scholarly journals Beyond dimension reduction: Stable electric fields emerge from and allow representational drift

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris A. Pinotsis ◽  
Earl K. Miller

AbstractIt is known that the exact neurons maintaining a given memory (the neural ensemble) change from trial to trial. This raises the question of how the brain achieves stability in the face of this representational drift. Here, we demonstrate that this stability emerges at the level of the electric fields that arise from neural activity. The electric fields, in turn, can act as “guard rails” that funnel higher dimensional variable neural activity along stable lower dimensional routes. We show that electric fields carry information about working memory content. We obtained the latent space associated with each memory. We then confirmed the stability of the electric field by mapping the latent space to different cortical patches (that comprise a neural ensemble) and reconstructing information flow between patches. Stable electric fields can allow latent states to be transferred between brain areas, in accord with modern engram theory.

1984 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 567-568
Author(s):  
Gilles Kirouac
Keyword(s):  
The Face ◽  

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-55
Author(s):  
Natalia Christofoletti Barrenha
Keyword(s):  
The Face ◽  

This text seeks to explore the Argentine films Castro (Alejo Moguillansky, 2009) and El asaltante (Pablo Fendrik, 2007) from within the displacement of their characters through the city. This transit configures the organising element of the plots, determining the direction and rhythm of events. The escape motto will structure the film analyses, which are also twinned by the sensory apprehension that comes from the spaces they travel through. The notion of escape, as explored by Esteban Dipaola in Argentine cinema of the 1990s, continues to throb in mid-to-late 2000s production, and in these films represents the means by which the protagonists deploy critical attitudes—sometimes radical and explosive, sometimes silent—in the face of fixed notions, suggesting some scepticism about the “stability” and “order” that they (dis)encounter in normality. RESUMEN Este texto busca explorar los largometrajes argentinos Castro (Alejo Moguillansky, 2009) y El asaltante (Pablo Fendrik, 2007) a partir del desplazamiento de sus personajes por la ciudad. El transitar se configura como elemento organizador de las tramas, determinando la dirección y el ritmo de los acontecimientos. El tema de la fuga irá estructurando los análisis de las películas, las cuales también están relacionadas por la aprehensión sensorial que hacen de los espacios que recorren. La noción de fuga, tal y como fue explorada por Esteban Dipaola en el cine argentino de los años 90, continúa vigente en la producción de mediados/fines de la primera década del siglo XXI, y en estas películas es el recurso por medio del cual los protagonistas despliegan actitudes críticas – a veces radicales y explosivas, y a veces silenciosas – frente a nociones convencionales, lo cual hace pensar que existe un cierto escepticismo con relación a la “estabilidad” y al “orden” que ellos (des)encuentran en la normalidad. RESUMO Este texto busca explorar os longas-metragens argentinos Castro (Alejo Moguillansky, 2009) e El asaltante (Pablo Fendrik, 2007) a partir do deslocamento de seus personagens pela cidade. O transitar configura-se como elemento organizador das tramas, determinando a direção e o ritmo dos acontecimentos. O mote da fuga estruturará as análises dos filmes, os quais também se irmanam pela apreensão sensorial que fazem dos espaços que percorrem. A noção de fuga, conforme explorada por Esteban Dipaola no cinema argentino da década de 1990, continua a pulsar na produção de meados/fins dos anos 2000, e é, nestes filmes, o recurso através do qual os protagonistas desdobram atitudes críticas – às vezes radicais e explosivas, às vezes silenciosas – diante de noções fixas, sugerindo certo ceticismo em relação à “estabilidade” e à “ordem” que eles (des)encontram na normalidade.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulio Tononi ◽  
Chiara Cirelli

Sleep must serve an essential, universal function, one that offsets the risk of being disconnected from the environment. The synaptic homeostasis hypothesis (SHY) is an attempt to identify this essential function. Its core claim is that sleep is needed to reestablish synaptic homeostasis, which is challenged by the remarkable plasticity of the brain. In other words, sleep is “the price we pay for plasticity.” In this issue, M. G. Frank reviewed several aspects of the hypothesis and raised several issues. The comments below provide a brief summary of the motivations underlying SHY and clarify that SHY is a hypothesis not about specific mechanisms, but about a universal, essential function of sleep. This function is the preservation of synaptic homeostasis in the face of a systematic bias toward a net increase in synaptic strength—a challenge that is posed by learning during adult wake, and by massive synaptogenesis during development.


Author(s):  
Clairton Marcolongo Pereira ◽  
Tayná B. Silva ◽  
Laiz Zaché Roque ◽  
Bárbara Barros ◽  
Luiz Alexandre Moscon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Face ◽  

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin L. Pall

Abstract Millimeter wave (MM-wave) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are predicted to not produce penetrating effects in the body. The electric but not magnetic part of MM-EMFs are almost completely absorbed within the outer 1 mm of the body. Rodents are reported to have penetrating MM-wave impacts on the brain, the myocardium, liver, kidney and bone marrow. MM-waves produce electromagnetic sensitivity-like changes in rodent, frog and skate tissues. In humans, MM-waves have penetrating effects including impacts on the brain, producing EEG changes and other neurological/neuropsychiatric changes, increases in apparent electromagnetic hypersensitivity and produce changes on ulcers and cardiac activity. This review focuses on several issues required to understand penetrating effects of MM-waves and microwaves: 1. Electronically generated EMFs are coherent, producing much higher electrical and magnetic forces then do natural incoherent EMFs. 2. The fixed relationship between electrical and magnetic fields found in EMFs in a vacuum or highly permeable medium such as air, predicted by Maxwell’s equations, breaks down in other materials. Specifically, MM-wave electrical fields are almost completely absorbed in the outer 1 mm of the body due to the high dielectric constant of biological aqueous phases. However, the magnetic fields are very highly penetrating. 3. Time-varying magnetic fields have central roles in producing highly penetrating effects. The primary mechanism of EMF action is voltage-gated calcium channel (VGCC) activation with the EMFs acting via their forces on the voltage sensor, rather than by depolarization of the plasma membrane. Two distinct mechanisms, an indirect and a direct mechanism, are consistent with and predicted by the physics, to explain penetrating MM-wave VGCC activation via the voltage sensor. Time-varying coherent magnetic fields, as predicted by the Maxwell–Faraday version of Faraday’s law of induction, can put forces on ions dissolved in aqueous phases deep within the body, regenerating coherent electric fields which activate the VGCC voltage sensor. In addition, time-varying magnetic fields can directly put forces on the 20 charges in the VGCC voltage sensor. There are three very important findings here which are rarely recognized in the EMF scientific literature: coherence of electronically generated EMFs; the key role of time-varying magnetic fields in generating highly penetrating effects; the key role of both modulating and pure EMF pulses in greatly increasing very short term high level time-variation of magnetic and electric fields. It is probable that genuine safety guidelines must keep nanosecond timescale-variation of coherent electric and magnetic fields below some maximum level in order to produce genuine safety. These findings have important implications with regard to 5G radiation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 04023
Author(s):  
Ming Zhao ◽  
Ke Li ◽  
Hong Yan Guo ◽  
KaiCheng Hua

Based on the special geological conditions of a tunnel in Qingyuan section of Huizhou-Zhanzhou Expressway, FLAC3d numerical simulation software is used to simulate the rheological properties and instability of surrounding rock in large-section fully weathered sandstone section, and the stability and loss of surrounding rock are analyzed. The deformation of the dome and the face at steady state is analyzed. It is found that: 1) when the surrounding rock is in a stable state, the deformation curve of the dome is smooth. When the surrounding rock of the face is unstable, the front of the face appears ahead. Deformation should be first strengthened on the surrounding rock in front of the face. 2) The arched foot is an important part of the instability of the surrounding rock. In order to prevent the expansion of the collapsed part, the arched part should be reinforced. 3) In order to obtain the limit state of surrounding rock stability, the strength of surrounding rock is reduced, and the strength reduction coefficient corresponding to the displacement sudden point is taken as the safety factor of rock stability around the hole, and the stability safety coefficients of surrounding rock of each construction step are greater than 1.2. 4) The dynamic standard values of deformation control in the whole construction stage are obtained by analyzing the deformation curves of each data monitoring point with time in the corresponding time period of each construction step.


2002 ◽  
Vol 452 ◽  
pp. 163-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. BURCHAM ◽  
D. A. SAVILLE

A liquid bridge is a column of liquid, pinned at each end. Here we analyse the stability of a bridge pinned between planar electrodes held at different potentials and surrounded by a non-conducting, dielectric gas. In the absence of electric fields, surface tension destabilizes bridges with aspect ratios (length/diameter) greater than π. Here we describe how electrical forces counteract surface tension, using a linearized model. When the liquid is treated as an Ohmic conductor, the specific conductivity level is irrelevant and only the dielectric properties of the bridge and the surrounding gas are involved. Fourier series and a biharmonic, biorthogonal set of Papkovich–Fadle functions are used to formulate an eigenvalue problem. Numerical solutions disclose that the most unstable axisymmetric deformation is antisymmetric with respect to the bridge’s midplane. It is shown that whilst a bridge whose length exceeds its circumference may be unstable, a sufficiently strong axial field provides stability if the dielectric constant of the bridge exceeds that of the surrounding fluid. Conversely, a field destabilizes a bridge whose dielectric constant is lower than that of its surroundings, even when its aspect ratio is less than π. Bridge behaviour is sensitive to the presence of conduction along the surface and much higher fields are required for stability when surface transport is present. The theoretical results are compared with experimental work (Burcham & Saville 2000) that demonstrated how a field stabilizes an otherwise unstable configuration. According to the experiments, the bridge undergoes two asymmetric transitions (cylinder-to-amphora and pinch-off) as the field is reduced. Agreement between theory and experiment for the field strength at the pinch-off transition is excellent, but less so for the change from cylinder to amphora. Using surface conductivity as an adjustable parameter brings theory and experiment into agreement.


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 1455-1460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Legault ◽  
Timour Al-Khindi ◽  
Michael Inzlicht

Self-affirmation produces large effects: Even a simple reminder of one’s core values reduces defensiveness against threatening information. But how, exactly, does self-affirmation work? We explored this question by examining the impact of self-affirmation on neurophysiological responses to threatening events. We hypothesized that because self-affirmation increases openness to threat and enhances approachability of unfavorable feedback, it should augment attention and emotional receptivity to performance errors. We further hypothesized that this augmentation could be assessed directly, at the level of the brain. We measured self-affirmed and nonaffirmed participants’ electrophysiological responses to making errors on a task. As we anticipated, self-affirmation elicited greater error responsiveness than did nonaffirmation, as indexed by the error-related negativity, a neural signal of error monitoring. Self-affirmed participants also performed better on the task than did nonaffirmed participants. We offer novel brain evidence that self-affirmation increases openness to threat and discuss the role of error detection in the link between self-affirmation and performance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Moreno Cunha ◽  
Gilberto Corso ◽  
José Garcia Vivas Miranda ◽  
Gustavo Zampier Dos Santos Lima

Abstract In recent decades, there has been growing interest in the impact of electric fields generated in the brain. Transmembrane ionic currents originate electric fields in the extracellular space and are capable of affecting nearby neurons, a phenomenon called ephaptic neuronal communication. In the present work, the Quadratic Integrate-and-Trigger model (QIF-E) underwent an adjustment/improvement to include the ephaptic coupling behavior between neurons and their results are compared to the empirical results. In this way, the analysis tools are employed according to the neuronal activity regime: (i) for the subthreshold regime, the circular statistic is used to describe the phase differences between the input stimulus signal and the modeled membrane response; (ii) in the suprathreshold regime, the Population Vector and the Spike Field Coherence are employed to estimate phase preferences and the coupling intensity between the input stimulus and the Action Potentials. The results observed are i) in the subthreshold regime the values of the phase differences change with distinct frequencies of an input stimulus; ii) in the supra-threshold regime the preferential phase of Action Potentials changes for different frequencies. In addition, we explore other parameters of the model, such as noise and membrane characteristic-time, in order to understand different types of neurons and extracellular environment related to ephaptic communication. Such results are consistent with results observed in empirical experiments based on ephaptic coupling behavior. In addition, the QIF-E model allows further studies on the physiological importance of ephaptic coupling in the brain, and its simplicity can open a door to simulating ephaptic coupling in neuron networks and evaluating the impact of ephaptic communication in such scenarios.


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