Secrets of the "Oldest Old"

Apparently, Stephen Coles(MD and PhD)is offering an extension course in gerontology through UCLA, beginning September 6th, 2011. If you live within driving distance, you might want to check it out. As some of you may already know, Dr. Coles is a lecturer, UCLA Molecular Biology Institute, and co-founder of the Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group. How I wish I could attend!

http://www.kurzweilai.net/ucla-extension-course-in-gerontology-secrets-of-the-oldest-old?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_campaign=011471035b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email

Brain Model

Healthline.com recently launched a free interactive “Human Brain in 3D” tool that you may be interested in. You can find it at:

http://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/brain

Objects in Mind

Studies by neuroscientists at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory: Adult humans can retain only about four items “in mind” at a time. Using monkeys as subjects, researchers recorded simultaneously from neurons in two brain areas related to encoding visual perceptions (the parietal cortex) and holding them in mind (the prefrontal cortex. Results showed that the monkeys (and supposedly humans, as well) have a capacity of two objects in each hemisphere. If the object to remember appears on the right side of the visual space, it does not matter how many objects are on the left side; as long as the right side contains only two, the monkeys can easily remember an object on the right side. Or if the right side contains three objects and the left side only one, their capacity for remembering the key object on the right is exceeded and so they may forget it.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-many-objects-can-you-hold-in-mind-simultaneously
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/06/13/1104666108.abstract

Your Brain and the Gorilla

Several have written asking about the "gorilla" research by Simons and Chabris, especially the now famous video. Here is the address so you can experience "the experience" yourself. Copy and paste into your browser. Yes, humans are not nearly as attentive as many think they are . . .

Can you trust your memory?

Brain and Apes

You may find this clip interesting: about apes from Emery University

http://youtu.be/F_f6-_zM1QI?hd=1

Copy, paste, and enjoy.

Brain, Braking, and Intention

Studies by researchers at the Technical University of Berlin (as reported in the Journal of Neural Engineering): Research using a driving simulator indicating that the driver's intention to perform emergency braking can be detected based on muscle activation and cerebral activity prior to any actual behavioral response. Electrical signals from the brain were detected 130 milliseconds before drivers actually hit the brakes. Reviewing EEG and EMG data, researchers were able to identify signals in the brain that occurred consistently during emergency brake response situations. Identical levels of predictive accuracy were attained using electroencephalography (EEG), which worked more quickly than electromyography (EMG), and using EMG, which worked more quickly than pedal dynamics. This is another indicating that the brain is "thinking" before those thoughts come to conscious awareness and before any action response occurs.

It will be interesting to follow results of any additional studies. This opens up speculation about what "pre-meditation" may involve and what it may mean . . .

http://iopscience.iop.org/1741-2552/8/5/056001