How do you remember where you parked your car? How do you know if you’re moving in the right direction? In this video, neuroscientist Neil Burgess who studies the neural mechanisms that map the space around us, explains how they link to memory and imagination.
Category: Video Content
Grand Rounds: Anxiety vs Depressive Disorders
Jeffrey Applebaum of UC Davis Family Medicine presents some important distinctions between depressive disorders and anxiety disorders and how these differences impact treatment.
Source: “UC Grand Rounds” [8/2011] [Health and Medicine] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 21037]
How to reengineer a brain
In the quest to map the brain, many scientists have attempted the incredibly daunting task of recording the activity of each neuron. Optogeneticist Gero Miesenboeck has a different approach for understanding the brain — rather than recording the activity of neurons, he works backwards – manipulating specific neurons to figure out exactly what they do. In this talk from TEDGlobal 2010, Miesenboeck explains his work manipulating neurons in fruit flies to see what happens when the brain’s code is broken.
Your brain at work
In his book “Your Brain at Work,” David Rock depicts the story of two people over one day at the office, and what’s happening in their brains that makes it so hard to focus and be productive. Not only does he explain why things go wrong, but how you can train your brain to improve thinking and performance at work. Based on interviews with 30 neuroscientists, he’s developed strategies to help you maximize your mental energy by understanding your brain’s limits, overcome distractions, improve your focus through understanding the nature of attention, reduce stress levels with brain-based techniques and improve how you collaborate by understanding the social needs of the brain.
The evolution of spoken language
In this lecture, best-selling author Steven Pinker introduces you to linguistics, the evolution of spoken language, and the debate over the existence of an innate universal grammar. He also explores why language is such a fundamental part of social relationships, human biology, and human evolution. Finally, Pinker touches on the wide variety of applications for linguistics, from improving how we teach reading and writing to how we interpret law, politics, and literature.
How to build a brain
A team of researchers from the University of Waterloo have built what the claim is the world’s largest simulation of a functioning brain.
The purpose is to help scientists understand how the complex activity of the brain gives rise to the complex behavior exhibited by animals, including humans.
The model is called Spaun (Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network). It consists of 2.5 million simulated neurons. The model captures biological details of each neuron, including which neurotransmitters are used, how voltages are generated in the cell, and how they communicate.
Spaun uses this network of neurons to process visual images to control an arm that draws Spaun’s answers to perceptual, cognitive and motor tasks.
For more information, see: http://nengo.ca/build-a-brain/
Inside the human brain
A visually compelling tour of the human brain, from anatomy to cells to genes and back.
How the brain works
This video attempts to explain the working of the brain through mapping out the electrical activity of the brain – Electro-encephalogram (EEG)
What effect does alcohol have on the brain?
In this video, students explore how neuroscientists design and carry out research on the effects of alcohol on the human brain. Specifically, it focuses on the hippocampus, a brain structure that is involved in memory and spatial navigation. Studies of adult brains have found that the hippocampus is particularly vulnerable to heavy alcohol use. In the e-lab, students address these research questions: “Does alcohol also affect younger brains? If so, does it affect them in the same way?”
From neurons to networks
Both a young child’s brain and our young, global Internet brain are in highly creative, experimental, innovative states of rapid development — just waiting to make connections. So, here’s a question for the 21st century: How do we help shape both of these young, rapidly growing networks to set a course for a better future? These were the questions that led filmmaker, Tiffany Shlainme, to make this short film.
inside-the-brain.com 