Len Yabloko's List: Brain

• "Having enlarged amygdala could be protective and increase the probability of survival," Lupien said. The amygdala may be protective through a mechanism that produces stress hormones known as glucocorticoids. The researchers noted that the glucocorticoids levels of the children of depressed mothers who participated in this study increased significantly when they were presented with unfamiliar situations, indicating increased reactivity to stress in those children. Adults who grew up in similar circumstances as these children show higher levels of glucocorticoids and a greater glucocorticoid reaction when participating in laboratory stress tests. "What would be the long term consequences of this increased reactivity to stress is unknown at this point."

• While the brains of smarter humans today may use a better set of long term connections, probably most of their advantage comes from using more energy-intensive brain hardware. So it probably wasn’t until our recent cheap energy era that high IQ humans gained large advantages. The tendency 0f smarter humans to choose lower fertility lowers their advantage today.

• the Emotiv Epoch has already been tested as a thought-based remote-control for a spy robot, and the MindFlex has been hacked by Harcos Labs into the worst toy ever, a meditation/torture device that rewards you for keeping your mind still and shocks you for thinking.
• A non-invasive alternative to embedded electrodes is being explored by Ambient Technology in a device called the AudeoSensor. The Audeo was developed to measure energy conduction around the laryngeal muscles for controlling speech production, and uses stainless steel electrodes to read differential voltage across the skin in the front of the throat.
• Most embedded electrode research has focused on correcting behavioral and motivational problems (such as depression, Parkinson’s disease, and lack of libido) by stimulating glands in the brainstem or basal forebrain to promote fine-tuned transmitter release, typically focusing on the dopamine pathways.
• 

2 more annotations...

• As one might expect, when the subjects vocalized a word, the data indicated activity in the areas of the motor cortex associated with the muscles that produce speech. The auditory cortex and an area in its vicinity long believed to be associated with speech, called Wernicke’s area, were also active.
• The first team, directed by Schalk, was pursuing the more invasive ECOG approach, attaching electrodes beneath the skull. The second group, led by Mike D’Zmura, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, Irvine, planned to use electroencephalography (EEG), a noninvasive brain-scanning technique that was far better suited for an actual thought helmet. Like ECOG, EEG relies on brain signals picked up by an array of electrodes that are sensitive to the subtle voltage oscillations caused by the firing of groups of neurons. Unlike ECOG, EEG requires no surgery; the electrodes attach painlessly to the scalp.

• The signaling architecture of the visual system used in long wavelength trichromats (humans and other large terrestrial mammals) is shown in the following figure. This figure emphasizes the three distinct signaling paths found in vision (the P-, Q- and R-channels) as well as the unique correlation channel (labeled the G'-channel) found in only the highest primates (hominoidea) and used by the analytical mode of vision for reading and other functions requiring maximum acuity and perception of detail.
• 

• With some 70 billion neurons and hundreds of thousands of kilometres of circuits, the human brain is so complex that, for many years, it seemed impossible to reconstruct the network in detail.
• The KNOSSOS software considerably reduces the time required: It is about 50 times faster than other programs used up to now. In addition, the RESCOP program now makes it possible for dozens of people to work on the reconstruction at the same time. Since the method is easily learned, even non-experts can use it.

• People often underestimate the long-term impact of practicing brief, positive activities, Lyubomirsky said. For example, if a person gets 15 minutes of positive emotions from counting her blessings, she may muster the energy to attend the art class she'd long considered attending, and, while in class, might meet a friend who becomes a companion and confidant for years to come. In this way, even momentary positive feelings can build long-term social, psychological, intellectual, and physical skills and reserves.