All Things Big and Small: The Brain's Discerning Taste for Size

This figure shows brain activations while participants view pictures of large and small objects. (Credit: Image courtesy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, CSAIL)

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — The human brain can recognize thousands of different objects, but neuroscientists have long grappled with how the brain organizes object representation; in other words, how the brain perceives and identifies different objects. Now researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) and the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences have discovered that the brain organizes objects based on their physical size, with a specific region of the brain reserved for recognizing large objects and another reserved for small objects.

Their findings, to be published in the June 21 issue of Neuron, could have major implications for fields like robotics, and could lead to a greater understanding of how the brain organizes and maps information.

"Prior to this study, nobody had looked at whether the size of an object was an important factor in the brain's ability to recognize it," said Aude Oliva, an associate professor in the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and senior author of the study.

"It's almost obvious that all objects in the world have a physical size, but the importance of this factor is surprisingly easy to miss when you study objects by looking at pictures of them on a computer screen," said Dr. Talia Konkle, lead author of the paper. "We pick up small things with our fingers, we use big objects to support our bodies. How we interact with objects in the world is deeply and intrinsically tied to their real-world size, and this matters for how our brain's visual system organizes object information."

As part of their study, Konkle and Oliva took 3D scans of brain activity during experiments in which participants were asked to look at images of big and small objects or visualize items of differing size. By evaluating the scans, the researchers found that there are distinct regions of the brain that respond to big objects (for example, a chair or a table), and small objects (for example, a paperclip or a strawberry).

By looking at the arrangement of the responses, they found a systematic organization of big to small object responses across the brain's cerebral cortex. Large objects, they learned, are processed in the parahippocampal region of the brain, an area located by the hippocampus, which is also responsible for navigating through spaces and for processing the location of different places, like the beach or a building. Small objects are handled in the inferior temporal region of the brain, near regions that are active when the brain has to manipulate tools like a hammer or a screwdriver.

The work could have major implications for the field of robotics, in particular in developing techniques for how robots deal with different objects, from grasping a pen to sitting in a chair.

"Our findings shed light on the geography of the human brain, and could provide insight into developing better machine interfaces for robots," said Oliva.

Many computer vision techniques currently focus on identifying what an object is without much guidance about the size of the object, which could be useful in recognition. "Paying attention to the physical size of objects may dramatically constrain the number of objects a robot has to consider when trying to identify what it is seeing," said Oliva.

The study's findings are also important for understanding how the organization of the brain may have evolved. The work of Konkle and Oliva suggests that the human visual system's method for organizing thousands of objects may also be tied to human interactions with the world. "If experience in the world has shaped our brain organization over time, and our behavior depends on how big objects are, it makes sense that the brain may have established different processing channels for different actions, and at the center of these may be size," said Konkle.

Oliva, a cognitive neuroscientist by training, has focused much of her research on how the brain tackles scene and object recognition, as well as visual memory. Her ultimate goal is to gain a better understanding of the brain's visual processes, paving the way for the development of machines and interfaces that can see and understand the visual world like humans do.

"Ultimately, we want to focus on how active observers move in the natural world. We think this not only matters for large-scale brain organization of the visual system, but it also matters for making machines that can see like us," said Konkle and Oliva.

This research was funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, and a National Eye Institute grant, and was conducted at the Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center at McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT.

Source: ScienceDaily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120620133306.htm

 

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Robert Karl Stonjek

New Clue to Unexplained Excited Delirium Deaths

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — The headlines are often filled with this scenario: a person displaying violent, bizarre and agitated behavior is subdued by law enforcement personnel and later dies in custody. It appears to be a case of police brutality -- but is it?

According to William P. Bozeman, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, some of these deaths may be caused by an abnormal cardiac condition called Long QT Syndrome, compounded by a situation of Excited Delirium (ExD) Syndrome.

"Why do people become confused, agitated and violent, and then suddenly drop dead? That's the big question," Bozeman said. "This has been seen for well over a century, but we don't have a clear answer. It may be an important link to investigate with future research."

Bozeman is lead author of a single case study published online last month ahead of print in the Journal of Emergency Medicine that details an individual who experienced ExD. The 30-year-old man displayed bizarre, agitated behavior and was brought to the Wake Forest Baptist emergency department by police.

The patient admitted "feeling funny" and reported recent drug use that a drug screen confirmed. The attending physician recognized an electrical abnormality on the patient's electrocardiogram and diagnosed it as Long QT Syndrome which is potentially life threatening.

Bozeman said this was a classic case of ExD, and the patient recovered because of a police sergeant's decision on the scene. "Thanks to the Winston-Salem police sergeant who had been trained to recognize Excited Delirium as a medical crisis, we had a good outcome," Bozeman said. "He made the decision to bring the patient to the emergency department rather than take him to jail. I think the police officer saved his life by making that decision."

Long QT Syndrome can be transient or temporary and can be brought on by agitated states such as ExD, Bozeman said. "The amount of adrenaline in the body can affect Long QT Syndrome. In some people, electrical abnormalities are there all the time, while in others they are transient," he said.

Bozeman said Long QT Syndrome may be a missing link that can explain some of the cases of people suffering sudden cardiac arrest after experiencing ExD. "The mechanism of people just suddenly collapsing and dying unexpectedly remains a mystery. Weeks later, even after autopsy and toxicology reports are available, there is sometimes still no clear explanation. This suggests an abnormal cardiac rhythm as a cause."

The most common cause of ExD appears to be drug use, with the second most common cause being psychiatric problems and/or medications, followed by a variety of other causes. "Excited Delirium is not a diagnosis; it's a clinical syndrome that may have a variety of causes, but they all present in a similar way -- with agitation, confusion or delirium, violence, and superhuman-like strength."

Bozeman said that American College of Emergency Physicians recently joined the National Association of Medical Examiners to categorize ExD as a clinical syndrome, an action that also points to the importance of education for law enforcement and other public safety personnel in dealing with situations like the one described in the case study. By treating ExD as a medical condition and bringing people to an emergency department instead of jail, Bozeman said it could "lead to the prevention of in-custody deaths."

The research was funded by the National Institute of Justice.

Source: ScienceDaily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120620100830.htm

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Confusion Can Be Beneficial for Learning

Most of us assume that confidence and certainty are preferred over uncertainty and bewilderment when it comes to learning complex information. But a new study shows that confusion when learning can be beneficial if it is properly induced, effectively regulated and ultimately resolved. (Credit: © Ana Blazic Pavlovic / Fotolia)

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) — Most of us assume that confidence and certainty are preferred over uncertainty and bewilderment when it comes to learning complex information. But a new study led by Sidney D'Mello of the University of Notre Dame shows that confusion when learning can be beneficial if it is properly induced, effectively regulated and ultimately resolved.

The study will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Learning and Instruction.

Notre Dame psychologist and computer scientist D'Mello, whose research areas include artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction and the learning sciences, together with Art Graesser of the University of Memphis, collaborated on the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation.

They found that by strategically inducing confusion in a learning session on difficult conceptual topics, people actually learned more effectively and were able to apply their knowledge to new problems.

In a series of experiments, subjects learned scientific reasoning concepts through interactions with computer-animated agents playing the roles of a tutor and a peer learner. The animated agents and the subject engaged in interactive conversations where they collaboratively discussed the merits of sample research studies that were flawed in one critical aspect. For example, one hypothetical case study touted the merits of a diet pill, but was flawed because it did not include an appropriate control group. Confusion was induced by manipulating the information the subjects received so that the animated agents sometimes disagreed with each other and expressed contradictory or incorrect information. The agents then asked subjects to decide which opinion had more scientific merit, thereby putting the subject in the hot spot of having to make a decision with incomplete and sometimes contradictory information.

In addition to the confusion and uncertainty triggered by the contradictions, subjects who were confused scored higher on a difficult post-test and could more successfully identify flaws in new case studies.

"We have been investigating links between emotions and learning for almost a decade, and find that confusion can be beneficial to learning if appropriately regulated because it can cause learners to process the material more deeply in order to resolve their confusion," D'Mello says.

According to D'Mello, it is not advisable to intentionally confuse students who are struggling or induce confusion during high-stakes learning activities. Confusion interventions are best for higher-level learners who want to be challenged with difficult tasks, are willing to risk failure, and who manage negative emotions when they occur.

"It is also important that the students are productively instead of hopelessly confused. By productive confusion, we mean that the source of the confusion is closely linked to the content of the learning session, the student attempts to resolve their confusion, and the learning environment provides help when the student struggles. Furthermore, any misleading information in the form of confusion-induction techniques should be corrected over the course of the learning session, as was done in the present experiments."

According to D'Mello, the next step in this body of research is to apply these methods to some of the more traditional domains such as physics, where misconceptions are common.

Source: ScienceDaily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120620103233.htm

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

MOUNTAIN AND RIVER

“Laghurudra Anushtthan” “Om Namah Shivaya”

In 1879, when there was British Rule in India, Lt. Col. Martin of Agar Malva was leading the army in the war against Afghanistan.

Col. Martin used to regularly send messages of his well-being to his wife. The war continued for long, and Lady Martin stopped getting news. She was distraught.

Once riding on her horse, she passed by the temple of Baijnath Mahadev. She was attracted to the sound of conch and mantra. She went inside and learned that the Brahmins were worshipping Lord Shiva.

They saw her sad face and asked her problem. She explained everything to them. They told her that Lord Shiva listens to the prayers of devotees & takes them out of difficult situations in no time. With the advice of the Brahmins, she started the “Laghurudra Anushtthan” (ritual ceremony) of the Mantra: “Om Namah Shivaya” for 11 days.

She prayed to Lord Shiva that if her husband reaches home safely, then she would get the temple renovated.

On the last of the “Laghurudra” a messenger came and gave a letter to her. Her husband had written:

“I was regularly sending messages to you from the battlegrounds but suddenly the Patthans surrounded us from all sides. We were entrapped in a situation where there was no scope for escaping death. Suddenly I saw a Yogi of India with long hair, carrying a weapon with three-pointers (Trishul). His personality was amazing and he was manoeuvring his weapon with a magnificent style. Seeing this great man, the Patthans started running back. With his grace our bad times turned into moments of victory. This was possible only because of that man of India wearing a lion skin and carrying a three-pointer weapon (Trishul). That great Yogi told me that I should not worry and that he had come to rescue me because he was very pleased with my wife’s prayers.”

Tears of joy were falling down Lady Martin’s eyes while reading the letter. Her heart was overwhelmed. She fell into the feet of Lord Shiva’s statue and burst in tears.

After a few weeks, Col. Martin returned. Lady Martin narrated the whole incident to him. Now, both husband and wife became devotees of Lord Shiva. In 1883, they donated Rs. 15,000 for renovating the temple. The information engraved slab for the same is still in the Baijnath Mahadev Temple of Agar Malva. This is the only Hindu temple built by the British.

When Lady Martin left for Europe she said that they would make a Shiva Temple at their home and pray to Him till the end of their life

Walking Over Niagara Falls

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario –  Daredevil Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk on a tightrope across the Niagara Falls, taking steady, measured steps Friday night for 1,800 feet across the mist-fogged brink of the roaring falls separating the U.S. and Canada.

Afterward, he said he accomplished the feat through "a lot of praying, that's for sure. But, you know, it's all about the concentration, the focus, and the training."

The seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas had long dreamed of pulling off the stunt, never before attempted. Other daredevils have wire-walked over the Niagara River but farther downstream and not since 1896.

"This is what dreams are made of, people," Wallenda said shortly after he began walking the wire.

He took steady, measured steps amid the rushing mist over the falls as an estimated crowd of 125,000 people on the Canadian side and 4,000 on the American side watched. Along the way, he calmly prayed aloud.

ABC televised the walk and insisted Wallenda use a tether to keep him from falling in the river. Wallenda said he agreed because he wasn't willing to lose the chance and needed ABC's sponsorship to help offset some of the $1.3 million cost of the spectacle.

For the 33-year-old father of three, the Niagara Falls walk was unlike anything he'd ever done. Because it was over water, the 2-inch wire didn't have the usual stabilizer cables to keep it from swinging. Pendulum anchors were designed to keep it from twisting under the elkskin-soled shoes designed by his mother.

The Wallendas trace their roots to 1780 Austria-Hungary, when ancestors traveled as a band of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers and trapeze artists. The clan has been touched by tragedy, notably in 1978 when patriarch Karl Wallenda, Nik's great-grandfather, fell to his death during a stunt in Puerto Rico.

After he made it to the Canadian side of the falls, Wallenda said that at one point in the middle of the stunt, he thought about his great-grandfather and the walks he had taken: "That's what this is all about, paying tribute to my ancestors, and my hero, Karl Wallenda."

About a dozen other tightrope artists have crossed the Niagara Gorge downstream, dating to Jean Francois Gravelet, aka The Great Blondin, in 1859. But no one had walked directly over the falls, and authorities hadn't allowed any tightrope acts in the area since 1896. It took Wallenda two years to persuade U.S. and Canadian authorities to allow it, and many civic leaders hoped to use the publicity to jumpstart the region's struggling economy, particularly on the U.S. side of the falls.

A festive crowd gathered on both sides of the border to watch Wallenda, spreading blankets and setting up folding chairs under picture-perfect blue skies and summer-like temperatures.

NIK’S THOUGHTS AND FEELING DURING THE WALK.

There was “wind coming from every which way,” mist so powerful it clouded his vision and an unfamiliar wire beneath him.

“I feel like I’m on cloud nine right now,” Wallenda told reporters afterwards, which he performed before an estimated 112,000 people crowding the shores of both countries and an estimated 1 billion people who watched the live television broadcast.

“I hope what I do and what I just did inspires people around the world to reach for the skies,” he said.

He described a breathtaking view during the nighttime walk illuminated by spotlights that “compared to nothing.”

“There was no way to focus on the movement of the cable,” said Wallenda. “If I looked down at the cable there was water moving everywhere. And if I looked up there was heavy mist blowing in front of my face. So it was a very unique, a weird sensation.”

He said he accomplished the feat through “a lot of praying, that’s for sure. But, you know, it’s all about the concentration, the focus, and the training.”

“This is what dreams are made of, people,” said Wallenda, who wore a microphone for the broadcast, shortly after he stepped off from a platform on the American shore.

Along the way, he calmly prayed aloud.

After passing the halfway mark, Wallenda expressed fatigue. “I’m strained, I’m drained,” he said. “This is so physical, not only mental but physical.”

Toward the end, as he neared the Canadian shore, Wallenda dropped to one knee and gestured to the crowd below.   He sprinted the remainding 15 feet, where his wife and three children waited.

“I am so blessed,” he said later. “How blessed I am to have the life that I have.”

Wallenda said that at one point in the middle of the walk, he thought about his great-grandfather and the walks he had taken: “That’s what this is all about, paying tribute to my ancestors, and my hero, Karl Wallenda.”

Beautiful Collections of photos

Psychopaths not all psychos

“There is no real recipe for psychopathic personality disorder,” says Jennifer Skeem, UCI professor of psychology & social behavior. “The environmental factors are as ill-defined as the genetic factors, although antisocial behavior mixed with a history of punitive discipline, abuse and neglect seems to apply in many cases.” Credit: Steve Zylius / University Communications

Jennifer Skeem’s research requires that she spend time inside the minds of individuals most of us try to avoid: psychopaths.

Psychopathy is a complicated and widely misunderstood personality disorder, says the UC Irvine professor of psychology & social behavior, marked by boldness, fearlessness, cruelty, aggression and impulsivity.

While some people believe psychopaths are born, not made, Skeem stresses that the condition is shaped by the complex interaction of both environmental and genetic factors.

“There is no real recipe for psychopathic personality disorder,” she says. “The environmental factors are as ill-defined as the genetic factors, although antisocial behavior mixed with a history of punitive discipline, abuse and neglect seems to apply in many cases.”

Some of Skeem’s findings might come as a surprise to a public that equates the condition with serial killers and fictional characters such as Hannibal Lecter.

Psychopathy is not synonymous with violence, Skeem notes. In fact, she has found that psychopathic people often have no history of violent behavior or criminal convictions.

“An individual doesn’t necessarily need to be physically violent or a common street criminal to have psychopathic traits,” she says. Researchers estimate that about 1 percent of the general population are psychopaths.

Skeem points to Gordon Gekko, the unscrupulous financial executive played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 film “Wall Street,” as someone with all the signs of psychopathy.

She cites Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff and Enron executive Andrew Fastow – ruthless, detached individuals who showed little remorse for robbing victims of their life savings – as real-life examples. Psychopathic traits helped them quickly climb the corporate ladder yet ultimately led to their downfall.

Can such traits ever be used for good? Skeem notes that the bold, risk-taking bomb squad leader in the Academy Award-winning movie “The Hurt Locker” succeeded in a high-pressure environment thanks to psychopathic tendencies.

Of course, some psychopaths do resort to violence and crime. But according to Skeem, youth and adults with high scores on measures of psychopathy can exhibit reduced violent and criminal behavior after intensive treatment, such as mental health counseling and drug abuse rehabilitation.

“There is scant scientific evidence to support the claim of ‘once a psychopath, always a psychopath,’” she says.

While not necessarily destructive or physically threatening, psychopaths are usually unpleasant people. Callousness, selfishness and lack of guilt make personal and professional relationships with them unbearable.

So how should you handle a psychopath in the workplace or at your next family reunion?

“You can try to work with the individual to get him or her therapy and treatment,” Skeem says. “But if you don’t have that kind of investment in the person, it’s best to keep a distance.”

She directs the School of Social Ecology’s Risk Reduction Research Lab, where her team focuses on understanding why some people with mental disorders engage in self-harm, violence and criminal behavior – and others do not.

Skeem hopes her work can be used to inform legal decisions – on sentencing and parole, for example – concerning high-risk, high-need individuals. Decisions based on faulty assumptions about risk for violence and amenability to treatment can have adverse consequences for both offenders and the public, she notes.

“Research on psychopathy has evolved to a level that it can greatly improve on the current one-size-fits-all policy approach,” Skeem says.

Provided by University of California, Irvine

"Psychopaths not all psychos." June 19th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-psychopaths-psychos.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek