Category: Behavior/Psychology Page 26 of 28

A Brain Food You Never Heard Of

On March 14, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Biology, Lecture, Neuroscience

Guest post by Sandra Ackerman, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Did you know that certain foods are good for your brain — especially if you can persuade your mom to eat them before you’re born?

Christina Williams, Ph.D.

In the second public lecture for Brain Awareness Week, this one given at the Duke Center for Living, Christina Williams, professor of psychology and neuroscience, made a strong case for the long-term benefits of good prenatal nutrition. Of course, all-around good nutrition is important for the health of both an expectant mother and her baby, but in her talk on Tuesday evening Williams focused on choline, “the essential nutrient you’ve probably never heard of.”

Choline is one of those innumerable B vitamins that rarely make it onto a nutrition label. But it deserves to become famous, because choline is important not only for the building of membranes and the proper working of the liver (both very useful in the human body) but also as a basis for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine—the chemical signal that lets us move our muscles. Oh, and it serves another purpose as well: acetylcholine is the main neurotransmitter used in the function of memory.

It is in the realm of memory that prenatal choline really shines. In extensive studies with rats at all stages of their lifespan, Williams and her colleagues have found that adding choline to the usual prenatal diet gives a major boost to the developing brain. As a result, the offspring have brains that not only prove more resilient to shock or trauma but also demonstrate healthy, high-functioning memory well into old age. In the hippocampus, the brain structure most responsible for memory, the prenatally-choline-supplemented rats even show an advantage in the proliferation of new neurons, which enable them to keep learning long after the normal rat retirement age (about 24 months).

A newborn infant, still tapped into her mother's bloodstream, for the moment. (Photo by Gengiskanhg via Wikimedia Commons)

All this is not to say that pregnant women should start gulping down choline, says Williams—least of all as a “supplement” purchased from a health store, because these non-drug compounds don’t undergo strict standardization and scrutiny from the FDA.

You may, however, want to beef up the choline in your regular diet, and in fact beef liver is one of the best dishes for this purpose. Tofu and other soy-based foods, legumes, eggs, and fish will also fill the bill. So lift high your fork, egg cup, or peanut butter-covered knife, and let us keep in mind the power of choline.

Seeing You, Seeing Me …what are you thinking?

By Karl Bates

On March 13, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Guest Post, Neuroscience, Science Communication & Education

Guest Post by Sandra Ackerman, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

“Don’t know much about history

Don’t know much biology. . .”

Lasana Harris, Ph.D.

Music from the West End Wine Bar in downtown Durham wafted up to the mezzanine where about 30 people gathered on Monday evening for a little light neuroscience. In the first public lecture of this year’s Brain Awareness Week at Duke, Lasana Harris, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, introduced us to his research in a corner of the field where social psychology meets up with brain anatomy—and, despite the words of the popular song, history and biology also made it into the discussion.

Harris and his colleagues work on identifying the neural correlates of mental state inferences—in other words, the kinds of activity in your brain that allow you to think about what might be going on in someone else’s brain.

Functional MRI image of a person looking at images of others’ faces. (National Institutes of Health)

Through a combination of functional MRI scans and carefully delineated storytelling, the researchers have been able to map the two main areas of the brain most involved in inferring the mental state of another person. These patterns of brain activity are instinctual, not learned — even very young children show evidence of the same patterns — and in normal life they take place with lightning speed, in tenths of a second. Inferring the mental states of others is a brain exercise we perform dozens of times every day without ever being aware of it. Truth to tell, most of us wouldn’t recognize a mental state inference if it were served up on a plate with a side of green beans.

And yet this pattern helps to shape so many of your interactions with the world — not just with other people but with pets, machines, or even corporations that skimp on customer service. We’re so strongly inclined toward making these mental-state inferences that all too often we fall into the trap of treating some non-human entity as if it were a person. Think of that the next time your computer freezes on you and you’re tempted to give it a swift smack in the monitor!

Brain Awareness Week Begins!

By Karl Bates

On March 12, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Biology, Faculty, Neuroscience, Science Communication & Education

Guest post by Sandra Ackerman, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.

FASTER than the blink of an eye . . .

MORE POWERFUL than a champion bodybuilder . . .

ABLE to span whole galaxies in a single thought . . .

This marvel of multitasking is the human brain.

Brain Awareness Week Logo 2012

As you take a few seconds to skim this paragraph (perhaps while listening to music, or shifting your weight to keep your balance in a moving bus), various sites in your brain are firing off countless signals along pathways of nerve fiber in all directions. These signaling pathways emerge, change, die back or grow stronger throughout the human lifespan, in a self-regulating, ever-evolving assemblage more complex than anything the human mind has ever created. And we’re each carrying around one of these turbo-charged puppies in a bony box on top of our shoulders!

Now’s your chance to get to know your brain a little better, as the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences presents an array of activities for all ages during Brain Awareness Week, from Monday, March 12, through Saturday, March 17.

Each weeknight, in Durham locales ranging from the West End Wine Bar to the Nasher Museum to the Regulator Bookshop, distinguished faculty will give talks on different aspects of the brain, while during the day the Museum of Life and Science will give interactive demonstrations for school groups. The week wraps up Saturday, March 17 with an all-hands-on-deck, multi-event Open House at the Levine Science Research Center.

Brain Awareness Week: get ready to expand your mind!

John Lennox: Christianity Gave Me My Subject

By Becca Bayham

On March 1, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Lecture, Science Communication & Education

By Becca Bayham

Is God relevant?

“The first question is to ask what, and to whom,” Dr. John Lennox said during a public lecture, Feb. 21.

Lennox, a professor of mathematics at Oxford University, regularly debates religion with the likes of Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Michael Shermer and Peter Singer. His talk was presented by the Veritas Forum, an organization aimed at promoting dialogue between secular and religious perspectives.

“When I teach algebra at Oxford, I don’t mention God. He’s not relevant at that level of discourse. But how is it that there’s a universe for your equations? God might be relevant to that,” Lennox said.

Lennox contested the idea that science and religion are mutually exclusive, arguing that it stems from a false conception of God: “If I can’t explain it, then God did it.” Thus, the more science tells us about the world, the less room there is for God.

But God is not competing with science for an explanation, Lennox said.

“People think science is the only way to truth. If science was the only way to truth, you’d have to close half your faculties at Duke.”

He pointed to Duke’s own motto — erudito et religio — as an example of how religion shaped the development of modern universities — and modern science.

“I’m not remotely embarrassed to be a Christian and a scientist. In fact, it’s the other way around, because Christianity gave me my subject.”

Get Aware of Your Brain, Wouldya?

By Karl Bates

On February 24, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Neuroscience, Science Communication & Education

Are you even aware of your brain? Well you should be, and the good people at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences are here to help you.

Their third annual Brain Awareness Week March 12 to 17 features a series of five great lectures in venues all over town. Social neuroscience in a wine bar? Why yes, in fact!

Brain surgery and anatomy class would be so much easier if the brain were color-coded like this! (NIH image)

For more kid-friendly brain awareness, DIBS is also planning three days of fun lunch-time demonstrations at the Museum of Life and Science, and the ever-popular Saturday open house at LSRC on Saturday, March 17, which includes lab tours, brain-centric art projects, and lots of eager graduate students doing public outreach.

Please do your brain a favor. Show it a little love. Check out Brain Awareness Week.

(PS watch this space the following week for our student-bloggers’ coverage of some of the events!)

Brain Awareness Week Logo 2012

Big Doctors May Contribute to Big Health Problem

By Karl Bates

On February 12, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Cardiology, Medicine

By Ashley Mooney

Sometimes talking about weight loss can be difficult, especially with a doctor who is just as chubby as you.

This is not Dr. Califf.

A recent study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Medical Institutions found that physicians with higher body mass indexes are less likely to address weight issues in patients.

The researchers surveyed 500 doctors and found that 30 percent of normal-weight doctors were likely to engage patients in discussions of weight loss and exercise, while only 18 percent of overweight or obese doctors did the same.

The study also showed that when physicians perceived that a patient’s body weight met or exceeded their own body weight, 93 percent of physicians would diagnose them with weight issues and likely to recommend obesity care.

Despite findings that overweight doctors are less likely to engage patients in such discussions, some noted that patients might identify better with those who have similar BMI’s.

“I believe that the reaction to one’s weight is highly individual,” said Dr. Robert Califf, Vice Chancellor for Clinical Research and Donald F. Fortin, M.D. Professor of Cardiology at Duke. “Some docs seem to feel better about discussing it if they are overweight because they identify with the patient.”

Califf also noted that his own exercise and health experiences only partially help him in dealing with his patients.

Self-Injury as a Pathway to Relief

By Jeannie Chung

On February 10, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Lecture

By Jeannie Chung

The concept of pain usually reminds us of agony, scowls, and terror. Yet, to some, it is a pathway for relief and salvation.

Clinical Social Worker Carolyn O. Lee from Raleigh presented the subject of self-injury at the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds at the Duke Hospital on Jan. 19. She provided a clear image of what motivates “cutting” and other self-injury, and who it may affect. She also suggested solutions.

Self-injury is counterintuitive to most, but a comfort to some. (iStock photo)

People who damage their body tissue to experience jolting pain receive a “natural high,” Lee said. These injuries are intentional and non-life threatening and occur generally in socially outcasted people. Cutting, self-burning, pin-sticking, scratching, and self –hitting, interference with wound healing, and bone breaking are the common methods used. The tools used for such actions are analogous to security blankets of young children, and are deemed very precious to the inflictor.

The most prevalent question is “Why?,” since the concept of self-injury goes against most people’s natural instinct for survival. People seek self-injury to cope, to regulate mood, affect, and consciousness, to relieve anxiety and depression, discharge anger, to inflict punishment, and induce pleasure, feel alive, and have a sense of control, Lee said. The injuries on their body are their voices, she said.

The general thought is “How will you know I am hurting if you cannot see my pain? I wear it on my body, and it shows what words cannot explain,” Lee said.

Before the self-abuse happens, the patient feels a sense of tension, worthlessness and anxiety. During the abuse, they may experience pleasure, exhilaration, relief and numbness. And afterwards they lapse into a pool of guilt, shame, disgust, sorrow, and intrigue, feeling out of control.

Self-abuse continues because it can differentiate inner and outer body boundaries or bring attentiveness to a mistreated body, Lee said. It may identify with the aggressor, displace rage, and regulate states of hyperarousal and dissociation.

Psychiatrists also suspect autism spectrum disorders or defects in theory-of-mind to be major factors for the emergence of such behavior. Physiologically, deficits in serotonin play a large part as well.

To treat self-abuse, Dr. Lee recommends a combination of psychoanalytic therapy and medication. She believes the relationship between the patient and the psychotherapist plays a significant role in mitigating the behavior. However, she added that if a patient shows signs of addictive behavior to self-injury, she would consider prescribing medications.

Brainnaroo!

By Pranali Dalvi

On January 23, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Neuroscience

By Pranali Dalvi

Human brain scan, in X-rays. Credit: Funderstanding.com

The complexity of the brain can be mind-boggling. After all, how can a jelly-like, three-pound mass of fatty tissue and protein give us the capacity for language, imagination and problem solving, while simultaneously coordinating movement and controlling vital processes such as breathing and digestion?

Duke’s neuroscience community came together on Thursday, Jan. 19 to marvel at the brain during the inaugural event of the Duke Consortium of Neuroscience Graduate Programs: Brainnaroo!

Held in the LSRC Hall of Science, the event included everything from a student poster session to a forum on the “Neuroscience of Self.”

The goal of the forum was to have one topic and approach it with many different ideas, incorporating different departments and techniques,” said Hrishikesh Rao, a graduate student in biomedical engineering and a member of the Brainnaroo Planning Committee.

The unifying theme of the forum was “the self,” and graduate students tackled this concept from a biomedical engineering perspective all the way to a behavioral medicine perspective. Graduate student Rolando Estrada delineated ‘the self’ in computer science. “Computers can do tasks that previously only biological entities could do. For instance, a robot can recognize itself in a mirror,” he said.

Kurtis Gruters, a graduate student specializing in Systems and Integrative Neuroscience, posed the question “Is ‘the self’ a sensory illusion?” in his neural circuitry analysis, and Kristen Batich explained a pathologist’s view of losing ‘the self’ in a spectrum of dementia disorders.

In the true spirit of science, awards followed the presentations and were given for best talk and best layman’s title. Best in Show went to Tina Tognoni for the project, “Sex Differences in Hippocampal Neuronal Responses to Changes in Environmental Stimuli, or “Do male rats pay attention to detail?”

'Knowsphere' could solve climate problems, Revkin argues

By Becca Bayham

On January 23, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology, Business/Economics, Climate/Global Change, Computers/Technology, Environment/Sustainability, Lecture, Science Communication & Education

By Becca Bayham

Does the world seem a little angsty-er to you? It should, it’s got way more adolescents.

“There were only a billion people [on Earth] in 1800; now we have a billion teenagers,” said Andrew Revkin, a prize-winning journalist and New York Times blogger, during a lecture on Jan. 18.

“Is this a sign of overpopulation?” someone in the audience joked, referring to the jam-packed classroom.

Likely not, but, as Revkin discussed, resource limits and an explosive human population growth may eventually cause population or economic declines.

“We don’t seem to have distinguished ourselves from bacteria on a plate of agar yet,” Revkin said. “Science is saying hey, hey, there’s an edge to the dish! But we’re still in go-go-go mode.”

The fact that we will reach the edge of the dish is undeniable — and it won’t be pretty. To illustrate, Revkin showed a picture of Black Friday shoppers fighting over a sale item.

“Can you imagine everyone doing this?” he said.

Unfortunately, we humans are historically bad at confronting problems that don’t affect us here-and-now. If in doubt, see our lackluster response to the national debt. Or global climate change, for that matter (a topic Revkin often blogs about).

“There’s a big chunk of everyone who just doesn’t want to deal with global warming, to tell you the truth… it’s hard, it’s complex, it’s laden with layers of complicit uncertainty. What is it and what do you do about it?”

Revkin believes that global connectedness, powered by the internet, offers a solution to the many problems humanity will face in coming years.

Communication between people — sharing information and exchanging ideas — has long fueled our economy and fostered human progress. According to Revkin, a network of collaborating schools, libraries, businesses and other institutions (a “knowsphere”) could help combat problems ranging from natural disaster preparedness to the treatment of diseases.

“Much of human progress can be charted in relation to our linkages with others,” he said.

In the 1920s, philosophers Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin conceptualized the idea of a “noosphere” (from the Greek “nous”, mind and sphaira, “sphere”), a philosophical sphere of intelligence around the Earth that humans could draw from — a planet of the mind. Back then, it was just an idea.

“But now, it’s happening,” Revkin said.

If You Want to Enjoy the Game, Close the Laptop!

By Karl Bates

On January 9, 2012

In Behavior/Psychology

The folks in Duke’s Visual Cognition Lab who study how well airport baggage screeners actually see things and whether Nike Strobe eyewear may help sports performance have some words of wisdom for heavy multitaskers: Try putting a few things aside and focusing a bit!

Multidevice multitasking can make you distractable... or is it the other way around? (image: iStock)

In a paper published online shortly before the holidays, the group shows that “heavy media multitaskers,” the people who might have Twitter, Facebook and Gmail windows open simultaneously on their laps while trying to watch the playoff game and listen to their iPod, are overwhelmed by a lot of irrelevant details.

In a lab experiment that bombarded both heavy and light media multitaskers with stimuli and asked them to focus on particular details, they found that the light multitaskers were better able to filter and prioritize to keep their eyes on the prize. The heavy multitaskers, not so much.

“The heavy media multitaskers tended to look at more of the irrelevant things,” said Matthew S. Cain, a postdoctoral fellow in the group, who’s hair tends to be a color not found in nature. “Heavy media multitaskers don’t use information about what they can ignore to improve their performance.”

“My guess is that they’re heavy multitaskers because they’re distracted,” Cain says.

The paper appears online in Perception.

CITATION: “Distractor filtering in media multitaskers,” Cain M S, Mitroff S R. Perception, online Nov. 16, 2011. DOI: 10.1068/p70172011,