Category Archives: Neuroscience

Neuroscience

YouTube Habits Linked to Increased Loneliness and Anxiety – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers have found a link between frequent YouTube usage and increased levels of loneliness, anxiety, and depression, especially among viewers under 29.

The study raises concerns about parasocial relationships between creators and viewers, as well as the algorithmic recommendation of suicide-related content. The team suggests AI-based solutions to guide users towards positive mental health content.

Key Facts:

Source: Griffith University

Frequent users of YouTube have higher levels of loneliness, anxiety, and depression according to researchers from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP).

Dr Luke Balcombe and Emeritus Professor Diego De Leo from Griffith Universitys School of Applied Psychology and AISRAP sought to understand both the positive and negative impacts of the worlds most used streaming platform on mental health.

They found the most negatively affected individuals were those under 29 years of age, or who regularly watched content about other peoples lives.

Lead author Dr Luke Balcombe said the development of parasocial relationships between content creators and followers could be cause for concern, however some neutral or positive instances of creators developing closer relationships with their followers also occurred.

These online relationships can fill a gap for people who, for example, have social anxiety, however it can exacerbate their issues when they dont engage in face-to-face interactions, which are especially important in developmental years, he said.

We recommend individuals limit their time on YouTube and seek out other forms of social interaction to combat loneliness and promote positive mental health.

Dr Balcombe said the amount of time spent on YouTube was often a concern for parents, who struggled to monitor their childrens use of the platform for educational or other purposes.

For the purpose of the study, over two hours per day of YouTube consumption was classed as high frequency use and over five hours a day as saturated use.

The study also determined more needed to be done to prevent suicide-related content being recommended to users based on algorithms for suggested viewing.

While ideally, people shouldnt be able to search for these topics and be exposed to methods, the YouTube algorithm does push recommendations or suggestions based on previous searches, which can send users further down a disturbing rabbit hole.

Users can report this type of content, but sometimes it may not be reported, or it could be there for a few days or weeks and with the sheer volume of content passing through, its almost impossible for YouTubes algorithms to stop all of it.

If a piece of content is flagged as possibly containing suicide or self-harm topics, YouTube then provides a warning and asks the user if they want to play the video.

With vulnerable children and adolescents who engage in high frequency use, there could be value in monitoring and intervention through artificial intelligence, Dr Balcombe said.

Weve explored humancomputer interaction issues and proposed a concept for an independent-of-YouTube algorithmic recommendation system which will steer users toward verified positive mental health content or promotions.

YouTube is increasingly used for mental health purposes, mainly for information seeking or sharing and many digital mental health approaches are being tried with varying levels of merit, but with over 10,000 mental health apps currently available, it can be really overwhelming knowing which ones to use, or even which ones to recommend from a practitioner point of view.

There is a gap for verified mental health or suicide tools based on a mix of AI-based machine learning, risk modeling and suitably qualified human decisions, but by getting mental health and suicide experts together to verify information from AI, digital mental health interventions could be a very promising solution to support increasing unmet mental health needs.

Author: Christine BowleySource: Griffith UniversityContact: Christine Bowley Griffith UniversityImage: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.The Impact of YouTube on Loneliness and Mental Health by Luke Balcombe et al. Informatics

Abstract

The Impact of YouTube on Loneliness and Mental Health

There are positives and negatives of using YouTube in terms of loneliness and mental health. YouTubes streaming content is an amazing resource, however, there may be bias or errors in its recommendation algorithms.

Parasocial relationships can also complicate the impact of YouTube use. Intervention may be necessary when problematic and risky content is associated with unhealthy behaviors and negative impacts on mental health. Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable.

Although YouTube might assist in connecting with peers, there are privacy, safety, and quality issues to consider.

This paper is an integrative review of the positive and negative impacts of YouTube with the aim to inform the design and development of a technology-based intervention to improve mental health. The impact of YouTube use on loneliness and mental health was explored by synthesizing a purposive selection (n= 32) of the empirical and theoretical literature.

Next, we explored humancomputer interaction issues and proposed a concept whereby an independent-of-YouTube algorithmic recommendation system steers users toward verified positive mental health content or promotions.

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YouTube Habits Linked to Increased Loneliness and Anxiety - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Shared Interests, Shared Essence: Unraveling the Psychology of Instant Connections – Neuroscience News

Summary: New research sheds light on the similarity-attraction effect, a psychological principle that governs how we form relationships based on shared interests.

The study highlight the critical role of self-essentialist reasoning, a belief system where individuals perceive an inherent essence as the driver of their preferences and dislikes.

Findings suggest individuals who subscribe to this reasoning are inclined to extrapolate shared worldviews from singular common interests. However, this approach may lead to unfounded assumptions, limiting the breadth of potential relationships due to minor disagreements or differences.

Key Facts:

Source: Boston University

Sometimes lifes most meaningful relationships grow from the briefest of connections. Like when you go to a party and meet someone wearing your favorite bands T-shirt, or who laughs at the same jokes as you, or who grabs that unpopular snack you alone (or so you thought) love. One small, shared interest sparks a conversationthats my favorite, too!and blossoms into lasting affection.

This is called the similarity-attraction effect: we generally like people who are like us. Now, new findings from a Boston University researcher have uncovered one reason why.

In a series of studies, Charles Chu,a BU Questrom School of Business assistant professor of management and organizations, tested the conditions that shape whether we feel attracted toor turned off byeach other. He found one crucial factor was what psychologists call self-essentialist reasoning, where people imagine they have some deep inner core or essence that shapes who they are.

Chu discovered that when someone believes an essence drives their interests, likes, and dislikes, they assume its the same for others, too; if they find someone with one matching interest, they reason that person will share their broader worldview.

The findingswere published in the American Psychological AssociationsJournal of Personality and Social Psychology.

If we had to come up with an image of our sense of self, it would be this nugget, an almost magical core inside that emanates out and causes what we can see and observe about people and ourselves, says Chu, who published the paper withBrian S. Lowery of Stanford Graduate School of Business.

We argue that believing people have an underlying essence allows us to assume or infer that when we see someone who shares a single characteristic, they must share my entire deeply rooted essence, as well.

But Chus research suggests this rush to embrace an indefinable, fundamental similarity with someone because of one or two shared interests may be based on flawed thinkingand that it could restrict who we find a connection with.

Working alongside the pull of the similarity-attraction effect is a countering push: we dislike those who we dont think are like us, often because of one small thingthey likethatpolitician, or band, or book, or TV show we loathe.

We are all so complex, says Chu. But we only have full insight into ourownthoughts and feelings, and the minds of others are often a mystery to us. What this work suggests is that we often fill in the blanks of others minds with our own sense of self and that can sometimes lead us into some unwarranted assumptions.

To examine why were attracted to some people and not to others, Chu set up four studies, each designed to tease out different aspects of how we make friendsor foes.

In the first study, participants were told about a fictional person, Jamie, who held either complementary or contradictory attitudes to them.

After asking participants their views on one of five topicsabortion, capital punishment, gun ownership, animal testing, and physician-assisted suicideChu asked how they felt about Jamie, who either agreed or disagreed with them on the target issue.

They were also quizzed about the roots of their identity to measure their affinity with self-essentialist reasoning.

Chu found the more a participant believed their view of the world was shaped by an essential core, the more they felt connected to Jamie who shared their views on one issue.

In a second study, he looked at whether that effect persisted when the target topics were less substantive. Rather than digging into whether people agreed with Jamie on something as divisive as abortion, Chu asked participants to estimate the number of blue dots on a page, then categorized themand the fictional Jamieas over- or under-estimators.

Even with this slim connection, the findings held: the more someone believed in an essential core, the closer they felt to Jamie as a fellow over- or under-estimator.

I found that both with pretty meaningful dimensions of similarity as well as with arbitrary, minimal similarities, people who are higher in their belief that they have an essence are more likely to be attracted to these similar others as opposed to dissimilar others, says Chu.

In two companion studies, Chu began disrupting this process of attraction, stripping out the influence of self-essentialist reasoning. In one experiment, he labeled attributes (such as liking a certain painting) as either essential or nonessential; in another, he told participants that using their essence to judge someone else could lead to an inaccurate assessment of others.

It breaks this essentialist reasoning process, it cuts off peoples ability to assume that what theyre seeing is reflective of a deeper similarity, says Chu.

One way I did that was to remind people that this dimension of similarity is actually not connected or related to your essence at all; the other way was by telling people that using their essence as a way to understand other people is not very effective.

Chu says theres a key tension in his findings that shape their application in the real world. On the one hand, were all searching for our communityits fun to hang out with people who share our hobbies and interests, love the same music and books as us, dont disagree with us on politics.

This type of thinking is a really useful, heuristic psychological strategy, says Chu. It allows people to see more of themselves in new people and strangers.

But it also excludes people, sets up divisions and boundariessometimes on the flimsiest of grounds.

When you hear a single fact or opinion being expressed that you either agree or disagree with, it really warrants taking an additional breath and just slowing down, he says.

Not necessarily taking that single piece of information and extrapolating on it, using this type of thinking to go to the very end, that this person is fundamentally good and like me or fundamentally bad and not like me.

Chu, whose background mixes the study of organizational behavior and psychology, teaches classes on negotiation at Questrom and says his research has plenty of implications in the business world, particularly when it comes to making deals.

I define negotiations as conversations, and agreements and disagreements, about how power and resources should be distributed between people, he says.

What inferences do we make about the other people were having these conversations with? How do we experience and think about agreement versus disagreement? How do we interpret when someone gets more and someone else gets less? These are all really central questions to the process of negotiation.

But in a time when political division has invaded just about every sphere of our lives,including workplaces, the applications of Chus findings go way beyond corporate horse trading.

Managing staff, collaborating on projects, team bondingall are shaped by the judgments we make about each other. Self-essentialist reasoning may even influence societys distribution of resources, says Chu: who we consider worthy of support, who gets funds and who doesnt, could be driven by this belief that peoples outcomes are caused by something deep inside of them.

Thats why he advocates pushing pause before judging someone who, at first blush, doesnt seem like you.

There are ways for us to go through life and meet other people, and form impressions of other people, without constantly referencing ourselves, he says.

If were constantly going around trying to figure out,whos like me, whos not like me?,thats not always the most productive way of trying to form impressions of other people. People are a lot more complex than we give them credit for.

Author: Katherine GianniSource: Boston UniversityContact: Katherine Gianni Boston UniversityImage: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Closed access.Self-Essentialist Reasoning Underlies the Similarity-Attraction Effect by Charles Chu et al. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Abstract

Self-Essentialist Reasoning Underlies the Similarity-Attraction Effect

We propose that self-essentialist reasoning is a foundational mechanism of the similarity-attraction effect.

Our argument is that similarity breeds attraction in two steps: (a) people categorize someone with a shared attribute as a person like me based on the self-essentialist belief that ones attributes are caused by an underlying essence and (b) then apply their essence (and the other attributes it causes) to the similar individual to infer agreement about the world in general (i.e., a generalized shared reality).

We tested this model in four experimental studies (N = 2,290) using both individual difference and moderation-of-process approaches.

We found that individual differences in self-essentialist beliefs amplified the effect of similarity on perceived generalized shared reality and attraction across both meaningful (Study 1) and minimal (Study 2) dimensions of similarity.

We next found that manipulating (i.e., interrupting) the two crucial steps of the self-essentialist reasoning processthat is, by severing the connection between a similar attribute and ones essence (Study 3) and deterring people from applying their essence to form an impression of a similar other (Study 4)attenuated the effect of similarity on attraction.

We discuss the implications for research on the self, similarity-attraction, and intergroup phenomena.

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Shared Interests, Shared Essence: Unraveling the Psychology of Instant Connections - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Diet and Dementia: Study Uncovers Gut-Brain Link to Alzheimer’s – Neuroscience News

Summary: A new study sheds light on the potential role of diet in preventing dementia. The analysis explored the relationship between gut health and Alzheimers disease, uncovering a strong link between specific types of gut bacteria and the likelihood of developing dementia.

The findings highlight the significance of gut microbiota in brain health and provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of Alzheimers disease.

This research opens up new avenues for personalized treatments and interventions that target gut health to potentially slow down or prevent the development of dementia.

Key Facts:

Source: University of Nevada Las Vegas

Could changing your diet play a role in slowing or even preventing the development of dementia? Were one step closer to finding out, thanks to a new UNLV study that bolsters the long-suspected link between gut health and Alzheimers disease.

The analysis led by a team of researchers with the Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine (NIPM) at UNLV and published this spring in the Nature journalScientific Reports examined data from dozens of past studies into the belly-brain connection. The results? Theres a strong link between particular kinds of gut bacteria and Alzheimers disease.

Between 500 and 1,000 species of bacteria exist in the human gut at any one time, and the amount and diversity of these microorganisms can be influenced by genetics and diet.

The UNLV teams analysis found a significant correlation between 10 specific types of gut bacteria and the likelihood of developing Alzheimers disease. Six categories of bacteria Adlercreutzia, Eubacterium nodatum group, Eisenbergiella, Eubacterium fissicatena group, Gordonibacter,andPrevotella9 were identified as protective, and four types of bacteria Collinsella, Bacteroides, Lachnospira,andVeillonella were identified as a risk factor for Alzheimers disease.

Certain bacteria in humans guts can secrete acids and toxins that thin and seep through the intestinal lining, interact with theAPOE(a gene identified as a major risk factor for Alzheimers disease), and trigger a neuroinflammatory response affecting brain health and numerous immune functions, and potentially promoting development of the neurodegenerative disorder.

Researchers said their novel discovery of the distinct bacterial groups associated with Alzheimers disease provides new insights into the relationship between gut microbiota and the worlds most common form of dementia. The findings also advance scientists understanding of how an imbalance of that bacteria may play a role in the disorders development.

Most of the microorganisms in our intestines are considered good bacteria that promote health, but an imbalance of those bacteria can be toxic to a persons immune system and linked to various diseases, such as depression, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimers disease, said UNLV research professorJingchun Chen.

The take-home message here is that your genes not only determine whether you have a risk for a disease, but they can also influence the abundance of bacteria in your gut.

While their analysis established overarching categories of bacteria typically associated with Alzheimers disease, the UNLV team said further research is needed to drill down into the specific bacterial species that influence risk or protection.

The hope is to one day develop treatments that are customized for an individual patient and their genetic makeup, such as medications or lifestyle change.

Studies have shown that changes in gut microbiome through probiotic use and dietary adjustments can positively impact the immune system, inflammation, and even brain function.

With more research it would be possible to identify a genetic trajectory that could point to a gut microbiome that would be more or less prone to developing diseases such as Alzheimers, said study lead author and UNLV graduate student Davis Cammann, but we also have to remember that the gut biome is influenced by many factors including lifestyle and diet.

Author: Keyonna SummersSource: University of Nevada Las VegasContact: Keyonna Summers University of Nevada Las VegasImage: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.Genetic correlations between Alzheimers disease and gut microbiome genera by Jingchun Chen et al. Scientific Reports

Abstract

Genetic correlations between Alzheimers disease and gut microbiome genera

A growing body of evidence suggests that dysbiosis of the human gut microbiota is associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers disease (AD) via neuroinflammatory processes across the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

The gut microbiota affects brain health through the secretion of toxins and short-chain fatty acids, which modulates gut permeability and numerous immune functions. Observational studies indicate that AD patients have reduced microbiome diversity, which could contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease.

Uncovering the genetic basis of microbial abundance and its effect on AD could suggest lifestyle changes that may reduce an individuals risk for the disease.

Using the largest genome-wide association study of gut microbiota genera from the MiBioGen consortium, we used polygenic risk score (PRS) analyses with the best-fit model implemented in PRSice-2 and determined the genetic correlation between 119 genera and AD in a discovery sample (ADc12 case/control: 1278/1293).

To confirm the results from the discovery sample, we next repeated the PRS analysis in a replication sample (GenADA case/control: 799/778) and then performed a meta-analysis with the PRS results from both samples.

Finally, we conducted a linear regression analysis to assess the correlation between the PRSs for the significant genera and theAPOEgenotypes. In the discovery sample, 20 gut microbiota genera were initially identified as genetically associated with AD case/control status.

Of these 20, three genera (Eubacterium fissicatenaas a protective factor, Collinsella,andVeillonellaas a risk factor) were independently significant in the replication sample. Meta-analysis with discovery and replication samples confirmed that ten genera had a significant correlation with AD, four of which were significantly associated with theAPOErs429358 risk allele in a direction consistent with their protective/risk designation in AD association.

Notably, the proinflammatory genusCollinsella,identified as a risk factor for AD, was positively correlated with theAPOErs429358 risk allele in both samples. Overall, the host genetic factors influencing the abundance of ten genera are significantly associated with AD, suggesting that these genera may serve as biomarkers and targets for AD treatment and intervention.

Our results highlight that proinflammatory gut microbiota might promote AD development through interaction withAPOE. Larger datasets and functional studies are required to understand their causal relationships.

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Diet and Dementia: Study Uncovers Gut-Brain Link to Alzheimer's - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Human Brain Organoids Reveal How Microglia Develop and Function – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers have developed human brain organoids that contain microglia, the immune cells of the brain. These organoids allow researchers to study how microglia develop and function in a more realistic setting than previous models.

The researchers found that microglia are influenced by the environment in which they develop and that they play a role in both development and disease. Their findings could lead to new treatments for neurological disorders.

Key Facts:

Source: Salk Institute

Situated at the intersection of the human immune system and the brain are microglia, specialized brain immune cells that play a crucial role in development and disease. Although the importance of microglia is undisputed, modeling and studying them has remained a difficult task.

Unlike some human cells that can be studied outside of the body or in nonhuman models, human microglia are difficult to study when removed from the human-brain-like environment.

To overcome this barrier, Salk scientists developed an organoid modela three-dimensional collection of cells that mimics features of human tissues. This model allows researchers to study human microglial development and function for the first time in living human-derived tissue.

Further, the scientists examined patient-derived microglia from children with macrocephalic autism spectrum disorder (a condition where infant head circumference is greater than 97 percent of other infants) to determine whether brain environment influences the development of more reactive microglia.

The findings, published inCellon May 11, 2023, highlight the importance of immune cell and brain interaction, and improve the understanding of neurodegenerative and developmental diseases, such as autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimers disease.

Outside of the brain environment, microglia lose almost all function and meaning, says ProfessorRusty Gage, senior author and holder of the Vi and John Alder Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease.

We knew that if we found a way to replicate the human brain environment in an organoid in order to study human microglia, then we would finally have a tool for examining how the heathy and diseased brain influence microglia and, reciprocally, how healthy and diseased microglia influence the brain.

Emerging roughly 10 years ago, organoids have become a prevalent tool to bridge the gap between cell and human studies. Organoids can mimic human development and organ generation better than other laboratory systems, allowing researchers to study how drugs or diseases affect human cells in a more realistic setting.

Brain organoids are typically grown in culture dishes, but the organoids are structurally and functionally limited by the lack of blood vessels, short survival time, and inability to sustain diverse cell types (like microglia).

To createabrainorganoid model thatcontainsmature microgliaand enables us to research them, we used a noveltransplantationtechnique to create a human-brain-like environment says co-first author Abed Mansour, aformerpostdoctoral researcher in Gages lab and now an assistant professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

So we could finally make a human brain organoid that had all the features necessary to orchestrate human microglia growth, behavior, and function.

Unlike previous models, the researchers created a human brain organoid that had microgliaanda human-brain-like environment, which finally allowed them to look at environmental influences on microglia throughout brain development.

They found that a characteristic protein called SALL1 appeared as early as eleven weeks into development and served to confirm microglial identity and promote mature function. Additionally, they found that brain environment-specific factors, like the proteins TMEM119 and P2RY12, were necessary for microglia to function.

Creating a human brain model that can effectively replicate the human brain environment is very exciting, says Associate ProfessorAxel Nimmerjahn, another author of the study.

With this model, we can finally investigate how human microglia function within the human brain environment.

As the team learned more about microglia, the importance of the relationship between brain environment and microglia became clearespecially in disease scenarios.

The labpreviously examinedneurons derived from people with autism spectrum disorder and found their neurons grew faster and had more complex branches than neurotypical counterparts.

With the new organoid model, the team could ask whether those neuronal differences altered the brain environment and influenced microglia development.

To do so, they compared microglia derived from skin samples from three individuals with macrocephalic autism spectrum disorder versus three neurotypical individuals with macrocephaly.

The researchers found that individuals with autism spectrum disorder exhibited the neuronal differences the team had previously noted, and that the microglia were influenced by those differences in their growth environment.

Because of this neuron-dependent environmental change, the microglia became more reactive to damage or intrudersa finding that may explain the brain inflammation observed in some individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Since this was a preliminary study with a small sample size, the team plans to examine more microglia from additional people in the future to verify their findings. They also aim to expand their research to study other developmental and neurodegenerative diseases to see how microglia are contributing to disease onset.

Rather than deconstruct the brain, we decided to construct it ourselves, says co-first author Simon Schafer, a former postdoctoral researcher in Gages lab and now an assistant professor at Technical University of Munich.

By building our own brain model we can work from the bottom up and see solutions that may be impossible to see from the top down. We are eager to continue improving on our model and unravelling the relationship between the brain and immune system.

Other authors include Monique Pena, Saeed Ghassemzadeh, Lisa Mitchell, Amanda Mar, Daphne Quang, Sarah Stumpf, and Clara Baek of the Salk Institute; Johannes C. M. Schlachetzki, Addison J. Lana, and Christopher K. Glass of UC San Diego; Irene Santisteban of the Technical University of Munich; and Raghad Zaghal of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Funding: The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01 AG056306, R01 AG057706, R01 AG056511, R01 AG061060, R01 NS108034, U19 NS123719, NCI CCSG: P30 014195, NCI CCSG: P30 014195), the American Heart Association and Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group (grant 19PABHI34610000), the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (27685 and 30421), the German Research Foundation (500300695), the Milky Way Research Foundation, Annette C. Merle-Smith and the Robert and Mary Jane Engman Foundation, the European Molecular Biology Organization (ALTF 1214-2014), the Human Frontier Science Program (LT001074/2015), the European Research Council, the Chapman Foundation, the JBP Foundation and the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

Author: Salk CommunicationsSource: Salk InstituteContact: Salk Communications Salk InstituteImage: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.An in vivo neuroimmune organoid model to study human microglia phenotypes by Rusty Gage et al. Cell

Abstract

An in vivo neuroimmune organoid model to study human microglia phenotypes

Microglia are specialized brain-resident macrophages that play crucial roles in brain development, homeostasis, and disease. However, until now, the ability to model interactions between the human brain environment and microglia has been severely limited.

To overcome these limitations, we developed aninvivoxenotransplantation approach that allows us to study functionally mature human microglia (hMGs) that operate within a physiologically relevant, vascularized immunocompetent human brain organoid (iHBO) model.

Our data show that organoid-resident hMGs gain human-specific transcriptomic signatures that closely resemble theirinvivocounterparts.Invivotwo-photon imaging reveals that hMGs actively engage in surveilling the human brain environment, react to local injuries, and respond to systemic inflammatory cues.

Finally, we demonstrate that the transplanted iHBOs developed here offer the unprecedented opportunity to study functional human microglia phenotypes in health and disease and provide experimental evidence for a brain-environment-induced immune response in a patient-specific model of autism with macrocephaly.

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Human Brain Organoids Reveal How Microglia Develop and Function - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Grey Matters celebrates the 10th anniversary of ‘An Evening with … – Dailyuw

On May 5, Grey Matters hosted their 10th annual An Evening with Neuroscience event, which featured numerous panelists sharing their expertise on neuroscience to the general public.

The event started with a series of interactive neuroscience activities, followed by a brain dissection, and ended with an open forum for questions. The annual event serves as a space where the UW community can not only interact with researchers, psychologists, and clinicians, but also learn about the brain. This years evening began with a dissection of a human brain and spinal cord.

Grey Matters is a student-run organization at UW focused on making science accessible to everyone. The group strives to produce scientific literature digestible to the general public.

Assistant professor Sam Golden and associate professor Ajay Dhaka from the department of biological structure presented the different parts of the brain, their functions, and the ways in which they interact with the body. This was an educational demonstration, meant to be understood by the general public.

Moving toward the forum section of the event, panelists held a Q&A for audience members covering the neuroscience field.

Some of the more prominent topics that came up were issues regarding funding and resource allocation, particularly with international research. Ananya Chowdhury, a research scientist at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, described her experience as an international researcher, and how limiting borders can be for the exploration of the neuroscience field. Dr. Thabele Leslie-Mazwi, chair of the department of neurology, noted that this was a significant problem he noticed as well.

Theres no geography of talent, Leslie-Mazwi said. Theres no geography of motivation, though theres definitely a geography of opportunity.

One guest asked how caution should be applied to newer neuroscience research.

To answer this, Oliver Rollins, assistant professor of American ethnic studies, discussed the intersections between predicting predisposed violence in people based on brain chemistry and the systemic inequalities that affect individuals growing up.

Rollins described how often neuroscientists analyze at-risk behaviors of individuals without looking at factors in the environment around them that have an equal, if not greater, impact on their brains.

If we cant think about embedded inequalities like sexism, or racism, or any of these things which absolutely affect social behaviors, it raises the question of what this model is actually predicting, Rollins said.

Reach contributing writer Sophia Moran at news@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @sophiasmoran

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Grey Matters celebrates the 10th anniversary of 'An Evening with ... - Dailyuw

Neuroscience

Neurological Symphony of Taste: Unraveling the Brain’s Flavor Pathways – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers are delving into the intricacies of taste perception and its impact on the brain. Their goal is to understand how the brain processes sensations like the sweet pleasure of a dessert or the fiery burn of a hot pepper.

The team found that taste and touch sensations can stimulate the same neurons in the midbrain. This intriguing overlap hints at the brains multitasking abilities, where limited cells perform multiple functions.

By exploring the interplay between taste and touch, and the emotional responses they elicit, this five-year project hopes to shed light on fundamental principles of brain organization, potentially leading to health and disease insights.

Key Facts:

Source: University of Oklahoma

Taste is a complex neurological experience that has the potential to provide extensive, and perhaps surprising, information on how the brain makes sense of sensations and the organization of brain pathways.

A research project funded by the National Institutes of Health, led byChristian H. Lemon, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Biology in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, aims to better understand how the brain processes taste and how those neural pathways can evolve.

Taste is connected to a range of neural activities such as the pleasure of tasting something sweet. Taste is a part of flavor, which includes the pain experienced in tasting a hot pepper. However, there is a gap in knowledge about how taste and flavor preferences develop and evolve over time.

Taste is a component of flavor; it contributes sensations like saltiness and sweetness. When were eating food, we get a lot of pleasure from taste and flavor, but taste is actually a sensory system that we really dont fully understand in terms of how it works in guiding eating behavior and also how it works in the brain, Lemon said.

This project will build on a discovery made by Lemons research group while studying a part of the brain where taste sensations can excite neurons in the midbrain region.

Importantly, many other senses from various parts of the body are processed in the same neural location, with preliminary data suggesting somebodys senses can activate brain cells excited by tastes.

By determining how neurons are receiving signals for taste and touch sensations, Lemons study hopes to better understand how these integrations happen and whether it is reflective of an emotional correlation.

There is a part of the brain that takes in sensory information from basically almost all over the body, and taste is a part of this.

Were wanting to understand, essentially, how taste is mapping into this part of the brain, along with all of these other body sensations as well, with the idea that if we can understand this it might actually tell us more about how taste works and how the taste system and other senses are organized, and why there appears to be neural overlap between them, he said.

Lemon believes this neural correlation may be evidence of the brain multitasking, making use of limited brain cells to perform multiple functions for the body.

Past research suggests there is a pattern to the way these brain signals are being put together that Lemon believes to be reflecting the emotions elicited by different sensations.

Studies in the new grant will combine molecular, genetic and neurophysiological testing to examine the organization of brain circuits that support the intersection of taste and touch sensations, and how these circuits work to influence behavior, he said.

Throughout the five-year project, Lemon aims to better understand how and why these signals come together and further define basic organizational principles of the brain relevant to health and disease.

Funding: The project Taste and Somatosensory Processing is funded by an expected $1.9 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Project no. 2R01DC011579-12A1.

Author: Chelsea JulianSource: University of OklahomaContact: Chelsea Julian University of OklahomaImage: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

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Neurological Symphony of Taste: Unraveling the Brain's Flavor Pathways - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Thought Power: Altering Tactile Perception With the Power of Imagination – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers have discovered that our beliefs, when strongly held, can actually change how we physically experience the world around us.

In a new study, participants were hypnotized and convinced to believe their index finger was either five times smaller or five times larger than its actual size. When participants believed their finger was larger, they could feel two close-together needle pricks as separate points, something they couldnt do before.

However, when they believed their finger was smaller, their ability to distinguish between the two points got worse.

The findings show how our minds can impact our physical sensations, suggesting that our beliefs can reshape our perception of reality.

Key Facts:

Source: RUB

Two needles feel like one

The researchers measured the tactile perception of their 24 test participants using the two-point discrimination method. This involves the index finger lying relaxed on a device with two needles repeatedly touching the finger painlessly but perceptibly.

If the needles are far enough apart, we can easily distinguish two points of contact, explains Hubert Dinse from the Neurological Clinic of Berufsgenossenschaftliches Universittsklinikum Bergmannsheil.

But if the needles are very close together, we only feel the touch in one place.

At a certain distance between the needles, the sensation changes from feeling two needles to feeling just one, although two are presented. This discrimination threshold is stable for each person given normal everyday consciousness.

If the finger were five times bigger

We wanted to find out whether its possible to change this sensation threshold by activating a verbally articulated thought in a person, explains Albert Newen from the Philosophy Institute II at Ruhr University Bochum.

The research team chose two thought cues: Imagine your index finger is five times smaller and Imagine your index finger is five times bigger.

To specifically activate these semantic contents, the researchers used hypnotic suggestion. During a controlled state of hypnosis induced by a professional hypnotist, the participant was asked to sincerely accept the first belief for a series of tests and then the second.

The subjects took part in a total of four experiments to determine the sensation threshold in each case: under normal everyday consciousness, under hypnosis without suggestion, and under two hypnotic conditions with the suggestions of a bigger or smaller index finger.

Changes in the sense of touch

Discrimination thresholds did not differ when measured during normal consciousness and hypnosis without suggestion. This supports our preliminary assumption that hypnosis alone doesnt lead to changes, says Martin Tegenthoff.

However, if the beliefs are induced as suggestions under hypnosis, we observe a systematic change in the tactile discrimination threshold.

When a test person imagined that their index finger was five times bigger than it actually was, their discrimination threshold improved and they were able to feel two needles, even when they were closer together. When the suggestion was that their index finger was five times smaller, the discrimination threshold worsened.

This means that it is the beliefs that change perception. The behavioral results were supported by parallel recordings of brain activity such as spontaneous EEG and sensory evoked potentials.

The scientific community is divided on the question of whether or not perceptual processes can be influenced by semantic content alone experts refer to this as the question of cognitive penetrability of perception.

Our study provides another building block supporting the idea that such top-down influences of beliefs on perception do indeed exist, stresses Hubert Dinse.

The beliefs we hold do indeed change how we experience the world.

Cooperation partners

The interdisciplinary team at Ruhr University Bochum consisted of researchers from the fields of neuroscience, medicine and philosophy. In addition to team leaders Hubert Dinse, Albert Newen and Martin Tegenthoff, the experiment was conducted by Marius Markmann and Dr. Melanie Lenz from Bergmannsheil.

They were assisted in data collection by Agn Steponaviite and in evaluation by Professor Oliver Hffken. The basic concept was developed by the lead team together with Professor Martin Brne (LWL University Clinic for Psychiatry, Bochum).

Author: Meike DriessenSource: RUBContact: Meike Driessen RUBImage: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.Hypnotic suggestions cognitively penetrate tactile perception through top-down modulation of semantic contents by Hubert Dinse et al. Scientific Reports

Abstract

Hypnotic suggestions cognitively penetrate tactile perception through top-down modulation of semantic contents

Perception is subject to ongoing alterations by learning and top-down influences. Although abundant studies have shown modulation of perception by attention, motivation, content and context, there is an unresolved controversy whether these examples provide true evidence that perception is penetrable by cognition.

Here we show that tactile perception assessed as spatial discrimination can be instantaneously and systematically altered merely by the semantic content during hypnotic suggestions. To study neurophysiological correlates, we recorded EEG and SEPs.

We found that the suggestion your index finger becomes bigger led to improved tactile discrimination, while the suggestion your index finger becomes smaller led to impaired discrimination. A hypnosis without semantic suggestions had no effect but caused a reduction of phase-locking synchronization of the beta frequency band between medial frontal cortex and the finger representation in somatosensory cortex.

Late SEP components (P80N140 complex) implicated in attentional processes were altered by the semantic contents, but processing of afferent inputs in SI remained unaltered.

These data provide evidence that the psychophysically observed modifiability of tactile perception by semantic contents is not simply due to altered perception-based judgments, but insteadis a consequence of modified perceptual processes which change the perceptual experience.

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Thought Power: Altering Tactile Perception With the Power of Imagination - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Class of 2023: Alyssa Guthrie, a ‘Literally So Perfect’ Neuroscience … – Duke Today

Published May 9, 2023 All Meta Credits

Dan Vahaba Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

When first-year student Alyssa Guthrie landed in Durham in the Fall of 2019, she knew she wanted to do research at Duke. Unfortunately, she hit a roadblock right away.

I was having trouble finding a research opportunity my freshman year because a lot of them require that you have lab experience, said Guthrie, who came from Petersburg, Alaska, a town of 3,043 on the panhandle of the state, where most folks work in tourism or commercial fishing. One of my best friends here had research experience starting her sophomore year of high school, and specialized coding classes. I don't know how I could have gotten that in high school.

To help remove barriers that many students like Guthrie face, a team of graduate students affiliated with the Duke Center for Cognitive Neuroscience created a program in the Fall of 2020 called the Cognitive Neuroscience Research Internship (CNRI).

When I learned about the CNRI program, I was like, This is literally so perfect! Guthrie said.

Now in its third year and sixth cohort, the semester-long CNRI program aims to make research experience more accessible by paying participants about $1,200 per semester for their time (most undergraduate lab positions are on a volunteer basis), and explicitly recruiting students who have little or no prior research experience.

The CNRI program aims to promote equitable access to undergraduate research opportunities in psychology and neuroscience, said Jenna Merenstein, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at Duke and the CNRI visibility & recruitment co-leader. As a first-generation college graduate, I know first-hand how important these kinds of programs are. I love being able to help students become a part of the next generation of scientists.

Combined, those elements create a much-needed entry point for students who would otherwise need to take on a non-academic job during the semester, as well as those without previous research opportunities, such as current first-year Tatiana Taylor.

Taylor spent the spring 2023 semester in the lab of neurobiology professor Richard Mooney, Ph.D. studying how a set of specialized brain regions help songbirds learn how to communicate. Like the zebra finches she studied, Taylor also learned a new language in a supportive environment during her time as a CNRI scholar: the programming language Python.

I thought I was going to struggle with it, Taylor said. But the mentors and support system are really great. You feel a lot of pressure on you as a student being at a top university, but when I'm in my coding group, I just like the atmosphere of learning and I don't feel judged when I don't know something.

In addition to lab experience and a Python coding course, CNRI scholars are treated to a series of professional development workshops across the semester and partake in a weekly journal club to help them gain confidence in understanding and evaluating technical scientific research papers.

Funding for the CNRI program was initially provided by the Charles Lafitte Foundation, which covered the programs main expense of paying the student participants. A generous recent gift from Beth and Ron Ostrow will help sustain the program for future students and their mentors, as has a co-sponsorship with Dukes Center for Computational Thinking.

CNRI organizers hope to continue to improve and grow the program by increasing the diversity of neuroscience labs and research that students can take part in, as well as compensating graduate students and postdoctoral mentors for their time and effort with the interns.

While the program is still young, many of the CNRI alumni have gone on to do things they didnt think were possible before their research experience. One former CNRI scholar accepted a data science internship at the streaming music service Spotify, and another went on to contribute what they learned to a Bass Connections team on language, music, and dementia.

Guthrie followed an impressive and productive path as a CNRI research assistant in the lab of psychiatry professor Alison Adcock, M.D., Ph.D., where she recently completed her honors thesis work. Now shes looking at graduate programs in clinical psychology, in large part due to her time early on as a CNRI scholar.

When I first came to Duke, I thought I was pre-med all the way, Guthrie said. But after going through CNRI, I was told to keep an open mind, and learned how med school wasnt the only future for a science degree after undergrad.

Guthrie hopes to draw and build on what shes learned about neuroscience during her time at Duke to inform her future work as a clinician and researcher.

Theres a lot of work on how trauma can affect the growing brain, Guthrie said. As an Alaska Native, I also think there are a lot of traumas unique to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and other Indigenous peoples. So I really want to work with Indigenous populations in Alaska, both with research and as a psychologist.

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Class of 2023: Alyssa Guthrie, a 'Literally So Perfect' Neuroscience ... - Duke Today

Neuroscience

Your brain is slowly giving up its secrets to modern neuroscience in … – WOUB

Posted on: Thursday, May 11, 2023

Starting Wednesday, May 17 at 9 pm

How does your brain create your reality? Are you in control, or is your brain controlling you? Discover the surprising answers based on the latest research in this eye-opening journey into the human brain with neuroscientist Heather Berlin. Your brain for centuries a black box is slowly giving up its secrets to modern neuroscience, shedding light on big questions that go to the very heart of who you are.

May 17 at 9 pm

Your Perception Deception

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Whos in Control

Are you in control of your brain, or is your brain controlling you? Dive into the latest research on the subconscious with neuroscientist Heather Berlin to see whats really driving the decisions you make.

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Your brain is slowly giving up its secrets to modern neuroscience in ... - WOUB

Neuroscience

Reality Blur: How Our Eyes Fool Us Into Misjudging Size – Neuroscience News

Summary: In a fascinating twist of perception, a recent study reveals that our eyes can trick our brains into misjudging the size of objects around us. By cleverly blurring parts of images, researchers demonstrated how participants misperceived full-scale railway scenes as smaller than their model counterparts.

This surprising finding not only sheds light on the flexibility and occasional flaws of our visual system, but also hints at profound implications for everyday situations, from driving to criminal justice.

The bottom line? Size matters, but our eyes might not always get it right.

Key Facts:

Source: University of York

A new study has shown that the human visual system can trick the brain into making inaccurate assumptions about the size of objects in the world around them.

The research findings could have implications for many aspects of everyday life, such as driving, how eye witness accounts are treated in the criminal justice system, and security issues, such as drone sightings.

The research team from the University of York and Aston University presented participants with photographs of full-scale railway scenes, which had the upper and lower parts of the image blurred, as well photographs of small-scale models of railways that were not blurred.

Participants were asked to compare each image and decide which was the real full-scale railway scene. The results were that participants perceived that the blurred real trains were smaller than the models.

Dr Daniel Baker, from the University of Yorks Department of Psychology, said: In order for us to determine the real size of objects that we see around us, our visual system needs to estimate the distance to the object.

To arrive at an understanding of absolute size it can take into account the parts of the image that are blurred out a bit like the out-of-focus areas that a camera produces which involves a bit of complicated mathematics to give the brain the knowledge of spatial scale.

This new study, however, shows that we can be fooled in our estimates of object size. Photographers take advantage of this using a technique called tilt-shift miniaturisation, that can make life-size objects appear to be scale models.

The findings demonstrate that the human visual system is highly flexible sometimes capable of accurate perception of size by exploiting what is known as defocus blur, but at other times subject to other influences and failing to make sense of real-world object size.

Professor Tim Meese, from Aston University, said: Our results indicate that human vision can exploit defocus blur to infer perceptual scale but that it does this crudely.

Overall, our findings provide new insights into the computational mechanisms usedby the human brain in perceptual judgments about the relation between ourselves and the external world.

Author: Samantha MartinSource: University of YorkContact: Samantha Martin University of YorkImage: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.Blurring the boundary between models and reality: Visual perception of scale assessed by performance by Daniel Baker et al. PLOS ONE

Abstract

Blurring the boundary between models and reality: Visual perception of scale assessed by performance

One of the primary jobs of visual perception is to build a three-dimensional representation of the world around us from our flat retinal images.

These are a rich source of depth cues but no single one of them can tell us about scale (i.e., absolute depth and size). For example, the pictorial depth cues in a (perfect) scale model are identical to those in the real scene that is being modelled.

Here we investigate image blur gradients, which derive naturally from the limited depth of field available for any optical device and can be used to help estimate visual scale.

By manipulating image blur artificially to produce what is sometimes called fake tilt shift miniaturization, we provide the first performance-based evidence that human vision uses this cue when making forced-choice judgements about scale (identifying which of an image pair was a photograph of a full-scale railway scene, and which was a 1:76 scale model).

The orientation of the blur gradient (relative to the ground plane) proves to be crucial, though its rate of change is less important for our task, suggesting a fairly coarse visual analysis of this image parameter.

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Reality Blur: How Our Eyes Fool Us Into Misjudging Size - Neuroscience News