scholarly journals Perception and Deception: Human Beauty and the Brain

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Yarosh
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Reproductive Fitness ◽  
Body Proportions ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
True Value ◽  
The World ◽  
Costly Signals ◽  
The Brain

Human physical characteristics and their perception by the brain are under pressure by natural selection to optimize reproductive success. Men and women have different strategies to appear attractive and have different interests in identifying beauty in people. Nevertheless, men and women from all cultures agree on who is and who is not attractive, and throughout the world attractive people show greater acquisition of resources and greater reproductive success than others. The brain employs at least three modules, composed of interconnected brain regions, to judge facial attractiveness: one for identification, one for interpretation and one for valuing. Key elements that go into the judgment are age and health, as well as symmetry, averageness, face and body proportions, facial color and texture. These elements are all Costly Signals of reproductive fitness because they are difficult to fake. However, people deceive others using tricks such as coloring hair, cosmetics and clothing styles, while at the same time they also focus on detecting fakes. People may also deceive themselves, especially about their own attractiveness, and use self-signally actions to demonstrate to themselves their own true value. The neuroscience of beauty is best understood by considering the evolutionary pressures to maximize reproductive fitness.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Group Bias During Natural Viewing

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 3380-3389
Author(s):  
Timothy J Andrews ◽  
Ryan K Smith ◽  
Richard L Hoggart ◽  
Philip I N Ulrich ◽  
Andre D Gouws
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
The World ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Individuals from different social groups interpret the world in different ways. This study explores the neural basis of these group differences using a paradigm that simulates natural viewing conditions. Our aim was to determine if group differences could be found in sensory regions involved in the perception of the world or were evident in higher-level regions that are important for the interpretation of sensory information. We measured brain responses from 2 groups of football supporters, while they watched a video of matches between their teams. The time-course of response was then compared between individuals supporting the same (within-group) or the different (between-group) team. We found high intersubject correlations in low-level and high-level regions of the visual brain. However, these regions of the brain did not show any group differences. Regions that showed higher correlations for individuals from the same group were found in a network of frontal and subcortical brain regions. The interplay between these regions suggests a range of cognitive processes from motor control to social cognition and reward are important in the establishment of social groups. These results suggest that group differences are primarily reflected in regions involved in the evaluation and interpretation of the sensory input.

scholarly journals Distribution of vitamin C is tissue specific with early saturation of the brain and adrenal glands following differential oral dose regimens in guinea pigs

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (10) ◽  
pp. 1539-1549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stine Hasselholt ◽  
Pernille Tveden-Nyborg ◽  
Jens Lykkesfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin C ◽  
Guinea Pigs ◽  
Adrenal Glands ◽  
Biological Fluids ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Hill Equation ◽  
Distribution Kinetics ◽  
The World ◽  
Dose Concentration ◽  
The Brain

Vitamin C (VitC) deficiency is surprisingly common in humans even in developed parts of the world. The micronutrient has several established functions in the brain; however, the consequences of its deficiency are not well characterised. To elucidate the effects of VitC deficiency on the brain, increased knowledge about the distribution of VitC to the brain and within different brain regions after varying dietary concentrations is needed. In the present study, guinea pigs (like humans lacking the ability to synthesise VitC) were randomly divided into six groups (n 10) that received different concentrations of VitC ranging from 100 to 1500 mg/kg feed for 8 weeks, after which VitC concentrations in biological fluids and tissues were measured using HPLC. The distribution of VitC was found to be dynamic and dependent on dietary availability. Brain saturation was region specific, occurred at low dietary doses, and the dose–concentration relationship could be approximated with a three-parameter Hill equation. The correlation between plasma and brain concentrations of VitC was moderate compared with other organs, and during non-scorbutic VitC deficiency, the brain was able to maintain concentrations from about one-quarter to half of sufficient levels depending on the region, whereas concentrations in other tissues decreased to one-sixth or less. The adrenal glands have similar characteristics to the brain. The observed distribution kinetics with a low dietary dose needed for saturation and exceptional retention ability suggest that the brain and adrenal glands are high priority tissues with regard to the distribution of VitC.

The effect of brain neurotrophic factor gene polymorphism on the effectiveness of therapeutic and rehabilitation measures in patients with psychostimulant dependence

2021 ◽  
Vol LIII (3) ◽  
pp. 26-32
Author(s):  
Konstantin N. Poplevchenkov ◽  
Tatyana V. Agibalova ◽  
Michael S. Zastrozhin ◽  
Oleg Z. Buzik
Keyword(s):  
Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Molecular Genetic ◽  
Rehabilitation Program ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Factor Gene ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
The World ◽  
Rehabilitation Measures ◽  
Personalized Approach ◽  
The Brain

Justification. Along with the rising consumption of psychostimulants, the number of patients with dependence on psychostimulants is increasing all over the world and in Russia in particular. At the same time, the number of patients with dependence on drug combinations is increasing, most of which are psychostimulants. Aim. The aim of the work is to develop a personalized approach to the therapy of patients with dependence on psychostimulants, taking into account the polymorphism of the neurotrophic factor gene of the brain. Material and methods. 305 patients with dependence on psychostimulants, men and women from 18 to 50 years old, were studied. Depending on the drug used and their combinations, as well as the presence of comorbid psychiatric pathology, all patients were divided into 6 groups. Research methods: molecular-genetic, clinical-psychopathological, catamnestic, statistical (parametric and nonparametric methods using Statistica 10.0 programs of STAT Soft Inc., USA). The effect of polymorphism of the neurotrophic factor gene of the brain on the effectiveness of therapeutic and rehabilitation measures in patients in different groups was evaluated. Results. It was found that patients who use only psychostimulants and psychostimulants with cannabinoids, having a homozygous (GG) genotype of the neurotrophic factor gene of the brain, are longer in the rehabilitation program and have the longest remissions. Conclusion. Polymorphism of the neurotrophic factor gene of the brain affects the effectiveness of therapeutic and rehabilitation measures in patients with dependence on psychostimulants.

scholarly journals Visual stability

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1564) ◽  
pp. 468-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Melcher
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Clinical Neurology ◽  
Visual Stability ◽  
Retinal Motion ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
The World ◽  
The Brain

Our vision remains stable even though the movements of our eyes, head and bodies create a motion pattern on the retina. One of the most important, yet basic, feats of the visual system is to correctly determine whether this retinal motion is owing to real movement in the world or rather our own self-movement. This problem has occupied many great thinkers, such as Descartes and Helmholtz, at least since the time of Alhazen. This theme issue brings together leading researchers from animal neurophysiology, clinical neurology, psychophysics and cognitive neuroscience to summarize the state of the art in the study of visual stability. Recently, there has been significant progress in understanding the limits of visual stability in humans and in identifying many of the brain circuits involved in maintaining a stable percept of the world. Clinical studies and new experimental methods, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, now make it possible to test the causal role of different brain regions in creating visual stability and also allow us to measure the consequences when the mechanisms of visual stability break down.

scholarly journals Cortical and subcortical predictive dynamics and learning during perception, cognition, emotion and action

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1521) ◽  
pp. 1223-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Grossberg
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Unified Theory ◽  
Neural Models ◽  
Predictive Dynamics ◽  
Motor Processes ◽  
The World ◽  
Intimate Link ◽  
Current Value ◽  
Brain Processing ◽  
The Brain

An intimate link exists between the predictive and learning processes in the brain. Perceptual/cognitive and spatial/motor processes use complementary predictive mechanisms to learn, recognize, attend and plan about objects in the world, determine their current value, and act upon them. Recent neural models clarify these mechanisms and how they interact in cortical and subcortical brain regions. The present paper reviews and synthesizes data and models of these processes, and outlines a unified theory of predictive brain processing.

scholarly journals Invariant representations of mass in the human brain

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Schwettmann ◽  
Joshua B Tenenbaum ◽  
Nancy Kanwisher
Keyword(s):  
Action Planning ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Motion Energy ◽  
Physics Engine ◽  
The World ◽  
Invariant Representations ◽  
Physical Variables ◽  
Orthogonal Dimension ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Physical Quantities

An intuitive understanding of physical objects and events is critical for successfully interacting with the world. Does the brain achieve this understanding by running simulations in a mental physics engine, which represents variables such as force and mass, or by analyzing patterns of motion without encoding underlying physical quantities? To investigate, we scanned participants with fMRI while they viewed videos of objects interacting in scenarios indicating their mass. Decoding analyses in brain regions previously implicated in intuitive physical inference revealed mass representations that generalized across variations in scenario, material, friction, and motion energy. These invariant representations were found during tasks without action planning, and tasks focusing on an orthogonal dimension (object color). Our results support an account of physical reasoning where abstract physical variables serve as inputs to a forward model of dynamics, akin to a physics engine, in parietal and frontal cortex.

scholarly journals How Can We Trick the Brain Into Seeing Rainbows and Faces?

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Guger ◽  
Christoph Kapeller ◽  
Hiroshi Ogawa ◽  
Satoru Hiroshima ◽  
Kyousuke Kamada
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Surgery ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
The World ◽  
Scientists And Engineers ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Different Parts

How do different parts of the brain work together to help us see, move, understand, and do other things? For many years, we have known that different brain regions perform different tasks that are important for vision. Some brain regions are responsible for seeing faces, colors, lines, movement, or other parts of the world. But mapping different brain regions in detail is very challenging, especially because everyone’s brain is slightly different. Sometimes, brain surgeons must place electrodes inside a patient’s skull—on the surface of the brain—to get a more detailed map. This article describes a study done by a group of brain surgeons, scientists, and engineers. We studied the activity of a patient’s brain while he looked at different objects. We identified two brain regions that were active when the patient processed faces or colors. If we stimulated these areas, the patient reported seeing faces or colors, even if he was looking at something else! The results of this study help show how different parts of the brain perform different tasks, and could lead to safer, more precise brain surgery.

Adaptation and the Brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan D. Healy
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Technology Innovation ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Pressure Form ◽  
The Brain

The rationale for this work is to make some sort of sense of the seeming myriad of adaptive explanations for why vertebrate brains vary in size. The role that natural selection has played in brain size has been addressed using the comparative method, which allows identification of evolutionary patterns across species. One starting assumption is that brain size is a useful proxy for intelligence and therefore that large-brained animals are more intelligent than smaller-brained animals. Five classes of selection pressure form the majority of explanations: ecology, technology, innovation, sex, and sociality. After chapters in which I describe the difficulties of measuring both brain size and intelligence (cognition), I address the evidence for each of the five factors in turn, reaching the conclusion that although ecology provides the best explanations for variation in the size of brain regions, none of the factors yet offers a robust and compelling explanation for variation in whole brain size. I end by providing the steps I consider necessary to reach such an explanation, steps that I suggest are feasible, if challenging.

Pelvic schwannoma

GYNECOLOGY ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 84-86
Author(s):  
Sergei P. Sinchikhin ◽  
Sarkis G. Magakyan ◽  
Oganes G. Magakyan
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Nerve ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Morphological Study ◽  
Clinical Observation ◽  
Nerve Trunk ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Surgical Volume ◽  
The World ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

Relevance.A neoplasm originated from the myelonic sheath of the nerve trunk is called neurinoma or neurilemmoma, neurinoma, schwannoglioma, schwannoma. This tumor can cause compression and dysfunction of adjacent tissues and organs. The most common are the auditory nerve neurinomas (1 case per 100 000 population per year), the brain and spinal cord neurinomas are rare. In the world literature, there is no information on the occurrences of this tumor in the pelvic region. Description.Presented below is a clinical observation of a 30-year-old patient who was scheduled for myomectomy. During laparoscopy, an unusual tumor of the small pelvis was found and radically removed. A morphological study allowed to identify the remote neoplasm as a neuroma. Conclusion.The presented practical case shows that any tumor can hide under a clinical mask of another disease. The qualification of the doctor performing laparoscopic myomectomy should be sufficient to carry out, if necessary, another surgical volume.

Consciousness, law of nature, and nomological determinism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyang Yu
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Important Thing ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Brain

Nomological determinism does not mean everything is predictable. It just means everything follows the law of nature. And the most important thing Is that the brain and consciousness follow the law of nature. In other words, there is no free will. Without life, brain and consciousness, the world follows law of nature, that is clear. The life and brain are also part of nature, and they follow the law of nature. This is due to scientific findings. There are not enough scientific findings for consciousness yet. But I think that the consciousness is a nature phenomenon, and it also follows the law of nature.

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