House of Mind

"Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind" - Jeffrey Eugenides

  • 25th January
    2013
  • 25

I just wanted to say your blog is really great, interesting, and I was wondering what you could tell me about psychopaths/sociopaths and maybe the neuroscience behind it rather than simply the psychology people are used to hearing about it. I’m hoping to be either a criminology major or do something in psychology or neuroscience, I think it would be interesting on how they connect.

Hey, thanks! I seem to be getting a lot of questions relating to the criminal mind nowadays… 

Here’s an abstract of an article by one of the leading people in that field:

A cognitive neuroscience perspective on psychopathy: evidence for paralimbic system dysfunction.

Kiehl KA.

Source

Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford, CT 06106, USA. kent.kiehl@yale.edu

Abstract

Psychopathy is a complex personality disorder that includes interpersonal and affective traits such as glibness, lack of empathy, guilt or remorse, shallow affect, and irresponsibility, and behavioral characteristics such as impulsivity, poor behavioral control, and promiscuity. Much is known about the assessment of psychopathy; however, relatively little is understood about the relevant brain disturbances. The present review integrates data from studies of behavioral and cognitive changes associated with focal brain lesions or insults and results from psychophysiology, cognitive psychology and cognitive and affective neuroscience in health and psychopathy. The review illustrates that the brain regions implicated in psychopathy include the orbital frontal cortex, insula, anterior and posterior cingulate, amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus, and anterior superior temporal gyrus. The relevant functional neuroanatomy of psychopathy thus includes limbic and paralimbic structures that may be collectively termed ‘the paralimbic system’. The paralimbic system dysfunction model of psychopathy is discussed as it relates to the extant literature on psychopathy.

If you click on the title of the article, it will take you to the PubMed page where you can download and read the full article for free!

  • 26th October
    2011
  • 26

UV Dermatomes Body Paint

I created a body art piece that is medically accurate (well as medically accurate as something that not all anatomy textbooks actually agree on can be) and I would absolutely love if you reblogged any of the pieces from this project. I’m currently working on a bachelors degree in sports medicine and I wanted to create a piece of photography that represents my own internal struggle between the symphysis of art and science. The human body has nerve pathways that are called dermatomes they represent the different vertebrae and the areas of the skin that they innervate with sensory nerves.Essentially what I did was paint these dermatomes on the skin of a model with blacklight paint. 


Thank you very much for your time and have a wonderful day, 
-Elliot Smithson

http://smithsonious.tumblr.com/tagged/nerves

  • 25th October
    2011
  • 25

Semantic Web Meets Neuroscience

The Neuroscience Information Framework is the largest semantically enhanced neuroscience search portal on the net! Currently indexing over 100 federated neuroscience databases and over 4000 resources (from data, materials to software and lgrants), the NIF provides the one-stop shop for all things neuroscience. Find what you need, faster with less queries at www.neuinfo.org. To contribute and register your resource or data visit NeuroLex.org. Follow @neuinfo for updates and announcements. Questions and comments? Feel free to contact us at info@neuinfo.org

-Jonathan Cachat

This is incredible. Thank you!

  • 23rd February
    2011
  • 23
Listen up guys, because this just came in. Hot off the press and everything. Today I received quite an impressive e-mail submission from one of the authors of the paper from the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London. He was also kind enough to share one of their figures with us. I personally think he did an excellent job at summing up the importance and novelty of this new tracing technique so I encourage you to read below and check out the original research article. Thanks Bruno! Breakthrough in Neuroscience – new method allows characterization of  neuronal networks on single-cell levelAn international team led by neuroscientist Troy Margrie has developed  a new method, which will shape the future of cellular neuroscience.  The researchers from MRC National Institute for Medical Research in  London, Columbia University in New York and Max-Planck-Institute for  Medical Research in Heidelberg succeeded in determining the function  of individual nerve cells in the brain and identify those neurons from  which a given cell receives its signals. “The new method enables us  for the first time to identify a neuronal networks on the level of  individual cells and characterize it functionally”, explains Ede  Rancz. This study is now published in Nature Neuroscience.A genetically modified rabies virus leads the wayThe scientists combined two existing methods, “whole-cell patch clamp  recording” and “monosynaptic retrograde virus tracing”. They use the  patch-clamp technique to determine the exact stimuli to which a given  brain cell responds. Through the glass micropipette, which is used to  record electrical signals, they simultaneously inject plasmid DNA into  this cell. In the vicinity of the cell they later inject a rabies  virus, which is lacking proteins necessary for entering a cell and  spreading through neuronal pathways. These missing proteins are  provided by the plasmid DNA injected previously into the cell.  Therefore, the virus can only infect this single cell and then spread  across synapses to only those neurons which are exactly one step  upstream in the signaling chain. There it stops because these  presynaptic cells do not contain the necessary plasmid DNA, which the  modified virus needs for spreading.Cellular networks in the living organismThe plasmid DNA and the virus both produce fluorescent proteins, which  are then visualized through specialized microscopes. In this way, the  functionally characterized cell as well as its connected ‘neighbours’,  from which the cell receives information - let them be in close  proximity or in a different brain area -can be identified. As this  technique can be used in a living organism, cellular networks can be  identified and then subjected to further experiments. The researchers  are convinced that this method opens up the door for answering a  plethora of very important but previously unapproachable questions.The original paper is available online:http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nn.2765.htmlShort video clips of original microscopy images are available at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6spZuxsJOcUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tujh2YH6rK8Contact:Prof. Troy Margriehttp://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/research/troy-margrie/

Listen up guys, because this just came in. Hot off the press and everything. Today I received quite an impressive e-mail submission from one of the authors of the paper from the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London. He was also kind enough to share one of their figures with us. I personally think he did an excellent job at summing up the importance and novelty of this new tracing technique so I encourage you to read below and check out the original research article. Thanks Bruno!

Breakthrough in Neuroscience – new method allows characterization of  
neuronal networks on single-cell level

An international team led by neuroscientist Troy Margrie has developed  
a new method, which will shape the future of cellular neuroscience.  
The researchers from MRC National Institute for Medical Research in  
London, Columbia University in New York and Max-Planck-Institute for  
Medical Research in Heidelberg succeeded in determining the function  
of individual nerve cells in the brain and identify those neurons from  
which a given cell receives its signals. “The new method enables us  
for the first time to identify a neuronal networks on the level of  
individual cells and characterize it functionally”, explains Ede  
Rancz. This study is now published in Nature Neuroscience.

A genetically modified rabies virus leads the way

The scientists combined two existing methods, “whole-cell patch clamp  
recording” and “monosynaptic retrograde virus tracing”. They use the  
patch-clamp technique to determine the exact stimuli to which a given  
brain cell responds. Through the glass micropipette, which is used to  
record electrical signals, they simultaneously inject plasmid DNA into  
this cell. In the vicinity of the cell they later inject a rabies  
virus, which is lacking proteins necessary for entering a cell and  
spreading through neuronal pathways. These missing proteins are  
provided by the plasmid DNA injected previously into the cell.  
Therefore, the virus can only infect this single cell and then spread  
across synapses to only those neurons which are exactly one step  
upstream in the signaling chain. There it stops because these  
presynaptic cells do not contain the necessary plasmid DNA, which the  
modified virus needs for spreading.

Cellular networks in the living organism

The plasmid DNA and the virus both produce fluorescent proteins, which  
are then visualized through specialized microscopes. In this way, the  
functionally characterized cell as well as its connected ‘neighbours’,  
from which the cell receives information - let them be in close  
proximity or in a different brain area -can be identified. As this  
technique can be used in a living organism, cellular networks can be  
identified and then subjected to further experiments. The researchers  
are convinced that this method opens up the door for answering a  
plethora of very important but previously unapproachable questions.


The original paper is available online:
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nn.2765.html
Short video clips of original microscopy images are available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6spZuxsJOcU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tujh2YH6rK8


Contact:

Prof. Troy Margrie
http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/research/troy-margrie/


  • 2nd February
    2011
  • 02
Oxytocin tattoo submission Oxytocin is a powerful hormone/neuromodulator in mammals notable for its role in female reproduction (aids in birth and breastfeeding)  and has postulated roles in social behaviors like bonding.  Also referred to as the “love hormone”. 

Oxytocin tattoo submission

Oxytocin is a powerful hormone/neuromodulator in mammals notable for its role in female reproduction (aids in birth and breastfeeding)  and has postulated roles in social behaviors like bonding. 

Also referred to as the “love hormone”. 

  • 27th January
    2011
  • 27