Digital Bin:

mindfulwellness:

neurosciencestuff:

Clouds in the Head: New Model of Brain’s Thought Processes

A new model of the brain’s thought processes explains the apparently chaotic activity patterns of individual neurons. They do not correspond to a simple stimulus/response linkage, but arise from the networking of different neural circuits. Scientists funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) propose that the field of brain research should expand its focus.

Many brain researchers cannot see the forest for the trees. When they use electrodes to record the activity patterns of individual neurons, the patterns often appear chaotic and difficult to interpret. “But when you zoom out from looking at individual cells, and observe a large number of neurons instead, their global activity is very informative,” says Mattia Rigotti, a scientist at Columbia University and New York University who is supported by the SNSF and the Janggen-Pöhn-Stiftung. Publishing in Nature together with colleagues from the United States, he has shown that these difficult-to-interpret patterns in particular are especially important for complex brain functions.

What goes on in the heads of apes

The researchers have focussed their attention on the activity patterns of 237 neurons that had been recorded some years previously using electrodes implanted in the frontal lobes of two rhesus monkeys. At that time, the apes had been taught to recognise images of different objects on a screen. Around one third of the observed neurons demonstrated activity that Rigotti describes as “mixed selectivity.” A mixed selective neuron does not always respond to the same stimulus (the flowers or the sailing boat on the screen) in the same way. Rather, its response differs as it also takes account of the activity of other neurons. The cell adapts its response according to what else is going on in the ape’s brain.

Chaotic patterns revealed in context

Just as individual computers are networked to create concentrated processing and storage capacity in the field of Cloud Computing, links in the complex cognitive processes that take place in the prefrontal cortex play a key role. The greater the density of the network in the brain, in other words the greater the proportion of mixed selectivity in the activity patterns of the neurons, the better the apes were able to recall the images on the screen, as demonstrated by Rigotti in his analysis. Given that the brain and cognitive capabilities of rhesus monkeys are similar to those of humans, mixed selective neurons should also be important in our own brains. For him this is reason enough why brain research from now on should no longer be satisfied with just the simple activity patterns, but should also consider the apparently chaotic patterns that can only be revealed in context.

@ mlthomas

x-enial:

0rient-express:

Admiring the view | by Roger Nelson.

(via peaceintheswirl)

typostrate:

Have a nice sunday!

(Source: verticalities, via wordslessspoken)

yoga9vipassana:

“When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate.”
—Carl Jung

(via unconditionedconsciousness)

beautyartislam:

Mihrab (prayer niche),  A.H. 755 / A.D. 1354–55. Isfahan, Iran.

Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Source: [x]

(via celtislam)

asiasociety:

Multimedia: Artist Imran Qureshi Creates ‘Dialogue’ in Site-Specific Installations

As the acclaimed Pakistani artist returns to New York City with a major new installation, a look back at his site-specific work for Asia Society Museum in 2009.

Read the full story here.

explore-blog:

Brian Eno, born on May 15, 1948, on art.

(via earthandanimals)

guardian:

‘When Saddam Hussein fell, we Iraqis were disoriented. For all our lives, he had always been there. His image was everywhere,’ says photographer Jamal Penjweny, whose series Saddam is Here depicts Iraqis in everyday locations covering their faces with pictures of the former dictator. ‘His image was in the cities where we live, on the walls of our schools, on our money, everywhere. Then he vanished. So taking a picture with Saddam was breaking a taboo that was created after the fall of the regime.’

Photograph: Jamal Penjweny/RUYA Foundation

ladymycroft:

An ocean wave
     crashes
The watery rumble
     echoes
I pause
     We listen

(via bianchiblue)