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Here is what I am reading today:
“Conjuring up a visual image in the mind—like a sunny day or a night sky—has a corresponding effect on the size of our pupils, as if we were actually seeing the image, according to new research.”
“”These data suggest that increased body weight is not a benign condition, even in the absence of metabolic abnormalities, and argue against the concept of healthy obesity or benign obesity,” said researcher Dr. Ravi Retnakaran, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.”
“”We are increasingly convinced that maintenance of synaptic health as we age, rather than rescuing cognition later, is critically important in preventing age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease,” said the study’s senior author, John Morrison, PhD, and Dean of Basic Sciences and Professor of the Fishberg Department of Neuroscience and the Friedman Brain Institute, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.”
“By making Jesus’ left-cheek prominent, crucifixion artists may have taken unknowing advantage of other facts from neuroscience too. With his head turned to the right, Jesus’ face will be processed mostly by the viewer’s right hemisphere – the side of the brain that is preferentially activated when interpreting emotion, especially negative emotion. There’s even researchsuggesting that turning the head to one side activates the brain hemisphere on the opposite side. “Since the left hemisphere mediates positive emotions and the right negative emotions, the rotation of Christ’s head during the crucifixion may have helped reduce his suffering,” write Acosta and her colleagues.”
“”This is the first study to evaluate the impact of oxytocin on brain function in children with autism spectrum disorders,” said first author Ilanit Gordon, a Yale Child Study Center postdoctoral fellow, whose colleagues on the study included senior author Kevin Pelphrey, the Harris Professor in the Child Study Center, and director of the Center for Translational Developmental Neuroscience at Yale.”
“In one of the largest studies looking at the “connectomes” of the sexes, Ragini Verma, PhD, an associate professor in the department of Radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues found greater neural connectivity from front to back and within one hemisphere in males, suggesting their brains are structured to facilitate connectivity between perception and coordinated action. In contrast, in females, the wiring goes between the left and right hemispheres, suggesting that they facilitate communication between the analytical and intuition.”
25 Comments
chelseadudley · December 3, 2013 at 11:16 am
In response to “Men and Women’s Brains,” I learned more about what I already knew of gender differences in the brain. Previously, I knew that women are better at attention and social cognition tests and men are better at spatial processing and sensorimotor speed. However, I learned that the direction of neural connectivity differs in men and women. Women have more connectivity in the direction of left to right whereas men have more connectivity in the direction of front to back. The technology used is called DTI, or diffusion tensor imaging. I find this very interesting and super helpful for future experiments to discover more differences and/or similarities in the brains of men and women.
chelseadudley · December 3, 2013 at 11:24 am
In response to “How Our Eyes Anticipate,” the first thing that came to mind after reading this was how it could potentially help in crime investigations. In most cases in which a person has experienced a traumatic event, this individual goes into shock and often blocks details of the event from memory. With this new discovery of pupil size in relation to mental imagery, investigators can possibly learn more about the crime committed by asking the victim to imagine that event and all the details of that event. For example, without the individual having to tell investigators what time of day the event occurred at, the investigators could figure out if it was daytime or nighttime based on the pupil size of the victim. There are probably flaws in this idea but this discovery could potentially help solve crimes.
Natasha Mehta · December 3, 2013 at 11:39 am
In response to “is there such a thing as.. “healthy obesity??”: I am not surprised that those who are overweight or obese have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. Someone is considered to have a healthy weight when most of their body fat lies below the waist. With this, the person’s fat is away from their heart and other vital organs, which allows their organs to function properly. I would not think that there is a “healthy obesity” level just because their metabolic rate is normal. As the article said, their metabolic rate will decline over time leading to health problems. I also found it interesting that those with a metabolic disease such high cholesterol or high blood sugar were still at a greater risk of heart attack, stroke and death whether or not the person is underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. This shows that although being normal weight puts you at a lower risk for many life threatening diseases, it is still important to have healthy eating habits because even a healthy weight person can have a high risk for fatal diseases.
lfarr · December 3, 2013 at 6:14 pm
In response to ‘Healthy obesity is a myth’…This article proves an idea that seems logical, being overweight will increase your risk of death, despite lack of presence of metabolic disease. As a previous Nutrition major, I remember learning that fat in the stomach area was the most damaging, as the organs would be compromised due to the fat. This is reiterated when the article states that fat in the liver interferes with insulin sensitivity and function. It is important to note that being healthy is the best way to prevent early death. This is because ‘greater risk for heart attack, stroke, and death was increased in people with high blood pressure and cholesterol regardless of weight’. Therefore, healthy eating and exercise will be key in the future to prevent early deaths.
agarman · December 3, 2013 at 9:30 pm
I read the article “Our pupils adjust as we imagine bright and dark scenes.” These findings published in Psychological Science were pretty interesting, the research experiment showed that participants pupils actually varied in size according to mental imaging and researchers express that this was not due to voluntary changes or differences in mental effort but to processes based on brain states. I like how they suggest further application may allow for probing into mental experiences of babies, animals and those with neurological disorders. I am also a little surprised that this study had not been done before 2013, seems like a study that someone would have thought about a while ago. I wonder if this has anything to do with the way the Moken people control their eyes, so they can see underwater. The implications about the use of mental imagery then, if it can affect our pupil size, can no longer be argued against by those non-believers in regards to using mental imagery to reduce stress and promote health and relaxation. It seems that mental imaging must be pretty influential on our brain.
Will · December 4, 2013 at 1:31 am
In response to “Healthy Obesity.” : I agree with the article completely. Obesity has become a huge (no pun intended) problem in the past few decades especially in America. We gorge ourselves with food without using the energy with have obtained. Instead, we sit around and get fat. Obesity not only puts you at risk of diabetes and heart failure but it also hinders you from living. I have seen first hand through friends and family who suffer from obesity and they truly cannot live normally. They are stuck to their beds or chairs because they are too weak to even pick themselves up. I hope that one day, a larger majority of the nation can finally speak up to their friends and family to deal with this growing problem.
Will · December 4, 2013 at 1:36 am
In response to “Men and Women’s Brains.” : I found it interesting that scientists were able to figure out how men and women’s brains are wired. This would explain why both men and women excel at different things. Men’s brains showed higher prowess in coordination and motor abilities where females excelled in regions responsible for intuition and analytical thinking. From an evolutionary stand point, all of this makes sense. Males in the wild have to compete for territory and females. This means that the males with better coordination would come out on top. Females had to be smart so that they knew how to survive. Males were the brawn where females were the brains. This study was very insightful to how to figured out this find on male and female brain wiring.
JuliaSpalding · December 4, 2013 at 4:17 pm
In response to “brain function and oxytocin,” I have always associated the oxytocin hormone with intimacy and “bonding,” but never would have thought that this social aspect of the hormone could influence autistic patients struggling with behavior. A nasal spray is a novel idea too! I had the flu shot done that way this summer and was a little skeptical since I almost sneezed directly after. But a nasal spray is a convenient and easy treatment dose if this is ever mass-produced, especially with children. With autism spectrum disorders becoming more common, I think oxytocin is definitely something to further look into. Since the single dose was a temporary normalization of brain regions associated with social deficits of autism, I think the next step in this study would see how much of a dose would be needed to normalize these brain regions throughout the day for an autism spectrum patient.
hnguye37 · December 4, 2013 at 4:19 pm
I read the article “brain function and oxytocin”. It was interesting to read that oxytocin increased social recognition and ability in children with autism. I question whether or not it has to do with the fact that oxytocin is naturally released to enhance bonding and nurturing. I also question if it infers that autistic children are under-sensitive to normal levels of oxytocin. This study was very interesting and I am curious to see how significant results would be if implemented on a larger scale experimental group.
JulieLane0116 · December 4, 2013 at 5:51 pm
In response to how many friends can your brain handle, I wonder if a decrease in white matter would also mean a decrease in social activity, or just that more white matter means an increase in social activity. Sometimes it doesn’t work both ways. I also wonder what they can do to determine causation. In a lot of instances regarding the brain, it’s hard to determined whether a occurrence (positive social behavior) was caused by an abnormality (more than average white matter) or if the abnormality was caused by the occurrence.
veronicaflesch · December 4, 2013 at 7:02 pm
In response to “men and women’s brains” –
This is a really interesting article! It’s always cool when something that we all observationally assume – such as, the fact that men and women’s brains are wired differently- can be actually scientifically demonstrated. I noticed that the subjects of this study, however, were only within the age range of 8-22; I wonder why they only studies subjects who were relatively young, and I wonder if there would be any difference if they were to repeat the study on an older population, especially seeing as some say the brain isn’t fully developed until age 25. So I wonder if the differences in male vs. female wiring increase or decrease with maturity.
veronicaflesch · December 5, 2013 at 2:29 pm
In response to “Jesus and Neuroscience”-
I’m so curious if the fact that Jesus’s left cheek is shown in all the crucifixion paintings is really because about 90% of the painters seemed to instinctively or intuitively know that the left side of the face would be better at expressing Jesus’ emotion and pain. I kind of want that to be the case because it’s just cool, but I feel like things in religious paintings are generally very intentionally symbolic with religious meaning. For example, how in many paintings Jesus is holding up two fingers and his thumb. This may seem random to someone who wasn’t part of the church, but in fact is a symbol representing the trinity. So personally I think it’s more likely that this is the case for this picture as well, and that one of the other explanations mentioned in the article, such as Jesus looking away from God, since God is abandoning him in that moment, is more likely.
JessicaZacarias · December 5, 2013 at 3:22 pm
In response to “Brain Function and Oxytocin”:
I thought this was a very interesting concept. It goes to show that there is a lot we do not know about Autism Spectrum. I thought that serotonin was the main influence of autism but the fact that oxytocin plays a significant enough role to change social behavior is intriguing. On the other hand, this test was very limited with under 20 participants. More testing and research would need to be done to test the validity of this theory.
cbrown50 · December 5, 2013 at 5:02 pm
In response to “Healthy Obesity” –
There is no such thing as “healthy obesity.” Just because an obese person does not have diabetes, they will surely have a higher blood pressure, which only cause heart conditions. I completely agree with the article that obese people have greater risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The risk factors that the article does not address are simply injuries. The obese are more like to have chronic back and knee injuries because the human body is not biomechanically designed to have so much excess fat. The biomechanics of the hip joint is definitely not designed to hold twice as much weight as it was intended to. That is the main reasons that many hip fractures in America are occurring, the shear force that is applied on the hip joint can only take so much before it fails. The other point made is that our generation is just generally larger than it has ever been before, this is attributed the fact that we have food so readily available. So, for those that are considered “healthy obese” they will only develop diabetes and need bypass surgeries to get rid of the plaque builds ups from the highly processed, fatty, and sodium filled food we can consume anywhere for a ridiculously cheap price. It used to be a status symbol if a family was fat in the industrial days because it said that the family was able to afford food, and a lot of it. Now, with a triple cheese burger, large fries and an extra large coke only costing barely five dollars at fast food restaurants, it is a status symbol for people to be thin an outrageously big nation. The life expectancy rates in general are significantly higher, but these people won’t be able to match up to these ages because they are wearing down years of their lives just like they are constantly wearing down their bodies on a daily basis.
JuliaSpalding · December 5, 2013 at 5:07 pm
In response to “where does cognitive decline come from?”:
Like the article stated, I also thought cognitive decline was a result of neuron loss as we got older. I wonder why and how the synaptic mitochondria became donut-shaped! I guess I never thought memory loss would be related to available energy in neurons. I’m intrigued to see since estrogen restores synaptic health and improves working memory (as suggested by this study) if that means men are at a disadvantage? Is that why they can’t seem to remember anniversaries, birthdays, etc.? Haha. I think the next goal for the Mount Sinai scientists is to see how we can avoid or prevent these donut-shaped mitochondria from forming and keep energy activation in the nerve cells running smoothly and efficiently.
Kendra Keith · December 5, 2013 at 11:10 pm
In response to: “where does cognitive decline come from?”:
I am always interested in this topic because I work with the elderly, a population with high levels of cognitive decline. I always thought it was caused by a “loss of neurons”, as many people do. After reading this article however, I learned that a potential cause may be the malformation of mitochondria, which form weaker and smaller synapses, resulting in cognitive decline and poorer working memory.
It is exciting to see new research on cognitive decline because everyone goes through it at one point in their life. I was surprised to read that estrogen treatments may strengthen synapses and improve working memory. My first thought was, does this mean girls have better memory then men? And, does this mean we can start experimenting on humans to see if estrogen doses slow or stop cognitive decline? I look forward to further research on this topic and will hopefully find out the answers to these questions.
Kendra Keith · December 5, 2013 at 11:11 pm
In response to: “where does cognitive decline come from?”:
I am always interested in this topic because I work with the elderly, a population with high levels of cognitive decline. I always thought it was caused by a “loss of neurons”, as many people do. After reading this article however, I learned that a potential cause may be the malformation of mitochondria, which form weaker and smaller synapses, resulting in cognitive decline and poorer working memory.
It is exciting to see new research on cognitive decline because everyone goes through it at one point in their life. I was surprised to read that estrogen treatments may strengthen synapses and improve working memory. My first thought was, does this mean girls have better memory then men? And, does this mean we can start experimenting on humans to see if estrogen doses slow or stop cognitive decline? I look forward to further research on this topic and will hopefully find out the answers to these questions.
Kendra Keith · December 5, 2013 at 11:34 pm
In response to “men and women’s brains”:
Ever wonder if men and women are wired differently? I know I have! This article definitely answers that question. Women have more connectivity between left and right brain hemispheres, whereas males have more connectivity front to back, within hemispheres. It now makes sense why women tend to excel at intuition and multitasking; the communication between hemispheres results in good memory and social cognition skills. Men, on the other hand, tend to be stronger at learning and performing tasks, due to good perception and coordination. I have always thought men and women were wired differently because of the differences in skills and behaviors. The fact that it can now be supported by neuroscience is great!
smarch · December 5, 2013 at 11:44 pm
In response to “‘Healthy obesity’ is a myth, report says”:
My initial reaction from the title was: someone actually thought that obesity could be healthy? I don’t know what type of justification this would require but, for me, it seems common sense that obesity is anything but healthy. Obesity is one of the few, if not the only, condition I have learned of that has detrimental effects on almost all parts of the body, including the mind.
This was my first encounter with the idea of “benign” or “healthy” obesity, where a person gains weight without hazardous effects on metabolism like high levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar. However, this condition still warranted other serious risks such as heart attack and stroke.
I particularly like, and agree with, the statement by Dr. David Katz “I favor a focus on finding health over a focus on losing weight”. I think our society today is largely focused on outside appearances, and it’s a good reminder that the inner appearance (our health) is of utmost importance.
Overall, these studies found that: one, people with the “healthy obese” condition still had increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death; and two: people with metabolic abnormalities (like high cholesterol) were at greater risk also regardless of weight. This is a good indicator that no matter what the condition, anything besides that of a healthy state, will put people at higher risk for other harmful conditions/diseases. That being said, I think it’s a little silly that someone thought it reasonable to create such a title as “healthy obesity” to begin with because it’s all-around misleading.
smarch · December 5, 2013 at 11:45 pm
In response to “Our pupils adjust as we imagine bright and dark scenes”:
I selected this article because I think vision is a really interesting and complex function in how it coordinates with the brain to produce an image, and thus perception, of the world around us. Before reading this article, my previous knowledge was that vision was merely a mechanistic, and seemingly automatic, response to light stimuli of the environment. I always thought it was cool that, in addition to light entering the eye to produce an image, poking your eye hard enough when its closed will still mechanically stimulate the eye and produce an effect (seeing spots) in a similar fashion that light stimulates it.
This article introduced to me the idea that pupil response can be stimulated not only by external light stimuli but also by mental stimuli such as imagining a scenery. By imagining a sunny sky, a person will produce an image in the brain and gauge its relative brightness, which produces a consequent change in pupil size (in this case, a decrease in pupil size). This is a fascinating occurrence and demonstrates the power of the mind. I am intrigued and curious whether any studies have been performed on blind participants, maybe not to measure pupil size, but perhaps, to run imaging of the brain to see the associated response of different parts of the brain to mental imagery. Researchers propose that this could be used to probe mental experiences of animals, babies, and people with neurological disorders, which would be a really innovative technique pertaining to brain research. Infant brains, especially, would be really intriguing to explore in order to gain insight on development of thoughts and memories based on a baby’s visual and mental perception of the world.
neirani · December 6, 2013 at 3:43 pm
In response to “healthy obesity”
I thought that most of the research in this article was fairly intuitive. Having more fat on your body in general seems like it would at the very least make other systems less efficient. Additionally I’ve read that being overweight can also add to joint issues from carrying that weight, and health issues from better sleep related to the extra weight.
Anewman1188 · December 8, 2013 at 8:08 pm
In response to “is there such a thing as healthy obesity” I recently read a similar article that debunked the same myth. While having higher cholesterol and bp levels put you at a significant increase of heart related injuries, high levels of fat does at well. Excess fat in the body, usually is not good. Therefore even though other important levels may be stable, excess fat still leads to heart related diseases. Im curious to see as well the stress levels and diets between people who have healthy bp and cholesterol levels but one group being fit and the other being obese.
Anewman1188 · December 8, 2013 at 8:25 pm
In response to “men and women’s brains” all I could really think of while reading this article was darwinism. The wiring of the brain seemed to benefit men in our earliest forms. We we’re hunters gatherers and survivors. Women were programmed more to take care of the family and hold down the fort. It feels like those primitive functions haven’t changed much but are just used in different ways now. I would be surprised if wirings have been like this since the creation of man.
BonnieBurns · January 28, 2014 at 11:51 am
I completely agree with the article, “‘Healthy Obesity’ is a myth, report says.” I was surprised to read that so many people believe that one can be healthy and overweight/obese. While yes, one who is overweight, may at that moment be healthy, it seems obvious to me that overtime they will not be as healthy as those who are currently healthy. I wonder if the US high obesity rates are partly due to so many people believing that they can still be healthy if they are overweight? This is a myth that really needs to be shown to the masses so that people who are overweight can see that while at the moment they may be functioning fine, overtime they will be at higher risk for disease. Perhaps studies can continue like the one conducted that showed how the people fared after 10 years, and keep checking in on them every 10 years until death to really see how their weight links up with the problems faced in their life.
lesliewong · March 11, 2014 at 9:55 pm
In response to “Is there such a thing as.. “healthy obesity?”:
The phrase “healthy obesity” is an oxymoron. It describes two things that counteract each other. It’s not possible to be considered healthy and obese because if a person is obese then that is due to lifestyle factors including eating UN-healthy and not getting the proper amount of daily exercise. If someone is broad built and looks big, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re obese and unhealthy. It can solely be due to their bone structure. Studies show that those who are thinner (because of their lifestyle choices) are more likely to live longer and not be attacked by a stroke or high cholesterol. I think that as long as people maintain a healthy, balanced diet, along with proper exercise and extracurriculars that allow them to destress, then that is considered healthy in my eyes.