Breakthrough Behavioral Healthcare Education. Director of Neuroscience Communication: Natalie Geld, Chief Science Officer: David Edelman, PhD
(4)
A Breakthrough Behavioral Healthcare & Neuroscience Education Enterprise advancing medicine + public understanding of the neurobiology of emotion. World’s first education strategy on the interdependence of brain function, emotions, and behavior for clinician's and their patients. The Feeling Brain is the first Visual CME showing the direct relationship between brain circuitry and treatable medical
conditions. Pioneering clinical content for physicians, neurologists, nurses, mental health and medical professionals. Our focus is the emotional component of mental health – which is largely overlooked – and fills a huge gap in evidence-based science education.
Bones: Analysis by KÖRPERWELTEN
“Bones are far more than just the scaffolding that sustains us. They are living, breathing structures that support, protect and keep our bodies moving.
For example, did you know that a single human bone can withstand five times the pressure of steel? That every 7 years we have completely new bones? Or that bones contain 31% water?”
- KÖRPERWELTEN
Plastinarium in Guben
Body Worlds - L'Exposition Anatomique
Psilocybin Shows Promise in Anorexia Treatment
Researchers discovered that psilocybin, the psychoactive component of magic mushrooms, may offer new hope for treating anorexia nervosa, a disorder marked by extreme weight loss and cognitive rigidity.
The study used an animal model to demonstrate how psilocybin can promote cognitive flexibility and help maintain body weight in subjects.
This is particularly significant given the high mortality rate of anorexia and the limited effectiveness of current treatments like SSRIs, which often fail to improve symptoms in underweight patients.
By identifying a specific brain mechanism affected by psilocybin, the research opens the door to developing targeted therapies that address the cognitive aspects of anorexia, potentially offering more effective treatment options for those suffering from this severe disorder.
Nature - Google scientists have modelled a fragment of the human brain at nanoscale resolution, revealing cells with previously undiscovered features.
Key Brain Region Implicated in Autism Sensory Issues
Researchers pinpointed the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as a critical region associated with sensory hypersensitivity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
In their study, scientists explored the role of the ACC in mice genetically modified to exhibit ASD-like symptoms, discovering that hyperactivity in this brain region led to heightened sensory responses.
By dampening this hyperactivity, they were able to alleviate the exaggerated sensory perceptions, suggesting a new therapeutic target.
This research not only advances our understanding of the neural underpinnings of ASD but also offers hope for developing more effective interventions.
Auditory masking of TMS has a clear beneficial effect. Cleans artifact signal in primary auditory cortex, as one would expect, but also changes the iEEG response in other brain areas.
Highlights
-- iTEPs reflect both direct (electromagnetic) and indirect (acoustic) effects on iEE
-- TMS clicks induce auditory evoked potentials that can obscure signals of interest
-- TAAC sound masking software effectively masks the TMS click
-- TAAC prevents TMS auditory evoked potentials in iEEG auditory cortex electrodes
-- Auditory masking changes the morphology of iTEPs outside of auditory regions
SOURCE
Nicholas T. Trapp, Eric W. Tsang, Joel Bruss, Simone Russo, Phillip E. Gander, Joel I. Berger, Kirill V. Nourski, Mario Rosanova, Corey J. Keller, Hiroyuki Oya, Matthew A. Howard, Aaron D. Boes, TMS-associated auditory evoked potentials can be effectively masked: Evidence from intracranial EEG,Brain Stimulation, 2024, ISSN 1935-861X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2024.05.002.
Redefining Consciousness Through Memory Fusion
A new study redefines our understanding of consciousness.
The paper proposes that consciousness arises from the intricate interplay between memory and emotional content within neural networks, challenging the conventional data-processing perspective often attributed to neural activity.
By integrating the GNW hypothesis with the Tripartite Mechanism of Memory, the researchers offer a model where emotional memories, encoded through biochemical activities in the brain, play a central role in shaping conscious experiences.
Redefining Consciousness Through Memory Fusion
A new study redefines our understanding of consciousness.
The paper proposes that consciousness arises from the intricate interplay between memory and emotional content within neural networks, challenging the conventional data-processing perspective often attributed to neural activity.
By integrating the GNW hypothesis with the Tripartite Mechanism of Memory, the researchers offer a model where emotional memories, encoded through biochemical activities in the brain, play a central role in shaping conscious experiences.
This innovative approach provides a new framework for exploring how consciousness evolves and functions, suggesting profound implications for understanding cognitive processes and disorders.
Rhythm, tempo, rubato and ornamentation can be freely combined, together enabling whales to systematically synthesize an enormous repertoire of distinguishable codas -- a ‘s***m whale phonetic alphabet’ 🐋🧠💗
S***m whale communication may be more complex than previously thought, according to research in Nature Communications. The authors suggest that s***m whales can combine and modulate different clicks and rhythms to create complex calls, similar to human language. Read the paper: https://go.nature.com/4abJyE7
The study highlighted a new type of synaptic organization, just published in the international journal Cell Reports, which describes a new mechanism of brain plasticity, or how nerve connections change in response to external stimuli.
The study demonstrated that the presence of CS-6 is necessary for synaptic plasticity and spatial memory,” Bozzi and Chelini point out.
The study offers, therefore, a major contribution.
“This work paves the way for a new way of thinking about brain functioning. It is possible that all synapses formed on different neurons within CS-6 clusters have the ability to respond chorally to specific environmental stimuli, and are involved in a common function aimed at learning and memory processes,” they note.
“They seem to represent a new substrate of information integration and association formation at the multicellular level,”
Cartilage-Like Structures Key to Brain Plasticity
Researchers uncovered a new mechanism of brain plasticity involving chondroitin sulfate clusters, which are crucial for the brain’s ability to adapt and learn.
The study revisits the role of these cartilage-like structures in the brain, previously identified but largely forgotten.
Researchers demonstrated that these clusters, specifically termed CS-6, are integral to synaptic organization and are necessary for spatial memory and synaptic plasticity.
This discovery shifts traditional understanding of brain function, suggesting that CS-6 clusters might enable synapses to collectively respond to environmental stimuli, playing a pivotal role in learning and memory processes.
In a paper titled, “Multimodal MRI reveals brainstem connections that sustain wakefulness in human consciousness,” published today in Science Translational Medicine, a group of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, and Boston Children’s Hospital, created a connectivity map of a brain network that they propose is critical to human consciousness.
Dr. Edlow explains, “Our connectivity results suggest that stimulation of the ventral tegmental area’s dopaminergic pathways has the potential to help patients recover from coma because this hub node is connected to many regions of the brain that are critical to consciousness.”
Key Consciousness Connections Uncovered
Researchers made a significant breakthrough in understanding human consciousness.
Their study introduces a detailed connectivity map of the "default ascending arousal network," which integrates key brain areas like the brainstem, thalamus, and cortex, crucial for maintaining wakefulness in the resting state.
Using advanced 7 Tesla MRI scans from the Human Connectome Project, the team identified previously unrecognized pathways that are active during resting consciousness but are critical for arousal.
This research not only deepens our understanding of how consciousness is maintained but also provides a new framework for treating conditions associated with altered consciousness such as coma, leveraging the newly created Harvard Ascending Arousal Network Atlas to guide clinical interventions aimed at restoring brain function in patients with severe brain injuries.
Palisades Therapeutics announces possible breakthrough treatment for Parkinson's disease. Neuroprotective Efficacy of the Glucocorticoid Receptor Modulator PT150 in the Rotenone Mouse Model of Parkinson's Disease - PR13018365
For your listening pleasure! Thank you Neil Theise 🙏🏽 and Ilia Delio 🙏🏽
How Deep Down the Complexity Goes with Neil Theise (Part 1)In the first part of their conversation Ilia Delio asks stem cell researcher and author, Neil Theise, about this journey from science to complexity theory. Ilia and Neil ask big questions ...
Through these innovative efforts, researchers were able to track how individual neurons in a forebrain region called the nucleus accumbens respond to natural rewards like food and water, as well as to acute and repeated exposure to co***ne and morphine in a cell-type-specific manner.
They discovered a largely overlapping population of cells that respond to both addictive drugs and natural rewards, and demonstrated that repeated exposure to the drugs progressively disrupts the cells’ ability to function normally, resulting in behavior being directed toward drug-seeking and away from natural rewards.
“By tracking these cells, we show that not only are similar cells activated across reward classes, but also that co***ne and morphine elicit initially stronger responses than food or water, and this actually magnifies with increasing exposure,” notes co-first author Caleb Browne, PhD, a former Instructor in Dr. Nestler’s lab who is now a Scientist in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto.
“After withdrawal from the drugs, these same cells exhibit disorganized responses to natural rewards in a manner that may resemble some of the negative affective states seen in withdrawal in substance use disorder.”
Moreover, the research team identified a well-established intracellular signaling pathway—mTORC1—that facilitates the disruption of natural reward processing by the drugs.
As part of that discovery, investigators found a gene (Rheb) that encodes an activator of the mTORC1 pathway that may mediate this relationship, potentially providing a novel therapeutic target for future discovery in a field of medicine that currently offers few effective treatments.
How Drugs Hijack the Brain’s Reward System
Researchers shed new light on how addictive drugs like co***ne and morphine disrupt the brain's natural reward processing.
Their study demonstrates that these substances manipulate the same neural circuits that respond to natural rewards such as food and water, causing an abnormal preference for drug-related stimuli.
Using advanced imaging and behavioral techniques in mouse models, the team identified specific neurons in the nucleus accumbens that are overly activated by drug exposure, progressively diminishing the brain's response to natural rewards.
This research provides new insights into the neural basis of addiction and highlights potential molecular targets, such as the mTORC1 signaling pathway, for developing more effective addiction treatments.
Abstract
Compulsive behaviour, an apparently irrational perseveration in often maladaptive acts, is a potential transdiagnostic symptom of several neuropsychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and addiction, and may reflect the severe manifestation of a dimensional trait termed compulsivity.
In this Review, we examine the psychological basis of compulsions and compulsivity and their underlying neural circuitry using evidence from human neuroimaging and animal models. Several main elements of this circuitry are identified, focused on fronto-striatal systems implicated in goal-directed behaviour and habits. These systems include the orbitofrontal, prefrontal, anterior cingulate and insular cortices and their connections with the basal ganglia as well as sensoriomotor and parietal cortices and cerebellum. We also consider the implications for future classification of impulsive–compulsive disorders and their treatment.
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
The philosopher Daniel Dennett died today at age 82. In his work, Dennett endeavored to explain how a soulless world could have given rise to a soulful one. His special focus was the creation of the human mind. Into his own he crammed nearly every related discipline: evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence. “Until I met Dan,” the philosopher and psychologist Nicholas Humphrey said, “I never had a philosophical hero. Then I discovered that not only was he a better philosopher than me; he was a better singer, a better dancer, a better tennis player, a better pianist. There is nothing he does not do.” Read Joshua Rothman’s Profile of Dennett, from 2017.
The philosopher Daniel Dennett died today at age 82. In his work, Dennett endeavored to explain how a soulless world could have given rise to a soulful one. His special focus was the creation of the human mind. Into his own he crammed nearly every related discipline: evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence. “Until I met Dan,” the philosopher and psychologist Nicholas Humphrey said, “I never had a philosophical hero. Then I discovered that not only was he a better philosopher than me; he was a better singer, a better dancer, a better tennis player, a better pianist. There is nothing he does not do.” Read Joshua Rothman’s Profile of Dennett, from 2017: http://nyer.cm/Z57txoR
💙 Reposting a thoughtful note from Bernard J Baars in Dan Dennett's honor 💙.
"Losing the smiling spirit of consciousness studies.
Dan Dennett has passed, and with that, the consciousness studies has lost a source of inspiration. At a time when philosophy was passing through a narrow bottleneck of self-limitation, Dan had a real breadth of interest, while continuing to think in a disciplined way, which is harder than it sounds in a field like consciousness studies.
I remember bumping into Dan at one rather confusing conference, when he told me "I feel like a cop at Woodstock." He had genuine wit. He also had an eye for important insight, as when he pointed out that subjective propositions about conscious experiences required a bolded pronoun like I.
That one kicked off a long train of thought for me.
He was just a very interesting and likeable man, with an open and capacious mind, a talent for making philosophy fun and interesting, and a gentle eye for human follies.
I hope Dan Dennett will continue to be a model for all of us."
Espousing his ideas in best sellers, he insisted that religion was an illusion, free will was a fantasy and evolution could only be explained by natural selection.
💦 We are muscled water. 💦
Give your “open, fluid-filled highway" room to breathe and flow freely. Our body is about 60% water - 2/3 is found inside cells, the other 1/3 is outside cells - known as “interstitial” fluid," says Neil Theise
Mind, meet your interstitium! 💧
A human body part hiding in plain sight–and the mysteries it might help us solve.
courtesy: Gregg Braden
Reflecting on reflecting….
KÖRPERWELTEN
Plastinarium in Guben
Dr Gunther von Hagens’ BODY Worlds Exhibition
Roy Baumeister on why building good habits is so important.
Listen to the full episode here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-27-is-willpower-like-muscle-power-with-roy-f-baumeister/id1498805983?i=1000606134447
Although high self-esteem is correlated with positive outcomes like better grades and less drug addiction, these findings are correlational, not causal. It seems that real achievements do lead to higher self-esteem, but self-esteem by itself does not lead to better achievement.
Theoretical Neurobiologist and originator of Global Workspace Theory, a theory of human cognitive architecture and consciousness.
Access of sensory information to consciousness has been linked to the ignition of content-specific representations in association cortices. How does i…
Peeling the layers to understand what's inside our 🧩🧠💗
Cranial Layers: Superficial to Deep
- Annotations by Riyaz Mohideen
Credit: Primal Pictures
MEDizzy
Podcast On Consciousness & the Brain with Bernard Baars, puntata Ep 27: Is Willpower Like Muscle Power? with Roy F. Baumeister - 27 mar 2023
✨ “When you pick your battles, look beyond the immediate challenges and put your life in perspective. Are you where you want to be? What could be better? The unconscious is asking the conscious mind to make a plan.” 🧠🧩
—Roy F. Baumeister, Social Psychologist and Author from his NY Times bestselling book “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength” with science writer John Tierney
🎙️ #27🎙️ We talked with Roy in our latest podcast episode just released this Monday morning 🧠 🧩 where we explore the science of willpower and self control with our special guest - one of the world's most prolific and influential psychologists, Professor Roy Baumeister. Roy is a social psychologist who explores how we think about the self, and why we feel and act the way we do.
He is especially known for his work on the subjects of willpower, self-control, ego depletion, and the dark side of self esteem - how they relate to human morality and success. He has published over 700 scientific works, including over 40 books.
Listen to the Podcast On Consciousness & the Brain with Bernard J. Baars everywhere!
https://lnkd.in/gkNZGsQD
Listen to this episode from On Consciousness & the Brain with Bernard Baars on Spotify. How do we regulate our impulsive emotions, resist temptation, break bad habits, and come up to our best potential - and why do we sometimes run short? Is willpower anything like muscle power? In this episode, we....
What can the octopus tell us about the origins of consciousness?
Save the date and find out!
March 25, 2023 16:00 GMT / 11:00 EDT/ 08:00 PST Reconstructing the Natural History of Awareness: The Octopus as Muse and Guide Cephalopod molluscs—particularly the octopus—have fascinated people across many cultures for thousands of years. Though their appearance seems utterly alien to our human...
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Feeling Brain posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to The Feeling Brain:
👉🎙NEW EPISODE of our Podcast On Consciousness with Bernard J Baars -- EPISODE 16 "GLOBAL WORKSPACE THEORY: Origins & Evidence - Part I" 👉🎙 Student Interviewers Alea Skwara and Ilian Daskalov join our host, Bernard J Baars, in our podcast series to unpack the origins of Global Workspace Theory as well as some of its features, namely widespread integration and broadcasting. This is Part I in a series of fun and interesting episodes where we dive deeper into the scientific evidence each time. "Ilian, this might kind of pull us into - "What are the features of GWT?" - and that next phase, because I think one of the major features is this Limited Capacity. But, what is it about this ability to be consciously aware of a limited percentage of what's happening in our mind, or what's happening in our sensory environment, that's so advantageous that it makes it worth missing what we're not consciously aware of?" "Exactly right. And so, the hypothesis, the GW hypothesis was, there has to be a compensatory event in the brain happening, and the most plausible one, for various reasons, including other people's work, of course, was that there's some kind of very wide recruitment of brain resources that happens as a function of becoming conscious of something. So we're only conscious of, let's say a single star on a dark night, but that fact - that we are only conscious of that conscious of, let's say a single star on a dark night, but that fact - that we are only conscious of that -has immense consequences in the brain. And today we can actually see that happening. I called that the broadcast hypothesis. And now, of course, we know that it's a resonant broadcast because the brain system that is involved, huge brain system that's involved - the cortex and the thalamus - that only has bidirectional wiring, basically. So if you send out a broadcast, you can get feedback right away from that, and what that means, given the fact that they're both excitatory neurons, th
👉 NEW PODCAST EPISODE 👉 A fun and very interesting discussion with neuropsychiatrist Dr. Heather Berlin for the podcast "#OnConsciousness with Bernard Baars" -- featuring a personal interview by UC Irvine student, @Ilian Daskalov. Check it out! Heather is fascinating 🧠☯︎ She says, "I got interested in Impulse Control mostly because I got interested in what makes us human. And I became sort of obsessed with understanding the functions of the prefrontal cortex, which I felt was part of our brain that made us distinctly human. And a large part of the function of that part of the brain has to do with impulse control, emotional regulation... and I think the very simple fact that we have this capacity for impulse control and emotion regulation has allowed us to build civilizations, and technology, and buildings, and societies. So, I think that impulse control is a key component in what it means for us to be human and what differentiates us from other primates." 🧠☯︎ ~Dr. Heather Berlin, neuroscientist and licensed clinical psychologist #thefeelingbrain #insidethefeelingbrain #brainwellness #mentalhealth #scienceeducation #freewill #podcast #podcastshow #neuroscience #psychology
Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?
Breakthrough Behavioral Healthcare Education. MedNeuro advances medical + public understanding of the emotional component of mental health with the world’s first Visual CME on the interdependence of brain function, behavior, emotions, and health.
The Feeling Brain: Understanding the Neurobiology of Emotion is the future of medical education. #InsideTheFeelingBrain
