I have my coloring book shown above on Pdf. Send me an email if you’d like a copy… laura@laurafreberg.com
Heres what we are reading today:
“The study, co-authored by Stanford Professor Bruce McCandliss of the Graduate School of Education and the Stanford Neuroscience Institute, provides some of the first evidence that a specific teaching strategy for reading has direct neural impact. The research could eventually lead to better-designed interventions to help struggling readers.
“This research is exciting because it takes cognitive neuroscience and connects it to questions that have deep meaning and history in educational research,” said McCandliss, who wrote the study with Yuliya Yoncheva, a researcher at New York University, and Jessica Wise, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin.”
“Is it possible to tap into the signalling in the brain to figure out where you will go next? Hiroshi Ito, a researcher at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), can now say yes. Ito has just published a description of how this happens in this week’s edition of Nature.”
““In order to create a treatment for these types of disorders, we need to understand how the decision-making process is working,” says Alexander Friedman, a research scientist at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the lead author of a paper describing the findings in the May 28 issue of Cell.”
““The brain has a major system that seems predisposed to get us ready to be social in our spare moments,” said Matthew Lieberman, a UCLA professor of psychology and of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences. “The social nature of our brains is biologically based.””
“The finding answers a fiercely debated question in neuroscience as to the nature of amnesia, according to Susumu Tonegawa, the Picower Professor in MIT’s Department of Biology and director of the RIKEN-MIT Center at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, who directed the research by lead authors Tomas Ryan, Dheeraj Roy, and Michelle Pignatelli.”
““Our findings represent an advance in our knowledge of the brain-based physiology of creativity,” said the study’s senior author, Allan Reiss, MD, professor of radiology and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
The study, to be published May 28 in Scientific Reports, also suggests that shifting the brain’s higher-level, executive-control centers into higher gear impairs, rather than enhances, creativity.”
““These people were representative of the general population, not seeking mental health assistance,” Professor McGrath said.
The study found that auditory hallucinations are more common in women than men, and they are also more common in people from wealthier countries.
Professor McGrath said the findings could help generate new research into the causes of these isolated symptoms.”
“A new computational model based on data from rodent brains shows that “Go” and “No-Go” signals compete in the brain, originating from the nerve cells in the striatum – a part of brain that plays a crucial role in decision making, learning and various motor functions. But, the deck is stacked against the Go neurons, which are expressed in D1 type dopamine receptors, says Arvind Kumar the senior author of the study and a researcher at the Department of Computational Biology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.”
17 Comments
alliemulloy · May 29, 2015 at 12:22 pm
I just finished reading “Researchers find ‘lost’ memories using light” and was enlightened by the fact that researchers are capable of finding so-called “lost” memories. I remembering learning about the process of optogenetics in class and being intrigued that we can control these neurons beyond our own capabilities. This article really showed me some hope in a step towards helping individual’s with Alzheimer’s disease and memory retrieval.
esmeraldadiego · May 29, 2015 at 8:20 pm
I read the article about hearing voices. I really enjoyed this article because of how progressive it is. I think this is necessary knowledge and agree that we shouldn’t be so quick to categorize people as having mental issues for experiences that we traditionally perceive as odd.
lpreeshl · May 30, 2015 at 11:20 am
As a tutor and an older sibling of kids who had trouble learning how to read, I decided that the article on the brain wave study on learning development would be especially interesting, and perhaps helpful. It’s hard to say whether I was taught to read using phonics or through learning whole words, but I can definitely see how phonics would engage more of the brain and make for an easier time learning reading. I thought it was particularly interesting that they taught a new language to a group of literate adults, and their findings were the same as if they’d done it on children just learning how to read. I also think it’s important that more of this research is shared with people in the educational field, as it would really helpful for all children, but especially those that have difficulty reading. Further, from my experience and observation, too many teachers are stuck in their old-fashioned ways, and their students suffer for this stubbornness. So, studies like this would definitely be helpful in pushing them toward improving their methods. Overall, great read!
OwenHevrdejs · May 30, 2015 at 7:14 pm
Hello!
I was very interested in the hallucination article! Mental health is always a really interesting topic. I was surprised to learn that five percent of all people experience hallucinations in their lifetime. I’m just curious how reliable a person saying they experienced one actually is. I feel like just anybody could claim to have had one at one point. However, the statistics found were really interesting! I’d like to know about how hallucinations are explained what parts of the brain are functioning when they occur.
Have a good weekend!
aijarami · May 30, 2015 at 10:08 pm
I really liked the delusions and hallucinations article because one thing that was mentioned was how we should rethink about how even heathy people can experiences voices. And it’s sad how people don’t realize that hearing voice is more than just being “crazy”, it’s a serious mental illness sometimes but we shouldn’t deem them ever.
mkpolo · May 31, 2015 at 2:47 pm
I read the article regarding delusions and hallucinations, which I found rather interesting seeing as how hallucinations and delusions are typically thought of in the sense that they must occur in a state of psychosis. To think that hallucinations or delusions can occur in such a large proportion of the general population, and still coexist with the idea of normal functioning is something I’ve never really thought of as being able to coincide. It also made me rather excited for possible future research that could explain some of the factors that may bring upon these delusions/hallucinations, and why it becomes a sign of a mental health disorder in some of the cases.
angiepereida · May 31, 2015 at 3:31 pm
So I am pretty intrigued by the part where delusions and hallucinations are experienced more by women and those from wealthier countries. I would like to think that this is where the environmental/ genetic factors split.Those with genetic predisposition do not necessarily take over. There has to be a middle ground of people experiencing delusions and the mentally sane, it just makes sense. I liked the part where they highlighted by the experience of delusions not being linked to serious mental illness because there is a lot of stigma in mental illness and to label someone is a pretty severe decision.It does say five percent of the population which seems pretty significant so it really interesting to think about.
meteresi · May 31, 2015 at 5:53 pm
I read the article about brain circuitry and anxiety. As someone who has suffered from PTSD in the past, I was really curious to see what this article said about anxiety and the brain and possible new biologically based treatments. One line in particular stood out to me: “By manipulating this circuit in rodents, they were able to transform a preference for lower-risk, lower-payoff choices to a preference for bigger payoffs despite their bigger costs.” In humans, this can’t be ethical! I would hate to have my brain chemistry manipulated in a way that makes me more likely to take risks (even with higher rewards). No thanks, I’d much retain my innate decision making ability. In a sense anxiety is good up to a certain point because it protects us. The higher risk option is sometimes really detrimental! It was interesting to read that scienetists have discovered a part of the brain that influences approach and avoidance, I just wouldn’t want mine messed with! This article made me thankful for therapy and other non-biological treatments. Although I think biology does have something to do with it, I’m a bit weary of messing around with brain chemistry so much that it could actually change parts of someone’s personality.
slbonill · May 31, 2015 at 9:55 pm
I read the article on finding lost memories and was extremely fascinated by the method that researchers use to retrieve lost memories. It seems as though memory can be stimulated through familiarity of a smell or sight but also through optogenetics–the use of light. Engram cells in the hippocampus when undergoing protein synthesis can help to retrieve loss memories in full. I learned that protein synthesis is crucial in this process because without it, the memories cannot be retrieved.The types of methods used in science and the things these methods are capable of discovering amazes me.
anniethacker · June 1, 2015 at 12:08 pm
I read the article about the cerebellum and the creative process. I thought it was pretty interesting because it was basically saying that the more you try to be creative, the less creative you are. I have found this to definitely be true in my life and in the creative people around me. I think the most successful artists are the ones who either do it for pure enjoyment, or feel some type of need to do it. I know my more Type A friends have a difficult time with creativity because they are so afraid of messing it up. I like that science is backing up something I have noticed but wasn’t sure about. It seems like creativity is something totally different from other mental processes, and this article supported that.
hannahburgardt · June 1, 2015 at 7:05 pm
I find it very interesting that the brain is wired to have us be social during spare moments. From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense since you can find a mate while you are not hunting for food and this will further help reproductive benefits. Also, if you make more friends during your free time then you add to your web of friends who can protect and support you. I wonder where in the brain signals to us that we should be social in our free time? I wonder if people who have Autism or an ASD have difficulty with this process? If we can specifically find out how this process works, then we might be able to help those with social disorders communicate more effectively.
michellevanriper · June 1, 2015 at 9:38 pm
I read the article on the cerebellums role in the creative process. I think these findings pretty much make sense because the article kept talking about how creativity is actually hindered by higher-level thinking. I can relate to this because whenever I am assigned an art project or to write a poem or something along those lines for a class, I always read into it too much and am trying to get a good grade that I can never really be that creative. Also, I am a very rational, problem solving, kind of person and I am also not very creative or artsy that I can definitely see and relate to the correlation they found in my own personal life. Even though they have evidence that the cerebellum is involved in creativity, I wonder if their results are skewed at all since the task that they did their tests on involved pictionary which does involve moving. It seems like there could be a correlation in their findings because there is a lot of activity in the cerebellum while trying to draw an intricate drawing using complex motor movements and that is what the cerebellum usually does. So I wonder if it is just the movement that is triggering activation in the cerebellum or the actual creativity that is needed for the task.
mehicks · June 2, 2015 at 7:33 pm
The article about how when the brain is resting it is thinking about social interaction interested me the most. I think that it is really cool that naturally when our brain is wandering it is thinking about social interactions and when we soon after have to understand emotions it is relatively fast. However, since recently we have been talking in class about ASD, I immediately wondered how this brain wandering differed for those with an ASD. I am amazed at the results that it takes those with Autism just 10% slower time to understand the emotion. Also, the author went on to explain that these reaction times could be increased with practice, however, I question his logic. Having a brother with multiple neurological disabilities, I know that the way his brain is wired cannot be fixed and therefore many of his impulsive tendencies and actions will never change no matter how much help he receives. The author of this article though seems to think that those with autism (and fail to read social cues) can be fixed with practice, which somewhat discredits much of this article, in my opinion.
rachel_wallin · June 3, 2015 at 12:43 pm
This week I read the article on rest, the brain, and social interaction. It was extremely interesting to see that when our brain are given the chance to relax and rest, they automatically use the same section of brain that is used for social interaction. I would originally think that we would go into Default Mode Network, that way our brains wouldn’t be spending so much energy on others, but just be focusing mindlessly on day to day things going on in our lives. Towards the end of the article, I started to make the connection between this social interaction section of the brain and empathy. I wonder if someone’s ability to empathize with others is dependent on this area within the brain, like the more gray matter one has, the less likely one is to empathize greatly…or any other hypothesis that you could derive from this, grey and white matter, and empathy.
maggisamson · June 3, 2015 at 2:59 pm
I found the article “Brain wave study shows how different teaching methods affect reading development” to be very interesting. As someone who was incredibly excited to learn to read and write as a child, I can remember distinctly that my kindergarten and 1st grade teacher Ms Gogeun taught us to read phonetically, with each school day dedicated to learning two or three different letters and the sounds that they can make. At the end of the sequence, we were each given a short picture book to read out loud to our parents, who were supposed to make sure that we were pronouncing each letter instead of memorizing the words on each page. I agree that this is a much better approach because it gives students tools on how to pronounce unfamiliar words. But even beyond that, this study has provided evidence that teaching students phonetically provides a more desirable brain circuitry than if students learn through memorization of words, incorporating the left hemisphere of the brain when taught phonectically. The left hemisphere is particularly active in skilled readers, and thus this research supports phonetic teaching of reading as a better gateway to getting students to be proficient readers. In my opinion, this study is very important because kids these days are spending more time in front of a screen, and less time reading, and perhaps if we can make future generations more skilled, they will enjoy reading more and have less screen time.
jnader · June 3, 2015 at 11:12 pm
I read the article about delusions and hallucinations and I found it very interesting how these symptoms don’t only occur in people experiencing psychosis but also in people who are mentally stable. The fact that this finding may help in explaining why psychosis occurs in people really is a breakthrough. It could be especially helpful in treating people with serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia. In my opinion, I feel like the hallucinations and delusions are the most debilitating symptoms in the disorder and make that person more dangerous to society and themselves. So, getting closer to treating or predicting delusions/hallucinations will really be beneficial in the field of abnormal psychology and in the community at large.
OwenHevrdejs · June 5, 2015 at 5:56 pm
I enjoyed the article on recovering lost memories. I had a great grandma with really bad dementia, and it’s very sad to watch. I think it’s really neat that the “lost” memories can still be brought back. They aren’t completely lost forever, which is what I assumed of diseases like Alzheimer’s. It would be cool if we could find a way to stop memory loss, because it’d be really great to have relatives who would remember who we are!
Thanks a bunch!
Owen