How does your brain create new memories?
For @ConversationUS, two neuroscientists explain how they discovered "rules" for how neurons encode new information.
Easter: Empathy or Cruelty?
The deep humanitarian empathy and generosity of philanthropists like MacKenzie Scott, Melinda French Gates, and Malala Yousafzai stands in sharp contrast to the profound cruelty and selfishness of Donald Trump and those he chooses to associate with and appoint to leadership roles in his administration this Easter season.
Reports of Trump’s casual statements that COVID infections can be reduced by cutbacks in testing, that some persons with serious disabilities should perhaps just die, and his inability to understand the sacrifices of deceased soldiers are striking examples of his (and many of his followers’) profound indifference to the lives of others. Trump is apparently not the least bit embarrassed to say such things. He seems entirely unaware of his sociopathic callousness. Often it seems like he does not even think about the effects of his actions on other people or society. But, other times, he goes beyond mere indifference to seemingly enjoy hurting others. I think it may just be the way his brain works.
I hope your brain prefers to actively seek opportunities to demonstrate empathy and kindness toward the less fortunate over the next few days and always. To those who sincerely observe it, I wish a meaningful Christian Holy Week and Easter.
Evidence for Activity-Silent working memory, but the term is misleading. Even no spiking, neurons still generate electric fields and oscillatory activity—"silent" isn’t silent.
Decoding auditory working memory content from EEG responses to auditory-cortical TMS
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.02.020
#neuroscience
Low-frequency local field potentials reveal integration of spatial and non-spatial information in prefrontal cortex
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121172
#neuroscience
As part of this week-long event, I will be hosting a 2-day “Animals in Motion” workshop in London, with the generous support of @SoftwareSaved.
It’s for anyone who wants to get hands-on experience with using open-source software to track animals from video footage and analyse their motion.
Attendance is free of charge, but spots are limited. A small number of travel stipends are available. More info at https://neuroinformatics.dev/open-software-week/
#neuroscience #behavior #ethology #neuroethology #python
From: @neuroinformatics
https://mastodon.online/@neuroinformatics/114348660994777557
quelques notes sur un exposé de Linda Rising
« Réalisez d'emblée que c'est difficile ».
Dissonance cognitive : des « faits » contradictoires provoquent un grave malaise cognitif.
* Nous ne sommes pas des décideur·es rationnel·les
* mais nous sommes capables d'expliquer après coup pourquoi nous avons pris une décision, ce que l'on appelle la rationnalisation.
Deux tiers des personnes n'envisagent pas une idée avant que « quelqu'un qu'elles connaissent assez bien, le fasse, en soit satisfait, en parle […] alors je pourrais peut-être y penser ».
Pour convaincre,
* il faut répondre à la question suivante : « Qu'est-ce que j'y gagne ? » - nécessite de l'empathie ;
* vous pouvez utiliser les valeurs de votre adversaire. (Loyauté ou équité ?)
Un type à contact personnel : marcher un kilomètre dans les chaussures de l'autre.
Un autre type d'influence : « Essayez »
Un autre type d'influence : écouter
Un autre type d'influence : demander quelque chose de personnel
a few notes on a Linda Rising's talk
"Realize up front that this is hard".
Cognitive dissonance: contradictory "evidence" causes severe cognitive discomfort.
* We are not rational decision-makers
* but we are good at explaining after-the-fact why we made a decision – a pattern called rationalization.
Two thirds of people will not consider an idea until "somebody they know pretty well, is doing it, is happy with it, talks about it […] so maybe i might think about it".
To convince,
* you must address: "What's in it for me?" – requires empathy;
* you can use the values of your opponent. (Loyalty or fairness?)
A pattern of personal touch: walk a mile in the other's shoes
Another pattern: "Give it a try"
Another pattern: listen
Another pattern: ask for something personal
Testing the top-down feedback in the central visual field using the reversed depth illusion https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(25)00484-5 "An information bottleneck in vision makes visual perception vulnerable to illusions"; #neuroscience
Brain waves in harmony https://www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/822538/news_publication_24533391_transferred "neurons in different brain areas form a unit for processing visual information by synchronizing and firing rhythmically in a characteristic frequency band"; #neuroscience
Constraints on multi-item working memory access: performance costs and retrieval dynamics
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1558689/full
#neuroscience
Students are neither left nor right brained: how some early childhood educators get this ‘neuromyth’ and others wrong https://theconversation.com/students-are-neither-left-nor-right-brained-how-some-early-childhood-educators-get-this-neuromyth-and-others-wrong-248888 #education #biology #neuroscience #children #science #STEM
I'm more and more doubtful about attending #SfN25 #neuroscience this November:
"Why I Stopped Believing in #Souls"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztv8vHWOHg4
#neardeathexperience #neuroscience
Is the soul real—or just a comforting story we tell ourselves? In this video, #atheist spiritual director Brit Hartley shares the moment that shattered her belief in the soul, exploring cutting-edge neuroscience, #splitbrain experiments, the case of the #Hogantwins, and the #emotional #illusions behind #neardeathexperiences.
Thanks to @rmblaber1956 for sharing this article about #AI on @TheConversationUK by Guillaume Thierry, Professor of Cognitive #Neuroscience, #Bangor University. Thierry calls AI a "#parrot"; but I find myself thinking that maybe it's just very clever @ventriloquism- it fools us into thinking it has "@intelligence"
https://mastodon.social/@rmblaber1956/114341781441832392
First was an interesting talk by Claire Wyart on the neural basis of body language at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly0KD1qwQ7k (2/5) #neuroscience
Stanford created a digital twin of the brain that sees—and thinks. It’s a breakthrough that could reshape neuroscience, AI, and human medicine. #DigitalTwin #Neuroscience #ArtificialIntelligence
https://geekoo.news/a-brain-in-silicon-how-digital-twins-are-decoding-the-visual-mind/
Spoken words affect visual object recognition via the modulation of alpha and beta oscillations https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2025.1467249/full So how will visual soundscapes affect visual object recognition? #neuroscience
Beyond binding: from modular to natural vision https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661325000749 "visual cortex represents naturally co-occurring patterns of information rather than processing isolated features that need binding"; #neuroscience
