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Areopagit |
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The specialists of the International Center for Researches and Education "Areopagit" are at the completion stage of development of the computer program that “make” a student learn. This program is based on the research of Dr. Igor Smirnov “Semantic Stimuli Response Measurements Technology”, or SSRM Tek, a software-based mind reader that supposedly tests a subject's involuntary response to subliminal messages. The program creates an idea in recipients’ mind about an urge to learn, to think and to develop their own abilities. If the program will be connected with a networking self-spreading module (like a virus), it is going to be installed on hundreds of thousands of PCs around the world for several months. Besides, the program can define a language of the user and automatically use the corresponding - English, French, Chinese, Spanish, German, Russian or Arabic. A Neurosemantic Theoryof Concrete Noun Representation Basedon the Underlying Brain CodesThis article describes the discovery of a set of biologically-driven semantic dimensions underlying the neural representation of concrete nouns, and then demonstrates how a resulting theory of noun representation can be used to identify simple thoughts through their fMRI patterns. We use factor analysis of fMRI brain imaging data to reveal the biological representation of individual concrete nouns like apple, in the absence of any pictorial stimuli. From this analysis emerge three main semantic factors underpinning the neural representation of nouns naming physical objects, which we label manipulation, shelter, and eating. Each factor is neurally represented in 3–4 different brain locations that correspond to a cortical network that co-activates in non-linguistic tasks, such as tool use pantomime for the manipulation factor. Several converging methods, such as the use of behavioral ratings of word meaning and text corpus characteristics, provide independent evidence of the centrality of these factors to the representations. The factors are then used with machine learning classifier techniques to show that the fMRI-measured brain representation of an individual concrete noun like apple can be identified with good accuracy from among 60 candidate words, using only the fMRI activity in the 16 locations associated with these factors. To further demonstrate the generativity of the proposed account, a theory-based model is developed to predict the brain activation patterns for words to which the algorithm has not been previously exposed. The methods, findings, and theory constitute a new approach of using brain activity for understanding how object concepts are represented in the mind.
Intelligence Mapped in the BrainA new map of the brain shows that most key aspects of intelligence are handled in specific spots, while processing speed is distributed throughout the noggin. Researchers used brain scans to map the mental regions involved in the cognitive work done while taking IQ tests, which remain the most widely-used intelligence tests in the world. The scans helped examine each of four cognitive indexes of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) in 241 neurological patients who had suffered from strokes, tumor, resection and trauma. The study found some overlap in brain regions that might suggest future revisions for the IQ test, and suggested that brain scans could even help predict IQ scores. An IQ score on the WAIS test is composed of four indices of intelligence, each consisting of several subtests, which together produce a full-scale IQ score. The four indices are verbal comprehension, perceptual organization (visual and spatial processing), working memory (similar to short-term memory) and processing speed. The researchers correlated the location of brain injuries with scores on each of the four WAIS indices. "The first question we asked was if there are any parts of the brain that are critically important for these indices or if they are very distributed, with intelligence processed globally in a way that can't be mapped," said Ralph Adolphs, a neuroscientist at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif. With the exception of processing speed, which appears to draw on neurons scattered throughout the brain, the lesion mapping showed that the other three cognitive indices really do depend on specific brain regions. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CT) brain scans of patients also turned up some surprises. Overlap between brain regions responsible for verbal comprehension and working memory suggest that they represent the same type of intelligence on the WAIS test, even though the test currently considers them separate measures of cognitive ability . Such details could help with future revisions of the WAIS test, so that its sections are grouped more based on brain mapping results rather than what is observed in behavior. And future brain scans could even predict IQ scores of brain-damaged patients, as well as possibly healthy people, Adolphs noted. The brain maps from this study might also help clinicians home in on likely areas of brain damage. "It wouldn't be sufficient to be diagnostic, but it would provide information that clinicians could definitely use about what parts of the brain are dysfunctional," Adolphs said. http://www.livescience.com/health/090311-brain-scan-iq.html
Quantum Information Research at NIST: Goals and Vision
America’s future prosperity and security may rely in part on the exotic properties of some of the smallest articles in nature. Research on quantum information (QI) seeks to control and exploit these properties for scientific and societal benefits. This remarkable field combines physics, information science, and mathematics in an effort to design nanotechnologies that may accomplish feats considered impossible with today’s technology. QI researchers are already generating “unbreakable” codes for ultra-secure encryption. They may someday build quantum computers that can solve problems in seconds that today’s best supercomputers could not solve in years. QI has the potential to expand and strengthen the U.S. economy and security in the 21st century just as transistors and lasers did in the 20th century. Nations around the world are investing heavily in QI research in recognition of the economic and security implications. A significant part of the U.S. effort is based at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which has the largest internal QI research program of any federal agency. NIST laboratories routinely develop the measurement and standards infrastructure needed to promote innovation in emerging fields that may transform the future. Few fields need this support as much as QI, which involves entirely new concepts of information processing as well as complex hardware for precision control of individual atoms, very small quantities of light, and electrical currents 1 billion times weaker than those in light bulbs. As the nation’s measurement experts, NIST researchers long have had world-class capabilities in precision measurement and control of atoms, light, and other quantum systems. NIST, therefore, has the world-class skills and facilities needed to advance QI through technology demonstrations, development of new methods and tests for evaluating QI system components, and related scientific discoveries. NIST first became involved in quantum information science in the early 1990s when physicist David Wineland and colleagues realized that engineering of exotic quantum states could lead to a significantly more precise atomic clock. A few years later, Wineland demonstrated the first quantum logic operation, a pioneering step toward a future quantum computer using ions (electrically charged atoms) to process information. In 1999, the NIST Physics Laboratory launched a broader Quantum Information Program, joined shortly thereafter by NIST’s Information Technology Laboratory and Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory. This interdisciplinary program, featuring strong collaborations among physicists, electrical engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists, has established NIST as one of the premier QI programs in the world. Participants include Wineland, a NIST Fellow and Presidential Rank Award winner; physicist William D. Phillips, a 1997 Nobel Prize winner in physics; mathematician Emanuel Knill, a leading QI theorist; and physicist Sae Woo Nam, winner of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. A total of nine technical divisions within three different laboratories at NIST’s Gaithersburg and Boulder campuses are involved. NIST’s work in ion-trap quantum computing is widely recognized as one of the most advanced QI efforts in the world. Scientists building the NIST quantum communications testbed set a record in 2004 for the fastest system for distributing quantum cryptographic “keys,” codes for encrypting messages that, due to the peculiarities of quantum physics, cannot be intercepted without detection. Other NIST research with single photon sources and detectors, and computing with neutral atoms and “artificial atoms,” are also among the leading efforts worldwide. For instance, prospects for practical quantum communications have been improved by NIST’s recent demonstration of a device that detects single photons with 88 percent efficiency, a QI record. There is strong synergy between NIST’s core mission work on measurement and standards and the QI research program. For instance, NIST scientists gained much of their expertise in quantum systems from decades of work developing atomic clocks. NIST’s ultra-precise atomic fountain clock—the world’s most accurate device for measuring time—is based on the precise manipulation and measurement of two quantum energy levels in the cesium atom. This clock would neither gain nor lose one second in 60 million years (as of March 2005), an accuracy level that is continually being improved. NIST quantum computing research is producing new techniques that may lead to even more accurate atomic clocks in the future. Ultimately, NIST measurements, tests, and technologies for quantum information science are helping U.S. industry develop new information technologies in an effort to ensure U.S. technological leadership and strengthen national security. The United States may have the lead in this field for now—based in part on NIST’s contributions—but competition from Europe, Japan, Australia, and developing countries such as China is strong and growing. http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/quantum/quantum_info_index.html Knowledge of the facts doesn't helpin understanding of their reasoningTeaching at Tech: Learning and Scientific Reasoning by
William Kennedy, director, Center for Teaching, Learning and Faculty
Development People do indeed make optimal decisions - but only when their unconscious brain makes the choice Alex Pouget, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, has shown that people do indeed make optimal decisions-but only when their unconscious brain makes the choice. At the risk of sounding pedantic, people did not make the decisions (monkeys did), and there was nary a mention of conscious vs. unconscious processing in the paper. "A lot of the early work in this field was on conscious decision making, but most of the decisions you make aren't based on conscious reasoning," says Pouget. "You don't consciously decide to stop at a red light or steer around an obstacle in the road. Once we started looking at the decisions our brains make without our knowledge, we found that they almost always reach the right decision, given the information they had to work with." Pouget says that Kahneman's approach was to tell a subject that there was a certain percent chance that one of two choices in a test was "right." This meant a person had to consciously compute the percentages to get a right answer-something few people could do accurately. "We've been developing and strengthening this hypothesis for years-how the brain represents probability distributions," says Pouget. "We knew the results of this kind of test fit perfectly with our ideas, but we had to devise a way to see the neurons in action. We wanted to see if, in fact, humans are really good decision makers after all, just not quite so good at doing it consciously. Kahneman explicitly told his subjects what the chances were, but we let people's unconscious mind work it out. It's weird, but people rarely make optimal decisions when they are told the percentages up front." Copyright Previous ArticleTable of ContentsNext Article Weizmann Institute research shows our brain's sense centers are continuously active. In the absence of a stimulus, however, their electrical activity remains in 'screen saver' mode. Even when our eyes are closed, the visual centers in our brain are humming with activity. Weizmann Institute scientists and others have shown in the last few years that the magnitude of sense-related activity in a brain that's disengaged from seeing, touching, etc., is quite similar to that of one exposed to a stimulus. New research at the Institute has now revealed details of that activity, explaining why, even though our sense centers are working, we don't experience sights or sounds when there's nothing coming in through our sensory organs. The previous studies of Prof. Rafael Malach and research student Yuval Nir of the Neurobiology Department used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in active and resting states. But fMRI is an indirect measurement of brain activity; it can't catch the nuances of the pulses of electricity that characterize neuron activity. Together with Prof. Itzhak Fried of the University of California at Los Angeles and a team at the EEG unit of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, the researchers found a unique source of direct measurement of electrical activity in the brain: data collected from epilepsy patients who underwent extensive testing, including measurement of neuronal pulses in various parts of their brain, in the course of diagnosis and treatment. An analysis of this data showed conclusively that electrical activity does, indeed, take place even in the absence of stimuli. But the nature of the electrical activity differs if a person is experiencing a sensory event or undergoing its absence. In results that appeared recently in Nature Neuroscience, the scientists showed that during rest, brain activity consists of extremely slow fluctuations, as opposed to the short, quick bursts that typify a response associated with a sensory percept. This difference appears to be the reason we don't experience hallucinations or hear voices that aren't there during rest. The resting oscillations appear to be strongest when we sense nothing at all - during dream-free sleep. The slow fluctuation pattern can be compared to a computer screen-saver. Though its function is still unclear, the researchers have a number of hypotheses. One possibility is that neurons, like certain philosophers, must 'think' in order to be. Survival, therefore, is dependant on a constant state of activity. Another suggestion is that the minimal level of activity enables a quick start when a stimulus eventually presents itself, something like a getaway car with the engine running. Nir: 'In the old approach, the senses are 'turned on' by the switch of an outside stimulus. This is giving way to a new paradigm in which the brain is constantly active, and stimuli change and shape that activity.' Malach: 'The use of clinical data enabled us to solve a riddle of basic science in a way that would have been impossible with conventional methods. These findings could, in the future, become the basis of advanced diagnostic techniques.' Such techniques might not necessarily require the cooperation of the patient, allowing them to be used, for instance on people in a coma or on young children. Prof.
Rafael Malach's research is supported by the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for
Neurological Diseases; the Carl and Micaela Einhorn-Dominic Brain Research
Institute; Ms. Vera Benedek, Israel; Benjamin and Seema Pulier Charitable
Foundation, Inc.; and Ms. Mary Helen Rowen, New York, NY. Prof. Malach is the
incumbent of the Barbara and Morris Levinson Professorial Chair in Brain
Research. Social skills, extracurricular activities in high school pay off later in life 3/25/09 Phil
Ciciora, News Editor CHAMPAIGN,
Ill. - It turns out that being voted "Most likely to succeed" in high school
might actually be a good predictor of one's financial and educational success
later in life. Christy
Lleras, a professor of human and community development, says that "soft skills"
such as sociability, punctuality, conscientiousness and an ability to get along
well with others, along with participation in extracurricular activities, are
better predictors of earnings and higher educational achievement later in life
than having good grades and high standardized test scores. Work puplished here. Clickstream Data Yields High - Resolution Maps of Science What I find interesting about the resulting map is how obviously integrated all of the discreet topics are with each other. Does it look this way in our schools? Over the course of 2007 and 2008, we collected nearly 1 billion user interactions recorded by the scholarly web portals of some of the most significant publishers, aggregators and institutional consortia. The resulting reference data set covers a significant part of world-wide use of scholarly web portals in 2006, and provides a balanced coverage of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. A journal clickstream model, i.e. a first-order Markov chain, was extracted from the sequences of user interactions in the logs. The clickstream model was validated by comparing it to the Getty Research Institute's Architecture and Art Thesaurus. The resulting model was visualized as a journal network that outlines the relationships between various scientific domains and clarifies the connection of the social sciences and humanities to the natural sciences. PLoS ONE: Clickstream Data Yields High-Resolution Maps of Science Here's the link to the map... Information Sharing and Team Performance: A Meta-AnalysisGroups share information in workplace, but not the "right" information WASHINGTON - From the operating room to the executive board room, the benefits of working in teams have long been touted. But a new analysis of 22 years of applied psychological research shows that teams tend to discuss information they already know and that "talkier" teams are less effective. "We're seeing a widespread trend toward a more virtual and globalized world and this is transforming the way people in the workplace communicate," said the article's lead author, Jessica Mesmer-Magnus, PhD, of the University of North Carolina Wilmington. "We need to better understand how teams will perform in this new setting and, to do that, we need to look at how they've worked in the past." Mesmer-Magnus and Leslie DeChurch, PhD, an organizational psychologist at the University of Central Florida, analyzed research on information sharing in the workplace, consisting of studies of approximately 4,800 groups and more than 17,000 people. Their findings are reported in the March issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, which is published by the American Psychological Association. Their analysis showed that teams that spent time sharing new information performed better overall in their tasks. But they also found that most teams spent their time discussing information that was already known by the rest of the group. Groups whose members talked more openly during meetings were on better terms with one another but that did not necessarily mean they performed better. "What this suggests is that teams who talk more amongst themselves aren't necessarily sharing useful information. Therefore, they're not actually coming to a better result. Rather, it's more important what the teams are talking about, than how much they are talking," said Mesmer-Magnus. The researchers also found that teams communicate better when they engage in tasks where they are instructed to come up with a correct, or best, answer rather than a consensual solution. For example, teams were more effective when selecting candidates for a job opening or solving a crime when they had been encouraged to share their unique insights and to work to determine the best solution rather than a quicker consensual one. And although team members are often chosen because of their diverse professional and personal backgrounds, teams tended to share more information when the team was composed of members of similar backgrounds, according to the analysis. "This highlights the conundrum surrounding team tasks," said Mesmer-Magnus. "There's a separation in what teams actually do and what they should do in order to be effective." The authors say their findings show group productivity can be enhanced by:
"Teams do have a distinct advantage over individuals in the work setting," said Mesmer-Magnus. "But leaders should be aware of how to effectively maximize their team's potential with effective communication."
Exercise Increases Brain Growth Factor And Receptors, Prevents Stem Cell Drop In Middle AgeScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2008) - A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells. Neural stem cells and progenitor cells differentiate into a variety of mature nerve cells which have different functions, a process called neurogenesis. There is evidence that when fewer new stem or progenitor cells are produced in the hippocampus, it can result in impairment of the learning and memory functions. The hippocampus plays an important role in memory and learning. The study was carried out by researchers at the National Cheng Kung University Medical College in Taiwan. Rise in corticosterone or fall in nerve growth factor? The researchers built on earlier studies that found that the production of stem cells in the area of the hippocampus known as the dentate gyrus drops off dramatically by the time mice are middle age and that exercise can slow that trend. In the current study, the researchers wanted to track these changes in mice over time, and find out why they happen. One hypothesis the researchers investigated is that the age-related decline in neurogenesis is tied to a rise in corticosterone in middle age. Elevation of corticosterone has been associated with a drop in the production of new stem cells in the hippocampus. The second hypothesis is that nerve growth factors -- which encourage new neural cell growth but which decrease with age -- account for the drop in neurogenesis. Specifically, the study looked at whether a decrease in brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor leads to a decline in new neural stem cells. Variables studied The researchers trained young (3 months), adult (7 months), early middle-aged (9 months), middle-aged (13 months) and old (24 months) mice to run a treadmill for up to one hour a day. The study tracked neurogenesis, age, exercise, serum corticosterone levels and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor TrkB levels in the hippocampus. The researchers focused on middle age as a critical stage for the decline of neurogenesis in the mice. As expected, the study found that neurogenesis drops off sharply in middle-aged mice. For example, the number of neural progenitor and mitotic (dividing) cells in the hippocampus of middle-aged mice was only 5% of that observed in the young mice. The researchers also found that exercise significantly slows down the loss of new nerve cells in the middle-aged mice. They found that production of neural stem cells improved by approximately 200% compared to the middle-aged mice that did not exercise. In addition, the survival of new nerve cells increased by 170% and growth by 190% compared to the sedentary middle-aged mice. Exercise also significantly enhanced stem cell production and maturation in the young mice. In fact, exercise produced a stronger effect in younger mice compared to the older mice. How does this happen? Based on these results, it appears that nerve growth factor has more to do with these findings than the corticosterone:
Read at ScienceDaily Research by Rice psychologist identifies area of brain key to choosing
words Evidence Appears To Show How And Where Brain's Frontal Lobe WorksScienceDaily (Mar. 3, 2009) - A new study of stroke victims has produced evidence that the frontal lobe of the human brain controls decision-making along a continuum from abstract to concrete, from front to back. Lead author David Badre, assistant professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences at Brown University since 2007, conducted the study at the University of California-Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow. Abstract actions can be controlled at an abstract level, such as deciding to make a sandwich, or at more concrete and specific levels, such as choosing a sequence of movements that make the sandwich. The scientific data supports preexisting theories that abstract decisions about action take place in the front of the frontal lobe, the back portion controls the capacity for concrete decisions, and the progression from front to back forms a gradient from abstract to concrete. The study is among the first to show that specific areas of the frontal cortex are needed for different levels of abstract decision. The finding, detailed March 1 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, represents a huge leap in comprehending how the brain supports higher level cognition and intelligent behavior. It could lead to advances in everything from the treatment of strokes to understanding how humans develop thought. "It is among the strongest evidence to date for a systemic organization of the frontal cortex," Badre said. The frontal cortex of brain has been long known to affect the internal control of behavior. It controls the capacity to plan, reason, conduct higher-level thinking and connect what we know about the world to how we behave. Badre and his collaborators at Berkeley came to their conclusion by studying stroke victims who suffered damage to different parts of the frontal lobe. The patients all suffered a stroke at least six months prior to testing. All were screened with an MRI or CT scan to determine where any lesions existed in the brain post-stroke. The scientists recruited 11 patients - seven men and four women, ranging from age 45 to 73. A 12th patient was recruited but could not perform any of the tests involved. Researchers gave the patients four different tests that ultimately required selecting a finger-press response. For example, the first test would show a color such as red, which required an index finger push. Blue would trigger the middle finger. The test would then become more difficult by adding more alternate finger presses. Patients faced greater challenges in selecting a response as subsequent, progressive tests became more complex, with more abstract options. Badre and colleagues found that damage at a given location affected more abstract decisions but left intact the capacity for more concrete decisions. "If there is damage in a given spot, it will affect all higher (decision-making) functions but not lower functions," Badre said. The National Institutes of Health, Veterans Administration Research Service and a National Research Service Award supported the research.
Unhappy People Watch TV, Happy People Read/SocializeStudy: Channeling Unhappiness, In Good and Bad Economic Times COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as "very happy" spend more time reading and socializing. The study appears in the December issue of the journal Social Indicators Research. Analyzing 30-years worth of national data from time use studies and a continuing series of social attitude surveys, the Maryland researchers report that spending time watching television may contribute to viewers' happiness in the moment, with less positive effects in the long run. "TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does," says University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson, the study co-author and a pioneer in time use studies. "It's more passive and may provide escape - especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise." TV VIEWING DURING A FINANCIAL CRISIS Based on data from time use surveys, Robinson projects that TV viewing might increase significantly as the economy worsens in the next few months and years. "Through good and bad economic times, our diary studies, have consistently found that work is the major activity correlate of higher TV viewing hours," Robinson says. "As people have progressively more time on their hands, viewing hours increase." But Robinson cautions that some of that extra time also might be spent sleeping. "As working and viewing hours increase, so do sleep hours," he says. "Sleep could be the second major beneficiary of job loss or reduced working hours." STUDY FINDINGS AND DATA In their new study, Robinson and his co-author, University of Maryland sociologist Steven Martin, set out to learn more about the activities that contributed to happiness in people's lives. They analyzed two sets of data spanning nearly 30 years (1975-2006) gathered from nearly 30,000 adults:
UNHAPPY PEOPLE VIEW SIGNIFICANTLY MORE Robinson and Martin found that the two sets of data largely coincided for most activities - with the exception of television. From the General Social Survey, the researchers found that self-described very happy people were more socially active, attended more religious services, voted more and read more newspapers. By contrast, unhappy people watched significantly more television in their spare time. According to the study's findings, unhappy people watch an estimated 20 percent more television than very happy people, after taking into account their education, income, age and marital status - as well as other demographic predictors of both viewing and happiness. UNHAPPY PEOPLE ARE HAPPY WITH TV Data from time diaries told a somewhat different story. Responding in "real time," much closer to daily events, survey respondents tended to rate television viewing more highly as a daily activity. "What viewers seem to be saying is that while TV in general is a waste of time and not particularly enjoyable, 'the shows I saw tonight were pretty good,' " Robinson says. The data also suggested to Robinson and Martin that TV viewing is "easy." Viewers don't have to go anywhere, dress up, find company, plan ahead, expend energy, do any work or spend money in order to view. Combine these advantages with the immediate gratification offered by television, and you can understand why Americans spend more than half their free time as TV viewers, the researchers say. Unhappy people were also more likely to feel that they have unwanted extra time on their hands (51 percent) compared to very happy people (19 percent) and to feel rushed for time (35 percent vs. 23 percent). Having too much time and no clear way to fill it was the bigger burden of the two. AN ADDICT'S FIX Martin likens the short, temporary pleasure of television to addiction: "Addictive activities produce momentary pleasure and long-term misery and regret," he says. "People most vulnerable to addiction tend to be socially or personally disadvantaged. For this kind of person, TV can become a kind of opiate in a way. It's habitual, and tuning in can be an easy way of tuning out." |
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