tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/brain-research-6696/articlesBrain research – The Conversation2023-07-10T12:32:26Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2082682023-07-10T12:32:26Z2023-07-10T12:32:26ZPositive parenting can help protect against the effects of stress in childhood and adolescence, new study shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535596/original/file-20230704-15-b8u8ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6359%2C4280&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Warm, supportive caregiving can help counteract the effects of stress during childhood and development.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/little-children-bonding-with-parents-on-sofa-at-royalty-free-image/1397105932?phrase=happy+parents+and+children&adppopup=true">Halfpoint Images/Moment via Getty Images</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>Warm and supportive parenting may buffer against the effects of stress during childhood and adolescence. That is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad145">key takeaway</a> of our recent study, published in the journal PNAS Nexus.</p>
<p>Some children and adolescents who experience stressful events such as physical abuse or neglect have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.04.020">less tissue in a brain region called the hippocampus</a>. The hippocampus plays a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0163-1047(93)90664-4">critical role in learning and memory</a> and is also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2015.171">highly susceptible to stress</a>.</p>
<p>However, in our study, we did not find a link between increased stress and reduced brain tissue in the hippocampus for young people who reported <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad145">more warmth from their caregivers</a>. </p>
<p>Positive parenting includes a range of warm and supportive techniques such as providing praise for doing something well, emotional support and affection. Contrast this with harsh parenting techniques, such as shouting and physical punishments. </p>
<p>As a first step, we explored whether positive parenting protected against a connection between childhood stress and behavioral problems in children. </p>
<p>We analyzed brain scans of almost 500 children between 10 and 17 years old using data from a project called the <a href="https://healthybrainnetwork.org/">Healthy Brain Network</a>. We measured brain tissue using structural magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, a technique that allows us to look at the size of brain regions. To measure stress, we asked children about the number of negative life events they had experienced across family, community and school contexts and how distressed each of those events made them. </p>
<p>Results showed that positive parenting had protective effects against the connection between stress and behavior; in other words, children who had experienced more distress from negative events, but who also perceived their parents as being warm and supportive, exhibited less challenging behavior such as rule-breaking or aggression. We next examined how parenting buffered against a known biomarker of stress in the brain: less tissue in the hippocampus. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.04.020">Consistent with prior research</a>, we found that more childhood stress correlated with smaller hippocampal volumes. However, we found that children’s perception of having received positive, supportive parenting served as a buffer against the biological effects of stress. Even when young people reported high levels of distress from negative life events, those who perceived their parents as more supportive did not have reduced brain tissue in the hippocampus. </p>
<p>In contrast, we did not find this same protective effect when we looked at what caregivers thought of their parenting. In other words, if parents said they were supportive and positive in their parenting but the child didn’t see them that way, we did not see this protective effect. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Positive reinforcement can work in many situations and with people of all ages.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Past research has found that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-084950">hippocampus is smaller in children and adults</a> <a href="https://biolmoodanxietydisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2045-5380-4-12">exposed to high levels of stress in childhood</a>. These smaller volumes are in turn <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.04.020">associated with behavioral problems</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0406344101">learning and memory challenges</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn958">increased vulnerability to future stress</a>. </p>
<p>Our study highlights the importance of nurturing parenting in promoting healthy brain development and resilience in children. By fostering an environment of warmth and support, caregivers can help children cope with stress more effectively. Dozens of studies have found that positive parenting practices – such as helping children name emotions and providing a space for them to disclose feelings without judgment – can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-019-00293-1">help kids get through difficult events</a>.</p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p>Our team’s work and that of others underscores that stressful experiences can have a detrimental impact on development. Many researchers are trying to understand which aspects of stress matter and how. </p>
<p>For example, experiences that are threatening, like violence, may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.10.012">influence the brain and behavior differently</a> from experiences of deprivation, like not having enough food. </p>
<p>At the same time, while researchers think that certain types of stress have particular characteristics, the person experiencing the stress may not feel that way. That is, not having enough food might feel very threatening to the person going through it. Our study indicates that it is critical to center the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620920725">perspectives of those directly affected by the stress</a> in this area of research.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Hanson receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. He is affiliated with Project Destiny, a youth development non-profit located in Pittsburgh. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabella Kahhalé 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>Without supportive parents, children already under stress may experience a shrinkage in brain volume in an area of the brain that is important for learning and memory.Jamie Hanson, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of PittsburghIsabella Kahhalé, PhD student in Clinical and Developmental Psychology, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1809452022-05-05T12:42:27Z2022-05-05T12:42:27ZYou’ve likely heard of the brain’s gray matter – here’s why the white matter is important too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458358/original/file-20220415-24-rq7g23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C5000%2C3712&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The brain's neural network, which includes both gray and white matter.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/brain-neural-network-royalty-free-illustration/460711949?adppopup=true">Pasieka/Science Photo Library via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Who has not contemplated how a memory is formed, a sentence generated, a sunset appreciated, a creative act performed or a heinous crime committed?</p>
<p>The human brain is a three-pound organ that remains largely an enigma. But most people have heard of the brain’s <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31990494/">gray matter</a>, which is needed for cognitive functions such as learning, remembering and reasoning. </p>
<p>More specifically, gray matter refers to regions throughout the brain where nerve cells – <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/patient-caregiver-education/brain-basics-life-and-death-neuron#">known as neurons</a> – are concentrated. The region considered most important for cognition is <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/patient-caregiver-education/brain-basics-know-your-brain#The%20Cerebral%20Cortex">the cerebral cortex</a>, a thin layer of gray matter on the brain’s surface. </p>
<p>But the other half of the brain – <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318966#Viewing-white-matter">the white matter</a> – is often overlooked. White matter lies below the cortex and also deeper in the brain. Wherever it is found, white matter connects neurons within the gray matter to each other.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/alzheimer/about/directory/faculty/christopher-filley">professor of neurology and psychiatry</a> and the director of the behavioral neurology section at the University of Colorado Medical School. My work involves the evaluation, treatment and investigation of older adults with dementia and younger people with traumatic brain injury.</p>
<p>Finding out how these disorders affect the brain has motivated many years of my study. I believe that understanding white matter is perhaps a key to understanding these disorders. But so far, researchers have generally not given white matter the attention it deserves.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461121/original/file-20220503-50169-zdtzie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration showing how neurons in the human brain connect to each other via the axons, which are surrounded by the myelin sheath." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461121/original/file-20220503-50169-zdtzie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461121/original/file-20220503-50169-zdtzie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461121/original/file-20220503-50169-zdtzie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461121/original/file-20220503-50169-zdtzie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461121/original/file-20220503-50169-zdtzie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461121/original/file-20220503-50169-zdtzie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461121/original/file-20220503-50169-zdtzie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&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 approximately 100 billion neurons in the human brain are connected to each other by axons, many of which are surrounded by the myelin sheath. These axons, together with their myelin, make up the white matter, which helps facilitate communication between neurons throughout the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/neuron-nerve-cell-body-in-orange-is-represented-with-its-news-photo/179798658?adppopup=true">BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Figuring out the white matter</h2>
<p>This lack of recognition largely stems from the difficulty in studying white matter. Because it’s located below the surface of the brain, even the most high-tech imaging can’t easily resolve its details. But recent findings, made possible by advancements in brain imaging and autopsy examinations, are beginning to show researchers how critical white matter is.</p>
<p>White matter is comprised of many <a href="https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-anatomy/axons-cable-transmission-neurons">billions of axons</a>, which are like long cables that carry electrical signals. Think of them as elongated tails that act as extensions of the neurons. The axons connect neurons to each other at junctions called synapses. That is where communication between neurons takes place. </p>
<p>Axons come together in bundles, or tracts, that course throughout the brain. Placed end to end, their combined length in a single human brain is approximately 85,000 miles. Many axons are <a href="https://www.brainfacts.org/brain-anatomy-and-function/anatomy/2015/myelin">insulated with myelin</a>, a layer of mostly fat that speeds up electrical signaling, or communication, between neurons by up to 100 times. </p>
<p>This increased speed is crucial for <a href="https://www.nbia.ca/brain-structure-function/">all brain functions</a> and is partly why Homo sapiens have unique mental capacities. While there’s no doubt <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-humans-evolved-supersize-brains-20151110/#">our large brains</a> are due to evolution’s addition of neurons over eons, there has been an even greater <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.090504197">increase in white matter</a> over evolutionary time. </p>
<p>This little-known fact has profound implications. The increased volume of white matter – mainly from the myelin sheaths that surround axons – enhances the efficiency of neurons in the gray matter to optimize brain function.</p>
<p>Imagine a nation of cities that are all functioning independently, but not linked to other cities by roads, wires, the internet or any other connections. This scenario would be analogous to the brain without white matter. Higher functions like language and memory are organized into networks in which gray matter regions are connected by white matter tracts. The more extensive and efficient those connections, the better the brain works.</p>
<h2>White matter and Alzheimer’s</h2>
<p>Given its essential role in the connections between brain cells, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1444.017">damaged white matter</a> can disturb any aspect of cognitive or emotional function. White matter pathology is present in many brain disorders and can be severe enough <a href="https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1444.017">to cause dementia</a>. Damage to myelin is common in these disorders, and when the disease or injury is more severe, axons can also be damaged.</p>
<p>More than 30 years ago, my colleagues and I described this syndrome as <a href="https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/docs/librariesprovider61/publications/wmd-paper-nnbn-1988_web.pdf?sfvrsn=435286ba_2">white matter dementia</a>. In this condition, the dysfunctional white matter is no longer adequately performing as a connector, meaning that the gray matter cannot act together in a seamless and synchronous manner. The brain, in essence, has been disconnected from itself. </p>
<p>Equally important is the possibility that white matter dysfunction plays a role in many diseases currently thought to originate in gray matter. Some of these diseases stubbornly defy understanding. For example, I suspect white matter damage may be critical in the early phases of Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury. </p>
<p>Alzheimer’s is the <a href="https://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/alzheimers-dementia">most common type of dementia in older individuals</a>. It can impair cognitive function and rob people of their very identity. No cure or effective treatment exists. Ever since <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ca.980080612">Alois Alzheimer’s 1907 observations</a> of gray matter proteins – called amyloid and tau – neuroscientists have believed the buildup of these proteins <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra0909142">is the central problem</a> behind Alzheimer’s. Yet many drugs that remove these proteins <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2021.1941402">do not stop</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fda-approved-a-new-drug-to-treat-alzheimers-but-medicare-wont-always-pay-for-it-a-doctor-explains-what-researchers-know-about-biogens-aduhelm-179177">the patients’ cognitive decline</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaa132">Recent findings increasingly suggest</a> that white matter damage – preceding the accumulation of those proteins – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaa132">may be the true culprit</a>. As brains age, they often experience gradual loss of blood flow from the narrowing of vessels that convey blood from the heart. Lower blood flow heavily impacts white matter. </p>
<p>Remarkably, there is even evidence that inherited forms of Alzheimer’s also feature <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.24647">early white matter abnormalities</a>. That means therapies aimed at maintaining blood flow to white matter may prove more effective than attempting to dislodge proteins. One simple treatment likely to help is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.10551">controlling high blood pressure</a>, as this can reduce the severity of white matter abnormalities. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">From Loma Linda University Health: New discoveries to help the millions with traumatic brain injuries.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>White matter and traumatic brain injury</h2>
<p>Patients with traumatic brain injury, particularly those with moderate or severe injuries, can have lifelong disability. One of the most ominous outcomes of TBI is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/NEN.0b013e3181a9d503">chronic traumatic encephalopathy</a>, a brain disease believed to cause progressive and irreversible dementia. In TBI patients, the accumulation of tau protein in gray matter is evident. </p>
<p>Researchers have long recognized that white matter damage is common in people who have sustained a TBI. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000013012">Observations from the brains</a> of those with repetitive traumatic brain injuries – football players and military veterans have been frequently studied – have shown that white matter damage is prominent, and may precede the appearance of tangled proteins in the gray matter. </p>
<p>Among scientists, there is a burgeoning excitement over the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-021-00461-8">new interest in white matter</a>. Researchers are now beginning to acknowledge that the traditional focus on the study of gray matter has not produced the results they hoped. Learning more about the half of the brain known as white matter may help us in the years ahead to find the answers needed to alleviate the suffering of millions. </p>
<p>[<em>Get more science, health and technology news.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=science&source=inline-science-fascinating">Sign up for The Conversation’s weekly science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher M. Filley receives funding from the Marcus Institute for Brain Health at the University of Colorado, and the U.S. Department of Defense, In the past he has received funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p>Long overlooked by scientists, white matter may provide clues to some of the brain’s greatest mysteries.Christopher M. Filley, Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1301782020-01-29T18:15:45Z2020-01-29T18:15:45ZBrain organoids help neuroscientists understand brain development, but aren’t perfect matches for real brains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312535/original/file-20200129-92969-ouq67j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C156%2C1024%2C760&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just a few millimeters across, organoids are clumps of cells that resemble the brain. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madeline Andrews, Arnold Kriegstein's lab, UCSF</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What was going on with our brain organoids?</p>
<p><a href="https://profiles.ucsf.edu/aparna.bhaduri">As</a> <a href="https://profiles.ucsf.edu/arnold.kriegstein">neuroscientists</a>, <a href="https://profiles.ucsf.edu/madeline.andrews">we</a> use these three-dimensional clusters of cells grown in petri dishes to learn more about how the human brain works. Researchers culture various kinds of organoids from stem cells – cells that have the potential to become one of many different cell types found throughout the body. We use chemical signals to direct stem cells to produce brain-like cells that together <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1315710110">resemble certain structural aspects</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12517">of a real brain</a>. </p>
<p>While they are not “brains in a dish” – organoids cannot function or think independently – the idea is that organoid models let scientists see developmental processes that may yield insights into how the human brain works. If researchers better understand normal development, we may be able to understand when and how things go wrong in diseases. </p>
<p>When we recently compared our lab’s organoid cells to normal brain cells, we were surprised to find that they didn’t look as similar as we’d expected. Our brain organoids, each the size of a few millimeters, were stressed out.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-1962-0">Our investigation into why</a> has important implications for this popular new method since many labs are using it to study brain function and neurological disease. Without accurate models of the brain, scientists will not be able to work toward disease treatments. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312537/original/file-20200129-93007-1jtpsvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312537/original/file-20200129-93007-1jtpsvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312537/original/file-20200129-93007-1jtpsvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312537/original/file-20200129-93007-1jtpsvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312537/original/file-20200129-93007-1jtpsvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312537/original/file-20200129-93007-1jtpsvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312537/original/file-20200129-93007-1jtpsvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312537/original/file-20200129-93007-1jtpsvr.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Organoids can provide insights into normal brain development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madeline Andrews, Arnold Kriegstein's lab, UCSF</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tiny organoids model big, unique human brains</h2>
<p><a href="https://kriegsteinlab.ucsf.edu">Our lab</a> is particularly interested in the human cerebral cortex – the brain’s bumpy exterior – because it is so different in human beings than it is in any other species. The human cortex is proportionally bigger than in our <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/8/chimps-humans-96-percent-the-same-gene-study-finds/">closest living relatives</a>, the great apes, containing more and different types of cells. It’s the source of many unique human abilities, including our cognitive capacity. </p>
<p>Why is this important? Because the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13055">cortex tells the rest of the brain what to do</a>, and because these cortical cells and structures are disrupted in numerous diseases, ranging from developmental disorders like autism to degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. </p>
<p>A better understanding of how the cerebral cortex forms will give researchers insights into how such diseases develop. Brain organoids may reproduce certain features of brain development and could provide a platform to develop treatments for these disorders.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312538/original/file-20200129-92992-1248kdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312538/original/file-20200129-92992-1248kdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312538/original/file-20200129-92992-1248kdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312538/original/file-20200129-92992-1248kdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312538/original/file-20200129-92992-1248kdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312538/original/file-20200129-92992-1248kdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312538/original/file-20200129-92992-1248kdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312538/original/file-20200129-92992-1248kdi.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brain organoids are tiny models made in the lab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madeline Andrews, Arnold Kriegstein's lab, UCSF</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like the rest of the neuroscience community, we’re excited by the promise of organoids to let us study features of brain development that are unique to human beings, but essentially impossible to learn from living people. We wondered: What kind of cells do organoids make? What signals do they send? Do they connect together? Many scientific groups have characterized these models and determined that they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1520760112">make cells similar</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1289-x">to those of the</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.07.035">developing human brain</a>.</p>
<p>But how do scientists know that organoid models mimic the real thing if we do not know enough about the normal brain? Our lab had a unique opportunity to compare human brain samples with our organoids. Additionally, recent technological advances now enable scientists to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-019-0093-7">look at the genes expressed by individual cells</a>, so that we can identify the programs that determine their cellular identity. </p>
<p>When we compared our organoid cells to normal brain cells, they looked more different than we’d expected, both in specificity of cell type and ability to mature normally.</p>
<h2>Stressed-out organoid cells</h2>
<p>Normal human brain cells turn on at precise times the sets of genes that give them their particular characteristics. These genetic plans determine how excitable the cells are, the chemical signals they send and receive, their position within the brain, their shapes and the cells they connect with.</p>
<p>What do the gene profiles of organoid cells look like?</p>
<p>They have the broad molecular characteristics of normal human brain cells, but without some important details. They have a confused identity; a single organoid cell expresses multiple gene programs that are normally found in very different cell types. The human brain has a plethora of distinct cell types, but organoid cells express markers of multiple different neural types at once. Organoid cells also don’t mature like normal brain cells do. In addition, many of the features that are hallmarks of the developing human brain – like the structural expansion and increasing architectural complexity – are not reflected in the organoids.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312536/original/file-20200129-93030-1jqeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312536/original/file-20200129-93030-1jqeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312536/original/file-20200129-93030-1jqeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312536/original/file-20200129-93030-1jqeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312536/original/file-20200129-93030-1jqeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312536/original/file-20200129-93030-1jqeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312536/original/file-20200129-93030-1jqeq5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312536/original/file-20200129-93030-1jqeq5y.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A stressed-out brain organoid makes confused cells.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madeline Andrews, Arnold Kriegstein's lab, UCSF</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, if organoid cells do not have the same activated gene programs as in the normal human brain, what programs are activated? Stress. Organoid cells have inappropriate activation of several cellular stress programs. These stress markers indicate that organoid cells are not receiving vital environmental nutrients that are typically found in the body. The activation of stress pathways results in cells behaving incorrectly and producing abnormal proteins. </p>
<p>To ensure that it wasn’t just the organoids in our hands, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1520760112">we analyzed</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22047">the sequencing</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat6720">data of</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-019-0350-2">organoids</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.01.017">published by</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1289-x">other labs</a>. Sure enough, there were significant levels of stress across all organoids, regardless of who made them or how.</p>
<p>When cells activate stress genes, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2015.11.005">do not develop</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0214-17.2017">or behave correctly</a>. We wanted to know if the environment was causing the stress in our organoids, so we put unstressed normal cells into the organoid environment. These once-normal cells became stressed too, and they developed identity issues similar to the organoid cells. This experiment suggests that stress activation contributes to the cellular confusion in organoid cells.</p>
<p>In a different experiment, we took organoid cells out of the culture environment and grafted them into a mouse – and the stress was relieved. Something about the way we currently culture organoids is stressing them out and is, at least in part, impairing other aspects of their development.</p>
<p>If organoids do not make specific cells that act like they do in the normal brain, how can we trust that the experiments we use them for reflect biology? </p>
<h2>Are organoids useful, then?</h2>
<p>So what does this mean for the future of organoids?</p>
<p>Organoids are still the best way neuroscientists have to access certain features of human brain development and disease. But to make sure that these studies are the most accurate they can be, neuroscientists need to resolve the stress-related issues.</p>
<p>Neurological diseases, like autism and Alzheimer’s, affect specific cell types – if researchers don’t make those cell types in our organoids, it may have major implications for future studies working toward treatments of these diseases. In addition, many diseases induce cellular stress, and the manifestations of these diseases may be blunted or obscured in organoids if the organoid cells are already stressed.</p>
<p>The good news is the stress can be reversed – if researchers can figure out exactly what is causing it.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeline Andrews receives funding from the NIH. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aparna Bhaduri receives funding from the NIH and the L'Oreal For Women in Science Fellowship through AAAS. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arnold Kriegstein receives funding from the NIH and CIRM (the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine).</span></em></p>Brain organoids are tiny models that neuroscientists use to learn more about how the brain grows and works. But new research finds important differences between the model and the real thing.Madeline Andrews, Postdoctoral Scholar of Regeneration Medicine, University of California, San FranciscoAparna Bhaduri, Postdoctoral Scholar in Regeneration Medicine, University of California, San FranciscoArnold Kriegstein, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Program, University of California, San FranciscoLicensed 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/1110382019-02-28T11:41:32Z2019-02-28T11:41:32ZListening in to brain communications, without surgery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261327/original/file-20190227-150698-1llaktf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1320%2C0%2C3172%2C2997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Signals from inside the brain can reveal what's happening in nerve cells.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/abstract-glowing-polygonal-head-background-neurons-754506796">Peshkova/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Plenty of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566048/my-plastic-brain-by-caroline-williams/9781633883918/">legitimate science</a> – plus a whole lot of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538861/neuromancer-by-william-gibson/9780143111603/">science fiction</a> – discusses ways to “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/06/brain-hacking/392084/">hack the brain</a>.” What that really means, most of the time – even in the <a href="http://www.michaelcrichton.com/the-terminal-man/">fictional examples</a> – <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/01/phil-kennedy-mind-control-computer/">involves surgery</a>, opening the skull to implant wires or devices <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/inside-the-race-to-build-a-brain-machine-interface/">physically into the brain</a>. </p>
<p>But that’s difficult, dangerous and potentially deadly. It would be smarter to work with the brain without needing to open patients’ skulls. Neurological disorders are common, affecting <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2007/02/210312-nearly-1-6-worlds-population-suffer-neurological-disorders-un-report">more than a billion people worldwide</a>, of all ages, genders, and educational and income levels. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7z-nA_kAAAAJ&hl=en">My neural engineering team’s research</a>, as part of a wider effort across the <a href="https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/bioengineering/top-5-advances-medical-technology">bioengineering</a> discipline, is working toward understanding and easing various neurological dysfunctions, such as multiple sclerosis, autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>Identifying and influencing brain activity from outside the skull could eventually permit doctors to diagnose and treat a wide range of debilitating nervous system diseases and mental disorders without invasive surgery. </p>
<h2>Wireless connections within the brain</h2>
<p>My group believes we are the first to have discovered a new way nerve cells communicate with each other. Nerves are well known to connect through physical links – or what might be called “wired” connections – in which the axons of one nerve cell send electrical and chemical signals to the dendrites of a neighboring cell.</p>
<p>Our research has found that <a href="http://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71945">nerve cells also communicate wirelessly</a>, by using the wired activity to create tiny electric fields of their own, and sensing the fields neighboring cells create. This creates the possibility of many more neural pathways and can help explain why different parts of the brain connect so quickly during the execution of complicated tasks.</p>
<p>We have been able to monitor these electric fields from outside the skull, effectively listening in on nerve communications. We hope that will help us find alternate, healthy connections for nerves damaged by multiple sclerosis, or rebalance nerve activity due to autism spectrum disorder, or prime neurons to fire together in specific patterns and restore long-term memories lost as a result of Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>Specifically, we have found when an insulated, or myelinated, nerve fiber in the brain is active and sending signals along its length known as action potentials, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2015.7318854">special regions</a> along its length generate a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.1167">very small</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.71945">electric field</a>. The cellular regions where this happens, called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/node-of-Ranvier">nodes of Ranvier</a>, act like small antennas that can transmit and receive electrical signals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260842/original/file-20190225-26171-1u1sxaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260842/original/file-20190225-26171-1u1sxaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260842/original/file-20190225-26171-1u1sxaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260842/original/file-20190225-26171-1u1sxaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260842/original/file-20190225-26171-1u1sxaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260842/original/file-20190225-26171-1u1sxaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260842/original/file-20190225-26171-1u1sxaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260842/original/file-20190225-26171-1u1sxaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&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 nerve cell diagram.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neuron.svg">Dhp1080/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any disruption of the two highly specialized structures – the myelin sheath or the node of Ranvier – not only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1042%2FAN20130025">results in neurological dysfunction</a>, but the surrounding electric field changes too.</p>
<h2>Listening to nerves</h2>
<p>The technological challenge involves precisely targeting specific parts of the brain to listen in on. The device must receive signals from areas roughly the diameter of a human hair, several centimeters deep within the brain.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259734/original/file-20190219-43270-15ejl78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259734/original/file-20190219-43270-15ejl78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259734/original/file-20190219-43270-15ejl78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259734/original/file-20190219-43270-15ejl78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259734/original/file-20190219-43270-15ejl78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259734/original/file-20190219-43270-15ejl78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259734/original/file-20190219-43270-15ejl78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259734/original/file-20190219-43270-15ejl78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patch antennas on the skull could listen in on nerve communications at a specific location within the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Salvatore Morgera</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One way is to place a small number of flexible antenna patches on the skull to create what we call a “brain lens.” Comparing readings from several patches lets us electronically target exactly the nerves to listen in on. We are designing and experimenting with <a href="http://www.setcor.org/conferences/Nanotech-France-2018">metamaterials</a> – materials engineered at the molecular level – that are especially good at serving as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1364/OPN.15.9.000032">high-accuracy antennas</a> that can be tuned to receive signals from very specific locations.</p>
<h2>No pain, but potentially great gain</h2>
<p>By listening in on wireless communications between nerves, we can identify areas of the brain where the electric fields indicate there are problems. The detailed characteristics of a nerve’s activity – or lack of activity – can offer clues about what specific problem is occurring in the brain. These findings could help diagnose potential medical conditions far more easily than current methods.</p>
<p>Look, for instance, at the actual case of one patient, a 38-year-old woman we’ll call “Bianca,” who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the brain and spinal cord that has no known cure. Multiple sclerosis patients’ immune systems damage the myelin sheath between the nodes of Ranvier, causing communication problems between the brain and the rest of the body. This damage radically alters the activity in the affected nerves.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261294/original/file-20190227-150708-1yxvau7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261294/original/file-20190227-150708-1yxvau7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261294/original/file-20190227-150708-1yxvau7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261294/original/file-20190227-150708-1yxvau7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261294/original/file-20190227-150708-1yxvau7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261294/original/file-20190227-150708-1yxvau7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261294/original/file-20190227-150708-1yxvau7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261294/original/file-20190227-150708-1yxvau7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Multiple sclerosis damages the myelin around nerve cells, disrupting communications and changing a nerve’s electric field.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/multiple-sclerosis-ms-autoimmune-disease-nerves-239380201">Designua/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>To monitor the progress of her disease, Bianca has had spinal taps to see if her spinal fluid has high levels of particular antibodies associated with MS. She has also had MRI scans to reveal the areas of her brain where the myelin is damaged, and will face additional testing to determine how fast information flows through her nervous system. </p>
<p>Using a brain lens device would let doctors monitor Bianca’s brain without painful spinal taps and uncomfortable and time-consuming MRIs and CT scans. It may some day allow Bianca to monitor her own brain and send the data to her specialist for evaluation.</p>
<h2>Therapeutic treatment without drugs and surgery</h2>
<p>In addition, we’re hoping that our approach can lead to new therapies that are also easier on patients. At the moment, Bianca is taking several drugs that carry significant health risks and often make her feel nauseated and fatigued. She is one of many, who want to try a different therapy option.</p>
<p>This work plans to go beyond identifying the regions of her brain where the electric fields indicate unhealthy conditions. Inspired by computer network management and <a href="https://theconversation.com/advanced-digital-networks-look-a-lot-like-the-human-nervous-system-108319">advanced digital networks</a>, which route signals around areas that are damaged or interrupted, we are developing a method by which our scalp patch system could <a href="https://scientificfederation.com/biomedical-engineering-2018/">send messages into the brain</a> as well.</p>
<p>Each damaged nerve fiber is generally one of thousands packed together into a tract of nerve fibers where neighboring nerve fibers are typically healthy. Our device could help identify sites with myelin damage and follow those nerve fibers back before the point of damage, to pick up their undisturbed signals. Then we would use the brain lens to transmit complementary electric fields into the brain, sending those healthy signals to the areas around the myelin damage, to encourage neighboring nerve fibers to carry the messages the damaged fiber can’t.</p>
<p>So far, we have been able to simulate this approach in a super-computing environment where brain nerve parameters have been provided by clinical research laboratories. In the coming months, we will build and test a brain lens prototype. Listening in to the brain and communicating with it offers a fascinating new set of possibilities for medical diagnosis and treatment without surgery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111038/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Salvatore Domenic Morgera has received research funding in networks from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, The Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies, National Science Foundation, and the United States Special Operations Command.</span></em></p>When nerve cells in the brain pass electrical signals to each other, they create tiny electric fields that can be sensed from outside the skull.Salvatore Domenic Morgera, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering, University of South FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/969832018-05-31T03:41:06Z2018-05-31T03:41:06ZLike sightseeing in Paris – a new model for brain communication<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220250/original/file-20180524-51115-sueg3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oui! There is more than one way to navigate to the Eiffel Tower. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/14212344956/in/photolist-nDTZ1h-7qWL5c-eYWwjB-UsjvTc-afbZ6W-bSVnpB-a82PaD-8a6mJW-ae7X66-6vAmnu-eTP7sA-8MwJf8-7Zz4M3-pvXUJS-bBFqrJ-75AHAP-75AGzp-6Y3LAK-57Yhqx-drKebS-79qPWG-dG664-VFWcRp-6boCHD-dxW17F-ae7VNF-8a5iEW-dNbXDK-dutWaM-8MwHNr-aWFd9e-VFMZWZ-8ZD8M2-7TUQoa-6PWoFQ-5U21b-q4atz-2NUkfN-p29mCW-pHaFK4-ZmCrDC-4dHbjU-6Y366z-mco9CK-qui2SD-LajkT-8Nfg6s-nhg5i-CA1i5h-e69nM6">docsearls/flickr </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of our most common, debilitating and socially expensive health problems involve our brains – such as dementia, depression and drug addiction. </p>
<p>We know that regions of our brain are constantly sending and receiving electrical signals through a vast network of nerve connections, and that this exchange of information is crucial for all aspects of brain function.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-injuries-change-our-brain-and-how-we-can-help-it-recover-91952">How injuries change our brain and how we can help it recover</a>
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<p>Yet <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2017.149">scientists don’t know how</a> signals find their way through the complex maze of connections in order to go from one region of the brain to another. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/05/29/1801351115">recently published paper</a>, we propose a communication model to explain how brain networks can be navigated to achieve efficient information transfer.</p>
<p>We’ll use an analogy to explain. </p>
<h2>Find the Eiffel Tower</h2>
<p>Imagine you are on vacation in Paris. You leave your hotel one morning hoping to walk to the Eiffel Tower. Two options to get there come to mind. </p>
<p>You could use your map of the city (or, more likely, your phone), and calculate the quickest, most direct route to get to your destination. </p>
<p>Alternatively, you might be adventurous and decide to try to find your own way to the Eiffel Tower without using a map. Assuming that you can see the famous tower in the distance, you could walk in the direction that seems to bring you closer to it, using this strategy to choose where to go each time you reach the intersection of two streets. </p>
<p>While this approach might be more exciting, it will probably take you longer to get to the tower. Also, it’s possible that you could get lost, and never get there at all.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn2575">traditional models</a> of brain network communication are akin to a tourist who walks around Paris with a map. They presume that signals travel along the quickest and most direct route between two brain regions, following directions given by a central map of all nerve interconnections. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/take-it-from-me-neuroscience-is-advancing-but-were-a-long-way-off-head-transplants-95930">Take it from me: neuroscience is advancing, but we're a long way off head transplants</a>
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<p>This would certainly have advantages for us – quick routes mean faster and more reliable communication. </p>
<p>However, this idea has recently been questioned, because there is <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/2/833">no evidence</a> that such a map exists anywhere in the brain.</p>
<p>Our research shows that the brain can be navigated without a map, much like a tourist might find their way to the Eiffel Tower based only on landmarks and surroundings. </p>
<p>It turns out that brain networks are organised in a way that allows for a simple navigation strategy. To go from one starting region (that is, the hotel) to a destination region (the Eiffel Tower), signals can move along to the next connected region that brings them closest to the destination. Following this simple rule, signals can gradually get closer and closer to their destination by moving from region to region, until they arrive at the desired location in the brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220573/original/file-20180528-80637-1j1jtqi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220573/original/file-20180528-80637-1j1jtqi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220573/original/file-20180528-80637-1j1jtqi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220573/original/file-20180528-80637-1j1jtqi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220573/original/file-20180528-80637-1j1jtqi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220573/original/file-20180528-80637-1j1jtqi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220573/original/file-20180528-80637-1j1jtqi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220573/original/file-20180528-80637-1j1jtqi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=416&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">Network model of the brain (right), alongside a pictorial representation of brain anatomy (left; from Wikimedia Commons). In the network model, the red path shows the quickest way to travel between the highlighted regions, only using three connections of the network. The green path shows the route identified by our navigation strategy, which use four connections. The red path is faster, but it was computed using a map of all connections. The green path was computed without a map, following our navigation strategy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>We found that this strategy can identify successful navigation routes between more than 90% of all possible pairs of brain regions. Also, these routes were, on average, 70-80% as quick as the fastest routes computed from a central map of all neuronal interconnections.</p>
<p>In other words, according to our new model, brain signals might work like people navigating around a large city like Paris - but without getting lost on the way, and almost as quickly as if they followed the instructions of a map or GPS.</p>
<h2>Modelling the brain as a network</h2>
<p>How did we come up with this model?</p>
<p>In the case of the human brain, we can find out how different regions are interconnected using an approach called diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089662730300758X">dMRI</a>).</p>
<p>Using this technique, we build network models of the brain known as “connectomes”, which tell us about the nerve fibres that connect different regions of the brain.</p>
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<h3>A tractogram showing all white matter nerve fibres in the brain. These nerve fibres connect all regions in the brain, allowing for signals to travel between them.</h3>
<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/2zdlSyT0EpiyAhuwNQ" width="100%" height="424" frameborder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/brain-neuroscience-2zdlSyT0EpiyAhuwNQ">via GIPHY</a></p>
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<p>Representing the brain as a network helps scientists understand <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/books/fundamentals-of-brain-network-analysis/fornito/978-0-12-407908-3">big picture</a> organisational and functional properties of the brain.</p>
<p>We studied how efficiently the brains of humans, macaques (a kind of monkey) and mice can be navigated. For all species, we found that the way their brain networks are organised allows for efficient navigation between regions, without the need for a central map of connections. </p>
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<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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<p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2017.149">today’s brain imaging technology</a> doesn’t allow us to see individual communication events happening in the brain. What we propose is a model of brain network communication that matches what we currently know about the structure and function of mammalian brains.</p>
<p>An important shortcoming of our Paris analogy is that while you may be able to walk to the Eiffel Tower without a map, we assumed that you could see it from afar. Similarly, our communication model assumes that brain regions “know” how far from each other they are in the brain. </p>
<p>While what is “known” by elements in the brain remains to be determined, our work shows that a central map is not necessary for efficient neural communication.</p>
<h2>We need to know more</h2>
<p>The exchange of electrical signals across brain regions underpins consciousness, perception and higher cognition. Changes to the way neural communication happens may be related to mental health issues and other brain disorders. </p>
<p>Communication models such as the one we have proposed, together with the development of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811917300666">technologies to track</a> the propagation of electrical signals, will take us closer to deciphering how the brain works in health and disease.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96983/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caio Seguin receives funding from the University of Melbourne. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Zalesky receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia and the Australian Research Council (ARC). </span></em></p>Brain signals might work like people navigating without a map – and it’s actually more efficient than you think.Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, The University of MelbourneAndrew Zalesky, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Psychiatry, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958502018-05-22T10:46:55Z2018-05-22T10:46:55ZDebunking the 6 biggest myths about ‘technology addiction’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218641/original/file-20180511-135462-1ymtnef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Using this many devices at once doesn't mean a person is addicted to technology.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-man-cellphone-touchpad-laptop-252968998">Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How concerned should people be about the psychological effects of screen time? Balancing technology use with other aspects of daily life seems reasonable, but there is a lot of conflicting advice about where that balance should be. Much of the discussion – including the World Health Organization’s recent decision to <a href="http://www.who.int/health-topics/international-classification-of-diseases">declare “gaming disorder” an “addictive behavior disorder”</a> –is framed around fighting “<a href="https://qz.com/1202888/are-kids-actually-addicted-to-technology/">addiction</a>” to technology. But to me, that resembles a <a href="https://theconversation.com/banning-smartphones-for-kids-is-just-another-technology-fearing-moral-panic-74485">moral panic</a>, giving voice to scary claims based on weak data. </p>
<p>For example, in April 2018, television journalist Katie Couric’s “America Inside Out” program focused on the <a href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/u/kc3hgrel4c2G8VPCbKhImL04Cu8f5yqmc5TtWV1vnlssJ7Ecws08B89g4SaU5Fz5EUkUhcmmrmiL74AxyNETpRcpbSM73iyb/">effects of technology on people’s brains</a>. The episode featured the co-founder of a business treating technology addiction. That person compared addiction to technology with addictions to cocaine and other drugs. The show also implied that technology use could lead to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK6p8VyyvCs">Alzheimer’s disease-like memory loss</a>. Others, such as psychologist Jean Twenge, have <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-teen-mental-health-deteriorating-over-five-years-theres-a-likely-culprit-86996">linked smartphones</a> with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/">teen suicide</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A National Geographic Channel show raises alarms about technology use.</span></figcaption>
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<p>I am a <a href="http://www.christopherjferguson.com/academic-page.html">psychologist</a> who has worked with teens and families and <a href="http://christopherjferguson.com/pubs">conducted research</a> on technology use, video games and addiction. I believe most of these fear-mongering claims about technology are rubbish. There are several common myths of technology addiction that deserve to be debunked by actual research.</p>
<h2>Technology is not a drug</h2>
<p>Some people have claimed that technology use activates the same pleasure centers of the brain as <a href="http://techland.time.com/2011/03/10/two-hours-of-gaming-like-doing-a-line-of-cocaine/">cocaine</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/">heroin</a> or methamphetamine. That’s vaguely true, but brain responses to pleasurable experiences are not reserved only for unhealthy things. </p>
<p>Anything fun results in an increased dopamine release in the “pleasure circuits” of the brain – whether it’s going for a swim, reading a good book, having a good conversation, eating or having sex. Technology use causes dopamine release <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13676049_Evidence_for_striatal_dopamine_release_during_a_video_game">similar to other normal, fun activities</a>: about 50 to 100 percent above normal levels. </p>
<p>Cocaine, by contrast, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.85.14.5274">increases dopamine</a> 350 percent, and methamphetamine a whopping 1,200 percent. In addition, recent evidence has found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-015-1408-2">significant differences</a> in how dopamine receptors work among people whose computer use has caused problems in their daily lives, compared to substance abusers. But I believe people who claim brain responses to video games and drugs are similar are trying to liken the drip of a faucet to a waterfall. </p>
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<p>Comparisons between technology addictions and substance abuse are also often based on brain imaging studies, which themselves <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobel-prize-in-neuroscience-the-dead-salmon-study/">have at times</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01125.x">proven unreliable</a> at documenting what their authors claim. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000487217">Other recent imaging</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00174">studies have</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910903315989">also disproved</a> past claims that violent games desensitized young brains, leading children to show less emotional connection with others’ suffering.</p>
<h2>Technology addiction is not common</h2>
<p>People who talk about tech addictions often express frustration with their smartphone use, or they can’t understand why kids game so much. But these aren’t real addictions, involving significant interference with other life activities such as school, work or social relationships. </p>
<p>My own research has suggested that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.09.005">3 percent of gamers</a> – or less – develop problem behaviors, such as neglecting schoolwork to the point that grades suffer. Most of those difficulties <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12662">are mild</a> and go away on their own over time. </p>
<h2>Technology addiction is not a mental illness</h2>
<p>In June 2018, the World Health Organization added
“<a href="http://www.who.int/features/qa/gaming-disorder/en/">gaming disorder</a>” to its <a href="http://www.who.int/health-topics/international-classification-of-diseases">International Compendium of Diseases</a>.</p>
<p>But it’s a very controversial decision. I am among <a href="https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.5.2016.088">28 scholars who wrote to the WHO protesting</a> that the decision was poorly informed by science. The WHO seemed to ignore research that suggested “gaming disorder” is more a symptom of other, underlying mental health issues such as depression, rather than its own disorder.</p>
<p>This year, the Media Psychology and Technology division of the American Psychological Association, of which I am a <a href="http://www.apadivisions.org/division-46/about/leadership/committees.aspx">fellow</a>, likewise released a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/374879861/APA-Media-Psychology-and-Technology-Division-Div-46-Policy-Statement-Expressing-Concern-Regarding-the-Plan-to-Include-Gaming-Disorder-in-the-ICD-1">statement</a> critical of the WHO’s decision. The WHO’s sister organization, UNICEF, also <a href="https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/SOWC_2017_ENG_WEB.pdf">argued against</a> using “addiction” language to describe children’s screen use. </p>
<p>Controversies aside, I have found that current data doesn’t support technology addictions as stand-alone diagnoses. For example, there’s the Oxford study that found people who rate higher in what is called “game addiction” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.16020224">don’t show more psychological or health problems</a> than others. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/add.12662">Additional research</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000177">has suggested</a> that any problems technology overusers may experience tend to be milder than would happen with a mental illness, and usually go away on their own without treatment.</p>
<h2>‘Tech addiction’ is not caused by technology</h2>
<p>Most of the discussion of technology addictions suggest that technology itself is <a href="https://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/">mesmerizing</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/">harming normal brains</a>. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-013-9276-0">my research</a> suggests that technology addictions generally are symptoms of other, underlying disorders like depression, anxiety and attention problems. People don’t think that depressed people who <a href="http://sleepingresources.com/depression-and-hypersomnia/">sleep all day</a> have a “bed addiction.” </p>
<p>This is of particular concern when considering who needs treatment, and for what conditions. Efforts to treat “technology addiction” may do little more than treat a symptom, leaving the real problem intact.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/219057/original/file-20180515-195333-1p6tpaz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&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">The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Technology is not uniquely addictive</h2>
<p>There’s little question that some people overdo a wide range of activities. Those activities do include technology use, but also exercise, eating, sex, work, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014074130084">religion</a> and shopping. There are even research papers on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125988">dance addiction</a>. But few of these have official diagnoses. There’s little evidence that technology is more likely to be overused than a wide range of other enjoyable activities. </p>
<h2>Technology use does not lead to suicide</h2>
<p>Some pundits have pointed to a recent rise in suicide rates among teen girls as evidence for tech problems. But suicide rates increased for almost all age groups, particularly <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db241.htm">middle-aged adults</a>, for the 17-year period from <a href="https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/">1999 to 2016</a>. This rise apparently began around 2008, during the financial collapse, and has become more pronounced since then. That undercuts the claim that screens are causing suicides in teens, as does the fact that suicide rates are far higher among middle-aged adults than youth. There appears to be a larger issue going on in society. Technopanics could be distracting regular people and health officials from identifying and treating it. </p>
<p>One recent paper claimed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376">link screen use</a> to teen depression and suicide. But <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/its-time-for-a-serious-talk-about-the-science-of-tech-addiction/">another scholar</a> with access to the same data revealed the effect was no larger than the link between eating potatoes and suicide. This is a problem: Scholars sometimes make scary claims based on tiny data that are often statistical blips, not real effects.</p>
<p>To be sure, there are real problems related to technology, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/fragmented-us-privacy-rules-leave-large-data-loopholes-for-facebook-and-others-94606">privacy issues</a>. And people should balance technology use with other aspects of their lives. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for the very small percentage of individuals who do overuse. There’s a tiny kernel of truth to our concerns about technology addictions, but the available evidence suggests that claims of a crisis, or comparisons to substance abuse, are entirely unwarranted.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article originally published May 22, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher J. Ferguson is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He was one of 28 scholars who wrote an open letter to the World Health Organization criticizing their decision to create a "gaming disorder" diagnosis, due to concerns that research data could not support such a diagnosis. </span></em></p>Though the World Health Organization has declared “gaming disorder” an addiction, its – and others’ – concerns about technology use and alleged addiction don’t hold up to scholarly scrutiny.Christopher J. Ferguson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/850662017-12-05T04:07:42Z2017-12-05T04:07:42ZA new collaborative approach to investigate what happens in the brain when it makes a decision<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197377/original/file-20171202-5392-1edrpfm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1319%2C238%2C2973%2C2330&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's going on in there when you decide?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businesswoman-making-decision-360687236">Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Decisions span a vast range of complexity. There are really simple ones: Do I want an apple or a piece of cake with my lunch? Then there are much more complicated ones: Which car should I buy, or which career should I choose?</p>
<p>Neuroscientists like me have identified some of the individual parts of the brain that contribute to making decisions like these. Different areas <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12077">process sounds</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0105-17.2017">sights</a> or pertinent <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05457">prior knowledge</a>. But understanding how these individual players work together as a team is still a challenge, not only in understanding decision-making, but for the whole field of neuroscience.</p>
<p>Part of the reason is that until now, neuroscience has operated in a traditional science research model: Individual labs work on their own, usually focusing on one or a few brain areas. That makes it challenging for any researcher to interpret data collected by another lab, because we all have slight differences in how we run experiments.</p>
<p>Neuroscientists who study decision-making set up all kinds of different games for animals to play, for example, and we collect data on what goes on in the brain when the animal makes a move. When everyone has a different experimental setup and methodology, we can’t determine whether the results from another lab are a clue about something interesting that’s actually going on in the brain or merely a byproduct of equipment differences.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.braininitiative.nih.gov/">The BRAIN Initiative</a>, which the Obama administration launched in 2013, started to encourage the kind of collaboration that neuroscience needs. I just think it hasn’t gone far enough. So I co-founded a project called the <a href="https://www.internationalbrainlab.com/">International Brain Laboratory</a> – a virtual mega-laboratory composed of many labs at different institutions – to show that the proverb “alone we go fast, together we go far” holds true for neuroscience. The first question the collaboration is tackling focuses on decision-making by the brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193460/original/file-20171106-1046-ehjqn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We know a lot, but not enough, about how the cogs all fit together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/p_revagar/28777007826">Piyushgiri Revagar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The brain’s decision team</h2>
<p>Individual neuroscience labs have already uncovered a lot about how particular brain areas contribute to decision-making.</p>
<p>Say you’re choosing between an apple or a piece of cake to go with lunch. First, you need to know that apples and cake are the two options. That requires action from brain areas that process sensory information – your eyes see the apple’s bright red skin, while your nose takes in the sweet smell of cake.</p>
<p>Those sensory areas often connect to what we call association areas. Researchers have traditionally thought they play a role in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3865">putting different pieces of information</a> together. By collating information from the eyes, the ears and so on, the association areas may give a more coherent, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14066">big-picture view</a> of what’s happening in the world. </p>
<p>And why choose one action over another? That’s a question for the brain’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2008.08.003">reward circuitry</a>, which is critical in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2357">weighing the value of different options</a>. You know that the cake will taste sweetly delicious now, but you might regret it when you’re heading to the gym later.</p>
<p>Then, there’s the frontal cortex, which is believed to play a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35036228">role in controlling voluntary action</a>. Research suggests it’s involved in committing to a particular action once enough incoming information has arrived. It’s the part of the brain that might tell you the piece of cake smells so good that it’s worth all of the calories.</p>
<p>Understanding how these different brain areas typically work together to make decisions could help with understanding what happens in diseased brains. Patients with disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease often use sensory information in an unusual way, especially if it’s complex and uncertain. Research on decision-making may also inform treatment of patients with other disorders, such as substance abuse and addiction. Indeed, <a href="https://archives.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol18N4/DirRepVol18N4.html">addiction is perhaps a prime example</a> of how decision-making can go very wrong.</p>
<h2>A lab collaborative spread around the world</h2>
<p>Right now, neuroscientists are taking lots of closeup snapshots of what happens in particular areas of the brain when it makes a decision. But they aren’t coordinating with each other much, so these closeup pieces don’t fit together to give us the big picture of decision-making that we need. </p>
<p>That’s why a team of us joined up to form the International Brain Laboratory. With support from the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility, the Wellcome Trust, and the Simons Foundation (also a funder of The Conversation US), we aim to create that big picture by designing one large-scale experiment that uses the exact same approach to study many different brain areas. Because the brain is so complex, we need the expertise of many different labs that each specialize in particular brain areas. But we need them to coordinate and use the same approach so that we can put all of their different pieces of the picture together. </p>
<p>We’re bringing together a team of 21 scientists who will work very closely to understand how billions of neurons work together in a single brain to make decisions. About a dozen different labs will each do part of one big experiment by measuring neuron activity in animals engaged in exactly the same game. Our team members will record activity from hundreds of neurons in each animal’s brain. We’ll collect tens of thousands of neuronal recordings that we can analyze together.</p>
<h2>Keep it simple</h2>
<p>In real-world decisions, you’re combining lots of different pieces of information – your sensory signals, your internal knowledge about what’s rewarding, what’s risky. But implementing that in a laboratory context is pretty hard.</p>
<p>We’re hoping to recreate a mouse’s natural foraging experience. In real life, there are many different paths an animal can take as it navigates the world looking for something to eat. It wants to find food, because food is rewarding. It uses incoming sensory cues, like, “Oh, I see a cricket over there!” An animal might combine that with a memory of reward, like, “I know this area has lush berry bushes, I remember that from yesterday, so I’ll go there.” Or, “I know over here there was a cat last time, so I’d better avoid that area.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189663/original/file-20171010-17462-7i2day.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Imagining the world from a mouse’s perspective is essential for International Brain Laboratory scientists when picking a lab task that mimics a real-world decision.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elena Nikanorovna</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At first pass, the setup we’re using for the International Brain Laboratory doesn’t look very natural at all. The mouse has a little device that it uses to report decisions – it’s actually a wheel from a Lego set. For example, it might learn that when it sees an image of a vertical grating and turns the wheel until the image is centered, it gets a reward. If you think about what foraging is – exploring the environment, trying to find rewards, making use of sensory signals and prior knowledge – this simple Lego wheel activity does capture its essence.</p>
<p>We really had to think about the trade-off between having a behavior that was complex enough to give us insight into interesting neural computations, and one that was simple enough that it could be implemented in the same way in many different experimental laboratories. The balance we struck was a decision-making task that starts simple and becomes more and more complex as an individual animal achieves different stages of training. </p>
<p>Even in the simplest, very earliest stage we’re looking at, where the animals are just making voluntary movements, they’re deciding when to make a movement to harvest a reward. I’m sure we can go much further, but even if that’s as far as we get, having neural measurements from all over the brain during a simple behavior like this will be very interesting. We don’t know how it happens in the brain that you decide when to take a particular action and how to execute that action. Having neural measurements from all over the brain of what happened just before the animal spontaneously decided to go and get a reward will be a huge step forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Churchland receives funding from NIH, Simons Foundation, The Office of Naval Research, the Pew Trusts and the Klingenstein-SImons Foundation. </span></em></p>A new initiative called the International Brain Laboratory is tackling this fundamental mystery of neuroscience in an unusual way.Anne Churchland, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Cold Spring Harbor LaboratoryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/745652017-06-01T11:07:26Z2017-06-01T11:07:26ZLooking at buildings can actually give people headaches – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171781/original/file-20170601-25673-1nxv59p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=675%2C203%2C3506%2C2287&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwward0/20558926533/sizes/l">wwward0/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s three o'clock – you’re at work, struggling to focus during the afternoon lull. You gaze out of your office window, hoping for some relief, but instead you feel a headache coming on. Flat grey concrete lines the streets, while windows form repetitive glassy intervals in stark brick walls. With monotonous straight lines as far as the eye can see, there’s nowhere pleasant to rest your gaze. It may seem a superficial problem, but <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/2016-238.pdf">our research</a> has found that looking at urban landscapes may actually give you a headache. </p>
<p>Over tens of thousands of years, the human brain evolved to effectively process scenes from the natural world. But the urban jungle poses a greater challenge for the brain, because of the repetitive patterns it contains. Mathematician Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier showed that we can think of scenes as being made up of striped patterns, of different sizes, orientations and positions, all added together. These patterns are called Fourier components. </p>
<p>In nature, as a general rule, components with low spatial frequency (large stripes) have a high contrast and components with high frequency (small stripes) have a lower contrast. We can call this simple relationship between spatial frequency and contrast a “rule of nature”. Put simply, scenes from nature have stripes that tend to cancel each other out, so that when added together no stripes appear in the image. </p>
<h2>Hurts to look at</h2>
<p>But this is not the case with scenes from the urban environment. Urban scenes break the rule of nature: they tend to feature regular, repetitive patterns, due to the common use of design features such as windows, staircases and railings. Regular patterns of this kind are rarely found in nature. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171787/original/file-20170601-23531-1sxxljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Easier on the eye?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsaiian/24191293645/sizes/l">Top: Sam Beebe/Flickr, bottom: Tsaiian/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because the repetitive patterns of urban architecture break the rule of nature, it is more difficult for the human brain to process them efficiently. And because urban landscapes are not as easy to process, they are less comfortable to look at. Some patterns, such as the stripes on door mats, carpets and escalator stair treads <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/1980-22.pdf">can trigger</a> headaches and even epileptic seizures. </p>
<p>We came to these conclusions by measuring the efficiency with which the brain processes images of natural and urban scenes. There are two ways of measuring efficiency; the first is to build simple computer models of the way that nerve cells compute what we see. </p>
<p><a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royopensci/2/2/140535.full.pdf">One model</a> was built by Paul Hibbard (University of Essex) and Louise O'Hare (University of Lincoln), <a href="https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/discomfort-from-urban-scenes(d4f9d78b-69c8-4759-ba27-3414b6315be8).html">and another</a> at the University of St Andrews by <a href="https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/olivier-penacchio(55a99138-c2b7-4ee5-bd0a-e11ab3cd4550).html">Olivier Penacchio</a> and colleagues. Both models show that when the brain processes images that depart from the rule of nature, the activity of the nerve cells is increased, and becomes less sparsely distributed. In other words, such images take more effort for the brain to process. </p>
<p>For <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/2015-224.pdf">our own research</a>, Olivier and I designed a computer program that measures how well images adhere to the rule of nature. After running the program, we found that departure from the rule of nature predicts how uncomfortable people find it to look at any given image – whether it’s an image of a building or a work of art.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171792/original/file-20170601-25704-1xphggp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">They don’t make ‘em like they used to.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonk/341676552/">jonjk</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We then analysed images of apartment buildings, and found that over the last 100 years, the design of buildings has been departing further and further from the rule of nature; more and more stripes appear decade by decade, making the buildings less and less comfortable to look at.</p>
<h2>O₂ joy</h2>
<p>Another way to measure the efficiency of the brain’s visual processes is to measure the amount of oxygen used by the visual part of the brain, located at the back of the head. When the brain uses oxygen, it changes colour. We can track these changes by shining infrared light onto the scalp, and measuring the scattered light which bounces back off the brain and through the skull. Typically, oxygen usage is greater when people look at uncomfortable images, such as urban scenes. </p>
<p>We found that the rule of nature not only predicts the levels of discomfort suggested by computer models, it also predicts <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/2016-238.pdf">how much oxygen</a> is used by the brain. That is, our brains use more oxygen when we look at scenes which depart from the rule. Since headaches tend to be associated with excess oxygen usage, this may explain why some designs give us headaches. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171795/original/file-20170601-25697-qgdcch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Better out than in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pics-or-it-didnt-happen/3376032104/sizes/l">vincentq/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People who get migraines are particularly susceptible to the discomfort from repetitive patterns; these patterns increase the use of oxygen (which in those who sufferer migraines is <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/psychology/overlays/2011-200.pdf">already abnormally high</a>). The patterns can give rise to a headache, possibly as a result. Indeed, some individuals with migraine cannot function in certain modern offices, because the patterns bring on a headache every time they enter the building. </p>
<p>Perhaps it’s time for the rule of nature to be incorporated into the software that is used to design buildings and offices. Or interior designers can vary the wall designs, blinds and carpets they install, to avoid adding more stripes indoors. Of course, some repetitive patterns are an unavoidable result of modular construction. But many stripes are there quite unnecessarily, simply as design features – to catch the eye. Unfortunately, they may end up hitting the head, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arnold J Wilkins has received funding from the Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p>Repetitive patterns from windows, blinds and stairs are really uncomfortable to look at.Arnold J Wilkins, Professor of Psychology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/511412015-11-24T15:16:32Z2015-11-24T15:16:32ZHallucinations? They may just be caused by a fold in the brain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103015/original/image-20151124-18233-1t5u40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine hearing a voice that screams, “You’re no good at this and you’re going to fail every exam” but not knowing where it came from. Or suddenly seeing a poisonous snake slithering towards you. Even if you’ve never had a hallucination – a sensory event that is experienced as real, despite having no material world cause – it’s easy to imagine how frightening they can be.</p>
<p>Despite advances in brain imaging technology, we still have a limited understanding of the biological processes behind hallucinations. But <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151117/ncomms9956/full/ncomms9956.html">new research</a> has discovered that a key region of the brain, the paracingulate sulcus, may underlie the experience. This delivers a glimmer of insight into why some people are more likely to hallucinate and provides a neural target for treatments that aim to tackle such terrifying experiences.</p>
<p>When someone has a hallucination, the basic problem is that they fail to distinguish between real events and those created by the imagination. As a result, hallucinations have been described as an impairment in “<a href="http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/153/4/437">reality monitoring</a>”.</p>
<h2>Imagination centre</h2>
<p>Recent studies that have taken images of the brain using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16552413">have shown</a> there is an area of the frontal lobe particularly related to imagination. The outer layer of tissue (cortex) around a fold (sulcus) in the brain known as the paracingulate activates when you imagine yourself in a future scenario or imagine what others are thinking or feeling. We also know from <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14976518">studying patients</a> with brain damage that the frontal lobe in general is important for complex human behaviours, such as planning and our sense of self.</p>
<p>The key role played by the paracingulate sulcus area in imagination suggests that it is also involved in reality monitoring. If this part of the brain functions poorly then it might influence your ability to differentiate reality from imagination – and so increase the likelihood that you could experience hallucinations.</p>
<p>To test this theory, Jane Garrison and her colleagues at the University of Cambridge, undertook a <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151117/ncomms9956/full/ncomms9956.html">large-scale study</a> of paracingulate sulcus anatomy. This particular brain fold can look very different in different people: in some brains, it is long and uninterrupted; in others, it is short and broken up – and some people have virtually no paracingulate sulcus at all.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103183/original/image-20151125-23842-1eskerz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103183/original/image-20151125-23842-1eskerz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103183/original/image-20151125-23842-1eskerz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103183/original/image-20151125-23842-1eskerz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103183/original/image-20151125-23842-1eskerz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103183/original/image-20151125-23842-1eskerz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103183/original/image-20151125-23842-1eskerz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=272&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paracingulate sulcus: how big is yours?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Garrison et al, Nature Communications</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Longer folds actually mean there is less brain cell-carrying <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/247170">grey matter tissue</a> in the area. Other individual differences in sulcus anatomy can also affect the connections to the rest of the brain through the white matter tissue that carries neural signals. These structural variations can affect the local processing that takes place in a brain region.</p>
<p>The researchers measured the paracingulate sulcus length of three groups of people using structural MRI brain scans: schizophrenic patients who experienced hallucinations, schizophrenics who did not, and a control group of healthy individuals. Remarkably, those patients who experienced hallucinations had significantly reduced paracingulate sulcus length compared to those patients who had no hallucinations.</p>
<p>Analyses indicated that a reduction in sulcus length by 1cm led to an increased likelihood of experiencing hallucinations of nearly 20%. Plus, sulcus length did not differ between the schizophrenics without hallucinations and the control individuals. This suggests that sulcus length specifically relates to the experience of hallucinations rather than schizophrenia more generally.</p>
<h2>Shedding light on schizophrenia</h2>
<p>Interestingly, a shorter paracingulate sulcus was also more likely no matter what kind of hallucinations the patients suffered, whether they heard voices, saw images, felt touches, or smelt odours that weren’t real. This links the region to hallucinatory experience in general, rather than specific problems with, for example, visual or aural perception.</p>
<p>This study doesn’t just shed light on why some patients with schizophrenia might experience hallucinations while others might not. It also tells us more fundamentally about the neural basis for the hallucinatory process. In understanding what makes some people more likely to experience hallucinations, we begin to appreciate the anatomical features of the brain that underpin our experience of self and human consciousness. </p>
<p>The result is that the paracingulate sulcus may become an important target in new brain therapies that aim to tackle local regions of dysfunction. Techniques such as <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/transcranial-magnetic-stimulation/basics/definition/prc-20020555">transcranial magnetic stimulation</a>, in which an electromagnetic field is placed just above the scalp and then disturbed, have the power to safely change activity levels in cortical brain areas. Now, researchers hoping to improve the lives of hallucination sufferers have an area pinpointed on the cortical map from where to start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte Rae does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study of the brain structure of schizophrenics has revealed an important clue that could help treat hallucinations.Charlotte Rae, Sackler research fellow in clinical medicine, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/438112015-07-14T11:30:18Z2015-07-14T11:30:18ZAlexia: what happens when a brain injury makes you forget how to read<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88216/original/image-20150713-11798-6utyao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Patients with alexia – or acquired dyslexia – can recognise letters but not words. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Letters via B Calkins/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Once we have successfully learned how to read, it continues to be easy for most of us. But for some people it can be an immense challenge. In developmental dyslexia, the process of learning to read is disrupted, while in alexia – or acquired dyslexia – brain damage can affect reading ability in previously literate adults. </p>
<p>Patients with pure alexia lose the ability to read fluently following injury to areas in the rear part of the left hemisphere of their brain. The curious thing is that they can still walk, talk, think, and even write like they did before their injury. They just can’t read. Not even what they have written themselves. </p>
<p>Some patients lose the ability to recognise letters and words completely, but more commonly, patients with pure alexia can recognise single letters and will spell their way through words to identify them. As a result, some researchers prefer the term “letter-by-letter reading” to pure alexia. </p>
<p>Pure alexia as a syndrome was <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0093934X8371059X">first described</a> more than 120 years ago, but researchers still disagree on the cause of the reading problems. They agree that a lesion in the brain causes the problems, but they <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02643294.2014.924226#abstract">can’t agree</a> on which cognitive mechanisms may be responsible, or even how the disorder should be defined.</p>
<h2>Not a language problem</h2>
<p>Evidence from functional brain imaging has led to the idea of a brain area that is specialised in recognising words and letters, called the “visual word form area”. It is this area that is <a href="http://www.unicog.org/publications/cohen_lblreading_neuropsychologia_2004.pdf">commonly damaged</a> in pure alexia. However, the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3223525/">role of this area</a> in the way we read is highly debated and there is disagreement about whether it is reading-specific, or important for all sorts of visual recognition, such as looking at images or even faces. The same questions are discussed regarding pure alexia: whether the disorder is specific to reading or a more general deficit in somebody’s visual processing ability. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88334/original/image-20150714-21711-109yjpc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88334/original/image-20150714-21711-109yjpc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88334/original/image-20150714-21711-109yjpc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88334/original/image-20150714-21711-109yjpc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88334/original/image-20150714-21711-109yjpc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88334/original/image-20150714-21711-109yjpc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88334/original/image-20150714-21711-109yjpc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88334/original/image-20150714-21711-109yjpc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&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 image shows the lesions of four patients with pure alexia. The colours represent the number of patients with lesions in different areas. The visual word form area is marked by the red crosshairs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/12/2880.long">Randi Starrfelt, Cerebal Cortex</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In most, if not all cases of pure alexia, other visual perceptual functions such as recognition of numbers or objects <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19366870">are affected</a>, while other language functions, like speech comprehension and production – as well as writing – may be intact. </p>
<p>So it makes sense to look at pure alexia as a visual disorder; if it was a language problem, we would at least expect writing to also be affected, and it’s not. It is also clear, however, that the deficit in pure alexia patients primarily affects recognition of complex visual stimuli. This is because patients with this disorder <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23774289">may perform normally </a> in perceiving simple patterns. </p>
<p>Pure alexic patients have difficulty recognising <a href="http://tdlc.ucsd.edu/SV2012/Pubs/StarrfeltBehrmann_Neuropsychologia2011.pdf">numbers</a> as well as letters, and also <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19366870">show problems</a> in perceiving more than a few letters or numbers at the same time. So it seems that patterns must be either visually complex, or need to be linked with meaning – such as words – for pure alexic patients to be impaired. On this basis, we have suggested that the core problem for pure alexic patients, is that they see “too little too late” to be able to read fluently. </p>
<p>As you read the words in this article, you need to perceive and integrate multiple letters at a time to access the meaning of the words and the text. Very few other visual tasks demand the same speed and span of apprehension for successful recognition, which is why patients with pure alexia rarely complain of any problems other than in reading.</p>
<h2>When letters come easier than words</h2>
<p>For normal readers, integrating letters into words is a very simple task that we perform automatically and effortlessly. It may actually be more difficult to focus on a single letter within a word than the word itself. </p>
<p>This is also known as the “word superiority effect” – that <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24027510">people are better</a> at identifying words than single letters, even though words consist of letters that must be processed for the word to be recognised. This effect probably arises because of two things: first, normal readers can process letters in parallel by identifying multiple letters at a time and second, our knowledge of word meaning and word spelling helps us to identify the word. </p>
<p>The word superiority effect is not present in pure alexic patients: they actually <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24801564">perform better</a> recognising single letters than with words. For instance, when they are asked to recognise something that is presented to them for a very short time they would recognise the letters, rather than the word itself. Perhaps it’s no wonder that many of them resort to letter-by-letter reading.</p>
<p>In evolutionary terms, reading is a very recent skill which takes time and instruction to learn. If a dedicated brain area is responsible for visual recognition of words then this function of the brain must have been created in each of us as we learn, rather than through evolutionary mechanisms and development. </p>
<p>But although the “visual word form area” may be specialised for reading, and this specialisation is created through learning to read, the area itself is not new – the brain hasn’t grown in any way. That is one of the intriguing things about the brain: even if all we learn is stored in there, the brain doesn’t grow much bigger when we learn. Instead, it seems to be reorganised, so that new skills may relocate or at least slightly displace older skills. </p>
<p>This has been referred <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Reading_in_the_Brain.html?id=NlYsTqta7SYC&hl=en">to as “neuronal recycling”</a> by the French neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene, the man who also coined the term “the visual word form area”. It seems that the visual word form area, in addition to being crucial for visual word recognition, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17239621">continues to contribute</a> to our recognition of other visual stimuli such as images of objects. Exploring this relationship between reading and other cognitive skills is a new avenue in research on reading and the brain where there is still much to learn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Randi Starrfelt receives funding from The Danish Council for Independent Research (Sapere Aude).</span></em></p>Lesions on a particular region of the brain can cause ‘acquired dyslexia’.Randi Starrfelt, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/420722015-05-28T05:33:09Z2015-05-28T05:33:09ZIs technology making your attention span shorter than a goldfish’s?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83151/original/image-20150527-4831-1yt5yko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Now then, where was I?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve ever found it hard to concentrate on one thing without stopping to check your emails or post to social media, you’re not alone. The average human attention span – how long we can concentrate effectively on a single task – was <a href="http://advertising.microsoft.com/en/cl/31966/how-does-digital-affect-canadian-attention-spans">recently reported</a> by Microsoft to have dropped below the level attributed to goldfish.</p>
<p>This certainly plays to our fears about what the daily flood of social media and emails is doing to us, and to younger generations in particular. However, these figures may be misleading. For one thing, the report contains no real detail for either the goldfish or human attention span beyond the numbers on the <a href="http://www.statisticbrain.com/attention-span-statistics/">web page</a> Microsoft pulled them from.</p>
<p>More importantly, our minds are adaptive systems, constantly reorganising and refocusing our mental faculties to suit the environment. So the idea that our ability to pay attention may be changing in response to the modern, online world is neither surprising nor anything to necessarily worry about. However, there is an argument that we must take care to keep control of our attention in a world increasingly filled with distractions. </p>
<p>Attention is a phenomenally awkward thing to study and the manner in which it is tested enormously impacts on the results. This is one of the reasons attention is one of the most enduring and active research areas in psychology: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21549742">more than 1,200 papers</a> have been published on it just in the past 10 years.</p>
<p>But assuming the numbers in the report reflect some research – no matter what the method behind the data was – it’s still not reasonable to apply them to any situation other than the one in which they were generated. Applying them to all aspects of our lives, as the report implies we should do, is a huge stretch. </p>
<p>Published scientific research looking at the effect of modern technology on our cognitive abilities does show an effect on attention. But contrary to popular opinion, it shows attention spans have actually improved. For example, habitual video gamers have <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12774121/">demonstrated better</a> attentional abilities than non-players – and non-players who started playing video-games began to show the same improvements.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83153/original/image-20150527-4812-17t0kny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83153/original/image-20150527-4812-17t0kny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83153/original/image-20150527-4812-17t0kny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83153/original/image-20150527-4812-17t0kny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83153/original/image-20150527-4812-17t0kny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83153/original/image-20150527-4812-17t0kny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83153/original/image-20150527-4812-17t0kny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brain training.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s no reason why the modern world should necessarily diminish our mental faculties and no reason to fear them changing. Our cognitive abilities are constantly changing and even naturally vary across the day.</p>
<p>One of our projects at the Open University is currently collecting data on these daily cycles. We’ve developed a smartphone app that includes a measure of attention alongside four other cognitive tasks. By using <a href="http://www.openuniversity.co.uk/brainwave">the app</a> across the day, you can participate in this research and chart these natural changes in your own performance. This can enable you to better plan your day and finally understand if you actually are a morning or evening person.</p>
<p>However, as interesting as possible variations in cognitive abilities are, a more pertinent question may be what or who is driving the changes in our environment. Happily, this question is much easier to answer. The Microsoft study is aimed at advertisers, not the general public, and calls on companies to use “more creative, and increasingly immersive ways to market themselves”. </p>
<p>The increasing number of distractions in our world is partly due to the new and ever-evolving ways in which advertisers can put their message in front of us – and the “increasingly immersive” techniques they’ll use once the message is there. Realising this helps us understand that our attention is a resource being fought over by advertisers.</p>
<p>The online world is increasingly comprised of spaces where advertisers attempt to tempt us with their products. Similarly, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18959416">public spaces</a> are increasingly full of adverts that can play sound and video to further capture our attention. Escaping this advertising battleground is becoming one of the luxuries of the modern world. It’s why paid-for executive lounges at airports are free from noisy, garish adverts and why the removal of adverts is a key selling point for paid-for apps.</p>
<p>Our mental abilities are changing, as they always have done in order to best serve our success in changing environments. But now, more than ever, our environment is made by those who either want our attention or want to sell access to it. It will certainly be interesting to see how our cognitive abilities adapt to meet this new challenge. However, as individuals we too must start valuing our attention as much as the advertisers do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Thirkettle currently receives funding from the charitable arm of Reed, who partnered with the OU on the Brainwave app project. He has also received funding from Sheffield Children's Hospital Research Charity, the EU, and the EPSRC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graham Pike has received funding from the EPSRC, Home Office, College of Policing, HEFCE, British Psychological Society and from the charitable arm of Reed, who partnered on the Brainwave app project.</span></em></p>Our minds have always adapted to their environment but advertisers are exploiting opportunities for distraction like never before.Martin Thirkettle, Lecturer in psychology, The Open UniversityGraham Pike, Professor of forensic cognition, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/387132015-04-17T02:18:30Z2015-04-17T02:18:30ZBrainy bones: the hidden complexity inside your skeleton<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78022/original/image-20150415-24656-17zfjc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Your bones are cleverer, and more complex, than you might think.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chiropractic/4670285277/in/photolist-87Gr6X-oSDpE5-6Tvvyz-kCj1K-7M7UkA-aNkn7z-nb5Tif-4p9HJk-nPcFtT-euYhGR-6Scyoi-4wcXZY-5NA3AM-nwXUkG-o6G897-dQG6fG-89fU4H-nQ9zZh-87mhMZ-dP7LW9-nzrMdX-oFaAXC-5qG9YV-bmEy4s-dWLpiJ-5jF97B-dP7Zmj-4DWVrW-6QP3P5-56S29x-juAvLj-6QNQRb-78NCRq-nLFxTR-552YhL-fHEWSv-t933j-euVdE4-3c8g7Z-Hb6bA-agzs9z-6Rqigj-7od1GL-4Trix8-ga4vBZ-7KjJFf-6r2BXd-8qJFhv-dEWSJG-dEWSvb">Michael Dorausch</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Your bones are savvy. They are light yet strong and they repair themselves when they break. What’s more – although you can’t tell – your bones continually renew themselves, replacing old bone for new. </p>
<p>This isn’t unique. Other <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1219995/Believe-lungs-weeks-old--taste-buds-just-days-So-old-rest-body.html">tissues</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867405004083">cells</a> (most noticeably skin) replace themselves. But bones do it with adaptation, adjusting to meet the body’s mechanical and physiological needs.</p>
<p>How does the skeleton achieve something so remarkable? New imaging technology is revealing a previously under-appreciated dimension of bones: the living cellular network built deep inside them. This living network is composed of the most abundant cell in bone: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3179345/">the amazing osteocyte</a>.</p>
<p>Osteocytes (literally “bone cells”) are <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dvdy.20603/abstract">buried alive</a> in bone tissue whenever bone is formed. They develop long branch-like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrite">dendritic fingers</a> that infiltrate the tissue and reach out to interconnect with one another.</p>
<p>Living inside hard, rock-like bone, osteocytes have been difficult to study. They were considered inactive and uninteresting for a long time. They are now known to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1847717/">sense mechanical strains</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-1716.2011.02385.x/abstract">orchestrate bone tissue renewal</a>, and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22302104">regulate calcium levels in the bloodstream</a>.</p>
<h2>Almost as complex as the brain</h2>
<p>As more researchers investigate these cells and their network, the picture has become more elaborate. Osteocytes are clearly numerous and densely interconnected (see the image below), but putting an actual number on them had never been done. But it’s worth doing.</p>
<p>Numbers in biology <a href="http://book.bionumbers.org/the-facts-of-life-why-we-should-care-about-the-numbers/">help us discover new insights</a>, so much so that researchers have set up a <a href="http://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/default.aspx">database</a> and <a href="http://book.bionumbers.org/">handbook</a> of many “bionumbers” across many species, collected from the scientific literature. </p>
<p>For example, the number of synapses in the human neural cortex is estimated at <a href="http://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/bionumber.aspx?&id=100693&ver=5&trm=synapses">150 trillion</a>. An MIT-led citizen science project involving 120,000 online gamers has already helped in understanding <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v509/n7500/full/nature13240.html">how the brain sees movement</a> by mapping these connections through a project called <a href="https://eyewire.org/">EyeWire</a>. </p>
<p>But why should anyone care about the number of osteocytes? Because, as well as controlling bone strength and the release of vital minerals such as calcium and phosphate into the bloodstream, there is now evidence that these cells might influence how your immune system works, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413113003835">how fat you are</a>, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12018-014-9155-8#page-1">how your kidney works</a>, and <a href="http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674%2811%2900118-8">even male fertility</a>. </p>
<p>So, to get a sense of the size of the osteocyte network, we started to quantify it in the human skeleton. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bone.2015.02.016">What we found</a> exceeded even our expectations. It turns out that inside your skeleton lives a network that is almost as complex as the neural network of your brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74575/original/image-20150312-13485-1x9zt8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74575/original/image-20150312-13485-1x9zt8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74575/original/image-20150312-13485-1x9zt8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74575/original/image-20150312-13485-1x9zt8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74575/original/image-20150312-13485-1x9zt8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74575/original/image-20150312-13485-1x9zt8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74575/original/image-20150312-13485-1x9zt8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/74575/original/image-20150312-13485-1x9zt8u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Osteocytes and their dendritic fingers form a network within bone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/result.html?_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXACTION_=query&_IXFIRST_=49&_IXSR_=clY4TGtnynh&_IXSS_=_IXMAXHITS_%3d125%26_IXFPFX_%3dtemplates%252ft%26_IXFIRST_%3d1%26c%3d%2522historical%2bimages%2522%2bOR%2b%2522contemporary%2bimages%2522%2bOR%2b%2522corporate%2bimages%2522%2bOR%2b%2522contemporary%2bclinical%2bimages%2522%26%252asform%3dwellcome%252dimages%26%2524%253dsi%3dtext%26_IXACTION_%3dquery%26i_pre%3d%26IXTO%3d%26t%3d%26_IXINITSR_%3dy%26i_num%3d%26%2524%253dsort%3dsort%2bsortexpr%2bimage_sort%26w%3d%26%2524%253ds%3dmackenzie%26IXFROM%3d%26_IXshc%3dy%26%2524%2b%2528%2528with%2bwi_sfgu%2bis%2bY%2529%2band%2bnot%2b%2528%2522contemporary%2bclinical%2bimages%2522%2bindex%2bwi_collection%2bor%2b%2522corporate%2bimages%2522%2bindex%2bwi_collection%2529%2529%2band%2bnot%2bwith%2bsys_deleted%3d%252e%26_IXrescount%3d469&_IXSPFX_=templates%2ft&_IXFPFX_=templates%2ft">Kevin Mackenzie, University of Aberdeen, Wellcome Images (B0008430)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How the numbers stack up</h2>
<p>Taking recent imaging data (e.g. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10237-014-0601-9">here</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23494896">here</a>), we calculated that the human skeleton contains about 42 billion osteocytes. That’s about six times the Earth’s population. In comparison, the human brain contains <a href="http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/brain-metrics/are_there_really_as_many">86 billion neurons</a>, packed in a volume (around 1.2 litres) comparable with that of the skeleton (which is about 1.75 litres). Although, of course, the skeleton is more spread out.</p>
<p>When we added together the length of these little cell fingers, imagining them being placed end to end, we found that this network is about 175,000 kilometres long. That’s more than four times the Earth’s circumference, and almost identical to the total length of axons in the brain: 180,000 km. </p>
<p>We based many estimates on simple algebraic manipulations of previously published data. But one essential piece of information could not be estimated easily: the number of connections osteocytes make with their neighbours. A brain without connections can do nothing, so estimating connections in the osteocyte network is important.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, connections between osteocytes are hard to see directly. What is seen instead are the little tunnels through the bone that osteocytes and their fingers live in.</p>
<p>So to measure this proxy tunnel network and the cell network within, we resorted to a mathematical model of dendritic finger branching. Feeding this model with data on the proxy network, we calculated that 23 trillion connections exist in the osteocyte network of the human body.</p>
<h2>An evolved smart biomaterial</h2>
<p>So, by these measures, your skeleton is a lot like your brain, with a similar number of cells interconnected in a similar sized space. But why do our skeletons need such a complex network? We don’t know exactly, but we do know that these cells exchange information, just like neurons do. </p>
<p>The tunnels that osteocytes occupy can still be seen in old bones, including <a href="http://journals.plos.org/ploscollections/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0077109">dinosaur fossils</a>. We can use this information to understand how bones have evolved to become the self-detecting and self-regulating biomaterial we own; that’s something that can’t be done with brain fossils.</p>
<p>Osteocytes communicate with each other about where the skeleton is weak and needs to be strengthened, or where there is damage that needs to be fixed. These messages are transmitted to cells on the bone surface that are able to remove damaged bone (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoclast">osteoclasts</a>) and form new bone (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoblast">osteoblasts</a>). </p>
<p>We know very little about how these cells communicate. But if we did, we could find better treatments for skeletal disorders like <a href="http://www.osteoporosis.org.au/about-osteoporosis">osteoporosis</a> or <a href="http://www.oiaustralia.org.au/information">osteogenesis imperfecta</a>, and find ways to get football players back on the field more quickly (and more safely!) <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-02-16/setback-for-kreuzer">after a fracture</a>.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the next time you stand up, walk around or do weights, think about how the network of osteocytes in your bones is responding to the stresses and strains you are putting it through. And thank your osteocytes for keeping your skeleton strong (and smart) enough to support you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pascal Buenzli receives funding from The Australian Research Council (project grant DE130101191).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Sims receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The network of bone cells inside your skeleton rivals your brain in terms of complexity.Pascal Buenzli, Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, Monash UniversityNatalie Sims, Associate Professor, St Vincent's Hospital MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/394092015-04-01T14:25:53Z2015-04-01T14:25:53ZAir pollution may be damaging children’s brains – before they are even born<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76787/original/image-20150401-31287-15wv60g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hold your breath.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-116122774/stock-photo-pregnancy-with-the-urban-landscape-on-the-balcony.html?src=xN7XIDXxpo6ceaGmWoVeXQ-2-93">Radharani/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy may contribute to childhood abnormalities in the brain, <a href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2205842">a new study</a> suggests. </p>
<p>The research, from the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, measured the exposure of the mothers to <a href="http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/wastemin/minimize/factshts/pahs.pdf">PAH air pollution</a> and used brain imaging to look at the effects on their children’s brains.</p>
<p>PAHs, or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are widespread pollutants formed when organic materials are incompletely burned. They originate from vehicle exhausts, burning coal and oil, waste incineration, and wildfires. They can also be found inside the home, for example from tobacco smoke or open fires and stoves.</p>
<h2>We need our white matter</h2>
<p>The researchers began looking at the effects of prenatal exposure to PAH on brain development in the 1990s. The <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241351/">initial study</a> recruited more than 600 women in the third trimester of pregnancy from New York City minority communities. They completed questionnaires and were given portable pollution monitors for 48 hours to allow researchers to determine their exposure.</p>
<p>Their children were then assessed between the ages of three and seven, and the team found that exposure was associated with symptoms of ADHD (<a href="http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx">attention deficit hyperactivity disorder</a>) and other cognitive and behavioural problems including reduced IQ, anxiety and depression.</p>
<p>For the <a href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2205842">latest study</a>, 40 of the same children had their brains scanned, revealing a strong link between PAH exposure in the womb and a reduction of white matter in the brain. Brain white matter is made of millions of cells called axons that allow rapid connections between different regions of the brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76660/original/image-20150331-1274-o4mgdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76660/original/image-20150331-1274-o4mgdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76660/original/image-20150331-1274-o4mgdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76660/original/image-20150331-1274-o4mgdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76660/original/image-20150331-1274-o4mgdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=278&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76660/original/image-20150331-1274-o4mgdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76660/original/image-20150331-1274-o4mgdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76660/original/image-20150331-1274-o4mgdw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=349&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 study found an association of areas of reduced white matter with the processing speed of that part of the brain. Yellow, red and orange show areas where white matter had affected the processing speed of that part of the brain. There was a stronger correlation in the left side of the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2205842">from Peterson et al. 2015, JAMA Psychiatry</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s more, these disturbances in the brain were associated with slower reaction times during intelligent testing as well as more severe ADHD symptoms and conduct disorder. </p>
<h2>Growing signs of trouble</h2>
<p>This study’s findings add to a <a href="https://www.readbyqxmd.com/read/22252905/a-review-of-epidemiological-studies-on-neuropsychological-effects-of-air-pollution">growing body of literature</a> on air pollution and health, from which other studies report associations with <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Autistic-spectrum-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx">autism spectrum disorders</a>, <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Schizophrenia/Pages/Introduction.aspx">schizophrenia</a> and <a href="http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/mild-cognitive-impairment">cognitive impairment</a>.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1393589">one study</a> of Californian children showed that those exposed to the highest levels of traffic-related air pollution during pregnancy and in the first year of life were more likely to develop autistic spectrum disorders than those exposed to the lowest levels.</p>
<p>More direct evidence that air pollution affects the developing brain comes from animal studies. One study of the brains of young mice exposed to ultra-fine particles at concentrations similar to those found in rush-hour traffic found the mice displayed <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1307984/">enlarged cavities in their brains</a> – a condition which in humans is associated with autism and schizophrenia.</p>
<h2>Particles – bad news for the brain</h2>
<p>The mechanism by which air pollution is toxic to the brain is not yet fully understood, in particular, the pathway to the brain of particulate matter (PM) – small pollutants particles which can carry PAHs on their surface. </p>
<p>Ultrafine particles are believed to move to the brain either by travelling from the lung into the systemic circulation and <a href="http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08958370490439597?journalCode=iht">across the blood brain barrier</a> or by landing at the back of the nose then travelling to the brain via the olfactory nerve. Once in the brain, pollutant particles can <a href="http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/08958379509014267">cause</a> inflammation and cellular damage.</p>
<h2>Need for more research</h2>
<p>As with any scientific project, there were limitations to the study: the sample size was small and it was not possible to exclude the possibility that the findings could have been caused by other environmental exposures. The researchers plan to scan many more children, and to assess the way PAH interact with other contaminants and their effects on the brain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76657/original/image-20150331-1263-l5puz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76657/original/image-20150331-1263-l5puz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76657/original/image-20150331-1263-l5puz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76657/original/image-20150331-1263-l5puz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76657/original/image-20150331-1263-l5puz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76657/original/image-20150331-1263-l5puz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76657/original/image-20150331-1263-l5puz3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cough cough – air pollution in London in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/zongo/13886228710/in/photolist-na5y1o-brk3Fg-mFXW42-mHJx9r-51onL4-mKJ3iR-DdwSP-mHJwLc-51ooTn-51oo32-4AmW5p-mHLh9U-51okhB-51szE1-51szs5-51sxqq-j83th9-mHJy9n-mHLifm-51sx9f-mKEe4r-mKG4um-51okB4-8Ufh1d-mKG4bW-eF4jxP-6Z9MfM-afUB7x-51ooAr-6Z9Mfg-569wMG-7dB72z-8mCpxo-2XUPVb-bdGExt-bEx5zq-eF4jRV-f1av5P-duijPK-8UccfV-9SwPc9-6dCrgb-rbo5Bw-mJppaz-9StUVt-dmkCa2-8Ucci6-eF4ka6-8UfgTy-pJRssW">David Holt/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s also important to remember that the findings were made from a study of a specific population with a high level of poverty, low educational attainment and below-average maternal IQ – so the results may not easily generalise to other populations. </p>
<p>This study and much of the other research on air pollution and the brain originates from the US, where the proportion of one major source of urban air pollution – the diesel-powered car – is low compared to the UK. This makes it necessary to collect our own data here.</p>
<p>In our recently launched <a href="http://www.lifestudy.ac.uk/homepage">birth cohort study</a> we will be collecting detailed information on 80,000 UK babies and their parents during pregnancy and the first year of children’s lives to work out which factors shape growth, development, health and well-being.</p>
<h2>The cost of air pollution</h2>
<p>Although there has been relatively little research on the negative effects of air pollution on the nervous system, evidence is already mounting. A unique feature of air pollution as a risk factor for disease is that exposure is almost universal. </p>
<p>Importantly, the study showed that the more the mother was exposed to PAH while pregnant, the larger the white matter disturbance in the child. This suggests that reduction in exposure to PAHs during pregnancy and just after birth has the potential to bring about an equivalent reduction in white matter disturbance in the child’s brain and its effects.</p>
<p>If further studies find similar results, the public health implications are significant given how widespread PAHs are and how little we know about the causes of mental health problems – an area that presents a <a href="http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/research-mental-health/">large and growing disease burden</a> on society.</p>
<p>The ever-accumulating evidence that so many components of air pollution contribute to such a diverse set of diseases confirms the urgent need to manage the quality of the air we breathe. Achieving this promises to be a significant and cost-effective way of improving our health and quality of life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39409/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Kelly receives funding from MRC, NERC, EC, Wellcome Trust, NIHR. He is Chairman of the Committee of the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Fussell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research has found a link between exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy and abnormalities in children’s brains. But how at risk are we?Frank Kelly, Professor of Environmental Health, King's College LondonJulia Fussell, Scientific Communicator, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/379262015-03-08T19:02:30Z2015-03-08T19:02:30ZBrain-to-brain interfaces: the science of telepathy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73904/original/image-20150305-17450-1ygf48v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All he needs is the right equipment and he might actually be able to transmit thoughts.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/topastrodfogna/5418451488/in/photolist-9eF59s-9fby7Q-ak6KSN-9g4UNr-e8QvUY-dSdSdZ-pt8565-7AFUSU-9fNYRo-qw1XtJ-6ZYgPV-p4r6KK-5swUzG-4rW8RE-4rW8Mf-4rW8Cw-pkWd1c-pkUwQY-pnfuzP-p63teu-6Cm53Z-4uJWJW-6z6KEg-4mAm4x-snvge-p5NA9Q-p63sNu-p62vTv-p62vxa-i9HWER-i9JpcM-4mEpbA-9YReYf-4mAkPi-4mAkeR-4mEpsq-4mAk6p-4mEpmE-4mEpCC-4mEoSw-4mEpxd-4mEp4h-4mEoiE-4mEo6Y-4mAkp2-4mAmxZ-4mAjP8-4mAkjP-4mEoLf-4mEo3u">Mauro Sartori/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk a mile (or 1.6 kilometres) in somebody else’s shoes? Or have you ever tried to send a telepathic message to a partner in transit to “pick up milk on your way home”? </p>
<p>Recent advances in brain-computer interfaces are turning the science fantasy of transmitting thoughts directly from one brain to another into reality. </p>
<p>Studies published in the last two years have reported direct transmission of brain activity <a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130228/srep01319/full/srep01319.html">between two animals</a>, <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111332">between two humans</a> and even between a <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0060410">human and a rat</a>. These “brain-to-brain interfaces” (BBIs) allow for direct transmission of brain activity in real time by coupling the brains of two individuals. </p>
<p>So what is the science behind this?</p>
<h2>Reading the brainwaves</h2>
<p>Brain-to-brain interface is made possible because of the way brain cells communicate with each other. Cell-to-cell communication occurs via a process known as <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/courses/1010/mangels/neuro/transmission/transmission.html">synaptic transmission</a>, where chemical signals are passed between cells resulting in electrical spikes in the receiving cell.</p>
<p>Synaptic transmission forms the basis of all brain activity, including motor control, memory, perception and emotion. Because cells are connected in a network, brain activity produces a synchronised pulse of electrical activity, which is called a “brain wave”. </p>
<p>Brain waves change according to the cognitive processes that the brain is currently working through and are characterised by the time-frequency pattern of the up and down states (oscillations). </p>
<p>For example, there are brainwaves that are characteristic of the different <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/dream2.htm">phases of sleep</a>, and patterns characteristic of various states of awareness and consciousness. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73909/original/image-20150305-17448-1ubkmdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73909/original/image-20150305-17448-1ubkmdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73909/original/image-20150305-17448-1ubkmdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73909/original/image-20150305-17448-1ubkmdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73909/original/image-20150305-17448-1ubkmdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73909/original/image-20150305-17448-1ubkmdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73909/original/image-20150305-17448-1ubkmdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An example of brainwaves that appear during one of the stages of sleep.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Brainwaves are detected using a technique known as electroencephalography (<a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003931.htm">EEG</a>), where a swimming-cap like device is worn over the scalp and electrical activity detected via electrodes. The pattern of activity is then recorded and interpreted using computer software. </p>
<p>This kind of brain-machine interface forms the basis of neural prosthesis technology and is used to <a href="http://www.ninds.nih.gov/research/npp/index.htm">restore brain function</a>. This may sound far-fetched, but neural prostheses are actually commonplace, just think of the <a href="http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/au/home/understand/hearing-and-hl/hl-treatments/cochlear-implant">Cochlear implant</a>! </p>
<h2>Technical telepathy</h2>
<p>The electrical nature of the brain allows not only for sending of signals, but also for the receiving of electrical pulses. These can be delivered in a non-invasive way using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcranial_magnetic_stimulation">TMS</a>). </p>
<p>A TMS device creates a magnetic field over the scalp, which then causes an electrical current in the brain. When a TMS coil is placed over the motor cortex, the motor pathways can be activated, resulting in movement of a limb, hand or foot, or even a finger or toe. </p>
<p>Scientists are now working on ways to sort through all the noise in brainwaves to uncover specific signals that can then be used to create an artificial communication channel between animals. </p>
<p>The first demonstration of this was in a 2013 study where a pair of rats were connected through a BBI to perform a behavioural task. The connection was reinforced by giving both rats a reward when the receiver rat performed the task correctly. </p>
<p>Hot on the heels of this study was a demonstration that a human could control the tail movements of a rat via BBI. </p>
<p>We now know that BBIs can work between humans too. By combining EEG and TMS, scientists have transmitted the thought of moving a hand from one person to a separate individual, who actually moved their hand. The BBI works best when both participants are conscious cooperators in the experiment. In this case, the subjects were engaged in a computer game.</p>
<h2>Thinking at you</h2>
<p>The latest advance in human BBIs represents another leap forward. This is where <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105225">transmission of conscious thought</a> was achieved between two human beings in August last year. </p>
<p>Using a combination of technologies – including EEG, the Internet and TMS – the team of researchers was able to transmit a thought all the way from India to France. </p>
<p>Words were first coded into binary notation (i.e. 1 = “hola”; 0 = “ciao”). Then the resulting EEG signal from the person thinking the 1 or the 0 was transmitted to a robot-driven TMS device positioned over the visual cortex of the receiver’s brain. </p>
<p>In this case, the TMS pulses resulted in the perception of flashes of light for the receiver, who was then able to decode this information into the original words (hola or ciao). </p>
<p>Now that these BBI technologies are becoming a reality, they have a huge potential to impact the way we interact with other humans. And maybe even the way we communicate with animals through direct transmission of thought. </p>
<p>Such technologies have obvious ethical and legal implications, however. So it is important to note that the success of BBIs depends upon the conscious coupling of the subjects. </p>
<p>In this respect, there is a terrific potential for BBIs to one day be integrated into psychotherapies, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/cbt">cognitive behavioural therapy</a>, learning of motor skills, or even more fantastical situations akin to remote control of robots on distant planets or Vulcan-like mind melds a la Star Trek.</p>
<p>Soon, it might well be possible to really experience walking a mile (or a kilometre) in another person’s shoes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristyn Bates receives funding from The Raine Medical Research Foundation and The Neurotrauma Research Program (Western Australia).</span></em></p>Technology is making it possible to communicate thought directly from one brain to another.Kristyn Bates, Research Assistant Professor in Neuroscience, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/376722015-02-18T06:19:50Z2015-02-18T06:19:50ZWhat goes on in teachers’ brains as they help students to learn<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72259/original/image-20150217-19506-e5ifu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There goes the anterior cingulate cortex. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maths teaching via CristinaMuraca/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans spend an enormous amount of time and effort thinking about other people. Like primates, birds and even ants, we often learn skills and information from others. In the past, <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2014.00058/abstract">research</a> has extensively focused on how skills are learnt through observation or imitation and what happens in the brain when we do so. </p>
<p>Yet a lot of information is actually learnt from teachers. Now, researchers are beginning to explore the science of what goes on in a teacher’s brain. </p>
<p>Many of us will remember particular teachers who transformed the way we think, or who gave us life skills that we still use. But the ability to teach is not just a passive process in which the learner absorbs whatever the teacher says. Teachers must monitor the performance of their students and take active steps to give them feedback – a highly effective way of learning if students are receptive to being told when they succeed or fail.</p>
<p>Neuroscientists <a href="http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/staff/schultz/pdfs%20website/2006%20AnnRevPsy.pdf">are beginning to understand</a> how the human brain processes information in learners. Yet very little is known about how the brains works when people are engaged in teaching. Our <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/7/2904.short">new research</a> aimed at finding out whether it’s possible to understand the brain processes involved when we monitor how wrong other people are. </p>
<h2>Social learning in the brain</h2>
<p>In the past, <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2014.00058/abstract">research</a> on “social learning” – or learning while interacting with other people – has focused on the brain of the “student”. Among the brain areas which are involved in learning in students, one particular region known as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) seems to be very important for understanding other people. </p>
<p>The ACC is one of the most controversial areas of the brain – with extensive debate among neuroscientists over how it works and what processes it is involved in. Yet it <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnins.2013.00251/abstract">has been shown</a> that the ACC can be divided up into smaller “zones”, each of which is involved in slightly different things. </p>
<p>Recent evidence suggests that a particular zone is active when people are thinking about the decisions other people are making. This led us to hypothesise that this region might also play an important role in someone’s brain when they are monitoring what someone else has done and providing that person with feedback – including when people are acting like teachers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72258/original/image-20150217-19472-6yz55e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72258/original/image-20150217-19472-6yz55e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72258/original/image-20150217-19472-6yz55e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72258/original/image-20150217-19472-6yz55e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72258/original/image-20150217-19472-6yz55e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72258/original/image-20150217-19472-6yz55e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72258/original/image-20150217-19472-6yz55e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The brain science of teaching.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brain and blackboard via 3Dalia/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tracking what students do</h2>
<p>We <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/7/2904.short">used a brain scanning method</a> called functional MRI to study changes in brain activity when 15 people stepped into the role of a “teacher” whose task was to give feedback to a “student”.</p>
<p>During scanning, the “teachers” could see on a computer screen what another volunteer was doing in a computer game. This other volunteer (the “student”) was playing a game where they had to learn which responses were correct and which were incorrect. There were ten very simple pictures, and for each picture, there was the option of pressing four buttons. One out of the four buttons was the correct one. </p>
<p>Over the experiment, “students” had to learn the pattern of which was the correct one of the four buttons, by feedback from the “teachers”, who told them if they were correct or incorrect. Inside the scanner the “teacher” had to watch what the other person was doing and tell them whether their response was correct or incorrect. </p>
<p>So – although they were not teachers – they were having to behave just as teachers do. Our “teachers” had to understand what the correct response should be, decide whether the students’ understanding was correct or not, and then give the students feedback about their performance, in the hope that the students would learn how to do the task better.</p>
<p>We used mathematical approaches, which we call computational modelling, to work out how wrong the beliefs of the students were during the game every time they guessed which button they thought was the correct one. </p>
<p>This approach was <a href="http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/staff/schultz/pdfs%20website/2006%20AnnRevPsy.pdf">based around theories</a> of how people learn what actions will lead to good or bad outcomes in the world. But it had never been used before to examine what might happen in the brain of a teacher. We applied this model to our task to make quite specific predictions about how “active” a brain area would be in the brain of the teacher when they watched how a student was playing the game. </p>
<p>When we analysed the brain imaging data from our experiment, we found that activity in the ACC correlated with what we had predicted with the mathematical model. This showed that the ACC in the brain of a teacher seemed to track how wrong the student was every time they made a guess about which button to press.</p>
<h2>Understanding teachers’ brains</h2>
<p>This work provides some of the first insights into what brain areas become active when someone is teaching and how they might work to help them to understand someone else’s learning. Added to that, by using a mathematical approach, we hope to have provided a framework that future researchers can use to help them to understand the mechanisms that operate in the brains of teachers.</p>
<p>Despite our interesting findings, this is still very early days and much more research is required before we will understand the biology and psychology of the teaching process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37672/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Apps receives funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Narender Ramnani receives funding from Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council, Royal Society, Transport Research Laboratory. He is a member of the British Neuroscience Association Council, and a member of various funding panels past and present, including BBSRC</span></em></p>Humans spend an enormous amount of time and effort thinking about other people. Like primates, birds and even ants, we often learn skills and information from others. In the past, research has extensively…Matthew Apps, BBSRC AFL Fellow, University of OxfordNarender Ramnani, Professor of Neuroscience, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/361272015-01-12T03:36:58Z2015-01-12T03:36:58ZHealth Check: four key ways to improve your brain health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68655/original/image-20150112-23807-ur00a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The human brain leaves computers behind with its endless capacity for problem solving, innovation and invention.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/humphreyking/8210242135">Humphrey King/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The human brain is the most extraordinary and complex object in the known universe, a kilogram and a half of soft tissue that, at its peak, leaves computers behind with its endless capacity for problem solving, innovation and invention. </p>
<p>So it’s a little surprising that only recently has the concept of brain health begun to emerge. After all, if the body is a “temple”, then surely the brain must be the “high altar” as it generates all our thoughts, feelings and movements. Indeed, it is fundamental to all of our conscious experience. </p>
<p>Brain diseases such as Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia demonstrate how devastating it is when the brain degenerates, dragging the mind and its many wonderful capacities down with it. Clearly, it’s time we all focused more on this most important organ, to improve both the quality and quantity of brain health across the lifespan. </p>
<p>The good news is that many of the lifestyle choices that are good for the body are also good for the brain. But we need to be mindful that other factors may be particularly beneficial for brain. Here’s a distillation of some of the current evidence supporting beneficial lifestyle factors into four pillars of brain health. </p>
<h2>First: stay physically active</h2>
<p>This is a somewhat obvious lifestyle recommendation, as everyone now knows that physical activity is good for the body. But not everyone yet realises the extent to which physical activity boosts brain health. </p>
<p>There are many ways this may happen as the brain and body are in constant dynamic bidirectional communication. Physical activity can cause muscles to release beneficial molecules that reach the brain, as well as increasing blood circulation to the brain and inducing the formation of new brain cells (neurons) and connections (synapses) between them. </p>
<p>People who maintain higher levels of physical activity may help protect themselves from brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of brain degeneration. There is also evidence that physical activity may help protect against depression and other brain disorders.</p>
<h2>Second: stay mentally active</h2>
<p>Two of the cardinal rules of <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-nature-nurture-and-neuroplasticity-10734">brain plasticity</a> (changes in the brain) appear to be “use it or lose it” and “neurons that fire together wire together”. There’s also some evidence that people who maintain higher levels of cognitive (mental) activity may be protected from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. </p>
<p>Along with physical activity, cognitive stimulation may help build in a “brain reserve” to protect from, and functionally compensate for, the wear and tear of brain ageing. We don’t know exactly what lifestyle choices are the most important. But spending a lot of time watching television, for example, may involve the double whammy of reduced physical and mental activity, and could be one risk factor. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68660/original/image-20150112-23798-13eg2va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68660/original/image-20150112-23798-13eg2va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68660/original/image-20150112-23798-13eg2va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68660/original/image-20150112-23798-13eg2va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68660/original/image-20150112-23798-13eg2va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68660/original/image-20150112-23798-13eg2va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68660/original/image-20150112-23798-13eg2va.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many lifestyle choices that are good for the body are also good for the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hey__paul/7126442883">Hey Paul Studios/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So what mentally stimulating activities should you do more of? This is a very personal choice, as it will need to be something you can continue to do not just for days and weeks, but for months and years, in order to have long-term benefits. </p>
<h2>Third: eat a healthy diet</h2>
<p>Yes, you no doubt know this is good for your body, but did you realise a balanced nutritious diet (such as <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines-publications/n55">the one recommended here</a>) is also good for your brain? </p>
<p>Most of the nutrients from food circulate through your brain via the bloodstream. So a healthy diet can directly improve the health of brain cells and may even slow down brain ageing. </p>
<p>What’s more, by improving body health, the brain may benefit via the heart and cardiovascular system, the immune system and other physiological systems that impact on the nervous system.</p>
<h2>Fourth: don’t stress too much!</h2>
<p>The human body, including of course the brain, has evolved over many thousands of years. When we were cave-dwellers and hunter-gatherers, the stress response (“fight or flight”) served a very useful purpose in evading predators, obtaining food and other aspects of survival. </p>
<p>But busy 21st-century lifestyles mean many of us suffer from excessive chronic stress. This may eventually be toxic for the body. It’s especially bad for the brain because parts of it are absolutely loaded with sensitive “stress receptors”. </p>
<p>What’s more, some people are more genetically vulnerable to stress, while others are naturally more resilient. These innate factors also impact our stress responses. </p>
<p>Many lifestyle choices can help us better deal with excessive chronic stress. Stress-reducing strategies such as “mindfulness” and meditation are becoming increasingly popular, often being taught in schools and prescribed by health professionals. </p>
<p>Physical exercise can also help people deal with stress; everyone may have their own approach to “de-stressing” and “chilling out”. Another positive side effect of avoiding excessive chronic stress is healthy sleep patterns. Adequate and regular sleep patterns are known to be beneficial for both brain and body. </p>
<p>To conclude, I think it was Woody Allen who famously said: “The brain is my second favourite organ!” Considering how fundamental it is to everything we think, feel and do, perhaps we should all be more mindful to look after this most fantastic and plastic of organs, the human brain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Hannan receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Senior Research Fellowship and Project Grants). He is a member of the National Committee for Brain and Mind, Australian Academy of Science .</span></em></p>The human brain is the most extraordinary and complex object in the known universe, a kilogram and a half of soft tissue that, at its peak, leaves computers behind with its endless capacity for problem…Anthony Hannan, Head of Neural Plasticity , Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental HealthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/355882015-01-09T11:08:29Z2015-01-09T11:08:29ZWhat can beagles teach us about Alzheimer’s disease?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68247/original/image-20150105-13839-12zmqb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Keep your brain active.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-179734769/stock-photo-first-steps-in-internet-browsing.html?src=0-bNLaJjGiEjCLIXKY3cdg-3-74&ws=1">Dog via Soloviova Liudmyla/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every 67 seconds someone in the United States is <a href="http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_facts_and_figures.asp">diagnosed</a> with Alzheimer’s disease and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24598707">new estimates</a> suggest that it may be the third leading cause of death of older people. </p>
<p>Alzheimer’s disease is associated with losses in memory in older people that become severe enough over time to interfere with normal daily functions. Other <a href="http://www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.asp">signs</a> of Alzheimer’s include changes in the ability to communicate, losses in language, decreased ability to focus and to pay attention, impairments in judgment and other behavioral changes. </p>
<p>People with Alzheimer’s disease experience changes in their brains (which we can see in autopsies). Over the course of the disease, clumps of protein (called <a href="http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/topics/alzheimers-basics#what">senile plaques</a>) and tangles in neurons (called <a href="http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/topics/alzheimers-basics#what">neurofibrillary tangles</a>) accumulate. These plaques and tangles interfere with how the brain works and disrupt connections that are important for intact learning and memory ability.</p>
<p>The majority of studies to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s disease use mice that are genetically modified to produce human proteins with mutations. But these mutations are usually present <a href="http://www.alz.org/research/science/alzheimers_disease_causes.asp#genetics">in less than 5%</a> of people with Alzheimer’s disease. This limitation can make it difficult to translate benefits of a treatment tested in mouse studies to people. However, there are several animals that naturally develop human-like brain changes that look much like Alzheimer’s disease, including dogs.</p>
<h2>Old dogs, new research tricks</h2>
<p>Old dogs may teach us a great deal about aging. As dogs get older, some develop learning and memory problems, much like we do. And like people, not all old dogs become impaired. Indeed, some old dogs remain bright and able to learn just as well as younger dogs, although they may be a little slower in reaching high levels of performance.</p>
<p>When an older dog has cognitive problems, we may see them as changes in behavior that can be disruptive to the relationship between owners and pets. For example, an old dog with cognitive problems may forget to signal to go outside, may be up at night and sleep all day, or have trouble recognizing people or other pets in the family. This is similar to a person with Alzheimer’s disease who may have difficulty communicating, disrupted sleep/wake cycles and trouble remembering family and friends.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68385/original/image-20150107-1995-17o24gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68385/original/image-20150107-1995-17o24gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68385/original/image-20150107-1995-17o24gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68385/original/image-20150107-1995-17o24gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68385/original/image-20150107-1995-17o24gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68385/original/image-20150107-1995-17o24gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68385/original/image-20150107-1995-17o24gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Staying sharp.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-208623184/stock-photo-nosy-beagle-in-glasses-near-laptop.html?src=xK-9_04QIeYOHDnTHyo9BQ-6-10&ws=1">Soloviova Liudmyla/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When aged dogs show cognitive changes not caused by other systemic illnesses, they are related to brain changes that are strikingly similar to people. For example, old dogs develop senile plaques in their brains that are made of a protein that is identical to one that humans produce. This protein, called beta-amyloid, is toxic to cells in the brain. </p>
<p>Unlike mice and rats, old dogs naturally develop significant brain pathology like we see in people. In this way, aging dogs may resemble aging humans in a more natural or realistic way than mice with genetic mutations. </p>
<p>There are many other changes in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease that are similar in aging dogs. These include changes in the blood vessels of the brain, the accumulation of damaged proteins and losses in cells, and chemicals that support cells in the brain. These changes may be modified by lifestyle factors.</p>
<h2>Healthy living, healthy aging</h2>
<p>There are many reports of how our lifestyle can be good or bad for aging. The food we eat can be a potent contributor to how our brains age. For example, <a href="http://www.alz.org/we_can_help_adopt_a_brain_healthy_diet.asp">several studies</a> in people show that antioxidant-enriched diets (including lots of fruits and vegetables) and the <a href="http://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/mediterranean-diet-slims-down-risk-ad">Mediterranean diet</a> are associated with healthier brain aging. </p>
<p>Physical exercise and good cardiovascular health also appear to be associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and <a href="http://www.aans.org/patient%20information/conditions%20and%20treatments/cerebrovascular%20disease.aspx">cerebrovascular disease</a>, which is a cause of <a href="http://www.alz.org/dementia/vascular-dementia-symptoms.asp">dementia</a>. Keeping your brain active and challenged with puzzles, brain games and an engaging social life, are all linked to better memory and less risk of disease and <a href="http://www.alzforum.org/news/conference-coverage/healthy-lives-healthy-minds-it-really-true">studies</a> are ongoing in people to measure the effects systematically. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68386/original/image-20150107-1999-br064e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68386/original/image-20150107-1999-br064e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68386/original/image-20150107-1999-br064e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68386/original/image-20150107-1999-br064e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68386/original/image-20150107-1999-br064e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68386/original/image-20150107-1999-br064e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68386/original/image-20150107-1999-br064e.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">Eat well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickimm/14033676428">Nicki Mannix</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beagles and the brain</h2>
<p>Dogs may be very well suited to help us understand how these lifestyle factors help our brains as we get older. Our lab initially began studying beagles in the early 1990s as there was interest in developing a drug to treat “dog dementia” based on pet owners observations of changes in behavior in their older dogs. At that time, little was known about learning and memory changes in aging dogs (beagles over eight years of age) and our earliest research was designed to find ways to systematically measure these changes. </p>
<p>The first step in doing this was to teach dogs to look at different objects (for example a Lego block or a toy truck) and learn that one of the two always hid a food reward. When we switched the food reward to the object that was previously not rewarded, older dogs kept choosing the wrong object. Young dogs very quickly switched over to the new object. </p>
<p>When we counted the number of errors dogs make to learn the problem, old dogs made many more errors overall. Interestingly, not all old dogs were impaired. Another subset of old dogs showed significant losses in their ability to remember information and some showed changes in their ability to be “flexible” in changing behaviors. </p>
<p>This is very similar to people. Not everyone ages in the same way – some people remain sharp as tacks well into their older years. After measuring learning and memory changes in dogs, we next studied the brain changes that were most strongly linked to these cognitive losses. We found that senile plaques in the brains of old dogs were more frequent in the animals that had learning and memory problems. In our more recent studies, we have been seeking ways to improve brain health in old dogs with the hope that these approaches can translate to healthy aging in people. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68248/original/image-20150105-13848-domrhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68248/original/image-20150105-13848-domrhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68248/original/image-20150105-13848-domrhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68248/original/image-20150105-13848-domrhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68248/original/image-20150105-13848-domrhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68248/original/image-20150105-13848-domrhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68248/original/image-20150105-13848-domrhq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Keep running.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcobellucci/4211294942">Marco Bellucci</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For instance, in <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19096165">several studies</a> of aging in beagles, we have found that a diet rich in antioxidants that includes vitamins E and C, and importantly, fruits and vegetables, can lead to wonderful benefits in learning and memory ability that can be maintained for years.</p>
<p>For example, dogs that had trouble remembering where they had seen a food reward (this is an example of spatial memory) showed significant improvements in their memory over time. Also, old dogs showed rapid improvements in their ability to modify their behaviors when the rules had changed in the task they were learning (an example of enhanced executive function). </p>
<p>In addition, providing dogs with physical exercise, social enrichment and “brain games” (like the food reward game) can also significantly improve cognition as they get older. </p>
<p>If we take these factors into account, we may be able to engage in strategies and lifestyle changes that will be good for both species. Exercise, social interaction, learning new tricks – participating in the same activities with our aged companion animals, the benefits will be twofold: for them and for us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Head receives funding from the National Institutes on Aging.</span></em></p>Every 67 seconds someone in the United States is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and new estimates suggest that it may be the third leading cause of death of older people. Alzheimer’s disease is associated…Elizabeth Head, Associate Professor , University of KentuckyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/357422015-01-05T06:02:30Z2015-01-05T06:02:30ZFound: the missing part of brain’s ‘internal compass’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67906/original/image-20141222-30404-1f0980j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C82%2C1000%2C697&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Our brain puts us on the map.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lightspring/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you have taken a walk and would like to return home you need to have an idea of where you are in relation to your destination. To do this, you need to know which way you are facing and also in which direction home lies. This all seems fairly instinctive to humans and other animals, so how do we manage it? </p>
<p>Our understanding of this surprisingly difficult question has just taken a step forward in a <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2814%2901427-4">new paper</a> written by Martin Chadwick and colleagues and published in the journal Current Biology, which pinpoints where in the brain our instinctive sense of the direction towards our destination lies.</p>
<p>One way to successfully navigate from any point to a destination is to learn and remember information about your surroundings and use this information to orient yourself. But the process of learning this spatial information suggests there must be some sort of representation of that information stored somewhere in the brain. This could be thought of as a sort of neuronal map – a way of encoding space that maps information about your surroundings onto your brain cells. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67905/original/image-20141222-31554-11pb2oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67905/original/image-20141222-31554-11pb2oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67905/original/image-20141222-31554-11pb2oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67905/original/image-20141222-31554-11pb2oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67905/original/image-20141222-31554-11pb2oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67905/original/image-20141222-31554-11pb2oe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67905/original/image-20141222-31554-11pb2oe.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">A useful sense of direction has to update as you change direction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982214014274">Chadwick/Jolly/Amos/Hassabis/Spiers/Current Biology</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such a map would allow you to find your way around – a vital ability for any animal’s survival. Working out how the brain stores information about space and how this enables us to find our way around efficiently has been the focus of a concerted effort over the past few decades.</p>
<h2>Looking for maps in the brain</h2>
<p>In the late 1970s, the so-called “seat of the cognitive map” was discovered in rats in an area of the brain called the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266609/hippocampus">hippocampus</a>. Particular neurons were shown to fire when a rat travelled in a specific area of an experimental arena. Subsequent work showed that these neurons were tightly coupled to space – they were named <a href="http://www.memoryspace.mvm.ed.ac.uk/memoryandplacecells.html">place cells</a>.</p>
<p>The question then turned to the nature of precisely what information is learned and remembered. Through a clever set of experiments the rats were found to encode and store information that related to both distance and direction. Information about distance is stored within part of the hippocampus called the <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Entorhinal_cortex">entorhinal cortex</a>, the so-called <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Grid_cells">grid cells</a>. </p>
<p>These grid cells fire in a tessellating pattern when an animal travels and seem to operate a bit like graph paper, providing an animal with a sense of the distance travelled. Information about direction is stored in <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Head_direction_cells">head direction cells</a>, which fire when an animal is facing a particular direction (north, for example). </p>
<p>All these pieces of information are fed into the place cells, which bring it all together – hence why we really can consider the hippocampus to contain our own internal, spatial map. This was so significant to our understanding of how the brain operates that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nobel-prize-in-medicine-decades-of-work-on-the-brains-gps-recognised-32580">2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology</a> was awarded to John O’Keefe, who was the first to identify place cells, and Edvard and May-Britt Moser, who discovered grid cells.</p>
<p>So we have an idea of how animals encode a mental map, and how they know which direction they are facing. But, to make use of this and follow its sense of direction, an animal also needs to know in which direction home lies. The paper’s authors have established where this information is stored in the brain, and how it might be used to orient a human or animal. </p>
<h2>An internal compass</h2>
<p>In their experiment, human subjects were given a virtual reality environment to explore and learn, and then asked to make judgements about in which direction a destination lay working entirely from memory. At the same time the subjects’ brains were scanned using <a href="http://www.ndcn.ox.ac.uk/research/introduction-to-fmri">fMRI</a>, which measures brain activity by monitoring changes in blood flow.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67904/original/image-20141222-31563-j6qbmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67904/original/image-20141222-31563-j6qbmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67904/original/image-20141222-31563-j6qbmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67904/original/image-20141222-31563-j6qbmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67904/original/image-20141222-31563-j6qbmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67904/original/image-20141222-31563-j6qbmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67904/original/image-20141222-31563-j6qbmr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The virtual environment for testing pathfinding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982214014274">Chadwick/Jolly/Amos/Hassabis/Spiers/Current Biology</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By looking at the patterns of which neurons fired in response to the task of navigating their way around, the researchers found the activity was centred on the entorhinal cortex, indicating this was the brain’s “internal compass” and the source of this sense of direction. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the pattern of neuronal firing is remarkably similar when someone is facing in the goal direction to when they simply imagine the direction of the goal. The researchers suggest that the brain can use this property of the neurones to simulate the intended direction in the brain without actually moving. They assume that head direction cells switch from one role to another, so that they are initially involved in representing the current heading direction, before switching to simulating the goal direction. In this way, the neurones can aid in planning the route home.</p>
<p>The strength of the activity in this region of the brain is linked to a person’s navigational skills: less activity means a less accurate sense of direction. It’s also the area of the brain that is one of the first damaged by diseases such as Alzheimer’s, which may explain why becoming lost and confused is a common early problem in sufferers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theresa Burt de Perera receives funding from BBSRC and the Royal Society. She is affiliated with the Labour Party.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Guilford has received funding from EPSRC, BBSRC, NERC, RSPB, John Fell, Merton College.
</span></em></p>If you have taken a walk and would like to return home you need to have an idea of where you are in relation to your destination. To do this, you need to know which way you are facing and also in which…Theresa Burt de Perera, Associate Professor of Zoology, University of OxfordTim Guilford, Professor of Animal Behaviour, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/335742014-10-30T18:04:45Z2014-10-30T18:04:45ZAging brains aren’t necessarily declining brains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63241/original/9gg3ycrc-1414628801.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not all bad news for older brains.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=122789017&src=lb-29877982">Man image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-markman-phd/aging-memory_b_3211435.html">poorer memory and greater distractibility</a>. Physical measures of brain structure also showed <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15703252">atrophy</a>, or loss of volume, in many regions with age. </p>
<h2>Watching older brains at work</h2>
<p>Enter cognitive neuroscience, a subfield of psychology that incorporates methods from neuroscience. It uses measures of brain activity to understand human thought. The emphasis is on how the brain shapes behavior, asking questions like which brain regions help us form accurate memories or what area controls face perception.</p>
<p>Using cognitive neuroscience methods to study aging has unexpectedly revealed that, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1254604">contrary to previous thought</a>, aging brains remain somewhat malleable and plastic. Plasticity refers to the ability to flexibly recruit different areas of the brain to do different jobs. In contrast to the earlier, largely pessimistic view of aging, neuroimaging studies suggest aging brains can reorganize and change, and not necessarily for the worse.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63245/original/4vdmbp76-1414629548.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=470&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">fMRI scan shows areas of brain more active than others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FMRI_scan_during_working_memory_tasks.jpg">John Graner, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center</a></span>
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<p>Researchers investigate which parts of the brain are engaged during different tasks using methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, which measures blood flow to various areas of the brain while active. By tracking what happens inside the brain during particular activities, neuroimaging data reveal <a href="http://cabezalab.org/compensatory-brain-activity-in-older-adults/">patterns of change with age</a>. For instance, older adults sometimes use a region in both the left and right hemispheres of their brains to perform certain tasks, while young adults engage the region in only one half of the brain. Older adults also appear to activate more anterior regions of the brain whereas young adults exhibit more posterior activation.</p>
<p>The emergence of the cognitive neuroscience of aging occurred alongside advances in the understanding of neurogenesis; neuroscientists discovered that the growth of new neurons could continue throughout life, not just when we are very young. It is still unknown to what extent new neurons contribute to behavioral and brain changes with age. But there is some evidence in rodents that new learning and enriched, stimulating environments <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20954935">increase survival of new neurons</a> potentially allowing the new neurons to contribute to abilities and even improve <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25219804">health</a>. </p>
<h2>External stimulation</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63242/original/g4z4zsc8-1414629350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1113&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">Stimulating the left side of his brain generates movement in the right hand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ambassador_visits_Bar-Ilan_University_%285287646698%29.jpg">Eric Wassermann, M.D.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One exciting new direction for research on the aging brain uses neurostimulation to temporarily activate or suppress distinct neural regions. With transcranial magnetic stimulation, a coil is held over a participant’s head. Participants may be able to feel some stimulation on the scalp when the coil is turned on. Transcranial direct current stimulation is an even more surprising technique, with current administered from a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23933040">9V battery</a>. These methods are non-invasive, simply involving holding a device over a person’s head or attaching electrodes to the scalp, and are quite safe when operated within guidelines.</p>
<p>They allow us, for the first time, to manipulate brain activity in a healthy, functioning person. Other neuroscience methods allow neurons to be turned on or turned off using pharmacological, genetic, or other methods, but such manipulations can’t ethically be applied to humans. While neuroimaging methods allow us to view which brain regions are active while performing cognitive tasks, we haven’t been able to test whether those brain regions cause, or are critical for, those tasks.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shocking results! Older subjects did almost as well as young ones when their brains were direct current stimulated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Science/AAAS</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ability to manipulate brain regions – temporarily and safely – allows for new types of tests that couldn’t be done before. For example, stimulating the frontal cortex – the brain region behind the forehead – can decrease errors on cognitive tests. When older adults in one study were asked to give examples of items that fit into different categories, they made mistakes under time pressure. Administering transcranial direct current stimulation <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/30/12470.short">decreased the number of errors</a> committed by older adults, bringing them close to the level of performance of younger adults. </p>
<p>Neurostimulation offers much promise to further understanding of how the brain works in aging people, but there are many limitations. The spatial area affected by neurostimulation is not very precise as the scientist passes the coil over the subject’s head. Many regions cannot be targeted because they’re located deep within the brain, particularly problematic for studying memory. And activating some regions can cause discomfort for participants, such as twitching induced in the area of the forehead.</p>
<h2>It’s not all downhill</h2>
<p>Much of our understanding of aging brains has thus far focused on declining cognitive abilities. But there is some evidence that social and emotional abilities are relatively well-preserved with age. Older adults seem to be just as good at <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pag/29/3/482/">forming impressions</a> of others and are even better at <a href="http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/19/6/352.short">regulating or controlling their emotions</a> than younger adults. </p>
<p>This suggests that brain regions underlying these abilities may not exhibit the same downward trajectory with age as those associated with cognitive abilities; these brain areas may show different patterns of reorganization and change.</p>
<p>Should these abilities be better preserved with age, they could be harnessed to develop effective memory strategies. For instance, emphasizing the motivational, personal and emotional significance of information to be remembered could help older people’s memories. Much research remains to be done on these questions.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Active older brain, healthy older brain?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=129121082&src=lb-29877982">Men image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Brain workouts</h2>
<p>Older brains’ plasticity suggests they could benefit from training programs and engaging, immersive experiences such as learning new skills like <a href="http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/learning-new-skills-keeps-an-aging-mind-sharp.html">quilting or digital photography</a>. Such a finding would have profound implications for the large population of active seniors who wish to stave off age-related cognitive decline.</p>
<p>While research is flourishing on a number of potential programs that could positively affect brain health – including physical exercise, cognitive regimens and engaged, social lifestyles – caution is warranted. For example, researchers <a href="http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-consensus-on-the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community/">warn</a> there is little scientific evidence of the effectiveness of brain training software – so-called brain games – to date.</p>
<p>The aging brain has proven to be much more dynamic than early research would have suggested. Advances in research methods and widening the range of questions under investigation will further enhance our understanding of how the brain changes and adapts across the lifespan. With luck, this knowledge will reveal ways to harness plasticity to better support cognition as we age.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/33574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Gutchess has current funding from NSF and the Alzheimer's Association. Past funding was received from NIH and AFAR.</span></em></p>For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including poorer…Angela Gutchess, Associate Professor of Psychology, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/327672014-10-15T12:46:02Z2014-10-15T12:46:02ZBrain scans show who’s likely to trust strangers – something conmen can only dream about<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61671/original/tjwhg8v8-1413278731.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Won't get fooled again.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tinfoil hat by Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How do you decide if you can trust someone? Is it based on their handshake, the way they look you in the eye, or perhaps their body language?</p>
<p>We know that what someone wears has an effect on our trust in them. If you happen to be a doctor, 76% of us will favour you <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002934305003517">if you wear the white coat</a>, compared to only 10% if you happen to just pop out in your surgical scrubs. Labels matter too. In one test, four times as many people were willing to stop and answer a survey on one day compared to another. The difference? Whether or not the interviewer had a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513810001455">designer label on their sweatshirt</a>. But what if you had to decide whether or not to trust someone without knowing the gear they were togged up in? Without knowing anything about them at all?</p>
<p>When people fall victim to fraud, often it is because they have decided to trust a stranger. In mass-marketing fraud (known widely as the 419 scam or <a href="http://content.met.police.uk/Article/Advance-fee-fraud--paying-money-for-a-promise-of-wealth-419-Fraud/1400010731444/1400010731444">advance fee fraud</a>, an unsolicited e-mail contact offers false promises or information designed to con you out of money. You may have already received an e-mail from, for example, a Nigerian prince who desperately needs your bank details in order to move some money out of the country fast. Phishing fraud, where links in carefully crafted, apparently legitimate emails redirect users to a different server, into which they are persuaded to enter usernames, passwords or bank account details, cost the UK <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/feb/27/uk-most-phishing-attacks-worldwide">£405.8m in 2012</a>, according to RSA Security. </p>
<p>But what makes some people laugh and delete immediately, while others are curious enough to find out more? </p>
<h2>Playing games</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/09/30/scan.nsu122.abstract">recent study</a> led by <a href="http://www1.uni-frankfurt.de/fb/fb05/psychologie/abteilungen_und_bereiche/allgemeine_psychologie_II/team/Tim/index.html">Tim Hahn</a> from Goethe University in Frankfurt examined people’s initial levels of trust when co-operating with an unknown partner.</p>
<p>Sixty participants were asked to play <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899825685710275">the trust game</a>, an extension of an experimental economics game called the dictator game for which the participants were put into pairs. Player one was given an initial amount of hypothetical “money” that they could choose whether or not to gamble with. The gamble was this: they could give their money to the stranger they were paired with, player two, and anything they gave would be tripled. Player two could then choose to give some of this money back to Player one, and again, anything they returned would be tripled – or player two could choose to keep it all. </p>
<p>In theory then, the more generous you are in the beginning, the richer you could become by the end. To make it more exciting, the players were told that at the end of the trust game, this notional money would be converted into real hard cash.</p>
<p>As player one, how much would you give away to a complete stranger? Well if you happen to have an electroencephalograph (EEG) handy, you can find out without ever needing to play. An EEG records your brain activity by measuring the electrical pulses generated by the brain’s cells through a series of electrodes placed on your scalp. In this study, the researchers found that they could predict the amount of money the initial player would trust to the stranger purely based on the activity recorded by the EEG. </p>
<h2>A state of trust</h2>
<p>But what makes this finding even more interesting is that the EEG recording was taken several minutes before the trust game began. At this point, the staff running the experiment had not asked the participants to think about the game of trust. What the EEG recorded was the resting state of the participants’ brains when not involved in tasks – relatively calm – rather than the heightened activity associated with performing mental or physical tasks. </p>
<p>Resting state brain activity is thought to be <a href="http://www.brainm.com/software/pubs/dg/Hubs-Networks/van%20den%20Heuval%20Functionally%20Linked%20Networks%20of%20the%20Brain.pdf">relatively stable over time</a>. So the fact that the experimenters were able to predict the investment that player one would make to the stranger, player two, was purely based on this resting state activity. And it shows that initial levels of trust may be determined by an underlying pattern of brain activity. </p>
<p>So, returning to those who have unfortunately answered our Nigerian prince, or foreign businessman, or even opened the door to a man “from the electricity board”, what this study perhaps indicates is that, regardless of the contents of the email or how convincing the con is, we are already subject to an unconscious bias as to whether or not we will trust that stranger.</p>
<p>Not only are some of us physically more inclined to trust strangers than others, but that susceptibility can be determined by any unscrupulous character who happens to have an EEG scanner to hand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Slack is affiliated with @Shef_NeuroGirls.</span></em></p>How do you decide if you can trust someone? Is it based on their handshake, the way they look you in the eye, or perhaps their body language? We know that what someone wears has an effect on our trust…Rebecca Slack, PhD researcher in Neuroscience, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/325892014-10-07T08:44:45Z2014-10-07T08:44:45ZExplainer: what happens in the hippocampus?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60947/original/q78kg3bz-1412624008.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The hippocampus has been object of scrutiny since the days of Gray's Anatomy.</span> </figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/nobel-prize-in-medicine-decades-of-work-on-the-brains-gps-recognised-32580">This year’s Nobel Prize in medicine</a> recognises work on “cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.” Those cells are found in the <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/hindex/f/hippocampus.htm">hippocampus</a>. It is just one tiny part of the brain, but this structure gets at least its fair share of research attention.</p>
<p>The hippocampus is located in the middle of the brain in a region known as the medial temporal lobe. Imagine travelling inward from your ear toward the centre of your head. It resembles a seahorse, with the name derived from the Greek words “hippo” for horse and “kampos” for sea.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60945/original/qrtd9rv8-1412620559.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60945/original/qrtd9rv8-1412620559.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60945/original/qrtd9rv8-1412620559.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60945/original/qrtd9rv8-1412620559.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60945/original/qrtd9rv8-1412620559.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60945/original/qrtd9rv8-1412620559.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60945/original/qrtd9rv8-1412620559.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60945/original/qrtd9rv8-1412620559.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hippocampus (left) compared to a seahorse (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hippocampus_and_seahorse.JPG">Professor Laszlo Seress</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Its appearance and cellular arrangement are similar in all mammals, ranging from humans to rodents. The hippocampus has been called the “neural Rosetta stone” since the discovery in the 1950s that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/may/05/henry-molaison-amnesiac-corkin-book-feature">removing it in patients suffering from epilepsy</a> prevented new memory formation.</p>
<p>Damage to the hippocampus leads to trouble forming new memories of the time or location of an event. Impaired blood flow and the ensuing lack of oxygen, as occurs in a stroke, is one way the hippocampus can be damaged.</p>
<p>It is also one of the first regions of the brain to degenerate in Alzheimer’s disease. Patients cannot recognise their surroundings and lose the ability to navigate from one place to another. </p>
<p>Among the crucial cells are the so-called place cells. These cells – now famous due to <a href="https://theconversation.com/nobel-prize-in-medicine-decades-of-work-on-the-brains-gps-recognised-32580">this year’s Nobel prize</a> – help determine spatial location and allow navigation from one place to another. They contain information about direction and distance. </p>
<p>Place cells allow an animal to construct a map of the environment and its location within it. The hippocampus thus allows an animal to make decisions on the basis of distance and direction towards desired goals, such as food, or away from undesirable objects, such as a predator. </p>
<p>Brain scans have <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/97/8/4398.short">shown</a> that London taxi drivers have an enlarged hippocampus compared to non-taxi driver colleagues, thanks to the spatial abilities necessary to do their job. </p>
<p>A fundamental question resulting from research on hippocampal function is what synaptic and molecular mechanisms develop and maintain place fields in new surroundings. A place field is the region in which a cell fires the most and is also known as the cell’s “firing-field”.</p>
<p>New Nobel laureate John O’Keefe and his group <a href="https://theconversation.com/nobel-prize-in-medicine-decades-of-work-on-the-brains-gps-recognised-32580">recorded groups of individual hippocampal neurons</a> in rodents as they navigated space, explored new environments and foraged for food in familiar environments. </p>
<p>A cognitive map is a mental representation which enables an individual to acquire, code, store, recall and decode information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday environment. Computational modelling of the hippocampus’ cognitive map has helped generate theoretical predictions which inform empirical investigations of hippocampal function. Is an animal’s location within its environment represented by a single cell firing or at the level of networks of such cells?</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60946/original/7ktpx85w-1412620917.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60946/original/7ktpx85w-1412620917.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60946/original/7ktpx85w-1412620917.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60946/original/7ktpx85w-1412620917.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60946/original/7ktpx85w-1412620917.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60946/original/7ktpx85w-1412620917.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60946/original/7ktpx85w-1412620917.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60946/original/7ktpx85w-1412620917.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Edvard and May-Britt Moser checking out a brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/may-britt-moser-photo.html">Geir Mogen/NTNU</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The discovery of grid cells – a neuron that allows understanding of their position in space – came from research by new Nobel laureates May-Britt and Edvard Moser. Their group demonstrated that grid cells provide clues to spatial mapping. </p>
<p>The group observed that grid cells are organised as functionally independent modules. Now they’re asking how grid cells’ modules contribute to the formation of high-capacity memory (even when connections are sparse) in the hippocampus. </p>
<p>Ultimately this research will enable a greater understanding of how memories are formed and what goes wrong in cognitive diseases and dysfunction such as Alzheimer’s.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32589/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Stewart receives funding from
BBSRC
EU FP6
EUFP7</span></em></p>This year’s Nobel Prize in medicine recognises work on “cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.” Those cells are found in the hippocampus. It is just one tiny part of the brain, but this…Mike Stewart, Professor in Neuroscience, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/261042014-07-08T04:08:04Z2014-07-08T04:08:04ZTo understand the brain you need electronic engineers too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53032/original/dw5nbf67-1404459092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does the brain function like electronic circuits?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/5726359256">Flickr/Ars Electronica</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Electronic engineers are emerging as important contributors to understanding of the workings of the human brain. </p>
<p>There is a rapidly growing intersection between electronic engineering and neuroscience. As a relatively new angle of attack, this kind of research could lead to breakthroughs in medical treatments of brain disorders and artificial intelligence technology. Why is this?</p>
<p>Neuroscientists measure the brain’s electrical activity using technologies such as Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (<a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/fmri.htm">fMRI</a>), Electroencephalography (<a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003931.htm">EEG</a>) and electrical probes.</p>
<p>Through such technologies we know that certain patterns of activity may indicate disorders such as schizophrenia, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. </p>
<p>But what these kinds of measurements don’t tell us is how brain cells (neurons) work together to enable complex functions such as movement, intelligence and emotions. This is where <a href="http://http://www.cnsorg.org/computational-neuroscience">computational neuroscience</a> comes in.</p>
<p>Answering these questions about computation in the brain is the holy grail of neuroscience. Or perhaps more aptly, the one billion Euro question, which is how much the European Union recently committed to the <a href="http://www.humanbrainproject.eu/">Human Brain Project</a>.</p>
<p>The intersection between electronic engineering and neuroscience was recently highlighted by myself and co-guest editors for the <a href="http://www.lifesciences.ieee.org/publications/newsletter/june-2014">Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers</a>. We looked at research on both exciting <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6807551">new technologies inspired by biology</a>, and progress being made in brain science.</p>
<h2>Why the brain knows best</h2>
<p>As a <a href="http://neuroeng.org.au/wordpress/">computational neuroscientist</a>, my own <a href="http://www.itr.unisa.edu.au/ctnl">research group</a> wants to understand why the brain excels at extracting information from our senses.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53034/original/39yj7ysr-1404460185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53034/original/39yj7ysr-1404460185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53034/original/39yj7ysr-1404460185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53034/original/39yj7ysr-1404460185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53034/original/39yj7ysr-1404460185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53034/original/39yj7ysr-1404460185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53034/original/39yj7ysr-1404460185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53034/original/39yj7ysr-1404460185.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ears are best for listening above the noise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisevans/82298007">Flickr/chrisevans</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, automatic speech recognition <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/-zr8ya.html">lags far behind the brain</a> at tasks such as separating voices in noisy environments. What is it about neurons that make the brain better at this?</p>
<p>As an electronic engineer, I want to apply knowledge of how neurons process sounds to design technologies as good as humans at tasks like speech recognition and automatic music transcription.</p>
<p>In all this work I am motivated by physicist Richard Feynmann’s famous chalkboard motto: “What I cannot create, I do not understand.”</p>
<p>The idea is that designing and creating technology that mimics what we already know about neurons will teach us even more about how they work together in the brain.</p>
<p>Although steps in these directions can be made using standard computers, there is an alternative and increasingly fruitful approach.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53036/original/psk3hs4z-1404460665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53036/original/psk3hs4z-1404460665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/53036/original/psk3hs4z-1404460665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53036/original/psk3hs4z-1404460665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53036/original/psk3hs4z-1404460665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53036/original/psk3hs4z-1404460665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53036/original/psk3hs4z-1404460665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/53036/original/psk3hs4z-1404460665.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Learning how to improve the vision on robots.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephane_magnenat/3357073981">Flickr/Stephane Magnenat </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is to design electronic circuits that more closely mimic networks of brain cells. For example, vision sensors that mimic neuronal responses of the retina can enable robots to move rapidly to stop moving objects. </p>
<p>Unlike the digital and sequential processing of computers, the brain’s neurons are analogue, parallel and imprecise. Embracing these features in electronics design is known as <a href="http://www.ine-web.org">neuromorphic engineering</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, for example, the <a href="http://www.uws.edu.au/bioelectronics_neuroscience/bens">Bioelectronics and Neuroscience group</a> at University of Western Sydney work in this area.</p>
<p>They <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2014.2310713">have shown</a> that circuits that mimic the unpredictable variability of neurons can be built and made to work using less power than conventional designs.</p>
<h2>The future is bionic</h2>
<p>The importance of “reverse-engineering” the brain in this way was touched upon in <a href="http://theconversation.com/its-time-to-build-a-bionic-brain-for-smarter-research-23435">The Conversation</a> in February.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Building a bionic brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mariusz Szczygiel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This was in response to an <a href="http://sciencearchive.org.au/events/thinktank/thinktank2013/index.html">Australian Academy of Science</a> think-tank <a href="http://sciencearchive.org.au/events/thinktank/thinktank2013/documents/FINAL%20thinktank2013%20recommendations_embargoed%20till%2025feb.pdf">report</a> on Australian neuroscience research. The report discussed a program to “create a bionic brain.” </p>
<p>“Bionic” literally means the intersection of <em>biology</em> and <em>electronics</em>. To “create a bionic brain” in electronic circuits will certainly require electronic engineers.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/au/home/understand/hearing-and-hl/hl-treatments/cochlear-implant">Cochlear implants</a>, for example, successfully combine electronics with brain science, and are known as “bionic ears”.</p>
<p>Research on electronic “medical bionics” for brain disorders ranging from vision loss, to epilepsy treatment, to Parkinson’s disease to Alzheimer’s disease is also underway.</p>
<p>But as well as such applications, I believe that by mimicking the brain’s circuits, engineers also can advance fundamental understanding of neuronal computation in the brain.</p>
<p>In turn, this enhanced understanding will ultimately lead to engineered systems that replicate and surpass the capabilities of human intelligence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark McDonnell holds an Australian Research Fellowship funded by the Australian Research Council. He also receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. He is affiliated with Neuroeng: The Australian Association of Computational Neuroscientists and Neuroengineers (<a href="http://neuroeng.org.au/wordpress/">http://neuroeng.org.au/wordpress/</a>)</span></em></p>Electronic engineers are emerging as important contributors to understanding of the workings of the human brain. There is a rapidly growing intersection between electronic engineering and neuroscience…Mark McDonnell, Senior Research Fellow in Computational Neuroscience, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/246632014-03-23T21:39:08Z2014-03-23T21:39:08ZWhy can’t a man think like a woman, and a woman think like a man?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44487/original/jbdxpkfg-1395609903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">d f a c b b</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Whether the brain functionally and structurally differs based on sex chromosomes, hormones and gender has become an intriguing topic in neuroscience as it is known that sex hormones including oestrogen and testosterone can shape neuronal architecture. <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/2/823">Recently, a neuroimaging study</a> suggested that female brains could be functionally more suited to social skills including language, memory and multi-tasking, while men may be hard-wired to be better at perception and co-ordinated movement. </p>
<p>But are these abilities innate to our gender, or are they influenced by the environment? Are these studies subject to gender biases themselves?</p>
<h2>Boy brain, girl brain?</h2>
<p>During foetal development, male and female embryos start off the same. But the presence of different levels of hormones such as <a href="http://www.livescience.com/38324-what-is-estrogen.html">oestrogen</a> and <a href="http://www.livescience.com/38963-testosterone.html">testosterone</a> during gestation causes physical differences to start to arise – for example guiding the formation of sex organs ovaries or testes. Exposure to different cocktails of hormones as a foetus may therefore change how the architcture of the brain develops.</p>
<p>A group of Cambridge scientists led by Simon Baron-Cohen suggested that men are, on average, <a href="http://edge.org/conversation/testosterone-on-my-mind">better at analytical tasks, whereas women are better at empathising and emotional processing</a>. These traits were linked with testosterone levels during development. </p>
<p>Baron-Cohen’s group analyzed foetal testosterone levels from amniotic fluid samples of their mothers. In later life they measured the children’s empathising or systemising abilities. He found lower levels of testosterone were correlated with greater empathy during childhood development. This supports the idea that women could be better at empathising and detecting emotion than men.</p>
<h2><strong>Does size matter?</strong></h2>
<p>Male brains are, on average, 10% larger than females (accounting for body size). But some scientists say that a <a href="http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/38539/title/Male-and-Female-Brains-Wired-Differently/">large brain is not simply a smaller brain scaled up</a>. A larger brain means more distance, which can slow the transmission of information down. So differences in structural connections and arrangement may reflect wiring adaptations of larger brains. </p>
<p>A group of researchers found regional size differences of <a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/males-and-females-differ-in-specific-brain-structures">male and female brains</a>, which may balance out the overall size difference. In females, parts of the <a href="http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/p/Frontal-Lobes.htm">frontal lobe</a>, responsible for problem-solving and decision-making, and the <a href="http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/a/aa042205a.htm">limbic cortex</a>, responsible for controlling emotions, were larger. In males, the <a href="http://biology.about.com/library/organs/brain/blparietallobe.htm">parietal cortex</a>, which is involved in space perception, and the <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/amygdala.htm">amygdala</a>, which regulates emotion and motivation, particularly those related to survival, were larger. But size may not equate to functional efficiency.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/biopsychology/f/brain-plasticity.htm">experiences change our brain</a>. So are these differences due to the brain adapting to demands – in the way a muscle increases in size with extra use?</p>
<h2>Nature or nurture? Or stereotyping?</h2>
<p>Some scientists disagree completely that male and female brains differ structurally. Neuroscientist Prof Gina Rippon, of Aston University, Birmingham says that differences in male and female brains are <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10684179/Men-and-women-do-not-have-different-brains-claims-neuroscientist.html">caused entirely by environmental factors</a> and are not hard-wired at birth. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44488/original/fcnm7pwh-1395610648.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44488/original/fcnm7pwh-1395610648.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44488/original/fcnm7pwh-1395610648.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44488/original/fcnm7pwh-1395610648.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44488/original/fcnm7pwh-1395610648.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44488/original/fcnm7pwh-1395610648.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44488/original/fcnm7pwh-1395610648.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44488/original/fcnm7pwh-1395610648.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baby’s new toys – his or hers?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geishabot/5625788521/">Flickr/Janine</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The gender specific toys children may play with - for example dolls for girls and cars for boys – could be changing how their brains develop.</p>
<p>Many toys aimed at boys involve physical skills and logic, whereas many girl-aimed toys involve nurturing behaviours and socialising. These kinds of gender-specific toys and encouraging only gender-specific play could limit potential in both sexes. This has recently lead to companies developing more <a href="http://www.babble.com/toddler/20-gender-neutral-toddler-approved-toys/">gender neutral toys</a> that can aid the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10578106/Gender-specific-toys-put-girls-off-maths-and-science.html">development of balanced skills</a> in children. </p>
<h2>Why won’t men ask for directions?</h2>
<p>Men generally perform better at activities that require spatial skills, like <a href="http://web.uvic.ca/%7Eskelton/CV/Ross%20Skelton%20Mueller%202006.pdf">navigation</a>. It is proposed men and women process <a href="http://cvcl.mit.edu/SUNSeminar/Gron_space_navig_NN00.pdf">spatial information differently</a>. Women are more likely to rely on landmarks – “go left at the post office”, which is proposed to require the frontal cortex to maintain the information. Men are proposed to use the <a href="http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/p/hippocampus.htm">hippocampus</a> to a greater degree. So men are more likely to use spatial and landmark information – “go east then past the post office”. </p>
<p>But it’s suggested that women use their language skills to an advantage in certain situations. So a woman may be more likely to ask for directions than a man. </p>
<p>In laboratory studies with rodents it has been shown that <a href="http://cnx.org/content/m34748/latest/">male and female rats</a> use different strategies to navigate their way around a maze. Female rats mostly used landmarks, whereas males used global spatial information. Interestingly, both strategies were equally effective. Historically many laboratory studies with animals used male animals as the female oestrous cycle was thought to potentially interfere with behaviours being measured, and brushed aside male hormone fluctuations. Nowadays laboratory research is encouraged, and sometimes required, to use both males and female rodents as important differences may be present that wouldn’t necessarily be seen. This is of particular importance if this preclinical research is later translated to human clinical research.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44489/original/xc3fzt3r-1395612387.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44489/original/xc3fzt3r-1395612387.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44489/original/xc3fzt3r-1395612387.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44489/original/xc3fzt3r-1395612387.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44489/original/xc3fzt3r-1395612387.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44489/original/xc3fzt3r-1395612387.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44489/original/xc3fzt3r-1395612387.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44489/original/xc3fzt3r-1395612387.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rat’s finding their way.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jshyun/2465725952/">Flickr/jshyun</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Whether the observed functional differences in male and female brains are innate or a consequence of experience remains difficult to determine. The social phenomenon of gender significantly impacts on the experiences individuals encounter through development and on a daily basis. </p>
<p>It is important in scientific research to avoid neurosexism - jumping to gender stereotypes as conclusions to explain observations. This can lead to <a href="http://www.cordeliafine.com/delusions_of_gender.html">misunderstanding and over-selling</a> of discoveries and observations in neuroscience.</p>
<p>But no studies currently exist that have looked and gender differences in brain structure in a human population that hasn’t been gender socialised.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Whether the brain functionally and structurally differs based on sex chromosomes, hormones and gender has become an intriguing topic in neuroscience as it is known that sex hormones including oestrogen…Amy Reichelt, Senior lecturer, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/240852014-03-12T06:37:16Z2014-03-12T06:37:16ZChattering brain cells hold the key to the language of the mind<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43603/original/f86qz8qt-1394548042.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shhhh ...</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Culture_of_rat_brain_cells_stained_with_antibody_to_MAP2_(green),_Neurofilament_(red)_and_DNA_(blue).jpg">Gerry Shaw</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Let’s say Martians land on the Earth and wish to understand more about humans. Someone hands them a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare and says: “When you understand what’s in there, you will understand everything important about us.” </p>
<p>The Martians set to work – they allocate vast resources to recording every detail of this great tome until eventually they know where every “e”, every “a”, every “t” is on every page. They remain puzzled, and return to Earth. “We have completely characterised this book,” they say, “but we still aren’t sure we really understand you people at all.”</p>
<p>The problem is that characterising a language is not the same as understanding it, and this is the problem faced by brain researchers too. Neurons (brain cells) use language of a kind, a “code”, to communicate with each other, and we can tap into that code by listening to their “chatter” as they fire off tiny bursts of electricity (nerve impulses). We can record this chatter and document all its properties. </p>
<p>We can also determine the location of every single neuron and all of its connections and its chemical messengers. Having done this, though, we still will not understand how the brain works. To understand a code we need to anchor that code to the real world.</p>
<h2>Place, memory and administration</h2>
<p>We easily anchor Shakespeare’s code (we find out that “Juliet” refers to a specific young woman, “Romeo” to a specific young man) but can we do this for the brain? It seems we can. By recording the chatter of neurons while animals (and sometimes humans) perform the tasks of daily life, researchers have discovered that there are regions where the neural code relates to the real world in remarkably straightforward ways. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43604/original/p3sk24w5-1394548457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Your sense of place, located.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gray739-emphasizing-hippocampus.png">Gray's anatomy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The best known of these is the code for “place”, discovered in a small and deeply buried part of the brain called the <a href="http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s4/chapter05.html">hippocampus</a>. A given hippocampal neuron starts chattering furiously whenever its owner (rat, mouse, bat, human) goes to a particular place. Each neuron tends to be most excited at a particular place (near the door, halfway along a wall) and so a large collection of neurons can, between them, be ready to “speak up” for any place in the environment. It is as if these neurons encode space, to form something akin to a mental map. </p>
<p>To determine where you are, you simply consult your hippocampus and see which neuron is active. (In practice, of course, many neurons will be active in that place and not just one – otherwise every time a neuron died you would lose a small piece of your map.) These neurons in the hippocampus are called “place neurons”, and are remarkable entities that form the foundation not only for our mental map of the space around us, but also for memories of the events that occur in that space – a kind of biographical record. Their importance is evident in the terrible disorientation and amnesia that result from their degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. When the brain loses its link to its place in the world, and to its past, its owner loses all sense of self.</p>
<p>There are many other neurons in the brain whose code seems decipherable. Neurons that activate when facing a particular direction, or near a wall, or when you see your grandmother … Gradually we are piecing together the network of nodes in the brain that connect the inner code to the world outside.</p>
<p>This is not all that neurons do, of course. Much of the brain is involved with internal “administration”. For example, a large part of the <a href="http://neurolex.org/wiki/Nlx_anat_20090601">frontal lobe</a> (the brain behind the forehead) is involved in making decisions – how to prioritise activities, what to do next, and so on. Many neurons, scattered throughout the brain, have housekeeping duties to do with maintaining the code, improving and refining it, preserving the relevant parts as memory and discarding the rest.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43605/original/wwnvk85t-1394548744.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Admin centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gray726_frontal_lobe.png">Gray, vectorised by Mysid, coloured by was_a_bee.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of the most numerous neurons seem simply to have the job of suppressing their neighbours, so that the neural conversation, as it were, does not degenerate into the equivalent of uncontrollable shouting (which, in technical terms, we recognise as epilepsy).</p>
<h2>Still room for psychology</h2>
<p>It is clear that to understand the brain we need to investigate all aspects of its functioning, not just those that relate to internal administration but also those that connect to the outside world. </p>
<p>We need to determine how brain activity relates to what the brain’s owner is thinking, feeling and doing with respect to the world outside that brain – that is, we need to anchor the code to the real world. </p>
<p>For this, we need scientists who study thoughts, feelings and behaviour – psychologists – as much as we need those who study anatomy and physiology. Study of the brain requires investigation at all levels – otherwise, we will have a complete characterisation, but no understanding, of this remarkable organ.</p>
<p><em>Decoding the brain, a special report produced in <a href="http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2014/03/12/724">collaboration with the Dana Centre</a>, looks at how technology and person-to-person analysis will shape the future of brain research. Click here to read more Conversation UK articles on <a href="https://theconversation.com/brain-scans-are-fascinating-but-behaviour-tells-us-more-about-the-mind-24151">why behaviour tells us more about the brain than scans</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/unpicking-the-autism-puzzle-by-linking-empathy-to-reward-24050">linking empathy to reward</a> in autism.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24085/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I receive, or have received, funding for my work from the BBSRC, MRC, Wellcome trust and European Commission FP7
I am non-shareholding director of the biomedical instrumentation company Axona Ltd, which makes data acquisition systems for in vivo electrophysiological recording
</span></em></p>Let’s say Martians land on the Earth and wish to understand more about humans. Someone hands them a copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare and says: “When you understand what’s in there, you will understand…Kate Jeffery, Director of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.