The Frontal Cortex : The Subjectivity of Wine
I saw something similar to this some time ago, and here it is repeated with a great summary of some very intriguing research that debunks the idea of wine tasting.
All this really reinforces is that our senses are not a reflection of reality - they are tied to our brains and therefore subject to the interpretations of our brains (everything from past experience to expectations). Our interpretation of the world as determined by our sensory input simply cannot be 100% accurate as a basis of "reality" - our brains just don't allow for it.
Although, I did see a very limited experiment with a vodka expert where he accurately ranked the quality of vodka under blind tasting conditions (it was actually very impressive, 12 different vodkas all ranked perfectly in the order of quality). However, seeing as I don't drink alcohol, I have no frame of reference to determine if the two drinks (wine and vodka) have distinct enough properties where the tasting of them could yield such strangely different results. Also, the vodka experiment was one time with one individual, so there is no way to tell if that was just a random occurrence.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Does God answer prayer? ASU research says 'yes'
Does God answer prayer? ASU research says 'yes'
Not necessarily directly related to brain research, but it does fit loosely with some of the interests I have regarding brain research and spirituality.
Keep in mind that this isn't original research, this is a statistical analysis of prior research.
Not necessarily directly related to brain research, but it does fit loosely with some of the interests I have regarding brain research and spirituality.
Keep in mind that this isn't original research, this is a statistical analysis of prior research.
Entity vs. Incremental theory
The Mouse Trap: Theories of Intelligence : Entity Vs Incremental theory
Yet another fantastic educational post from The Mouse Trap - this will come in very handy when I'm teaching about Motivation this semester.
Yet another fantastic educational post from The Mouse Trap - this will come in very handy when I'm teaching about Motivation this semester.
Practical psychology
PsyBlog: 10 Practical Uses For Psychological Research in Everyday Life
Another fantastic article. Students always ask "how does this apply in my life?" - well, here are 10 answers.
Another fantastic article. Students always ask "how does this apply in my life?" - well, here are 10 answers.
10 Unsolved Mysteries Of The Brain | Mind & Brain | DISCOVER Magazine
10 Unsolved Mysteries Of The Brain | Mind & Brain | DISCOVER Magazine
Absolutely incredible article. I've printed it up into PDF and use it as an article for my students to read. It does a fantastic job of conveying exactly how mysterious the brain really is to modern science.
Absolutely incredible article. I've printed it up into PDF and use it as an article for my students to read. It does a fantastic job of conveying exactly how mysterious the brain really is to modern science.
Quantum consciousness?
Neurophilosophy : A real physicist discusses the new quantum consciousness mode
I don't know nearly as much as I'd like to about this - but my immediate thought is that the mystery of consciousness is merely shifting from not being able to understand how the interaction of neurons to not being able to understand the spooky behavior (as coined by Einstein) of quantum mechanics.
Simply allocating it to quantum interactions really doesn't solve the problem of consciousness.
Of course, I'm guessing before I read the article or try and understand the field completely (not that I ever could) - but still. It reeks of the similar model for the start of life on Earth. Did it evolve organically sourced from the Earth itself, or was it seeded from outer space? Neither response solves the argument of how life started, it just changes the location.
I don't know nearly as much as I'd like to about this - but my immediate thought is that the mystery of consciousness is merely shifting from not being able to understand how the interaction of neurons to not being able to understand the spooky behavior (as coined by Einstein) of quantum mechanics.
Simply allocating it to quantum interactions really doesn't solve the problem of consciousness.
Of course, I'm guessing before I read the article or try and understand the field completely (not that I ever could) - but still. It reeks of the similar model for the start of life on Earth. Did it evolve organically sourced from the Earth itself, or was it seeded from outer space? Neither response solves the argument of how life started, it just changes the location.
Missing the point of Neurolaw
PsyBlog: "Neurolaw" is Dubious at Best
I think Jeremy Dean at PsyBlog is missing the point o "Neurolaw" - we study neuroscience and try to draw a vector to practical application in many different domains: education, social science, medicine, etc. - so why not law?
Drawing conclusions on one aspect of law (criminal prosecution) seems a bit narrow in scope. What about contract law, or copyright or divorce or hundreds of different other domains. Neuroscience has a lot of potential to address human interaction and development in any domain that required cognition (or doesn't require cognition for that matter). The fact that Jerome Bruner is interested in the field says quite a bit about its viability as well.
I think Jeremy Dean at PsyBlog is missing the point o "Neurolaw" - we study neuroscience and try to draw a vector to practical application in many different domains: education, social science, medicine, etc. - so why not law?
Drawing conclusions on one aspect of law (criminal prosecution) seems a bit narrow in scope. What about contract law, or copyright or divorce or hundreds of different other domains. Neuroscience has a lot of potential to address human interaction and development in any domain that required cognition (or doesn't require cognition for that matter). The fact that Jerome Bruner is interested in the field says quite a bit about its viability as well.
Philosophy of mind
Conscious Entities » Philosophy and Neuroscience
Fantastic commentary and links to other resource that discuss the link between Philosophy and Neuroscience. The point made is a good one - philosophy and neuroscience are inextricably intertwined. The mind is a nearly inscrutable object. Oh, we can see things in PET scans and similar tools, and we can test to discovery certain cognitive mechanisms, but the key points of what makes a mind a mind and not just another machine have so far eluded scientists. What is a thought, what is creativity, what is consciousness? These and a thousand other variations confound the ability of our current state of scientific inquiry.
So we rely on philosophy to answer those questions.
It's not the best answer, but it's the only one we have to work with in the scientific community at this time.
Fantastic commentary and links to other resource that discuss the link between Philosophy and Neuroscience. The point made is a good one - philosophy and neuroscience are inextricably intertwined. The mind is a nearly inscrutable object. Oh, we can see things in PET scans and similar tools, and we can test to discovery certain cognitive mechanisms, but the key points of what makes a mind a mind and not just another machine have so far eluded scientists. What is a thought, what is creativity, what is consciousness? These and a thousand other variations confound the ability of our current state of scientific inquiry.
So we rely on philosophy to answer those questions.
It's not the best answer, but it's the only one we have to work with in the scientific community at this time.
Brain Asymmetry
The comment I'm most interested in is talk about looking at brain asymmetry in relation to gender differences. I've seen a number of studies that show distinct differences in the areas of the brain used for different tasks between genders, it would be very interesting to be able to do a cross-cultural study on those differences to see if they appear to be genetic or environmental in nature.
The Mouse Trap: The right brain/ left brain asymmetry debate
The Mouse Trap: The right brain/ left brain asymmetry debate
What's the brain got to do with education?
Everything - that's what. However, there is some debate over whether or not understanding the mechanisms by which the brain functions can lead to a better understanding of how education works. This article addresses that issue to a limited extent.
What's the brain got to do with education?
It is a growing area of interest - how does all of the prolific brain research translate into actual practice in the classroom?
Hopefully that interest will translate into more research and more useful and effective educational practices.
What's the brain got to do with education?
It is a growing area of interest - how does all of the prolific brain research translate into actual practice in the classroom?
Hopefully that interest will translate into more research and more useful and effective educational practices.
Trouble deciding?
Lots of research in recent years on making choices - mostly configured around consumer choices, but the results of the research can be applied across multiple domains.
Trouble deciding?
Kind of a fun read.
Trouble deciding?
Kind of a fun read.
Juvinile Academia
Okay, this has nothing whatsoever to do with brain science, but it's darned funny (juvenile, but funny):
The Chronicle: 7/20/2007: The Language of Farting
The Chronicle: 7/20/2007: The Language of Farting
Free education
Looks like an effort underway in the land of the Brits to create a complete and completely free Open Online University is well on its way to becoming a reality:
BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: The even more Open University
BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: The even more Open University
Media Distortion
Jeremy Dean over at PsyBlog has written an extremely good post about the different ways that the media has distorted reporting on psychological studies over the years:
PsyBlog: Revealed: Eight Ways The Media Distorts Psychology
The comments are also worth reading as well.
My only question is, if the media does this for Psychology, how often and how similar is the media distortion for any other subject matter? Is it perhaps a psychological phenomenon that could be studied? Do they distort the elements of the story willfully with supposedly altruistic motives (make it more palatable or understandable to non-experts) or with more seedy motives (to create excitement and sensation to sell copy, or to force a story to fit a pre-determined paradigm)?
I'd be very curious to know if this is a phenomenon that has been studied to see what the reasons are from the media perspective.
PsyBlog: Revealed: Eight Ways The Media Distorts Psychology
The comments are also worth reading as well.
My only question is, if the media does this for Psychology, how often and how similar is the media distortion for any other subject matter? Is it perhaps a psychological phenomenon that could be studied? Do they distort the elements of the story willfully with supposedly altruistic motives (make it more palatable or understandable to non-experts) or with more seedy motives (to create excitement and sensation to sell copy, or to force a story to fit a pre-determined paradigm)?
I'd be very curious to know if this is a phenomenon that has been studied to see what the reasons are from the media perspective.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
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