cortex

The frontal lobes, the little brain down under and “Stayin’ Alive” (3/3)

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[Editor’s note: Con­tin­ued from Explor­ing the human brain and how it responds to stress (1/3) and On World Health Day 2020, let’s dis­cuss the stress response and the Gen­er­al Adap­ta­tion Syn­drome (2/3)]

More on the Cor­tex, the Lim­bic Sys­tem, and Stress:

The cor­tex is made up of four major sec­tions, arranged from the front to the back. These are called the frontal, pari­etal, occip­i­tal, and tem­po­ral lobes. Each of the four lobes is found in both hemi­spheres, and each is respon­si­ble for dif­fer­ent, spe­cial­ized cog­ni­tive func­tions. For exam­ple, the occip­i­tal lobe con­tains the pri­ma­ry visu­al cor­tex, and the tem­po­ral lobe (locat­ed by the tem­ples, and close to the ears) con­tains the pri­ma­ry audi­to­ry cortex.

The frontal lobes are posi­tioned at the front most region of the cere­bral cor­tex and are involved in move­ment, deci­sion mak­ing, prob­lem solv­ing, and plan­ning. There are [Read more…] about The frontal lobes, the lit­tle brain down under and “Stayin’ Alive” (3/3)

Landmark study on neural circuits shows that “cells that fire together wire together,” refining the popular “Use it or lose it”

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– A net­work of neu­rons recon­struct­ed with large-scale elec­tron microscopy. Cred­it: Clay Reid, Allen Insti­tute; Wei-Chung Lee, Har­vard Med­ical School; Sam Inger­soll, graph­ic artist.

Research on largest net­work of cor­ti­cal neu­rons to date pro­filed (Med­ical Xpress):

“Even the sim­plest net­works of neu­rons in the brain are com­posed of mil­lions of con­nec­tions, and exam­in­ing these vast net­works is crit­i­cal to under­stand­ing how the brain works. An inter­na­tion­al team of researchers [Read more…] about Land­mark study on neur­al cir­cuits shows that “cells that fire togeth­er wire togeth­er,” refin­ing the pop­u­lar “Use it or lose it”

Neuroimaging study: Unregulated stress can sabotage your self-control and your diet

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Prefrontal_cortex_left_-_lateral_view

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Brain scans show how every­day stress can sab­o­tage your diet (CBS News):

“As any­one who’s ever downed a pint of ice cream after a bad day at the office knows, the stress­es of every­day life can sab­o­tage self-con­trol when it comes to diet. But why? [Read more…] about Neu­roimag­ing study: Unreg­u­lat­ed stress can sab­o­tage your self-con­trol and your diet

On Music, Dopamine, and Making Sense of Sound

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Daniel Lev­itin, in This Is Your Brain On Music, sug­gests the fol­low­ing sound exper­i­ment. Sit­u­ate your­self some­place where you can close your eyes and focus on the sounds around you. When you open your eyes, write down each sound you heard and the object that made that sound. If you are in a rel­a­tive­ly qui­et spot, try this exper­i­ment the next time you are in a more sound-rich environment.

I began this arti­cle while [Read more…] about On Music, Dopamine, and Mak­ing Sense of Sound

Encyclopedia of the many Sharp Brains out there

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A Leap for All Life: World’s Lead­ing Sci­en­tists Announce Cre­ation of Ency­clo­pe­dia of Life (a data­base of all liv­ing things)

Press Release: Bio­di­ver­si­ty, Sci­ence Com­mu­ni­ties Unite Behind Epic Effort To Pro­mote Bio­di­ver­si­ty, Doc­u­ment All 1.8 Mil­lion Named Species on Planet

  • WASHINGTON (May 9, 2007) – Many of the world’s lead­ing sci­en­tif­ic insti­tu­tions today announced the launch of the Ency­clo­pe­dia of Life, an unprece­dent­ed glob­al effort to doc­u­ment all 1.8 mil­lion named species of ani­mals, plants, and oth­er forms of life on Earth. For the first time in the his­to­ry of the plan­et, sci­en­tists, stu­dents, and cit­i­zens will have mul­ti-media access to all known liv­ing species, even those that have just been discovered.
  • Over the next 10 years, the Ency­clo­pe­dia of Life will cre­ate Inter­net pages for [Read more…] about Ency­clo­pe­dia of the many Sharp Brains out there