Neurophysiology and Neurobiology's topics - tribe.net

does neuroreplete actually work?

aliza — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 00:10:29 GMT

Does anyone know if neuroreplete really can work for depression? What about depression in bipolar?
I'm bipolar and after years and years of trying every drug out there and not getting any results at all (or drugs that only work for a very short time and then just quit) I've decided to look into alternative treatments.

I'm interested if anyone has (or knows someone that has) actually tried this?
From what I've read about it thus far the science of it seems to make sense, but then
again a lot of things sound good in theory...if you know what I mean.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 29 replies

my pet theory

inchoate — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 08:06:59 GMT

I wonder if an emotion or feeling has physical
Reactions, if one suppresses or stops the reactions,
Will thenfeeling go away. Say you're an Internet blogger who
Seeks attention. If you stop looking to see if
You have comments all the time, will your neediness
Go away?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 14 replies

Future Opiates

Solari — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:40:39 GMT

"More controversially, adding customised opioids, enkephalinase-inhibitors and kappa-antagonists to our therapeutic armamentarium may prove critical to boosting response- and remission-rates towards 100% in the decades ahead. Crudely, whereas dopamine mediates "wanting", mu opioid agonists mediate "liking". Both systems can be fruitfully enhanced. Depressive and dysthymic people often suffer from a dysfunctional opioid system and anhedonia - an incapacity to experience pleasure. Sometimes orthodox "antidepressants" may even make them feel worse. Yet controlled clinical trials of designer narcotics for refractory and/or melancholic depression, let alone their use by "normal" people with "ordinary" mood-disorders, are not imminent."

http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=16751

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Who says a woman can't be Einstein?

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 15:38:59 GMT

WHO SAYS A WOMAN CAN'T BE EINSTEIN?
Yes, men's and women's brains are different. But new research upendsthe old myths about who's good at what. A tour of the ever changing brain
By AMANDA RIPLEY RESEARCH BY COCO MASTERS;

Time Magazine Mar. 7, 2005 Issue
THERE WAS SOMETHING SELF-DESTRUCTIVE ABOUT Harvard University President Larry Summers' speech on gender disparities in January. In his first sentence, he said his goal as "provocation" (rarely a wise strategy at a diversity conference). He called for "rigorous and careful" thinking to explain the gender gap among top-tier tenured science professors. But he described his pet theory with something less than prudence. The most likely explanations, he said, are that
1) women are just not so interested as men in making the sacrifices required by high-powered jobs, 2) men may have more "intrinsic aptitude" for high-level science and 3) women may be victims of old-fashioned discrimination. "In my own view, their importance probably ranks in exactly the order that I just described," he announced. Cue the hysteria. The comments about aptitude in particular lingered, like food poisoning, long after the conference ended. For weeks, pundits and professors spouted outrage and praise, all of which added
up to very little. Then came the tedious analysis of faculty-lounge politics at Harvard, as if anyone outside Cambridge really cared.

The rest of us were left with a nagging question: What is the latest science on the differences between men's and women's aptitudes, anyway? Is it true, even a little bit, that men are better equipped for scientific genius? Or is it ridiculous--even pernicious--to ask such a question in the year 2005?

It's always perilous to use science to resolve festering public debates. Everyone sees something different--like 100 people finding shapes in clouds. By the time they make up their minds, the clouds have drifted beyond the horizon. But scientists who have spent their lives studying sex differences in the brain (some of whom defend Summers and some of whom dismiss him as an ignoramus) generally concede that he was not entirely wrong. Thanks to new brain-imaging technology, we know there are indeed real differences between the male and the female brain, more differences than we would have imagined a decade ago. "The brain is a sex organ," says Sandra Witelson, a neuroscientist who became famous in the 1990s for her study of Albert Einstein's brain. "In the last dozen years, there has been an exponential increase in the number of studies that have found differences in the brain. It's very exciting."

But that's just the beginning of the conversation. It turns out that many of those differences don't seem to change our behavior. Others do--in ways we might not expect. Some of the most dramatic differences are not just in our brains but also in our eyes, noses and ears--which feed information to our brains. Still, almost none of those differences are static. The brain is constantly changing in response to hormones, encouragement, practice, diet and drugs. Brain patterns fluctuate within the same person, in fact, depending on age and time of day. So while Summers was also right that more men than women make up the extreme high--and low--scorers in science and math tests, it's absurd to conclude that the difference is primarily because of biology--or environment. The two interact from the time of conception, which only makes life more interesting.

Any simplistic theory is "doomed to fail," says Yu Xie, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan. Xie's research on women in the sciences was cited by Summers in his statement, and Xie has spent every day since trying to explain the intricacy of human behavior to reporters. "I don't exclude biology as an explanation," he says. "But I know biological factors would not play a role unless they interacted with social conditions."

Unless one appreciates that complexity, it would be all too easy to look at the latest research on the brain and conclude, say, that men may not in fact make the best university presidents. For example, studies show that men are slightly more likely to say things without realizing how their actions will affect others. And as men age, they tend to lose more tissue from a part of the brain located just behind the forehead that concerns itself with consequences and self-control.
Generally speaking, the brain of a female is more interlinked and—if one assumes that a basic requirement of the post is to avoid dividing the faculty into two sweaty mobs--may be better suited for the kind of cautious diplomacy required of a high-profile university leader. Of course, to borrow a line from Summers, "I would prefer to believe otherwise."

Now that scientists are finally starting to map the brain with some accuracy, the challenge is figuring out what to do with that knowledge. The possibilities for applying it to the classroom, workplace and doctor's office are tantalizing. "If something is genetic, it means it must be biological. If we can figure out the biology, then we should be able to tweak the biology," says Richard Haier, a psychology professor who studies intelligence at the University of California at Irvine. Maybe Summers' failure was not one of sensitivity but one of imagination.

LESSON 1: FUNCTION OVER FORM

SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR SEX differences in the brain since they have been looking at the brain. Many bold decrees have been issued. In the 19th century, the corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, was considered key to intellectual development. Accordingly, it was said to have a greater surface area in men. Then, in the 1980s, we were told that no, it is larger in women--and that explains why the emotional right side of women's brains is more in touch with the analytical left side. Aha. That theory has since been discredited, and scientists remain at odds over who has the biggest and what it might mean. Stay tuned for more breaking news.

But most studies agree that men's brains are about 10% bigger than women's brains overall. Even when the comparison is adjusted for the fact that men are, on average, 8% taller than women, men's brains are still slightly bigger. But size does not predict intellectual performance, as was once thought. Men and women perform similarly on IQ tests. And most scientists still cannot tell male and female brains apart just by looking at them.

Recently, scientists have begun to move away from the obsession with size. Thanks to new brain-imaging technology, researchers can get a good look at the living brain as it functions and grows. Earlier studies relied on autopsies or X rays--and no one wanted to expose children or women, who might be pregnant, to regular doses of radiation.

The deeper you probe, the more interesting the differences. Women appear to have more connections between the two brain hemispheres. In certain regions, their brain is more densely packed with neurons. And women tend to use more parts of their brain to accomplish certain tasks. That might explain why they often recover better from a stroke, since the healthy parts of their mind compensate for the injured regions. Men do their thinking in more focused regions of the brain, whether they are solving a math problem, reading a book or feeling a wave of anger or sadness.

Indeed, men and women seem to handle emotions quite differently. While both sexes use a part of the brain called the amygdala, which is located deep within the organ, women seem to have stronger connections between the amygdala and regions of the brain that handle language and other higher-level functions. That may explain why women are, on average, more likely to talk about their emotions and men tend to compartmentalize their worries and carry on. Or, of course, it may not.

"Men and women have different brain architectures, and we don't know what they mean," says Haier. By administering IQ tests to a group of college students and then analyzing scans of their brain structure, Haier's team recently discovered that the parts of the brain that are related to intelligence are different in men and women. "That is in some ways a major observation, because one of the assumptions of psychology has been that all human brains pretty much work the same way," he says. Now that we know they don't, we can try to understand why some brains react differently to, say, Alzheimer's, many medications and even teaching techniques, Haier says.

Even more interesting than the brain's adult anatomy might be the journey it takes to get there. For 13 years, psychiatrist Jay Giedd has been compiling one of the world's largest libraries of brain growth. Every Tuesday evening, from 5 o'clock until midnight, a string of children files into the National Institutes of Health outside Washington to have their brains scanned. Giedd and his team ease the kids through the MRI procedure, and then he gives them a brain tour of their pictures--gently pointing out the spinal cord and the corpus callosum, before offering them a copy to take to show-and-tell.

Most of the kids are all business. Rowena Avery, 6, of Sparks, Nev., arrived last week with a stuffed animal named Sidewalk and stoically disappeared into the machine while her mom, dad and little sister watched. In preparation, she had practiced at home by lying very still in the bathtub. Her picture came out crystal clear. "The youngest ones are the best at lying still. It's kind of surprising," Giedd says. "It must be because they are used to hiding in kitchen cabinets and things like that."

Among the girls in Giedd's study, brain size peaks around age 11 1/2. For the boys, the peak comes three years later. "For kids, that's a long time," Giedd says. His research shows that most parts of the brain mature faster in girls. But in a 1999 study of 508 boys and girls, Virginia Tech researcher Harriet Hanlon found that some areas mature faster in boys. Specifically, some of the regions involved in mechanical reasoning, visual targeting and spatial reasoning appeared to mature four to eight years earlier in boys. The parts that handle verbal fluency, handwriting and recognizing familiar faces matured several years earlier in girls.

Monkeys are among our most trusted substitutes in brain research. This week a study in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience shows that stage of life is also important in male and female rhesus monkeys. In a sort of shell game, young male monkeys proved better at finding food after they saw it hidden on a tray--suggesting better spatial memory. But they peaked early. By old age, male and female monkeys performed equally well, according to the study, which was led by Agnès Lacreuse at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. All of which suggests that certain aptitudes may not be that different between males and females. It just depends on when you test them. (We'll have more to say about those monkeys in just a bit.)

LESSON 2: THE SEGREGATION OF THE SENSES

SO HOW DO WE EXPLAIN WHY, IN STUDY after study, boys and men are still on average better at rotating 3-D objects in their minds? As for girls and women, how do we explain why they tend to have better verbal skills and social sensitivities?

The most surprising differences may be outside the brain. "If you have a man and a woman looking at the same landscape, they see totally different things," asserts Leonard Sax, a physician and psychologist whose book Why Gender Matters came out last month. "Women can see colors and textures that men cannot see. They hear things men cannot hear, and they smell things men cannot smell." Since the eyes, ears and nose are portals to the brain, they directly affect brain development from birth on.

In rats, for example, we know that the male retina has more cells designed to detect motion. In females, the retina has more cells built to gather information on color and texture. If the same is true in humans, as Sax suspects, that may explain why, in an experiment in England four years ago, newborn boys were much more likely than girls to stare at a mobile turning above their cribs. It may also help explain why boys prefer to play with moving toys like trucks while girls favor richly textured dolls and tend to draw with a wider range of colors, Sax says.

Likewise, women's ears are more sensitive to some noises. Baby girls hear certain ranges of sound better. And the divergence gets even bigger in adults. As for smell, a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience in 2002 showed that women of childbearing age were many times more sensitive than men to several smells upon repeated exposure. (Another study has found that heterosexual women have the most sensitive smell and homosexual men have the least.)

Rest assured, Sax says: none of that means women are, overall, better than men at perception. It just means the species is internally diverse, making it more likely to survive. "The female will remember the color and texture of a particular plant and be able to warn people if it's poisonous. A man looking at the same thing will be more alert to what is moving in the periphery," he says. "Which is better? You need both."

LESSON 3: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE BRAIN

UNTIL RECENTLY, THERE HAVE BEEN TWO groups of people: those who argue sex differences are innate and should be embraced and those who insist that they are learned and should be eliminated by changing the environment. Sax is one of the few in the middle--convinced that boys and girls are innately different and that we must change the environment so differences don't become limitations.

At a restaurant near his practice in Montgomery County, Md., Sax spreads out dozens of papers and meticulously makes his case. He is a fanatic, but a smart, patient one. In the early 1990s, he says, he grew alarmed by the "parade" of parents coming into his office wondering whether their sons had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Sax evaluated them and found that, indeed, the boys were not paying attention in school. But the more he studied brain differences, the more he became convinced that the problem was with the schools. Sometimes the solution was simple: some of the boys didn't hear as well as the girls and so needed to be moved into the front row. Other times, the solution was more complex.

Eventually, Sax concluded that very young boys and girls would be better off in separate classrooms altogether. "[Previously], as far as I was concerned, single-sex education was an old-fashioned leftover. I thought of boys wearing suits and talking with British accents," he says. But coed schools do more harm than good, he decided, when they teach boys and girls as if their brains mature at the same time. "If you ask a child to do something not developmentally appropriate for him, he will, No. 1, fail. No. 2, he will develop an aversion to the subject," he says. "By age 12, you will have girls who don't like science and boys who don't like reading." And they won't ever go back, he says. "The reason women are underrepresented in computer science and engineering is not because they can't do it. It's because of the way they're taught."

So far, studies about girls' and boys' achievements in same-sex grammar schools are inconclusive. But if it turns out that targeting sex differences through education is helpful, there are certainly many ways to carry it out. Says Giedd: "The ability for change is phenomenal. That's what the brain does best." A small but charming 2004 study published in Nature found that people who learned how to juggle increased the gray matter in their brains in certain locations. When they stopped juggling, the new gray matter vanished. A similar structural change appears to occur in people who learn a second language. Remember that new research on spatial memory in rhesus monkeys? The young females dramatically improved their performance through simple training, wiping out the gender gap altogether.

In a recent experiment with humans at Temple University, women showed substantial progress in spatial reasoning after spending a couple of hours a week for 10 weeks playing Tetris, of all things. The males improved with weeks of practice too, says Nora Newcombe, a Temple psychologist who specializes in spatial cognition, and so the gender gap remained. But the improvement for both sexes was "massively greater" than the gender difference. "This means that if the males didn't train, the females would outstrip them," she says.

Of course, we already manipulate the brain through drugs--many of which, doctors now realize, have dramatically different effects on different brains. Drugs for improving intelligence are in the works, says Haier, in the quest to find medication for Alzheimer's. "We're going to get a lot better at manipulating genetic biology. We may even be better at manipulating genetic biology than manipulating the environment."

Until then, one solution to overcoming biological tendencies is to consciously override them, to say to yourself, "O.K., I may have a hard time with this task, but I'm going to will myself to conquer it." Some experiments show that baby girls, when faced with failure, tend to give up and cry relatively quickly, while baby boys get angry and persist, says Witelson at Ontario's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University. "What we don't know is whether that pattern persists into adulthood," she says. But in her experience in academia, she says she knows of at least a couple of brilliant women who never realized their potential in science because they stopped trying when they didn't get grants or encountered some other obstacle. "It's much better," she says, "for people to understand what the differences are, act on their advantages and be prepared for their disadvantages."

LESSON 4: EXPECTATIONS MATTER

WE HAVE A TENDENCY TO MAKE TOO MUCH of test-score differences between the sexes (which are actually very small compared with the differences between, say, poor and affluent students). And regardless of what happens in school, personality and discipline can better predict success when it comes to highly competitive jobs.

One thing we know about the brain is that it is vulnerable to the power of suggestion. There is plenty of evidence that when young women are motivated and encouraged, they excel at science. For most of the 1800s, for example, physics, astronomy, chemistry and botany were considered gender-appropriate subjects for middle-and upper-class American girls. By the 1890s, girls outnumbered boys in public high school science courses across the country, according to The Science Education of American Girls, a 2003 book by Kim Tolley. Records from top schools in Boston show that girls outperformed boys in physics in the mid-19th century. Latin and Greek, meanwhile, were considered the province of gentlemen--until the 20th century, when lucrative opportunities began to open up in the sciences.

Today, in Iceland and Sweden, girls consistently outperform boys in math and physics (see box). In Sweden the gap is widest in the remote regions in the north. That may be because women want to move to the big cities farther south, where they would need to compete in high-tech economies, while men are focused on local hunting, fishing and forestry opportunities, says Niels Egelund, a professor of educational psychology at the Danish University of Education. The phenomenon even has a name, the Jokkmokk effect, a reference to an isolated town in Swedish Lapland.

Back in the States, the achievement gap in the sciences is closing, albeit slowly. Female professors have been catching up with male professors in their publishing output. Today half of chemistry and almost 60% of biology bachelor of science degrees go to females. Patience is required.

Next, Summers may want to take up the male question. In all seriousness. Why do so many more boys than girls have learning disorders, autism, attention-deficit problems and schizophrenia? Why are young men now less likely to go to college than women are? And what to make of a 2003 survey that found eighth-grade girls outperforming boys in algebra in 22 countries, with boys outscoring girls in only three nations? If we're not careful, the next Einstein could find herself working as a high-powered lawyer who does wonders with estate-tax calculations instead of discovering what the universe is made of. --With reporting by Nadia Mustafa and Deirdre van Dyk/New York and Ulla Plon/Lulea

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 11 replies

happiness: in the genes or head?

blue-j — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:19:06 GMT

just following up no the gilbert video post in the other discussion:

http://www.slate.com/id/2072079/entry/2072490/

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 3 replies

Solarized Water Bottles

white_wizard — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 14:38:43 GMT

Hi all,

I was just reading an article on said subject . . .

Water stored in a bottle of a particular color and exposed to the sun becomes solarized and gains the properties of that color. Drinking this energized water is recommend for various aliments. Edwin D. Babbit (The Principles of Light and Color published in 1878) cured a variety of ailments by the therapeutic application of sunlight through various colors of glass. "Solar elixirs" or sun-charged water is an old science that has been lost, but should be reconsidered today.

Can anyone theorise as to how this science manifests . . .

Thanks,

Peace,

David

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 7 replies

BAN MIND CONTROL/ DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS TORTURE AND ABUSE

Native Flower — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:39:12 GMT

I know this sounds like science fiction or a conspiracy theory, but it's not. It is a complete reality and a huge danger to humanity. Please check out the following petition and sign it. As crazy as this may sound but mind control energy weapons is a reality. Millions of people are suffering from the mental abuse and torture of these weapons that are not openely talked about or known, or "declassified." The abuse is largely sexist and racist and targets people who are of certain ethnicities... primarily who are not white. The abuse is deliberate, cruel, and is done by directing energy beams, via satellite or other means, onto the body/person/ brain of the individuals targeting certain centers of the brain to elicit responses or actions. The companies, military, governments who are doing this also use sound weapons to direct sounds, subtle or not, vibrations and energy in the mind or environment of the victims to harrass, abuse, and control the actions of these individuals. Whether they are able to do control the person or not, they definitely abuse and severely mentally and psychologically hurt the victims.

BAN MIND CONTROL/DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS TORTURE AND ABUSE

To: the President of the United States, Members of the U.S. Senate and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, see more...your Governor, Members of your State Senate, Members of your State House, the President of the United States, Members of the U.S. Senate and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

Started by: Soleilmavis L

WE CONCERN ABOUT THE ABUSE AND TORTURE OF THE FOLLOWINGS :- DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS; NEUROLOGICAL WEAPONS; MIND CONTROL WEAPONS; BODY AND BRAIN MANIPULATION WEAPONS; PSYCHOTRONIC WEAPONS; SPACE WEAPONS; NON-LETHAL WEAPONS; COINTELPRO; ANDany other unacknowledged or as yet undeveloped means inflicting death or injury on, or damaging or destroying, a person (or the biological life, bodily health, mental health, or physical and economic well-being of a person) through the use of land-based, sea-based, or space-based systems using radiation, electromagnetic, psychotronic, sonic, laser, or other energies directed at individual persons or targeted populations or the purpose of information war, mood management, or mind control of such persons or populations.Please help to ban abuses and tortures of above-mentioned weapons.
Yours Sincerely,
Soleilmavis
peacepink.ning.com

"Mailtem" members of THE WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN AGAINST the (secret) Abuse and Torture That Uses Mind Control, Directed Energy Weapons and Manipulation Weapons on Every Living Being.
peacepink.ning.com/forum/to...m-members

1.

This petition ends on Dec 31.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

"electrostatic projection of speech directly into the human brain"

♥ღSunnely ۞☆ƸӜƷ — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:47:38 GMT

I wonder what happend with THIS invention ; )
note - this was presented 1931....

"electrostatic projection of speech directly into the human brain"

.

See pictures directly from the magazine here:
Modern Mechanix, article from Jul 1931
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2009/04/19/science-finds-amazing-new-uses-for-sound/

Science Finds Amazing New Uses for Sound

by DR. SERGIUS P. GRACE

Assistant to Vice President, Bell Telephone Laboratories
As told to J. EARLE MILLER

Thanks to astounding discoveries made recently in the field of sound, you will soon be able to talk around the world,
deaf mutes will hear, and communication in battle areas will be revolutionized.
The amazing inventions which make such feats possible are described in this article.

IN A recent lecture on the new marvels being developed in the Bell Laboratories
I placed my finger against the ear of one of the members of the audience,
and he “heard” music and speech, though not a sound was audible on the stage.

That was electrostatic projection of speech directly into the human brain.

The speech had been transformed into high voltage electric current, passed through my body,
while the ear drum and surrounding tissue of the subject acted as one plate of a condenser receiver.

Just a laboratory experiment, so far, yet it is one of many new discoveries that are opening new leads
into the field of hearing, helping improve devices for the transmission of sound,
and bringing hearing back to the deaf.

It is quite possible, as some research workers have suggested,
==>> that science may make it practical to “hear” without using the ear drum at all.

Hearing, it has been discovered, is partly an electrical manifestation
in which a minute current is generated in the auditory nerve.

At Princeton University not long ago electrical contacts were established to the auditory nerve and brain of a cat,
the minute current in the nerve amplified through radio tubes, and words spoken into the ear of the living cat in one room
were reproduced through loud speakers in another.

At Bell Laboratories we not only have developed special apparatus to make it easier for deaf people to use the telephone,
but we have also created several portable outfits, known as audiphones,
which help these unfortunate ones to join again in conversation with their friends.

Few people realize that there is a definite upper limit to the loudness that the ear can stand,
so that extreme cases of deafness are beyond the aid of even the most potent amplifier.

Under the guidance of Dr. Harvey Fletcher we have developed the audiometer, an instrument to measure hearing.
It shows conclusively that no two cases of deafness are quite alike,
and that hearing-aid that proves successful for one person may be quite unsuited for another.
Dr. Fletcher has developed a simple method in which some one reads off lists of words,
at a distance of three feet from the pick-up device.

One list contains fifty words such as “bat, bite, boot, beat” in which the vowel is different for each;
the other has fifty words in which the consonant differs such as “by, high, thy, guy, why”.
After making this test with several hearing aids, and scoring errors in the consonants twice as heavily as in the vowels,
the user can decide which device best suits his particular kind of deafness.

The projection of speech direct into the brain is only one of the fantastic marvels of recent years.

Every day the air is filled with trans-oceanic radio telephone messages, winging their way between New York and Europe,
South America, Australia and South Africa.

From any telephone in the United States you can call any telephone subscriber in those far flung quarters of the globe,
but when you talk no eavesdropper can listen in.

Far down in lower New York your voice passes through a speech inverter mechanism
which turns it into a new language, unintelligible to the ear.

With patient practice one can learn some of the inverted words, but many are sounds which the human larynx cannot master.

The speech inverter is quite simple in theory.

Normal telephone speech falls between vibrations of 100 cycles up to 2,900 cycles.
When the speech is inverted, for every vibration is substituted a new one whose frequency is equal to some selected constant frequency, less the frequency of the original sound.

We use 3,000 cycles for the constant frequency, and a deep bass note of 100 cycles
is thus transformed into a high soprano of 2,900 cycles,
while the high notes are inverted to deep bass.
The result is much like passing light through a camera lens, which inverts the image,
so the top of the picture is focused on the bottom of the film in the camera, and the bottom of the image appears at the top.

At the other end of the trans-oceanic radio phone circuits similar inverters reverse the process,
and the party at the other end hears normal speech.

If there is another war the speech inverter may revolutionize the secrecy problem,
not only in radio conversations, but on the telephone lines at the front.
For, by simply changing the cycle according to a pre-determined arrangement,
the enemy would be unable to pick up and translate the messages, even with a similar machine.

Learning to speak a few words of the inverted language, so you can talk into a microphone
and have them come out of the inverter changed into intelligible English, is an interesting experiment.

If, for example, you can say “Cyaneon Playafeen Acecilofin” into the transmitter,
the inverting apparatus will repeat back “Illinois Telephone Association”.

There are always portions of the sounds that no human throat can master.
Such a simple word as company, for example, becomes crink-a-nope.

Speaking of possible war uses of new sound apparatus, the “talking light”,
one of the most interesting things still in the laboratory experimental stage,
offers an opportunity to develop secret wireless communication from the front lines to the rear.

The talking light is an electric arc in which the flame acts as a loud speaker,
and can be made to speak with almost the volume of a good dynamic speaker.
The principle behind the phenomenon was discovered by the inventor of the telephone,
Alexander Graham Bell, and Hammond V. Hayes,
one of the early Bell System engineers. They found that speech could be transmitted by a beam of light,
and also that when a telephone transmitter was connected across the terminals of an electric arc between carbon rods
the flaming arc would reproduce the words spoken into the transmitter.
At the same time beams of light were sent out which could be used to transmit speech several miles.

We have found that the light not only talks, but that it is modulated by the voice current
just as the glow of a neon lamp is modulated by the signals reaching a television receiver.

It is possible by using photoelectric cells to pick up the beam of modulated light to reproduce it directly
at a distant point as spoken words.
Such a system would be the last word in directional wireless,
for no one could listen in save by inserting a photoelectric tube in the beam,
and with the latter directed from the front lines toward the rear, the enemy could not eavesdrop.

Audiences listening to some of my talks on our work at the Bell Laboratories have been mystified by the fact that,
though I am constantly walking about the stage, and no microphone is in sight, my voice reaches them,
greatly amplified, through public address loud speakers.

The secret is a tiny microphone, no larger than a quarter, hidden in the breast pocket of my coat,
and connected to a trailing wire passing down to the floor inside my clothing.
Originally a development of an improved transmitter for telephone operator,
the device is now serving in a totally different field.

Another use for small and extremely sensitive microphones is in guarding the vaults of the Federal Reserve
and many other banks.

Tiny microphones are set in the vault walls, and they are so sensitive that a hand tapping against the vault will set them off,
while they are so adjusted that they remain insensitive to footsetps passing near, to trucks in the street, and to the rumbling subway trains.

A very clever electrical engineer might possibly locate one of the circuits, and, after study,
determine just the right amount of resistance
to put into the line and so circumvent the microphones while bank robbers could work.
So, to guard against that bare chance, the watch service officers are provided,
with a device by which, at frequent intervals, they can sweep through a whole cycle of resistance changes
and determine whether any one has been tampering with the circuit.
The cleverest bank robber doesn’t have a chance with this system.

Another laboratory experiment which always fascinates the public is the speech delay mechanism, which, in one form,
is just a clever amusement device, and, in another, is an important part of the trans-oceanic radio telephone system.
With a long coil spring connected to a telephone transmitter at one side of the stage
it is possible to so delay the movement of the voice vibrations
along the wire that you can speak in one end and hear the words come out the other quite a bit later.
That’s more or less a me-chanical affair, the shape of the coiled spring actually delaying the movement of the waves.

But down in lower New York every message passing through on the radio-telephone circuits is delayed for a couple of hundredths of a second by electrical means.

The trans-Atlantic wireless-telephone service can work in only one direction at a time,
because the sending and receiving stations are tuned to the same wave-length.

A voice current going to Europe is picked up also by the American receiver,
and unless the wire line between receiver and transmitter is blocked,
the signal would “loop the loop”, causing the circuit to howl.
If you are talking from New York to London you control the circuit so long as your voice continues.
When you stop, relays must work to reverse the channel, so the person at the other end can answer.

Your voice, as electrical impulses, travels with the speed of light, while the relays, being mechanical,
must have a fraction of a second to work.
That’s where the speech-delay apparatus comes in. The man in London may start talking instantly,
but the apparatus will store up his voice in London for an instant while the relays are doing their work.

While primarily concerned with the development of the telephone, we are constantly contributing to many other fields.

One of the most recent developments was the eliminating of the last disturbing sound from talking picture films.
In the early days of sound recording on movie film there were many outside noises.
Eventually they were eliminated one by one, until finally only a swishing sound remained.
By changing the mechanism of the light valve at the recording end it is now possible to eliminate this last noise, and a remarkable change in talking pictures was the result.

Research in the recording of talking picture sounds on wax discs also has resulted in a marked improvement in reproduction.

We have gone back to Edison’s original method, as used on the old-time cylinder records.
He utilized what is known as “hill and dale” recording, the cutting stylus engraving a line of varying depth,
instead of the waving,
side to side method which Berliner developed with the first disc records.
The hill and dale method was not a success because of the limitations of the acoustical method of recording.

In following the wavy line on present day records,
the reproducing needle is thrown back and forth from side to side of the groove,
and does not follow accurately the path traced by the cutting stylus. By reverting to the hill and dale method,
and using a permanent needle in the form of a sapphire point, our engineers have attained practically perfect reproduction.

The reproducing mechanism itself is a marvel of lightness,
weighing so little that the playing life of records is extended indefinitely.
We have records which have been played a thousand times without appreciable wear.

Besides contributing to such widely separate fields as better hearing and the talking pictures,
our staff also is assisting in the research designed to isolate the cause of cancer, and in other biological fields.

This is an offshoot of our investigation into the crystalline structure of metals and alloys,
a subject of great importance in the manufacture of telephone apparatus.

Francis F. Lucas, with his photo-micrographic equipment
which utilizes ultra-violet light and magnifies as much as 5,000 diameters,
has been able to explain many obscure things about why metals harden under heat treatment, and why they crack in service.

Applying his technique in the field of biology, he has been able to take pictures of living cells without the use of stains,
which might damage or change their structure. He is able to take photographs of successive layers right through the cell,
at intervals of one one-hundred thousandth of an inch. In other words, if the cell is one-thousandth of an inch thick
he can get one hundred photographs showing its structure at as many layers.

Pictures taken of the surface of brain tissue have shown such startling things
that plans are being considered for improved apparatus
by which a “map” of a section of brain may be made, just as aerial photographic maps
are made by assembling large numbers of photographs taken at appropriate intervals.

If the full power of Dr. Lucas’ equipment were utilized, a map of a section of brain only one-fourth of an inch square
could be made with an enlargement to more than 104 feet square.
Of course, a larger area would first be photographed in smaller detail,
and then special sections selected for further magnification and study.

There is no apparent connection between our work and study of cells,
but the photo-micrographic equipment has already contributed toward
one of the major improvements in telephonic communication,
an improvement which is saving at least $10,000,000 worth of lead per year in making telephone cables.

Lead hardened with antimony has been been used for cable sheaths,
but they had an annoying habit of breaking down after a few years of use.
Dr. Lucas discovered by micro-photographs that the antimony after a certain period disassociated itself from the lead.
As a result of that discovery a new mixture was found, one so much stronger that a thinner,
lighter lead covering could be used, and the result was an enormous saving in lead.
His studies of all the metals and alloys which go into telephone equipment manufacture
also have contributed to general improvements in many lines.

Another field to which the telephone industry has contributed, is the improvement of radio broacasting.
Crystals to control the frequency of a broadcasting station and keep it on its exact wave length
have been developed, and so successfully that two stations in Iowa, under the same management,
are broadcasting all the time on the same wave length, instead of giving only half time service as would be necessary if they shared the wave.

.
. .

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

mirror neurons

blue-j — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:19:10 GMT

so, what do you know? i am curious if any research talk about mirror neurons as mirroring not only motor movements, but affective states and other behavioral components. last i checked, they seemed mainly motor related.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 8 replies

the neurobiology of choice making

blue-j — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:22:53 GMT

free will is of course the most debated topic in philosophical history, so they say, but neuroscience and psychological research on decision-making are putting libertarians in a tighter and tighter corner. even if we follow libet's logic that there are 100 ms for conscious awareness to exercise a "free won't" veto of unconscious impulses, what determines the conscious veto? alas, there appears to be no place to go outside of the causal stream to make a choice from, and even the magic pixie dust of quantum mechanics doesn't appear to provide free will -- just indeterminacy.

anyone want to discuss the free will issue, yet again? i just read libet's "mind time" and am finishing up wegner's "illusion of conscious will" and have been quite affected.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 28 replies

new tribe - brains....

Fifi — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:53:42 GMT

Who doesn't need more tasty, tasty brains and cerebral nourishment to feed their hunger to understand ourselves and how our wacky cognitive systems work (and don't!)? In the spirit of offering more flavors of brain talk, I've started a tribe where vigorous discussion about brain science, neurobiology, psychology, psychiatry, cognitive science and how our brains work is encouraged. It's not intended to compete with this tribe, merely be a different flavor for those of us who enjoy a more vigorous environment.

tribes.tribe.net/braingeeks

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

fibromyalgia ?? debilitating diagnosis

docktour_dummy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:57:33 GMT

have a friend suffering from this...and would like to know who is doing research in this area...is nutrition a possible solution to alleviate symptoms ??

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 3 replies

Prenatal Neuroimaging

Ulita-Ass — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:43:47 GMT

Can this be done?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

Inexpensive neurofeedback?

TechnoPagan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:12:45 GMT

Has anyone here seen this? Could this be used as a low cost way to get started with neurofeedback?

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-neural_impulse_actuator

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

neuroplasticity and remapping

inchoate — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:50:49 GMT

I've read about the blind having their vision remapped through their tongues, which is amazing. I'm wondering if I could remap other parts of my body through my tongue, or say a finger or something. Could I make myself feel like I'm scratching my foot when I scratch my nose?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 11 replies

two really good links. (An IEET video and a doctoral paper by JJ Hughes)

Jared34 — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 02:50:55 GMT

the over anticipation of reward and the prefrontal cortex

mind uploading rabble:
http://www.changesurfer.com/Hlth/BD/Brain.html#RTFToC3

hmm any ideas on the evolution of the prefrontal cortex? The anticipation of future reward seems as if it could be closely associated with imagination as a whole. (but that is just my imagination talking ;)

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 5 replies

accurate or deluded perception

Ulita-Ass — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:25:02 GMT

Can neuroscience differentiate between accurate and inaccurate perceptions at the level of brain activity?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 4 replies

Psychiatry Kills

in-PHI-net — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:18:44 GMT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q7dQufOaqcU

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 9 replies

great brain site

blue-j — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:07:08 GMT

this one is deeper than it looks. great resource!

http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/index_a.html

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Lakulish Yogasan Championships 2008: Feb. 22; 23; & 24th, - City of Surat, Gujarat State, India

Dennis — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 12:36:34 GMT

For details and application forms, please refer to: http://www.lifemission.org/ and under "New" go to item #4 and click on "World Open Yogasan Championships".

Please note, to optimize your India trip and your experience of Lakulish Yoga you could attend or participate in the Yogasan Championships and also take in the 3 week Certificate Yoga Training Course being offered at Swami Rajarshi Muni's Malav Ashram from January 30 -February 20th. For details on the training go to http://www.lifemission.org/ and under "New" click on item # 5 " "Overseas Students Annual Yoga Certificate Training Program"

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

Brain Integration

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:45:40 GMT

Brain Integration Therapy (BIT) incorporates performing specific tasks which are difficult for an individual, followed by "repatterning" techniques which stimulate the neurological connections within the brain and facilitate whole brain learning. "Repatterning" really means "retraining" the brain to more efficiently use both sides to perform tasks, rather than limiting itself to using only one hemisphere at a time. Neurologists have discovered that we can use the body to "repattern" or retrain the brain to change inefficient pathways into more efficient ones. This process which was created by neurologists, has been used very successfully for the past twenty years. The "repatterning" occurs through the use of simple exercises and stretches along with eye accessing (looking in a particular direction) and muscle sensing as feedback to anchor the changes the brain and body are making as information is being processed in a new way.

The knowledge of the connection between the brain and the body has been well documented. Medical Doctors Glen and Robert Doleman and Carl Delacato introduced a technique called "patterning" which consisted of exercises replicating the crawling movements of a baby to help students with head injuries and other severe neurological dysfunctions.

Dr Paul Dennison, an education specialist, incorporated research from many other fields to further explore the mind/body connection. His work resulted in exercises and techniques known as Brain Gyms®. He developed what is termed "Laterality Repatterning." For more information about Brain Gyms® visit their website at Brain Gym - Education Kinesiology Foundation.

Dr Jean Ayers an Occupational Therapist developed a general theory of sensory integration and treatment from studies in the neurosciences and those pertaining to physical development and neuromuscular function. This treatment focuses primarily on the tactile, vestibular and proprioceptive systems of the body. For more information about sensory integration read an article at Autism.org/si.html.

http://www.compwellness.net/eGuide/brainint.htm

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 3 replies

bioneurofeedback: la creme de la creme

Mysterese — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 23:11:29 GMT

www.biocybernaut.com

Future Applications Index
Mood Maps
Virtual Reality Implications

Individual and Cultural Implications of Brain Activity
Mapping and Training
James V. Hardt, Ph.D.

"Feedback changes any system to which it is added. From engineering we know that adding feedback to a mechanical or electronic system endows the system with new and often surprising properties. When American culture received the first televised feedback from the cultural activity known as war [Vietnam, 1970s], the culture was rapidly changed by that feedback in ways that surprised the government.

When individuals receive Brain Activity Feedback, they can change in ways which give them greater objectivity, increased self-honesty, greater self-responsibility, more choices, and a degree of freedom from cultural conditioning, all of which changes can have surprising consequences, and beneficial consequences. With appropriate Brain Activity Training, individuals can improve their skills and their abilities, and they can learn both how to have new desirable experiences [happiness, vigor, contentment] and how to stop having undesirable old experiences [like anxiety, depression, paranoia].

Indeed, people can learn how to change the core dimensions of their personality, by changing their brain activity, just as a computer's basic characteristics can be changed by loading a new operating system. By changing their brain activity, people can change their behavioral characteristics and they can learn how to regulate almost any process in their minds and their bodies. An individual with such a range of capabilities is far outside the range of the cultural norms.

The appearance of such individuals, even in small numbers, will have an enormous impact on established cultural values and cultural institutions, and will rapidly redefine our cultural beliefs about what is possible and desirable, and what is normal. A culture of consciously self-regulating individuals will bear little resemblance to any culture as we know it, and it is beyond our current abilities to fully imagine.

We know from physics that harmonic oscillators brought into resonance will exhibit "emergent properties", which are new properties which cannot be observed or inferred by study of the individual oscillators. As the oscillations in different regions of a person's brain are aided by feedback in coming into resonance, there will be emergent properties of mind. As brain scientists who are using this powerful new tool of brain activity feedback, we must prepare to accept as real, to carefully study, and to communicate to our culture about these emergent properties, these paranormal abilities which we will be assisting our trainees to develop. And beyond the individual paranormal mind skills, there will also be new collective mind abilities.
..."

Dr. James Hardt
www.Biocybernaut.com

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 5 replies

luke's binoculars

blue-j — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 04:13:49 GMT

DARPA in the US has developed new binocs for US soldiers that actually plug into the frontal cortex to read pre-conscious threat signals and alert the soldier BEFORE conscious awareness takes place.

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2007/05/binoculars

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

JESUS CHRIST+JESU KRISTE+YESHUA HAMASHIACH+JESUS CHRISTUS+JESU KRISTU+ISOUS HRISTOS

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 06:59:14 GMT

JESUS CHRIST+JESU KRISTE+YESHUA HAMASHIACH+JESUS CHRISTUS+JESU KRISTU+ISOUS HRISTOS

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophesy and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. REVELATION 1:3

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." REVELATION 11:3

He who testifies to these things says, " Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. REVELATION 22:20-21

+++

Everyone, has the responsibility to find the truth for themselves. What is stated below, must be researched and verified, so that every individual can then decide to accept, or discard it as myth. The only truth is God the Father, the Son our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Read the Bible, pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance and our Lord Jesus Christ will not abandon you, but will place the truth in your heart.

+++

We must not try to copy the world, but be different to it, as the example set by our Teacher, our Lord Jesus Christ. Being the same as the world, sharing its base values, being part of the fashion trends, is all part of Satan's system (Sex changes that are taking place ever more frequently and therefore not knowing anymore who is a man or a woman). The Pope of Rome is one of Satan's instruments (the Papists have immense power and wealth, our Lord Jesus Christ was humble and owned nothing). Talmudists/Zionists want to rebuild Solomon's Temple and proclaim their own false king of the world (there is only one King of the Jews and Orthodox Christians and that is our Lord Jesus Christ). Their power base is the U.S.A (Superpower of the world). They contol many governments, banks, newspapers, television stations (the media in general), etc. We must not forget the very elusive and cunning Masonic Lodges which form part of Satan's means to spread anti-Christian and heretic information. Television and video has been one of the most powerful tools of Satan, which has ruined the ethics which sustained our youth and the family unit. With pornography in all its forms, men have been misled and subsequently their women, a whole generation of our youth and their families have been devoured by Satan. We have forgotten about God, the Bible and prayer and have allowed ourselves to go down the road to hell and have fallen into Satan's trap (in other words we are slaves to flesh and our desires). Hedonism is the aim of humanity.

The group that is attempting to rule the world, consists of three member countries, U.S.A, Europe and Japan (3 presidents). Their central control, consists of 32 members (of the 29, 8 are Americans; 9 from Japan; 12 from the European Union (contolled from Belgium/Luxembourg). Head of the 3 member group is Rockefeller (his head quaters is in Rhodes, Greece; his specific influence is in the U.S.A and E.U). Whoever does not obey the orders of this group are murdered. Death is the penalty for disobedience. Another Satanic "club" is called, Bildeberg. They can destroy any government and put a new one together again. They can make a country vanish and create a new one too. 200 members, which include intelligence agencies (CIA; BIA; BND (Ger.); SIB (Ital.); SPELA (Fra.)). There are members who are involved with NATO and hold important positions in the US administration, etc. They hold an extremely harsh stance against the East, especially with Russia because of its Christian Orthodox heritage. They exterminate/demolish any opposition.

An enemy going back thousands of years is head quatered in China (the Himalayas/Tibet). The Seljuks come from that region, who are the ancestors of the Turks, who attacked and oppressed Christian Orthodoxy in Asia Minor and Greece. The Turks/Jews have tried many times to wipe out the Greeks and Christian Orthodoxy. They call the Greeks and Christian Orthodoxy, the people of the "Blue Trigramaton" (which is refering to the Holy Light that emenates from our Lord Jesus Christ's tomb). The roots of martial arts is that region spoken of above. Martial arts are Satanic and anti-Christian and yet has our youth spellbound under the innocent guise of sport/fitness. In the Himalayas there is a glass pyramid (Sambala), it has many entrances. This is where the White Brotherhood is based. It's aim is to destroy all the world's religions except its own. It has more power than the U.S.A. It has more resources at its disposal than all the governments in the world. It has infiltrated and controls many governments and religions (Roman Catholics, Protestants and Judaism). The First and Second World Wars were masterminded by them. They are going to start the Third World War too. The White Brotherhood works with the Bildeberg club and all the others. They are assisted by the Zionists. They created Hitler and introduced the Swastika (broken cross, that is what it means). Hirohito of Japan was responsible for a massive bloodbath, but he was not punished like the others, after the Second World War because he was a member of the world ruling 3 member group mentioned above. Grey Wolves (Turkish Muslims), are connected to the White Brotherhood. Only Grey Wolves members may rule Turkey. They must always mantain a harsh stance against Greece/Christian Orthodoxy (Turgut Ozal, was exterminated for his softer stance).

The White Brotherhood want to destroy the followers of Jesus Christ. They call His followers, bipods or two-legged ones. Their methods are many: thirst, hunger on a worldwide scale. All plants and forests must be destroyed. Wars, so as to ensure maximum slaughter. They refer to humanity as a chicken breeding farm. They destroy humanity with drugs; they have contaminated our drinking water (it has been doctored with medication); our food is also contaminated and our clothes too from the fancy washing powders that we use (that is why everyone is getting ill and they don't know why). Thirst on a worldwide scale, for eg.. Euphrates to be dried up because of Turkey, which will lead to a confrontation with Iran/Syria. Hunger, for eg., Russia was the world's wheat provider, even the U.S.A relied on her. The White Brotherhood ensured that Russia would starve. In Moscow young women give themselves for a plate of food. Homosexuality, the U.S.A being its banner. One can go on and on, but there will be no end then. It is devestating. But do not despair, if you are a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ because He has defeated Satan and the world.

(This is a summarized version and a translation of a tape recording in Greek, from a Greek Orthodox perspective ofcourse, given to me by a Monk at Calvary/Golgotha in Jerusalem, Christmas, 2001. I cannot divulge any names, nor my own because this is a very dangerous subject. You will have to verify the truthfullness of the matter yourself. Please excuse my errors of spelling or other. May God forgive me if I am wrong about any of this, but I do it with honest intentions. God bless you. From a humble follower of our Lord Jesus Christ.)

+++

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." JOHN 16:33

+++

"LORD JESUS CHRIST, HAVE MERCY ON ME."

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

5-HTP?

moonmom — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:40:59 GMT

Does anyone have any experience with this? So far it makes me woozy at small doses, and trip at high doses. Will I become used to it? Will it actually boost serratonin?
Who has had success? And how long did it take to kick in?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 8 replies

neurological reading suggestions

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:29:35 GMT

i have always been interested in neurology but almost everything i've read about the subject has been theory, does anyone have suggestions for book titles on the actual science of neurology for someone just starting the delve into the subject?

much appreciated!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 3 replies

Debate Over Children and Psychiatric Drugs

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:49:05 GMT

I'm fascinated by all the issues surrounding the article linked below. A four (four!) year old girl died last week as the result of the medication she was on for bipolar disorder. She had been treated since she was *two years old* for bipolar disorder and ADHD. WTF?! For one thing, how the hell does a two year old get diagnosed with bipolar or ADHD. For another, how can anyone justify giving a child that age the kinds of (incredibly strong) medications that she was given?

Check it out: (I included the link to boston.com in case the NYtimes won't let you read the article)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/us/15bipolar.html?ex=1172293200&en=e795c1bf36e9f038&ei=5070

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/02/07/girl_fed_fatal_overdoses_court_told/

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 17 replies

This way to the rabbit hole!

Sun, 06 May 2007 19:55:12 GMT

http://thecompletefloweroflife.blogspot.com/

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

on alexithymia

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:10:08 GMT

Has anyone here come across the condition - alexithymia?

I have read numeorus articles,ranging from psychiatry to philosophy to psychoanalysis, and still there is no conclusive etiology
That makes me more confused. Right now, the website that I rely on which offers clear explanation has got to be alexithymia.supanet.com

I'm taking biopsychology, and wishes to know if anyone has any take on the neurobiology roots of this condition.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

IMPORTANT! Born again BRAINWASHES

♥ღSunnely ۞☆ƸӜƷ — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 04:19:13 GMT

TIME TO WAKE UP NOW!!

PLEASE POST THIS IN OTHER THREADS, EMAIL IT TO YOUR FRIENDS ALL OVER THE PLACE, EVERYWHERE - OR POST IN YOUR BLOG TO HELP SET PEOPLE FREE FROM CULTS AND POWERSEEKING ORGANISATIONS.. Its time that we all see through the techniques ----> how to brainwash people, and that we take control of our minds and our lives.. especially in these times..

No matter of religion or cultural belonging, NOR political - still, we have a right to KNOW what is a tool in our BRAIN, for others - that are aware of this technique, to use to manipulate us.. (I have myself been a tool in the hands of people trying to own me and brake down my own will..)

Peace and Love to all!

Read it ALL through - VERY IMPORTANT!!
For YOUR sake, your future, your LIFE..

Copied from:
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/fundamentalistbrainwashing06jun05.shtml

How Revivalist Preachers Work
(But it is not all about THEM so keep on reading PLEASE)

If you'd like to see a revivalist preacher at work, there are probably several in your city. Go to the church or tent early and sit in the rear, about three-quarters of the way back.

Most likely repetitive music will be played while the people come in for the service. A repetitive beat, ideally ranging from 45 to 72 beats per minute (a rhythm close to the beat of the human heart), is very hypnotic and can generate an eyes-open altered state of consciousness in a very high percentage of people.

And, once you are in an alpha state, you are at least 25 times as suggestible as you would be in full beta consciousness. The music is probably the same for every service, or incorporates the same beat, and many of the people will go into an altered state almost immediately upon entering the sanctuary. Subconsciously, they recall their state of mind from previous services and respond according to the post-hypnotic programming.

Watch the people waiting for the service to begin. Many will exhibit external signs of trance--body relaxation and slightly dilated eyes. Often, they begin swaying back and forth with their hands in the air while sitting in their chairs. Next, the assistant pastor will probably come out. He usually speaks with a pretty good "voice roll."

The "Voice Roll" Technique

A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by hypnotists when inducing a trance. It is also used by many lawyers, several of whom are highly trained hypnotists, when they desire to entrench a point firmly in the minds of the jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the speaker were talking to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he were emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style. The words will usually be delivered at the rate of 45 to 60 beats per minute, maximizing the hypnotic effect.

The Build-up Process: Inducing Altered States

Now the assistant pastor begins the "build-up" process. He induces an altered state of consciousness and/or begins to generate the excitement and the expectations of the audience. Next, a group of young women in "sweet and pure" chiffon dresses might come out to sing a song. Gospel songs are great for building excitement and involvement. In the middle of the song, one of the girls might be "smitten by the spirit" and fall down or react as if possessed by the Holy Spirit. This very effectively increases the intensity in the room. At this point, hypnosis and conversion tactics are being mixed. And the result is the audience's attention span is now totally focused upon the communication while the environment becomes more exciting or tense.

Assured Continuation: Fleecing the Flock

Right about this time, when an eyes-open mass-induced alpha mental state has been achieved, they will usually pass the collection plate or basket. In the background, a 45-beat-per-minute voice roll from the assistant preacher might exhort, "Give to God...Give to God...Give to God...." And the audience does give. God may not get the money, but his already-wealthy representative will.

Bonding by Fear and Suggestion

Next, the fire-and-brimstone preacher will come out. He induces fear and increases the tension by talking about "the devil," "going to hell," or the forthcoming Armegeddon.

In the last such rally I attended, the preacher talked about the blood that would soon be running out of every faucet in the land. He was also obsessed with a "bloody axe of God," which everyone had seen hanging above the pulpit the previous week. I have no doubt that everyone saw it--the power of suggestion given to hundreds of people in hypnosis assures that at least 10 to 25 percent would see whatever he suggested they see.

Testimony: Creating Community Spirit

In most revivalist gatherings, "testifying" or "witnessing" usually follows the fear-based sermon. People from the audience come up on stage and relate their stories. "I was crippled and now I can walk!" "I had arthritis and now it's gone!" It is a psychological manipulation that works. After listening to numerous case histories of miraculous healings, the average guy in the audience with a minor problem is sure he can be healed. The room is charged with fear, guilt, intense excitement, and expectations.

Miracles

Now those who want to be healed are frequently lined up around the edge of the room, or they are told to come down to the front. The preacher might touch them on the head firmly and scream, "Be healed!" This releases the psychic energy and, for many, catharsis results. Catharsis is a purging of repressed emotions. Individuals might cry, fall down or even go into spasms. And if catharsis is effected, they stand a chance of being healed. In catharsis (one of the three brain phases mentioned earlier), the brain-slate is temporarily wiped clean and the new suggestion is accepted.

For some, the healing may be permanent. For many, it will last four days to a week, which is, incidentally, how long a hypnotic suggestion given to a somnambulistic subject will usually last. Even if the healing doesn't last, if they come back every week, the power of suggestion may continually override the problem...or sometimes, sadly, it can mask a physical problem which could prove to be very detrimental to the individual in the long run.

The Grey Area of Legitimacy

I'm not saying that legitimate healings do not take place. They do. Maybe the individual was ready to let go of the negativity that caused the problem in the first place; maybe it was the work of God. Yet I contend that it can be explained with existing knowledge of brain/mind function.

A Game in Which the Rules Keep Changing

The techniques and staging will vary from church to church. Many use "speaking in tongues" to generate catharsis in some while the spectacle creates intense excitement in the observers.

The use of hypnotic techniques by religions is sophisticated, and professionals are assuring that they become even more effective. A man in Los Angeles is designing, building, and reworking a lot of churches around the country. He tells ministers what they need and how to use it. This man's track record indicates that the congregation and the monetary income will double if the minister follows his instructions. He admits that about 80 percent of his efforts are in the sound system and lighting.

Powerful sound and the proper use of lighting are of primary importance in inducing an altered state of consciousnes--I've been using them for years in my own seminars. However, my participants are fully aware of the process and what they can expect as a result of their participation.

Six Conversion Techniques

Cults and human-potential organizations are always looking for new converts. To attain them, they must also create a brain-phase. And they often need to do it within a short space of time--a weekend, or maybe even a day. The following are the six primary techniques used to generate the conversion.

Isolation Intimidation, Deprivation and Indoctrination

The meeting or training takes place in an area where participants are cut off from the outside world. This may be any place: a private home, a remote or rural setting, or even a hotel ballroom where the participants are allowed only limited bathroom usage. In human-potential trainings, the controllers will give a lengthy talk about the importance of "keeping agreements" in life.

The participants are told that if they don't keep agreements, their life will never work. It's a good idea to keep agreements, but the controllers are subverting a positive human value for selfish purposes. The participants vow to themselves and their trainer that they will keep their agreements. Anyone who does not will be intimidated into agreement or forced to leave. The next step is to agree to complete training, thus assuring a high percentage of conversions for the organizations.

They will usually have to agree not to take drugs, smoke, and sometimes not to eat...or they are given such short meal breaks that it creates tension. The real reason for the agreements is to alter internal chemistry, which generates anxiety and hopefully causes at least a slight malfunction of the nervous system, which in turn increases the conversion potential.

The "Sell It By Zealot" Technique

Before the gathering is complete, the agreements will be used to ensure that the new converts go out and find new participants. They are intimidated into agreeing to do so before they leave. Since the importance of keeping agreements is so high on their priority list, the converts will twist the arms of everyone they know, attempting to talk them into attending a free introductory session offered at a future date by the organization. The new converts are zealots. In fact, the inside term for merchandising the largest and most successful human-potential training is, "sell it by zealot!"

At least a million people are graduates and a good percentage have been left with a mental activation button that assures their future loyalty and assistance if the guru figure or organization calls. Think about the potential political implications of hundreds of thousands of zealots programmed to campaign for their guru.

Be wary of an organization of this type that offers follow-up sessions after the seminar. Follow-up sessions might be weekly meetings or inexpensive seminars given on a regular basis which the organization will attempt to talk you into taking--or any regularly scheduled event used to maintain control. As the early Christian revivalists found, long-term control is dependent upon a good follow-up system.

Wearing Down Resistance

Alright. Now, let's look at the second tip-off that indicates conversion tactics are being used. A schedule is maintained that causes physical and mental fatigue. This is primarily accomplished by long hours in which the participants are given no opportunity for relaxation or reflection.

Increasing Tension

The third tip-off: techniques used to increase the tension in the room or environment.

Introducing Uncertainty About Identity

Number four: Uncertainty. I could spend hours relating various techniques to increase tension and generate uncertainty. Basically, the participants are concerned about being "put on the spot" or encountered by the trainers, guilt feelings are played upon, participants are tempted to verbally relate their innermost secrets to the other participants or forced to take part in activities that emphasize removing their masks. One of the most successful human-potential seminars forces the participants to stand on a stage in front of the entire audience while being verbally attacked by the trainers. A public opinion poll, conducted a few years ago, showed that the number one most-fearful situation an individual could encounter is to speak to an audience. It ranked above window washing outside the 85th floor of an office building.

So you can imagine the fear and tension this situation generates within the participants. Many faint, but most cope with the stress by mentally going away. They literally go into an alpha state, which automatically makes them many times as suggestible as they normally are. And another loop of the downward spiral into conversion is successfully effected.

Jargon

The fifth clue that conversion tactics are being used is the introduction of jargon--new terms that have meaning only to the "insiders" who participate. Vicious language is also frequently used, purposely, to make participants uncomfortable.

Lack of Humor: No Release, No Resistance

The final tip-off is that there is no humor in the communications...at least until the participants are converted. Then, merry-making and humor are highly desirable as symbols of the new joy the participants have supposedly "found."

Not Always a Bad Thing

I'm not saying that good does not result from participation in such gatherings. It can and does. But I contend it is important for people to know what has happened and to be aware that continual involvement may not be in their best interest.

Over the years, I've conducted professional seminars to teach people to be hypnotists, trainers, and counselors. I've had many of those who conduct trainings and rallies come to me and say, "I'm here because I know that what I'm doing works, but I don't know why." After showing them how and why, many have gotten out of the business or have decided to approach it differently or in a much more loving and supportive manner.

Many of these trainers have become personal friends, and it scares us all to have experienced the power of one person with a microphone and a room full of people. Add a little charisma and you can count on a high percentage of conversions. The sad truth is that a high percentage of people want to give away their power--they are true "believers"!

Cults: A Captive Course in Stockholm Syndrome

Cult gatherings or human-potential trainings are an ideal environment to observe first-hand what is technically called the "Stockholm Syndrome." This is a situation in which those who are intimidated, controlled, or made to suffer, begin to love, admire, and even sometimes sexually desire their controllers or captors.

But let me inject a word of warning here: If you think you can attend such gatherings and not be affected, you are probably wrong. A perfect example is the case of a woman who went to Haiti on a Guggenheim Fellowship to study Haitian Voodoo. In her report, she related how the music eventually induced uncontrollable bodily movement and an altered state of consciousness. Although she understood the process and thought herself above it, when she began to feel herself become vulnerable to the music, she attempted to fight it and turned away. Anger or resistance almost always assures conversion. A few moments later she was possessed by the music and began dancing in a trance around the Voodoo meeting house. A brain phase had been induced by the music and excitement, and she awoke feeling reborn.

The Only Hope of Immunity

The only hope of attending such gatherings without being affected is to be a Buddha and allow no positive or negative emotions to surface. Few people are capable of such detachment.

The US Marines as a Brainwashing Cult

Before I go on, let's go back to the six tip-offs to conversion. I want to mention the United States Government and military boot camp. The Marine Corps talks about breaking men down before "rebuilding" them as new men--as marines! Well, that is exactly what they do, the same way a cult breaks its people down and rebuilds them as happy flower sellers on your local street corner. Every one of the six conversion techniques are used in boot camp. Considering the needs of the military, I'm not making a judgement as to whether that is good or bad. IT IS A fact that the men are effectively brainwashed. Those who won't submit must be discharged or spend much of their time in the brig.

Steps in the Decognition Process

Once the initial conversion is effected, cults, armed services, and similar groups cannot have cynicism among their members. Members must respond to commands and do as they are told, otherwise they are dangerous to the organizational control. This is normally accomplished as a three-step ˜ Decognition Process.

Alertness reduction

Step One is alertness reduction: The controllers cause the nervous system to malfunction, making it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality. This can be accomplished in several ways. poor diet is one; watch out for Brownies and Koolaid. The sugar throws the nervous system off. More subtle is the "spiritual diet" used by many cults. They eat only vegetables and fruits; without the grounding of grains, nuts, seeds, dairy products, fish or meat, an individual becomes mentally "spacey." Inadequate sleep is another primary way to reduce alertness, especially when combined with long hours of work or intense physical activity. Also, being bombarded with intense and unique experiences achieves the same result.

Programmed Confusion
Step Two is programmed confusion: You are mentally assaulted while your alertness is being reduced as in Step One. This is accomplished with a deluge of new information, lectures, discussion groups, encounters or one-to-one processing, which usually amounts to the controller bombarding the individual with questions. During this phase of decognition, reality and illusion often merge and perverted logic is likely to be accepted.

Thought Stopping
Step Three is thought stopping: Techniques are used to cause the mind to go "flat." These are altered-state-of-consciousness techniques that initially induce calmness by giving the mind something simple to deal with and focusing awareness. The continued use brings on a feeling of elation and eventually hallucination. The result is the reduction of thought and eventually, if used long enough, the cessation of all thought and withdrawal from everyone and everything except that which the controllers direct. The takeover is then complete. It is important to be aware that when members or participants are instructed to use "thought-stopping" techniques, they are told that they will benefit by so doing: they will become "better soldiers" or "find enlightenment."

Thought Stopping Techniques

Marching
There are three primary techniques used for thought stopping. The first is marching: the thump, thump, thump beat literally generates self-hypnosis and thus great susceptibility to suggestion.

Meditation
The second thought stopping technique is meditation. If you spend an hour to an hour and a half a day in meditation, after a few weeks, there is a great probability that you will not return to full beta consciousness. You will remain in a fixed state of alpha for as long as you continue to meditate. I'm not saying this is bad--if you do it yourself. It may be very beneficial. But it is a fact that you are causing your mind to go flat. I've worked with meditators on an EEG machine and the results are conclusive: the more you meditate, the flatter your mind becomes until, eventually and especially if used to excess or in combination with decognition, all thought ceases. Some spiritual groups see this as nirvana--which is bullshit. It is simply a predictable physiological result. And if heaven on earth is non-thinking and non-involvement, I really question why we are here.

Chanting
The third thought-stopping technique is chanting, and often chanting in meditation. "Speaking in tongues" could also be included in this category.

All three-stopping techniques produce an altered state of consciousness. This may be very good if you are controlling the process, for you also control the input. I personally use at least one self-hypnosis programming session every day and I know how beneficial it is for me. But you need to know if you use these techniques to the degree of remaining continually in alpha that, although you'll be very mellow, you'll also be more suggestible.

True Believers and Mass Movements
Before ending this section on conversion, I want to talk about the people who are most susceptible to it and about Mass Movements. I am convinced that at least a third of the population is what Eric Hoffer calls "true believers." They are joiners and followers...people who want to give away their power. They look for answers, meaning, and enlightenment outside themselves.

Hoffer, who wrote "The True Believer", a classic on mass movements, says, "true believers are not intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but are those craving to be rid of unwanted self. They are followers, not because of a desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy their passion for self-renunciation!" Hoffer also says that true believers "are eternally incomplete and eternally insecure"!

I know this from my own experience. In my years of communicating concepts and conducting trainings, I have run into them again and again. All I can do is attempt to show them that the only thing to seek is the True Self within. Their personal answers are to be found there and there alone. I communicate that the basics of spirituality are self-responsibility and self-actualization. But most of the true believers just tell me that I'm not spiritual and go looking for someone who will give them the dogma and structure they desire.

Never underestimate the potential danger of these people. They can easily be molded into fanatics who will gladly work and die for their holy cause. It is a substitute for their lost faith in themselves and offers them as a substitute for individual hope. The Moral Majority is made up of true believers. All cults are composed of true believers. You'll find them in politics, churches, businesses, and social cause groups. They are the fanatics in these organizations.

Mass Movements will usually have a charismatic leader. The followers want to convert others to their way of living or impose a new way of life--if necessary, by legislating laws forcing others to their view, as evidenced by the activities of the Moral Majority. This means enforcement by guns or punishment, for that is the bottomline in law enforcement.

A common hatred, enemy, or devil is essential to the success of a mass movement. The Born-Again Christians have Satan himself, but that isn't enough--they've added the occult, the New Age thinkers and, lately, all those who oppose their integration of church and politics, as evidenced in their political reelection campaigns against those who oppose their views. In revolutions, the devil is usually the ruling power or aristocracy. Some human-potential movements are far too clever to ask their graduates to join anything, thus labeling themselves as a cult--but, if you look closely, you'll find that their devil is anyone and everyone who hasn't taken their training.

There are mass movements without devils but they seldom attain major status. The True Believers are mentally unbalanced or insecure people, or those without hope or friends. People don't look for allies when they love, but they do when they hate or become obsessed with a cause. And those who desire a new life and a new order feel the old ways must be eliminated before the new order can be built.

Persuasion Techniques
Persuasion isn't technically brainwashing but it is the manipulation of the human mind by another individual, without the manipulated party being aware what caused his opinion shift. I only have time to very basically introduce you to a few of the thousands of techniques in use today, but the basis of persuasion is always to access your right brain. The left half of your brain is analytical and rational. The right side is creative and imaginative. That is overly simplified but it makes my point. So, the idea is to distract the left brain and keep it busy. Ideally, the persuader generates an eyes-open altered state of consciousness, causing you to shift from beta awareness into alpha; this can be measured on an EEG machine.

"Yes Set"
First, let me give you an example of distracting the left brain. Politicians use these powerful techniques all the time; lawyers use many variations which, I've been told, they call "tightening the noose."

Assume for a moment that you are watching a politician give a speech. First, he might generate what is called a "yes set." These are statements that will cause listeners to agree; they might even unknowingly nod their heads in agreement. Next come the truisms. These are usually facts that could be debated but, once the politician has his audience agreeing, the odds are in the politician's favor that the audience won't stop to think for themselves, thus continuing to agree. Last comes the suggestion. This is what the politician wants you to do and, since you have been agreeing all along, you could be persuaded to accept the suggestion. Now, if you'll listen closely to my political speech, you'll find that the first three are the "yes set," the next three are truisms and the last is the suggestion.

"Ladies and gentlemen: are you angry about high food prices? Are you tired of astronomical gas prices? Are you sick of out-of-control inflation? Well, you know the Other Party allowed 18 percent inflation last year; you know crime has increased 50 percent nationwide in the last 12 months, and you know your paycheck hardly covers your expenses any more. Well, the answer to resolving these problems is to elect me, John Jones, to the U.S. Senate."

Embedded Commands
And I think you've heard all that before. But you might also watch for what are called embedded commands. As an example: On key words, the speaker would make a gesture with his left hand, which research has shown is more apt to access your right brain. Today's media-oriented politicians and spellbinders are often carefully trained by a whole new breed of specialist who are using every trick in the book--both old and new--to manipulate you into accepting their candidate.

The Power of NLP
The concepts and techniques of Neuro-Linguistics [Programming] are so heavily protected that I found out the hard way that to even talk about them publicly or in print results in threatened legal action. Yet Neuro-Linguistic training is readily available to anyone willing to devote the time and pay the price. It is some of the most subtle and powerful manipulation I have yet been exposed to. A good friend who recently attended a two-week seminar on Neuro-Linguistics found that many of those she talked to during the breaks were government people.

Interspersal Technique
Another technique that I'm just learning about is unbelievably slippery; it is called an interspersal technique and the idea is to say one thing with words but plant a subconscious impression of something else in the minds of the listeners and/or watchers.

Practical Examples
Let me give you an example: Assume you are watching a television commentator make the following statement: Senator Johnson is assisting local authorities to clear up the stupid mistakes of companies contributing to the nuclear waste problems." It sounds like a statement of fact, but, if the speaker emphasizes the right word, and especially if he makes the proper hand gestures on the key words, you could be left with the subconscious impression that Senator Johnson is stupid. That was the subliminal goal of the statement and the speaker cannot be called to account for anything.

Persuasion techniques are also frequently used on a much smaller scale with just as much effectiveness. The insurance salesman knows his pitch is likely to be much more effective if he can get you to visualize something in your mind. This is right-brain communication [E.g. generates emotions]. For instance, he might pause in his conversation, look slowly around your livingroom and say, "Can you just imagine this beautiful home burning to the ground?" Of course you can! It is one of your unconscious fears and, when he forces you to visualize it, you are more likely to be manipulated into signing his insurance policy.

Shock and Confusion
The Hare Krishnas, operating in every airport, use what I call shock and confusion techniques to distract the left brain and communicate directly with the right brain. While waiting for a plane, I once watched one operate for over an hour. He had a technique of almost jumping in front of someone. Initially, his voice was loud then dropped as he made his pitch to take a book and contribute money to the cause. Usually, when people are shocked, they immediately withdraw. In this case they were shocked by the strange appearance, sudden materialization and loud voice of the Hare Krishna devotee. In other words, the people went into an alpha state for security because they didn't want to confront the reality before them.

In alpha, they were highly suggestible so they responded to the suggestion of taking the book; the moment they took the book, they felt guilty and responded to the second suggestion: give money. We are all conditioned that if someone gives us something, we have to give them something in return--in that case, it was money. While watching this hustler, I was close enough to notice that many of the people he stopped exhibited an outward sign of alpha--their eyes were actually dilated.

Subliminal Programming
Subliminals are hidden suggestions that only your subconscious perceives. They can be audio, hidden behind music, or visual, airbrushed into a picture, flashed on a screen so fast that you don't consciously see them, or cleverly incorporated into a picture or design.

Most audio subliminal reprogramming tapes offer verbal suggestions recorded at a low volume. I question the efficacy of this technique--if subliminals are not perceptible, they cannot be effective, and subliminals recorded below the audible threshold are therefore useless. The oldest audio subliminal technique uses a voice that follows the volume of the music so subliminals are impossible to detect without a parametric equalizer. But this technique is patented and, when I wanted to develop my own line of subliminal audiocassettes, negotiations with the patent holder proved to be unsatisfactory.

My attorney obtained copies of the patents which I gave to some talented Hollywood sound engineers, asking them to create a new technique. They found a way to psycho-acoustically modify and synthesize the suggestions so that they are projected in the same chord and frequency as the music, thus giving them the effect of being part of the music. But we found that in using this technique, there is no way to reduce various frequencies to detect the subliminals. In other words, although the suggestions are being heard by the subconscious mind, they cannot be monitored with even the most sophisticated equipment.

If we were able to come up with this technique as easily as we did, I can only imagine how sophisticated the technology has become, with unlimited government or advertising funding. And I shudder to think about the propaganda and commercial manipulation that we are exposed to on a daily basis. There is simply no way to know what is behind the music you hear. It may even be possible to hide a second voice behind the voice to which you are listening.

The series by Wilson Bryan Key, Ph.D., on subliminals in advertising and political campaigns well documents the misuse in many areas, especially printed advertising in newspapers, magazines, and posters.

The big question about subliminals is: do they work? And I guarantee you they do. Not only from the response of those who have used my tapes, but from the results of such programs as the subliminals behind the music in department stores. Supposedly, the only message is instructions to not steal: one East Coast department store chain reported a 37 percent reduction in thefts in the first nine months of testing.

A 1984 article in the technical newsletter, "Brain-Mind Bulletin," states that as much as 99 percent of our cognitive activity may be "non-conscious," according to the director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Psychophysiology at the University of Illinois. The lengthy report ends with the statement, "these findings support the use of subliminal approaches such as taped suggestions for weight loss and the therapeutic use of hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming."

Mass Misuse of Subliminal Programming
I could relate many stories that support subliminal programming, but I'd rather use my time to make you aware of even more subtle uses of such programming.

I have personally experienced sitting in a Los Angeles auditorium with over ten thousand people who were gathered to listen to a current charismatic figure. Twenty minutes after entering the auditorium, I became aware that I was going in and out of an altered state. Those accompanying me experienced the same thing. Since it is our business, we were aware of what was happening, but those around us were not. By careful observation, what appeared to be spontaneous demonstrations were, in fact, artful manipulations. The only way I could figure that the eyes-open trance had been induced was that a 6- to 7-cycle-per-second vibration was being piped into the room behind the air conditioner sound. That particular vibration generates alpha, which would render the audience highly susceptible. Ten to 25 percent of the population is capable of a somnambulistic level of altered states of consciousness; for these people, the suggestions of the speaker, if non-threatening, could potentially be accepted as "commands."

Vibrato
This leads to the mention of vibrato. Vibrato is the tremulous effect imparted in some vocal or instrumental music, and the cyle-per-second range causes people to go into an altered state of consciousness. At one period of English history, singers whose voices contained pronounced vibrato were not allowed to perform publicly because listeners would go into an altered state and have fantasies, often sexual in nature.

People who attend opera or enjoy listening to singers like Mario Lanza are familiar with this altered state induced by the performers.

Extra-low Frequency Vibrations (ELFs)
Now, let's carry this awareness a little farther. There are also inaudible ELFs (extra-low frequency waves). These are electromagnetic in nature. One of the primary uses of ELFs is to communicate with our submarines. Dr. Andrija Puharich, a highly respected researcher, in an attempt to warn U.S. officials about Russian use of ELFs, set up an experiment. Volunteers were wired so their brain waves could be measured on an EEG. They were sealed in a metal room that could not be penetrated by a normal signal.

Puharich then beamed ELF waves at the volunteers. ELFs go right through the earth and, of course, right through metal walls. Those inside couldn't know if the signal was or was not being sent. And Puharich watched the reactions on the technical equipment: 30 percent of those inside the room were taken over by the ELF signal in six to ten seconds.

When I say "taken over," I mean that their behavior followed the changes anticipated at very precise frequencies. Waves below 6 cycles per second caused the subjects to become very emotionally upset, and even disrupted bodily functions. At 8.2 cycles, they felt very high...an elevated feeling, as though they had been in masterful meditation, learned over a period of years. Eleven to 11.3 cycles induced waves of depressed agitation leading to riotous behavior.

[note from Ken Adachi:: Joe Vialls reported that the CIA and Air Force employed this technique using large dish transmitters beaming down from the back cargo ramps of C135 cargo planes to incite opposing tribal factions in Rwanda to become enraged and engage in mindless slaughter and barbarism]

The Neurophone
Dr. Patrick Flanagan is a personal friend of mine. In the early 1960s, as a teenager, Pat was listed as one of the top scientists in the world by "Life" magazine. Among his many inventions was a device he called the Neurophone--an electronic instrument that can successfully programm suggestions directly through contact with the skin. When he attempted to patent the device, the government demanded that he prove it worked. When he did, the National Security Agency confiscated the neurophone. It took Pat two years of legal battle to get his invention back.

In using the device, you don't hear or see a thing; it is applied to the skin, which Pat claims is the source of special senses. The skin contains more sensors for heat, touch, pain, vibration, and electrical fields than any other part of the human anatomy.

In one of his recent tests, Pat conducted two identical seminars for a military audience--one seminar one night and one the next night, because the size of the room was not large enough to accommodate all of them at one time. When the first group proved to be very cool and unwilling to respond, Patrick spent the next day making a special tape to play at the second seminar. The tape instructed the audience to be extremely warm and responsive and for their hands to become "tingly." The tape was played through the neurophone, which was connected to a wire he placed along the ceiling of the room. There were no speakers, so no sound could be heard, yet the message was successfully transmitted from that wire directly into the brains of the audience. They were warm and receptive, their hands tingled and they responded, according to programming, in other ways that I cannot mention here.

Technological Tools for Mass Manipulation
The more we find out about how human beings work through today's highly advanced technological research, the more we learn to control human beings. And what probably scares me the most is that the medium for takeover is already in place. The television set in your livingroom and bedroom is doing a lot more than just entertaining you.

Before I continue, let me point out something else about an altered state of consciousness. When you go into an altered state, you transfer into right brain, which results in the internal release of the body's own opiates: enkephalins and Beta-endorphins, chemically almost identical to opium. In other words, it feels good...and you want to come back for more.

Recent tests by researcher Herbert Krugman showed that, while viewers were watching TV, right-brain activity outnumbered left-brain activity by a ratio of two to one. Put more simply, the viewers were in an altered state...in trance more often than not. They were getting their Beta-endorphin "fix."

To measure attention spans, psychophysiologist Thomas Mulholland of the Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, attached young viewers to an EEG machine that was wired to shut the TV set off whenever the children's brains produced a majority of alpha waves. Although the children were told to concentrate, only a few could keep the set on for more than 30 seconds!

Most viewers are already hypnotized. To deepen the trance is easy. One simple way is to place a blank, black frame every 32 frames in the film that is being projected. This creates a 45-beat-per-minute pulsation perceived only by the subconscious mind--the ideal pace to generate deep hypnosis.

The commercials or suggestions presented following this alpha-inducing broadcast are much more likely to be accepted by the viewer. The high percentage of the viewing audience that has somnambulistic-depth ability could very well accept the suggestions as commands--as long as those commands did not ask the viewer to do something contrary to his morals, religion, or self-preservation.

The medium for takeover is here. By the age of 16, children have spent 10,000 to 15,000 hours watching television--that is more time than they spend n school! In the average home, the TV set is on for six hours and 44 minutes per day--an increase of nine minutes from last year and three times the average rate of increase during the 1970s.

It obviously isn't getting better...we are rapidly moving into an alpha-level world--very possibly the Orwellian world of "1984"--placid, glassy-eyed, and responding obediently to instructions.

A research project by Jacob Jacoby, a Purdue University psychologist, found that of 2,700 people tested, 90 percent misunderstood even such simple viewing fare as commercials and "Barnaby Jones." Only minutes after watching, the typical viewer missed 23 to 36 percent of the questions about what he or she had seen. Of course they did--they were going in and out of trance! If you go into a deep trance, you must be instructed to remember--otherwise you automatically forget.

In Closing
I have just touched the tip of the iceberg. When you start to combine subliminal messages behind the music, subliminal visuals projected on the screen, hypnotically produced visual effects, sustained musical beats at a trance-inducing pace . . . you have extremely effective brainwashing. Every hour that you spend watching the TV set you become more conditioned. And, in case you thought there was a law against any of these things, guess again. There isn't! There are a lot of powerful people who obviously prefer things exactly the way they are. Maybe they have plans for...?

Modified for WWW distribution May 27/95 by Dynamic Living Media
May be freely copied and reproduced complete with all graphics.
Neither the editor nor the publisher know the current whereabouts of Dick Sutphen. Please conduct searches for the author through the usual channels.

Related

Rick Ross Institute on Brainwashing and Coersion/Conversion Techniques
www.rickross.com/brainwashing.html

More about MIND CONTROL:
http://educate-yourself.org/mc/

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

Natural/Holistic Drug-free Treatments for Schizophrenia?

Cybornian3rdIgAtO — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 01:47:13 GMT

Hello,

If I can please explain my situation briefly and hopefully you can somehow help me or at best point me towards the information I need. A close friend of mine (my girlfriend's mother) has some sort of depression/schizophrenia for over 20 years now and has been on prescription drugs since first diagnosed. We are seeking out natural and holistic methods to treat her. Would you please be so kind if you can and share some information on the matter? Be it direct experiences, referrals, techniques, website links, books or any type of info that would help.

Thank you.
Peace and much love!
Roq

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 13 replies

neuro-PT/rehab

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:48:36 GMT

Hey everyone, newbie here:-) I'm not currently studying neuroscience, but I found it fascinating in college and am thinking of pursuing a field that interfaces with it in some way. Which leads me to this question - do any of you know how much scope there is right now in the field of neuro-related physical therapy/rehabilitation medicine, both in terms of plain old rehab as well as research? Is it a cutting edge, growing field, or would I be chasing a limited-scope, pipe dream?

Thanks for your advice and views:-)

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

children, television, neurofunction

arrr — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 22:12:40 GMT

Hello. I am looking for information regarding the effect of television upon children's neurofunction. I feel that a child watching around 5 hours or more of TV a day must be at risk for some kind of detrimental neuro-programming. Does anyone have any resources for research on this topic?
thanks.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

Links a'plenty!

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:32:58 GMT

I've been going through my del.icio.us account, updating and reviewing my links, and I realized I've got a ton of neuro-related links in which people may be interested. Enjoy!

Blogs:
* Action Potential (http://blogs.nature.com/nn/actionpotential/): Nature Neuroscience blog: Blog for one of the most highly respected neuroscience journals out there.
* Mind Hacks (http://www.mindhacks.com/): From the writers and friends of Mind Hacks, a pretty cool book.
* Brain Waves (http://brainwaves.corante.com): Meh. More "neuroindustry" related, but it may interest some of you.
* Seed Magazine (http://seedmagazine.com): Not a blog, but a really cool online science news source.

Neuroanatomy:
* Allen Brain Atlas (http://www.brain-map.org/welcome.do): "An interactive, genome-wide image database of gene expression in the mouse brain. A combination of RNA in situ hybridization data, detailed Reference Atlases and informatics analysis tools."
* MSU's Navigable Atlas of the Human Brain(http://www.msu.edu/~brains/humanatlas/): Solid, all-around neuroanatomy help.
* Brainmaps.org (http://brainmaps.org/): Nice, high-res brain atlases of many different species. Good complement to Paxinos and Watson's The Rat Brain.

Neurology:
* Neuroexam(http://www.neuroexam.com/index.php): From the author of Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases. In my opinion, the neurological exam is one of the most elegant tools in medicine. There are tutorials and videos demonstrating some of the exams.
* Washington University School of Medicine's Neuroscience Tutorial(http://thalamus.wustl.edu/course/): A good introduction to clinical neuroanatomy.

Digital Signal Processing:
* The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing (http://www.dspguide.com/pdfbook.htm): An amazing, easy to understand, and (surprisingly) very interesting *free* book on DSP. Covers the basics all the way up to much more advanced techniques. A must have!
* EEGLAB(http://sccn.ucsd.edu/eeglab/): Delorme & Makeig's open-source Matlab toolbox for EEG/waveform DSP.
* DSP Tutorial(http://www.dsptutor.freeuk.com/): Has some good Java visualizations of DSP principles.
* Johns Hopkins Signals Systems Control(http://www.jhu.edu/~signals/): More Java simulations of DSP, with some neat help on convolutions and FFT/dFFT.

Outreach:
* The Society for Neuroscience: Brain Awareness Week(http://apu.sfn.org/baw/): A cool program by the SfN to help bring neuroscience education to the community.
* Neuroscience for Kids(http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html): UW's Eric Chudler's fun site for kids.
* qoolsqool(http://www.qoolsqool.com/): Free educational materials of all types.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 3 replies

Oxytocin receptors?

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 20:40:36 GMT

Does anyone know of any research into the oxytocin receptors in Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) cases?

RAD occurs when an infant's basic needs are neglected in the first years of life. Children with RAD do not bond with other people. If the child is older, chances of them ever being able to bond go down dramatically, regardless of the quality of care. Here's a good mainstream article: http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_science/article/0,2668,ALBQ_21236_4717772,00.html

Oxytocin is the neurotransmitter that facilitates bonding behavior. It's released in the infant brain when the infant is being tended to. See http://physrev.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/81/2/629 for an intro.

I'm curious as to whether oxytocin receptors "die out" if oxytocin is not produced in the first few years of life. Is that why future good parenting has such a little effect on RAD kids?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

eeg advice?

Andy — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 15:11:07 GMT

Hi people!
I just recieved my first EEG machine. Does anyone here have some salty advice about using EEGs in general? I'm completely new to this. So any help is appreciated.

I'm using it for a set of experiments that use non-conscious feedback to create/control various types of electronic media. More specifically, using the participant's pleasure response as the selection determinant for evolutionary algoriths that create the media they're consuming, creating a (pleasure?) feedback loop. You can see a description of the first experiment here: http://www.nervebox.com

The machine is a Grass model 8-10. Kinda Frankenstien-ish. And I'll need to hack into it, replacing the pen actuators with an analog/digital data logger.

thx - andy c

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

Choice Neurons

ionamiller — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 04:07:22 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - If choosing the right outfit or whether to invest
in stocks or bonds is difficult, it may not be just indecisiveness
but how brain cells assign values to different items, scientists
said on Sunday.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston have identified
neurons, or brain cells, that seem to play a role in how a person
selects different items or goods.

Scientists have known that cells in different parts of the brain
react to attributes such as color, taste or quantity. Dr Camillo
Padaoa-Schioppa and John Assad, an associate professor of
neurobiology, found neurons involved in assigning values that help
people to make choices.

"The neurons we have identified encode the value individuals assign
to the available items when they make choices based on subjective
preferences, a behavior called economic choice," Padoa-Schioppa said
in a statement.

The scientists, who reported the findings in the journal Nature,
located the neurons in an area of the brain known as the
orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) while studying macaque monkeys which had
to choose between different flavors and quantities of juices.

They correlated the animals' choices with the activity of neurons in
the OFC with the valued assigned to the different types of juices.
Some neurons would be highly active when the monkeys selected three
drops of grape juice, for example, or 10 drops of apple juice.

Other neurons encoded the value of only the orange juice or grape
juice.

"The monkey's choice may be based on the activity of these neurons,"
said Padoa-Schioppa.

Earlier research involving the OFC showed that lesions in the area
seem to have an association with eating disorders, compulsive
gambling and unusual social behavior.

The new findings show an association between the activity of the OFC
and the mental valuation process underlying choice behavior,
according to the scientists.

"A concrete possibility is that various choice deficits may result
from an impaired or dysfunctional activity of this population (of
neurons), though this hypothesis remains to be tested," Padoa-
Schioppa.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

The Journal of Neuroscience Journal Club

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 18:14:59 GMT

In case folks here haven't heard of this... this is an awesome opportunity for young scientists. The Journal of Neuroscience has a publication forum for graduate students and postdocs in the format of a mini-review called "Journal Club". I wrote one of these a few months ago and got the acceptance email the day after I submit it. It took about a day to write, so even if it had not been accepted, I would not have lost a lot of time. The cost benefit makes it well worth it. Good luck with your submissions... if anyone does this, please let us know!

Here's some info about it from the <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/misc/ifa_features.shtml">J Neurosci website</a>:

The purpose of the Journal Club is to provide scholarly reviews of papers recently published in The Journal of Neuroscience. Journal Club submissions are exclusively limited to current graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Journal Club will appear in the Features section at the front of each issue and will be citable as a publication similar to a short review. This format provides an opportunity to share journal clubs with a wider audience and provides an opportunity for junior scientists to test their analytical and writing skills. We encourage submissions that represent a group effort of several graduate students within a graduate program. For graduate students, the affiliation should be listed as the Graduate Program or Department. We expect that submitters of Journal Club submissions will be working on a related topic and thus familiar with the experimental approach. The editors may solicit submissions, but unsolicited submissions are encouraged.

Format:
The format follows that of journal clubs that are presented by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in neuroscience departments across the country. The submission may follow a presentation at a local journal club, a good "first draft" approach before submitting a Journal Club. We encourage honest and critical reviews, but comments must be accurate, well-reasoned, and diplomatic. Overly critical reviews, or glowing reviews of your best friend's work, will be not be considered. The editors will review submissions to determine their suitability for publication. In general, the text of the Journal Club should have 3 components: a short overview of the relevant background for the paper, critical data-based review of the key findings, and a brief summary of the significance of the paper. The Journal Club should be written in a style that is understandable to all readers of the Journal of Neuroscience, although it is expected that such brief summaries may involve technical detail or comments that would require additional reading for full understanding.

Submission Requirements:
Submissions must be submitted through the Journal of Neuroscience submission site and do not require a submission fee. In using the on-line submission site, please follow these instructions:

1. Indicate JOURNAL CLUB as the "Manuscript Type"
2. Select FEATURE EDITOR as the "Manuscript Section"
3. Place the words "Journal Club" in the box intended for abstracts (no abstract is necessary).
4. If you are prompted to pay the submission fee, do NOT enter your payment information. Instead, please contact the Central Office (jn@sfn.org) just prior to submission so the submission fee can be waived

Journal Club submissions must be concise. The length is limited to 1-1 1/2 pages, approximately 1000 words. A single schematic or explanatory figure is suggested. References to the figures in the reviewed paper will be hot-linked to the Journal Club. In the text, please refer to the original figures with the authors name, e.g. “(Author et al., Figure 1A)“. References are limited to 5 or less.

Topics and Review Procedures:
The article to be reviewed must have been published within the past 2 months in the Journal of Neuroscience. Articles that are featured on the This Week in the Journal page will generally not be used for Journal Club. An author interested in preparing a Journal Club submission may contact the Editor-In-Chief for suggested articles. Submissions will be screened by the editors for accuracy and appropriateness, and may be sent for review. However, submission requiring more than minor revisions will not be accepted for publication due to the time deadlines. It is expected that submissions will be published within 1 month of initial submission. The authors of the paper that is reviewed will also be provided an opportunity to read the Journal Club submission prior to publication. If the authors choose to reply, their response will be hot-linked to the online Journal Club page. The editors reserve the right to balance acceptances between sections and institutions.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

please help me find out about neural coding of mental representations

foxi — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:28:08 GMT

So I'm interested in finding some articles about the neural coding of mental representations in general, and more specifically, as applied to language use and utterance formation...

I know that anything regarding utterance formation and its neurological correlates would be theoretical at best, since we haven't figured that out yet! But any suggestions would be very appreciated.

I'm working on some research in conversational theories, which has great applicability to online communication, artificial intelligence, and business communication.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

Help needed acquiring old SfN abstracts

sulana — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 08:52:34 GMT

I presented a poster at the SfN meeting in Tucson in 1989(?), and was an author on another presentation at the following 1990(?) meeting. (I may be off a year here). I would *really* like to acquire electronic copies of the abstracts from these two presentations. I still have them in those fat books ;-) but that doesn't help me much, in this new electronic age.....

Thing is, my career took a detour from neuroscience, so I haven't been a member since, like 1990 or so. Nor do I have subscriptions to PubMed, or any of the other seemingly-necessary services to get access to them. Nor do I have the money to afford any such services or memberships right now.

These are *my* publications!!! Well, at least I have authorship on them - maybe not primary authorship..... But, it seems like there's *got* to be some way that I should be able to get ahold of electronic copies of them!!! W/o having to pay for it, that is, since I just can't afford to do so right now. Part of the reason I want them is to help me to find a job.....

Any ideas or suggestions as to how I might get ahold of these? They were published in the SfN meeting abstracts for those two years. I still have the hard copies in those fat books. I suppose I could try to scan them in, if I had a scanner.... But, it just seems like I should be able to get ahold of an electronic copy somewhere, somehow.... From the Tucson meeting, I think it was 1989, then the subsequent one, I think it was in DC?

Thanks so much for any leads and/or help!!!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

first post...looking for continuing ed courses

bellanotte — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 14:00:35 GMT

Hello All: I'm new to this tribe. I'm a speech therapist, working with brain injured children and adults. I'm looking for continuing ed courses in the ny area or on line. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

The Web of Dreams deserves your participation now!!!!!

CLAYTON — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 09:21:32 GMT

Sacred geometry, universal energy, IBVA experiments linked with real time video, the opportunity to study yourself and others in a lucid REM state with state of the art equipment, recorded experiences, thousands of lights, music and more create “The Web Of Dreams”! An Interactive art piece symbolizing the connection of all things and how what you choose affects everything. It is designed to generate life-changing breakthroughs!

Allow yourself while in the Web to work through your fear and be inspired to make new empowering choices that create more hope for your future! Those who choose to be wrapped and suspended in the Web may discover that resistance creates the persistence of fear but acceptance allows for the disappearance of fear. Shed your fixed beliefs and ways of being while inside the Web and step into a new world of increased hope and possibility!

The web will offer up personal truths, it will offer up hope and dreams, it will offer a true reflection of how what you choose (hope or fear) affects the outcome of your future in a clear representation in the present moment.

“The Web of Dreams” will be placed 1300 ft from the man at 1:30. We will be doing IBVA EXPEREMENTS ALL WEEK. This will give us a chance to look at what is going on in the brain as someone is experiencing what ever they might be experiencing, Think of the possabilities. If this intrest you at all I encourage you to look at our web site and find out more about what we are creating on the playa this year. please if you are interested RESPOND TO THIS POST. LET ME KNOW YOU ARE INTERESTED.

We got a late start on this idea but we know, with some help from the community, we can still pull it off (no fear only hope). We have most everything we need but if the opportunity to assist others in breaking through their fear and gaining more hope and possibility inspires you we invite you to become a part of the “Web Team” and help in anyway you can. We are looking for people to fill volunteer shifts, donate money (we still need over $1,000) or any supplies we still need please contact me on Tribe or directly:

CLAYTON AND TERRY ALLRED

801-523-7094

For more info on the “Web Of Dreams” or to donate few dollars today(every little bit will help)by Pay Pal check out the web site at: webofdreams.home.comcast.net/

I truly look forward to the most amazing experience on the Playa with you and may all of your fears serve you in the end to achieve all your hopes!

Love,

Clayton
posted by:

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

trephination set on ebay

Thu, 11 May 2006 08:42:07 GMT

Holy moly!
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2006/05/trephination_set_on_.html

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 5 replies

Brave New World of Sex

Prometheus_Vulture — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 22:33:52 GMT

As you all know, we have entered the age of transhumanism, in which we can tailor our personalities and desires using pharmaceutical (or illicit) drugs.

A drug called PT-141 has entered phase III clinical trials (last step before FDA approval) which is the first true chemical Aphrodesiac. PT-141 is being tested as a treatment for Erectile Dysfunction as well as female sexual dysfunction, but is does not work like Viagra and the others. Viagra works by increasing blood flow to the penis, so if you are not sexually aroused, you won't get a boner. PT-141, however, goes directly to the brain (specifically, a region of the hypothalamus) and affects a neural structure that governs one's level of sexual arousal. Thus, it is a true aphrodesiac, directly increasing sexual arousal and behavior. Here is an example to illustrate the difference:

Viagra + Madeline Albright naked = a very flaccid penis and considerable nausea

High-dose PT-141 + Madeline Albright naked = a lifetime of regret and unspeakable nightmares

All jokes aside, I consider this a very serious matter. Think of the abuse potential: with a quick spray up the nostril, this drug will allow one to have limitless sex without necessarily having any complex or confusing emotions associated with it. I shudder to think what Burning Man will become once this drug becomes widely available. Not to mention Marriage. Cold-fish spouse isn't frisky anymore? PT-141. Marriage on the rocks because your sex life isn't satisfying? PT-141. Not attracted to your wife anymore, but don't want her to know you already banged your secretary earlier? A little PT-141 and she'll never question your love. I can imagine endless scenarios that raise real ethical dilemmas. Imagine if little sixth grade kids started experimenting with the stuff... horrifying.

Then again, I can imagine many situations in which this drug could be a god-send. Erectile Dysfunction, for example. Also, this is the first drug that has ever shown great promise for treating Female Sexual Dysfunction. Postmenopausal women who have lost their libido can reclaim it again and have passionate sex right up until the end. Women who have never experienced orgasm may have a chance to experience much more satisfying sex. And maybe it would do wonders for the institution of marriage; who knows?

My point is that the Brave New World of Sex is coming, and we should be intellectually and emotionally prepared for it. What do you think of the ethical implications of PT-141? Although jokes on the topic are encouraged, I am hoping to start a serious discussion about this.

Some ethical questions to ponder: Is it a good idea to fix a broken marriage or relationship by using chemically induced sexual attraction? Will this make a good club or party drug? What are the implications for people who practice polyamory? What about using PT-141 in combination with oxytocin, a hormone drug that has been clinically shown to produce feelings of attachment and emotional bonding (oxytocin is released in the brains of women when they have orgasms)? Would you use this drug?

To learn more about PT-141, go here: www.pt141.com/aphrodisiac.html

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 12 replies

CONSCIOUSNESS: The Movie - Tucson & Hammeroff

ionamiller — Tue, 09 May 2006 23:36:14 GMT

Hi everyone

A film about consciousness based on events at the recent Tucson conference
is being prepared, tentatively entitled

Consciousness: The Movie
Science, Brain, Mind and Being

Filmmaker Maurizio Benazzo and his crew shot interviews, plenary
sessions, informal discussions and numerous conference activities.
Additional material (including many cartoon animations by Steven Lehar),
simulations, and pictures of relevant people (e.g. Plato, Descartes,
William James and modern day figures) will be woven in with music and
didactic excerpts in a fun, Monte Python-like style by a highly regarded
film editor. All approaches to the problem of consciousness will be represented.

'Consciousness: The Movie' is intended to be part of a new genre of
entertaining science...e.g. see
http://www.indiewire.com/ots/2006/05/tribeca_06_tryi_1.html

A partial list of those who will appear in the film (interview, lecture or
informal cameo) include (alphabetically)

T.R. Anantharaman, Roy Ascott, Bernie Baars, Sue Blackmore,
David Chalmers, Paul Davies, Peter De Weerd, John Dunne, Ralph Freeman,
Walter Freeman, Temple Grandin, Stuart Hameroff, Craig Hamilton,
Allan Hobson, Douglas Hofstadter, Uriah Kriegel, Stephen LaBerge,
Hakwan Lau, Steven Lehar, Antoine Lutz, Steve Macknik,
Susana Martinez-Conde, Paavo Pylkkanen, Dean Radin, David Rosenthal,
Maria Sanchez-Vives, Alwyn Scott, Marilyn Schlitz, John Searle,
Dan Simons, Mark Solms, Jeff Tollaksen, Giulio Tononi,
Robert van Gulick, Alan Wallace and others.

Still needed are additional *visually appealing* animations/simulations
demonstrating neuronal activities, synapses, neuronal networks,
brain anatomy, functional imaging, EEG, evoked potentials, single unit
recordings, theories of consciousness... whatever YOU think helps explain
consciousness. Citation will be given in the credits for any material.

Many thanks

Stuart Hameroff

Stuart Hameroff M.D.
Professor, Anesthesiology and Psychology
Director, Center for Consciousness Studies
The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

Hawkins's On Intelligence

barnaby — Sun, 07 May 2006 19:01:31 GMT

Howdy

I've been reading a very interesting book by Jeff Hawkins entitled "On Intelligence". His thesis, in a nutshell, is that the brain's primary mechanism for intelligence is not computation, but auto-associated activation of memory pathways. For example, perception of a particular categorization task will activate memories of similar, previously-encoded task performance, and those memories will be used as the basis for performing the current task.

His book is very interesting and I find his thesis attractive and plausible, but his work is deeply marred by a complete lack of citations. By chance, are any of you familiar with this work, and can anyone comment on the plausibility of his views?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

nerves and your nerves

ionamiller — Fri, 05 May 2006 04:44:40 GMT

http://www.nexuspub.com/articles/2006/interview_ma.htm

March/April 2006
How your nervous system
sabotages your ability to relate
An interview with Stephen Porges about his polyvagal theory
By Ravi Dykema

What if many of your troubles could be explained by an automatic reaction in your body to what’s happing around you? What if the cure for mental and emotional disorders ranging from autism to panic attacks lay in a new understanding and approach to the way the nervous system operates? Stephen Porges, Ph.D., thinks it could be so. Porges, professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and director for that institution’s Brain-Body Center, has spent much of his life searching for clues to the way the brain operates, and has developed what he has termed polyvagal theory. It is a study of the evolution of the human nervous system and the origins of brain structures, and it assumes that more of our social behaviors and emotional disorders are biological—that is, they are “hard wired” into us—than we usually think. Based on the theory, Porges and his colleagues have developed treatment techniques that can help people communicate better and relate better to others.

The term “polyvagal” combines “poly,” meaning “many,” and “vagal,” which refers to the important nerve called the “vagus.” To understand the theory, let’s look at the vagus nerve, a primary component of the autonomic nervous system. This is the nervous system that you don’t control, that causes you to do things automatically, like digest your food. The vagus nerve exits the brain stem and has branches that regulate structures in the head and in several organs, including the heart. The theory proposes that the vagus nerve’s two different branches are related to the unique ways we react to situations we perceive as safe or unsafe. It also outlines three evolutionary stages that took place over millions of years in the development of our autonomic nervous system.

Iona
http://ionatopia.50megs.com

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Neural Logic: From Inhibitory to Excitatory and Back Again...

Chris — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 01:00:53 GMT

Here's something you don't see every day: one of the fundamental "textbook" claims of neuroscience appears to be false.

Most neuroscience texts will tell you that a neuron is either excitatory or inhibitory; that is, it will release either an inhibitory neurotransmitter (such as GABA) or an exictatory one (such as glutamate). Yet Erik Fransen has observed co-release of both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters from the same synaptic terminal. He has also observed "backpropagating dendritic action potentials" (another thing the neuroscience texts won't mention) which can actually cause neurotransmitters to flow backwards from dendrite to axon! This then causes "conditioning depression" in which the presynaptic neuron can go below 50% of its initial amplitude.

More on the implications of this at http://develintel.blogspot.com/2006/01/from-inhibitory-to-excitatory-and-back.html

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 4 replies

Neural structure and function database?

Dr-Bob — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 14:42:56 GMT

What databases are out there to capture information on brain structure and the results of research on the function of each area. What coordinate systems are used to map the brain of multiple subjects? Ideally I'm thinking of a database accessible by research groups in different institutions.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Small Son's Withdrawl From ADHD Drugs!

BooNooNooNooS — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 17:08:16 GMT

My son got the ADHD label at the tender age of three. I sure wish I had known THEN...what I know NOW. Headstart has been one of the MAIN culprits of getting toddlers labeled. My son ended up going through EVERY drug prescribed for ADHD because of course, he never needed the legal METH to start with...therefore, his behavior only deteriorated...which in turn, confused me and I actually started to BELIEVE that he REALLY needed the stuff...he was just missing some CRITICAL compound or something....WRONG!!! It was the drugs all the while. All SEVEN years. His withdrawl could only be described as HEINOUS. Why is it that people view a child's withdrawl from LEGAL methamphetamine after seven years...different than some crackhead on the street corner? The only difference is that, with the METH epidemic, ( of which the ADHD drugging of the current generation is a DIRECT link to) they are sure to provide detox centers a-plenty for adults. I had to quit working, and stay home with my son during his withdrawl phase...and I'm a sole-providing parent!!! But with his school BLATENTLY ignoring my pleas for compassion, and blatenly ignoring my data on withdrawl symptoms, as a matter of fact...it just pissed them off MORE, and they took it out on my son! They restrained him during hallucinations and caused some severe and VERY complicated psyche trauma!!! He's been drug-free now for about 16 months, and I am JUST starting to see him level off a bit...seeing the LIFE come back into him with good nutrition, love, understanding and the ASSURANCE that he does not have to go back to that school. This country continues to alter the Natural Tides of our fragile youths' minds...all for monetary gain. Sad. HEINOUSLY sad.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

"The Mind Has No Firewall"

selphmade — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 06:10:56 GMT

A discussion of psychotronic weapons development from the US military publication Parameters, subtitled "US Army War College Quarterly." The publication describes itself as "The United States Army's Senior Professional Journal." This was published eight years ago. As far as I understand, technology tends to double about every 10 months.

---

"The Mind Has No Firewall" by Timothy L. Thomas. Parameters, Spring 1998

Full article: http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/mind-firewall2.htm

Crucial excerpts from pp. 84-92:

An entirely new arsenal of weapons, based on devices designed to introduce subliminal messages or to alter the body's psychological and data-processing capabilities, might be used to incapacitate individuals. These weapons aim to control or alter the psyche, or to attack the various sensory and data-processing systems of the human organism. In both cases, the goal is to confuse or destroy the signals that normally keep the body in equilibrium.

....

Russian Views on "Psychotronic War"

The term "psycho-terrorism" was coined by Russian writer N. Anisimov of the Moscow Anti-Psychotronic Center. According to Anisimov, psychotronic weapons are those that act to "take away a part of the information which is stored in a man's brain. It is sent to a computer, which reworks it to the level needed for those who need to control the man, and the modified information is then reinserted into the brain." These weapons are used against the mind to induce hallucinations, sickness, mutations in human cells, "zombification," or even death. Included in the arsenal are VHF generators, X-rays, ultrasound, and radio waves. Russian army Major I. Chernishev, writing in the military journal Orienteer in February 1997, asserted that "psy" weapons are under development all over the globe. Specific types of weapons noted by Chernishev (not all of which have prototypes) were:

> A psychotronic generator, which produces a powerful electromagnetic emanation capable of being sent through telephone lines, TV, radio networks, supply pipes, and incandescent lamps.

> An autonomous generator, a device that operates in the 10-150 Hertz band, which at the 10-20 Hertz band forms an infrasonic oscillation that is destructive to all living creatures.

> A nervous system generator, designed to paralyze the central nervous systems of insects, which could have the same applicability to humans.

> Ultrasound emanations, which one institute claims to have developed. Devices using ultrasound emanations are supposedly capable of carrying out bloodless internal operations without leaving a mark on the skin. They can also, according to Chernishev, be used to kill.

> Noiseless cassettes. Chernishev claims that the Japanese have developed the ability to place infra-low frequency voice patterns over music, patterns that are detected by the subconscious. Russians claim to be using similar "bombardments" with computer programming to treat alcoholism or smoking.

> The 25th-frame effect, alluded to above, a technique wherein each 25th frame of a movie reel or film footage contains a message that is picked up by the subconscious. This technique, if it works, could possibly be used to curb smoking and alcoholism, but it has wider, more sinister applications if used on a TV audience or a computer operator.

> Psychotropics, defined as medical preparations used to induce a trance, euphoria, or depression. Referred to as "slow-acting mines," they could be slipped into the food of a politician or into the water supply of an entire city. Symptoms include headaches, noises, voices or commands in the brain, dizziness, pain in the abdominal cavities, cardiac arrhythmia, or even the destruction of the cardiovascular system.

There is confirmation from US researchers that this type of study is going on. Dr. Janet Morris, coauthor of The Warrior's Edge, reportedly went to the Moscow Institute of Psychocorrelations in 1991. There she was shown a technique pioneered by the Russian Department of Psycho-Correction at Moscow Medical Academy in which researchers electronically analyze the human mind in order to influence it. They input subliminal command messages, using key words transmitted in "white noise" or music. Using an infra-sound, very low frequency transmission, the acoustic psycho-correction message is transmitted via bone conduction.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 8 replies

Neural Code

ionamiller — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 02:14:53 GMT

http://scienceweek.com/2006/sw060317-2.htm

Iona
http://ionatopia.50megs.com

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

conscious will

ionamiller — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 04:52:28 GMT

http://sci-con.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=202

The discussion of whether we have a free will is one of the key issues in consciousness science. As van Duijn and Bem argues in this paper, there seems to be a trend in cognitive neuroscience to view free will as an illusion. Contrary to this, they argue that "the mechanisms supporting conscious will are considerably more complex than mainstream cognitive neuroscience currently acknowledges".

On the Alleged Illusion of Conscious Will
By van Duijn & Bem in Philosophical Psychology, Volume 18, Number 6, 01Dec2005, pp. 699-714(16)

Abstract

The belief that conscious will is merely “an illusion created by the brain” appears to be gaining in popularity among cognitive neuroscientists. Its main adherents usually refer to the classic, but controversial ‘Libet-experiments', as the empirical evidence that vindicates this illusion-claim. However, based on recent work that provides other interpretations of the Libet-experiments, we argue that the illusion-claim is not only empirically invalid, but also theoretically incoherent, as it is rooted in a category mistake; namely, the presupposition that neuronal activity causes conscious will. We show that the illusion-claim is based on the behaviorist ‘input-output' paradigm, and discuss the notions of ‘self-organization' and ‘self-steering' to provide an alternative perspective on the causal efficacy of conscious will. In the final sections, a tentative theoretical picture is sketched of conscious will as an instance of self-steered self-organization. We conclude that the subjective experience of conscious will is not a misguided one, but rather that the mechanisms supporting conscious will are considerably more complex than mainstream cognitive neuroscience currently acknowledges.

iona

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 3 replies

New Directions in Neurobiology?

blackegg — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 21:29:35 GMT

Inquiring minds want to know...
*What are some interesting and answerable questions to ask about the mind?
*Where are the best colleges to learn about consciousness/mind in the US?
Thanks for whatever opinions you can spare.
I'm just a lowly community college attendee daydreaming about the future. But who knows, eh?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 28 replies

cells, blood, neurons

ionamiller — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 22:19:16 GMT

Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Fri Jan 6, 3:00 PM ET

A new study finds that a cell once believed to serve neurons instead
may perform the crucial function of regulating blood flow in the
brain.

ADVERTISEMENT

The discovery challenges a basic assumption in neuroscience and could
have implications for interpreting brain scans and understanding what
occurs during brain trauma and Alzheimer's disease.

Oxygen is the main fuel of biological cells. It is transported
throughout the body by way of the circulatory system. Not
surprisingly, the brain is one of the most voracious consumers of
oxygen, and a basic assumption in neuroscience is that the more
active a brain region is, the more oxygen (and thus blood) its
neurons require.

This assumption forms the foundation for sophisticated brain imaging
techniques such as PET and functional MRI scans. By scanning the
brain while subjects perform certain tasks, scientists have been able
to pinpoint specialized brain regions for things like emotion or
language.

Star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes were traditionally thought
of as housekeeping cells that helped nourish the brain under the
direction of the neurons. The new study found the astrocytes can
directly control blood flow without being told.

Housekeeping duty

"Neurons are completely dependent on astrocytes for their survival,"
said Maiken Nedergaard, a neuroscientist at the University of
Rochester in New York, the study's principal investigator. "Because
they're so specialized for synaptic function [the ability to connect
and create memories] they've lost a lot of the basic mechanisms that
most cells have to survive."

Astrocytes produce fat-like lipid neurons used to create their outer
membranes and they also produce glutamate, the most abundant
neurotransmitter in the nervous system and one of the most important
chemical messengers in the brain.

Recent experiments, however, revealed that astrocytes form
connections with blood vessels and control the flow of nutrients,
including oxygen, to neurons. When brain activity increases, neurons
trigger astrocytes to release calcium, which in turn affects other
chemical messengers that can cause blood vessels to either dilate or
contract.

From start to finish, the process takes about 1 second.

"That's amazing; no other organs can increase their blood flow so
fast," Nedergaard said.

While neurons and astrocytes usually work closely with one another,
the new finding raises the possibility that there may be times when
astrocytes increase blood flow on their own without any prompting
from neurons.

"When we measure blood flow, it may be that we are not measuring the
activity of neurons so much as that of astrocytes," Nedergaard said.

Implications for disease

If astrocytes are so important, then presumably more can go wrong if
they are damaged or stop working.

"You can look at it as a poor housekeeper," Nedergaard said. "It's
not able to serve the dinner [and] it's not able to remove the waste
product either."

Nedergaard believes faulty astrocytes may help explain the medical
mystery of why blood vessels in the brain begin to constrict after
brain trauma. As hemorrhaging occurs in the brain, red blood cells
begin to disintegrate and release iron.

Iron is a potent trigger for calcium release in astrocytes and can
thus influence blood flow in the brain.

"What we believe is that after brain trauma, the astrocytes are so
abnormal that they release compounds that constrict the [blood]
vessels rather than dilating them," Nedergaard told LiveScience.

The finding could also have important implications for Alzheimer's
disease.

The classical symptoms of memory loss and dementia associated with
Alzheimer's are the result of neurons dying over a period of years.
Brain scans of Alzheimer's patients show decreased blood flow to
critical parts of the brain, and doctors have always assumed that
this was because there was less of a demand for blood because there
were fewer neurons to feed.

The new result could mean that Alzheimer's affects mainly astrocytes
and not neurons and that blood flow to the brain is not decreased
because the neurons are dying, but that the neurons are dying because
there is decreased blood flow.

"It may be that for whatever reason, astrocytes are not doing their
job properly, and then blood flow decreases," Nedergaard said. "This
could lead to the death of the neurons, which would starve from a
lack of nutrients, since the neurons depend on the astrocytes for
their survival."

The finding was detailed in a recent online version of the journal
Nature Neuroscience.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 3 replies

Neurotheology

ionamiller — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 00:28:13 GMT

http://www.nwbotanicals.org/oak/magick/createsgod.htm

Enjoi,
Iona

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 4 replies

Consciousness = Information Integration?

avmaier — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 19:08:21 GMT

http://www.sci-con.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=188

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

When the two eyes disagree...

avmaier — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 21:34:32 GMT

.. one never sees a mixture, but with either eye at a time. Yes, it's true. Covince yourself!

The scientific term for this strange phenomenon is 'binocular rivalry', and it is one of the hottest topics in consciousness studies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binocular_rivalry

Binocular rivalry is a compelling phenomenon that remains mysterious to scientist. Yet, tt might be one of the most suited tools to isolate and study the 'neuronal correlates of consciousness'. Thus, it is at the core of many serious scientifc attempts to explore the brain activity underlying conscious perception and awareness:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cons...oscience_2

I have created a new tribe dedicated to everything about binocular rivalry and related visual illusions such as the famous 'Necker cube' and other ambiguous images that change their appearance over time.

I would like to invite you to come and join and help make this yet another interesting place on tribe.net!

http://tribes.tribe.net/ncc

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Neural Plasticity

ionamiller — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 02:34:17 GMT

http://www.geocities.com/iona_m/Chaosophy3/FetalREM.html

The Fractal Nature of Active Sleep and Waking Dreams
Restructuring Consciousness
through Metaphor, Fetal REM, and Neural Plasticity
by Iona Miller and Graywolf Swinney
Asklepia Foundation, ©2001
Abstract: The hypothesis of Harvard biopsychiatrist, C.M. Anderson (1998) provides some enticing substantiation for psychophysical restructuring in the CRP Journeys. His work is centered around the psychotropic and oneiric aspects of the shamanic entheogen iboga, used by the Bwiti tribe of Africa, and more recently employed therapeutically by Harold Lotsoff and Dr. Robert Goutarel for the elimination of chemical dependency and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Drug-free shamanism shares many common features with this therapy: initiatory waking-dream journeys, shamanic guidance, quick life review, psychedelic states of consciousness, spontaneous fetal regression, journeys to “the land of the dead,” and the induction and facilitation of Self-organized Critical States (SOCs) which result in restructuring of fundamental neural patterns.
Stress or abuse in early life leads to hemispheric asymmetry which is implicated in a wide variety of disorders. CRP allows us to “exercise” unused pathways and reinstate hemispheric synchronization. Disorders of under- and over-arousal can be dynamically balanced, reinstituting organismic equilibration. The fractal nature of REM allows us to process and restructure old emotional patterns, at the sensorimotor root by reviving neural plasticity. CRP facilitates the Self-Organized Critical state (SOCs) which initiates cascading therapeutic reactions which are robust and persist over time.
Keywords: emotional memory, amygdala, REM, psychedelic states, self-similar stochastic fields, Orienting, PGO activity and oneiric states, fractal nature of REM, developmental stress, Consciousness Restructuring Process, shamanic healing, dreams, psychotherapy, spirituality, alternative health, ibogaine, hemispheric asymmetry, fractal nature of REM, fetal REM, frequency following response, binaural beat stimulation, ibogaine hydrochloride
Introduction
Anderson (1998) hypothesizes that the ingestion of iboga (or its alkaloid ibogaine, ibogaine hydrochloride) in a shamanic or psychotherapeutic setting induces a critical oneiric, or dream-inducing state, in which fractal time patterns of phasic events similar to those existing during fetal rapid eye movement (REM) or Active sleep are recreated in the adult. This dynamically destabilizes the functional connectivity of the brainstem and its habitual interactions with the bihemispheric temporal lobe structures such as the amygdala, creating a functional state of plasticity in these areas which facilitates the reintegration of traumatic memories.
Psychopathological interhemispheric dynamics are altered, dissipating old behavioral attitudes and patterns. This psychotherapeutic oneiric state is similar to the complex behavioral states of REM sleep and attentional orienting in that they all share the signature of the self-organized critical state.
Observed similarities between the neurophysiology of the REM state and that induced by selective psychedelic drugs such as LSD or psilocybin further substantiate this hypothesis. The dream-like quality of these journeys and the emergence of discrete states of consciousness (d-SOC) exhibiting particular imagery is reported by LSD-researchers (Tart, 1969, and Grof, 1988). Anderson highlights the common ground of REM sleep, orienting, and psychedelic states.
Drug-free shamanic journeys using CRP can also enable us to “return to infancy and birth”- to the life in the womb - by returning us to the uterine condition (Grof’s parinatal matrices). It facilitates a condition in any case very close to life in “the land of dead” (realm of archetypes and NDEs) and so restores us to our own integrity -- our pristine condition.
In the Bwiti and Fang rites, great importance is given to the retreat and the confession which precedes the initiation. Both aspects, as well as purification are essential features of the Consciousness Restructuring Process (Swinney and Miller, 1992; Swinney, 1999).
Ibogaine therapy and CRP share the feature that the imaginal material elicited is easy to manipulate either on the journeyer’s initiative or by the mentor. The therapist can stop to contemplate a scene, go back, explore an alternative in a given sequence, bring a previous scene back to life, etc. The ease with which the events in treatment can be manipulated and the fact that the experience can be directed to desired areas in a flowing and self-emergent way is probably one reason for its psychotherapeutic success.
All the while the journeyer reports waking dream sequences without loss of consciousness or any illusions of formal deterioration of thought. They report feeling suspended in the stream of time, and being shown where their problem is. The key feature shared by both modalities is temporary destructuring of the ego, followed by its restructuring.
Michel Jouvet and Sir Frances Crick have assessed the role of dreams in the programming and de-programming of basic behavior patterns, resulting in a new individuation of the human brain. They consider PGO waves to be the principal coding tool that acts at the cortical level in recording the genetic and epigenetic acquisitions necessary for the individuation of the human brain.
Metaphorically, this “software-writer” aspect of the self allows one to reconfigure the genetic and cultural programming much like changing the config.sys file of a computer. REM then reboots the consciousness patterns with the autoexec.bat file for habits, needs, and the manner in which one approaches life (Miller, 1993).
In addition, through “chaotic” activation mechanisms, the PGO waves eliminate from certain types of neuronal networks an informational overload linked to pathological behavior. This what Debru (1990) calls “cleaning out the neuronal circuitry.” Apparently REM sleep undergirds a sorting out process among the “residues” stirred up by the PGO wave sleep pattern and disposes of these residues during dreaming.

cont.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Neuropsychology of REM

ionamiller — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 02:29:11 GMT

http://www.geocities.com/iona_m/Chaosophy3/neuropsych.html

The Neuropsychology of CRP, Dreams, and REM
P300 Waves and PGO Spikes
and their Role in Consciousness Restructuring
by Iona Miller, Graywolf Swinney, and John Penkert
Asklepia Foundation, ©2001
Abstract: This paper describes a grant solicitation where a protocol for detection of P300 MERMERS and PGO wave-generation during Consciousness Restructuring sessions is outlined. MERMERS indicate a psychological significance of the stimuli to the subject, whether that object is physical or imaginal. They may help us objectively document psychological shifts in internal states during therapy which lead toward spontaneous healing.
During dreams PGO activity is interpreted by the brain as sensory stimulation. Through self- organizing dynamics, coherent dream experiences emerge from the influence of apparently unpatterned PGO stimulation. When the dreaming brain is free of external sensory patterns of neural excitation, it is subject to even subtle influences. PGO waves provide perturbation that keeps the dream narrative in motion, that produces bifurcations in attractor patterns, and leads to abrupt alterations in dream experiences. Likewise PGO spikes may signal the bifurcations and content changes seen in consciousness journeys. PGO stimulation may be related to plot shifts during REM, and this is subject to potential verification with 128 channel EEG.
Keywords: self-organization, complex adapative systems, PGO waves, P300 waves, spontaneous endogenous activity, endogenous evoked potentials, sleep, REM, chaos theory, psychotherapy, perception, dream, dream work, experiential therapy, EEG, placebo, neurofeedback, neural feedback, perceptual synergetics, Consciousness Restructuring Process (CRP),
In the prevailing medical model, nearly all research on the brain is in the language of neurotransmitters and psychotropic drugs, and not in that of frequency or of mental exercise or restructuring. This has been the prevailing conceptual framework. But there is much to learn about the generation of our complex internal states from the frequency domain. This is the process by which that which matters to us psychologically is transformed in the very matter of our psychophysical self: what matters materializes.
Treating individuals with drugs can short-circuit the important process of recognizing, comprehending, and coming to grips with their psychological state. Both experiential and neurofeedback therapies provide access to internal processes, often in ways we do not fully understand, which somehow allows us to regulate them. The use of high technology in a medical setting has a high placebo effect, but can also help train an individual, for example, to increase blood flow into the brain. Blood flow, metabolism, and high frequency electrical activity all work together. Increased blood flow alone may help the brain reset itself in a normal range.
Electroencephalography (EEG) records minute, fluctuating potential differences between electrodes placed on the skull. This measure of frequency is relatively crude, but allows us a window into the excitability of the brain. If the neural substrate is intact, it can be retrained, and this is the basis of brainwave feedback and a healing channel for experiential therapy.
Electrodes are placed on the scalp in an ordered array. Signals from the brain are amplified allowing the microvolt-level potential differences to be detected. The resolution of EEG is quite low, since the brain is about 1 cm from the surface of the scalp. The major distinctions of EEG include alpha, beta, theta, and delta activity.
EEG is a measurement in the realm of frequency. The EEG machine is a neural amplifier. Frequency is the rate at which electrical charges move through brain cells. The four basic frequency ranges discriminate levels of arousal or excitability within the brain. In delta, the sleep state, signals are moving through clusters of neurons very slowly, just four cycles per second, or hertz (Hz). Just above that is theta, around 4 to 8 Hz, a deeply relaxed state. Next is alpha, a slightly less relaxed state, at 8 to 13 Hz.
The most rapid brain waves are beta, and they reflect normal waking consciousness. Beta can be further classed as low beta, a relaxed but alert state of 12 to 15 Hz, to mid-range beta, around 15 to 19 Hz, up to an excited, hyper state of high-beta, which can range to 35 Hz.
Researchers believe that many disorders are associated with the brain’s underarousal or overarousal. If operating speed is either too high or too low, the brain needs to be stabilized, rendered more robust, so that it does not overreact toward hypo- or hyper-arousal. Stability and arousal are the two important parameters.
Optimal idling speed is around 14 Hz. Activity lower than that (8-13 Hz) can cause an individual to feel tired and seek stimulants or stimulation, and is implicated in depression, ADD, and mild dissociative disorder. Depression is linked to underproduction of beta rhythms. Overarousal, an inability to unwind, may lead to drinking or drug taking to modulate arousal level.
Anxiety attacks, hypervigilance, stress, and obsessive behavior are symptomatic of overarousal. Sensory motor rhythm (SMR) is a beta wave in the 12 to 15 Hz range of the EEG spectrum. It has been theorized that alcoholics drink because they cannot get into alpha states naturally and therefore cannot produce self-soothing neurotransmitters on their own.
While PET and MRI are recorded over extended periods of time, EEG can detect and record the rapid changes in potential that occur in the active brain with millisecond temporal resolution. EEG can determine the time course of brain activation following a particular stimulus, faster than PET or MRI analysis.
Data obtained over a particular time frame allows us to “follow” the processing of incoming information, as well as our brain’s response to this information. Changes in brain activity can also be observed during sleep. Sleep spindles are transient cortiocothalamic potential oscillations recorded as EEG transients within the 9-15 Hz band during sleep. Many neurons in the cortex and thalamus synchronize during certain stages of sleep. Nobody knows why they do it.

cont.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Placebo effect in neurons

ionamiller — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 00:33:30 GMT

someone here asked...
Iona

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4996

Placebos effect revealed in calmed brain cells
18:00 16 May 2004
NewScientist.com news service
Andy Coghlan
Related Articles
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9 August 2001
Brain scans reveal placebo effect in depressed patients
2 January 2002
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Fabrizio Benedetti, University of Turin
Nature Neuroscience
Detailed scans of brain cells in Parkinson's disease patients have revealed the action of the placebo effect on an unprecedented scale.

"It's the first time we've seen it at the single neuron level," says Fabrizio Benedetti, head of the team which conducted the experiments at the University of Turin Medical School in Italy.

When the patients in the study received a simple salt solution, their neurons responded in just the same way as when they had earlier received a drug which eased their symptoms.

"The research provides further evidence for a physiological underpinning for the placebo effect," says Jon Stoessl, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. His team demonstrated in 2001 that placebos can relieve symptoms by raising brain levels of dopamine, a beneficial neurotransmitter.

"We suggest that the changes we ourselves observed are also induced by release of dopamine," says Benedetti.

Abnormal firing
Parkinson's patients suffer from a lack of dopamine, meaning that brain cells in a region called the subthalamic nucleus firing in abnormal bursts. This triggers the familiar symptoms of muscle rigidity, tremors and slowness of movement.

Drugs which mimic dopamine, such as L-Dopa and apomorphine, can block abnormal firing. But now, Benedetti has shown that a simple saline solution did the same.

First, he "pre-conditioned" the patients by giving them three doses of apomorphine. Then he surgically implanted electrodes into each patient's subthalamic nucleus, each carrying sensors to monitor the firing activity of around 100 individual neurons.

During the surgery, for which the patients remained awake, he also administered the placebo. He found that it induced the same calming effect on neurons as the apomorphine.

Residual traces of apomorphine cannot explain the findings, he says: "Apomorphine effects only last for one hour, and the last apomorphine dose they received was 24 hours before the operation."

Cognitive vs conditioning
He suggest two possible explanations. The first is the "cognitive" hypothesis, where the physiological effects are triggered by the patient's expectation of benefits.

The second is the classic "conditioning" response. This was discovered in 1889 by the Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, who found conditioning could induce dogs to salivate for food at the sound of a bell. "The context around the therapy could induce such a response," says Benedetti.

In his latest experiments, Benedetti is investigating whether the brain cells react to placebos in "naive" Parkinson's patients, who have not first been conditioned with genuine drugs.

"It's a logical next step," says Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary and alternative medicine at the University of Exeter, Devon, UK. He describes the new work as "one of the first glimpses of a mechanistic explanation for the placebo effect".

Journal reference: Nature Neuroscience: (DOI: 10.1038/nn1250)

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

SSRI withdrawal syndrome info sought

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 08:49:30 GMT

i'm looking for information on SSRI withdrawal syndromes, specifically effexor (venlafaxine). could any of you help me with this? links, names of people doing research in this area, anything would help, thanks!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 28 replies

Non-MD careers in Neurology/Neuroscience...

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 02:56:48 GMT

Hey, I'm new here....I had been doing my pre-req's for nursing, when I became interested in studying to become a neurodiagnostic tech.

Who here is working in the neurology/neuroscience field (non-MD) and what do you do? What did you study? What do you like/dislike most about your field?

I really appreciate any info...thanks!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 12 replies

Bridging mind-body gap

ionamiller — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 20:39:14 GMT

http://www.the-scientist.com/2005/9/12/14/1

Iona
http://heartstringsbook.50megs.com
http://ionamiller.50megs.com
http://biopysics.50megs.com

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 8 replies

Work on the side?

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:46:48 GMT

Does anyone have any ideas to help a young neuroscientist? I'm working on my PhD, but Bay Area housing and living is rather expensive, making funds kind of tight (especially given undergraduate loans)...

So what kind of contract jobs are available for someone who is well-trained in neuroanatomy, programming (C and MatLab mainly), data analysis, writing/copyediting, etc.?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

newbie looking for resources

barnaby — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 05:41:25 GMT

Hi there

I'm looking for internet resources for learning the anatomy of the brain. I know they're out there, but I'm not finding anything great. Wikipedia is highly uneven.

Thanks!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 4 replies

To sleep perchance to SHUT UP

ionamiller — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 21:05:00 GMT

Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com
1 hour, 16 minutes ago

Your brain never stops working. But it does cease talking to itself
when you lose consciousness, a new study shows.

Scientists have long wondered what the brain does and doesn't do
during deep sleep. It remains active, they know. So what's the
difference between consciousness and the lack of it?

When we're awake, different parts of the brain use chemicals and
nerve cells to communicate constantly across the entire network,
similar to the perpetual flow of data between all the different
computers, routers and servers that make up the Internet.

In the deepest part of sleep, however, the various nodes of your
cranial Internet all lose their connections.

"The brain breaks down into little islands that can't talk to one
another," said study leader Giulio Tononi of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.

Tononi's team used a non-invasive procedure to activate select parts
of the brain. Subjects had electrodes attached to their heads to
monitor how each stimulation triggered reactions elsewhere.

In the early morning, when subjects were dreaming, signals careened
around the noggin similarly to when they were awake. But at night,
during deeper sleep, the picture was much different.

"During deep sleep early in the night," Tononi said, "the response is
short-lived and doesn't propagate at all."

Consciousness has long mystified scientists. The new finding suggests
that it depends on the brain's ability to integrate information,
Tononi says.

The compartmentalization might also help the brain's synapses, which
make all the connections that give us thought, to take a break,
according to Tononi's colleague, Marcello Massimini.

"This process would allow cortical circuits to eliminate noisy
synapses and renormalize in order to be ready for the next day,"
Massimini told LiveScience. The reduced activity might also help
explain why performance in various tasks improves after sleep, he
said.

The machine used to conduct the experiments is new. It generates a
magnetic field to provide stimulation, and Tononi's team expects this
to be the first of many similar studies that will help researchers
better understand the mind and specific disorders of the brain.

The study is detailed in the Sept. 30 issue of the journal Science.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

How is everyone?

swankspike — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 05:23:30 GMT

Hey guys, are we all still alive out there? I understand that a neurophysiologist's life can be hectic...a little better each day, actually! But this is tribe! Let's get to know each other.

I'll start: I'm Spike. I'm 25, and I'm working on my Ph.D. in neuroscience. I have a B.S. in Experimental Psychology and an M.S. in Cognition and Neuroscience. I now work in the Aging and Memory Neuroscience Research Labs at the University of Texas at Dallas, where I am (quickly!) learning to become a neurophysiologist.

I have been interested in neuroscience, and specifically the neurophysiological bases of memory, since I was 14 years old. And though I haven't always been on that exact path (I briefly majored in broadcasting, television, and mass media, and spent countless years in attention and perception psychology labs), my own questions about how cognitive processing actually occurs within the physical confines of a brain led me back to the biology of it all...what had interested me in the field in the first place.

I self-identify as transhumanist, and am deeply interested in the science of aging and life extension. Cryonics, artificial life and intelligence, and other means of technological evolution fascinate and invigorate me. I am one of a growing number of people who believe that aging is on its way out!

My current research uses current clamp electrophysiological recording techniques to measure active and passive membrane properties in hippocampal pyramidal neurons in area CA1 of the rat hippocampus. For the most part, I'm measuring neuronal firing frequency as well as the prolonged post-burst afterhyperpolarization, or AHP. The AHP transiently holds the neuronal membrane at a hyperpolarized potential, thus time-dependently modulating firing frequency. Previous research has shown that the AHP is significantly reduced in CA1 neurons after an animal learns a hippocampus-dependent task, and the neurons are more excitable. Our lab has also shown that drugs which improve learning of hippocampus dependent tasks (such as the spatial maze or eyeblink conditioning) in rats and rabbits also reduce the AHP.

Diabetic patients complained of memory problems for decades until someone finally decided to do a formal study and found out that yes, patients with diabetes fare worse than age-matched controls on memory tasks, especially verbal tasks such as free recall. Then, rather recently, it was discovered that there are insulin receptors in the brain, and they are quite heavily concentrated in the hippocampal regions. Hmm....

My goal is to figure out what's going on with those insulin receptors! What mechanisms of control do they have over our memory processes, and how might we manipulate those mechanisms to stop or reverse such cognitive decline? Right now I'm investigating the calcium hypothesis, which is that an excess influx of calcium to the neuron causes a prolonged AHP (underlying the AHP are at least four calcium-dependent potassium currents), which in turn leads to increased accommodation (i.e., decreased firing frequency). Indeed, this appears to be the case, but what we don't know is "from where does the calcium come?" Through what channels? For what duration? What molecular processes are affected by the excess calcium? If we block calcium from entering the cell, can a person or animal learn difficult tasks better or remember more information? (The simple answer: Yes! Calcium channel blockers do significantly improve learning of hippocampus-dependent tasks in rats and rabbits (mostly L-type blockers have been investigated so far), and also reduce the AHP in hippocampal pyramidal neurons.)

But calcium channels aren't the only source of entry for calcium into a neuron. In fact, when all the calcium channels a neurophysiologist can think of are blocked, there's still a little bit of an AHP...mostly the first part, or fast AHP. The tail current, or slow AHP, is what gets abolished by calcium channel blockers.

Based on bunches of other people's research, I hypothesize that the NMDA receptor serves as an additional source of calcium to the AHP, and that insulin's effects on firing frequency and the AHP in hippocampal pyramidal neurons are modulated by its action on the NMDA receptor, which in turn affects calcium entry. Sounds simple, huh?

It's not!

But I love it, and I'm really, really interested by what I do. I wouldn't have it any other way!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

How is everyone?

swankspike — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 05:18:41 GMT

Hey guys, are we all still alive out there? I understand that a neurophysiologist's life can be hectic...a little better each day, actually! But this is tribe! Let's get to know each other.

I'll start: I'm Spike. I'm 25, and I'm working on my Ph.D. in neuroscience. I have a B.S. in Experimental Psychology and an M.S. in Cognition and Neuroscience. I now work in the Aging and Memory Neuroscience Research Labs at the University of Texas at Dallas, where I am (quickly!) learning to become a neurophysiologist.

I have been interested in neuroscience, and specifically the neurophysiological bases of memory, since I was 14 years old. And though I haven't always been on that exact path (I briefly majored in broadcasting, television, and mass media, and spent countless years in attention and perception psychology labs), my own questions about how cognitive processing actually occurs within the physical confines of a brain led me back to the biology of it all...what had interested me in the field in the first place.

I self-identify as transhumanist, and am deeply interested in the science of aging and life extension. Cryonics, artificial life and intelligence, and other means of technological evolution fascinate and invigorate me. I am one of a growing number of people who believe that aging is on its way out!

My current research uses current clamp electrophysiological recording techniques to measure active and passive membrane properties in hippocampal pyramidal neurons in area CA1 of the rat hippocampus. For the most part, I'm measuring neuronal firing frequency as well as the prolonged post-burst afterhyperpolarization, or AHP. The AHP transiently holds the neuronal membrane at a hyperpolarized potential, thus time-dependently modulating firing frequency. Previous research has shown that the AHP is significantly reduced in CA1 neurons after an animal learns a hippocampus-dependent task, and the neurons are more excitable. Our lab has also shown that drugs which improve learning of hippocampus dependent tasks (such as the spatial maze or eyeblink conditioning) in rats and rabbits also reduce the AHP.

Diabetic patients complained of memory problems for decades until someone finally decided to do a formal study and found out that yes, patients with diabetes fare worse than age-matched controls on memory tasks, especially verbal tasks such as free recall. Then, rather recently, it was discovered that there are insulin receptors in the brain, and they are quite heavily concentrated in the hippocampal regions. Hmm....

My goal is to figure out what's going on with those insulin receptors! What mechanisms of control do they have over our memory processes, and how might we manipulate those mechanisms to stop or reverse such cognitive decline? Right now I'm investigating the calcium hypothesis, which is that an excess influx of calcium to the neuron causes a prolonged AHP (underlying the AHP are at least four calcium-dependent potassium currents), which in turn leads to increased accommodation (i.e., decreased firing frequency). Indeed, this appears to be the case, but what we don't know is "from where does the calcium come?" Through what channels? For what duration? What molecular processes are affected by the excess calcium? If we block calcium from entering the cell, can a person or animal learn difficult tasks better or remember more information? (The simple answer: Yes! Calcium channel blockers do significantly improve learning of hippocampus-dependent tasks in rats and rabbits (mostly L-type blockers have been investigated so far), and also reduce the AHP in hippocampal pyramidal neurons.)

But calcium channels aren't the only source of entry for calcium into a neuron. In fact, when all the calcium channels a neurophysiologist can think of are blocked, there's still a little bit of an AHP...mostly the first part, or fast AHP. The tail current, or slow AHP, is what gets abolished by calcium channel blockers.

Based on bunches of other people's research, I hypothesize that the NMDA receptor serves as an additional source of calcium to the AHP, and that insulin's effects on firing frequency and the AHP in hippocampal pyramidal neurons are modulated by it's action on the NMDA receptor, which in turn affects calcium entry. Sounds simple, huh?

It's not!

But I love it, and I'm really, really interested by what I do. I wouldn't have it any other way!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

IBMs brain simulation project

meener — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 03:21:35 GMT

Curious is any of the neurobiology experts here could comment on the feasability of IBM's current project to create a detailed full scale simulation of a human brain. Do we have acurate enough conceptual models of the structure and function of the human brain to create such a simulation?

http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/pr.nsf/pages/rsc.bluegene_cognitive.html

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 8 replies

microglia identification...

Queen_Shredd — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:43:01 GMT

Anyone proficient in microglia identification on the microscope?
Or should I search for an immunology tribe?
Please let me know if you have had experience in characterizing microglia. (I'm looking for a bit of guidance.)

Cheers.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Scientific American article on brain and gender

kanch_bud — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 02:19:23 GMT

http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000363E3-1806-1264-980683414B7F0000

"serotonin production was a remarkable 52 percent higher on average in men than in women, which might help clarify why women are more prone to depression"

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 5 replies

MRI brain art

fj — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 01:59:57 GMT

(cross-posted to Meta Brain Growth Process)

Has anyone here had the opportunity to play around with MRI scan results for digital art? Interested in hearing if you've had experience with various software packages, and especially interested to hear how much export control can be possible. I am working with Stanford Univ. Hospital and I have no idea what kind of technology they will be using, but I know the results will be put onto a CD.

Someone I know was given an eFilm cd but it's eFilmLite 1.5.2 and lacks an export feature (which exists in the fuller version). I'd prefer to avoid working with just screenshots.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 5 replies

Neurofeedback device & software advice

fj — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 21:50:06 GMT

I've been considering creating my own EEG biofeedback device and despite my fascination/curiosity/ambition, I decided that my first device should be built by someone who really knows what they are doing, although I still watch OpenEEG with great interest.

Has anyone here had any experience with the Pendant EEG over at Pocket-Neurobics.com? http://www.pocket-neurobics.com

They sanction a few software packages, but I wonder if pretty much any EEG biofeedback device can actually work with any software, for the most part. I do not want to invest in a product and be limited to one specific type of software.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 3 replies

Understanding empathy

Fri, 13 May 2005 15:50:39 GMT

Print or Premium only @ http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=S%27%29%28H%2APQ%2F%22%20%20%21%24%0A

CHRISTIAN KEYSERS has a good way of making his point. He shows his audience a clip from a James Bond movie in which a large, hairy spider is climbing over our hero's naked body. He then asks the audience what they think the actor playing Bond is feeling.

It is impossible to tell, of course, whether Sean Connery was really revolted and fearful when the scene was being shot, or whether he was actually indifferent, but just acting well. The point is that the observer can feel—literally feel—Bond's fear. This ability not merely to know in an intellectual sense what someone else is feeling, but actually to feel it with them, is an important social attribute. Dramatists, novelists and psychologists have known about it for centuries, of course. And those who lack it, such as people who are autistic, are at a social disadvantage. But it is only in the past few years that its neurological basis has begun to be understood. It seems to rely on a type of nerve cell known as a mirror neuron. Dr Keysers, who works at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, is one of a band of neurologists that is studying them.

A mirror neuron is one that is active when the individual whose brain it is in is engaged in some action or experiencing some sensation or emotion, and also when that particular action, sensation or emotion is being observed in someone else. Action-sensitive mirror neurons were the first to be found, and they were discovered in rhesus monkeys, one of the mainstays of animal laboratory research.

When a monkey reaches out for something—a piece of food, for example—a particular group of nerve cells in its brain fires off lots of electrical signals. The activity of individual neurons within such a group of action-sensitive cells can be traced with electrodes that have tips so fine that they can be placed against a single cell. Most such cells fire only in response to the action. But about 20% of them also fire in exactly the same way if the monkey sees another monkey (or, indeed, a human) reaching out for food. This empathic firing "mirrors" the way the cells behave when they are involved in an action.

Sticking electrodes into human brains in this way is not on, of course. But modern brain-scanning techniques can be used to look for mirror activity in particular parts of the brain, even if they cannot pick out individual nerve cells. So Dr Keysers uses brain scanners to study the role of mirror neurons in human emotional and sensational empathy, such as the audience feels with Connery/Bond.

Measuring fear by letting a venomous spider crawl over the body of an experimental subject is no more likely to get past an ethics committee than is sticking electrodes in his brain, so Dr Keysers chose to study another emotion, disgust, instead. He put his volunteers in a brain scanner and wafted disgusting odours such as rancid butter and rotten eggs into their nostrils (he wafted some non-disgusting ones in, too, as a control). The disgusting odours, he found, activated part of the brain called the anterior insula. He then played film clips of people's faces registering disgust to his volunteers, and found activity in exactly the same part of the brain.

The sense of touch, too, is mirrored in this way. Though no spiders were involved, Dr Keysers found that part of the brain that was activated by touching the leg of a person in a brain scanner also reacted if the subject was shown film of another person being touched on the leg. All this suggests that understanding the experiences and emotions of others involves the same neural circuitry that we require to have those experiences and emotions ourselves—in other words, that it is mediated by mirror neurons.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Such observations lead to bigger questions, and one of the most pertinent concerns "theory of mind", a grandiloquent term used to describe the extent to which one individual can understand and anticipate the intentions of another.

Two recent papers address this question. Marco Iacoboni, of the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues employed a similar methodology to Dr Keysers's to study the human brain. Meanwhile Leonardo Fogassi and his colleagues at the University of Parma, in Italy, used monkeys and electrodes to watch the process in individual nerve cells (indeed, it was this group, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti and Vittorio Gallese, which was responsible for discovering mirror neurons this way in the first place).

Both papers showed that the mirror-neuron activity is context-dependent in a way that suggests the experimental subjects not only recognise particular movements, but also understand the intention behind them. Watching someone grasping food or drink is a well-known stimulus of mirror-neuron activity. Dr Iacoboni's study, published in Public Library of Science Biology, showed, though, that there is far more such activity in someone's brain when they see a teacup being grasped in the context of a scene that includes biscuits, milk and a teapot (which suggests the grasping hand belongs to someone who is about to drink and eat), than when the scene contains empty plates and vessels (which suggests the hand belongs to someone who is clearing up).

Dr Fogassi's paper in Science has similar results for monkeys (though the context is grasping a pellet that sometimes is and sometimes is not made of food, rather than a tea party). This suggests that monkeys' mirror neurons, too, are capable of distinguishing intentions.

The idea that a lack of mirror-neuron activity is at least part of the cause of autism, has also received support recently. Eschewing brain scanners and implanted electrodes, Vilayanur Ramachandran and his colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, studied brainwaves believed to be associated with mirror neurons by pasting surface electrodes on their volunteers' scalps and faces, and monitoring them while those volunteers performed different tasks.

Ten of the volunteers were men and boys of normal intelligence, but who suffer from autism (not all those with the condition have other, more damaging, symptoms such as low intelligence as well). The other ten were individuals of similarly normal intelligence who had no autistic symptoms. The researchers were interested in the so-called mu-wave (an electrical oscillation in the brain that has a frequency of between eight and 13 cycles a second). In healthy people mu-waves are suppressed not only when actions are executed, but also when they are observed or even simply imagined. It is this suppression that has led researchers in the field to believe mu-waves might be connected with mirror-cell activity. Dr Ramachandran and his colleagues therefore wanted to see what happened to mu-waves in people with autism.

Once they had wired their subjects up, they asked them to perform four tasks. One was for the subject to watch one of his own hands as he opened and closed it in a sort of slow-motion shadow-puppet routine, about once a second. The other three tasks involved watching video clips. These clips were of someone else making the same hand motion, of balls bouncing into each other and apart, and of visual "static" (the sort of thing seen on a badly tuned television).

As the team report in their paper in Cognitive Brain Research, the non-autistic individuals all responded in the expected way: both moving their own hand and watching someone else's hand move caused mu-suppression in their brains, while the other two video clips had no effect. But in people with autism, only their own hand movements caused the mu-waves to be suppressed. Watching other people's hands move had no more effect than watching the balls and the static. That suggests there is something awry with their mirroring system.

This finding followed on the heels of another study investigating mirror-neuron activity in autists, published in Current Biology by Hugo Théoret and his colleagues at Harvard University. Dr Théoret wanted to see whether watching video clips of people moving their fingers changed the excitability of neurons in the part of the brain where action-sensitive mirror neurons are found. This experiment also studied ten autists of normal intelligence and ten controls.
Once again, the mirror neurons in the autistic volunteers failed to respond to the hand actions of others in the way that those of the controls did.

All of these experiments are focused on relatively simple stimuli that researchers can reproduce and measure easily. Whether mirror neurons are involved in more complex calculations of motive—and, most significantly, in those calculations made when someone is trying to manipulate the behaviour of someone else—remains to be seen. But it seems a plausible hypothesis, and the tools to test it more thoroughly are now in place. Understanding what someone else thinks is the necessary first step to deceiving or even controlling them. The actions of mirror cells may have wide ramifications.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

Improved Scanning Technique Uses Brain as Portal to Thought

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 17:05:09 GMT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/25/science/25brain.html

By peering not into the eyes but into the brain, an improved scanning technique has enabled scientists to figure out what people are looking at - even, in some cases, when they are not aware of what they have seen.

The advance, reported today, shows that the scanners may be better able than previously supposed to probe the border between conscious and unconscious thought and even, in certain circumstances, to read people's state of mind.

The scanning technique, known as functional magnetic resonance imaging, is a more powerful version of a technique widely used in hospitals. It can show which regions of the brain are actively performing some task, but until now has lacked the resolution to track specific groups of neurons, as the functional units of the brain are called.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

Need a term paper idea.

OverDaHype — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 23:11:19 GMT

Hi - I am taking a cell bio course and am writing a paper whose topic has to do with recent (since 1995) medical advances in the treatment of a particular illness from a cell bio perspective.

Can anybody suggest an illness or advance where much progress has been made recently? Perhaps one where the developement created a major paradigm shift in how the disease was viewed. Something where I can show marked a marked evolution in the treatment of the disease overall?

No, I'm not trolling for term paper writers, I can do my own research, just a topic idea. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks,
Andreas

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

good site for neuro basics

kimberly — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 19:53:06 GMT

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/introb.html

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

5/16 Bleep Happens filmfest (SF Bay area)

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 08:05:54 GMT

Hello,

"Bleep Happens" is a short film festival coming up at Rafael Theater. It features five short films written and produced by survivors of brain injury. They are participants at Marin Brain Injury Network's Larkspur Center, a very cool program I used to be involved with. Participants at the center have a lot to say, and insights to share, as their lives have been irrevocably and drastically changed. I've listed details for "Bleep Happens" under this tribe's EVENTS listing.

Thanks,

Laurie

[please pardon my cross-postings]

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

The Biology of Joy

kanch_bud — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 01:17:47 GMT

http://lists.isb.sdnpk.org/pipermail/health-list-old/1998-February/000813.html

Thought I would post this for discussion.

"Modern students of pleasure and emotion have their differences. Pert,
for instance, having worked so much with neuropeptides, doesn't buy
the idea that emotions are localized in certain brain areas. "The
hypothalamus, the limbic system, and the amygdala have all been
proposed as the center of emotional expression," she writes. "Such
traditional formulations view only the brain as important in emotional
expressivity, and as such are, from the point of view of my own
research, too limited. From my perspective, the emotions are what link
body and mind into bodymind."

This apparent reunion of body and mind is, in one sense, Pert's most
radical conjecture. And yet, oddly, it's the one idea that many modern
researchers do seem to share, implicitly or otherwise, to varying
degrees. Most would agree that the process of creating human
consciousness is vastly complex. It is also a "wet" system informed
and modulated by dozens of neurochemical messengers, perhaps many
more, all moving at incredible speeds. Dare we call it a calculus? Not
on your life. Any analogy of the brain that summons up a computer is
definitely uncool. For now.

There also seems to be a shared sense, not always stated, that some
sort of grand synthesis may be, oh, 20 minutes away. In other words,
it's only a matter time before the knowledge of East and West is
melded back into oneness, a theory that reunifies body and mind
-- and, as long we're at it, everything else. That may be. But given
that a similar impulse seems so prevalent throughout the culture,
could it be that what we're really seeing is not purely science, but
a case of primal yearning, even wishful thinking? A generation of
brilliant scientists, their sensibilities formed in the psychedelic
'60s, could now be looking back to the mirage of mystical union they
experienced, or at least heard about over and over again, in their
youth. Perhaps they long to reach such a place, theoretical though it
is, for the same reason a salmon swims to the placid pool where its
life began. We, like all creatures, are driven by the hope of an
ultimate reward, a pleasure that has no name, a pleasure that in fact
may not be ours to feel. Thus we never conquer pleasure; pleasure
conquers us. And for its own reasons, both wondrous and brutal.

None of which makes the alleged new paradigm any less real. As the
poets of our day, for better or worse, the modern scientists of mind
have already shaped our reality with their words and concepts. Who
hasn't heard of the endorphin-driven runner's high, or traced a pang
of lover's jealousy to their reptilian brain?"

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

New Tribe: "Polymaths: Universal Humans"

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:33:54 GMT

universalhumans.tribe.net

A polymath (also known as a polyhistor) is a person who excels in multiple fields, particularly in both arts and sciences. The most common term for this is Renaissance man. Other terms for this are Homo universalis and Uomo Universale which in Latin and Italian respectively is translated as "Universal Man". Many notable polymaths lived during the European Renaissance period, and a rounded approach to education was typical of the ideals of the humanists of the time. A gentleman or courtier of that era was expected to speak several languages, play a musical instrument, write poetry and so on, thus fulfilling the Renaissance ideal. During the Renaissance, Baldassare Castiglione, in his The Book of the Courtier, wrote a guide to being a polymath. On the other hand "polymath" may be applied more strictly, taking Leonardo da Vinci or Goethe as prime examples, and requiring a universality of approach. A polymath may not necessarily be classed as a genius, which is a more debatable classification; and certainly a genius may not display the breadth to qualify as a polymath. Albert Einstein is a prime example of a genius who was not a polymath.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

anyone have experience fitting data to psychometric functions?

tari — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 00:46:59 GMT

I'm going crazy, if you have any matlab code to share that would be awesome !

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

new Brain & Mind journal URL

ionamiller — Mon, 30 Aug 2004 02:41:39 GMT

Dear readers,
Brain & Mind Magazine has a new exclusive site at the following
address:

http://www.cerebromente.org.br

Please update your bookmarks!

Best regards

Silvia Helena Cardoso, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
Brain & Mind Magazine
Edumed Institute

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

[off topic] my book More Than Human has been released!

mez — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 16:27:47 GMT

http://www.morethanhuman.org

As some of you know, I spent a good chunk of the last two years working on a book. Well, it’s out! The book is titled “More Than Human” and it’s a non-fiction look at the potential to use biotechnology to make people stronger, smarter, and longer lived.

You can read about what's going on with the book, including recent reviews, upcoming bookstore events, and happenings in my blog at http://www.morethanhuman.org

Here's a description of the book:

More Than Human is about our growing power to alter our minds, bodies, and lifespans through technology. Over the last 5-10 years scientists and doctors have learned an incredible amount about how to enhance memory, improve physical performance, rewrite our genes, alter the rate of aging, and even how to connect our brains directly with computers and robots. This is not science fiction - this is the research happening in labs around the world right now, research that's restored sight to blind men and women, created mice that live to the age of 200 in "human years", and given the paralyzed the ability to control computers just by thinking about it.

More Than Human takes the reader into the labs where this is happening to understand the science of human enhancement. It also steps back to look at the big picture. How will these technologies affect society? What will they do to the economy, to politics, and to human identity? What social policies should we enact to regulate, restrict, or encourage the use of these technologies?

Ultimately More Than Human concludes that we should embrace, rather than fear, the power to alter ourselves - that in the hands of millions of individuals and families, it stands to benefit society more than to harm it.

You can read more at http://www.morethanhuman.org

If the above looks good to you, then I'm asking YOUR help to make the book a success! There are five things you can do to help:

1) BUY THE BOOK!

Click here to buy a copy of my book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=morethanhuman1-20&path=tg/detail/-/0767918436

The more you buy, the higher I’ll rate on Amazon and possibly on other lists. The higher I rank, the more other people will buy the book!

2) BUY RELATED BOOKS!

If you buy related books on Amazon, people who look at those books will see a link to More Than Human! So if you’ve been thinking about buying any of the following books, buy them now!

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=morethanhuman1-20&path=tg/detail/-/0316172324/

Collapse by Jared Diamond
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=morethanhuman1-20&path=tg/detail/-/0670033375/

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=morethanhuman1-20&path=tg/detail/-/0393317552

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=morethanhuman1-20&path=tg/detail/-/076790818X/

The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=morethanhuman1-20&path=tg/detail/-/0618005838/

or any of Amazon’s best selling popular science books
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=morethanhuman1-20&path=tg/new-for-you/top-sellers/-/books/75

3) SUBMIT A REVIEW TO AMAZON!

Once you’ve read the book (or now if you’ve read it already), go back to the Amazon page and write up a review. Don't feel obliged to make it a 5 star review. Users can sniff out phoney reviews. Just write what you honestly think.

4) POST TO YOUR BLOG!

If you have a blog, including a livejournal, post a link to the Amazon page for my book to your blog. That’ll cause the book to pop up on sites that track which books are being most discussed and most linked to in the blogosphere. (Like Technorati's BookTalk: http://www.technorati.com/live/products.html )

5) FORWARD THIS MAIL!

If you know others who you think would be interested in the book, tell them about it or forward this mail! Especially if they're people I don't know.

Thank you all for your help. With your help and a little luck, More Than Human may get out there in front of a lot of people.
mez

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Join my new tribe!

Sun, 13 Feb 2005 22:10:47 GMT

For interesting/intelligent men in scientific and engineering fields - and the women who love them.

http://washingtondc.tribe.net/tribe/dbe6325f-68e9-4d60-9941-afed825ca7a8?_click_path=Application%5Btribe%5D.Tribe%5Bdbe6325f-68e9-4d60-9941-afed825ca7a8%5D&r=10456

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

ssri's, depression, and nutrition

riotgrrl — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 19:28:32 GMT

someone mentioned that s/he was taking an amino acid supplement in lieu of an antidepressant. have there been any good studies looking at depression and nutrition? esp. since it seems to be common knowledge that b-vitamin complexes can elevate mood/help deal with stress etc. Or at least statistical data looking at depression rates with basic nutrition rates. (this does lead to the question of how to isolate the two variables. e.g. is the person anerexic b/c they are depressed or depressed b/c they are starving...) (and i would be more curious to see neurochemical aspects of it than anything else...fMRI's etc)

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

SfN Conference??

oddboy — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 17:44:47 GMT

Is anyone going to the Society for Neuroscience Conference in San Diego? I am, and I know of at least one other member of this tribe that is attending. If you will be there, let me know! :)

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

Question From Brain Hobbyist

Laura — Mon, 23 Aug 2004 20:24:39 GMT

Good afternoon.

I joined this tribe because I am fascinated by the brain, but it is not my field of study and my knowledge of it is limited to that available in books written for the layperson in mind. In fact, I don't understand half the posts in here, to be honest. But I read them anyway, looking for new things to learn and now have a question for all of you knowledgable folk.

I started Diane Ackerman's "An Alchemy of Mind" yesterday and am curious about something she refers to in it.

She talks about some famous experiments that a neuroscientist by the name of Benjamin Libet conducted, showing that the brain processes an action before a person DECIDES to act. But she doesn't go into detail about the experiment itself and I'm curious to know more.

I need to better understand how the brain works. In order for Libet's conclusion to be true, I imagine that it would have to work something like this (in this model, I'm going to map out the brain in a grid like in the game "Battleship"):

Moving Right Hand to Point A on a line produces a spark in the A1 sector of the brain.

DECIDING to move the Right Hand to Point A on a line produces a spark in the A2 sector of the brain.

Moving Right Hand to Point B on a line produces a spark in the B1 sector of the brain.

DECIDING to move the Right Hand to Point B on a line produces a spark in the B2 sector of the brain.

Moving Right Hand to Point C on a line produces a spark in the C1 sector of the brain.

DECIDING to move the Right Hand to Point C on a line produces a spark in the C2 sector of the brain.

So, when Libet states that processing the action occurs before making the decision to take the action, that would mean that there's a flash in A1 and then A2.

What I'm trying to get at is this: how do we know that the brain process he THOUGHT was the brain processing the action to move to A1 was actually the brain contemplating ALL its options? Which means that the brain is flashing in A1, A2 and A3, simultaneously, but he INTERPRETED it as the action of A1.

I'm fascinated by the idea that brain research is that detailed - that a tiny action like moving your hand to one point rather than another is that tracable in the brain.

Any light you could shed on this would be most welcome and I thank you in advance.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 13 replies

IQ & brain size...

ScreamBrian — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 06:23:02 GMT

I just came across this article, and I thought everyone would find it interesting:

"Human intelligence determined by volume and location of gray matter tissue in brain"

Single ‘intelligence center’ in brain unlikely, UCI study also finds. Irvine, Calif. , July 19, 2004.

General human intelligence appears to be based on the volume of gray matter tissue in certain regions of the brain, UC Irvine College of Medicine researchers have found in the most comprehensive structural brain-scan study of intelligence to date.

The study also discovered that because these regions related to intelligence are located throughout the brain, a single “intelligence center,” such as the frontal lobe, is unlikely.

Dr. Richard Haier, professor of psychology in the Department of Pediatrics and long-time human intelligence researcher, and colleagues at UCI and the University of New Mexico used MRI to obtain structural images of the brain in 47 normal adults who also took standard intelligence quotient tests. The researchers used a technique called voxel-based morphometry to determine gray matter volume throughout the brain which they correlated to IQ scores. Study results appear on the online version of NeuroImage.

Previous research had shown that larger brains are weakly related to higher IQ, but this study is the first to demonstrate that gray matter in specific regions in the brain is more related to IQ than is overall size. Multiple brain areas are related to IQ, the UCI and UNM researchers have found, and various combinations of these areas can similarly account for IQ scores. Therefore, it is likely that a person’s mental strengths and weaknesses depend in large part on the individual pattern of gray matter across his or her brain.

“This may be why one person is quite good at mathematics and not so good at spelling, and another person, with the same IQ, has the opposite pattern of abilities,” Haier said.

While gray matter amounts are vital to intelligence levels, the researchers were surprised to find that only about 6 percent of all the gray matter in the brain appears related to IQ.

“There is a constant cascade of information being processed in the entire brain, but intelligence seems related to an efficient use of relatively few structures, where the more gray matter the better,” Haier said. “In addition, these structures that are important for intelligence are also implicated in memory, attention and language.”

The findings also suggest that the brain areas where gray matter is related to IQ show some differences between young-adult and middle-aged subjects. In middle age, more of the frontal and parietal lobes are related to IQ; less frontal and more temporal areas are related to IQ in the younger adults.

The research does not address why some people have more gray matter in some brain areas than other people, although previous research has shown the regional distribution of gray matter in humans is highly heritable. Haier and his colleagues are currently evaluating the MRI data to see if there are gender differences in IQ patterns.

Haier’s colleagues in the study include Dr. Michael T. Alkire and Kevin Head of UCI and Drs. Rex E. Jung and Ronald A. Yeo of the University of New Mexico. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development supported the study.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 4 replies

x & migraines?

Angel — Wed, 28 Jul 2004 05:35:39 GMT

anyone have any knowledge of this possibility?
i'm prone to migraines, and some of the commong side effects of x sound similar (jaw clenching, grinding, dilation of blood vessels).

any recommendations for preventing exacerbation?

thanks!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Help with neuromodulation.

mongoboo — Fri, 23 Jul 2004 05:40:46 GMT

I am looking for good references on the gender differences between men and women's chemical synaptic neuromodulators. I am a lay writer trying to understand and explain to the lay reader the concepts of sensory enhancement by oxytocin, endorphins, estrogens, etc. What follows is some of my writing on the subject.

Here's my adventure in junk science, and correction or contradiction would be appreciated:

Tantrism and Neuromodualtion.

Introduction.

Tantric sexual states are described in such a way that Western readers find difficult to understand. The whole belief system in Tantra must be understood before descriptions of Tantric sexual acts can be related to.New theories in psycho-biology lend credence to the Tantric chakra system and extended states of erotic meditation. The chakra system in Tantra parallels nodal receptor site theory proposed by Rossi and Cheek and other body/mind psychologists . In psychological terms the Tantric sexual meditation is understood to be a physical act that accesses state dependent memory, association and selective attention.

Induction of States of Consciousness by Neural Networks
To understand the concept of state dependent awareness and how it functions as an explanation for Tantric states it is necessary t distinguish between classically taught neurotransmission and neuromodulation by the bodies informational substances circulated in the extra cellular fluid (fluid outside the cell membranes ).In classical models of nerve function nerve information is transmitted from cell to cell through adjoining boundary layers called synapses. Electrical impulses travel along this chain of nerve cells to the brain where the information is processed. The whole cycle from initial simulation to awareness takes just a fraction of a second. Less well known but clinically validated is the nerve process called neuromodulation. In neuromodulation the synaptic boundary is affected by certain classes of peptides that alter the electrochemical exchange between synapses.

Any hormone, or neuro-transmitter can change perception in this manner. It is now understood that hundreds of synaptic modulators are always circulating in the extra cellular fluid. Unlike impulse action by nerve branches neuro-modulators trigger persistent metabolic changes in target cells. These metabolic changes are commonly referred to as "states of consciousness". The states of arousal, inhibition, fear, hunger, thirst, sexual desire, sleepiness, comfort, etc. are triggered by changes in the proportioning of different neuromodulators in our body fluids. The response time of neuromodulation is measured in minutes and hours. Certain areas of the body are targeted by these neuromodulating substances. These target areas are referred to as nodes and groups of nodes are referred to as neural networks. In this way nature can efficiently prepare a state of consciousness by merely releasing a particular group neuro-peptides into the body fluids.

The release can occur from many different locations is the body but most notably from the glands and hypothalamus. . Some neuro-peptides are time dependent like LH, FSH, estrogen or progesterone responsible for the female cycle. And some neuro-peptides are stimulus dependent like, endorphins, endo-opiates, oxyticin, enepherin and adrenaline. So actual sensations and perception of sensation is altered continuously at the synaptic level by neuro-peptides that are constantly altering "mood".

The Chakra System and In-common Networks of Receptor Sites.

A strong association can be made between the theory of neural networks and the Tantirc theory of various chakras. The well-being of each charka affects the "state of consciousness". The balance of nodal networks determines "physical states of awareness. In Tantric philosophy extended sexual meditation is said to open up the Chakras or energy centers of the body. There are six well known chakras. All of them have a psychic component. That is, the person experiencing disruption of the function of a particular chakra has an emotional component and a behavioral relationship to its imperfect function.

The first chakra or root chakra is associated with elimination . Its psychic component has to do with issues of survival. Hence the innate response to defecate during extreme fear situations. Also issues related to constipation, or diarrhea and obsessive toilet habits may be related to the psychic component of the first chakras energy. Behavioral patterns may imply a need to re-live issues related to survival, fear, and fight or flight. The triggering neuropeptides that network control centers involved with these issues are Adrenaline and related compounds. It is well known that adrenaline is the neuromodulator involved in the fight or flight response. Adrenaline is a stimulus released neuromodulator. It shuts down many bodily functions so that survival can be dealt with. It interrupts the function of other neuromodulators that are associated with rhythmical cycles of biomodulation like sleep cycles, eating cycles, breathing, and in extreme cases shock and circulatory collapse.

The second chakra is related to sexual function. Many sexual hormones which are part of the complex of neurotransmitters are time dependent and address certain receptor sites at particular times of the month, or at particular times of day. The sexual response itself is time and stimulus oriented and triggers the release of endorphins, endo-opiates and sex hormones. These sexual neurotransmitters actually reinforce the cyclic nature of the sexual cycle increasing hormonal regularity and balancing hormonal release. Women who have slept with "phenomenal male sent" on a pillow showed statistically more stability in there female hormonal cycle. The sexual hormones themselves are experiential filters that are induced into the limbic system. They too are informational substances that act as filters on our perceptions. Like a chord played on a piano sex hormones act in symphony with other informational substances that are released by pleasurable sensations and relaxation. Protective fear based selective attention is filtered out and sensations of pleasurable openness are enhanced by manipulation of nerve cell data on a cellular level. The synaptic response is reformulated to gain our selective attention towards experiencing sex and its related biorhythmic enhancements: better sleep, deeper breathing, lower blood pressure, relaxed muscle tone, emotional bonding and regular digestion. These biological enhancements to the organism create an altered perceptive reality triggering state dependent memories, associations, and state dependent selective attention. We enter another state of consciousness.

The psychic component of the third chakra is power or life force. The center of this chakra is said to be at the solar plexus. It coincides with the receptor node complex of the digestive system. There is a network of opiate receptors in the digestive tract. Appetite and weight gain are modulated by endo-opiate peptides. Issues of domination and submission, controlling behavior, and power are often associated with digestive disorders. Anorexia, bulimia and overeating are disorders associated with behavioral control of digestive functions. Since these functions are dependent on opiate receptors they will often respond to treatment using hypnosis to trigger opiate enrichment or as tantrics believe they can be cleared through opiate enrichment caused by continued mild sexual stimulation.

The life force is further affected by opiate enrichment of the thymus, spleen and the immune system. Monocytes circulating in the bloodstream are the basic fighters of the immune system. They encircle invaders and destroy them. Monocytes not only have receptors for receiving neuro-peptides they also manufacture and emit them. Emotion affecting neuro-transmitters actually appear to control the routing and migration of monocytes in the bloodstream (Ruff). Positive emotions and pleasurable experiences actually increase the capacity of the immune system It has been speculated that neuropeptides provide the psychological basis for the emotions.

There is a striking pattern of neuropeptide receptor distribution in the mood regulating areas of the brain. Essentially endorphins, as well as other information substances and their receptors function on many levels from the spinal cord up through the cortical-limbic-hypothalamic system as filters . They modulate all sensory, perceptual, and physiological information. This might be the process by which the conscious mind with its expectations and planning functions can modulate psychosomatic processes down to the spinal chord level.

In tantra this process is metaphorically described as perceiving with the third eye or fifth chakra. The mental imagery or point of meditation in the tantric exercise is encoding the all perceptual strata in the nervous system with a new set of neuropeptide filters. This neuromodulation is constantly interacting with classical neurotransmission.The striking similarities between psychosomatic processes and the metaphors of the chakra system enable us to comprehend the tantric sexual process more meaningfully.

Tantric Sexual Meditation and Perception Altering Neuromodulation.

All homeostatic internal regulatory centers from the spine to the hypothalamus are in communication with a vast sexual receptor system. All major behavioral states of attention, motivation, sleep, dreams, memory and all physiological processes like respiration, body rhythms, appetite, autonomic nervous system functions and sensory tuning have associated sexual receptor sites. Estradiol (female sex hormone) and testosterone are networked to these sights when there level is raised in the bloodstream. Expanded use of sexual energy in the tantric sexual meditation increases these hormonal levels respectively. When pure thought and physical technique are practiced by the tantric partnership selective state awareness is shifted and you experience a new state of consciousness. Endorphins are enhanced by repetitive breathing and voicing of specific sounds known to tantrics as a Mantra. The rhythmical breathing increases oxygenation of the blood which sharpens sensual awareness.

The Tantric sexual act itself is a dance between two people to reach and advanced state of selective awareness. Using eye, breath, and movement entrainment the sexual partnership follows a psychic rhythmical flow that keeps on bathing the receptor system in a constant flood of endorphins, endo-opiates, and sexual hormones. The end result is an advanced state of filtered sensation that triggers a barrage of emotions and awarenesses. The modulated state is then encoded into the cyclic functionalism of the body, kinesthetic memory, and subconscious process which often triggers lucid dreaming. The process of the sexual meditation restructures perception in the individual through extended changes in neuromodulation that ripple out through the receptor network of the body. Hence the tantric metaphor of the opening of the chakras is clearly a psychic tool to unleash life enforcing psycho-physical processes at work in the sexual encounter.

Thanks,
Steve

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 8 replies

2004 Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and other meetings

swankspike — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 15:42:20 GMT

So...anyone going to the SfN meeting in San Diego this year?

I'm going, but I'm trying to get in touch with friends in the area who can house me for the week so I don't have to pay for a hotel...it's good that SfN discounts registration costs for student members, but DAMN travel expenses can really rack up.

Anyway, for more information about the meeting, visit web.sfn.org.

Here are listings for other meetings going on soon:

ISDN 2004 – 15th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience

August 4-7, 2004, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

Registration is now open.

Website: www.isdn-conference.com Contact email: s.phillips@elsevier.com

Satellite Events to the 2004 Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience

Neurons and Memory – The 2nd Neuron Satellite Meeting

October 21-22, 2004, Doubletree Hotel Mission Valley, San Diego, CA, USA

Poster abstract submission deadline: July 30, 2004

Website: www.neuron-meeting.com Contact email: neuron-meeting@elsevier.com

The Cytoskeleton and Synaptic Function - The 14th Neuropharmacology Conference

October 20-22, 2004, Hilton San Diego Resort, San Diego, CA, USA

Poster abstract submission deadline: June 30, 2004

Website: www.neuropharmacology-conference.elsevier.com

Contact email: neuropharmacology-conference@elsevier.com

Protein Misfolding in Alzheimer’s and Other Age-related Neurodegenerative Diseases - The 5th Neurobiology of Aging Conference

October 21-22, 2004

Hilton San Diego Resort, San Diego, CA, USA

Poster abstract submission deadline: July 2, 2004

Website: www.nba-conference.elsevier.com Contact email: a.williams@elsevier.com

Six Decades of GABA

October 21-22, 2004

Loews Coronado Bay Resort, Coronado, San Diego

Website: www.gaba-conference.elsevier.com Contact email: n.woods@elsevier.com

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

signal drift

swankspike — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 22:35:18 GMT

anyone else here do intracellular sharp electrode recording (current clamp)? i have been experiencing intermittant signal drift for the past 2 weeks. i have tried everything i know to fix it (i.e., rechloridizing (and after that didn't work, replacing) ground and recording electrodes, checking all wire connections, especially the ground, and checking the pH of my micropipette filling solution...all to no avail. anyone have any other suggestions? my advisor is out of town, so i'm really beginning to flounder here.

as a sidenote, i'm also getting really, really crummy electrode resistance whenever my signal actually decides to stabalize for a few minutes. suggestions or clues from more experienced folks are very, very welcome.

thanks!

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

Intelligence and the Genome

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 23:24:04 GMT

Came across a very cool article linking Intelligence (a variety of factors...well, 2 anyway....) through Neurology with Heredity and Socio-Economic issues.

NEUROBIOLOGY OF INTELLIGENCE: SCIENCE AND ETHICS

Jeremy R. Gray1 & Paul M. Thompson2

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/Dynapage.taf?file=/nrn/journal/v5/n6/full/nrn1405_fs.html

Hey, it's all academic...
d^

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

LabView (National Instruments) Question

swankspike — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 17:47:34 GMT

Does anyone here use LabView for intracellular recording and data acquisition? We got all new computers in the lab last week, and I'm having a hell of a time getting everything moved over from old to new. My A/D board (PCI-MIO-16E-4) is installed correctly and is being recognized, but I keep getting some crazy Analog Input Configuration error message.

I'm gonna spend the rest of the day figuring this out, and probably no one here can really help, but it'd be nice to know if anyone else uses LabView just so I can have a contact and someone else to chat with about this kind of stuff.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 5 replies

Brain Zaps -- Non SSRI

john — Mon, 08 Mar 2004 03:27:42 GMT

The last post, on withdrawl from SSRIs, talked about brain zaps. I've had what I think is a similar occurance, but have never taken SSRIs.

But the experience is more temporal than physical. It's as if my brain skips a beat. Walking down the street and suddenly being two paces forward of where I should be.

I have taken other drugs that interact with the seratonin system, though none that have shown evidence of causing cell death (e.g. mdma), and nothing with any regularity.

A curiousity for your ammusement more than anything.

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 5 replies

Hericium erinaceus

Pilsbury — Sat, 14 Feb 2004 17:16:35 GMT

Yes, this fungi which looks like a collection of long soft white teeth has been found to stimulate the production of more neuron in the brain. There are currently some research projects going on using this fungi on people with memory deficits and I hear the results have been amazing. This fungi grows all over cnetral and Northern California up into Oregon and I believe Washington too. It's easy to identify and there is nothing poisonous that even looks remotely like it. It has a texture like sea food and it quite tasty in stir fry. Smart food !

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 0 replies

Suggestions?

Thu, 08 Jan 2004 14:03:52 GMT

I'm noticing a lot of articles in the media (NY Times, Wall Street Journal etc) about discoveries obtained the new imaging tools like fMRI, PET scans etc. These are articles are well written, understandable to the lay person.

Going deeper, there's sites for the professionals in the field.
The technical detail is a bit daunting at first glance.
For example
http://www.neuroguide.com
http://www.neuroguide.com/gregg.html

Anyone here work with or know anyone working with the new imaging tools? Or can recommend some reading that's more introductory to intermediate level?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 5 replies

Alright!

swankspike — Wed, 17 Dec 2003 22:43:21 GMT

Okay then, I FINALLY have more time to contribute to the tribe that I started. It is official: as of today I am staying on at the University of Texas at Dallas to finish my doctoral study, so I got to quit my part-time job and drop one of the lab rotations I was doing so I can concentrate fully on my first-year project and dissertation (both undecided as of yet).

I'll let you all know how it goes, but PLEASE start posting! Let's get some discussion going! (I'll try to come up with something soon, but I must be cleaning my apartment first!)

Best wishes to you all,

Chana

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 2 replies

Electromagnetic noise in neurons (cross post)

oddboy — Wed, 14 Jan 2004 17:19:13 GMT

(I originally posted this to the cog sci tribe, but may be more applicable to this tribe)

January 12, 2004 - 09:42 AM
Electromagnetic noise in neurons

This is an idea I have been playing with in my mind, and it may be of interest to others here.

A neuron in a highly active neural environment will generate an action potential at a lower signal threshold than it would in an isolated environment.

My interpretation is as follows, the electromagnetic noise from the action potentials in nearby neurons affects the movement of ions. At any given moment the electromagnetic noise from the surrounding environment may be driving ions through the membrane in such a manner as to change the membrane potential in favor of an action potential, or conversely the surrounding noise may discourage an action potential. In the case of a supportive noise environment the probability a given ion will travel across the membrane is increased. Thus a single channel in a supportive noisy environment will experience a higher number of ions traveling through it.

Expanded further, a given amount of neurotransmitter will open the same number of ion channels in either condition, but the noisy environment will have a greater membrane potential change.

Thus a normally subthreshold signal from an upstream neuron may be above threshold in a neuron in a noisy environment.

Can anyone else elaborate on this? I have found a few articles discussing the phenomenon, but none adequately elucidate the mechanism of action. Here is one such article...
cns.iaf.cnrs-gif.fr/files/Dyn2001.pdf

~t

-- reply by Gorgeous

January 14, 2004 - 05:34 AM new
Re: Electromagnetic noise in neurons

If you mean the more ions (of a certain type) in a region, the more likely the neuron is to spike, you're right in a sense.

Accoring to the Nernst equation, the potential (V) caused by ions is:
V = 58 * log ([ionsOUT]/[ionsIN])
(ionsOUT = concentration of ions outside the membrane, ionsIN = concentration inside the membrane).

Effectively, increased ionic levels outside the membrane will have effect only if the ions inside the membrane remain constant or less than the external change.

I hope that's correct and not just a load of rubbish (and what you were reffeing to in your post!) :)

--->reply by Todd Huffman

January 14, 2004 - 09:16 AM new
Re: Electromagnetic noise in neurons

Your post is certainly relevant, but ever so slightly off. The Nernst eq could possibly used if I ever get around to fleshing out the theory. I ’ll reframe the post.

Envision a static membrane with a standard potential across it.

(neuron #1)
++++++
======

Now, fire a neuron nearby. Action potentials have an electromagnetic effect (observable by EEG or MEG).

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
==================
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(neuron # 1)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
==================
+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

(interstitial space)

- - - - - - - - + + + + + + +
==================
+ + + + + + - - - - - - - - - -
(neuron # 2)
+ + + + + + - - - - - - - - - -
==================
- - - - - - - - + + + + + + +

Does the polarity reversal on the nearby neuron have an effect on the electrophysiology of the neuron 1? If the portion of the membrane we are observing in neuron 1 is in the synapse, will the nearby action potential affect the probability of the initiation of its own action potential, assuming a synchronous release of neurotransmitter?

I realize the chances of this happening are small, but imagine there is a small statistical effect. This small effect would be exponentially higher during periods of high neural activity, since there are more action potentials to affect the probability of nearby neurons, and a higher number of vesicular releases to be affected.

Now, multiply a small statistical effect times 100,000,000,000, approximately the number of neurons in the human brain. Maybe enough to make a difference?

So my hypothesis is this, a synapse in a highly active neural system has a higher probability of firing with a given amount of neurotransmitter.

The result will be a system more sensitive to regularly sub-threshold signals. If, for instance, there is a high level of activity in your auditory system, you may detect signals normally missed.

I may be wrong, which is why I was bringing this up here. Just a thought I had. Any more opinions?

posted in Neurophysiology and Neurobiology - 1 reply

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