When
you enter the ‘L’ you see a number of individuals with headphones on listening
to music, some at a decent volume level while other’s not so much. I am one of
those who will sit on the train and listen away to songs after songs, and doesn't think much of it. However, Gary Marcus’ idea of music as social glue
was something I was intrigued by because I never thought of music in that
sense. Yes, I have learned in other classes that many species use songs to
attract mates, and this explains that aspect of sexual selection. However, the
fact that we use music as a means of socialization was something I had never
connected. Since, he made that connection, I have realized that when we are out
and about socializing at a night club per say we tend to dance to the music
which leads many others to join in sometimes. Also, many times individuals will
get together and play instruments together which can be seen as a way to
socialize. In addition, when we listen
to possibly a love song that makes us feel good and we feel loved because the song
made us feel in such a way. The talk definitely gave me another perspective on
how I see music and what I see its purpose as. Another interesting aspect of
Marcus’ talk was evolutionary inertia, which he defined as the evolution that evolves
in one direction will continue to evolve in that direction. I have been through
many classes that have presented the material on evolution is many different perspectives,
but the way Marcus presented actually clicked. Evolution has small changes that
may occur over time, but very rarely do the dramatic changes occur that would
change everything. Language is evolving slowly but it is definitely evolving,
this was another aspect I had not given much thought to. In my mind, language
is nothing more than a communication tool, and to see that it has such
different connections to evolution and music definitely enhanced my knowledge. I think Marcus’ presentation was definitely thought
provoking because I made connections that I would have not done before, and I
learned a few new concepts.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The Dreaded Exam Anxiety May Be a Good Thing?
Every student knows the anxiety of exams, especially in classes they do not feel up to par in. As a matter of fact, I feel anxious every time I walk into a neuroscience test. What is shocking to some people is that this anxiety, this nervous reaction, may actually help students do better.
Now let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Anxiety can have a negative effect on students' grades. As we discussed in class, memory is pivotal to us. We rely on it for every aspect of our lives. But just because it is important doesn't mean it is perfect. Memory is also subject to its own malfunctions. Decay, retrieval errors, and encoding failures are all examples of these shortcomings of memories. So if a student walks into a test with poor memory of the material, being anxious is not going to help them. Rather, it will prove to be detrimental.
But what is the student knows the material and is comfortable with it? A study of 96 students who were between 12 to 14 years of age and from various schools were asked to complete computer tasks that measured working memory while monitoring anxiety levels. They found that when working memory was below par, the student usually had poor scores. If their working memory was good, they usually had higher scores.
Now, if you are wondering why they chose to test working memory, you're not alone. It has been found that working memory relates to being able to retain education. But rest assured, they were also tested with math problems and other cognitive tasks.
Although this article doesn't fully explain why it is that anxiety can help increase test scores when you know the material, it does serve as a launching point for other tests and opens the door into the world of memory.
So what does this all mean to us students? It means that we can rest easy... as long as we know the material and pay attention in class. Nerves can be a good thing. We can relax knowing that even if we are nervous, as long as we know the material we will do fine, maybe even better than if we weren't nervous. So rest easy fellow students, know that as long as you study you will do well, even in that sometimes scary neuroscience class.
If you would like to read more about the study feel free to visit Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121011195239.htm
Now let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Anxiety can have a negative effect on students' grades. As we discussed in class, memory is pivotal to us. We rely on it for every aspect of our lives. But just because it is important doesn't mean it is perfect. Memory is also subject to its own malfunctions. Decay, retrieval errors, and encoding failures are all examples of these shortcomings of memories. So if a student walks into a test with poor memory of the material, being anxious is not going to help them. Rather, it will prove to be detrimental.
Although this article doesn't fully explain why it is that anxiety can help increase test scores when you know the material, it does serve as a launching point for other tests and opens the door into the world of memory.
So what does this all mean to us students? It means that we can rest easy... as long as we know the material and pay attention in class. Nerves can be a good thing. We can relax knowing that even if we are nervous, as long as we know the material we will do fine, maybe even better than if we weren't nervous. So rest easy fellow students, know that as long as you study you will do well, even in that sometimes scary neuroscience class.
If you would like to read more about the study feel free to visit Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121011195239.htm
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Ketamine: Party Drug or Treatment for Depression?
Ketamine, an NMDA receptor
antagonist that is used for the induction of general anesthesia in medicine and
as a recreational drug due to its dissociative and sedative effects, is known
for producing a broad range of effects on the human body.
Depression, on the other hand,
affects roughly 10% of Americans each year, and it is estimated that
approximately 17% of the United States population will suffer from a major
depressive episode at some point in their life. Depression has been ranked as
the leading cause of disability in the United States, with over $40 billion
being spent each year on lost work productivity and medical treatment related
to this illness.
This being said, it is difficult to imagine an anesthetic drug such as ketamine playing a role in mental health, but many past studies have shown that it has been effective in treating depression in patients who have not responded to anti-depressants. Recently, however, Yale scientists have explained the link between ketamine and relief of depression. In their studies, Yale researchers show that in a series of steps ketamine triggers the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate, which stimulates the growth of synapses that were damaged due to chronic stress and depression.
Despite all of this new evidence,
using ketamine to treat depression might not be a good idea. Although many
antidepressants have a broad range of unintended and harmful side effects,
including even increasing the
intensity of a patient’s depression, ketamine still may not be the safer
alternative. Ketamine is a highly addictive substance, and in high doses can
produce severe psychosis. Long-term use can lead to a broad array of
life-threatening problems from irreversible bladder damage to extreme memory
and dissociative problems.
The significance of a scientific
discovery like this lies in paving the way for future research on this topic.
Current antidepressants can take months to start to improve the symptoms of
depression and don’t even work for a third of administered patients. Since
ketamine works on an entirely different type of neurotransmitter system, and in
a much quicker way, new research on developing drugs that replicate the effects
of ketamine can drastically improve the lives of millions.
For now, we have to deal with the
limitations the drug presents. Standard antidepressants take far too long for
someone in crisis. Depression is a disease that flares up without warning
sometimes. An emergency treatment for acute suicidal depression could be an
incredible tool. Ketamine could be possibly used to save lives and money until
research on the drug paves the way for an efficient and pain-free way of
treating the mental illness that has plagued researchers and millions of
Americans for decades.
Effects of Social Isolation on the Brain
Recent research findings are changing the way we think about brain plasticity. Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to adapt to environmental changes. By transferring adult mice into social isolation, researchers at the University of Buffalo and Mt Sinai School of Medicine have found that brain plasticity is not specific to neurons. The stress of social isolation created specific changes in the brains of the adult mice, suggesting that brain plasticity also occurs actively in glial cells.
It has previously been discovered that abnormal social experience in neonatal or juvenile animals results in defective developmental myelination. Glial cells, oligodendrocytes specifically, produce myelin. Researchers at the previously named institutions wanted to know if this form of plasticity seen in young animals persists in the adult animal brain. This curiosity prompted several experiments with adult mice to observe changes in oligodendrocytes and myelination.
Adult mice, both males and females, were separated into a control group or an experimental group. The control mice were placed with other mice in a “group house.” Each mouse in the experimental group was placed in social isolation for eight weeks.
The socially deprived mice, both male and females, showed a decrease in myelin thickness, compared to the control group. This difference was statistically significant. Also, these myelin changes were specific to the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in complex emotional and cognitive behaviors. Myelin in other regions of the brain was of normal thickness.
It has previously been discovered that abnormal social experience in neonatal or juvenile animals results in defective developmental myelination. Glial cells, oligodendrocytes specifically, produce myelin. Researchers at the previously named institutions wanted to know if this form of plasticity seen in young animals persists in the adult animal brain. This curiosity prompted several experiments with adult mice to observe changes in oligodendrocytes and myelination.
Adult mice, both males and females, were separated into a control group or an experimental group. The control mice were placed with other mice in a “group house.” Each mouse in the experimental group was placed in social isolation for eight weeks.
The socially deprived mice, both male and females, showed a decrease in myelin thickness, compared to the control group. This difference was statistically significant. Also, these myelin changes were specific to the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in complex emotional and cognitive behaviors. Myelin in other regions of the brain was of normal thickness.
 |
| Electron micrograph of myelinated fibers in prefrontal cortex |
Further analysis found that axons with thinner myelin sheaths were associated with the presence of oligodendrocytes with immature nuclear chromatin. From this, the researchers concluded that the stress of social isolation caused a disruption of oligodendrocyte formation, resulting in less myelin production.
White matter in the brain is composed of myelin, produced by oligodendrocytes. In humans, it has been previously discovered that white matter abnormalities occur in psychiatric conditions such as depression. These conditions are characterized by social isolation and withdrawal. Also, demyelinating disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, show correlation with depression.
Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to adapt to changes. Thus, in a separate experiment, when the previously socially isolated mice were re-integrated into the group house, oligodendrocytes returned to normal control levels and social behavior normalized.
Not only did this study reveal the involvement of glial cells in brain plasticity, it suggests a new correlation: Do myelin disorders and mood disorders interact with one another? And if so, how? Also, could social interaction enhance recovery from myelin disorder symptoms?
Sources:
University at Buffalo (2012, November 11). New form of brain plasticity: How social isolation disrupts myelin production. ScienceDaily.
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3263.html (data and picture)
Could a Cup of Coffee Make You More Positive?
It has been said that coffee is the nectar of the gods. Look around any time, any place, and any day and you will see a plethora of people carrying this caffeinated goodness. I am almost positive that there is an unwritten law that no one is allowed to talk to me in the morning until I have had at least had one cup of coffee. What is it about this mysterious brown liquid that keeps us going and keeps us civilized in the morning? It is a little thing called caffeine. The Beatles once said, "All you need is love", but my mantra is "All you need is caffeine". Its true, nature's own stimulant makes the world go round. Well, perhaps I am being dramatic, but would it surprise you if I told you that caffeine was the most commonly-used drug. That's right, over 90% of Americans consume this drug on a daily basis, and most of it comes in the form of our favorite caffeinated beverage: Coffee.
You may be thinking, okay, I'll try and give it up. I don't really need coffee, I can function just fine without it. But before you subject yourself to a miserable caffeine-withdrawal headache in the morning, know that there are many positives to consuming caffeine. In fact, many studies are actually discovering that daily caffeine intake can actually be good for us.
According to a study performed by Lars Kuchinke and his colleges at Ruhr University in Germany, caffeine can actually improve the neural processing of positive words. I thought that this news article was very pertinent to our Cognitive Neuroscience class because it draws a connection between caffeine intake and language. Previous studies have shown that normal doses of caffeine uptake improve the performance of cognitive tasks, but no study has ever drawn a correlation to language. Kuchinke and his team of researchers administered normal amounts of caffeine via coffee to subjects. They found that these subjects readily identified positive words over negative or neutral words. It seems that there is a correlation between caffeine and the implicit recognition of positive words. Kuchinke and his team strongly believe that what is causing the positive association is that caffeine has strong dopaminergic effects in the language regions of the brain. These high levels of dopamine may possibly be the reason for the increased response to positive words.
There you have it. It is possible that caffeine can really make you be more positive. Being that this is the first study of its kind, I will be interested to see if more research develops out of this unique subject. Until then, I'm going to have a cup of joe.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121107200030.htm
Two Sides To A Coin: Women and Migraine
You know that moment when you feel like the light in the room is too bright and your head starts to feel all heavy, and before you know it you have this pounding headache. If you have migraines you know exactly what I am talking about. Every time I am having a migraine attack I just want to grab a hammer and nail something in my head to make the excruciating pain go away. Alright, maybe you don’t have it as extreme as I do. However, if you have ever experienced a migraine you probably felt that way at least once.
Despite all, I guess there is partially some good news with migraines, especially for women. Recently, a study found that changes in the brain caused by migraines are not related to impaired cognition; however, women with migraines were more likely to have brain changes. So the researchers conducted standardized measure to measure cognitive abilities, which they stated included or tested memory, concentration and attention. They found that there was no significant loss in cognitive abilities, neither in men nor in women who had migraine-associated lesions. Moreover, the brain changes were recorded via MRI, these changes can be seen as bright spots, which are known as hyperintensities which were found in the white matter, brainstem, and cerebellum. Of the 300 men and women who were followed for nine years, men who suffered from migraines did not show any significant changes. However, women were twice as more likely to have increased white matter changes over the course of multiple migraine attack. Moreover, the researchers stated that the changes are due to accumulated attacks and it’s an ongoing process rather than new changes with every new attack. According to the researchers, these findings are in line with other research that indicates that migraines in women are related to small blood vessel changes.
I guess the good news is that even though the migraines are so hurtful, they are not hurting my cognitive abilities. However, I am still concerned because there are still white matter changes that are evident. The fact that they have observed white matter changes in the brainstem is further alarming because the brainstem is very important when it comes to cardiovascular functions such as breathing, heartbeat, etc. I am worried because what if these changes have a negative effect on the brainstem, which could possibly cause disruption in cardiovascular functions. Similarly, the cerebellum has so much to do with balance, and disruption could lead to imbalance. Another major concern is stroke as the researchers stated that this could be due to changes in small blood vessel. I am glad to hear that the cognitive abilities are intact and there is no significant loss that we should be concerned with; however, those suffering from migraines still have no relief because the changes in white matter does not sound very pleasing either. I am looking forward to more research on these finding as I would like to know further what changes and damages occur due to my once a week massive headache.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/migraine_study_111312.htm
Despite all, I guess there is partially some good news with migraines, especially for women. Recently, a study found that changes in the brain caused by migraines are not related to impaired cognition; however, women with migraines were more likely to have brain changes. So the researchers conducted standardized measure to measure cognitive abilities, which they stated included or tested memory, concentration and attention. They found that there was no significant loss in cognitive abilities, neither in men nor in women who had migraine-associated lesions. Moreover, the brain changes were recorded via MRI, these changes can be seen as bright spots, which are known as hyperintensities which were found in the white matter, brainstem, and cerebellum. Of the 300 men and women who were followed for nine years, men who suffered from migraines did not show any significant changes. However, women were twice as more likely to have increased white matter changes over the course of multiple migraine attack. Moreover, the researchers stated that the changes are due to accumulated attacks and it’s an ongoing process rather than new changes with every new attack. According to the researchers, these findings are in line with other research that indicates that migraines in women are related to small blood vessel changes.
I guess the good news is that even though the migraines are so hurtful, they are not hurting my cognitive abilities. However, I am still concerned because there are still white matter changes that are evident. The fact that they have observed white matter changes in the brainstem is further alarming because the brainstem is very important when it comes to cardiovascular functions such as breathing, heartbeat, etc. I am worried because what if these changes have a negative effect on the brainstem, which could possibly cause disruption in cardiovascular functions. Similarly, the cerebellum has so much to do with balance, and disruption could lead to imbalance. Another major concern is stroke as the researchers stated that this could be due to changes in small blood vessel. I am glad to hear that the cognitive abilities are intact and there is no significant loss that we should be concerned with; however, those suffering from migraines still have no relief because the changes in white matter does not sound very pleasing either. I am looking forward to more research on these finding as I would like to know further what changes and damages occur due to my once a week massive headache.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/migraine_study_111312.htm
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Language and Music: Gary Marcus
In Gary Marcus’s
presentation he opens are mind and explains how our rewards system is referenced
to music. He proposes his theory of music evolving as social glue. He first
talks about our language and how language has evolved tremendously through all
these years. Why language has evolved? Well it has evolved because it expresses
a huge advantage in social cohesion, as well as, it helps us attract mates.
Descent with modification is one way we can perceive the evolution of language.
As our ancestors over time acquired the skill of language, they then passed it
down to their offspring’s as a trait considerably for the fittest to survive. Although language has many benefits to it,
Gary Marcus does consider it to be a “kluge”.
In his presentation he discuses evolutionary inertia, which is an evolutionary
system, once moving in a particular direction, tends to continue in that
direction. Therefore, no major changes can be made in this system. Language is
created of large structures that are composed of smaller structures, and people
often remember the gist of what they hear. If someone states a sentence, you
will not be able to state back that same sentence word for word, but you will
only obtain the general meaning that is trying to be conveyed to you. We as humans are vulnerable to extraneous
information such as memorizing a list, or parse syntactic analysis. We lack the
right kind of memory because human brains are bound by something called binding
protein, and we don’t have enough binding memory to represent an entire
syntax tree. We also learn through much
practice, and aren’t good at one-trail things. With much practice we can
remember a telephone number that we dialed many years ago, a numerous amount of
times, as opposed to the last random number we may have dialed an hour ago.
It is due to language that music
has evolved so quickly. Language is like and instinct where as music is like a technological
advancement. Culture affects music as well as evolution has had an influence on
how music works. Music has evolved and adapted quite rapidly in the past 1000
years. Back then people didn’t know that they could say the
same word in many different notes. Gary Marcus did a great job explaining how
are our brains are rewarded in a familiarity sense, as in music we get a
feeling of reward as we listen to it.
I have for
many years now played the piano and enjoy it greatly. Not only playing the
instrument but also listening to the radio station brings much joy to many
individuals. When it is a song I hear on the radio that is one of my favorites
at the moment, I automatically raise the volume in my car. This shows my reward
system kicking in as I hear something I like to listen to; I automatically
increase the volume and sing along in a happy tone.
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