Seminar Papers
(Image: MIT News)
The researchers in MIT developed a new technique called magnified analysis of proteome (MAP). It could reveal subcellular details and long-range connections. Thus, it might help to investigate the connectivity and functions of neurons in the brain. Also, the MAP imaging technique has high resolution that we could trace the connections in the brain more accurately.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
(Image from CNN)
A study, from Elizabeth C. Mormino and her colleague, suggests that it is possible to detect the risk factors for sporadic Alzheimer’s in young adulthood. One way to detect the risk is check images of a patient’s hippocampus. If the patient has a small hippocampal volume, it connotes that the patient has various genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. The study was performed with 166 people with dementia, and 1,026 people without dementia (mean ages 75 years old), and used MRI images for analyzing. Also researchers checked DNA of the patients, and they calculated risk score about gene variants, which are associated with a high risk of Alzheimer’s disease. After that, the researchers checked the risk factors (risk scores and hippocampal volume) with 1,322 healthy adults the ages between 18 and 35. Finally, the researchers found, that there are association between higher risk score and a smaller hippocampal volume.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
(AntonioGuillem/iStock.com; from UCLA newsroom)
The researchers from UCLA’s Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, studied brain circuits activation of teenagers, when they receive some responses (i.e. the amount of ’likes’) in social networks (e.g. Instagram). The 32 teenagers (13-18 years old) were participated, and they watched 148 photographs, which including 40 of the teenagers submitted, for 12 minutes. To analyze their brain activity, they scanned teenagers’ brain using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The result was, the brain area, which called the nucleus accumbens, was activated. Also the brain area is related to reward.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
(figure from Newsweek article)
Researchers from the University of Sussex discovered the mechanism of two neurons, which relates to decision-making in the mollusc Lymnaea (corresponding to the word ‘snails’ which is written in the news). According to the study of the mollusc Lymnaea, it uses only two neuron types for decision-making during searching food. First, the neurons report whether there is food. Second, they control the behavior. For an example, when there is no food, the neurons motivate Lymnaea to searching for it. The researchers mentioned that this discovery could be the core on developing artificial intelligence(AI) systems.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
News: http://www.newsweek.com/how_snails_could_make_robots_smarter
Related paper: http://www.nature.com/Crossley_et_al_NatureCommunications_2016
(Getty Images; Illustration by Marisa Gertz for TIME)
The researchers at Stanford University performed a study regarding children and their ability of recognize their mothers’ voices. The normally developing children (24 children, ages between 7 and 12) were participated to the study. The task was listening some words, and find their own mother’s voice. The kids of 97% got the right answer. The researchers used fMRI to look the kids brain. Not surprisingly, the brain activates more, when they heard their mothers’ voice, than the other women’s voice. However, surprisingly the researchers found that the brain area, which is related to face recognition, was activated. From this, they assumed that the kids could visualize their mother’s face, when they hear their mothers’ voice.
Also the researchers assessed the kids’ social communication scores. They found that the kids, who are most socially adapted, brain activities shows some specific pattern during hearing their mothers’ voice. Thus, Abrams, one of the researchers, assumed that this result could help to examine the kids brain which regarding the social ability, for a future work.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
(Image: Lucélia Ribeiro | Flickr)
Researchers from Dartmouth and Princeton Universities tried to show that intentional forgetting is possible. For a test, they recruited 25 participants (10 males), the age around 21.3 years old. There are many studies regarding the power of context that it helps memorizing easier. From this results, to enhance creating contextual memories, the researchers showed nature scenes (e.g. forests) to the participants during the test. The participants should memorize two sets of words, and some of them was instructed to forget some words. Activity of the brain was scanned by using fMRI. The result from the participant who forgot the word by context-related activity showed that they cannot remember the words a lot.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
Lysergic acid diethylamide is illegal drug, because it occurs hallucinations. However, the researchers got special permissions to use it, for a study. They recruited fifteen healthy people with experienced in taking LSD. In the experiment, participants were injected LSD, and taken fMRI. They were asked to answers about their mood. From the result, researchers looked at the brain areas where regarding introspection and sensory areas that receives external information. They found the higher connectivity of the networks between the areas they checked. Also from the another study, the researchers found some brain area activation where were suppressed by perception during normal state.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
This competition is sponsored by Microsoft and is based on one of the greatest challenges in neuroscience today – how to interpret brain signals due to millions of people suffer brain-related disorders and injuries and as a result, many face a lifetime of impairment with limited treatment options. The Grand Prize winner will get $3,000 cash, followed by a 2nd prize of $1,500 cash, and a 3rd prize of $500 cash.
If you are interested in this competition, please read the following link :).
http://gallery.cortanaintelligence.com/Competition/Decoding-Brain-Signals-2
(CSA Images / Getty Images / Vetta (from Times) / Wired)
A new study, regarding emotion was published in the journal PNAS. The study was to find a neural link, between understanding others and being attracted to them. The author Silke Anders mentioned that the person, who understood a partner, he might be attracted to the partner. Anders and her colleague studied 90 participants. The participants watched a video clip of women, and judged how the women felt. The researchers used fMRI to measure the participant’s brain activity. Finally, they found the participants, who understood the women more, were more attracted to her. Also, the researchers found brain reward system activates, when the participants successfully understood the partner.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
(Illustration: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT)
The neuroscientists in MIT showed that it is possible to form new memories in early stages of Alzheimer’s of mice. Tonegawa’s lab found cells in hippocampus which store specific memories. From the mice which has impaired memory recall but could forming new memories, researchers tried to find the reason. Therefore, they demonstrated that the engram cells is related to the fearful experience. By using light to stimulate engram cell of mice, they could find that the mice could retrieve the memory.
If you interested in, please click the following link.
http://news.mit.edu/retrieve_missing_memories_early_alzheimers_symptoms