This is going to be a quick one today. I just am wondering if there is the possibility that there are thoughts that are simply created by the mind.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Measuring the Mind
The are hundreds of ways in which we measure varying parts and functions of the human body. With almost all of them, we can say, "because this is happening, these other things are happening." While that was not very eloquently stated, the point of it is describe how we are not exactly sure what the measurements of the brain mean. To elucidate the point further, take heart rate for example. We can measure the heart rate and state that a higher rate means that the heart is pumping blood more quickly, while a slower heart rate means that the heart is pumping blood more slowly. There are many different techniques to measure the activity of the brain, but what does each of them say about what is occurring in the mind?
There are really two different ways to go about measuring the brain, structurally and functionally. To measure the brain structurally, there are a few different techniques including MRI and CAT/CT scans. MRI uses magnetic fields to detect radiation from certain molecules which are present at varying levels in different tissues. The fluid contrast between structures in the brain can be visualized and is helpful in viewing brain neuroanatomy. A CAT/CT scan on the other hand uses x-rays to produce an image of the brain. While these measures of the brain are interesting and can demonstrate information about the structures or abnormalities of the brain itself, it does not show us how the brain is actually functioning.
There are really two different ways to go about measuring the brain, structurally and functionally. To measure the brain structurally, there are a few different techniques including MRI and CAT/CT scans. MRI uses magnetic fields to detect radiation from certain molecules which are present at varying levels in different tissues. The fluid contrast between structures in the brain can be visualized and is helpful in viewing brain neuroanatomy. A CAT/CT scan on the other hand uses x-rays to produce an image of the brain. While these measures of the brain are interesting and can demonstrate information about the structures or abnormalities of the brain itself, it does not show us how the brain is actually functioning.
Functional imaging of the brain does help to elucidate how the brain is functioning. To view images of activated brain regions by detecting the indirect effects of neural activity on local blood volume, flow, and oxygen saturation, you can use fMRI. To measure brain activity, you can you EEG. However, what are these actually telling us? A rise in blood volume, meaning greater activity, meaning that the brain area had more neural activation at the time that the measurement was taken as compared to the baseline measurement. How do we know that the baseline measurement is actually an average measure of the brain activity? How do we know that a change from baseline necessarrily means a correlation between that brain area and the task or the measurement that is occuring. The difference in the wiring of people's minds also has to play apart in how different people accomplish the same task. There seems to be inherent problems in using these techniques and observing the behavioral outputs as correlates. I believe that an effort to lessen the time scale of these measurements, as well as the use of hybrid models, in which multiple techniques are tested against eachother will be helpful in actually pinpointing what is occuring in the brain.
This summer as I start my Ph. D. program and venture into the world of these functional scans, I hope to keep on ongoing dialogue about what these scans are actually telling us. I remember a story last year, in which statistical significance was found in a "noise" and that that raises questions of the validity of using these scans to draw some conclusions. It will be interesting to always ask about the reliability of the test. While I think that it is a very powerful tool, it is one that needs refining and also one that needs to be used with other methods. As of now I am somewhat apprenhensive about what the scans are actually telling us, but only time will tell.
The brain controls all that we do through the communication of neurons, the changes in firing rates, the changes in the strengths of connections between neurons, and the release of chemical messengers, and hormones all change how are brain functions and what it is trying to accomplish. But what do the changes mean? A rise in a neurotransmitter here, an increase in firing there. These changes are occurring on a time scale of milliseconds, while our measurements are occurring on a much different time scale. While the brain is accoplishing all these physiological activities it is important to remember what is arising from these activities, the mind. We must not forget that while we may be able to measure what the brain is doing, we still have much further to go before we measure what is occuring in the mind. Through contemplation and self reflection we can investigate our own minds. However, this topic can have a post of its own at a later time.
This summer as I start my Ph. D. program and venture into the world of these functional scans, I hope to keep on ongoing dialogue about what these scans are actually telling us. I remember a story last year, in which statistical significance was found in a "noise" and that that raises questions of the validity of using these scans to draw some conclusions. It will be interesting to always ask about the reliability of the test. While I think that it is a very powerful tool, it is one that needs refining and also one that needs to be used with other methods. As of now I am somewhat apprenhensive about what the scans are actually telling us, but only time will tell.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Decision Making
Decision making is a series of cognitive processes which lead to the selection of a course of action among several alternatives. Everyday we make thousands of decisions, although we may not always recognize that we are actively making a decision at that moment. Before getting to far into this, I should start with some questions.
What makes a "good" or a "bad" decision?
What leads us to making a decision?
How does emotion affect decisions?
Are some decisions made for us based on biological predisposition?
Whether we make a decision or not is one thing, but it is not always the decision making that call into question, it is the consequences of our actions. How do we measure a "good" or "bad" decision? Is it how its consequences affect us, how it effects others? It seems that when we are asking whether a decision was good or bad, it is because its effects had an impact in many areas, perhaps including some moral. Decisions seem to be some of the most subjective experiences that we have and often times are are one of the cognitive actions that affect other people. So what guides me in making a decision? My experiences, my volition, my beliefs, the current situation, my emotions and activation of a neural circuit are what guides my decisions. I feel that decisions cannot be judged as good or bad, but the situation and the overall effects of the decision have to be taken into account.
When we start to talk about the morality of decisions and how one should be judged for the decision they made, we start to enter a fairly uncertain, indescribable area of the human mind. It is areas like this where you can really begin to marvel at the power of the mind.
What makes a "good" or a "bad" decision?
What leads us to making a decision?
How does emotion affect decisions?
Are some decisions made for us based on biological predisposition?
The anterior cingulate gyrus and the orbitofrontal cortex are brain regions involved in decision making processes. A recent neuroimaging study, found distinctive patterns of neural activation in these regions depending on whether decisions were made on the basis of personal volition or following directions from someone else.
Another recent study found that lesions to the anterior cingulate gyrus in the Macaque resulted in impaired decision making in the long run of reinforcement guided tasks suggesting that the ACC is responsible for evaluating past reinforcement information and guiding future action.
Emotion appears to aid the decision making process: Decision making often occurs in the face of uncertainty about whether one's choices will lead to benefit or harm. An interaction between emotions and the body states that they cause along with further interaction between the decision making processes. I can understand "rash decisions" this way. Where emotions and the current body state, affect or cloud your ability to make decisions.Whether we make a decision or not is one thing, but it is not always the decision making that call into question, it is the consequences of our actions. How do we measure a "good" or "bad" decision? Is it how its consequences affect us, how it effects others? It seems that when we are asking whether a decision was good or bad, it is because its effects had an impact in many areas, perhaps including some moral. Decisions seem to be some of the most subjective experiences that we have and often times are are one of the cognitive actions that affect other people. So what guides me in making a decision? My experiences, my volition, my beliefs, the current situation, my emotions and activation of a neural circuit are what guides my decisions. I feel that decisions cannot be judged as good or bad, but the situation and the overall effects of the decision have to be taken into account.
When we start to talk about the morality of decisions and how one should be judged for the decision they made, we start to enter a fairly uncertain, indescribable area of the human mind. It is areas like this where you can really begin to marvel at the power of the mind.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Emotions - Attractions - Feelings
To begin the posts of reflection, I thought that I would start with something that has been of relative importance within the last few weeks. It started with my philosophy class (Philosophy of the Mind) and was also piqued by two important relationships in my life. This topic is care, and more specifically love. The book in my philosophy class was the Reasons of Love, by Harry Frankfurt. I started thinking that whether we care or not or for what reasons we choose to care about particular objects or people is interesting, but how is this guided within the brain. People often speak of loving with their hearts, does this indicate that these feelings are not guided by conscious thought, but rather something more instinctual. Are we biased, towards caring about or being interested in certain things without any control? Or, are there certain processes that occur in the brain that allows us to develop feelings about particular things?
Some neurobiological theories suppose that the limbic system is the seat of emotions. Certain patterns of neurochemicals in particular areas of the brain generate the physiological reactions of feeling or caring. Emotions are thought to be related to activity in brain areas that direct our attention, motivate our behavior, and determine the significance of what is going on around us. While these neurobiological reactions will have their effects, it is not enough for me to believe that because I receive a flood of NE or Dopamine everytime that I see someone or something that it will make me love that thing or want it. I want to believe that there are some cognitive reflections about why I feel this or that way. How can physiologic symptomology turn into or create certain indescribable feelings or emotions? It is a wonder that we are able to have this large range of emotions which are both physiogical and psychological in nature.
In terms of the other part that was helped in creating this post, I wrote the following about beginning a relationship with someone a few months ago.
"When you meet someone and start to fall for them, the chemicals in your brain actually change. I know that this may be a little neuroscience “geeky” but it is but one of the awesome and amazing things about the brain. When I see you and I get the butterflies in my stomach, sweaty palms, and flushed skin, it is due to increased levels of dopamine (“the pleasure chemical”), an increase in norepinephrine (which stimulates the production of adrenalin), and in phenylethylamine (causes faster firing of cells in the brain). As we become more addicted to the feelings that these chemicals produce the more we fall for the person that is causing these actions. But there’s more, and don’t worry I’ll explain the reason for including all of this. There is another chemical called oxytoxin, which causes a person to want to be physically held and have close contact, it can be stimulated by the simple glance of a lover, or a gentle hand hold. Lastly, sad but true, chemical effects wear off, or more aptly put, the body adjusts to the increase in these chemicals. Do you know why a lot of relationships end after six months, it is because the infatuation chemicals’ effects wear off and the people realize that they don’t have a deep connection with the other person. This is where endorphins come into play. They make a relationship steadier, intimate, dependable, warm and a great sharing experience. It is not the same giddy high, but a calmness and stability. But there is good news, this is the chemical that keeps people together and it is also highly addictive, with a resistance to adaptation. So to summarize, the infatuation love, is the passionate, exciting love, where as endorphins produce the love of loving someone."
It amazes me the way that people are able to elicit a chemical storm in our bodies through somthing as simple as a knowing glance or a gentle touch on the arm. It is also amazing how much we embody their reciprocal emotions. Returning to the Frankfurt book, he states that one must love something before they can love themselves, and that after they love themselves, they can begin to love other things. I take this to mean that one must love themselves to share those feelings and emotions with others. Also returning to an earlier topic, how do we begin to like things. I believe that we find rewarding experience or pleasure in something or see something that reminds us of ourselves, or brings about the best in ourselves and we want to spend more time with that thing or person. It is always so exciting to begin to find something new that has these begginning feelings. I like the giddyness. At the same time, what happens at the end of a relationship with a person? How has the combination of cognitive and neurobiological signals changed? Is there a such a thing as emotions in reverse?
So where does this bring me in neuroscience? I am interested to see what changes in the brain or what is different in the brain between different emotions. Parsing apart love to reveal different types of love would also be interesting. I hope to look further into the cognitive and neurobiogical aspects of emotion and language and how we express our feelings. While searching the mind is difficult in itself, it is even more of a wonder to forge through a tangle of ever changing emotions.
Some neurobiological theories suppose that the limbic system is the seat of emotions. Certain patterns of neurochemicals in particular areas of the brain generate the physiological reactions of feeling or caring. Emotions are thought to be related to activity in brain areas that direct our attention, motivate our behavior, and determine the significance of what is going on around us. While these neurobiological reactions will have their effects, it is not enough for me to believe that because I receive a flood of NE or Dopamine everytime that I see someone or something that it will make me love that thing or want it. I want to believe that there are some cognitive reflections about why I feel this or that way. How can physiologic symptomology turn into or create certain indescribable feelings or emotions? It is a wonder that we are able to have this large range of emotions which are both physiogical and psychological in nature.
In terms of the other part that was helped in creating this post, I wrote the following about beginning a relationship with someone a few months ago.
"When you meet someone and start to fall for them, the chemicals in your brain actually change. I know that this may be a little neuroscience “geeky” but it is but one of the awesome and amazing things about the brain. When I see you and I get the butterflies in my stomach, sweaty palms, and flushed skin, it is due to increased levels of dopamine (“the pleasure chemical”), an increase in norepinephrine (which stimulates the production of adrenalin), and in phenylethylamine (causes faster firing of cells in the brain). As we become more addicted to the feelings that these chemicals produce the more we fall for the person that is causing these actions. But there’s more, and don’t worry I’ll explain the reason for including all of this. There is another chemical called oxytoxin, which causes a person to want to be physically held and have close contact, it can be stimulated by the simple glance of a lover, or a gentle hand hold. Lastly, sad but true, chemical effects wear off, or more aptly put, the body adjusts to the increase in these chemicals. Do you know why a lot of relationships end after six months, it is because the infatuation chemicals’ effects wear off and the people realize that they don’t have a deep connection with the other person. This is where endorphins come into play. They make a relationship steadier, intimate, dependable, warm and a great sharing experience. It is not the same giddy high, but a calmness and stability. But there is good news, this is the chemical that keeps people together and it is also highly addictive, with a resistance to adaptation. So to summarize, the infatuation love, is the passionate, exciting love, where as endorphins produce the love of loving someone."
It amazes me the way that people are able to elicit a chemical storm in our bodies through somthing as simple as a knowing glance or a gentle touch on the arm. It is also amazing how much we embody their reciprocal emotions. Returning to the Frankfurt book, he states that one must love something before they can love themselves, and that after they love themselves, they can begin to love other things. I take this to mean that one must love themselves to share those feelings and emotions with others. Also returning to an earlier topic, how do we begin to like things. I believe that we find rewarding experience or pleasure in something or see something that reminds us of ourselves, or brings about the best in ourselves and we want to spend more time with that thing or person. It is always so exciting to begin to find something new that has these begginning feelings. I like the giddyness. At the same time, what happens at the end of a relationship with a person? How has the combination of cognitive and neurobiological signals changed? Is there a such a thing as emotions in reverse?
So where does this bring me in neuroscience? I am interested to see what changes in the brain or what is different in the brain between different emotions. Parsing apart love to reveal different types of love would also be interesting. I hope to look further into the cognitive and neurobiogical aspects of emotion and language and how we express our feelings. While searching the mind is difficult in itself, it is even more of a wonder to forge through a tangle of ever changing emotions.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
First Questions...
How is that the human mind is so intriguing to itself? The brain appears to be intrinsically interested in itself and how it works. I have been fascinated with the brain since I was in sixth grade. For our science project, I wrote and essay and presented a poster on the human brain, "the 3 pound lump of mush in our heads that controls all that we do" (Kurczek, 1998). At times we seem to take for granted all that our brain is capable of and what we are able to accomplish with it. It almost seems as though we actually care about the brain more when it isn't working than when it is.
This brings up another reason for my interest in the brain. These disorders of the brain have been widely available in my family. From epilepsy, to brain cancer, to Parkinson's and Alzehiemer's, my family appears to have run the gambit of brain aflictions. These problems and other disorders are some of the most interesting cases of diseases in our world. Nothing is more personal than your own brain turning against you. To be fighting the very thing that is you, I cannot imagine the feeling of watching and experience yourself, lose yourself.
It is the personal nature of the brain, the ready availableness and the constant experience that makes the study of the brain so appealing. The questions of the mind and brain have perplexed some of the most intelligent people in the history of mankind.
What is consciousness?
How do we know others are conscious?
What is language, how do we learn it?
What is learning and how do we store memories?
What is sleep and dreaming for?
How and why do illusions occur?
How is the brain able to adapt itself to injuries?
Can we see thought?
Do we have free will?
How do we think, feel emotions, love, experience pain or sensations?
How can the brain turn against itself with the variety of disorders?
Are certain people doomed to be a certain way because of how their brain is wired?
While the purpose of this is to ask questions, hopefully there may be a smattering of answers. With this blog I'll explore my own experiences and thoughts to reflect on these questions as well as the countless others that are bound to turn up. It is amazing to think that there may exist the possibility that something can figure its very self out. While I may not figure out these questions, it is exciting to be on forefront of experimentation, at the edge of current human knowledge as we look to the abyss that is the mind and boldly take step after step as we continue to search the mind.
This brings up another reason for my interest in the brain. These disorders of the brain have been widely available in my family. From epilepsy, to brain cancer, to Parkinson's and Alzehiemer's, my family appears to have run the gambit of brain aflictions. These problems and other disorders are some of the most interesting cases of diseases in our world. Nothing is more personal than your own brain turning against you. To be fighting the very thing that is you, I cannot imagine the feeling of watching and experience yourself, lose yourself.
It is the personal nature of the brain, the ready availableness and the constant experience that makes the study of the brain so appealing. The questions of the mind and brain have perplexed some of the most intelligent people in the history of mankind.
What is consciousness?
How do we know others are conscious?
What is language, how do we learn it?
What is learning and how do we store memories?
What is sleep and dreaming for?
How and why do illusions occur?
How is the brain able to adapt itself to injuries?
Can we see thought?
Do we have free will?
How do we think, feel emotions, love, experience pain or sensations?
How can the brain turn against itself with the variety of disorders?
Are certain people doomed to be a certain way because of how their brain is wired?
While the purpose of this is to ask questions, hopefully there may be a smattering of answers. With this blog I'll explore my own experiences and thoughts to reflect on these questions as well as the countless others that are bound to turn up. It is amazing to think that there may exist the possibility that something can figure its very self out. While I may not figure out these questions, it is exciting to be on forefront of experimentation, at the edge of current human knowledge as we look to the abyss that is the mind and boldly take step after step as we continue to search the mind.
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