Ask a Neuroscientist: A Spectrum of Handedness

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Ask a Neuroscientist: A Spectrum of Handedness

Are you left handed? Right handed? Somewhere in between? 

What is commonly thought of as "left" and "right" handedness, is probably more accurately described as a spectrum. Where we lie on that spectrum (from strongly right handed, to strongly left handed) can depend on the task we are performing. For example: you might be strongly left handed when it comes to writing, but you find it more natural to open a jar with your right hand. Or when you open the lid of a hinged box, you do so with either left or right hand. 

We don't really have a good handle on what it is about the brain that makes us handed (or footed). But we do know that other animals also show similar preferences. So it's possible that handedness is some kind of fundamental feature of the way brains generate movement, and interface with muscles. 

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The Brain Training Game: Who Wins and Who Loses?

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The Brain Training Game: Who Wins and Who Loses?

Computer games are a guilty pleasure many of us indulge in when we think our co-workers aren’t looking over our shoulders, and using this pastime to make ourselves smarter feels a lot like cheating! So does this strategy actually work? Should you buy in to the brain training game, or cast your bets elsewhere? 

Although brain games are based on sound principles, scientists are still reluctant to embrace their effectiveness. The crux of whether brain training programs meet their claims is whether specific task training can generalize to intelligence and every day cognitive function. 

 

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Brains & Bourbon Ep14 Law & Neuroscience

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This week on Brains & Bourbon, we chat with Hank Greely about the ethics and laws of neuroscience. Topics include the legal and ethical concerns of personal genomics (such as 23 and Me), using fMRI as a complimentary tool for lie detection, establishing justice in cases of mental or psychiatric instability, bringing back extinct animals, and more! Hank Greely is a Professor of Law at Stanford University, and serves as the chair of the California Advisory Committee on Human Stem Cell Research, director of the Stanford Law School’s Center for Law and the Biosciences as well as the new Stanford Program In Neuroscience and Society, or “SPINS.”

This week on Brains & Bourbon, we chat with Hank Greely about the ethics and laws of neuroscience. Topics include the legal and ethical concerns of personal genomics (such as 23 and Me), using fMRI as a complimentary tool for lie detection, establishing justice in cases of mental or psychiatric instability, bringing back extinct animals, and more!

Hank Greely is a Professor of Law at Stanford University, and serves as the chair of the California Advisory Committee on Human Stem Cell Research, director of the Stanford Law School’s Center for Law and the Biosciences as well as the new Stanford Program In Neuroscience and Society, or “SPINS.”

Here is a video of the Tasmanian Tiger, Aka, the Thylacine that we discussed in the interview: 

Tasmania Tiger, Thylacine, this is the last one, died in 1936. El último ejemplar murió en 1936

Brains & Bourbon Ep13 Sleep

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This week on Brains & Bourbon, we share a Manhattan with H. Craig Heller who talk us through the "how" and "why" of sleep and explains what hibernating astronauts have in common with ground squirrels. Plus much more! Dr. Heller is a professor of biology and is the co-director of the Stanford Center for Down Syndrome Research.

This week on Brains & Bourbon, we share a Manhattan with H. Craig Heller who talk us through the "how" and "why" of sleep and explains what hibernating astronauts have in common with ground squirrels. Plus much more!

Dr. Heller is a professor of biology and is the co-director of the Stanford Center for Down Syndrome Research.

Ask a Neuroscientist: Why is prayer so motivating? Is it because of dopamine?

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Ask a Neuroscientist: Why is prayer so motivating? Is it because of dopamine?

Do some people experience a rush of dopamine when they pray or preach the gospel?

Becca Krock's fascinating answer evokes a wide range of subjects, from St. Teresa, "who certainly seems to have enjoyed praying", to the handful of studies that have measured brain activity during prayer, to the writings of William James, "the father of modern psychology".

In the end, she writes, it may be reasonable to conclude that "prayer is an intricate composite of many more run-of-the-mill psychological processes (attention, memory, emotion, speech). And each one...is accompanied by the neural correlates you’d expect to see during that process, regardless of whether it’s occurring in a religious or secular context."

Image source: continuedon.wordpress.com

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Ask a Neuroscientist: How many types of neurons are there?

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Ask a Neuroscientist: How many types of neurons are there?

How many types of neurons are there? 

Joran Sorokin discusses one popular property used for distinguishing between neurons: neurotransmission, or how individual cells communicate with one another. How do neuroscientists use this property to break neurons into subtypes? And where does this leave glia??

Read on to learn more. 

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Insatiable Insects

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Insatiable Insects

It is possible to eat until your stomach bursts open, but most people will never come close to this horror. ... The neuronal circuits that control our eating behavior have evolved to keep us well fed, but not overfed. There are triggers that tell you to start eating, such as hunger and the availability of food, and triggers that tell you to stop, such as sensation of dangerous foods or gut distension.

But what if that system was broken? Kristin Scott’s lab at UC Berkeley has discovered a small set of neurons in the fruit fly that chronically inhibit eating. Without them, the animal will eat until it regurgitates, excretes, or explodes.

Image credit: Allan-Hermann Pool, Kristin Scott’s Lab at UC Berkeley.

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Brains & Bourbon Ep12: Daniel Hawes – Personality, Neuroeconomics, and a Whiskey Sour

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This week on Brains and Bourbon, we share whiskey sours with Daniel Hawes, a post-doctoral fellow studying the interplay between personality and decision making in Sam McClure’s lab. We ask Daniel about his journey from agricultural engineering student in Germany to psychologist at Stanford, and how the different perspectives of engineering, economics, psychology and neuroscience interact to influence his approach to understanding how individuals make decisions. Daniel tells us about how psychologists currently think about defining individual differences between people, and how his research is revealing differences in brain activity during decision making that are related to the "big five" dimensions of personality. In the end, we wax philosophical about the importance of understanding personality in developing self-awareness and whether it would be a good idea to tickle people in an fMRI machine. --- In the interview, we mentioned the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. If you haven't heard of this, you should really see the videos of cute kids trying their best to avoid sweet, white, gooey temptation. Check out a recreation of the original experiment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3S0xS2hdi4.

 

 

This week on Brains and Bourbon, we share whiskey sours with Daniel Hawes, a post-doctoral fellow studying the interplay between personality and decision making in Sam McClure’s lab. We ask Daniel about his journey from agricultural engineering student in Germany to psychologist at Stanford, and how the different perspectives of engineering, economics, psychology and neuroscience interact to influence his approach to understanding how individuals make decisions.

Daniel tells us about how psychologists currently think about defining individual differences between people, and how his research is revealing differences in brain activity during decision making that are related to the "big five" dimensions of personality. In the end, we wax philosophical about the importance of understanding personality in developing self-awareness and whether it would be a good idea to tickle people in an fMRI machine.

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In the interview, we mentioned the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. If you haven't heard of this, you should really see the videos of cute kids trying their best to avoid sweet, white, gooey temptation. Check out a re-creation of the original experiment here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3S0xS2hdi4.

 

Brains & Bourbon Ep11 Rob Malenka

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This week on Brains & Bourbon, we share a cocktail with Rob Malenka, who describes his journey from party animal to world renowned scientist, and gives a beautiful and in-depth history of one of the most important fields in neuroscience. Plus much more! Dr. Malenka is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science here at Stanford.

This week on Brains & Bourbon, we share a cocktail with Rob Malenka, who describes his journey from party animal to world renowned scientist, and gives a beautiful and in-depth history of one of the most important fields in neuroscience. Plus much more! 

Dr. Malenka is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science here at Stanford.