For almost a century, scientists have been studying brain waves to learn about mental health and the way we think. Yet the way billions of interconnected neurons work together to produce brain waves remains unknown. Now, scientists from EPFL’s Blue Brain Project in Switzerland, at the core of the European Human Brain Project, and the Allen Institute for Brain Science in the United States, show in the July 24th edition of the journal Neuron how a complex computer model is providing a new tool to solve the mystery.
Category: Video Content
BrainGate : Thought Control Of Robotic Arms
A trial is evaluating an investigational device called the BrainGate neural interface system. This is a type of brain-computer interface (BCI) intended to put robotics and other assistive technology under the brain’s control. By imagining the movement of their own arms, two paralyzed individuals were able to use the BrainGate to make complex reach-and-grasp movements with robotic arms.
Mind-controlled artificial limb gives patients sense of touch again
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University used a flat interface nerve electrode (FINE) to demonstrate direct sensory feedback. By interfacing with residual nerves in the patient’s partial limb, some sense of touch by the fingers is restored. Other existing prosthetic limb control systems rely solely on visual feedback. Unlike visual feedback, direct sensory feedback allows patients to move a hand without keeping their eyes on it—enabling simple tasks, like rummaging through a bag for small items, not possible with today’s prosthetics.
This Case Western Reserve University video shows how direct sensory feedback makes some tasks easier. The FINE is one of many different types of nerve interfaces developed under the RE-NET program.
Full story at http://go.usa.gov/bbV4.
Patient Plays Guitar During Brain Surgery To Treat Parkinson’s
Brad Carter Plays Guitar During Brain Surgery To Treat Parkinson’s
To mark Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center’s 500th deep brain stimulation operation last Thursday, surgeons performed the world’s first live-Vined brain surgery.
The operation, which lead neurologist Dr. Nader Pouratian described as “textbook” brain pacemaker implant surgery, was documented with Vine, a six-second video medium, and with Instagram photos on the hospital’s Twitter account in real time on patient Brad Carter, an actor diagnosed with the progressive neurological disorder essential tremor in 2006.
“Not everyone gets to experience a surgery, and more specifically an awake brain surgery,” Pouratian said in a phone interview with The Huffington Post. “I thought it was a great opportunity to share with the world.”
Deep brain stimulation is a therapy for people with Parkinson’s disease, that involves inserting a pacemaker that emits electronic impulses to affected areas of the brain, lessening tremor symptoms. At UCLA, the patient is conscious during the surgery and is asked to perform tests so that doctors can ensure the pacemaker is properly placed.
Carter’s disease made his hands shake and his eyes twitch, affecting his ability to play the guitar. He had asked that he be allowed to strum his guitar during the operation to see if the pacemaker improved his playing ability.
Vine videos from the surgery show Carter’s guitar skills get stronger as physicians located the best place to leave the pacemaker.
A Theory Of Mind
The mechanism people use to infer and reason about another person’s states of mind is called a ‘Theory of Mind’ . One of the most striking discoveries of recent human cognitive neuroscience is that there is a group of brain regions in human cortex that selectively and specifically underlie this mechanism.
In this Ted Talk, cognitive neuroscientist, Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples’ thoughts — and judges their actions.
Our lab studies these brain regions for Theory of Mind, as a case study in the deeper and broader question: how does the brain – an electrical and biological machine – construct abstract thoughts?
A game to map the brain #TEDxNijmegen 2013
Yesterday I shared a video from Moritz Helmstaedter a neuroscientist who has pioneered crowd sourcing for connectomics, engaging more than a hundred students to work together to analyze the immense amounts of data. In today’s video recorded at #TEDxNijmegen, Amy Robinson, a research affiliate in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences explains that it takes a neuroscientist around 50 hours to map one cell, one neuron. And there are more than 80 billion neurons in one human brain. To complete the map of our brain MIT are looking for help to accelerate this process by contributing to the EyeWire project. Watch the video which demonstrates how you can play the game.
The brain is a very complicated thing. You can however help us to fasten up the process of understanding as a non-scientist by joining EyeWire.” EyeWire is a game to map neural networks. Anyone can play, and you don’t need a scientific background ~ Amy Robinson
Mapping The Brain: Crowdsourcing Connectomes
Moritz Helmstaedter is a neuroscientist dedicated to mapping connectomes – the complex networks of nerve cells in the brain. Moritz has pioneered crowd sourcing for connectomics, engaging more than a hundred students to work together to analyze the immense amounts of data. In the future he hopes to motivate thousands of curious minds to collaborate online on the task of reconstructing the powerful and fascinating neuronal networks of the brain.
Understanding ADHD and Learning Disability
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)and the learning disability which often accompanies it came up in conversation with students on the Family Support Course during my recent visit to the Bedford Row Family Project in Limerick. There was concern that ADHD was not being accurately diagnosed and that its treatment was inadequate at best.
In this first in a series of posts on ADHD Professor David Anderson explains how the current medical understanding of ADHD as merely a chemical imbalance in the levels of the two neurotransmitters dopamine and noradrenaline is not working and shows that by investigating a strain of hyperactive fruit fly (Drosophila), ADHD and learning disability involve two separate nerve pathways in the brain. These new findings may help scientists discover more selective treatments for these surprisingly commonplace disorders.
If you suffer from ADHD and/or a learning disability then this video may help you connect your personal experience with what the scientists are now discovering
Further reading for those interested in the scientific experiments:
Inside The Neocortex
The neocortex (Latin for “new bark” or “new rind”) is part of the cerebral cortex of the mammalian brain. In humans, it is involved in “higher functions” such as sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought and language.
In an overview of the structure of the mammalian neocortex, Professor of Neurobiology, Clay Reid explains how the mammalian cortex is organized in a hierarchy, describing the columnar principle and canonical microcircuits.
This full-length, undergraduate-level lecture is the third of a 12-part series entitled Coding & Vision 101, produced by the Allen Institute for Brain Science as an educational resource for the community.
Inside the Mammalian Visual System
From the retina to the superior colliculus, the lateral geniculate nucleus into primary visual cortex and beyond, R. Clay Reid gives a tour of the mammalian visual system highlighting the Nobel-prize winning discoveries of Hubel & Wiesel. This is the first lecture of a 12-part series entitled Coding & Vision 101, produced by the Allen Institute for Brain Science as an educational resource for the community.
inside-the-brain.com 