a>. It is in control of us more than we are ever in control of it. In one sense a mystery, it is in another pure simplicity – its course, once engaged, predictable and inevitable and its cultural expression more or less uniform across time and space. The impulse to think of it in terms of simple causes precedes science. Consider the arrow of Cupid, the potion of a sorcerer – love seems elemental.</p>
<hr>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Yet love is not easily conquered by science. Let us look at why. Sex pheromones, chemicals designed to broadcast reproductive availability to others, are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26751949">often quoted</a> as key instruments of attraction. It is an appealing idea. But while pheromones play an important role in insect communication, there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-no-evidence-human-pheromones-exist-no-matter-what-you-find-for-sale-online-38318">very little evidence</a> that they even exist in humans.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313328/original/file-20200203-41485-1foofme.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><strong><em>This article is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/lifes-big-questions-80040?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=LifesBigQuestionsUK">Life’s Big Questions</a></em></strong>
<br><em>The Conversation’s new series, co-published with BBC Future, seeks to answer our readers’ nagging questions about life, love, death and the universe. We work with professional researchers who have dedicated their lives to uncovering new perspectives on the questions that shape our lives.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>If a chemical can signal attraction outside the body, why not inside it? The neuropeptide <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin">oxytocin</a>, often inaccurately described as a “bonding hormone” and known for its role in lactation and uterine contraction, is the leading candidate here. This has been extensively studied, mainly in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-018-0072-6">prairie vole</a>, whose monogamy and public displays of affection make it an ideal model animal. </p>
<p>Blocking oxytocin disrupts the pair bonding that is here a surrogate for love, and makes the voles more restrained in their emotional expressions. Conversely, inducing an excess of oxytocin in other, non-monogamous vole species blunts their taste for sexual adventure. In humans, though, the effects are much less dramatic – <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/110/50/20308.short">a subtle change</a> in the romantic preference for the familiar over the new. So oxytocin is far from proven to be essential to love.</p>
<h2>Love’s letterbox?</h2>
<p>Of course, even if we could identify such a substance, any message – chemical or otherwise – needs a recipient. So where is the letterbox of love in the brain? And how is the identity of the “chosen one” conveyed, given that no single molecule could possibly encode it? </p>
<p>When romantic love is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053811903007237">examined with imaging of the brain</a>, the areas that “light up” overlap with those supporting reward-seeking and goal-oriented behaviour. But that parts of our brains are set ablaze by one thing does not tell us much if they are just as excited by a very different, other thing. And the observed patterns of romantic love are not that different from those of maternal bonding, or even from <a href="https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/12/5/718/3051628">the love of one’s favourite football team</a>. So we can only conclude that neuroscience is yet to explain this “head over heels” emotion in neural terms.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313070/original/file-20200131-41490-1c9bx6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313070/original/file-20200131-41490-1c9bx6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313070/original/file-20200131-41490-1c9bx6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313070/original/file-20200131-41490-1c9bx6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313070/original/file-20200131-41490-1c9bx6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313070/original/file-20200131-41490-1c9bx6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313070/original/file-20200131-41490-1c9bx6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not so simple.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NaNahara Sung/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Do we simply need more experiments? Yes, is usually the scientist’s answer, but here that assumes love is simple enough to be captured by a mechanistic description. And that is extremely unlikely, as nature would resist it. Evolutionarily speaking, love is ultimately about reproduction. Consider what would happen to an organism whose sexual attraction operated through a very simple mechanism involving a string of critical molecules, or a dozen or so vital neural nodes. </p>
<p>Its reproductive success would then be gated by the integrity of very few genetic elements, with the potential to be knocked out entirely by a mutation or two. A predator could evolve a poison that rendered its victim not just compliant, but positively amorous, only too happy to slide from a <em>petite mort</em> to the real thing. Were some inanimate thing to contain the key molecule in abundance, the entire species could become <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_sexuality">objectum sexuals</a>, choosing to play with it over sex with each other. This is almost the joke <a href="https://petpigworld.com/how-do-pigs-find-truffles/">truffles play on wild pigs</a>, and it is telling that the animals are only temporarily diverted by it. </p>
<p>But the evolutionary vulnerability goes deeper. Remember that sex is not primarily about the reproduction of the species, but about its optimisation, and not just in response to the world as it is now, but as it might be across the widest range of hypothetical futures. This requires that organisms are diverse across their traits, as much as selected for their fitness. Were it not so, a sudden change in the environment could make a species go extinct overnight. </p>
<p>So each reproductive decision can be neither simple nor uniform, for we cannot be allowed to be guided by any single characteristic, let alone the same one. Universally attractive though tallness might be, if biology allowed us to select on height alone we would all have gigantism by now. And if the decisions have to be complex, so must the neural apparatus that makes them possible. </p>
<p>While this explains why romantic attraction must be complex, it doesn’t explain why it can feel so instinctual and spontaneous – unlike the deliberative mode we reserve for our most important decisions. Wouldn’t a cool, detached rationality be better? To see why it would not, consider what explicit reasoning <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-rational-to-trust-your-gut-feelings-a-neuroscientist-explains-95086">is there for in the first place</a>. Evolving later than our instincts, we need rationality only to detach ourselves from the grounds for a decision so that others can record, understand and apply it independently of us. </p>
<p>But there is no need for anyone else to understand the grounds for our love, indeed the last thing we want to do is provide others with a recipe to steal our object of desire. Equally, in ceding control to recorded cultural practice, evolution would place too much “trust” in a capacity – collective rationality – that is, in evolutionary terms, far too young.</p>
<p>It is also a <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-rational-to-trust-your-gut-feelings-a-neuroscientist-explains-95086">mistake to think of instinct as simple</a>, and inferior to careful deliberation. That it is tacit makes it potentially more sophisticated than rational analysis, for it brings into play a wider array of factors than we could ever hold simultaneously in our conscious minds. The truth of this stares us in the face: think how much better we are at recognising a face compared with describing it. Why should the recognition of love be any different? </p>
<p>Ultimately, if the neural mechanisms of love were simple, you should be able to induce it with an injection, to extinguish it with a scalpel while leaving everything else intact. The cold, hard logic of evolutionary biology makes this impossible. Were love not complicated, we would never have evolved in the first place.</p>
<p>That said, love – like all our thoughts, emotions and behaviours – rests on physical processes in the brain, a very complex interplay of them. But to say that love is “just” brain chemistry is like saying Shakespeare is “just” words, Wagner “just” notes and Michelangelo “just” calcium carbonate – it just misses the point. Like art, love is more than the sum of its parts.</p>
<p>So those of us lucky to experience its chaos should let ourselves be carried by the waves. And if we end up wrecked on the surf-hidden rocks, we can draw comfort from knowing reason would have got us no further.</p>
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<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/death-can-our-final-moment-be-euphoric-129648?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=LifesBigQuestionsUK">Death: can our final moment be euphoric?</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/are-humans-still-part-of-nature-or-is-it-now-just-our-dominion-128790?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=LifesBigQuestionsUK">Nature: have humans now evolved beyond the natural world, and do we still need it?</a></em></p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Parashkev Nachev receives funding from the Wellcome Trust and the UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.</span></em></p>When it comes to love, science has not yet got it right. And there’s a wonderful reason why.Parashkev Nachev, Professor of Neurology, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1293142020-01-07T12:01:27Z2020-01-07T12:01:27ZChildhood deprivation affects brain size and behaviour<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308655/original/file-20200106-123364-1dip4pj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C0%2C5439%2C3293&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/hopeless-life-close-depressed-poor-little-336377765">Yakobchuk Viacheslav/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The human brain goes through dramatic <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5987539/">developmental changes</a> in the first years of life. During this period it is particularly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn2639">sensitive</a> to environmental influences. This sensitivity helps babies learn and develop, but it also leaves them vulnerable to negative experiences, such as maltreatment, which can have a lasting physical and psychological impact. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/01/1911264116">latest research</a>, published in PNAS, we show that extreme adversity early in life is linked to changes in brain structure in adulthood. Early childhood adversity experienced in institutions was related to a smaller brain as well as regional changes in brain structures. Some of these changes were linked to neurodevelopmental problems, such as <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/">attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)</a>, which can arise following adversity. </p>
<p>Our study examined a group of adoptees who were exposed to severe early deprivation when living in institutions in Romania under the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolae-Ceausescu">Ceaușescu regime</a>. The conditions in these institutions were appalling. Often children did not have enough food and they had no toys to play with. They were confined to cots and had no permanent caretakers with whom to form a bond. Many children <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/15/romania-orphanage-child-abusers-may-face-justice-30-years-on">died</a> in these institutions. </p>
<p>After the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu, footage of the conditions in these institutions gained worldwide publicity. This was followed by a large international adoption campaign. For the children, adoption meant a sudden change in their circumstances for the better. They were now living in nurturing and loving families. </p>
<p>The English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study follows the development of some of these children who were adopted by families in the UK. The study included a comparison group of UK adoptees who did not experience any institutional deprivation.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1469-7610.00343?sid=nlm%3Apubmed">Previous research on the ERA study</a> has shown that the Romanian adoptees were severely affected when they first arrived in their adoptive homes. For most of them, this was followed by rapid recovery. </p>
<p>By <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-10667-007">age six</a>, many of the children, especially those who had spent only a limited time in the institutions, had fully recovered their physical and cognitive development. Yet many of the adoptees who had been exposed to institutions for an extended time developed cognitive problems and mental health disorders, such as increased symptom rates of ADHD and <a href="https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/brain-nerves-and-spinal-cord/autistic-spectrum-disorder-asd">autism spectrum disorder (ASD)</a> and lower IQ. These problems often <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)30045-4/fulltext">persisted</a> through to adulthood.</p>
<h2>Brain images</h2>
<p>We were interested to find out whether fundamental changes in brain development could explain this increase in mental health disorders. To do so we investigated the impact of early institutional deprivation on adult brain structure by taking brain scans of our participants in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. </p>
<p>We found that institutional deprivation was associated with a smaller brain in young adulthood. There was a direct relationship with the duration of deprivation – the longer the adoptees had spent in the institutions, the smaller their brains tended to be. A smaller brain volume was also linked to lower intelligence and more symptoms of ADHD.</p>
<p>Some regions in the frontal and temporal parts of the brain seemed to be particularly sensitive to deprivation. Changes in a region in the temporal part of the brain, the inferior temporal cortex, were associated with fewer symptoms of ADHD. This indicates that this change in brain structure might be compensatory, rather than impairing, as it was associated with better outcomes.</p>
<p>This research has shown that early institutional deprivation is associated with changes in brain structure that are still visible in adulthood more than 20 years after the adoptees left the institutions. These findings provide compelling evidence for the notion that extreme adversity early in life can lead to long-lasting changes in brain development despite later environmental enrichment.</p>
<p>Changes in brain structure did not always suggest impairment – in some cases they suggested compensation. Future research is needed to identify how we can best prevent and treat psychiatric conditions that arise from adversity. For example, it would be interesting to see whether the compensatory processes found in this study could be targeted in cognitive training to reduce ADHD symptoms in people
who experienced early deprivation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nuria Mackes receives funding from the Medical Research Council (MR/K022474/1). Her research is supported by the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network (NIHR CRN).</span></em></p>The lasting impact of neglect.Nuria Mackes, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Neuroimaging, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1248912019-10-22T18:58:07Z2019-10-22T18:58:07ZYour brain approaches tricky tasks in a surprisingly simple way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298045/original/file-20191022-28100-1p7sz04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C110%2C6699%2C4134&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It gets easier with practice.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Duntrune Studios/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever sat down to complete your morning crossword or Sudoku and wondered about what’s happening in your brain? Somewhere in the activity of the billions of neurons in your brain lies the code that lets you remember a key word, or apply the logic required to complete the puzzle. </p>
<p>Given the brain’s intricacy, you might assume that these patterns are incredibly complex and unique to each task. But <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-018-0312-0">recent research</a> suggests things are actually more straightforward than that.</p>
<p>It turns out that many structures in your brain work together in precise ways to coordinate their activity, shaping their actions to the requirements of whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve. </p>
<p>We call these coordinated patterns the “low-dimensional manifold”, which you can think of as analogous to the major roadways that you use to commute to and from work. The majority of the traffic flows along these major highways, which represent an efficient and effective way to get from A to B. </p>
<p>We have found evidence that most brain activity follows these types of patterns. In very simple terms, this saves your brain from needing to work everything out from scratch when performing a task. If someone throws you a ball, for instance, the low-dimensional manifold allows your brain to swiftly coordinate the muscle movements needed to catch the ball, rather than your brain needing to learn how to catch a ball afresh each time.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-brain-prepares-for-movement-and-actions-111674">How the brain prepares for movement and actions</a>
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<p>In a study <a href="https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(19)30775-5">published today in the journal Neuron</a>, my colleagues and I investigated these patterns further. Specifically, we wanted to find out whether they play a role in shaping brain activity during really challenging cognitive tasks that require lots of concentration. </p>
<p>We scanned people’s brains with high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they performed a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_square">Latin squares task</a>, which is similar to a Sudoku puzzle but uses shapes instead of numbers. Anyone who has played Sudoku before their morning coffee knows how much focus and concentration is required to solve it. </p>
<p>The idea behind the Latin squares task is to identify the missing shape in a particular location in a grid, given that each shape can only show up once in each row and column. We created three different levels of difficulty, defined by how many different rows and columns needed to be inspected to arrive at the correct answer. </p>
<h2>Directing traffic</h2>
<p>Our prediction was that performing the more difficult versions of the task would lead to a reconfiguration of the low-dimensional manifold. To return to the highway analogy, a tricky task might pull some brain activity off the highway and onto the back streets to help get around the congestion.</p>
<p>Our results confirmed our predictions. More difficult trials showed different patterns of brain activation to easy ones, as if the brain’s traffic was being rerouted along different roads. The trickier the task, the more the patterns changed. </p>
<p>What’s more, we also found a link between these changed brain activation patterns and the increased likelihood of making a mistake on the harder version of the Latin Squares test. </p>
<p>In a way, attempting a difficult task is like trying out a new rat run on your morning commute – you might succeed, but in your haste and stress you might also be more likely to take a wrong turn.</p>
<p>Overall, these results suggests that our brain activity perhaps isn’t as complicated as we once thought. Most of the time, our brain is directing traffic along pretty well-established routes, and even when it needs to get creative it is still trying to send the traffic to the same ultimate destination.</p>
<p>This leaves us with an important question: how does the brain achieve this level of coordination? </p>
<p>One possibility is that this function is fulfilled by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/thalamus">thalamus</a>, a structure that lies deep in the brain but is connected to almost the entire rest of the brain. </p>
<p>Importantly, the circuitry of the thalamus is such that it can act as a filter for ongoing activity in the cerebral cortex, the brain’s main information processing centre, and therefore could exert the kind of influence we were looking for.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298044/original/file-20191022-28112-nv7utl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298044/original/file-20191022-28112-nv7utl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298044/original/file-20191022-28112-nv7utl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298044/original/file-20191022-28112-nv7utl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298044/original/file-20191022-28112-nv7utl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298044/original/file-20191022-28112-nv7utl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298044/original/file-20191022-28112-nv7utl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298044/original/file-20191022-28112-nv7utl.jpg?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"></a>
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<span class="caption">Positions of the thalamus and the cerebral cortex within the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pikovit/Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Patterns of activity in the thalamus are hard to decipher in traditional neuroimaging experiments. But fortunately, the <a href="https://cai.centre.uq.edu.au/facilities/human-imaging/7t-magnetom">high-resolution MRI scanner used in our study</a> collected by my colleagues Luca Cocchi and Luke Hearne allowed us to observe them in detail.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/neuroscience-in-pictures-the-best-images-of-the-year-89077">Neuroscience in pictures: the best images of the year</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Sure enough, we saw a clear link between activity in the thalamus and the flow of activity in the low-dimensional manifold. This suggests that when performing particular tasks, the thalamus helps to shape and constrain the activity in the cortex, a bit like a police officer directing busy traffic. </p>
<p>So next time you sit down to play Sudoku, spare a thought for your thalamus, and the low-dimensional manifold that it helps to create. Together, they’re shaping the brain activity that will ultimately help you solve the puzzle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124891/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Shine receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. He is affiliated with The University of Sydney and the Organisation for Human Brain Mapping Australia.</span></em></p>Despite its huge complexity, your brain directs its neural traffic in relatively straightforward ways when approaching cognitively demanding tasks such as puzzles.James Shine, Robinson Fellow, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1237432019-10-15T11:16:56Z2019-10-15T11:16:56ZQuantum dots that light up TVs could be used for brain research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296465/original/file-20191010-188829-18m0ayu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C177%2C392%2C282&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Red quantum dots glow inside a rat brain cell.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NA00334G">Nanoscale Advances, 2019, 1, 3424 - 3442</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While many people love colorful photos of landscapes, flowers or rainbows, some biomedical researchers treasure vivid images on a much smaller scale – as tiny as one-thousandth the width of a human hair. </p>
<p>To study the micro world and help advance medical knowledge and treatments, these scientists use fluorescent nano-sized particles.</p>
<p>Quantum dots are one type of nanoparticle, more commonly known for their use in TV screens. They’re super tiny crystals that can transport electrons. When UV light hits these semiconducting particles, they can emit light of various colors.</p>
<p>That fluorescence allows scientists to use them to study hidden or otherwise cryptic parts of cells, organs and other structures.</p>
<p>I’m part of a group of nanotechnology and neuroscience researchers at the University of Washington investigating <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NA00334G">how quantum dots behave in the brain</a>. </p>
<p>Common brain diseases are estimated to cost the U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.24897">nearly US$800 billion</a> annually. These diseases – including Alzheimer’s disease and neurodevelopmental disorders – are hard to diagnose or treat.</p>
<p>Nanoscale tools, such as quantum dots, that can capture the nuance in complicated cell activities hold promise as brain-imaging tools or drug delivery carriers for the brain. But because there are many reasons to be concerned about their use in medicine, mainly related to health and safety, it’s important to figure out more about how they work in biological systems.</p>
<h2>Quantum dots as next-generation dyes</h2>
<p>Researchers first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot">discovered quantum dots in the 1980s</a>. These tiny particles are different from other crystals in that they can produce different colors depending on their size. They are so small that that they are sometimes called zero-dimensional or artificial atoms.</p>
<p>The most commonly known use of quantum dots nowadays may be TV screens. Samsung launched their <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-is-bright-the-future-is-quantum-dot-televisions-35765">QLED TVs in 2015</a>, and a few other companies followed not long after. But scientists have been eyeing quantum dots for almost a decade. Because of their unique optical properties – they can produce thousands of bright, sharp fluorescent colors – scientists started using them as optical sensors or imaging probes, particularly in medical research.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296742/original/file-20191012-96217-5efo1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296742/original/file-20191012-96217-5efo1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296742/original/file-20191012-96217-5efo1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296742/original/file-20191012-96217-5efo1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296742/original/file-20191012-96217-5efo1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296742/original/file-20191012-96217-5efo1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296742/original/file-20191012-96217-5efo1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296742/original/file-20191012-96217-5efo1u.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tubes of quantum dots emit bright, colorful light.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/glass-tubes-quantum-dots-perovskite-nanocrystals-700118455">rebusy/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scientists have long used various dyes to tag cells, organs and other tissues to view the inner workings of the body, whether that be for diagnosis or for fundamental research.</p>
<p>The most common dyes have some significant problems. For one, their color often cannot survive very long in cells or tissues. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt764">They may fade in a matter of seconds or minutes</a>. For some types of research, such as tracking cell behaviors or delivering drugs in the body, these organic dyes simply do not last long enough. </p>
<p>Quantum dots would solve those problems. They are very bright and fade very slowly. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-2094-9-22">Their color can still stand out after a month</a>. Moreover, they are too small to physically affect the movement of cells or molecules.</p>
<p>Those properties make quantum dots popular in medical research. Nowadays quantum dots are mainly used for high resolution 3D imaging of cells or molecules, or real-time tracking probes inside or outside of animal bodies that can last for an extended period.</p>
<p>But their use is still restricted to animal research, because scientists are <a href="https://doi.org/10.2217/nnm.12.152">concerned about their use in human beings</a>. Quantum dots commonly contain cadmium, a heavy metal that is highly poisonous and carcinogenic. They may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.10.070">leak the toxic metal</a> or form an unstable aggregate, causing cell death and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.223">inflammation</a>. Some organs may tolerate a small amount of this, but the brain cannot withstand such injury.</p>
<h2>How quantum dots behave in the brain</h2>
<p>My colleagues and I believe an important first step toward wider use of quantum dots in medicine is understanding how they behave in biological environments. That could help scientists design quantum dots suitable for medical research and diagnostics: When they’re injected into the body, they need to stay small particles, be not very toxic and able to target specific types of cells.</p>
<p>We looked at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NA00334G">stability, toxicity and cellular interactions of quantum dots in the developing brains of rats</a>. We wrapped the tiny quantum dots in different chemical “coats.” Scientists believe these coats, with their various chemical properties, control the way quantum dots interact with the biological environment that surrounds them. Then we evaluated how quantum dots performed in three commonly used brain-related models: cell cultures, rat brain slices and individual live rats.</p>
<p>We found that different chemical coats give quantum dots different behaviors. Quantum dots with a polymer coat of polyethylene glycol (PEG) were the most promising. They are more stable and less toxic in the rat brain, and at a certain dose don’t kill cells. It turns out that PEG-coated quantum dots activate a biological pathway that ramps up the production of a molecule that detoxifies metal. It’s a protective mechanism embedded in the cells that happens to ward off injury by quantum dots. </p>
<p>Quantum dots are also “eaten” by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/microglia">microglia</a>, the brain’s inner immune cells. These cells regulate inflammation in the brain and are involved in multiple brain disorders. Quantum dots are then transported to the microglia’s lysosomes, the cell’s garbage cans, for degradation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296743/original/file-20191012-96226-k0ck7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296743/original/file-20191012-96226-k0ck7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296743/original/file-20191012-96226-k0ck7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296743/original/file-20191012-96226-k0ck7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296743/original/file-20191012-96226-k0ck7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296743/original/file-20191012-96226-k0ck7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296743/original/file-20191012-96226-k0ck7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296743/original/file-20191012-96226-k0ck7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Quantum dots encounter different conditions in a cell, a slice of brain, or a live animal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/rat-brain-vector-illustration-625395848">Beatriz Gascon J/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But we also discovered that the behaviors of quantum dots vary slightly between cell cultures, brain slices and living animals. The simplified models may demonstrate how a part of the brain responds, but they are not a substitute for the entire organ. </p>
<p>For example, cell cultures contain brain cells but lack the connected cellular networks that tissues have. Brain slices have more structure than cell cultures, but they also lack the full organ’s blood-brain barrier – its “Great Wall” that prevents foreign objects from entering.</p>
<h2>What’s the future for quantum dots?</h2>
<p>Our results offer a warning: Nanomedicine research in the brain makes no sense without carefully considering the organ’s complexity. </p>
<p>That said, we think our findings can help researchers design quantum dots that are more suitable for use in living brains. For example, our research shows that PEG-coated quantum dots remain stable and relatively nontoxic in living brain tissue while having great imaging performance. We imagine they could be used to track real-time movements of viruses or cells in the brain.</p>
<p>In the future, along with MRI or CT scans, quantum dots may become vital imaging tools. They might also be used as traceable carriers that deliver drugs to specific cells. Ultimately, though, for quantum dots to realize their biomedical potential beyond research, scientists must address health and safety concerns. </p>
<p>Although there’s a long way to go, my colleagues and I hope the future for quantum dots may be as bright and colorful as the artificial atoms themselves.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mengying Zhang 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>These tiny nanoparticles might provide a new way to see what’s happening in the brain and even deliver treatments to specific cells – if researchers figure out how to use them safely and effectively.Mengying Zhang, PhD Candidate in Molecular Engineering and Sciences, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1222202019-08-23T12:48:42Z2019-08-23T12:48:42ZAlzheimer’s: carriers of risk gene show brain changes in their 20s – here’s why we shouldn’t worry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289065/original/file-20190822-170956-1sa2xi3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=215%2C89%2C5434%2C3485&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/hand-holding-paper-sheet-human-head-1221758086?src=RalI55W7sS9L68EwXctKvQ-1-5">StunningArt/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dramatic developments in genetics research and the availability of commercial genetics tests have put us in a very modern predicament – we can now find out (quickly, easily and cheaply) whether we <a href="https://theconversation.com/sequencing-your-genome-is-becoming-an-affordable-reality-but-at-what-personal-cost-36720">personally hold genetic risk factors</a> that put us at a substantially increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, we have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458018303348">recently shown</a> that brain changes can be identified in people holding these genetic risk variants as early as 20 years old.</p>
<p>Should we be testing ourselves? Should we worry? No. Here’s why:</p>
<p>Genetic research has revealed that some individuals carry variants of specific genes that confer an increased risk of developing <a href="https://youtu.be/wfLP8fFrOp0">Alzheimer’s disease</a> in later life. For example, carriers of the ε4 variant of the APOE gene are approximately <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8346443">three to eight times</a> more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease after age 60 than individuals without this variant. The more variants, the greater the risk – with a maximum of one inherited from each parent.</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458018303348">recent research</a>, we looked at these genetic factors in young people (around 20 years old, on average). We split them into “higher-risk” and “lower-risk” groups depending on whether they did or did not carry the APOE-ε4 gene variant, respectively.</p>
<p>Using <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001094520800110X?via%3Dihub">advanced brain imaging techniques</a>, we were able to show that it is possible to detect subtle differences in particular brain networks for the “higher-risk” young adults, several decades before any clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s emerge.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458018303348">brain structure</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep16322">function</a> were significantly different between the risk groups on average, it is very important to point out that not all “higher-risk” individuals go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease. (Note that we say “higher” not “high” risk.)</p>
<p>The brains of many of these individuals were comparable to those at lower risk. This means carrying a higher-risk gene variant does not necessarily lead to early brain changes, or an Alzheimer’s diagnosis <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6148649/">later in life</a>.</p>
<h1>Should I get tested?</h1>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289070/original/file-20190822-170951-k65352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289070/original/file-20190822-170951-k65352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289070/original/file-20190822-170951-k65352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289070/original/file-20190822-170951-k65352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289070/original/file-20190822-170951-k65352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289070/original/file-20190822-170951-k65352.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289070/original/file-20190822-170951-k65352.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">Oral swaps and saliva samples are used by Direct To Consumer commercial genetic tests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-woman-putting-ear-stick-into-446399410?src=9EmiICl3YxqNCikbeGBPhg-1-7">B-DSPiotrMarcinsk/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Public interest in genetics and gene testing is <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/17023/commercial-genetic-testing/">booming</a>. Recent times have also seen highly publicised incidences of people responding to their own genetic risk with drastic interventions. For instance, Angelina Jolie, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/angelina-jolie-pitts-surgery-is-just-one-option-for-women-at-risk-of-cancer-39329">has a faulty copy of the BRCA1 gene</a>, associated with breast cancer – and <a href="https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2013/05/14/angelina-jolie-inherited-breast-cancer-and-the-brca1-gene/">had elective surgery</a> to remove both breasts and some of her reproductive organs. </p>
<p>“Direct to consumer” genetic testing kits sold by companies now provide people with convenient and affordable access to their personal genetic information, including their genetic risk for specific diseases, including Alzheimer’s.</p>
<p>But the relatively low cost of these tests reflects the fact that they typically only cover a fraction of the genome. The results, therefore, neglect the contribution of the rest of the consumer’s genetic code. This will include other genes with protective, as well as negative, effects.</p>
<p>Of other concern, these tests have been shown to frequently generate false positive results: indeed, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/gim201838">one study found</a> approximately 40% of variants in a variety of genes reported in raw commercial genetic test data were false positives. This could lead to unnecessary distress, treatment and lifestyle adjustments. These tests also come with <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-not-prepared-for-the-genetic-revolution-thats-coming-96574">privacy and social concerns</a>.</p>
<p>On the upside, the popularity of commercial genetic testing partly reflects consumers’ positive desire to be proactive about their health. Consumers concerned about commercial genetic test findings should, however, request confirmatory tests from their clinician. These consumers should also understand that the disease risk reports they have purchased <a href="https://theconversation.com/genetic-home-testing-why-its-not-such-a-great-guide-to-your-ancestry-or-disease-risk-79604">at best provide a partial answer</a> to the question they are trying to address, because disease risk is about much more than genetics alone.</p>
<h1>I am at ‘higher’ risk of Alzheimer’s – what now?</h1>
<p>The next step for our research is to find out what leads some people at “higher-risk” to go on to develop these early brain changes, but not others. Do these people exercise or sleep less, maintain a poorer diet, or have poorer social relationships? Many possible answers involve lifestyle factors that could potentially be altered to “buffer” individuals against their genetic risk.</p>
<p>The only way to properly understand which lifestyle factors may have such a protective effect, is to study large numbers of people with varying degrees of genetic risk over several decades.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289068/original/file-20190822-170935-14g1d9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289068/original/file-20190822-170935-14g1d9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289068/original/file-20190822-170935-14g1d9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289068/original/file-20190822-170935-14g1d9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289068/original/file-20190822-170935-14g1d9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289068/original/file-20190822-170935-14g1d9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289068/original/file-20190822-170935-14g1d9z.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">Can lifestyle factors like reading, exercise and socialising protect us from our genetic risks as we age?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-father-reading-newspaper-his-son-407783782?src=x4nybLT4uGKUNNhWfSncQA-1-4">RomanSamborskyi/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We are part of an international team of scientists undertaking one such study, led by Professors <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/151224-graham-kim">Kim Graham</a> and <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/357091-lawrence-andrew">Andrew Lawrence</a> at Cardiff University. The project involves collecting advanced brain imaging and cognitive test data from a large group of approximately 240 young adults. These individuals are part of a <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/participants/">cohort</a> that has been studied since birth, so we can access a wealth of retrospective health and lifestyle data.</p>
<p>Smaller, isolated studies looking at lifestyle factors might currently be missing the big picture. Brain differences have been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3583203/">found</a> in these high risk groups between people who do and don’t exercise regularly. This could suggest exercise has a <a href="https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad091531">protective effect</a> on the brain, and may in turn mitigate Alzheimer’s risk. It could also be that exercisers engage in other “protective” behaviours like <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1586/ern.11.56">eating a healthier diet</a>. It is only with large-scale cohort studies that we can begin to disentangle the genetic and lifestyle contributions to cognitive performance, the brain and Alzheimer’s risk.</p>
<p>Finally, if you are considering making lifestyle changes to offset your “genetic risk” for Alzheimer’s, taking regular exercise and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is seldom bad advice. Other drastic lifestyle changes, however, are likely unjustified.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122220/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Mark Postans is currently supported by funding from the Medical Research Council (grant MR/N01233X/1; awarded to Professor Kim Graham at Cardiff University)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl J Hodgetts receives funding from Wellcome.</span></em></p>Scientists explain why commercial gene testing should be used with caution.Mark Postans, Postdoctoral research associate, Cardiff UniversityCarl Hodgetts, Research Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1087232019-01-31T23:00:57Z2019-01-31T23:00:57ZSuper Bowl: Why you don’t need an MRI to detect concussion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256219/original/file-20190130-108342-1m2qof9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman (11) and Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (42) collide during an NFL divisional playoff football game, Jan. 13, 2019, in Foxborough, Mass. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the run up to the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta, the NFL has announced a significant <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/49ers/article/NFL-says-concussions-down-by-23-8-this-season-13560399.php">drop in concussions</a> as a result of several safety-related rule changes. </p>
<p>Concussion, though, is a risk that affects everyone, not just elite sports players. Indeed, brain injury is a <a href="http://www.internationalbrain.org/brain-injury-facts/">leading cause of death and disability internationally</a> and the number of <a href="https://www.cihi.ca/en/heads-up-on-sport-related-brain-injuries-0">sports-related brain injuries is rising</a>, especially <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/specialties/sports-medicine/sports-medicine-articles/kids-sports-injuries-the-numbers-are-impressive">among children</a>.</p>
<p>After a concussion, many will seek medical care in the emergency room, a speciality clinic or with their own doctor. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is great for brain imaging, and so I often hear the comment that people are disappointed when they don’t get referred for an MRI. </p>
<p>Some say this is a sign of bad clinical care. When medical legal issues arise after concussion, some companies use a lack of an MRI as evidence that the injury wasn’t a problem.</p>
<p>However, as an imaging scientist and director of an <a href="https://www.ucalgary.ca/dunnimaging/">imaging lab at the University of Calgary</a>, I can tell you that MRI is not currently very useful in terms of diagnosing your concussion. </p>
<p>That’s because a standard clinical MRI is not sensitive to the distributed and microscopic injuries that occur in the brain with concussion.</p>
<h2>MRI detects structural brain changes</h2>
<p>MRI is great if you are looking for changes in the structure of the brain. This can happen after a stroke, during cancer or when there are large structural brain defects (like bits of missing brain, or hydrocephalus where the chambers or ventricles in the brain enlarge). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255964/original/file-20190128-108351-1v3xg2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255964/original/file-20190128-108351-1v3xg2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255964/original/file-20190128-108351-1v3xg2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255964/original/file-20190128-108351-1v3xg2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255964/original/file-20190128-108351-1v3xg2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255964/original/file-20190128-108351-1v3xg2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255964/original/file-20190128-108351-1v3xg2j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A concussion is a form of mild traumatic brain injury.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, one of the definitions of concussion is that there is no significant structural damage. And a standard clinical exam is not sensitive to the more subtle changes in structure that do occur with concussion. </p>
<p>Imagine the brain as a series of wires or axons (nerve fibres), with lots of other cells that support things like delivery of nutrients and dealing with inflammation. The injury probably involves disruption of the axons, damage to the cells in blood vessels that regulate flow and/or changes to the state of inflammation.</p>
<p>These changes are microscopic and subtle. They will not show up on a standard MRI, and so MRI is <a href="http://www.dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.2853">not recommended</a> for <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097699">diagnosis</a>.</p>
<p>The main reason to image the brain immediately after concussion is to rule out more serious injury — not to diagnose concussion. </p>
<p>The shaking, or impact, associated with an injury could cause damage to blood vessels and you could get bleeding. This is life-threatening and is why, if your symptoms are getting worse, you should go to emergency. </p>
<p>The standard imaging method for assessing bleeding is CT, not MRI. CT is faster, cheaper and very sensitive to bleeding.</p>
<h2>Promise for monitoring concussion</h2>
<p>MRI may not be diagnostic yet, but this is nonetheless an exciting time in terms of learning how MRI can be useful for monitoring concussion. </p>
<p>The communication networks in the brain consist of bundles of axons. Water diffuses along the bundles but not across them. By quantifying the extent and direction of water diffusion, images can be made of these large communication bundles (see below). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255959/original/file-20190128-108348-1ela6hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255959/original/file-20190128-108348-1ela6hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255959/original/file-20190128-108348-1ela6hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255959/original/file-20190128-108348-1ela6hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255959/original/file-20190128-108348-1ela6hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255959/original/file-20190128-108348-1ela6hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255959/original/file-20190128-108348-1ela6hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A structural MRI with an overlay of a speciality MRI, called diffusion tensor imaging, which is showing promise in detecting abnormalities after concussion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Catherine Lebel & Dr. Jess Reynolds, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2018.1463106">method, and others</a> — such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2018.1540798">perfusion MRI</a> — are showing promise in monitoring concussion.</p>
<h2>Newer imaging methods</h2>
<p>We do not have a complete understanding of the underlying damage in the brain during a concussion, but everyone reports changes in function. </p>
<p>These include feeling abnormal, more anxious or foggy. As a result, methods for imaging brain activity (functional MRI or fMRI) are also being investigated. </p>
<p>My lab embarked on a newer method for studying brain activity called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The underlying physiology of fMRI and fNIRS is similar in that they measure changes in blood oxygenation. When the brain activates, blood becomes more oxygenated. </p>
<p>We showed that, in people with long-term symptoms after concussion, there is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2014.3577">reduction in communication</a> between the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2017.5365">left and right side of the brain, measured with fNIRS</a>.</p>
<p>So you see, in 2019, having a regular MRI scan will not help in diagnosing concussion. MRI will help rule out more severe injuries such as bleeding, or even identify something you were not aware of — such as a tumour. </p>
<p>Developing a method to image concussion is a hot area of research and I’m optimistic that there will be many advances in the near future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108723/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeff F Dunn receives funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the National Science and Engineering Research Council.</span></em></p>A standard clinical MRI is not sensitive to the distributed and microscopic injuries in a concussed brain. But new discoveries are in the pipeline.Jeff F Dunn, Professor: Radiology, Physiology and Pharmacology, Clinical Neuroscience. Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/890772017-12-20T19:06:05Z2017-12-20T19:06:05ZNeuroscience in pictures: the best images of the year<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199811/original/file-20171218-27538-1dg7d1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neuroscientists require images to understand what's happening in the brain.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chase Sherwell/QBI</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To understand how the healthy brain works and what occurs in brain disease, neuroscientists use many microscopy techniques, ranging from whole-brain human MRIs to imaging within a single neuron (brain cell), creating stunning images in the process.</p>
<p>Here are a selection of the best and brightest produced by scientists at the <a href="http://qbi.uq.edu.au">Queensland Brain Institute</a> at <a href="http://uq.edu.au">The University of Queensland</a> in 2017.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199634/original/file-20171218-17889-cefuph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199634/original/file-20171218-17889-cefuph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199634/original/file-20171218-17889-cefuph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199634/original/file-20171218-17889-cefuph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199634/original/file-20171218-17889-cefuph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199634/original/file-20171218-17889-cefuph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199634/original/file-20171218-17889-cefuph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wei 'Leon' Luan/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is a side view of a mouse embryo’s brain. The axons of neurons (dark blue) that release dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in reward and pleasure, grow towards their target brain regions.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199652/original/file-20171218-27557-1h3so5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199652/original/file-20171218-27557-1h3so5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199652/original/file-20171218-27557-1h3so5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199652/original/file-20171218-27557-1h3so5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199652/original/file-20171218-27557-1h3so5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199652/original/file-20171218-27557-1h3so5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199652/original/file-20171218-27557-1h3so5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chase Sherwell/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As neuroscience becomes increasingly of public interest, researchers are striving to make their findings accessible, with parallels to the pop art movement. These are MRI images of the human brain.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199633/original/file-20171218-17878-1er5sm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199633/original/file-20171218-17878-1er5sm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199633/original/file-20171218-17878-1er5sm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199633/original/file-20171218-17878-1er5sm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199633/original/file-20171218-17878-1er5sm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199633/original/file-20171218-17878-1er5sm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199633/original/file-20171218-17878-1er5sm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Abdalla Mohamed, PhD student/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This image shows diffusion tensor imaging, an MRI-based neuroimaging technique, revealling the fibre tracts through the corpus callosum in a rodent brain. The corpus callosum links the brain’s left and right hemispheres to each other. The colours represent the different directions that the tracts are travelling through the brain. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Small-scale wonders</h2>
<p>The colourful image below shows the nanoscale movements of individual molecules that are critical in mediating communication between neurons. Knowing how these molecules are organised, and how they move, is at the heart of understanding the brain in health and disease.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199629/original/file-20171218-17869-1ngdb1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199629/original/file-20171218-17869-1ngdb1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199629/original/file-20171218-17869-1ngdb1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199629/original/file-20171218-17869-1ngdb1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199629/original/file-20171218-17869-1ngdb1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199629/original/file-20171218-17869-1ngdb1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199629/original/file-20171218-17869-1ngdb1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ravikiran Kasula/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199632/original/file-20171218-17845-1uihenl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199632/original/file-20171218-17845-1uihenl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199632/original/file-20171218-17845-1uihenl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199632/original/file-20171218-17845-1uihenl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199632/original/file-20171218-17845-1uihenl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199632/original/file-20171218-17845-1uihenl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199632/original/file-20171218-17845-1uihenl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Merja Joensuu/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They may look like fireworks, but this image shows nanoscopic movements of single actin molecules. Actin is an essential protein found in all cells of plants and animals, in this case, a neurosecretory cell, a specialised type of nerve cell that releases message molecules into the blood.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199659/original/file-20171218-27607-panpxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199659/original/file-20171218-27607-panpxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199659/original/file-20171218-27607-panpxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199659/original/file-20171218-27607-panpxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199659/original/file-20171218-27607-panpxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199659/original/file-20171218-27607-panpxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199659/original/file-20171218-27607-panpxs.jpg?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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lee Fletcher/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This image shows the activity of a single neuron (gold) in the brain region the cortex, recorded after the surrounding neurons (cream) are activated with a flash of light.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199630/original/file-20171218-17851-vlgreu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199630/original/file-20171218-17851-vlgreu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199630/original/file-20171218-17851-vlgreu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199630/original/file-20171218-17851-vlgreu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199630/original/file-20171218-17851-vlgreu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199630/original/file-20171218-17851-vlgreu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199630/original/file-20171218-17851-vlgreu.jpg?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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amandine Grimm/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The blue neuron, which could be a manta ray atop a coral reef, expresses a protein tagged with a fluorescent marker. The pink of surrounding cells is formed from endoplasmic reticulum, a cell structure important for processing and transporting proteins.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199650/original/file-20171218-27547-43c7ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199650/original/file-20171218-27547-43c7ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199650/original/file-20171218-27547-43c7ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199650/original/file-20171218-27547-43c7ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199650/original/file-20171218-27547-43c7ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199650/original/file-20171218-27547-43c7ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199650/original/file-20171218-27547-43c7ws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eline van de Ven/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This section of a mouse spinal cord shows a diversity of neuron types. The smaller neurons in pink are involved in pain and the large green neurons are involved in movement.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199639/original/file-20171218-27547-1tqz36f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199639/original/file-20171218-27547-1tqz36f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199639/original/file-20171218-27547-1tqz36f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199639/original/file-20171218-27547-1tqz36f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=215&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199639/original/file-20171218-27547-1tqz36f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199639/original/file-20171218-27547-1tqz36f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199639/original/file-20171218-27547-1tqz36f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amandine Grimm/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The organisation of neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region important for learning and memory, looks like a forest in snow. The “snow” is made of cell nuclei, which contain each cell’s genetic material. The “trees” are the neurons’ projections, along which electrical signals travel to enable communication with other cells.</p>
<hr>
<h2>The brain in disease</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199653/original/file-20171218-27541-4q3umn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199653/original/file-20171218-27541-4q3umn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199653/original/file-20171218-27541-4q3umn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199653/original/file-20171218-27541-4q3umn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199653/original/file-20171218-27541-4q3umn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199653/original/file-20171218-27541-4q3umn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199653/original/file-20171218-27541-4q3umn.jpg?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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Briner/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Alzheimer’s disease, tau protein (gold) becomes toxic as it builds up. It’s hard to believe these mesmerising, gem-like clusters can be so destructive.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199646/original/file-20171218-27585-4g58xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199646/original/file-20171218-27585-4g58xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199646/original/file-20171218-27585-4g58xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199646/original/file-20171218-27585-4g58xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199646/original/file-20171218-27585-4g58xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199646/original/file-20171218-27585-4g58xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199646/original/file-20171218-27585-4g58xw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kok-Siong Chen/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Understanding the characteristics of high-grade brain tumours is crucial to finding treatments for disease. High-resolution fluorescent imaging allows us to investigate how the normal brain cells become cancer cells and how they behave. This image demonstrates the infiltration process of the cancer cells (red) into the normal brain tissue (green).</p>
<hr>
<h2>Insights from nature</h2>
<p>Studying model organisms including sea creatures, zebrafish, and roundworms provides insight into vision, brain development, and nerve regeneration respectively. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199643/original/file-20171218-27585-1gvtptp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199643/original/file-20171218-27585-1gvtptp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199643/original/file-20171218-27585-1gvtptp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199643/original/file-20171218-27585-1gvtptp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199643/original/file-20171218-27585-1gvtptp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199643/original/file-20171218-27585-1gvtptp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199643/original/file-20171218-27585-1gvtptp.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"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wen-Sung Chung/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Deep-sea creatures, including this jewel squid, emit their own light for defence, to attract prey, and even to camouflage. At a depth of 600m, the bioluminescent flashes emitted from the light organs of the jewel squid are deadly attractive to prey.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199644/original/file-20171218-27557-amwot1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199644/original/file-20171218-27557-amwot1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199644/original/file-20171218-27557-amwot1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199644/original/file-20171218-27557-amwot1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199644/original/file-20171218-27557-amwot1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199644/original/file-20171218-27557-amwot1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199644/original/file-20171218-27557-amwot1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Miriam Henze/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Two retinas are visible in each eye of this mantis shrimp. Mantis shrimp have the most complex visual system in the world; they can see visible and UV light, and can reflect and detect circular polarising light, an extremely rare ability in nature.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199648/original/file-20171218-27554-1fyuszz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199648/original/file-20171218-27554-1fyuszz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199648/original/file-20171218-27554-1fyuszz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199648/original/file-20171218-27554-1fyuszz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199648/original/file-20171218-27554-1fyuszz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199648/original/file-20171218-27554-1fyuszz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199648/original/file-20171218-27554-1fyuszz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rumelo Amor/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These are neurons firing in the brain of a one-week old zebrafish, recorded in 3D using a custom-built microscope and colour-coded for depth. Imaging activity in the brains of young zebrafish could lead to an understanding of how the brain is shaped for function.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199641/original/file-20171218-27538-8e1h5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199641/original/file-20171218-27538-8e1h5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199641/original/file-20171218-27538-8e1h5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199641/original/file-20171218-27538-8e1h5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199641/original/file-20171218-27538-8e1h5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199641/original/file-20171218-27538-8e1h5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199641/original/file-20171218-27538-8e1h5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=770&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Xue Yan Ho/QBI</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A dish of <em>C. elegans</em> roundworms at different stages of their lifecycle. <em>C. elegans</em> is a simple, semi-transparent organism, making it an ideal model for researchers to study the nervous system.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>With thanks to QBI graphics designer Dr Nick Valmas, science writer Donna Lu and QBI PhD candidate Abdalla Z Mohamed.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89077/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>Take a look at some of the amazing neuroscience images out of the Queensland Brain Institute this year.Wei Luan, Postdoctoral Researcher, The University of QueenslandMerja Joensuu, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandRavi Kiran Kasula, PhD Student, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/862712017-11-13T02:55:20Z2017-11-13T02:55:20ZWhy it can make sense to believe in the kindness of strangers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193806/original/file-20171108-14182-1p5f2ol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When rain from Hurricane Harvey flooded Houston and surrounding areas, some people were more eager to volunteer than others.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/missouri-city-texas-august-29-2017-705372118?src=nmRy7Xx5DSFf5uJFfD-VTw-1-0">michelmond/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Would you risk your life for a total stranger?</p>
<p>While you might consider yourself incapable of acts of altruism on that scale, it happens again and again. During <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/03/us/houston-texas-harvey-heroes-trnd/index.html">hurricanes</a> and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/05/us/las-vegas-shooting-jonathan-smith-tom-mcgrath-hero-intv/index.html">mass shootings</a>, some people go to great lengths to help people they don’t even know while everyone else flees.</p>
<p>To learn whether this behavior comes more naturally to some of us than others, I partnered with Abigail Marsh and other neuroscientists working at the <a href="http://www.abigailmarsh.com/">Laboratory on Social and Affective Neuroscience</a> at Georgetown University. We studied the brains and behavior of some extraordinary altruists: people who have donated one of their own kidneys to a total stranger, known as nondirected donors. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x7EglP5A2Hg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Vox journalist Dylan Matthews explains in this video why he donated his left kidney to save a stranger’s life.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Unusually altruistic</h2>
<p>These kidney donors may never learn anything about the recipient. That means they are not making this personal sacrifice because a relative or someone they may interact with in the future would benefit.</p>
<p>What’s more, this act of altruism is costly in multiple ways. It is a major, painful surgery. Many donors end up <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajt.13591/abstract">paying thousands of dollars</a> out of pocket for medical and travel expenses, and they can lose out on salary and other earnings. </p>
<p>For the most part, there’s nothing to be gained in terms of the donor’s reputation. Many people, including some medical professionals, are skeptical about the motives of altruistic donors – even <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1034/j.1600-6143.2003.00019.x/abstract">questioning their sanity</a>. </p>
<p>These drawbacks help explain why altruistic kidney donation is extremely rare. Fewer than 2,000 people have done this to date in the United States since 1988, the first year with a recorded altruistic donor. That makes it something a mere one out of every 163,133 Americans have ever done.</p>
<p>And the norm is for living friends and family to donate kidneys to their loved ones. That was the case when celebrity Selena Gomez, who has lupus, got a new kidney from <a href="http://people.com/music/selena-gomez-kidney-donor-francia-raisa-all-about/">her best friend</a>, the actress Francia Raisa. </p>
<p>Most commonly, the kidneys of deceased organ donors are used in transplants for strangers. There are about twice as many transplants from deceased donors as transplants from living ones. </p>
<p>Deceased donors and living friends and family account for a total of 99.5 percent of all kidney transplants performed over the past three decades.</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<p><iframe id="LHG0m" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/LHG0m/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Mammalian brains</h2>
<p>Deep in the brains of all mammals – whether squirrel, bonobo or human – the same regions respond to distress and vulnerability. This response is especially common when babies cry out or appear threatened. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1731">most recent study</a>, we investigated whether those brain systems, which are responsible for making all mammals care about helpless youngsters, play a key role in making some people extremely altruistic. </p>
<p>There are two major regions in what brain scientists call the “offspring care neural network,” evolutionarily old structures deep in the brain called the amygdala and the periaqueductal gray.</p>
<p>The amygdala is a small almond-shaped structure in both hemispheres tucked below the cortex. (Amygdala means almond in Greek.) One of its main roles in the brain is picking up on important emotional cues.</p>
<p>Research has long established that the amygdala is largely responsible for <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/15/9/5879">recognizing</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.11.042">feeling</a> fear. </p>
<p>The periaqueductal gray is another small u-shaped structure at the base of the brain. It plays an important role in controlling basic behaviors like the impulse to cuddle a baby or the instinct to avoid predators. </p>
<p>Many studies have shown these structures and the connections between them are responsible for, say, motivating <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06875.x/abstract">female rats to take care of their pups</a> or making <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2010.10.017">humans want to console crying babies</a>.</p>
<p>Responding to distressed offspring is such a strong survival instinct that it can even cross species. A deer, for example, will respond when it <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/677677">hears a crying human infant</a>.</p>
<p>Other research by Marsh’s lab has studied how people respond when they sense that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000054">others are afraid</a> and feel an urge to comfort them. </p>
<p>The sight of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699930600652234">frightened faces can evoke helping behavior</a>. And people who are good at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.239">noticing that someone is afraid</a> just by seeing their face tend to be more altruistic than the rest of us.</p>
<p>Scientists have long hypothesized that the care people extend to strangers may be a sort of extension of our most basic impulses to take care of our own kids. Scientists also believe that the ancient brain structures humans share with other mammals trigger these responses.</p>
<h2>A test</h2>
<p>To learn more about the brains of extremely altruistic people, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1731">did an experiment</a> with people who had donated one of their kidneys to someone they didn’t know. In our study, we asked these extreme altruists to read scenarios, some of which described people who were the target of harmful or callous behavior, and rate how much sympathy they felt. We did the same thing with a control group of people who had not donated a kidney. </p>
<p>Before reading some of these scenarios, we presented photos of fearful faces. These images were fleeting, lasting only 27 milliseconds. That means the participants couldn’t consciously recognize what they saw. Meanwhile, we scanned their brains.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193810/original/file-20171108-14177-13vdbwh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193810/original/file-20171108-14177-13vdbwh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193810/original/file-20171108-14177-13vdbwh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193810/original/file-20171108-14177-13vdbwh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193810/original/file-20171108-14177-13vdbwh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193810/original/file-20171108-14177-13vdbwh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193810/original/file-20171108-14177-13vdbwh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193810/original/file-20171108-14177-13vdbwh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brain scan made by the researchers showing how the amygdalas of altruistic kidney donors respond more strongly than average.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found some interesting effects while reviewing images captured during this experiment. Most notably, the amygdalas and their periaqueductal gray were more active for kidney donors than people in our control group, with stronger reactions to fearful and distressed stimuli. </p>
<p>What we found suggests that these two regions might be communicating or otherwise working together. We further tested this finding by looking at another aspect of our brain scans that allowed us to analyze how these two regions are connected by nerve cells.</p>
<p>My colleague <a href="https://aamarsh.wordpress.com/lab/">Katherine O'Connell</a>, a doctoral student, found that there seemed to be greater structural connections between these two regions too. These connections may help nerve impulses travel between them.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193812/original/file-20171108-14209-1wy0fqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193812/original/file-20171108-14209-1wy0fqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193812/original/file-20171108-14209-1wy0fqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193812/original/file-20171108-14209-1wy0fqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193812/original/file-20171108-14209-1wy0fqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193812/original/file-20171108-14209-1wy0fqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193812/original/file-20171108-14209-1wy0fqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193812/original/file-20171108-14209-1wy0fqj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Altruists have stronger-than-average structural connections between the amygdala and periaqueductal gray, the parts of the brain shown here.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katherine O'Connell</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Understanding altruism</h2>
<p>To be sure, more studies will have to be done to confirm our results before we can be sure how the offspring care neural network contributes to human altruism.</p>
<p>But our findings reinforce earlier neuroscience research that found that the amygdala and periaqeuductal gray, and communication between them, play an important role in caring for distressed and vulnerable others across all mammals – including humans.</p>
<p>These findings also build on our own prior research with altruistic kidney donors. In those earlier studies, we detected <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1408440111">stronger amygdala responses</a> when the donors glimpsed the faces of people who were feeling fear and that while altruistic kidney donors value friends and family as others do, they <a href="http://rdcu.be/rJ93">tend to be more generous</a> toward strangers.</p>
<p>Our study of the brains of real-world altruists backs up these theories. Caring about someone you have never met, what we learned suggests, may have a lot in common with caring about the people you love. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BZBHr4Pg5Wd/?taken-by=selenagomez","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>A grant from the John Templeton Foundation supported research on the neuroscience of altruism conducted by Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz and her colleagues at Georgetown University.</span></em></p>Caring about someone you have never met, this new brain research suggests, may have a lot in common with caring about the people you love.Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz, Postdoctoral Researcher in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/839302017-11-02T02:55:11Z2017-11-02T02:55:11ZBrain science should be making prisons better, not trying to prove innocence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192826/original/file-20171101-19858-1aguezj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neuroscience can help incarcerated brains.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-a-man-in-window-143580/">Donald Tong</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every week, I wait for the cold steel bars to close behind me, for count to be called, and for men who have years – maybe the rest of their lives – to spend in this prison to come talk with me. I am a clinical psychologist who studies chronic antisocial behavior. My staff and I converted an office in a Connecticut state prison into research space that allows us to measure neural and behavioral responses.</p>
<p>Recently, Joe, a man serving a life sentence, came into our prison lab. Before I could even review our research consent form, he said, “You know it is all about the brain.” Joe asked if we could provide evidence that “something” in his brain was responsible for his crime. If not, could we just “zap” his brain to remove bad “stuff,” like on TV? </p>
<p>In that moment, I realized that he, like many other inmates and people in the general public, holds unfounded expectations about the wonders of neuroscience. They believe that researchers like me now can so clearly trace connections between brain and behavior that we can use our knowledge to determine guilt or innocence, decide criminal sentences or definitively assess risk and needs.</p>
<p>These expectations place a great burden on a science still in its infancy. There are many concerns about the appropriate use of neuroscience in a criminal justice setting. But there are plenty of well-supported neuroscientific findings that could make a real difference in our correctional system right now – both for those who are incarcerated and everyone else.</p>
<h2>What’s still neuroscience fiction</h2>
<p>Despite what Hollywood portrays in TV shows like “<a href="https://www.nbc.com/law-order?nbc=1">Law & Order</a>” or in movies like “<a href="http://sideeffectsmayvary.com">Side Effects</a>” and “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/">Minority Report</a>,” much of the science that makes for good entertainment doesn’t actually exist.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192836/original/file-20171101-19889-1of5lxd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Is it or is it not true that your brain made you do it?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://allthingslawandorder.blogspot.com/2011/12/law-order-svu-spiraling-down-recap.html">NBC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For instance, despite Joe’s request, we can’t just peek into a brain and see clear evidence of innocence or guilt. A brain scan can’t show beyond a reasonable doubt that certain structures or abnormalities affected the mental state of a particular individual at the time of a crime. Electrical activity in the brain as measured by an EEG can’t distinguish between criminal conduct and common forms of antisocial behavior such as lying or cheating – qualitatively different behaviors. </p>
<p>As of yet, there’s no neuroscience measure that can predict whether an individual will engage in criminal conduct in the future. And neuroscience is no better at providing mitigating evidence during sentencing than other more reliable and less expensive tools, like a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9343-2">history</a> of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579498001539">exposure</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204013506920">violence</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, when neuroscientific assessments are presented to the court, they <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/27977480">can sway juries, regardless of their relevance</a>. Using these techniques to produce expert evidence doesn’t bring the court any closer to truth or justice. And with a single brain scan costing thousands of dollars, plus expert interpretation and testimony, it’s an expensive tool out of reach for many defendants. Rather than helping untangle legal responsibility, neuroscience here causes an even deeper divide between the rich and the poor, based on pseudoscience.</p>
<p>While I remain skeptical about the use of neuroscience in the judicial process, there are a number of places where its findings could help corrections systems develop policies and practices based on evidence.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/192886/original/file-20171101-19850-mc9vhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A prisoner poses inside his solitary confinement cell at the Washington Corrections Center, where he spends 23 hours a day alone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Solitary-Confinement-Nature/fb8738ef11674a6ea9c7855046a62f0e/1/0">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Solitary confinement harms more than helps</h2>
<p>Take, for instance, the use within prisons of solitary confinement as a punishment for disciplinary infractions. In 2015, the Bureau of Justice reported that nearly 20 percent of federal and state prisoners and 18 percent of local jail inmates <a href="https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5433">spent time in solitary</a>. </p>
<p>Research consistently demonstrates that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.140.11.1450">time spent in solitary</a> increases the chances of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128702239239">persistent emotional trauma and distress</a>. <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/dag/file/815551/download">Solitary can lead to</a> hallucinations, fantasies and paranoia; it can increase anxiety, depression and apathy as well as difficulties in thinking, concentrating, remembering, paying attention and controlling impulses. People placed in solitary are more likely to engage in self-mutilation as well as exhibit chronic rage, anger and irritability. The term “isolation syndrome” has even been coined to capture the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/barack-obama-why-we-must-rethink-solitary-confinement/2016/01/25/29a361f2-c384-11e5-8965-0607e0e265ce_story.html">severe and long-lasting effects</a> of solitary.</p>
<p>At first glance, replacing solitary confinement with other forms of disciplinary action may appear only to improve the lives of inmates, always a hard sell for the public and for some politicians. But keeping prisoners isolated for 23 hours a day also poses grave dangers for correctional personnel who need to manage and interact with someone who is now even more likely to act out, be less able to follow direction and who perceives the environment in a distorted way.</p>
<p>The use of solitary actually exacerbates the problems it tries to address. And when inmates are released to the community, they bring all the negative consequences of this treatment with them.</p>
<h2>Living within a prison environment</h2>
<p>A neuroscience-informed approach would also suggest a number of improvements to today’s overburdened American prisons.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nationinside.org/campaign/prison-ecology/">Prison Ecology Project</a> maps the intersection of mass incarceration and environmental degradation. It reports that at least 25 percent of California state prisons have been cited for major water pollution problems. In Colorado, 13 prisons are located in contaminated areas that violate standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. And in several other states there are known ecological violations in overpopulated prisons.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10190">Overcrowding contributes to deficits</a> in the neural mechanisms needed for managing stress. <a href="http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?2002/5/17/35/31836">Noise pollution increases stress hormones and cardiovascular risks</a>. Ecological toxins, such as inadequate sewage and waste disposal, poor water quality, and the presence of asbestos and lead produce deficits and dysfunctions in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031912-114413">brain</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1280407/">behavior</a>. These factors negatively affect brain regions responsible for emotion, cognition and behavioral control and worsen already problematic behavioral tendencies.</p>
<p>Importantly, the effects are felt not only by the inmates. Prison personnel work long hours in the same environment. <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/208756NCJRS.pdf">Correctional officers</a> have higher rates of mortality, stress disorders, divorce, substance abuse <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13811119708258270">and suicide</a> than workers in many other occupations. They, along with inmates, are being poisoned by an environment that is toxic on a number of levels. Their families and communities feel the effects, too, when these workers return home suffering the physical and mental health consequences of such dangerous conditions.</p>
<h2>Neuroscience approaches to mental health</h2>
<p>On any given day, <a href="http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/storage/documents/treatment-behind-bars/treatment-behind-bars.pdf">up to a fifth</a> of incarcerated American adults <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18086741">suffer from serious mental illness</a>. Personality, mood, trauma and psychotic disorders are prevalent; substance use disorders are widespread. <a href="https://www.appi.org/American_Psychiatric_Association_Publishing_Textbook_of_Forensic_Psychiatry_Third_Edition">These disorders</a> often are linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.180.6.490">impulsivity and violence</a>. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some prison counseling programs try to help mentally ill inmates learn more about their conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Prisons-Mental-Health/2335976428be4dbc9b0bd649a2dd4265/7/0">AP Photo/Mike Groll</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Neuroscience can help replace the current “one size fits all” approach to treating the sorts of personality and substance use disorders that affect so many incarcerated individuals. These disorders have various subtypes, each with different underlying mechanisms that have different appropriate treatments. Whether through the use of psychotherapy or psychopharmacology, treating them all the same can actually worsen symptoms and contribute to recidivism.</p>
<p>My own research provides one successful example of how neuroscience can help practitioners target treatment to specific skills deficits particular to various offenders. We found that six weeks of computerized cognitive training aimed at helping inmates with specific cognitive-affective dysfunctions – such as paying attention to different pieces of information in their environment or acting without overreacting to emotion – resulted in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702614560744">significant neural and behavioral changes</a>. By matching the treatment to the underlying cognitive-affective dysfunctions, we were able to change the neural and behavioral problems of some of the most hard-to-treat offenders.</p>
<p>Similarly, there is evidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2012.04.033">strategies targeting empathy</a> in specific types of offenders lead to lasting behavior change, even in populations considered to be the most recalcitrant.</p>
<p>A more personalized treatment approach is very cost-effective, both in terms of resource utilization and its effect on recidivism. Unfortunately, it’s not currently the norm in most prison mental health programs or, for that matter, in treatment outside the prison system. </p>
<h2>Using the solid neuroscience we do have</h2>
<p>So, for now, Joe, I’m sorry we cannot help “prove” your lack of criminal intent and I don’t think that we are going to be “zapping” your brain any time soon. </p>
<p>But neuroscience can improve the current criminal justice landscape, which is plagued by racial, ethnic and economic disparities. Strategies based on robust, empirical neuroscientific evidence can provide win-win outcomes for correctional personnel, inmates and society at large. Improving conditions for all those who work and live on the inside will also improve public safety when inmates are released.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83930/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arielle Baskin-Sommers receives funding from National Institutes of Health and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. </span></em></p>Hollywood pushes a fantasy version of what neuroscience can do in the courtroom. But the field does have real benefits to offer, right now: solid evidence on what would improve prisons.Arielle Baskin-Sommers, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Yale UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/839462017-10-20T01:14:09Z2017-10-20T01:14:09ZHow seeing problems in the brain makes stigma disappear<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189030/original/file-20171005-15464-vaswym.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A pair of identical twins. The one on the right has OCD, while the one on the left does not.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brain Imaging Research Division, Wayne State University School of Medicine</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a psychiatrist, I find that one of the hardest parts of my job is telling parents and their children that they are not to blame for their illness.</p>
<p>Children with emotional and behavioral problems continue to suffer considerable stigma. Many in the medical community refer to them as “diagnostic and therapeutic orphans.” Unfortunately, for many, access to high-quality mental health care remains elusive.</p>
<p>An accurate diagnosis is the best way to tell whether or not someone will <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781119958338">respond well to treatment</a>, though that can be far more complicated than it sounds.</p>
<p>I have written three textbooks about using medication in children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems. I know that this is never a decision to take lightly. </p>
<p>But there’s reason for hope. While not medically able to diagnose any psychiatric condition, dramatic advances in brain imaging, genetics and other technologies are helping us objectively identify mental illness.</p>
<h2>Knowing the signs of sadness</h2>
<p>All of us experience occasional sadness and anxiety, but persistent problems may be a sign of a deeper issue. Ongoing issues with sleeping, eating, weight, school and pathologic self-doubt may be signs of <a href="http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596">depression, anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder</a>.</p>
<p>Separating out normal behavior from problematic behavior can be challenging. Emotional and behavior problems can also vary with age. For example, depression in pre-adolescent children <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1993.tb01094.x">occurs equally in boys and girls</a>. During adolescence, however, depression rates increase much <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0743558400154003">more dramatically in girls</a> than in boys.</p>
<p>It can be very hard for people to accept that they – or their family member – are not to blame for their mental illness. That’s partly because there are no current objective markers of psychiatric illness, making it difficult to pin down. Imagine diagnosing and treating cancer based on history alone. Inconceivable! But that is exactly what mental health professionals do every day. This can make it harder for parents and their children to accept that they don’t have control over the situation. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there are now excellent <a href="https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/ask-and-learn/screenings">online tools</a> that can help parents and their children screen for <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/index.shtml">common mental health issues</a> such as depression, anxiety, panic disorder and more.</p>
<p>Most important of all is making sure your child is assessed by a licensed mental health professional experienced in diagnosing and treating children. This is particularly important when medications that affect the child’s brain are being considered. </p>
<h1>Seeing the problem</h1>
<p>Thanks to recent developments in genetics, neuroimaging and the science of mental health, it’s becoming easier to characterize patients. New technologies may also make it easier to predict who is more likely to respond to a particular treatment or experience side effects from medication. </p>
<p>Our laboratory has used brain MRI studies to help unlock the underlying anatomy, chemistry and physiology underlying OCD. This repetitive, ritualistic illness – while sometimes used among laypeople to describe someone who is uptight – is actually a serious and often devastating behavioral illness that can paralyze children and their families. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189033/original/file-20171005-9757-kwjovr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189033/original/file-20171005-9757-kwjovr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189033/original/file-20171005-9757-kwjovr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189033/original/file-20171005-9757-kwjovr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189033/original/file-20171005-9757-kwjovr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189033/original/file-20171005-9757-kwjovr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189033/original/file-20171005-9757-kwjovr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189033/original/file-20171005-9757-kwjovr.png?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">In children with OCD, the brain’s arousal center, the anterior cingulate cortex, is ‘hijacked.’ This causes critical brain networks to stop working properly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/126375/fnhum-09-00149-HTML/image_m/fnhum-09-00149-g001.jpg">Image adapted from Diwadkar VA, Burgess A, Hong E, Rix C, Arnold PD, Hanna GL, Rosenberg DR. Dysfunctional activation and brain network profiles in youth with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A focus on the dorsal anterior cingulate during working memory. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2015; 9: 1-11.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Through sophisticated, high-field brain imaging techniques – such as fMRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy – that have become available recently, we can actually measure the child brain to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00149">see malfunctioning areas</a>. </p>
<p>We have found, for example, that children 8 to 19 years old with OCD never get the “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2016.12.005">all clear signal</a>” from a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex. This signal is essential to feeling safe and secure. That’s why, for example, people with OCD may continue checking that the door is locked or repeatedly wash their hands. They have striking brain abnormalities that appear to normalize with effective treatment.</p>
<p>We have also begun a pilot study with a pair of identical twins. One has OCD and the other does not. We found brain abnormalities in the affected twin, but not in the unaffected twin. Further study is clearly warranted, but the results fit the pattern we have found in larger studies of children with OCD before and after treatment as compared to children without OCD.</p>
<p>Exciting brain MRI and genetic findings are also being reported in childhood <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780195398212.003.0009">depression</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2009.05.004">non-OCD anxiety</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0595">bipolar disorder</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.b.32542">ADHD</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2013.06.004">schizophrenia</a>, among others.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the field of psychiatry continues to grow. For example, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2009.12.022">new techniques</a> may soon be able to identify children at increased genetic risk for psychiatric illnesses such as <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00050">bipolar disorder</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00071">schizophrenia</a>. </p>
<p>New, more sophisticated brain imaging and genetics technology actually allows doctors and scientists to see what is going on in a child’s brain and genes. For example, by using MRI, our laboratory discovered that the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200009000-00008">brain chemical glutamate</a>, which serves as the brain’s “light switch,” plays a <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1521/capn.2010.15.6.6">critical role</a> in childhood OCD.</p>
<h1>What a scan means</h1>
<p>When I show families their child’s MRI brain scans, they often tell me they are relieved and reassured to “be able to see it.” </p>
<p>Children with mental illness continue to face enormous stigma. Often when they are hospitalized, families are frightened that others may find out. They may hesitate to let schools, employers or coaches know about a child’s mental illness. They often fear that other parents will not want to let their children spend too much time with a child who has been labeled mentally ill. Terms like “psycho” or “going mental” remain part of our everyday language. </p>
<p>The example I like to give is epilepsy. Epilepsy once had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/13/i-willed-him-to-wake-up-epilepsy-in-art-and-in-life">all the stigma</a> that mental illness today has. In the Middle Ages, one was considered to be possessed by the devil. Then, more advanced thinking said that people with epilepsy were crazy. Who else would shake all over their body or urinate and defecate on themselves but a crazy person? Many patients with epilepsy were locked in lunatic asylums. </p>
<p>Then in 1924, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16334737">psychiatrist Hans Berger</a> discovered something called the electroencephalogram (EEG). This showed that epilepsy was caused by electrical abnormalities in the brain. The specific location of these abnormalities dictated not only the diagnosis but the appropriate treatment. </p>
<p>That is the goal of modern biological psychiatry: to unlock the mysteries of the brain’s chemistry, physiology and structure. This can help better diagnose and precisely treat childhood onset mental illness. Knowledge heals, informs and defeats ignorance and stigma every time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83946/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rosenberg receives funding from the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation, Detroit, MI, and a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH59299).</span></em></p>It can be very hard for people to accept that they – or their family member – are not to blame for their mental illness. Seeing the evidence in a scan can make a difference.David Rosenberg, Professor, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/777592017-06-14T02:23:03Z2017-06-14T02:23:03ZHelping or hacking? Engineers and ethicists must work together on brain-computer interface technology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173203/original/file-20170609-4841-73vkw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A subject plays a computer game as part of a neural security experiment at the University of Washington.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patrick Bennett</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the 1995 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112462/">“Batman Forever</a>,” the Riddler used 3-D television to secretly access viewers’ most personal thoughts in his hunt for Batman’s true identity. By 2011, the metrics company <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-room/2011/nielsen-acquires-neurofocus.html">Nielsen had acquired Neurofocus</a> and had created a “consumer neuroscience” division that uses <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/consumer-neuroscience.html">integrated conscious and unconscious data</a> to track customer decision-making habits. What was once a nefarious scheme in a Hollywood blockbuster seems poised to become a reality.</p>
<p>Recent announcements <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/27/15077864/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-computer-interface-ai-cyborgs">by Elon Musk</a> <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/19/facebook-brain-interface/">and Facebook</a> about <a href="https://theconversation.com/melding-mind-and-machine-how-close-are-we-75589">brain-computer interface (BCI) technology</a> are just the latest headlines in an ongoing science-fiction-becomes-reality story.</p>
<p>BCIs use brain signals to control objects in the outside world. They’re a potentially world-changing innovation – imagine being paralyzed but able to “reach” for something with a prosthetic arm <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/12/21/jan_scheuermann_footage_of_paralyzed_woman_eating_chocolate_with_robotic.html">just by thinking about it</a>. But the revolutionary technology also raises concerns. Here at the University of Washington’s Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (<a href="http://www.csne-erc.org/">CSNE</a>) we and our colleagues are researching BCI technology – and a crucial part of that includes working on issues such as neuroethics and neural security. Ethicists and engineers are working together to understand and quantify risks and develop ways to protect the public now. </p>
<h2>Picking up on P300 signals</h2>
<p>All BCI technology relies on being able to collect information from a brain that a device can then use or act on in some way. There are numerous places from which signals can be recorded, as well as infinite ways the data can be analyzed, so there are many possibilities for how a BCI can be used.</p>
<p>Some BCI researchers zero in on one particular kind of regularly occurring brain signal that alerts us to important changes in our environment. Neuroscientists call these signals “<a href="https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-6748.57865">event-related potentials</a>.” In the lab, they help us identify a reaction to a stimulus.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172819/original/file-20170607-29557-1ggtcor.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172819/original/file-20170607-29557-1ggtcor.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172819/original/file-20170607-29557-1ggtcor.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172819/original/file-20170607-29557-1ggtcor.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172819/original/file-20170607-29557-1ggtcor.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172819/original/file-20170607-29557-1ggtcor.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172819/original/file-20170607-29557-1ggtcor.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172819/original/file-20170607-29557-1ggtcor.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Examples of event-related potentials (ERPs), electrical signals produced by the brain in response to a stimulus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tamara Bonaci</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In particular, we capitalize on one of these specific signals, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2715154/">called the P300</a>. It’s a positive peak of electricity that occurs toward the back of the head about 300 milliseconds after the stimulus is shown. The P300 alerts the rest of your brain to an “oddball” that stands out from the rest of what’s around you.</p>
<p>For example, you don’t stop and stare at each person’s face when you’re searching for your friend at the park. Instead, if we were recording your brain signals as you scanned the crowd, there would be a detectable P300 response when you saw someone who could be your friend. The P300 carries an unconscious message alerting you to something important that deserves attention. These signals are part of a still unknown brain pathway that aids in detection and focusing attention.</p>
<h2>Reading your mind using P300s</h2>
<p>P300s reliably occur any time you notice something rare or disjointed, like when you find the shirt you were looking for in your closet or your car in a parking lot. Researchers can use the P300 in an experimental setting to determine what is important or relevant to you. That’s led to the creation of devices like spellers that allow paralyzed individuals to type using their thoughts, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(88)90149-6">one character at a time</a>.</p>
<p>It also can be used to determine what you know, in what’s called a “<a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3109/00207458808985770">guilty knowledge test</a>.” In the lab, subjects are asked to choose an item to “steal” or hide, and are then shown many images repeatedly of both unrelated and related items. For instance, subjects choose between a watch and a necklace, and are then shown typical items from a jewelry box; a P300 appears when the subject is presented with the image of the item he took.</p>
<p>Everyone’s P300 is unique. In order to know what they’re looking for, researchers need “training” data. These are previously obtained brain signal recordings that researchers are confident contain P300s; they’re then used to calibrate the system. Since the test measures an unconscious neural signal that you don’t even know you have, can you fool it? Maybe, if you <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2004.00158.x">know that you’re being probed and what the stimuli are</a>.</p>
<p>Techniques like these are still considered unreliable and unproven, and thus U.S. courts have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2007.58.4.460">resisted admitting P300 data as evidence</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172821/original/file-20170607-25764-pbljrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172821/original/file-20170607-25764-pbljrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172821/original/file-20170607-25764-pbljrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172821/original/file-20170607-25764-pbljrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172821/original/file-20170607-25764-pbljrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172821/original/file-20170607-25764-pbljrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172821/original/file-20170607-25764-pbljrg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172821/original/file-20170607-25764-pbljrg.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">For now, most BCI technology relies on somewhat cumbersome EEG hardware that is definitely not stealth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Stone, University of Washington</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Imagine that instead of using a P300 signal to solve the mystery of a “stolen” item in the lab, someone used this technology to extract information about what month you were born or which bank you use – without your telling them. Our research group has <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/33808">collected data suggesting this is possible</a>. Just using an individual’s brain activity – specifically, their P300 response – we could determine a subject’s preferences for things like favorite coffee brand or favorite sports.</p>
<p>But we could do it only when subject-specific training data were available. What if we could figure out someone’s preferences without previous knowledge of their brain signal patterns? Without the need for training, users could simply put on a device and go, skipping the step of loading a personal training profile or spending time in calibration. Research on trained and untrained devices is the subject of <a href="http://brl.ee.washington.edu/neural-engineering/bci-security/">continuing experiments at the University of Washington</a> <a href="https://perso.uclouvain.be/fstandae/PUBLIS/190.pdf">and elsewhere</a>. </p>
<p>It’s when the technology is able to “read” someone’s mind who isn’t actively cooperating that ethical issues become particularly pressing. After all, we willingly trade bits of our privacy all the time – when we open our mouths to have conversations or use GPS devices that allow companies to collect data about us. But in these cases we consent to sharing what’s in our minds. The difference with next-generation P300 technology under development is that the protection consent gives us may get bypassed altogether.</p>
<p>What if it’s possible to decode what you’re thinking or planning without you even knowing? Will you feel violated? Will you feel a loss of control? Privacy implications may be wide-ranging. Maybe advertisers could know your preferred brands and send you personalized ads – which may be convenient or creepy. Or maybe malicious entities could determine where you bank and your account’s PIN – which would be alarming. </p>
<h2>With great power comes great responsibility</h2>
<p>The potential ability to determine individuals’ preferences and personal information using their own brain signals has spawned a number of difficult but pressing questions: Should we be able to keep our neural signals private? That is, should neural security <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40504-017-0050-1">be a human right</a>? How do we <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2427564">adequately protect and store all the neural data</a> being recorded for research, and soon for leisure? How do consumers know if any protective or anonymization measures are being made with their neural data? As of now, neural data collected for commercial uses are not subject to the same legal protections covering <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/index.html">biomedical research or health care</a>. Should neural data be treated differently?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172822/original/file-20170607-25764-qhx5o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172822/original/file-20170607-25764-qhx5o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172822/original/file-20170607-25764-qhx5o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172822/original/file-20170607-25764-qhx5o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172822/original/file-20170607-25764-qhx5o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172822/original/file-20170607-25764-qhx5o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172822/original/file-20170607-25764-qhx5o4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172822/original/file-20170607-25764-qhx5o4.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">Neuroethicists from the UW Philosophy department discuss issues related to neural implants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Stone, University of Washington</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These are the kinds of conundrums that are best addressed by neural engineers and ethicists working together. Putting ethicists in labs alongside engineers – <a href="http://www.csne-erc.org/research/neuroethics">as we have done at the CSNE</a> – is one way to ensure that privacy and security risks of neurotechnology, as well as other ethically important issues, are an active part of the research process instead of an afterthought. For instance, Tim Brown, an ethicist at the CSNE, is “housed” within a neural engineering research lab, allowing him to have daily conversations with researchers about ethical concerns. He’s also easily able to interact with – and, in fact, interview – research subjects about their <a href="http://www.csne-erc.org/engage-enable/post/ethics-cornerstone-neural-engineering-research">ethical concerns about brain research</a>. </p>
<p>There are important ethical and legal lessons to be drawn about technology and privacy from other areas, such as <a href="https://www.genome.gov/27561246/privacy-in-genomics">genetics</a> and <a href="http://www.theneuroethicsblog.com/2011/08/ethical-dimenstions-of-neuromarketing.html">neuromarketing</a>. But there seems to be something important and different about reading neural data. They’re more intimately connected to the mind and who we take ourselves to be. As such, ethical issues raised by BCI demand special attention.</p>
<h2>Working on ethics while tech’s in its infancy</h2>
<p>As we wrestle with how to address these privacy and security issues, there are two features of current P300 technology that will buy us time.</p>
<p>First, most commercial devices available use dry electrodes, which rely solely on skin contact to conduct electrical signals. This technology is prone to a low signal-to-noise ratio, meaning that we can extract only relatively basic forms of information from users. The brain signals we record are known to be highly variable (even for the same person) due to things like electrode movement and the constantly changing nature of brain signals themselves. Second, electrodes are not always in ideal locations to record.</p>
<p>All together, this inherent lack of reliability means that BCI devices are not nearly as ubiquitous today as they may be in the future. As electrode hardware and signal processing continue to improve, it will be easier to continuously use devices like these, and make it easier to extract personal information from an unknowing individual as well. The safest advice would be to not use these devices at all.</p>
<p>The goal should be that the ethical standards and the technology will mature together to ensure future BCI users are confident their privacy is being protected as they use these kinds of devices. It’s a rare opportunity for scientists, engineers, ethicists and eventually regulators to work together to create even better products than were originally dreamed of in science fiction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eran Klein a member of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) at the University of Washington which receives funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Pratt works for the Electrical Engineering department at the University of Washington in Seattle, and is affiliated with the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE). Katherine Pratt receives funding from the National Science Foundation and Technology Policy Lab, and has also previously received support from Google. The CSNE partners with the companies listed at <a href="http://csne-erc.org/content/current-members">http://csne-erc.org/content/current-members</a></span></em></p>BCI devices that read minds and act on intentions can change lives for the better. But they could also be put to nefarious use in the not-too-distant future. Now’s the time to think about risks.Eran Klein, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neurology at Oregon Health and Sciences University and Affiliate Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of WashingtonKatherine Pratt, Ph.D. Student in Electrical Engineering, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/772312017-05-08T15:27:44Z2017-05-08T15:27:44ZBrain-imaging modern people making Stone Age tools hints at evolution of human intelligence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168412/original/file-20170508-20729-j1gfbg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C349%2C4330%2C3096&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The stone flakes are flying, but what brain regions are firing?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shelby S. Putt</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How did humans get to be so smart, and when did this happen? To untangle this question, we need to know more about the intelligence of our human ancestors who lived 1.8 million years ago. It was at this point in time that a new type of stone tool hit the scene and the human brain nearly doubled in size. </p>
<p>Some researchers have suggested that this more advanced technology, coupled with a bigger brain, implies a higher degree of intelligence and perhaps even the first signs of language. But all that remains from these ancient humans are fossils and stone tools. Without access to a time machine, it’s difficult to know just what cognitive features these early humans possessed, or if they were capable of language. Difficult – but not impossible.</p>
<p>Now, thanks to cutting-edge brain imaging technology, my interdisciplinary research team is learning just how intelligent our early tool-making ancestors were. By scanning the brains of modern humans today as they make the same kinds of tools that our very distant ancestors did, we are <a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0102">zeroing in on what kind of brainpower is necessary</a> to complete these tool-making tasks.</p>
<h2>A leap forward in stone tool technology</h2>
<p>The stone tools that have survived in the archaeological record can tell us something about the intelligence of the people who made them. Even our earliest human ancestors were no dummies; there is evidence for stone tools as early as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14464">3.3 million years ago</a>, though they were probably making tools from perishable items even earlier. </p>
<p>As early as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/385333a0">2.6 million years ago</a>, some small-bodied and small-brained human ancestors chipped small flakes off of larger stones to use their sharp cutting edges. These types of stone tools belong to what is known as the <a href="http://www.stoneageinstitute.org/pdfs/oldowan-ch1-schick-toth.pdf">Oldowan industry</a>, named after <a href="http://www.olduvai-gorge.org/aboutus.html">Olduvai Gorge</a> in Tanzania, where remains of some of the earliest humans and their stone implements have been found.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168149/original/file-20170505-19124-13y70ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168149/original/file-20170505-19124-13y70ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168149/original/file-20170505-19124-13y70ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168149/original/file-20170505-19124-13y70ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168149/original/file-20170505-19124-13y70ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168149/original/file-20170505-19124-13y70ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168149/original/file-20170505-19124-13y70ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168149/original/file-20170505-19124-13y70ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=666&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 more basic Oldowan chopper (left) and the more advanced Acheulian handaxe (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shelby S. Putt, courtesy of the Stone Age Institute</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Around 1.8 million years ago, also in East Africa, a new type of human emerged, one with a larger body, a larger brain and a new toolkit. This toolkit, called the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221285110">Acheulian industry</a>, consisted of shaped core tools that were made by removing flakes from stones in a more systematic manner, leading to a flat handaxe with sharp edges all the way around the tool.</p>
<p>Why was this novel Acheulian technology so important for our ancestors? At a time <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1236828">when the environment and food resources were somewhat unpredictable</a>, early humans probably began to rely on technology more often to access food items that were more difficult to obtain than, say, low-hanging fruits. Meat, underground tubers, grubs and nuts may all have been on the menu. Those individuals with the better tools gained access to these energy-dense foods, and they and their offspring reaped the benefits. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0099">One group of researchers</a> has suggested that human language may have evolved by piggybacking on a preexisting brain network that was already being used for this kind of complex tool manufacture.</p>
<p>So were the Acheulian toolmakers smarter than any human relative that lived prior to 1.8 million years ago, and is this potentially the point in human evolution when language emerged? We used a neuroarchaeological approach to answer these questions.</p>
<h2>Imaging brain activity now to reconstruct brain activity in the past</h2>
<p>My research team, which consists of paleoanthropologists at the <a href="http://www.stoneageinstitute.org/staff.html">Stone Age Institute</a> and the <a href="https://clas.uiowa.edu/anthropology/people/robert-g-franciscus">University of Iowa</a> and <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/psychology/people/profile/s-wijeakumar">neuroscientists</a> at the <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/psychology/people/profile/j-spencer">University of East Anglia</a>, recruited modern human beings – all we have at our disposal these days – whose brains we could image while they made Oldowan and Acheulian stone tools. Our volunteers were recreating the behaviors of early humans to make the same types of tools they made so long ago; we can assume that the areas of their modern human brains that light up when making these tools are the same areas that were activated in the distant past.</p>
<p>We used a brain imaging technology called <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10538119/85/part/P1">functional near-infrared spectroscopy</a> (fNIRS). It is unique among brain imaging techniques because it allows the person whose brain is being imaged to sit up and move her arms, unlike other techniques that do not allow any movement at all.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168414/original/file-20170508-20740-iavw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168414/original/file-20170508-20740-iavw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168414/original/file-20170508-20740-iavw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168414/original/file-20170508-20740-iavw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168414/original/file-20170508-20740-iavw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168414/original/file-20170508-20740-iavw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168414/original/file-20170508-20740-iavw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168414/original/file-20170508-20740-iavw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Participants in the study made stone tools while their brain activity was measured with fNIRS.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shelby S. Putt</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each of the subjects who participated in this study attended multiple training sessions to learn how to make Oldowan and Acheulian tools before going in for the final test – making tools while hooked up to the fNIRS system. </p>
<p>We needed to control for language in the design of our experiment to test the idea that language and tool-making share a common circuit in the brain. So we divided the participants into two groups: One learned to make stone tools via video with language instructions; the other group learned via the same videos, but with the audio muted, so without language.</p>
<p>If language and tool-making truly share a co-evolutionary relationship, then even those participants who were placed in the nonverbal group should still use language areas of the brain while making a stone tool. This is the result we should expect if language processing and stone tool production require the same neural circuitry in the brain. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Training video shown to participants. The verbal group heard the instructor’s voiced instructions, while the nonverbal group watched a muted version.</span></figcaption>
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<p>During the neuroimaging session, we had the participants complete three tasks: a motor baseline task during which they struck two round stones together without attempting to make flakes; an Oldowan task that involved making simple flakes without trying to shape the core; and an Acheulian task where they attempted to shape the core into a handaxe through a more advanced flake removal procedure.</p>
<h2>The evolution of human-like cognition</h2>
<p><a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/s41562-017-0102">What we found</a> was that only the participants who learned to make stone tools with language instruction used language processing areas of the brain. This probably means that they were recalling verbal instructions they’d heard during their training sessions. That explains why <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0001">earlier studies</a> that did not control for language instruction in their experiment design found that stone tool production activates language processing areas of the brain. Those language areas lit up not because of anything intrinsic to making stone tools, but because while participants worked on the tools they also were likely playing back in their minds the language-based instruction they’d received.</p>
<p>Our study showed that people could make stone tools without activating language-related brain circuits. That means, then, that we can’t confidently state at this point that stone tool manufacture played a major role in the evolution of language. When exactly language made its appearance is therefore still a mystery to be solved. </p>
<p>We also discovered that Oldowan tool-making mainly activates brain areas involved in visual inspection and hand movement. More advanced Acheulian tool-making recruits a higher-order cognitive network that spans across a large portion of the cerebral cortex. This Acheulian cognitive network is involved in higher-level motor planning and holding in mind multi-sensory information using <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/working%20memory.html">working memory</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168416/original/file-20170508-20761-1n0jopz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168416/original/file-20170508-20761-1n0jopz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168416/original/file-20170508-20761-1n0jopz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168416/original/file-20170508-20761-1n0jopz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168416/original/file-20170508-20761-1n0jopz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=194&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168416/original/file-20170508-20761-1n0jopz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168416/original/file-20170508-20761-1n0jopz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168416/original/file-20170508-20761-1n0jopz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=243&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Areas of the brain that form the Acheulian cognitive network that are also active when trained pianists play the piano.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shelby S. Putt</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It turns out that this Acheulian cognitive network is the same one that comes online <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.10.044">when a trained pianist plays the piano</a>. This does not necessarily mean that early humans could play Chopin. But our result may mean that the brain networks we rely on today to complete complex tasks involving multiple forms of information, such as playing a musical instrument, were likely evolving around 1.8 million years ago so that our ancestors could make relatively complex tools to exploit energy-dense foods.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shelby Putt received funding from the Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, and the American Association of University Women. </span></em></p>We can’t observe the brain activity of extinct human species. But we can observe modern brains doing the things that our distant ancestors did, looking for clues about how ancient brains worked.Shelby Putt, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Stone Age Institute and The Center for Research into the Anthropological Foundations of Technology, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/744602017-03-16T12:30:30Z2017-03-16T12:30:30ZThe brain: a radical rethink is needed to understand it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161216/original/image-20170316-10925-148wlrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Has neuroscience been on the wrong track for centuries?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/31290193@N06/5621741844/in/photolist-5GhxMn-9hiPC-5UPJ7n-c27Be9-c27vR7-5Vi6z4-5Vi6FV-5Vnsx3-bpSxdB-7nBTuf-dYocn5-5VnsDf-mxeWUb-4uNsCX-6L4net-yBNSqL-6tgcSC-9yLTZw-9yHNe2-7kHkjn-bWEZpA-Fuz2cu">Justin Pickard/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Understanding the human brain is arguably the greatest challenge of modern science. The <a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/paulbroca">leading approach</a> for most of the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=020xAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=how+to+read+character:+a+new+illustrated+hand-book&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=how%20to%20read%20character%3A%20a%20new%20illustrated%20hand-book&f=false">past 200 years</a> has been to link its functions to different brain regions or even individual neurons (brain cells). But recent research <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v10/n3/abs/nrn2575.html">increasingly suggests</a> that we may be taking completely the wrong path if we are to ever understand the human mind.</p>
<p>The idea that the brain is made up of numerous regions that perform specific tasks is known as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-our-modular-brain-pieces-the-world-together-58990">modularity</a>”. And, at first glance, it has been successful. For example, it can provide an explanation for how we recognise faces by activating a chain of specific brain regions in the <a href="http://brainmadesimple.com/occipital-lobe.html">occipital</a> and <a href="http://brainmadesimple.com/temporal-lobe.html">temporal lobes</a>. Bodies, however, are processed by a different set of brain regions. And scientists believe that yet other areas – memory regions – help combine these perceptual stimuli to create holistic representations of people. The activity of certain brain areas has also been <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-little-known-brain-region-can-tell-us-about-depression-60410">linked to specific conditions and diseases</a>.</p>
<p>The reason this approach has been so popular is partly due to technologies which are giving us unprecedented insight into the brain. <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-scanners-allow-scientists-to-read-minds-could-they-now-enable-a-big-brother-future-72435">Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)</a>, which tracks changes in blood flow in the brain, allows scientists to see brain areas light up in response to activities – helping them map functions. Meanwhile, <a href="https://theconversation.com/exciting-cells-and-controlling-heartbeats-could-optogenetics-create-drug-free-treatments-56539">Optogenetics</a>, a technique that uses genetic modification of neurons so that their electrical activity can be controlled with light pulses – can help us to explore their specific contribution to brain function.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">FMRI scan during working memory tasks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FMRI_scan_during_working_memory_tasks.jpg">John Graner/wikipedia</a></span>
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<p>While both approaches generate <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140106103741.htm">fascinating results</a>, it is not clear whether they will ever provide a meaningful understanding of the brain. A neuroscientist who finds a correlation between a neuron or brain region and a specific but in principle arbitrary physical parameter, such as pain, will be tempted to draw the conclusion that this neuron or this part of the brain controls pain. This is ironic because, even in the neuroscientist, the brain’s inherent function is to find correlations – in whatever task it performs.</p>
<p>But what if we instead considered the possibility that all brain functions are distributed across the brain and that all parts of the brain contribute to all functions? If that is the case, correlations found so far may be a perfect trap of the intellect. We then have to solve the problem of how the region or the neuron type with the specific function interacts with other parts of the brain to generate meaningful, integrated behaviour. So far, there is no general solution to this problem – just hypotheses in specific cases, such as for recognising people. </p>
<p>The problem can be illustrated by a recent study which found that the psychedelic drug LSD can <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-lsd-helped-us-probe-what-the-sense-of-self-looks-like-in-the-brain-57703">disrupt the modular organisation</a> that can explain vision. What’s more, the level of disorganisation is linked with the severity of the the “breakdown of the self” that people commonly experience when taking the drug. The study found that the drug affected the way that several brain regions were communicating with the rest of the brain, increasing their level of connectivity. So if we ever want to understand what our sense of self really is, we need to understand the underlying connectivity between brain regions as part of a complex network. </p>
<h2>A way forward?</h2>
<p>Some researchers <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-new-phrenology/">now believe</a> the brain and its diseases in general can only be understood as an <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v10/n3/abs/nrn2575.html">interplay between tremendous numbers of neurons distributed across the central nervous system</a>. The function of any one neuron is dependent on the functions of all the thousands of neurons it is connected to. These, in turn, are dependent on those of others. The same region or the same neuron may be used across a huge number of contexts, but have different specific functions depending on the context. </p>
<p>It may indeed be a tiny perturbation of these interplays between neurons that, through avalanche effects in the networks, causes conditions like depression or Parkinson’s disease. Either way, we need to understand the mechanisms of the networks in order to understand the causes and symptoms of these diseases. Without the full picture, we are not likely to be able to successfully cure these and many other conditions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160690/original/image-20170314-10745-ns2bxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160690/original/image-20170314-10745-ns2bxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160690/original/image-20170314-10745-ns2bxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160690/original/image-20170314-10745-ns2bxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160690/original/image-20170314-10745-ns2bxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160690/original/image-20170314-10745-ns2bxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160690/original/image-20170314-10745-ns2bxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of neural connections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Schultz/wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In particular, neuroscience needs to start investigating how network configurations arise from the brain’s lifelong attempts to make sense of the world. We also need to get a clear picture of how the cortex, brainstem and cerebellum interact together with the muscles and the tens of thousands of optical and mechanical sensors of our bodies to create one, integrated picture. </p>
<p>Connecting back to the physical reality is the only way to understand how information is represented in the brain. One of the reasons we have a nervous system in the first place is that the evolution of mobility required a controlling system. Cognitive, mental functions – and even thoughts – can be regarded as mechanisms that evolved in order <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3619124/">to better plan for the consequences</a> of movement and actions.</p>
<p>So the way forward for neuroscience may be to focus more on general neural recordings (with optogenetics or fMRI) – without aiming to hold each neuron or brain region responsible for any particular function. This could be fed into theoretical network research, which has the potential to account for a variety of observations and provide an integrated functional explanation. In fact, such a theory should help us design experiments, rather than only the other way around.</p>
<h2>Major hurdles</h2>
<p>It won’t be easy though. Current technologies are expensive – there are major financial resources as well as national and international prestige invested in them. Another obstacle is that the human mind tends to prefer simpler solutions over complex explanations, even if the former can have limited power to explain findings.</p>
<p>The entire relationship between neuroscience and the pharmaceutical industry is also built on the modular model. Typical strategies when it comes to common neurological and psychiatric diseases are to identify one type of receptor in the brain that can be targeted with drugs to solve the whole problem.</p>
<p>For example, SSRIs – which block absorption of serotonin in the brain so that more is freely available – are currently used to treat a number of different mental health problems, including depression. But they don’t work for many patients and there may be a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172306/">placebo effect involved when they do</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, epilepsy is today widely seen as a single disease and is <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Epilepsy/Pages/Introduction.aspx">treated with anticonvulsant drugs</a>, which work by dampening the activity of <em>all</em> neurons. Such drugs don’t work for everyone either. Indeed, it could be that any minute perturbation of the circuits in the brain – arising from one of thousands of different triggers unique to each patient – could push the brain into an epileptic state.</p>
<p>In this way, neuroscience is gradually losing compass on its purported path towards understanding the brain. It’s absolutely crucial that we get it right. Not only could it be the key to understanding some of the biggest mysteries known to science – such as consciousness – it could also help treat a huge range of debilitating and costly health problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74460/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henrik Jörntell receives funding from the Swedish Research Council, Hjärnfonden, the EC-FP7 and NIH USA. </span></em></p>There’s both money and prestige invested in the simple idea that different brain areas are responsible for certain functions. But that doesn’t make it true.Henrik Jörntell, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/731172017-02-20T01:22:02Z2017-02-20T01:22:02ZImaging study confirms differences in ADHD brains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157049/original/image-20170215-27402-1pt6mqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A study has found there are differences in the brains of people with ADHD. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com.au</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The prestigious journal <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(17)30049-4/fulltext">The Lancet</a> has published a large study identifying differences in the brains of people diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). </p>
<p>It found ADHD is associated with the delayed development of five brain regions, and should be considered a brain disorder. This is vindication for people experiencing ADHD whose diagnosis is <a href="https://theconversation.com/youngest-in-class-twice-as-likely-to-take-adhd-medication-71331">sometimes called into question</a> as an invented condition used to label normal children who are not meeting unrealistic expectations of “normal” behaviours.</p>
<h2>The study and its findings</h2>
<p>Researchers from 23 centres in nine countries scanned the brains of people of aged four to 63 years, 1,713 with and 1,529 without ADHD. When they analysed all the data they found people with ADHD had slightly smaller brains overall, and in five of the seven specific regions there was a definite but very slight reduction in size.</p>
<p>They found these differences were more marked in children. When they analysed separately those who had and had not been treated with stimulant medication, they found no effect of medication. This suggests the differences are related to ADHD, and not an effect of treatment. </p>
<h2>Not all cases of ADHD are the same</h2>
<p>One important limitation of looking at brain images of people with ADHD relates to the <a href="http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596">diagnosis of ADHD</a>, which is based on a person meeting a certain set of clinical criteria. Some of these are outcome-based and relate to a person’s ability to carry out tasks. For example, they may avoid tasks that require mental effort or leave tasks incomplete. </p>
<p>The result of this - fewer tasks completed - could have more than one possible cause. The lack of precision in the cause makes it difficult to align the diagnosis exactly with brain images.</p>
<p>Inefficiencies in the “thinking” function of the brain (called “executive functioning deficits”) have been identified in people with ADHD. These inefficiencies would make it harder for people with ADHD to carry out certain tasks, such as tasks that take a long time, are difficult and are not constantly rewarding or reinforcing. Therefore a person with ADHD might find motivation for homework extremely difficult to sustain, but electronic games could hold their attention for a far longer period.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm">diagnostic criteria for ADHD</a> ignore the emotional aspect. Using present diagnostic criteria, at least 40% of individuals with ADHD also meet diagnostic criteria for oppositional defiant disorder, a childhood behavioural problem characterised by a negative attitude, disobedience and hostility. </p>
<p>An even larger proportion probably have features of oppositional defiant disorder but do not reach the diagnostic threshold. This very substantial overlap requires explanation. The findings of the Lancet paper may indicate there is an emotional component that is intrinsic to ADHD.</p>
<p>It is possible some people with ADHD do not experience an adequate level of emotional satisfaction or sense of achievement in completing everyday tasks. This deficiency in the emotional reward could be an additional problem for some people with ADHD. These individuals would find tasks not only more difficult but also less satisfying, reducing their motivation to achieve. They might also be more moody and disagreeable.</p>
<p>Individuals with a combination of reduced emotional satisfaction (sometimes termed “reward deficiency”) and executive functioning deficits, would have <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1039856213517949">two different mechanisms that would each serve to reduce</a> their productivity. </p>
<p>Both of these mechanisms would contribute to their symptoms of ADHD, as they would result in fewer tasks completed. So because there is more than one possible underlying mechanism contributing to certain features of ADHD, it could be anticipated that a large cohort of individuals with ADHD would show a mixed picture, with a variety of different brain structures affected. </p>
<p>This would reflect differences in the balance of the deficits contributing to their symptoms. The study results are consistent with this concept – the scans show there is no single brain difference that can categorically diagnose ADHD, but they do involve brain centres related to emotion.</p>
<h2>A valid pathology</h2>
<p>The differences in the brains of people with ADHD confirm it is a valid diagnosis and the problems experienced by people with ADHD are genuine. </p>
<p>However, neuroscience has moved ahead of the clinical understanding of ADHD that is based on the definition in the <a href="https://psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</a>. </p>
<p>We need more sophisticated but clinically relevant models that recognise ADHD results from a <a href="http://www.intechopen.com/books/adhd-new-directions-in-diagnosis-and-treatment/therapy-for-adhd-directed-towards-addressing-the-dual-imbalances-in-mental-effort-and-reward-as-illu">combination of deficits that interact</a> to produce varying symptoms for every person who experiences ADHD.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73117/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Poulton owns shares in in GSK and has consulted and received non-financial support from Shire. She has received funding from the Australian Women and Children's Research Foundation. She is affiliated with the Australian Medical Association. </span></em></p>This week, the prestigious journal The Lancet published a large study identifying objective differences in the brains of people diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.Alison Poulton, Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics, Sydney Medical School Nepean, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/638132016-09-29T20:08:14Z2016-09-29T20:08:14ZEveryone’s different: what parts of the brain make our personalities so unique?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137686/original/image-20160914-4936-1ihm9d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Because everyone is different, psychologists have long debated how to characterise personality.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/beautyisintheeye2/15521669960/in/photolist-pDABHj-aiFiJD-a1XehG-9xrJQt-m7QQgG-agE9Pa-fSXY5-e3eqvr-zbaYaW-gBGYH-7z3iQx-zBwUYH-5jufDb-7seAyF-arMviZ-5jpWYa-8SQ5hq-8FxQQ6-7fBZu1-7z75Dw-pbDV69-kJxsec-4YpHr-8mTCZ3-6AUXhm-7F568S-6Ny7sN-7F5671-5Ly6k3-95E8D5-bBtVH-8SQ4VA-9QCvzw-KG98y-298da-Cxriz1-e8gQ4i-eVnL3r-c5xdef-pkTRug-6HMM3q-CA5dY9-DxpS5N-DvgpUQ-A9xfhH-eiYwS6-8SQ4y5-f83g4R-8SLZP4-kJyHNW">Szoki Adams/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The brain is key to our existence, but there’s a long way to go before neuroscience can truly capture its staggering capacity. For now though, our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/brain-control-series-31489">Brain Control</a> series explores what we do know about the brain’s command of six central functions: <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-brain-regions-control-our-language-and-how-do-we-know-this-63318">language</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-emotion-centre-is-the-oldest-part-of-the-human-brain-why-is-mood-so-important-63324">mood</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-capable-of-infinite-memory-but-where-in-the-brain-is-it-stored-and-what-parts-help-retrieve-it-63386">memory</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-people-cant-see-but-still-think-they-can-heres-how-the-brain-controls-our-vision-63323">vision</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-our-brain-controls-movement-and-makes-new-connections-when-parts-are-damaged-63520">motor skills</a> and personality – and what happens when things go wrong.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Personality is a broad term describing how people <a href="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/150/4/443">habitually relate to the world</a> and their inner self. After the developmental period through childhood and adolescence, these patterns of relating remain reasonably stable through life. They are then <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1838804.Psychology">referred to as traits</a> and influence behaviour, thinking, motivation and emotion.</p>
<p>Since everyone is different in their own way, <a href="http://projects.ori.org/lrg/PDFs_papers/Goldberg.Am.Psych.1993.pdf">psychologists have debated</a> how to characterise personality. The most popular approach has so far been to <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ps.41.020190.002221">use five dimensions</a>: openness to experience (curious or cautious), conscientiousness (organised or careless), extraversion (outgoing or solitary), agreeableness (friendly or detached) and neuroticism (nervous or secure). </p>
<p>A <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1992-25763-001">self-report questionnaire</a> is often used to give a score to each dimension, which then describes someone’s personality. These descriptions have been used to understand normal and abnormal behaviour, and to predict work success, academic achievement and interpersonal relationships. </p>
<p>Both genetic and environmental factors determine someone’s personality. Genes <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1399-0004.1994.tb04214.x/abstract">account for between 30-50%</a> of the determination and the rest is made up largely of environmental experiences unique to the individual. </p>
<h2>History of personality</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139385/original/image-20160927-20144-15ztr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139385/original/image-20160927-20144-15ztr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139385/original/image-20160927-20144-15ztr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139385/original/image-20160927-20144-15ztr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139385/original/image-20160927-20144-15ztr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139385/original/image-20160927-20144-15ztr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1720&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139385/original/image-20160927-20144-15ztr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1720&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139385/original/image-20160927-20144-15ztr1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1720&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An iron rod was driven through Gage’s head, destroying most of his left frontal lobe and resulting in a profound change in his personality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phineas_Gage_GageMillerPhoto2010-02-17_Unretouched_Color_CroppedEmphasizingIron.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Understanding the neurological physiology of personality is sometimes seen as the holy grail of psychology, and was the topic of Sigmund <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/122132968218?lpid=107&chn=ps">Freud’s first paper</a>, Project for a Scientific Psychology, in 1895.</p>
<p>Early developments in this field came from historical case descriptions. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114479/">classical case is of Phineas Gage</a> (1823-60), an American railroad worker who had a large iron rod driven completely through his head in an accident, which destroyed most of his left frontal lobe and resulted in a profound personality change. </p>
<p>After the accident, Gage was described as having become “fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting… little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires.”</p>
<p>From this case, the frontal lobes, which occupy the front third of the brain, <a href="http://people.hss.caltech.edu/%7Esteve/files/grafman.pdf">emerged as the seat of higher functions</a> such as judgement, motivation, regulation of behaviour and social consciousness. </p>
<p>Later, in the early 20th century, neuroanatomists identified the limbic lobe – an arc-shaped part of the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes that sits in the middle of the brain – as the seat of emotion. It was recognised as <a href="http://www.springer.com/la/book/9783540346845">making an important contribution</a> to personality. </p>
<p>As our understanding evolved, personality has been regarded as a composite of character and temperament. </p>
<h2>Temperamental traits</h2>
<p>Temperament is understood as the way the body produces behaviour. It <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8038587">refers to certain biases</a> an individual has when responding to external stimuli.</p>
<p>A well-established model proposes that whereas personality traits are based on habitual behaviour, temperamental traits are <a href="http://www.lww.co.uk/kaplan-and-sadocks-comprehensive-textbook-of-psychiatry">someone’s predispositions</a> when it comes to four areas: harm avoidance, novelty seeking, reward dependence, and persistence. These are closely related to basic emotions such as fear, anger, attachment and ambition. </p>
<p>High harm-avoidance leads to avoiding behaviours that don’t produce reward or cause punishment; as in people who are shy, uncertain or socially inhibited.</p>
<p>Individuals with such traits have <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19904278">increased activity in the fear circuit of the brain</a>, involving the amygdala and other structures of the limbic lobe.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139505/original/image-20160927-30419-1c3barj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139505/original/image-20160927-30419-1c3barj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139505/original/image-20160927-30419-1c3barj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139505/original/image-20160927-30419-1c3barj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139505/original/image-20160927-30419-1c3barj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139505/original/image-20160927-30419-1c3barj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139505/original/image-20160927-30419-1c3barj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139505/original/image-20160927-30419-1c3barj.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">Individuals who are shy have high activity in the fear circuit of the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This activity has been linked to abnormalities in two neurotransmitters: serotonin and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA). Modulating these with drugs – such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs that include Prozac) and benzodiazepines, <a href="https://theconversation.com/weekly-dose-valium-the-safer-choice-that-led-to-dependence-and-addiction-59824">including Valium</a> – can help people with depressive, anxious and obsessive thoughts.</p>
<p>Novelty seeking leads to exploration and individuals high on this trait are curious, quick-tempered, impulsive and easily bored. They have <a href="http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v17/n8/full/nn.3743.html">increased activity in the basal ganglia</a>, which are clumps of neurons sitting in the middle of the brain. This trait has also been linked to the so-called pleasure molecule dopamine, which acts on the basal ganglia, and changes in this pathway are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16715055">associated with seeking novelty in different ways</a>. </p>
<p>People with high reward dependence seek social rewards and are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8038587">likely to be socially sensitive</a> and reliant on social approval. Those low on this trait are tough-minded, cold and aloof.</p>
<p>The temporal lobes of the brain play a major role in how we process social cues, and increased activity in the anterior part of these lobes and in a brain structure called the thalamus has been <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21126511">related to higher levels of reward</a> dependence.</p>
<p>Persistence leads to the maintenance of a behaviour despite fatigue, repetitiveness and frustration, and often results in such qualities as industriousness and determination. The regions of the brain particularly important for this include the inner and lower parts of the frontal lobes, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21126511">especially those called the anterior cingulate and the orbitofrontal cortex</a>, and their networks that involve the basal ganglia.</p>
<p>Persistence is loosely related to motivation. Emotion plays a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23329161">major role in maintaining this drive</a>, as basic emotions, such as happiness, tend to energise behaviour and lack of emotion has the opposite effect.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139679/original/image-20160929-27026-18nqblu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139679/original/image-20160929-27026-18nqblu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139679/original/image-20160929-27026-18nqblu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139679/original/image-20160929-27026-18nqblu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139679/original/image-20160929-27026-18nqblu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139679/original/image-20160929-27026-18nqblu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139679/original/image-20160929-27026-18nqblu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1449&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="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-emotion-centre-is-the-oldest-part-of-the-human-brain-why-is-mood-so-important-63324">The emotion centre is the oldest part of the human brain: why is mood so important?</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>Researchers have attempted to examine whether brains of high achieving people, such as Einstein, are different. While there <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23161163">have been reports</a> that brain regions involved in numerical and spatial abilities (mid-frontal and inferior parietal regions) were larger and the bundle of <a href="http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/09/24/brain.awt252">fibres connecting the two halves of the brain</a> (corpus callosum) was thicker, <a href="http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/users/elise/Alberts_brain.pdf">there is no consensus</a> that Einstein’s brain was remarkably different from others. </p>
<p>There is, however, considerable evidence that people with higher intelligence, as measured on psychometric tests, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9246731">have larger brains on the average</a>. Geniuses whose brains have been studied and found to be large include Carl Gauss (mathematician), Rudolf Wagner (composer) and Vladimir Lenin (political leader), although there are also many exceptions to this rule.</p>
<h2>Character</h2>
<p>Character involves an individual’s goals and values in relation to oneself and others. It is the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8038587">conceptual core of personality</a> and involves complex higher functions such as reasoning, abstraction, concept formation and interpretation of symbols.</p>
<p>A network involving the frontal, temporal and parietal lobes is <a href="http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(15)00816-8">important for these functions</a>, with reasoning and abstraction being largely frontal lobe functions, symbolic representation served by the temporal and parietal lobes and formation of new memories facilitated by the hippocampus and the memory network. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-capable-of-infinite-memory-but-where-in-the-brain-is-it-stored-and-what-parts-help-retrieve-it-63386">We're capable of infinite memory, but where in the brain is it stored, and what parts help retrieve it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Interaction of these networks with regions regulating temperament and emotion leads to the emergence of individual personality. It is important to emphasise that no particular personality characteristic comes from a specific brain region, as the brain operates as a complex network. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139507/original/image-20160928-30448-1xniwas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139507/original/image-20160928-30448-1xniwas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139507/original/image-20160928-30448-1xniwas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139507/original/image-20160928-30448-1xniwas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139507/original/image-20160928-30448-1xniwas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139507/original/image-20160928-30448-1xniwas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139507/original/image-20160928-30448-1xniwas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139507/original/image-20160928-30448-1xniwas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1080&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 suffering from dissociative identity disorder have been reported to have reduced volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala and reduced activity of the orbitofrontal cortex.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is also considerable redundancy in these networks, as they have an innate ability to compensate, <a href="http://www.normandoidge.com/?page_id=1259">sometimes referred to as neuroplasticity</a>. An excellent example of neuroplasticity was demonstrated in <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/97/8/4398.full">London taxi drivers who were shown</a> to have increased grey matter in the back part of their hippocampi – related to spatial representation of the environment - when compared to those who weren’t professional drivers. </p>
<p>Neuroplasticity is <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12783955">instrumental in recovery from brain injury</a>, such as after a stroke, when other parts of the brain take over some of the functions of injured regions.</p>
<p>Not uncommonly, a problem in brain development or the failure of adaptive mechanisms leads to the development of personality disorder. This is when a person has an enduring pattern of behaviour and ways of thinking that deviates from social and cultural norms, causing distress. </p>
<p>Researchers have begun to look at the neurological biology of various personality disorders. One subject of interest has been multiple personality disorder, now referred to as dissociative identity disorder. People suffering from this have been reported to have <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16585437">reduced volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala</a> and reduced activity of the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17961993">orbitofrontal cortex</a>. These have been linked to childhood trauma which results in abnormal regulation of emotion. </p>
<p>While we have come a long way from the days of phrenology, when personality was read by feeling bumps on the head, the neurological biology of normal and abnormal aspects of personality is only beginning to be understood. What is clear though, is that personality comes from a complex neural construct, shaped by genetics and early developmental experiences that influence the structure and function of the brain.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Read the other articles on Brain Control <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/brain-control-series-31489">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63813/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Perminder Sachdev receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Australian Research Council (ARC). He also has funding support from a number off oundations, including the Vincent Fairfax Foundation, the Holden Foundation, the Yulgilbar Foundation, and the Rebecca Cooper Foundation. </span></em></p>Both genetic and environmental factors determine someone’s personality. Genes account for between 30-50% of the determination and unique environmental experiences making up the rest.Perminder Sachdev, Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), School of Psychiatry, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/629722016-08-01T20:10:18Z2016-08-01T20:10:18ZMapping the brain: scientists define 180 distinct regions, but what now?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132565/original/image-20160801-25650-rlx3mk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A team of American researchers have mapped the cerebral cortex into 180 distinct regions. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In big news for neuroscience, a team of American researchers recently <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature18933.html">mapped the human brain’s outler layer, the cerebral cortex</a>, into 180 distinct regions. </p>
<p>Using imaging data from the <a href="http://www.humanconnectomeproject.org">Human Connectome Project</a> – a United States government-led initiative to map the brain’s structural and functional connections – neuroscientists analysed the brains of 210 healthy young adults. The result was a modern atlas of the human brain, 97 areas of which have never been described before. </p>
<p>The cerebral cortex is the the folded outer layer that gives the brain its characteristic wrinkly appearance. It is divided into left and right hemispheres. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132564/original/image-20160801-19880-zsk3wc.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132564/original/image-20160801-19880-zsk3wc.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132564/original/image-20160801-19880-zsk3wc.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132564/original/image-20160801-19880-zsk3wc.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132564/original/image-20160801-19880-zsk3wc.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132564/original/image-20160801-19880-zsk3wc.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132564/original/image-20160801-19880-zsk3wc.gif?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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The primary somatosensory cortex is the main area responsible for our sense of touch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Postcentral_gyrus.gif">Wikimedia Commons/BodyParts3D - modified</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We know specific regions of the cortex are responsible for different roles.
The primary somatosensory cortex, located on a vertical groove towards the middle of the brain, is the main area responsible for our sense of touch, for instance.</p>
<p>Most of what we understand about the detailed architecture of the brain comes from rodent studies. While brains of rats, mice and primates (us) are mostly similar in structure, they have distinct differences.</p>
<p>Unlike rodents, humans have a large prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for higher executive functions such as decision-making. We also communicate through language and as such have specific processing areas responsible for both creating speech and understanding it.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132542/original/image-20160801-19880-rjcnp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132542/original/image-20160801-19880-rjcnp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132542/original/image-20160801-19880-rjcnp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132542/original/image-20160801-19880-rjcnp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132542/original/image-20160801-19880-rjcnp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132542/original/image-20160801-19880-rjcnp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132542/original/image-20160801-19880-rjcnp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Phrenology posited that personality traits were located in specific parts of the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phrenology-journal.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Improvements in techniques including <a href="https://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/divisions/fmrib/what-is-fmri">functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)</a> – which measures brain activity by detecting blood flow changes – have enabled us to image living brains in real time in unprecedented detail.</p>
<h2>The age-old neuroscience goal</h2>
<p>Mapping the brain has been an aim for centuries, dating back to the pseudo-scientific discipline of phrenology in the 19th century, which posited that personality traits were located in specific parts of the brain. </p>
<p>Proponents would measure the skull over a corresponding brain area to determine, for example, how conscientious, benevolent or combative a person was.</p>
<p>More than a century ago, German anatomist Korbinian Brodmann classified the brain into specific areas based on the structure and organisation of cells in each region. Until now, this was the widely accepted map of brain regions, known as Brodmann’s areas.</p>
<p>In the new study, researchers used a combination of different MRI images to map brain areas that are distinct in structure and function. They looked at physical structure, such as the thickness of the cortex, what areas were activated during certain tasks and whether this activity was coordinated with activity in other regions. </p>
<p>Some areas were predominantly associated with a single function, such as visual processing or movement. But many areas were not. In fact, scientists found networks of regions are activated even when the brain is in a resting state – when no explicit task is being performed.</p>
<h2>A detailed brain map – so what?</h2>
<p>The newly mapped brain is a landmark for neuroscience. An updated brain atlas will provide greater insights into how the brain controls behaviour and how disorders in certain regions contribute to brain diseases. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132544/original/image-20160801-25646-ow5vij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132544/original/image-20160801-25646-ow5vij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132544/original/image-20160801-25646-ow5vij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132544/original/image-20160801-25646-ow5vij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132544/original/image-20160801-25646-ow5vij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1283&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132544/original/image-20160801-25646-ow5vij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132544/original/image-20160801-25646-ow5vij.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1283&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Until now, Brodmann’s version was the widely accepted map of brain regions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodmann_area#/media/File:Brodmann_areas_3D.png">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While rodent brain atlases originate from inbred strains of animals who vary little in their brain anatomy, individual variation in humans is common. There are differences between the anatomy of a person’s own left and right brain hemispheres, let alone the anatomical differences between individuals of different ages and genders. </p>
<p>For example, a <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/11/brains-men-and-women-aren-t-really-different-study-finds">recent study of 1,400 people</a> found the left hippocampus, an area associated with memory, was usually larger in men than in women. </p>
<p>Because of this variation, it has historically been difficult to compare results from separate brain imaging studies and be certain the scans show activity in the same brain area. But now, the finer divisions of brain regions allow for better comparisons.</p>
<p>The brain map also has practical applications for neurosurgery. Currently, surgeons use a system of stereotaxic (3D) coordinates to determine and operate on specific brain regions. But this isn’t ideal as brain regions differ from person to person. The algorithm used to create the new atlas may now be used to personalise individual maps to help guide surgery more specifically.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132563/original/image-20160801-17037-tnbmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132563/original/image-20160801-17037-tnbmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132563/original/image-20160801-17037-tnbmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132563/original/image-20160801-17037-tnbmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132563/original/image-20160801-17037-tnbmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132563/original/image-20160801-17037-tnbmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132563/original/image-20160801-17037-tnbmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132563/original/image-20160801-17037-tnbmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Somatotopic sub-areas are brain regions that correspond point for point to sensory receptors at different parts of the body.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/1421_Sensory_Homunculus.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Further categorisation</h2>
<p>It’s likely the brain may be further compartmentalised into even more regions than the 180 already described. As imaging technology improves, we may discover further distinct sub-regions specialised in their makeup or activity. </p>
<p>But the researchers also believe some of the newly mapped areas may later be found to be sub-areas, citing the primary somatosensory cortex as an example. This cortex is formed of what is called somatotopic sub-areas, which are brain regions that correspond point for point to sensory receptors at different parts of the body. </p>
<p>And different groups are beginning to <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6293/1586.full">map the genomic architecture</a> of different brain regions. Together these new findings are going to lead to a detailed map of the whole of the human brain.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This piece was co-authored by Donna Lu, a science writer at the Queensland Brain Institute.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pankaj Sah receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.</span></em></p>Neuroscientists analysed the brains of 210 healthy young adults. The result was a modern atlas of the human brain, 97 areas of which have never been described before.Pankaj Sah, Director - Queensland Brain Institute, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/591432016-05-16T10:48:53Z2016-05-16T10:48:53ZWhat makes a mathematical genius?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121865/original/image-20160510-20731-150nn8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An early understanding of numbers may be a sign of mathematical ability.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Oksana Kuzmina</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787524/">The Man Who Knew Infinity</a> tells the gripping <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-man-who-knew-infinity-a-mathematicians-life-comes-to-the-movies-50777">story of Srinivasa Ramanujan</a>, an exceptionally talented, self-taught Indian mathematician. While in India, he was able to develop his own ideas on summing geometric and arithmetic series without any formal training. Eventually, his raw talent was recognised and he got a post at the University of Cambridge. There, he worked with Professor G.H. Hardy until his untimely death at the age of 32 in 1920.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121862/original/image-20160510-20721-1jgsbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121862/original/image-20160510-20721-1jgsbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121862/original/image-20160510-20721-1jgsbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121862/original/image-20160510-20721-1jgsbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=822&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121862/original/image-20160510-20721-1jgsbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121862/original/image-20160510-20721-1jgsbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121862/original/image-20160510-20721-1jgsbcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1033&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Srinivasa Ramanujan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite his short life, Ramanujan made substantial contributions to number theory, elliptic functions, infinite series and continued fractions. The story seems to suggest that mathematical ability is something at least partly innate. But what does the evidence say?</p>
<h2>From language to spatial thinking</h2>
<p>There are many different theories about what mathematical ability is. One is that it is closely tied to the capacity for understanding and building language. Just over a decade ago, a study <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15319490">examined members of an Amazonian tribe</a> whose counting system comprised words only for “one”, “two” and “many”. The researchers found that the tribe were exceptionally poor at performing numerical thinking with quantities greater than three. They argued this suggests language is a prerequisite for mathematical ability. </p>
<p>But does that mean that a mathematical genius should be better at language than the average person? There is some evidence for this. In 2007, researchers scanned the brains of 25 adult students while they were solving multiplication problems. The study found that individuals with higher mathematical competence <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17851092">appeared to rely more strongly on language-mediated processes</a>, associated with brain circuits in the <a href="http://brainmadesimple.com/parietal-lobe.html">parietal lobe</a>. </p>
<p>However, recent findings have challenged this. One <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/18/4909.abstract">study</a> looked at the brain scans of participants, including professional mathematicians, while they evaluated mathematical and non-mathematical statements. They found that instead of the left hemisphere regions of the brain typically involved during language processing and verbal semantics, high level mathematical reasoning was linked with activation of a bilateral network of brain circuits associated with processing numbers and space. </p>
<p>In fact, the brain activation in professional mathematicians in particular showed minimal use of language areas. The researchers argue their results support previous studies that have found that knowledge of numbers and space during early childhood can predict mathematical achievement.</p>
<p>For example, a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096515003057">recent study of 77 eight- to 10-year-old children</a> demonstrates that visuo-spatial skills (the capacity to identify visual and spatial relationships among objects) have an important role in mathematical achievement. As part of the study, they took part in a “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/87565640801982361">number line estimation task</a>”, in which they had to position a series of numbers at appropriate places on a line where only the start and end numbers of a scale (such as 0 and 10) were given.</p>
<p>The study also looked at the children’s overall mathematical ability, visuospatial skills and visuomotor integration (for example, copying increasingly complex images using pencil and paper). It found that children’s scores on visuospatial skill and visuomotor integration strongly predicted how well they would do on number line estimation and mathematics. </p>
<h2>Hidden structures and genes</h2>
<p>An alternative definition of mathematical ability is that it represents the capacity to recognise and exploit hidden structures in data. This may account for an <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.581.27&rep=rep1&type=pdf">observed overlap</a> between mathematical and musical ability. Similarly, it could also explain why training in chess can benefit <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X16300112">children’s ability to solve mathematical problems</a>. Albert Einstein famously claimed that images, feelings and musical structures formed the basis of his reasoning rather than logical symbols or mathematical equations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122689/original/image-20160516-15920-1624g0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122689/original/image-20160516-15920-1624g0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122689/original/image-20160516-15920-1624g0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122689/original/image-20160516-15920-1624g0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=834&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122689/original/image-20160516-15920-1624g0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122689/original/image-20160516-15920-1624g0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/122689/original/image-20160516-15920-1624g0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1048&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Albert Einstein playing the violin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. O. Hoppe</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, the extent to which mathematical ability relies on innate or environmental factors remains controversial. A <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140708/ncomms5204/full/ncomms5204.html">recent large scale twin and genome-wide analysis</a> of 12-year-old children found that genetics could explain around half of the observed correlation between mathematical and reading ability. Although this is quite substantial, it still means that the learning environment has an important role to play. </p>
<p>So what does all this tell us about geniuses like Ramanujan? If mathematical ability does stem from a core non-linguistic capacity to reason with spatial and numerical representation, this can help explain how a prodigious talent could blossom in the absence of training. While language might still play a role, the nature of the numerical representations being manipulated could be crucial. </p>
<p>The fact that genetics seems to be involved also helps shed light on the case – Ramanujan could have simply inherited the ability. Nevertheless, we should not forget the important contribution of environment and education. While Ramanujan’s raw talent was sufficient to attract attention to his remarkable ability, it was the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-man-who-taught-infinity-how-gh-hardy-tamed-srinivasa-ramanujans-genius-57585">later provision</a> of more formal mathematical training in India and England that allowed him to reach his full potential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Pearson 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>You may have got what it takes to be a mathematical genius without even being aware of it.David Pearson, Reader of Cognitive Psychology, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.