/sci/ - Science & Math

How do I into awareness

>>6200763
That doesn't make any sense

>>6200768
you don't make cents

>>6200761
How do you culture neurons?
Also what causes synaptic pruning?

>>6200774
irrelevant but correct nonetheless

>>6200772
Sensorimotor areas of the brain are where the brain processes environmental inputs
The limbic areas gives emotional coloring to theses input
What is the associative area's function?

how is consciousness formed

how brain get consciousness

How does neuroscience close the explanatory gap?

anything happening in neuroscience other than pretty pictures? any, you know, progress?

By what mechanism does phenomenal subjective experience arise from neurochemistry?

What are actual neuroscientific results concerning the question of free will? I'm not talking about fallacious Sam Harris or Daniel Dennett tier preschool sophistry. What I'm asking is are there any scientific studies on the topic, i.e. objective empirical data and experiments?

Guys I don't know shit about neuroscience

I just made this thread hoping some guy who actually knows about neuroscience would show up so he can answer our questions

What is the evolutionary justification for conscious awareness? Since neuroscience proved the non-existence of free will, the conscious awareness cannot have any physical effects and is merely an epiphenomenon. However, if it arises physically, that means even creating awareness as a superfluous byproduct will unnecessarily consume energy. Therefore lack of conscious awareness should be an evolutionary advantage. So why did evolution allow something as useless as the illusion of conscious awareness to exist instead of selecting against it?

so we know how synapses and neurons work on a biochemical level, and we have a rough idea of which areas of the brain do what. do we know anything of what happens in between these steps?

>>6200763
>>6200806
>>6200808
>>6200815
>>6200842
>>6200845
In short,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness

Does anyone know the newest scientific approaches to the hard problem of consciousness?

>>6200851
i'm so tired of that being the only thing people ever discuss about brains, that's not what i was after

>>6200761
Do you study neurosci? If so, where and at what level? Have you studied any neurohparmacology?

Is neuroscience a good degree for making lots of money?

>>6200867
>>6200871
see
>>6200841

>>6200875
You fucker.

>>6200776
>How do you culture neurons?

Depends. We use 2 different methods in my lab. For one, we just scoop out the cerebellum of fetal mice and stick in in a dish with the appropriate coating (Poly-D-Lysine in our case) and media. We kind of break up the brain tissue before throwing it in the dishes.

Another way is through stem cells. My lab-mate takes patient fibroblasts of our disease, turns them into stem cells, then into neural precursor cells -> neurons.

>>6200808
Not something I'm concerned with nor have really looked into. You're better off asking a philosophy person with some neuro background.

>>6200812
http://www.jneurosci.org/

>>6200815
No idea. If we knew, you could google it.

>>6200825
What is it with these pop-sci questions about "free will, conciousness, etc" whenever the buzzword "neuroscience" is used? Anyways, nothing we've found so far suggests free will. Most likely consciousness and the like is the result of emergent properties of our brain. No reason to suspect our brain is somehow the only special thing in the universe not constrained by the laws of of physics.

What is the minimum IQ requirement for studying neuroscience?

Is it true that there are neuroanatomical differences between races or is it just /pol/ crackpottery?

>>6200891
above whatever your IQ is.

>>6200895
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_genetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence

>>6200920
Above 180? Wow, I guess that explains why we haven't yet seen a competent neuroscientist.

>>6200920
It seems you had problems understanding my question. I did not ask about genetic or intelligence. We already know there are no genetic differences and no differences in intelligence. Hence why I asked about neuroanatomy.

>>6200934
>We already know there are no genetic differences and no differences in intelligence.

Christ, I hope you're trolling. Let's try this again:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_genetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence

OP are you gonna keep redirecting us to wikipedia or answer the questions as they come?

>>6200937
>This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it
>This article's factual accuracy is disputed.
>The neutrality of this article is disputed.
>This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints.

Try to push your racist propaganda on /pol/, not here. On /sci/ we only believe in facts and the facts clearly indicate that there is no such thing as "race" on any level other than a social construct. Your "white supremacy" insanity has no basis in biology.

>>6200934

>breed separately long enough to be highly distinguishable
>no genetic differences

k

>>6200942
>highly distinguishable

If it wasn't for skin color and similar socio-economic factors you wouldn't notice any difference between two equal members of the species homo sapiens. Go be racist somewhere else, /pol/tard.

>>6200812
>http://www.jneurosci.org/
So the answer is no then.

>>6200941
You obviously did not the read the article nor the links provided.

It states that race is a social construct. We know that. Everyone knows that. Race also has strong geographical ties, which we know to be the main relationship between differences in genetic and physical traits seen in people. It's tough to do studies on differences between people because people like you refuse to support anything that may show differences between people, whether defining the criteria as race or location of geographical ancestors.


Even when using "race" as the defining characteristic, there are differences genetically. We'd love to find out what the differences are and, more importantly, *why* there are differences, whether it's cultural (I.E., the socioeconomic differences between races in the US) or geographical (again, there are strong ties between "race" and ancestry. We'd like to know how strong). The only problem is that crazy-apologists come out of the woodwork and declare "THERE ARE NO DIFFERENCES BESIDES SKIN COLOR. IF YOU FIND ANY, IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE RACIST" and we can't delve into the problem more. If it IS confirmation bias, how the fuck will we know if we don't support studies for it?


For the record, I'm mexican, not white.

>>6200946
I'm guessing same guy? You should take a forensics class. Did you know you can tell the ancestry and most likely skin color, of a person based off of their bone structure? Notice I said "most likely" when it comes to skin color. That's because ancestry is linked to skin color, but is not necessarily defining. You can tell whether someone has european, african, or asian heritage, though.

>>6200987
>I'm mexican

>>6200987
>You can tell whether someone has european, african, or asian heritage

There is no reason to tell this, unless you're racist. They are all equal humans.

>>6200987
>I'm mexican

Why did I even bother posting in this thread

>>6200987
>I'm mexican

>>6200987
>I'm mexicаn

>>6200987
>I'm mеxican

>>6200987
>I'm mexican

>>6200774
lmao

This is more of a pharmacology question, but eh.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17418473
>Most importantly, we also demonstrate that chronic (>24 h) administration of ketamine at concentrations as low as 0.01 microg/ml can interfere with the maintenance of dendritic arbor architecture.

So that's ~0.0421 microM of ketamine. Which makes sense intuitively even though I don't know much about NMDA receptor-dependent regulation of dendritic branching, as for example tonic NMDA is one of the top mechanisms for sustaining actin polymerization in immature spines until metaplasticity kicks in.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874851/
>Atomoxetine blocked NMDA-induced membrane currents. Half-maximal inhibition emerged at about 3 µM which is in the range of clinically relevant concentrations found in plasma of patients treated with this drug.

From what I know, ketamine has an IC50 of ~0.5 microM and binds to the NMDA receptor somewhere inside of the pore in a voltage-dependent manner, although I'm not sure of the dynamics exactly. Atomoxetine hits the magnesium binding site, again in a voltage-dependent manner.

Assuming ~5 microM chronic concentration of Atomoxetine and no a priori deficits in NMDAR transmission, should we expect similar effects?

>>6200999
>I'm mexican

Bump

>>6200803
>Sensorimotor areas of the brain are where the brain processes environmental inputs
If you mean primary sensory cortices, then yes.
>The limbic areas gives emotional coloring to theses input
Sure, but that's not the only thing they do.

>What is the associative area's function?
Associative brain areas are regions of the brain that putatively are considered to not have a single source of sensory input, or motor output. They're multisensory and/or intermediate areas in motor processing. Basically they collectively mediate every brain function that's not direct sensory processing or motor output.

>>6200987
>I'm mexican

>>6200999
>>6201005
>>6201013
>>6201021
>>6201026
>>6201052
>>6201091
>>6202049
samefag won't fuck off

>>6202050
stay mad beaner

>>6200774

that is a true statement

>>6202052
>>6202049
>>6201091
>>6201052
>>6201026
>>6201021
>>6201013
>>6201005
>>6200999
wtf is wrong with you people

>>6202052
>beaner
Get out.

>>6200825
Look up the Libet experiment and take it from there.

>>6200842
>Since neuroscience proved the non-existence of free will,
That depends entirely on how you define free will.

I'm really fascinated by dreaming. My thought was if we could harness dreaming to make virtual reality a possibility? You can control dreams if you're lucid, who's to say a machine couldn't influence your dream?

>>6200924
Pleb, my IQ is 203

>>6200924
>hasn't ever witnessed a CNS thread
how new are you?

Why are some neurons mylenated while others aren't? How important are astrocytes to cognitive function? Why does it appear that microglia purposely prevent CNS repair, causing paralysis in spinal cord injury?

Glorious CNS, where art thou

>>6201089

Can't answer your question, but what is meant by dendritic arbor architecture? Is it just a fancy way of saying extremely low dose ketamine can damage dendrites?

>>6202555
Myelination takes a lot of energy and nutrients, and does not make that much difference over small distances. It's also not too necessary for all types of information transfer.

Astrocytes are extremely important as they provide nutrients for neurons. Astrocytic impairment plays a role in, for instance, ALS as well as other types of neurodegenerative disease.

Microglia are part of the immune system specifically for the brain. The immune system sometimes appears to prevent normal health in the rest of the body as well when provoked.

>>6202565
Dendritic arbor architecture is the way dendrites are positioned relative to each other, basically. "arbor" means tree, with the dendrites being its "branches". Impaired dendritic arbor architecture means that dendrites aren't positioned correctly, impairing connectivity.

>>6202555
>Why are some neurons mylenated while others aren't?
We can't really say for sure, but there are various probable reasons. Myleniation is quite a large metabolic investment, so it only makes sense to do it if it provides a significant functional improvement. Short distance signal transfer won't be affected as much by myelin as long-range transfer, so short axons don't necessarily need myelin. Another reason is to save space. Our brains in mature form are already too big to fit through the birth canal (hence our long developmental period) and a significant proportion of space is taken up by myelin. If every single neuron in the brain would have myelin, it wouldn't fit in our skull.

>How important are astrocytes to cognitive function?
Normal human brain function is impossible without astrocytes, so the answer would be 'critical'. If you're asking what the functional significance is of electrical signal conduction of astrocytes, then the answer is a simple 'we don't really know'.

>Why does it appear that microglia purposely prevent CNS repair, causing paralysis in spinal cord injury?
They secrete cytotoxins to kill invading bacteria. Sometimes they over-do it a little in an attempt to restrain an infection, thereby causing collateral damage. This is especially true for chronic infections, whereby long exposure to cytotoxins damages a large amount of neurons and causes demyelination.

>>6202586

Thanks for the answers.

Regarding microglia, I've read some studies that have had success repairing spinal cord injury by inhibiting microglia and astrocyte scarring in the region somehow (don't remember the specifics, something about allowing the severed neurons to release the same chemical messengers they release after their birth which allows them to navigate to their destination, in this case the other end of the severed region). If the body seems to hellbent on preventing spinal cord recovery like this, do you think applying these techniques to humans might be a bad idea?

>>6202603
>If you're asking what the functional significance is of electrical signal conduction of astrocytes, then the answer is a simple 'we don't really know'.

I thought astrocytes don't use electrical signal conduction and instead communicate through calcium cascades?

>>6202612
>I thought astrocytes don't use electrical signal conduction and instead communicate through calcium cascades?
They do. They don't conduct action potentials like neurons, but calcium waves cause voltage changes nonetheless, and can result in astrocytic glutamate release.

>>6200825

Front. Page.

>>6200761
neuroscience of anxiety?

>>6202756
is that a question?

>>6202768
yup!

please answer this in layman's terms, thanks

>>6202771
It was supposed to be sarcastic, as it's not clear at all what you're actually asking.

>>6202778
what goes on in the brain to make someone anxious?

>>6202784

an overactive amygdala and an excess of norepinephrine at the most basic level.

>>6202784
It's the amygdala becoming active. The amygdala is a small almond shaped nucleus in the brain that regulates fear and anxiety. In pathological anxiety states (such as post-traumatic stress disorder) the amygdala is hyperactive because it isn't being down-regulated properly.

>>6202787
>>6202790

what is norepinephrine?

how do doctors down-regulate it?

>>6202795


Norepinephrine is one of the 3 major monoamine neurotransmitters in the brain, sometimes also called noradrenaline. It's involved in things such as the fight and flight response. It causes a lot of the physical effects of anxiety, like rapid heartbeat and increased breathing.

You downregulate an amygdala with delicious Benzodiazepines. Then you become addicted to them, try to quit, undergo withdrawal, have a seizure, and then die.

>>6202805

Why can't you just slow down the amygdala or counter-act the excess norepinephrine?

>>6202819
You can, with beta blockers. They block noradrenalin receptors.

>>6202805

So that's really the only way? Does a chemical cause the amygdala to go hay-wire? If so, then why not just counteract the effects of the chemical that does this to begin with?

so we are still not sure about existence of free will
it's highly probable, but not sure that we're just fucking apes with fuckload of stupid compensation mechanisms to ocunter the consciousness aka the mistake of evolution?

>>6202823

I deleted the question because the first half was partly answered. You've answered the second part, thanks.

>>6202832
>so we are still not sure about existence of free will
If you don't define that precisely, there's no way you'll be able to have a meaningful discussion on the topic.

>>6202827

Norepinephrine is one neurotransmitter that is involved in regulating arousal in the amygdala, but it's not nearly as simple as "turn up/down chemical x, fix everything".

There are other ways, but they aren't guaranteed to work. Eg cognitive behavioral therapy or exposure therapy can help regulate amygdala arousal back to reasonable levels.

What can you say about the arrangement of neurons in schizophrenia. I understand from a Sapolsky lecture that normally neurons are arranged linearly while in schizophrenia the patterns are disrupted?

>>6202827
There are a multitude of practical methods to downregulate the output of the amygdala.

>>6202840

Can you live without an amygdala? If so, what are the consequences?

>>6202848
Yes, it's called Klüver-Bucy Syndrome. Some of its syndromes are: docility (low fear, less aggression); overeating; hypersexuality; and agnosia (an inability to recognize objects).

>>6202848

If I recall correctly, H.M. had most of his temporal lobes removed, including the amgdalae. He was never able to form new memories fr as long as he lived after the surgery.

>>6202854
>syndromes
symptoms

>>6202854
>Klüver-Bucy Syndrome

Wow, I had not heard of this before. that is super neat.

>>6202855
>He was never able to form new memories fr as long as he lived after the surgery.
that's because his hippocampi were completely bisected, not because of amygdala damage per-sé.

is chronic procrastination a condition?

>>6202861
it's generally known as apathy

>>6202860

Did he suffer any negative effects that likely would not have been caused by the removal of the hippocampi, or was it mostly just the anterograde amnesia?

>>6202854

really cool stuff. Those symptoms don't sound too debilitating. Is depression also an amygdala problem?

>>6202866
I'm not sure, I don't know his history in detail. I just know that he's the text book example for how hippocampal lesions cause amnesia (and spatial navigation deficits).

>>6202861
It's not really a mental condition but it's possibly an indicator for a variety of mental illnesses.

Don't go hypochondriac on me though, procrastination is rather common.

>>6202870
Yes, but only partly. Depression is usually coupled with greater anxiety and in some cases also memory deficits, which are likely due to amygdaloid dysfunction / hyperfunction.

>>6202878

What is a SSRI?

I have heard of this but don't know what it does - also, is it similar to Benzodiazepines, like you mentioned earlier?

>>6202907

SSRIs are Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. They work by binding to structures on axons known as Serotonin Reuptake Transporters (SERT). As a result, much less Serotonin is recycled back into the axon, and therefore serotonin levels in the synapse are raised. The excess Serotonin means more Serotonin binds to Serotonin (5-HT) receptors on the post-synaptic dendrite. When these receptors are activated more often due to the SSRI, it's very likely that this causes a) genetic changes in the neuron that can alter processes such as Long-Term Potentiation and b) increases the expression of a chemical called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). BDNF is responsible for creating new neurons in the hippocampus (neurogenesis), and individuals with Clinical Depression usually have atrophied (smaller) hippocampi. Thus, the SSRIs indirectly increase BDNF and reverse the atrophy that occurs in the hippocampus. A likely cause for this atrophy is probably dysregulation of the HPa axis in the neuroendrocrine system, causing excess cortisone to be released which damages neurons. This explanation only applies to Depression, I'm not familiar with the intricacies in how they treat Anxiety.

>>6202907
SSRI stands for Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor. It inhibits the reuptake of serotonin from the synaptic cleft, effectively prolonging its active time. Serotonin has a very broad range of physiological functions, and I believe it's still not completely clear how exactly they work in the case of depression, except for the fact that depressed people (as well as other types of anxiety syndrome) often have serotonergic depletion, and SSRI's 'fix' that part.

Benzodiazepines work on the GABAergic system. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that inhibits a whole bunch of things in your body. It essentially makes you calmer and sleepier. Benzodiazepines are also some of the least toxic drugs you can take since you can't overdose on them. They modulate GABA receptors so that they work better, but are limited by the amount of GABA, which doesn't change.

>>6202922

con't

SSRIs are different from Benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines are allostatic modulators of GABA receptors, meaning they bind to these receptors and inhibit neuronal firing throughout the entire brain, including the Amygdala. As a result, the arousal of the amygdala goes way down as GABA increases because the neurons in the amygdala are firing way less often. Unfortunately Benzodiazepines lose their effect over time due to tolerance. They also make you feel AMAZING (ESPECIALLY if you have anxiety to begin with), so they are addictive. If you become severely dependant on them and then quit using them suddenly, your brain will freak the fuck out because it had been relying on the Benzodiazepines to regulate its GABA levels. Rapid cessation of Benzodiazepines means GABA levels drop dramatically, and neuronal firing increases exponentially. This causes not only extreme anxiety and insomnia (withdrawal), it can also cause the brain to seize if the dependance was serious enough, and these seizures can cause death.

>>6202922
>>6202919

this is very interesting.

i was reading something a while ago that talked about ketamine as a possible treatment for depression/anxiety. i have no idea how this would work. is it similar to either of these processes?

>>6202931

that sounds terrible.

On the topic of SSRI's:

Why did Celexa cause (very painful and frightening) serotonin syndrome when mixed with adderall?

I've had other antidepressants mixed with adderall just fine like Cymbalta.

I re-started up my script a few months ago with the Celexa, and a day later I felt off. A little funny. I thought it was some side-effects of going back on a 30mg adderall and staying up all night after being off it, but I was wrong. Sever pain, twitching, vivid nightmares, paranoia, anger...it was the worst ive ever felt. I didn't feel human.

And the worst part if I figure it was the celexa, and that it was serotonnin syndrome, but I had to stop taking BOTH the adderall and he celexa for my body to return to normal.

Amphetamine shouldn't really be mixed with SSRI's for precautionary reasons I know, but shouldn't they be allowed to coexist in most bodies without too much interaction?

>>6202937

Ketamine is pretty awesome.

>>6202937

Ketamine also releases BDNF, just like SSRIs. It's also an NMDA receptor antagonist, and the NMDA and AMPA receptors in the glutamate system are critical for synaptic plasticity functions. The idea is that Ketamine forces positive synaptic changes immediately, while SSRIs do it much more gradually and as a result are much slower to work. There is some criticism regarding Ketamine as an antidepressant, because it is difficult to find a good placebo to use alongside drugs that cause immediate and obvious changes in consciousness. (eg you'd know immediately if you got a sugar pill during the trial because you wouldn't be tripping sack, and this might be throwing the results).

>>6202939

It's pretty terrible. Benzodiazepines are quite the double-edged sword. They are pretty much the most effective tool we have for treating Anxiety, period, but they also have to be used very carefully.

Is there any physiological basis for psychokinesis?

>>6202949

There is no logical reason I can think of for that combination to cause Serotonin Syndrome. The affinity Amphetamine has on SERT is extremely low compared to its affinity for DAT and NET. Are you sure it wasn't something else?

>>6202955

If there is a testable physiological basis, we haven't discovered it yet.

translation: almost definitely not.

>>6202954

What does NMDA do? Also what are AMPA receptors?

Thanks m8s

>>6202969

I don't know much about AMPA and NMDA receptors, I find them pretty confusing. Maybe someone else will be able to explain them better than me. The relevant thing you need to know is that they are involved in synaptic plasticity and altering them will alter synaptic plasticity (ie how neurons connect with each other via synapses)

>>6202955
Yes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophoton

I really wish somebody who really knows about neuroscience made a thread. IIRC we did have an awesome neuro dude like a year ago.

But a Mexican...

>>6203012
You really have no idea how ironic your post is.

>>6202988
Hurr durr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophoton#Pseudoscience

>>6203012
why dont you shut the fuck up already gringordo de mierda, most of your scientific achievements were done by inmigrants anyway and its no secret to nobody that the vast majority of the successful students in united states universities are inmigrants to

so shut the fuck up and go eat a hamburger or something ok

>>6203064
I'm not that guy but just a word of advice: Don't let your mad show like that bro. It doesn't exactly make for a convincing argument, or show maturity.

>>6202969
>>6202981
AMPA and NMDA receptors are two different subtypes of glutamate receptor. AMPA and NMDA are not neurotransmitters, but chemicals for which those receptors have a particular affinity to. Biologically, they both respond to the same neurotransmitter although they have different functions.

Simply put, they are involved in synaptic plasticity, as >>6202981 said. Glutamatergic neurons typically start with a large amount of AMPA receptors but few NMDA receptors. AMPA receptors are Ca++ ion channels, but if only one synapse activates them they allow only little Ca++ to enter the cell, and not much happens. When the cell receives a lot of glutamate from a lot of synapses, though, the AMPA receptors allow a lot of Ca++ to enter, triggering cellular changes, most notably the upregulation of NMDA receptors. These allow for a quicker activation of the action potential than AMPA receptors.

Concretely, this means that if multiple neurons connect to another neuron at the same time, the neuron will respond more quickly to the same stimulus in the long term and this is called long-term potentiation, crucial for memory formation.

Also, when there's too much glutamate, Ca++ starts activating apoptotic pathways. This is called excitotoxicity.

>>6203079
sorry bro its just that whenever I browse boards with flags like /int/ and /sp/ they always make fun of us and say bad things about us and then they always say "its just a joke" but deep inside they always really mean those things and believe in those things like ignorant retards
seriously amerifats really have no right to say they're "superior" or whatever because they are a country of inmigrants in the first place and as i said before the vast majority of their scientific and technology achievements are done by inmigrants so it really bothers me that they think they're better than us and shit

>>6203095
I can see that it bothers you, I'm just saying that it shouldn't because you're better than that bro. Actually explaining why the shit they say is wrong is silly, because you're basically dignifying their stupid shit when it's pretty obvious they're just spouting xenophobic garbage. Ignore it and don't let it get to you, because it's not worth it. And responding with counter-racism or bigotry is even worse.

>>6200761
How does Vyvanse (or any "study drug" for that matter) interact with with my brain? What physically happens that causes
1) five hours of intense productivity, happiness, and extreme social competence
2) the subsequent few hours of unavoidable sad feels, lowered social awareness, and lack of motivation

>>6203119

Amphetamine binds to DAT and NET and causes them to work in reverse, spitting Dopamine and Norepinephrine into the synapses. These are two neurotransmitters involved in attention and motivation. When the drug wears off, you've just burned through a large amount of Dopamine and Norepinephrine, which causes the "crash".

>>6202956

I was perfectly healthy. No scripts. Clean slate. I start the adderall and celexa at the same time and I that shit happens. Ceases after I stopped both for about 48 hours, and didn't come back on the adderall only. This shit went on for like 4 days, too.

I was at school and had to leave class because everything frustrated me. I was trying to chill out and study in the library, but I felt too terrible to do anyting. I almost checked myself in to the hospital, but I mirrored serotonin syndrome very closely so I was able to get a grip on it and get back to baseline.

>>6203128

It was the first time you tried both Celexa and amphetamine? Are you saying you resumed the amphetamine after or did you stop it forever? It sounds like you just had a bad reaction to amphetamine, it happens.

>>6203134

I was on amphetamine for 2 years straight prior with ~year hiatus in between. I've had some 'interesting' experience on amphetamine binges combined with academics, but this was awful. My extremities were even twitching.

>>6203134

and I resumed it soon after and I was a-ok.

>>6202954
Wanted to comment on the sugar pill thing, that's not the actual issue. Most ketamine doses in such cases are less than 50 mg or 5mg, I forget which but it's far below the threshold of 'tripping sack' effects.

>>6203126
What level of education have you had in neuroscience?

>>6203175

You have to rail a fair amount. But IM injection is tripping balls before the plunger drops.

>>6200941
>a social construct
>buying into unprovable social sciences on a board about real science

Sup SRS

>>6200939
>I'm a retard
>I'm worthy of glorious OP's time despite being a retard

>>6203253
>insulting him 24 hours later
You're kind of a coward retard as well.

>>6203095
Mexico is a country of dumb spanish rape babies

And no one on /int/ ever says it's a joke, we really do hate you filthy beaner faggots

>>6203251
What's the matter? Are social sciences too hard for you because they require actual understanding instead of mindlessly memorizing equations?

>>6203257
/int/ is not racist, they just joke about this shit but that's about it. People who take racism seriously are told to fuck off.

>>6203177

Why do you ask?

>>6203264

But people who are good at math deplore memorizing equations.

The calculus and algebra are supposed to help prevent you from having to do that.

>>6203276
Higher math heavily relies on memorization. When your thesis requires you to use a few hundred different theorems, collected from several different sources, you don't want to fully understand the proofs of every single one of them. At some point you only memorize them, especially the ones that aren't intuitively obvious and whose proofs go over a double or triple digit number of pages.

>>6203287

Computers are good for storing information, and programming it's recall. You're on one right now. The rigor and intuition should already be there anon :3

>>6203268
I'm halfway in neuro undergrad, and most of the things you say in the thread (assuming you're the one with detailed replies) are things I 'know' or can recall if I think back, but I don't have that casual back-of-the-hand mastery you reply with. Just wondering how much more until it becomes second nature.

>>6203291

I'm a high school dropout. No "legitimate" neuroscience education at all. I wanted to get a Ph.D in Neuropsychiatry but things got in the way.

>>6203315
Oh. So what/how much have you studied?

What happened to the consciousness guy? Did he die when sage died?

>>6203387
She's still here, posting occasionally.

>>6202937
I hate this board so much.

>>6203392
Do you mean she as what a captain would call his ship or are you implying it's female?

>>6203315

Followed your conversation with the other guy. Could answer his questions roughly with the same accuracy as yours and I'm a dropout (although we don't have "highschools" per say in our country).
Nowadays a legitimate interest in a subject will net you far more than some education. Although not always, of course.

>>6203265
>/int/ is not racist

hoh boy...

Bump

>>6204281

>>6204788
Seems to be a lot of MRI pictures in neuroscience threads.

I'm currently sitting at an MRI scanner waiting for my DTI measurements to finish, so if anyone has some questions about the subject I can try to answer them.

>>6204799
what's your project about? is the measurement for scientific or clinical purposes? will you use FA or tractography analysis? what's the field strength of your scanner?

>>6204807
Alzheimer's Disease, mostly scientific purposes. I will use FA since it's a very basic parameter (pretty sure almost all diffusion studies look at it). I may do tractography analysis in the future, although it is challenging.

I use a 9.4T small animal (mice in my case) MRI system, hence the difficulties for tractography. Artefacts are much stronger at such a resolution which complicates things.

>>6204811
do you have a specific hypothesis about where differences in FA will show up in your animal model compared to control, or are you just going to do data-driven analyses?

>>6204822
Well, FA (and also MD) differences are fairly global in the case of AD, with patients usually presenting with reductions in FA and increases in MD. In particular, we're looking at white matter like the corpus callosum, where we would expect to see a loss of WM integrity as a result of, for instance, inflammation.

>>6204828
how does your animal model of AD actually work? is it genetic (I really don't have a clue about this animal stuff, I do human research)?

>>6204843
It's a genetic model yes, it overexpresses human mutant proteins important in Alzheimer's disease (amyloid precursor protein or APP and tau). Most AD mouse models are genetic, and they all require the use of human proteins as mouse amyloid cannot aggregate into plaques, one of the main pathological hallmarks of AD next to tau tangle accumulation inside neurons.

There are a few examples of chemically-induced AD models, but these only really model a fairly small aspect of the disease, for instance injecting a substance that kills of cholinergic cells and causes the cholinergic depletion seen in AD. People tend to prefer mice with mutant APP, tau or mutations in presenilins (important in APP cleavage to amyloid beta).

>>6204861
thanks a lot, cool stuff!

Layman here.

Are you optimistic about being able to develop effective treatments or possibly even cures for neurodegenerative diseases, say in the next 15-20 years?

>>6203431

He always asserts that he's female, but then never provides evidence so you can safely dismiss his claim

>>6204871
"Neurodegenerative diseases" is a very broad term. In fact, there are already effective treatments for a number of them - For instance, Levodopa is very effective in the case of Parkinson's Disease (although admittedly it is not a full cure).

Furthermore, many neurodegenerative diseases can be treated pretty well when detected early (e.g. Alzheimer's Disease). Unfortunately, the disease shows only few symptoms during early stages so easy-to-implement and cheap diagnostic tools are essential.

I'm optimistic in the sense that we will most likely be able to provide better treatments for patients in 15 years. Full cures, probably not.

>>6202939
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDbPnAQ-c1o

Let me just put this back on page zero.

If I wanted to follow the connection between the hippocampus and the neuromuscular junctions in my hand, what would be the whole connection circuit?
From the hand to the spinal cord, to the medulla, brainstem, and then?

Which part of the brain controls internal dialogue?

Could the patterns seen in relationship between norepinephrine transporters and PTSD be also seen using diffusion tractography??

Which part of the brain controls internal dialogue?

Could the patterns seen in relationship between norepinephrine transporters and PTSD be also seen using diffusion tractography??
Pic related. DT scan of whole brain using fMRI.

>>6205313
>Which part of the brain controls internal dialogue?
It's many different parts, not just one part. The brain is a network, and such complex functions are subserved by a combination of brain regions. The modular approach (i.e. 'this part of the brain performs this specific function') is out-dated. Anyway, broca's area is one of the regions of the brain that is associated with speech production (not just the motor-related part of it) so is likely to be involved in internal dialogue production as well.

>Could the patterns seen in relationship between norepinephrine transporters and PTSD be also seen using diffusion tractography??
Molecular effects like that are too small-scale to be detectable by structural MRI. Indirect effects however, such as the reduced white matter connectivity between ventromedial prefrontal cortex (the region that down-regulates the amygdala) that is associated with PTSD are probably detectable detectable with diffusion imaging.

>Pic related. DT scan of whole brain using fMRI.
the 'f' in fMRI stands for functional. This picture was made using structural diffusion tensor imaging, so technically fMRI isn't quite correct. It's just MRI, or DT-MRI to be precise.

>>6205174
There's not just one route, not even a most prominent one. You could trace that connection via pretty much the entire brain.

>>6205335
What about connectivity in the noradrenergic system?

>>6205363
We're working on that. The locus coeruleus (LC: the most prominent source of cortical noradrenaline) is the size of about a grain of rice though. With high-resolution MRI it's possible to see it, but artifacts are prominent around regions where tissue density changes, which is a problem around the LC. It also lies directly between the fourth ventricle (a fluid cavity) and a big artery. That means that every time the heart beats, the thing shifts in position relative to the rest of the brain. This makes it very hard to image properly in-vivo. People are working on scanning techniques now where the MRI scanner is triggered by the heart, so each time a volume is collected (a picture is taken, sort of) the LC is in the same position. It's called cardiac gating. It's still a few years off to becoming standard though, but at least we can measure LC activity directly. Still though, with the current MRI techniques we have no way of specifically isolating cortical noradrenergic activity, which is something for the less proximate future.

>>6205401
I didn't mean to sound too pessimistic there, we have other ways of measuring / manipulating noradrenergic activity. This is specifically an MRI problem.

>>6205401
>>6205439
Thanks for all your help in the thread!

Do you have any plans on becoming a student or are you keeping your education as a labour of love?

>>6205483
>Thanks for all your help in the thread!
Sure, no problem. Actually though, those were my only posts, I just dropped in.

>Do you have any plans on becoming a student or are you keeping your education as a labour of love?
I'm full on working. I'm a post-doc.

>>6205487
>those were my only posts
those, plus the one with the MRI techniques image

>>6204090

I suppose, but I always had dreams of doing animal labwork, and that's not possible without a degree.

>>6202555
>Glorious CNS, where art thou
Around, just kind of busy. I mostly post without a trip nowadays.

>>6205516
Are you getting closer to solving the hard problem of consciousness?

>>6205516

Whose your favorite scientist from the history of neuroscience (eg Cajal)

>>6205528
>whose

>>6205528
I don't really have a favorite, but I like Kandel, Buzsáki, and Singer.

>>6205540
What are their approaches to the hard problem of consciousness?

>>6205540
Not sure what happened to my trip there, but anyway, that's me.

I'm off again now, have a great day.

nein

Is there a valid synaptic model of memory?

>>6205561

Long-Term Potentiation?

>>6205561
Has not been actually validated see Martin S.J., a. M. R. G. M. New Life in an Old Idea: The Synaptic Plasticity and Memory Hypothesis Revisited. Hippocampus 12, 609-636 (2002).

>>6205516
>I mostly post without a trip nowadays.
Figured, it's kind of obvious this was you:
>>6205335
>>6205401

Has anybody managed to recreate a working replica (physical or digital) of the nervous system of C. elegans yet?

>>6205612

>Several software simulation models of the complete neural and muscular system, and to some extent the worm's physical environment, have been presented since 2004, and are in some cases available for downloading.

Source: Bryden, J. and Cohen, N. (2004). A simulation model of the locomotion controllers for the nematodode Caenorhabditis elegans. In Schaal, S., Ijspeert, A., Billard, A., Vijayakumar, S., Hallam, J., and Meyer, J.-A., editors, From Animals to Animats 8: Proceedings of the eighth international conference on the Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour, pages 183–192.

>>6205623
>However, we still lack understanding of how the neurons and the connections between them generate the surprisingly complex range of behaviors that are observed in this relatively simple organism.
Welp, it's a start

>>6200761
Is consciousness real?

>>6205705
What do you mean by consciousness?

in regards to those asking q. regarding insight between the ties between neuroscience and meditation/inner light, I found this study interesting , came across it recently.

http://philpapers.org/archive/PRAILP

good archive of mind/conciousness research papers - http://consc.net/mindpapers/3.4

>>6205335
In the bottom left part, are you referring to NMR spectroscopy? Because that isn't functional MRI per sé. Typically what is meant by fMRI is BOLD, ASL or in some cases diffusion fMRI, but rarely NMR as it is not fast enough to map dynamic changes in metabolites. The image there also looks much too nice to have been acquired from NMR voxels. NMR also doesn't really count as "imaging" although I'm nitpicking there, since you can reconstruct maps from multiple NMR voxels.

A reasonably fast way to map metabolites in the brain with decent resolution is called Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST). While this is also based on shifts in resonance frequency, it works differently from NMR spectroscopy in that you start by giving an off-resonance saturation pulse at the frequency of the molecule of interest (e.g. glutamate at 3 ppm), destroying its signal. Saturated protons will then chemically exchange with protons of the bulk water pool, reducing the water signal and reducing the contrast.

Also I'd like to mention that the resolution increase at higher fields is not so straight-forward. White and gray matter boundaries become more fuzzy and therefore more difficult to segment, T2 relaxation times decrease and T1 relaxation times increase (the former makes imaging more difficult as you need faster sequences). In fact, in some cases (e.g. diffusion MRI) you get better results at lower field strengths but better gradient systems.

>>6205732
>http://philpapers.org/archive/PRAILP
you know that
>NeuroQuantology
is an absolute shit journal right? Its impact factor is about 0.6, which means that papers that get published in there get cited, on average, not even once.

>>6205722
qualia

>>6205762
what do you mean by real?

>>6205740

no! thank you for the feedback, do you have a better place you suggest to find more credible papers?

new to alot of this, just like to read/learn in my own time and I come to these threads for this very reason. :) My technical neurology knowledge is very naive and beginner. For me, consciousness has been something you seem to only make sense of once you acquire it. I find it in music, art, literature, any form of expression coming from that higher creative self and then through science I can understand it in a mathematical/ different side. its all connected.

the more I understand by reading things from all fields, the better I will be able to condense and communicate this understanding to all kinds of people - ie. science geeks on /pol/ or people who might not even know what neurology is. :)

>>6205816
>people who might not even know what neurology is. :)
First off, you mean neuroscience. Neurology is treating sick people. But that's just semantics.

Anyway, if you want to actually know about this stuff but don't have the background, just read good old wikipedia. It's honestly not half bad when it comes to science. It's not all that detailed, so if you want to read about things more in-depth, then follow up on the actual references.

Here are some papers from journals that are a bit more reputable if you're interested:
http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/3/1/55.short
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811909000044
http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16369.long
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/06/05/1207817109.abstract

>>6205829

ah yes! apologies, I tend to get my neuro -logy/psychology/science's mixed up. thank you for your links! appreciate it.

bump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62jZENi1ed8

this guy says that IQ is mostly heritable in the US, and within the next decade geneticists will be able to identify the specific genes which are responsible for general intelligence.

is he just trying to advance a racist agenda?

>>6205884
>this guy says that IQ is mostly heritable in the US
It's not as simple as that. Early in life the environmental component is the dominant factor (i.e explains <50% of variance in IQ), but this balance shifts later in life, as there's an interaction between genotype and environment.

>within the next decade geneticists will be able to identify the specific genes which are responsible for general intelligence
That's nonsense, because intelligence as we define it today is a polygenic trait, where no individual gene explains more than about 1,5% of variance in IQ.

>is he just trying to advance a racist agenda?
I don't know, I didn't watch the video. You're /pol/iticizing shit, this is the science board.

>>6205893
>It's not as simple as that
i know that heritability increases with age. i didn't see the point in stating that though.

>is a polygenic trait
>specific genes
>genes

>You're /pol/iticizing shit, this is the science board.
on one hand i agree with you, but on the other hand scientists have an ethical responsibility.

>>6205901
>i didn't see the point in stating that though.
The point is that it's not as clear cut as "IQ is mostly heritable. Up to a certain point in life it's not.

>is a polygenic trait
>specific genes
>genes
You were talking about specific genes. No specific gene is responsible for intelligence. In one genotype a particular allel can have the exact oposite effect on general intelligence as in another. They interact. It's the total constellation of genes that determines the phenotype, in interaction with the environment.

Neurocircuitry of addiction.

http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v35/n1/full/npp2009110a.html

>>6205401
Samefag from >>6205363
>>6205313

I did some research in high school with Alexander Neumeister at NYU on that. We used PET to determine differences in NET in those regions between comorbidities. A paper written by researchers in China suggested using DT in PTSD, but ran into statistical power issues. I'm actually working on a project fixing that issue, but by examining comorbid differences in PTSD and subPTSD diagnoses. Thanks for helping me bounce ideas.

What do neuroscientists feel about AI (specific / weak) and AGI (general / strong)?

Can AI/AGI be a 'left field' way of studying actual intelligence? (personally I feel like AI gives a platform to try out philosophy of mind).

>>6206205
If the human brain can be replicated artificially, then so can it's capabilities. After all, neurons communicate in a binary system after all.

>>6206205
If the circuitry can be replicated, so can the capabilities. Neurons communicate through a binary system, after all.

How important are dietary antioxidants for brain health?

>>6206591
While not unimportant, you don't have to deliberately start eating foods containing antioxidants. Like vitamins, it's only a problem if you have a deficiency for some reason.

>>6206238
>Neurons communicate through a binary system, after all
Not really, spiking is not the only thing they do.

bump

I ran out of neuroscience related images. Have this chinchilla.

>>6200842
We have the Illusion of Consciousness so that were able to distingush ourselves from our Environement, even if we dont have free will ( which is a highly debatable topic ) we still have to have at least an Illusion of free will or self awareness so that were able to tell ourselves apart from say Robots or Animals who don't really have a high level of awareness like we do, Once again this has nothing to do with whether the awareness is self consious or if it's being fed to us from something higher that's a whole nother debate

>>6207513
TLDR
Conscioussness is basically when we are able to realize what is going on around us or within us whether externally or Internally, If we didn't have consciousness we'd be like a Potato whether the consciousness is the act of our own thoughts is debatable
Are we all just a video game being played or are we playing the video game think of it like that
Are we the chef cooking the potato or are we the potato being cooked this goes back to the PC vs Free Will debate and whether we have REAL consciousness or a really good perception of consciousness

Did we come to the awareness of things by our own conclusion or did we only perceive something and then become aware of it later ( time is not an issue here )

What makes certain dopamine agonists/releasers/reuptake inhibitors pleasurable or non-pleasurable? For example cabergoline versus amphetamine. Is it just a matter of the location of dopamine release and tonic vs phasic firing? If so, why?

>>6207857
Bump.

>>6207513

Define "illusion", cause that's often used as a wishy-washy catch all term that doesn't explain a thing