Neuroscience of Free Will On several different levels, from neurotransmitters through neuron firing rates to overall activity, the brain seems to "ramp up" before movements. This image depicts the readiness potential (RP), a ramping-up activity measured using EEG. The onset of the RP begins before the onset of a conscious intention or urge to act. Philosophers like Daniel Dennett or Alfred Mele consider the language used by researchers. Overview[edit] ...the current work is in broad agreement with a general trend in neuroscience of volition: although we may experience that our conscious decisions and thoughts cause our actions, these experiences are in fact based on readouts of brain activity in a network of brain areas that control voluntary action... Patrick Haggard discussing[15] an in-depth experiment by Itzhak Fried[16] The neuroscience of free will encompasses two main fields of study: volition and agency. To be clear, it is very unlikely that a single study could disprove all definitions of free will.
Unconscious purchasing urges revealed by brain scans - life - 09 You spend more time window shopping than you may realise. Whether someone intends to buy a product or not can be predicted from their brain activity – even when they are not consciously pondering their choices. The ability to predict from brain scans alone what a person intends to buy, while leaving the potential buyer none the wiser, could bring much-needed rigour to efforts to meld marketing and neuroscience, says Brian Knutson, a neuroscientist at Stanford University in California who was not involved in the research. Neuromarketing , as this field is known, has been employed by drug firms, Hollywood studios and even the Campbell Soup Company to sell their wares, despite little published proof of its effectiveness. Rather than soup, John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, Germany, attempted to predict which cars people might unconsciously favour. First impressions Secret desires More From New Scientist Promoted Stories Recommended by
U.S. researchers map emotional intelligence of the brain We tend to think of reason and emotion as being two different things, but it turns out that there may not be a choice between the heart and the head. A University of Illinois team, led by neuroscience professor Aron Barbey, has made the first detailed 3D map of emotional and general intelligence in the brain, that shows a strong overlap of general and emotional intelligence. Reason and emotions aren’t opposites, but rather two types of intelligence or, perhaps, two aspects of one intelligence. Reason comes under the heading of general intelligence. There are a number of theories about how general and emotional intelligence are related. Relationships between general and emotional intelligence The study was based on computed tomography (CT) scans taken of the brains of 152 US Vietnam War veterans. The CT scans provided the first detailed 3D map of the regions of the brain associated with general and emotional intelligence. In the video below, Aron Barbey discusses the study.
A companion to phenomenology and ... Healing the Body with Mindfulness of Breathing « Metta Refuge This excerpt from a talk by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh explains how to use mindfulness of breathing to bring loving-kindness to our dear bodies. The physical effect of this can be truly remarkable. As Thây says, “You should really love your body. You should really take care of your body. Mindful breathing, with rest, can do miracles. The First Exercise of Mindful Breathing My dear friends, yesterday I spoke about the first exercise proposed by the Buddha concerning mindful breathing: “Breathing in, I am aware that I am breathing in; breathing out, I am aware that I am breathing out.” We should always start with our physical bodies, because our physical bodies also needs peace, harmony and rest. We should realize a true rest. Animals in the forest, every time they are wounded, know how to rest. Deep relaxation here is one of the methods of resting. The Second Exercise of Mindful Breathing Do not try to prolong the breath; just allow it to be the way it is, naturally. Like this:
Faulty braking system leads to depression The brain’s neurotransmitters act either as accelerators or as brakes in the internal communication between neurons. If an accelerator or a brake isn’t working, the communication gets out of control. This leads to cell death and depression. Antidepressant drugs in the shape of SSRIs, such as Citalopram or Prozac, do not have the desired effect on all patients. Science cannot really explain why this is so, and if fact not a lot is known about how these drugs actually affect our brains. But new, ground-breaking animal studies have made researchers a little wiser. Nerve cells need to be under control It has long been known that depression is caused by an imbalance in the brain’s neurotransmitter system, the function of which is to optimise the communication between the brain’s nerve cells, known as neurons. Some neurotransmitters activate the neurons while others inhibit them. If the brain is healthy, it can push either of these pedals down as needed. Kimmo Jensen It’s all about communication
Tech breakthroughs are reshaping retail shopping in the USA SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Nola Donato has seen the future of retail, and it is in a Magic Mirror. The Intel scientist has designed a high-tech mirror that shows how clothes look on a consumer who simply stands in front of an LCD monitor. Parametric technology simulates body type and how fabrics fit — based on weight, height and measurements. Think of it as a digital fitting room. The concept is three to five years from fruition but could open the door for Intel in the retail market. The convergence of smartphone technology, social-media data and futuristic technology such as 3-D printers is changing the face of retail in a way that experts across the industry say will upend the bricks-and-mortar model in a matter of a few years. "The next five years will bring more change to retail than the last 100 years," says Cyriac Roeding, CEO of Shopkick, a location-based shopping app available at Macy's, Target and other top retailers. And almost all of it will be paid with … your phone. •Smartphones.
Illusions of bodily awareness adapted for the pub : Neurophilosophy DO you think that you perceive your body and the world around you as they really are? If your answer to that question is “yes”, then think again. Our perceptions are little more than the brain’s best guess of the nature of reality, constructed from fragments of information it receives through the senses. This is demonstrated by visual illusions, which produce discrepancies between physical reality and what we see of it, and by illusions of bodily awareness, which distort the way we perceive our bodies. Psychologists and neuroscientists have long used illusions to investigate the mechanisms underlying perception. The first illusion that I have adapted for the pub is the rubber hand illusion. Simply manipulating the sensory information about the hand in this way causes the subject to perceive the felt sensations as originating in the fake hand and not their real one. Photo: Sophia Collins The photograph above shows it was done. Related: References:
Nothing to fear but suffocation | Body & Brain Not all fear is the same. A woman who laughs at horror movies, grabs dangerous snakes and calmly deals with knife-wielding men nonetheless surrenders to terror at a single puff of suffocating carbon dioxide. This woman, known as SM, has a disease that damaged her amygdala, a brain structure implicated in fear. The need to breathe is one of the most fundamental requirements for survival. Feinstein and colleagues work with SM and other patients who suffer from a rare genetic disorder called Urbach-Wiethe disease. A breath of gas that is 35 percent carbon dioxide can immediately provoke a strong, panicky fear. "It’s automatic,” says Feinstein, who has subjected himself to the procedure multiple times. A recent study using mice showed that the amygdala detects carbon dioxide and helps produce fearlike behavior. But the scientists were wrong. The researchers were equally stunned. It was very striking,” Feinstein says.
How to Make a Mind Map® The 'Laws of Mind Mapping' were originally devised by Tony Buzan when he codified the use of imagery, colour and association and coined the phrase 'Mind Mapping'. In the intervening 30 plus years, there have been many variations on the original 'Mind Map ' and the widespread usage of mapping software of various sorts, has dramatically changed what is possible. >> Click here to go to a video that provides a rapid (99 second) overview of how to Mind Map. (Note that you will be asked for your e-mail address so that you can view the video free of charge). The summary below is based on Buzan's structure (a 'Mind Mapping, how to' - details available in his many books) but we believe that whilst this structure is great for establishing well structured maps that can be used in many different ways, variations on these rules or 'laws' are often sensible and appropriate - as long as they are based on an understanding of why the laws exist and what they are trying to help the mind mapper to achieve.
Consciousness of subjective time in the brain — PNAS Author Affiliations Contributed by Endel Tulving, November 9, 2010 (sent for review June 13, 2010) Abstract “Mental time travel” refers to conscious experience of remembering the personal past and imagining the personal future. Footnotes 1To whom correspondence should be addressed.