817 Matching Annotations
  1. Jun 2022
    1. .

      There may or may not be sex differences in the splenium of the corpus callosum. Some studies have reported the splenium ;to be larger and more bulbous in females. If there are sex differences in the splenium, then they might be related to sex differences in intrahemispheric vs. interhemispheric neural processing, word recognition, and reading.

    2. .

      It has been reported that males have a greater degree of cerebral laterality than females, which may result in sex differences in the development of reading ability or the functional organization of the brain for language more generally.

    3. In anexhaustive review of experiments on sex differences inlaterality, Hiscock et al. (1995) concluded that most if notall findings of vision-related sex differences in lateralitywere genuine.
    4. .

      The amygdala, which has a role in visual processing, differs by biological sex in terms of size and other functions. The female amygdala responds more strongly to negative emotional valence stimuli, while the male amygdala responds more strongly to positive emotional valence stimuli. There are also sex differences in amygdala activity while viewing sexual stimuli.

    5. .

      There are sex differences in face perception and the neural basis of face processing, implying sex differences in the brain areas underlying these functions. There are also sex differences in the brain area that perceives human bodies compared to non-body objects. In particular, this area is more active in males than in females when the person is viewing a threatening male.

    6. .

      The LOC is a ventral stream area that has shown strong fMRI responses to object vs. nonobject stimuli, implicating it in object perception. Sex differences in the LOC have not been investigated, but they should be since the LOC is involved in object size perception and there are sex differences in object size perception. Other sex differences in object recognition may be due to sex differences in cortical thickness in the ventral visual cortex.

    7. .

      This section of the article focuses on sex differences in the ventral visual stream, which supports conscious visual perception.

    8. .

      Some fMRI studies have shown sex differences in BOLD signals at the visual cortex, which may be related to sex differences in visual acuity and color perception.

    9. .

      Some EEG studies have shown that VEP waveform (which may be related to contrast sensitivity performance) differs by biological sex. It is yet unknown if these differences are due to underlying anatomical differences, gonadal hormone release differences, or differences in the visual cortex/retina.

    10. .

      Sex differences in motion perception have not been well-studied. One study suggested sex differences in the known motion processing areas of the human visual cortex, and another showed sex differences in biological motion perception.

    11. In short, although sex differencesin color vision may be related to both retinal and corticalfactors, additional studies are required to validate and elu-cidate such differences.
    12. .

      Several studies have demonstrated sex differences in color perception.

    13. .

      This review article summarizes sex differences in basic visual processing, reviews sex differences in object recognition, and discusses sex differences in visuospatial processing (not at length).

    14. .

      Sex differences in color sensitivity may be the result of X-linked genes that control spectral sensitivity of retinal photoreceptors.

    15. Although this finding has also been observed inother mammals (Seymoure and Juraska, 1997), some havespeculated that sex differences in visual acuity in humansare related to the roles that men and women played inearly human hunter–gatherer societies, in which malesmay have been required to be able to identify prey orthreats at greater distances (Silverman and Eals, 1992;Sanders et al., 2007; Stancey and Turner, 2010; Abramovet al., 2012a).
    16. .

      Most studies have found that men have greater visual acuity than women, but some studies have suggested that women have greater visual acuity than men in specific lighting conditions (especially in the dark).

    17. Theseauthors speculated that this sex difference reflects differ-ences in visual pattern analysis mode in which femalesemphasize use of low spatial frequencies that carryinformation about overall object form, whereas malesuse a more “segregative” mode that emphasizes individ-ual objects and fine detail inherent in high spatial fre-quency visual input.
    18. .

      Brabyn and McGuinness (1979) compared contrast sensitivity in men and women, and found that womens' sensitivity to lower spatial frequencies was higher and mens' sensitivity to higher spatial frequencies was lower,. Abramov et al. (2012) did the same and found that mens' contrast sensitivity was higher at all spatial frequencies. Both studies suggested sex differences in contrast sensitivity.

    19. .

      Male and female individuals may significantly differ in their abilities to perceive contrast differences (contrast sensitivity).

    20. This section summa-rizes sex differences observed in standard psychophysicalstudies of visual perception and also presents related find-ings from neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies.
    21. additional sex differences in visual perception and itsbasis in the human visual system and in the visual cortexin particular.
    22. In short, sex differences in both bodysize and brain size predict sex differences in visual percep-tion. This Mini-Review summarizes and discusses many
    23. In contrast to reproductive capacity, sex differencesin human brain function are largely a matter of degree.This Mini-Review of sex differences in the human visualsystem presents a large body of evidence indicating thatsex differences in visual perception and its neural basis arereal and lends support to the folk belief that males andfemales really do see the world differently, even if only toa degree.
    24. This Mini-Review summarizes a wide range of sex differ-ences in the human visual system, with a primary focuson sex differences in visual perception and its neuralbasis. We highlight sex differences in both basic andhigh-level visual processing, with evidence from behavior-al, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging studies. Weargue that sex differences in human visual processing, nomatter how small or subtle, support the view that femalesand males truly see the world differently.
    1. .

      Small effect sizes, low power, and varying methodology may explain why literature about sex differences is mixed. There is probably a complex explanation as to what causes sex differences in visual perception, and those doing research on the subject should keep that in mind.

    2. We found that, for about a third of these tests, females performed significantly worse thanmales. In no paradigm did females outperform males.
    3. .

      Methodologically, this study suggests that between-subjects designs are most effective at controlling for confounds in studies about sex differences. Mechanistically, this study shows that sex differences are of complex origin and cannot be understood through simplistic explanations. Conceptually, this study suggests that sex differences in cognition could be what causes sex differences in vision.

    4. It is unclear why our results differ from previous studies, but it is possible that the small methodologicaldifferences we describe may have a large effect, and further studies should explore these effects in more detail.
    5. Our results stand in contrast to many previous studies of sex differences in visual perception.
    6. It is important to emphasize that visual tasks also rely on non-visual processes. It is therefore possible thatsome of the differences we report may be non-visual in nature.
    7. .

      The study controlled for the effect of age on sex, since sex differences can depend on age.

    8. .

      This study had very high statistical power, so the results were probably accurate for the most part. This study's most significant finding is the diversity of sex differences in visual processing.

    9. Our results are in line with studies demonstrating no correlations between similar paradigms in visual per-ception 22,39,53–55 .
    10. .

      Significant sex differences appeared in numerous visual processing paradigms, but followed no discernible pattern. In short, findings were complex and varied markedly from paradigm to paradigm.

    11. .

      This was the first major study of sex differences in visual perception.

    12. Using fifteen differentvisual tasks and more than 870 participants, we found that males significantly outperformed females in simple RT,visual acuity, visual backward masking, motion direction detection, biological motion, and the Ponzo illusion. Wedid not find significant sex differences for contrast detection threshold, visual search, orientation discrimination,the Simon effect, and four of five visual illusions.
    13. Figure 5.

      Mean % of error in interpreting the Ebbinghaus, Muller-Lyer, Ponzo, Ponzo-Hallway, and Tilt illusions in men and women. Women were significantly more susceptible to the Ponzo illusion than males were (p<0.001).

    14. Table 3.

      Number of participants, independent t-test results, significance value (p), and effect size (Cohen's d) for the Ebbinghaus, Muller-Lyer, Ponzo, Ponzo-Hallway, and Tilt illusions. Females were significantly more susceptible to the Ponzo illusion than males were.

    15. For Sample C (Table 1), we found a significant sex difference for the Ponzo illusion with amedium effect size (Table 3, Fig. 5; t(170) = −3.15, p = 0.002, d = 0.24). Females were 3.5% more susceptible tothe illusion than males (−11.8 vs −8.3%).
    16. Results from three tests differed between males and females, i.e. RT, biological motion (inverted condition at800 ms) and motion direction. In all cases, males performed better than females (Fig. 4).
    17. Using the 25 elements grating, females needed an SOA of 47.78 ms to reach the criterion level of 75%correct answers, whereas males needed an SOA of 39.9 ms (t(624) = 2.09, p = 0.03, d = 0.17) to reach the criterionlevel (see Table 2). When using the 5 elements grating, both males and females showed longer SOAs than with the25 elements grating; females again needed longer SOA than males (113.1 vs. 99.93 ms, respectively; t(624) = 2.57,p = 0.01, d = 0.20).
    18. Females (22.66) as compared to males (21.19) did not differ in their vernier duration(t(624) = 1.21, p = 0.22; Table 2).
    19. Males had a higher visual acuity compared to females (1.61 vs 1.46; t(623) = −4.37, p < 0.001).The effect size was medium (d = 0.35).
    20. In detail, we found significant differences in Sample A, with 626 participants, on visual acuity and visual back-ward masking with both masks, but not for the unmasked vernier (see Fig. 3 and Table 2).
    21. Out of the 10 perceptual tests (3 tests for 626 participants and 7 additional tests for 200participants), males performed significantly better than females in 5 tests: visual acuity, visual backward maskingwith 25 and 5 gratings, RT, biological motion, and motion direction.
    1. .

      This study provides more evidence that women rely more on PC visual processing than men do, but does not determine whether this is because women have an advantage in chromatic or spatial aspects of visual processing. It is also unknown whether this advantage is impacted by hormones cycling during the menstrual cycle.

    2. It is then possible that cyclingestrogen and progesterone or their interaction enhance PC-processing in women.
    3. In addition to estrogen, progesterone is implicated in visualprocessing
    4. .

      Some studies have found that E fluctuations during the menstrual cycle may modulate which color wavelengths the visual field is most sensitive to, providing further evidence that E may play a role in vision.

    5. However, if some of our female subjects areindeed heterozygous carriers for red-green deficiency, evidenceindicates that the advantage in red-green contrast sensitivitymight belong to men due to deficient red-green discriminationfound in heterozygous carriers [24-26].

      Needs clarification.

    6. A review byParlee [33] highlighted evidence for cyclical effects on visualprocessing, and a later review [34] of this research suggests thereis an increased cortical capacity for visual information processingin women during peak estradiol levels of the menstrual cycle.
    7. .

      E might also influence vision through an intermediate mechanism like GABA, which mediates cortical inhibition. Cortical inhibition is important in determining visual responses, so E might indirectly improve visual processing by increasing GABA release, since GABA release controls cortical inhibition.

    8. .

      The results of this study indicated that women were more sensitive to contrast changes in the red-green stimulus than men were. This might be because some of the female participants had a sex-linked genetic abnormality that allows them to be more sensitive to contrast differences in red-green stimuli, but that is unlikely. It could also be that estrogen receptors (ERs), which are exclusively found in the retinas of premenopausal women, give premenopausal women an advantage in detecting contrast differences in red-green stimuli.

    9. While neither stimulus isabsolutely processed by one parallel pathway or the other, it isreasonable to assume that PC processes underlie sensitivity tothe small, red-green target. Likewise, processing for the large,drifting stimulus is certainly biased toward the MC pathways.
    10. Men had lower contrast thresholdsthan women to the large, achromatic, drifting stimulus, but thedifference was not statistically significant for this target.
    11. In this experiment, we found that women were moresensitive than men to the contrast changes in the small, red-green, stationary stimulus, which is more likely to be processedstrongly by the PC pathway.
    12. Figure 2

      Mean values of reaction times (in milliseconds) for MC-biased and PC-biased stimuli in men and women. Reaction times for the MC-biased stimuli were significantly lower than contrast thresholds for the PC-biased stimuli in both men and women

    13. There was no main effect of gender (F = 0.50,p = 0.48), but there was a significant interaction of gender andstimulus type on reaction times (F = 4.13, p = 0.04). Unlike theresults for contrast thresholds, there was no gender difference inreaction times for either the MC or PC-biased stimulus.
    14. Both men andwomen had significantly lower mean reaction times for the MC-biased stimulus than for the PC-biased stimulus (F = 93.0, p <0.001).
    15. The main effect of genderwas not significant (F = 2.43, p = 0.12), but there was a significantinteraction of gender and stimulus type (PC-biased vs. MC-biased) on contrast thresholds (F = 4.80, p = 0.03). As shown inFigure 1, women were more sensitive than men to the PC-biasedstimulus (t = 1.94, p = 0.05), but men and women were equallysensitive to the MC-biased stimulus (t = -1.22, p = 0.23).
    16. As shown in Table 1, contrast thresholds for the MC-biased stimulus were significantly lower than for the PC-biasedstimulus (F = 246, p < 0.001).
    17. .

      The current study engaged male and female participants in tasks that activated the PC pathway more and tasks that activated the MC pathway more. It was predicted that male participants would activate the MC pathway more than the PC pathway, and that female participants would activate the PC pathway more than the MC pathway.

    18. Theresults of these studies suggest that men may rely more on MCprocessing, while women may rely more on PC processing.
    19. Although previous studies of gender effects on visualprocessing are heterogeneous, as a group they suggest thepossibility of sexual dimorphism in parallel visual processing[5].
    20. Neurons in the MC pathwayare more sensitive to object location, movement, low spatialfrequency and global analysis of visual scenes. Neurons in the PCpathway are thought to be more involved with object and patternrecognition as well as color (in particular, red-green) opponency[3,4].
    21. .

      There are two pathways for processing visual information: the parvocellular pathway and the magnocellular pathway.

    22. The results of this experiment add to the body of evidence that women may relymore on parvocellular visual processes than men.
    23. We present a limited review of the literature on gender differences in visualprocessing. We then add evidence to that body of literature, reporting the resultsof an examination of gender differences in response to stimulus conditions favoringmagnocellular (MC) and parvocellualr (PC) processing.
    1. Governor Ronald Reagan, who was coincidentally present on the capitol lawn when the protesters arrived, later commented that he saw "no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons" and that guns were a "ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will." In a later press conference, Reagan added that the Mulford Act "would work no hardship on the honest citizen."
    1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-complicated-legacy-of-e-o-wilson/

      I can see why there's so much backlash on this piece.

      It could and should easily have been written without any reference at all to E. O. Wilson and been broadly interesting and true. However given the editorial headline "The Complicated Legacy of E. O. Wilson", the recency of his death, and the photo at the top, it becomes clickbait for something wholly other.

      There is only passing reference to Wilson and any of his work and no citations whatsoever about who he was or why his work was supposedly controversial. Instead the author leans in on the the idea of the biology being the problem instead of the application of biology to early anthropology which dramatically mis-read the biology and misapplied it for the past century and a half to bolster racist ideas and policies.

      The author indicates that we should be better with "citational practices when using or reporting on problematic work", but wholly forgets to apply it to her own writing in this very piece.

      I'm aware that the magazine editors are most likely the ones that chose the headline and the accompanying photo, but there's a failure here in both editorial and writing for this piece to have appeared in Scientific American in a way as to make it more of a hit piece on Wilson just days after his death. Worse, the backlash of the broadly unsupported criticism of Wilson totally washed out the attention that should have been placed on the meat of the actual argument in the final paragraphs.

      Editorial failed massively on all fronts here.


      This article seems to be a clear example of the following:

      Any time one uses the word "problematic" to describe cultural issues, it can't stand alone without some significant context building and clear arguments about exactly what was problematic and precisely why. Otherwise the exercise is a lot of handwaving and puffery that does neither side of an argument or its intended audiences any good.

    1. Perhaps the most immediate benefit of capturing content outsideour heads is that we escape what I call the “reactivity loop”—thehamster wheel of urgency, outrage, and sensationalism thatcharacterizes so much of the Internet. The moment you firstencounter an idea is the worst time to decide what it means. Youneed to set it aside and gain some objectivity.

      Not sure I agree wholly with

      The moment you first encounter an idea is the worst time to decide what it means

      Sometimes your fleeting reactions are incredibly useful upon first encounter as they won't return as easily. However this is also a space where setting things aside for diffuse thinking apparatus to work can be highly useful.

      Either way, one should always return to ideas in their notebook for future processing.

    2. When you use up too much energy taking notes, you havelittle left over for the subsequent steps that add far more value:making connections, imagining possibilities, formulating theories,and creating new ideas of your own

      The most valuable work one can do in note taking is creating active links from one piece of knowledge to another, particularly if they're both surprising.

      Anecdotally I do see a lot of people putting all of their work into collecting notes, and none of it rephrasing things into their own words to improve understanding or linking ideas together to create new ideas. The latter are both far superior to the former.

  2. May 2022
    1. The proposition that any of this book’s content or its contributors are racist, because they might make people feel uncomfortable, is an increasingly popular strategy employed to silence expert views on politicised ideological grounds.
    2. Published criticisms of this excellent book bear the hallmarks of a style of racism that is extraordinarily difficult to counter, because so few people have the intellectual training to understand the difference between evidence-based accounts of Indigenous Australia and popular mythologies that misrepresent the facts. These criticisms are entirely unreasonable.

      This sounds a bit like Australian political culture is facing the same sort of issues that are being see in the United States with respect to ideas like critical race theory. Groups are protesting parts of history and culture that they don't understand instead spending some time learning about them.

    1. .

      Investigators analyzed data from participants in previous visual perception studies to determine sex differences. Males outperformed females on less than half of multiple visual perception measures, and females never outperformed males.

    2. .

      Knowing if there are visual perception sex differences could help us to determine whether sex differences in similar areas are actually due to visual perception sex differences.

    3. It is surprising that similar studies in vision research are few and often under-powered 16–19 (with the notableexception of the well-established male preponderance of red-green color blindness 20,21 or sex differences in eyemovements 22 ).
    4. Taken together, these studies revealmixed and complex effects of sex on visual perception. Moreover, it is clear that a comprehensive study on sexdifferences is missing from the literature.
    5. .

      Research has found that there are sex differences in visual, auditory, and somatosensory abilities.

    6. We report the results of fifteenperceptual measures (such as visual acuity, visual backward masking, contrast detection threshold ormotion detection) for a cohort of over 800 participants. On six of the fifteen tests, males significantlyoutperformed females. On no test did females significantly outperform males. Given this heterogeneityof the sex effects, it is unlikely that the sex differences are due to any single mechanism.
    1. Further, we argue that theloss of function in insula/temporal areas may be directly related totool-use deficits seen in conceptual apraxia.
    2. .

      The current study found that distinct brain areas are activated in identifying the correct tool for a specific context versus identifying the incorrect tool for a specific context, and provides additional evidence that the ventral visual stream processes contextual information related to tool use before the parietofrontal tool-use network processes sensorimotor information related to tool use.

    3. fMRI showed that primary activations for identifying incorrect tooluse were found at temporal cortex and insula, while activationsfor correct tool use were seen along the canonical parietofrontaltool use network. Source localization analysis of EEG waveformsprovided additional information about the temporal evolution ofthese activations; insula, temporal cortex, and cuneus were exclu-sively active to incorrect tool use 0–200 ms following image onset,while occipitotemporal areas were exclusively active to correct tooluse 300–400 ms after image onset.
    4. .

      Conceptual apraxia is the result of disrupted ventral stream information processing, as the ventral stream would usually send information to parietal areas that would in turn process what an object is and how it should be used, but apparently cannot do this in conceptual apraxia. The current study found evidence that different brain areas activate for correct and incorrect tool use, suggesting the existence of separate networks for the two. Conceptual apraxia might happen because the incorrect tool use network, which involves parietofrontal areas (the ventral stream), is damaged. Specifically, these areas cannot generate error signals in response to the perception of incorrect tool use, causing incorrect tool use to be possible.

    5. .

      Apraxia is a deficit characterized by being unable to select the correct tools for a specific task. Patients with conceptual apraxia can know a tool is correct for a specific task, but will perform that same task with an incorrect tool. The ability to carry out a specific task with the correct tool (as opposed to simply knowing said tool is correct for that task) may be controlled by the temporal cortex and insula.

    6. If the tool–object relationship is determined to be contextuallyappropriate, no (tool-use specific) error signal arises from insula/superior temporal cortex. In this case, the parietofrontal networkwould then derive the adequate (task relevant) sensorimotor repre-sentation and motor plan for that tool–action goal pair. Alternatively,if the tool–object relationship is determined to be contextuallyinappropriate, perhaps the insula/superior temporal areas serve togenerate an error signal allowing for appropriate perception of tooluse error.

      tool-object relationships deemed contextually correct do not cause an error signal in the insula/temporal cortex, leading the parietofrontal network to process the sensorimotor aspects of using that tool in that context. Tool-object relationships deemed contextually incorrect do cause an error signal in the insula/temporal cortex, leading the parietofrontal network to process the incorrectness of using that tool in that context.

    7. tool–object interactions.
    8. Although currently speculative, our temporal and spatial resultsallow us to suggest that insula and superior/middle temporal cortexmay serve as a “gatekeeper,” evaluating the contextual correctness of
    9. .

      Incorrect tool use was associated with early activations (image onset through 100ms) of the bilateral insula, temporal areas, anterior cingulate, and posterior cingulate, and later activations (100ms to 200ms) of the cuneus, insula, and posterior cingulate. Correct tool use was associated with even later activations (300ms to 400ms) of the occipital and temporal areas. These results suggest ventral activation precedes dorsal activation for contextual tool use decisions and actions.

    10. Precuneus

      Brain region with complex functions such as memory, information integration relating to environmental perception, cue reactivity, mental imagery strategies, episodic memory retrieval, and affective pain responses.

    11. .

      the PCC and precuneus have also been reported to serve functions relating to tool use. The PCC functions in relation to viewing familiar stimuli, visually guided grasping, viewing graspable objects, and viewing tool-related objects. The precuneus functions in relation to various types of memory-related visual information recall.

    12. This relates to thecurrent study in superior temporal/insula activations seen in thejudgment of too use in an incorrect context, and further supportshigh-level visual functions in superior temporal areas cortex.
    13. .

      The STC and STG have many functions that are related to tool use (especially in terms of high-level visual processing), and in particular show impairment of tool function understanding when damaged. The current study demonstrated that the STC and STG are activated during judgement of tool use in an incorrect context.

    14. .

      The insula was activated by incorrect tool use. It serves many different functions, including contextual understanding of visual and somatosensory stimuli, as well as deriving "body ownership" of movement and deciding whether to act or not. The current study suggests the insula play a role in decision making through deriving an understanding of incorrect contextual action.

    15. Unlike the findings of correct over incorrect context, incorrectover correct contextual tool use activated novel areas that lie ventralto the parietofrontal regions, as well as on the mesial brain sur-face, particularly the insula, superior and middle temporal cortex,posterior cingulate, and cuneus/precuneus.
    16. .

      Different areas were activated for incorrect over correct contextual tool use than for correct over incorrect tool use. The researchers expanded their model of matching and mismatching tool relationships using this information.

    17. .

      The current study focused on identifying the contextual aspects of action error using fMRI, in contrast to previous studies which have focused on identifying other various aspects of action error using fMRI. The researchers propose that the contextual aspects of action error activate ventral stream areas like the temporal cortex and insula.

    18. .

      Parietal areas, lateral frontal areas, and cortical movement areas contribute to the visual perception of tools, and were activated by contextually correct tool use. PCC, parietal cortices, cuneus, and precuneus contribute to understanding and production of complex tool-related movements, and were also activated by contextually correct tool use.

    19. .

      The temporal cortex, which is related to to tool-related processing, was activated by correct tool use contexts.

    20. .

      Different brain regions are activated for contextually correct and contextually incorrect tool use, and at different times. Subjects performed equally well in identifying correct and incorrect tool use, so results were probably accurate.

    21. Event-related fMRI analysis showed distinct activationsin bilateral insula, superior temporal cortex, anterior cingulate, andposterior cingulate for tool use in incorrect contexts (Figure 3).Bilateral activations for tool use in correct contexts tool use wereseen in posterior temporal areas and occipital cortex extendingalong the temporal–parietal–occipital junction, superior parietalcortex, premotor areas, lateral prefrontal areas, and anterior cin-gulate (Figure 3). EEG results largely confirm the fMRI data, whilefurther elaborating the temporal activation features. With analysisof EEG data focused on time bins identified through our previouswork (Mizelle and Wheaton, 2010b), we observed early activations(e.g., during the first 200 ms following image onset) exclusively forincorrect over correct tool use in temporal cortex, insula, cuneus, andposterior cingulate (Figure 5). Later time windows (300–400 ms)showed occipital and temporal activity (Figure 5) for identifica-tion of correct over incorrect tool use exclusively.
    22. .

      The purpose of this study was to evaluate the neural correlates of correct and incorrect contextual tool use by using fMRI to understand the spatial aspect of brain activation during related tasks and using EEG to understand the temporal aspect of brain activation during related tasks. fMRI showed activity in different brain regions for tool use in correct and incorrect contexts, and EEG showed early activity (immediately following image presentation) in specific brain areas for incorrect over correct tool use and later activity (300ms to 400ms following image presentation) in specific brain areas for correct over incorrect tool use. The current study expands the researchers' previous work on the same topic and may shed light on a potential mechanism for conceptual apraxia.

    23. A briefdeflection was seen following onset of the cue, and large, sustaineddeflections were present following onset of the image. As comparedto tool-only images, these responses were larger for correct andincorrect tool use at temporal and parietal areas. Waveforms for cor-rect and incorrect tool use diverged at two times following onset ofthe image (0–200 and 300–400 ms following image onset; Figure 4).This was most noticeable at bilateral temporal and parietal regions,where activation for incorrect use was greater immediately fol-lowing image onset (0–200 ms) and later at occipital, parietal, andtemporal regions (300–400 ms), where activation was greater forcorrect over incorrect tool use.
    24. However, at 300–400 msafter image presentation (Figure 5; Table 5), activation differencesexclusive for identifying correct over incorrect tool use were seen atoccipitotemporal areas and cuneus.
    25. From 100–200 ms post image presentation (Figure 5; Table 4),these activation differences shifted posteriorly to cuneus, lingualgyrus, insula, superior temporal cortex, and were still exclusive toincorrect over correct tool use.
    26. When thesewaveforms were subjected to analysis (Figure 5; Table 3), sLO-RETA showed early activation differences (0–100 ms post imagepresentation) exclusively for identifying incorrect over correct tooluse predominantly at insula, superior temporal cortex, and anteriorand posterior cingulate.
    27. For both [cor-rect > tool] and [incorrect > tool] comparisons, primary acti-vations were generally seen at premotor areas, inferior frontalgyrus, SPL, IPL, posterior temporal cortex, middle and inferioroccipital gyri, cuneus, lingual gyrus, insula, fusiform gyrus, andcingulate gyrus.
    28. This analysisshowed that bilateral premotor and parieto-occipital areas wereactive in comprehension of correct tool use (Figure 3; Table1), while bilateral regions along the insula, superior tempo-ral cortex, mesial prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulatewere active in comprehension of incorrect contextual tool use(Figure 3; Table 2).
    29. Overall subjects were 95% accurate in their assessment of correctversus incorrect contextual tool–object interaction.
    30. In other words, subjects were notmore or less accurate for either image category.
    31. A role is suggested for theventral stream in providing semantic/contextual information toparietofrontal areas prior to interaction with a tool or object (Creemand Proffitt, 2001b; Valyear and Culham, 2010). In our previouswork, a distinct temporal–insula–precuneus–cingulate network wasengaged in differentiating matching from mismatching tool–objectpairings (Mizelle and Wheaton, 2010b).
    32. .

      The current study was designed to determine the neural correlates of conceptually understanding tool-object interactions. It involved the use of specific visual stimuli to allow subjects to identify the contextual nature of tool use as well as the use of fMRI and EEG to record subjects' neural activity while they assessed the correctness versus incorrectness of tool use in given contexts.

    33. .

      It was predicted that the parietofrontal network would activate for identification of correct tool use, while temporal areas, insula, cingulate, and cuneus/precuneus would activate for identification of incorrect tool use, and that ventral areas would activate earlier for incorrect over correct tool use, while dorsal areas would activate earlier for correct over incorrect tool use.

    34. .

      Not very much is known about the neural correlates of determining the conceptual "correctness" of tool-object interactions, so the current study focused on the neural activations associated with understanding contextually correct and incorrect tool-object interactions.

    35. Others using ERPanalyses have identified the N400 effect in response to identi-fication of anomalous tool use (Sitnikova et al., 2003, 2008).Similarly, this response has been seen in extracting movement-related semantic information, such as identifying the incorrectconclusion of an action sequence (Reid and Striano, 2008) andin determining uncooperative hand–hand interactions (Shibataet al., 2009).
    36. Others have evaluated the understanding of toolsimilarity based on action relatedness (comparing tools used inthe same way) or functional relatedness (comparing tools usedin the same context; Canessa et al., 2008), and highlighted theimportance of retrosplenial and inferotemporal cortex in under-standing functional properties of tools.
    37. .

      Recognizing specific tools for certain tasks involves both perception and action. The action-related stream involves being able to differentiate between certain objects as well as being able to understand when and when not to use specific tools. The implication is that people know to use tools on particular objects, but not on all other objects.

    38. .

      Certain regions of the brain activate when viewing or interacting with tools, suggesting the existence of a tool use brain network. Neural activation appears to be the same for tool observation and tool use, so tool observation may induce simulations of tool use.

    39. We identified distinct regional and temporalactivations for identifying incorrect versus correct tool use. The posterior cingulate, insula, andsuperior temporal gyrus preferentially differentiated incorrect tool–object usage, while occipital,parietal, and frontal areas were active in identifying correct tool use. Source localized EEGanalysis confirmed the fMRI data and showed phases of activation, where incorrect tool-useactivation (0–200 ms) preceded occipitotemporal activation for correct tool use (300–400 ms).
    40. In the currentwork, we used event-related electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonanceimaging (fMRI) to determine neural correlates for differentiating contextually correct and incorrecttool use.

    Tags

    Annotators

    1. I think it may have been the British Library interview in which Wengrow says something like, you know, no one ever challenges a new conservative book and says, so and so has just offered a neoliberal perspective on X. But when an anarchist says something, people are sure to spend most of their time remarking on his politics. I think it's relevant that G&W call out Pinker's cherry-picking of Ötzi the ice man. They counter this with the Romito 2 specimen, but they insist that it is no more conclusive than Ötzi. So how does a challenging new interpretation gain ground in the face of an entrenched dominant narrative?

      This sentiment is very similar to one in a recent lecture series I'd started listening to: The Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida #.

      Lawrence Cahoone specifically pointed out that he would be highlighting the revolutionary (and also consequently the most famous) writers because they were the ones over history that created the most change in their field of thought.

      How does the novel and the different manage to break through?

      How does this relate to the broad thesis of Thomas S. Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions?


      The comment Wengrow makes about "remarking on [an anarchist's] politics" as a means of attacking their ideas is quite similar to the sort of attacks that are commonly made on women. When female politicians make relevant remarks and points, mainstream culture goes to standbys about their voice or appearance: "She's 'shrill'", or "She doesn't look very good in that dress." They attack anything but the idea itself.

    1. The last element in his file system was an index, from which hewould refer to one or two notes that would serve as a kind of entrypoint into a line of thought or topic.

      Indices are certainly an old construct. One of the oldest structured examples in the note taking space is that of John Locke who detailed it in Méthode nouvelle de dresser des recueils (1685), later translated into English as A New Method of Organizing Common Place Books (1706).

      Previously commonplace books had been structured with headwords done alphabetically. This meant starting with a preconceived structure and leaving blank or empty space ahead of time without prior knowledge of what would fill it or how long that might take. By turning that system on its head, one could fill a notebook from front to back with a specific index of the headwords at the end. Then one didn't need to do the same amount of pre-planning or gymnastics over time with respect to where to put their notes.

      This idea combined with that of Konrad Gessner's design for being able to re-arrange slips of paper (which later became index cards based on an idea by Carl Linnaeus), gives us an awful lot of freedom and flexibility in almost any note taking system.


      Building blocks of the note taking system

      • atomic ideas
      • written on (re-arrangeable) slips, cards, or hypertext spaces
      • cross linked with each other
      • cross linked with an index
      • cross linked with references

      are there others? should they be broken up differently?


      Godfathers of Notetaking

      • Aristotle, Cicero (commonplaces)
      • Seneca the Younger (collecting and reusing)
      • Raymond Llull (combinatorial rearrangements)
      • Konrad Gessner (storage for re-arrangeable slips)
      • John Locke (indices)
      • Carl Linnaeus (index cards)
    1. A spike in fears about new immigrants and newly emancipated black people reproducing at higher rates than the white population also prompted more opposition to legal abortion.

      Were fears about immigrants and Black people in the late 1800's milieu of evolutionary theory and beginning of eugenics thought influential in the growing debate about abortion?

    1. Incubate Our Ideas Over Time

      The actual incubation here is highly dependent on re-visiting our notes for active use and reloading their contexts back into our minds as well as re-arranging them mentally or otherwise. The incubation doesn't happen within the system though the system can help save them for us. We still need to be able to search and interlink them.

    2. Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.—David Allen, author of Getting Things Done

      David Allen has apparently not acquainted himself with any of the arts of memory.

    1. If you're in software development, start your zettelkasten by documenting the step-by-step instructions to fresh install your development environment. Windows Utilities, Dev Tools, IDE, all those config options not already in your dotfiles, etc...I promise it'll be useful and get you started

      I tend to take a much narrower view of the use and function of a zettelkasten for the reuse of atomic ideas. As a result, from experience I'd recommend these sorts of details are probably better suited for future search in your blog, a personal wiki, or even a commonplace book format than for use in your zettelkasten. I've outlined some of the broad idea for this in an article: Zettelkasten Overreach. On the other hand, if an outline form of these things is imminently abstractable for future very active reuse in other programming environments, then perhaps it's worthwhile, but then you'd need to reach the appropriate level of abstraction for this reuse and you may have lost the more specific details for direct recreation needed as reminders for your future self.

    1. grayscale photograph can be converted to a dithered black-and-white image using thresholding, with the leftover amount from each pixel added to the next pixel along the Hilbert curve.

      Making a ditherer would be a rewarding project!

  3. Apr 2022
    1. 7 Notes could also focus on original thoughts, as in the Pen-sées of Blaise Pascal, the “commonplace book” of George Berkeley, or the Sudel-bücher of Georg Lichtenberg, which were devoted to original reflections ratherthan to excerpts from the writings of other authors.

      Examples of notes focusing on one's original ideas and reflections rather than excerpts of others' works.

    2. An alternative kind of note-taking was encouraged in the late Middle Agesamong members of new lay spiritual movements, such as the Brethren of theCommon Life (fl. 1380s–1500s). Their rapiaria combined personal notes andspiritual reflections with readings copied from devotional texts.

      I seem to recall a book or two like this that were on the best seller list in the 1990s and early 2000s based on a best selling Christian self help book, but with an edition that had a journal like reflection space. Other than the old word rapiaria, is there a word for this broad genre besides self-help journal?

      An example might be Rhonda Byrne's book The Secret (Atria Books, 2006) which had a gratitude journal version (Atria Books, 2007, 978-1582702087).

      Another example includes Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan, 2002) with a journal version (Zondervan, 2002, 978-0310807186).

      There's also a sub-genre of diaries and journals that have these sort of preprinted quotes/reflections for each day in addition to space for one to write their own reflections.


      Has anyone created a daily blogging/reflection platform that includes these sorts of things? One might repurpose the Hello Dolly WordPress plugin to create journal prompts for everyday writing and reflection.

    3. Referencebooks also typically offered a larger collection of excerpts than most individualscould amass in a lifetime.

      This makes me wonder if it would be a useful product to have a highly linked note collection to sell to others in a modern context? It could be done entirely in text files for compatibility with Roam Research, Obsidian, Logseq, et al. Ideally it would be done in a more commonplace way with quotes and interlinked and could be expanded upon by the purchaser.

  4. Mar 2022
    1. We discovered that exercise for 4th-6th postnatal weeks (juv-adol ELE), as well as a shorter exercise experience only during the 4th postnatal week (juv ELE) enable hippocampal-dependent spatial memory formation in male mice. This was not true for mice that exercised only during the 6th postnatal week (adol ELE), suggesting that the 4th postnatal week of development was particularly sensitive to the exercise experience with regard to enabling long-term memory function in a lasting manner.
    2. .

      CA1-LTP significantly increased for juv-adol ELE mice but not for juv ELE or adol ELE mice when compared to controls. Hippocampal excitability properties were significantly modulated in juv ELE and juv-adol ELE mice. Modulation of hippocampal excitability properties as well as enhanced OLM function lasted for two weeks after stopping exercise in juv ELE mice.

    3. adolescent exercisers when compared to sedentary controls.
    4. Overall, these data suggest a significant impact of ELE on enhancing hippocampal long-term potenti-ation. Although this finding is in contrast to data in adult mice demonstrating lack of enhancement in CA1-LTP after chronic voluntary wheel running9, it may implicate a specific, 1-week period of juvenile exercise that can lead to lasting changes in hippocampal CA3-CA1 circuit function and plasticity.
    5. Therefore, synaptic plasticity was examined in the CA3-CA1 Schaffer collateral pathway of the hippocampus in sedentary and ELE mice, to test the hypothesis that ELE also leads to an enhance-ment in synaptic strength in the same region involved in enabled memory performance after juv and juv-adol ELE.
    6. These results suggest that in both sexes, exercise taking place during a specific juvenile developmental period (P21–27) is sufficient for enhancing long-term memory for an OLM acquisition trial that is usually insufficient for long-term memory in sedentary controls, and fur-thermore, juv ELE-induced enabling of long-term memory is present at least 2 weeks after the juvenile exercise period ends.
    7. These data suggest that performance in the OLM task can be used as a robust measure of long-term memory formation in adolescent male and female mice.
    8. We therefore tested the following hypotheses: 1) that a learning stimulus typically insufficient for long-term memory formation in sedentary wild-type mice can become sufficient after ELE (as it does after 2–3 weeks of exercise in adulthood), and 2) the early-life timing of exercise during juvenile and/or ado-lescent periods will have a lasting impact on the duration of ELE-induced improvements in long-term memory.
    9. We next addressed the question whether there are sex differences in daily and cumulative running distances in our three ELE groups. Juv-adol ELE male and female mice gradually increased their daily running distance over the 3-week period (Fig. 1c).
    10. We next compared daily and cumulative running distances in 1-week runners, expecting that running distance would be significantly greater in adol ELE mice when compared to juv ELE mice (regardless of sex) given their developmental stage and body mass differences when entering running cages.
    11. Given the developmental timing of voluntary exercise in this model, we postulated that there would be important sex-specific and running group-specific differences in weight gain and distance ran across time.
    12. In sum, all running groups and both sexes of mice gradually and significantly increased their running distances across time. The cumulative amount of voluntary running throughout the running period was dependent on when early life exercise was initiated (in the juvenile period vs in adolescence).
    13. These findings suggest that a longer duration of ELE expo-sure (three weeks) during juvenile/adolescence significantly reduces weight gain in male mice, whereas in female mice, presence of a stationary wheel led to greater weight gain than mice in sedentary cages without running wheel and mice that ran during adolescence.
    14. .

      In rodents, the hippocampus develops milestone learning and memory functions by about the 3rd to 4th postnatal week. At this time, brain development via synaptic plasticity is especially sensitive to environmental experiences. For that reason, it makes sense to see whether exercise during this period modulates hippocampal development.

    15. .

      Both male and female mice that underwent exercise during the juvenile period showed enhanced hippocampal memory and synaptic plasticity. The results of this study could be used to investigate the time-sensitive molecular mechanisms underlying the long-lasting effects of early life exercise on neuronal function and behavior.

    16. In this study we developed a model of voluntary physical activity during specific early life developmental periods in mice (early-life exercise, or ELE) to address the hypothesis that the timing of exercise during postnatal hippocampal maturation can lead to enduring benefits in cognitive function and synaptic plasticity.
    17. .

      The effects of exercise on synaptic plasticity and memory formation are not long-lasting in exercise is done in adulthood, but may be longer lasting if exercise is done during development. The time frame of when exercise should be done to promote long-lasting changes to synaptic plasticity and memory formation, however, are not known.

    18. .

      In humans, exercise promotes synaptic plasticity mechanisms and enhances cognition, especially during childhood. In rodents, exercise similarly promotes synaptic plasticity mechanisms and enhances cognition, although it has only been studied in adults and not in juveniles.

    19. hysical exercise is a powerful modulator of learning and memory. Mechanisms underlying the cognitive benefits of exercise are well documented in adult rodents. Exercise studies targeting postnatal periods of hippocampal maturation (specifically targeting periods of synaptic reorganization and plasticity) are lacking. We characterize a model of early-life exercise (ELE) in male and female mice designed with the goal of identifying critical periods by which exercise may have a lasting impact on hippocampal memory and synaptic plasticity.
    20. Our results suggest that early-life exercise, specifically during the 4th postnatal week, can enable hippocampal memory, synaptic plasticity, and alter hippocampal excitability when occurring during postnatal periods of hippocampal maturation.
    1. .

      Oxytocin may indirectly contribute to the development of out-group and intergroup bias derogation by promoting in-group favoritism. This challenges the view that oxytocin is purely prosocial, since that prosociality may only apply to members of the in group and may also motivate exclusion and negativity towards the out-group.

    2. Again, support was found for the hypotheses that oxytocin creates intergroup bias because it motivates in-group favoritism. Put differently, oxytocin motivated in-group favoritism both when an intergroup compari- son was salient (experiments 1 and 2) and when such an intergroup comparison was substantially more implicit (experiments 3-5). Together, these results suggest that in-group favoritism emerges regardless of whether an explicit out-group comparison is ren- dered salient
    3. .

      In experiments 1, 2, and 3, in-group vs. out-group target presentation order did not effect whether or not in-group favoritism emerged. Experiments 4 and 5 evaluated in-group favoritism and out-group derogation in the absence of inter-group comparison. It can't be known for whether oxytocin motivates in-group favoritism in the absence of inter-group comparisons, so future research should investigate this.

    4. .

      It may be that oxytocin creates intergroup bias primarily by promoting in-group favoritism, and not so much by promoting out-group derogation. Oxytocin strongly promoting in-group favoritism and weakly promoting out-group derogation is adaptive, because in-group favoritism is much more important for survival and within-group coordination.

    5. .

      The results of this study showed that oxytocin system activation underlies the phenomenon of in group bias and, in some cases, the phenomenon of out-group derogation. Oxytocin has the same effects on in-group favoritism, regardless of what the compared out-group is.

    6. Results show that oxytocin creates intergroup bias because it motivates in-group favoritism and, in some cases, out-group der- ogation.
    7. Together, these results provide additional support for the hypothesis that (/) oxytocin creates intergroup bias because (ii) oxytocin promotes in-group favoritism. There was no support for the hypothesis that (Hi) oxytocin promotes out-group derogation.
    8. Experiment 3 thus supports the hy- pothesis that .(/) oxytocin creates intergroup bias because (ii) oxytocin promotes in-group favoritism. There was no support for the hypothesis that (Hi) oxytocin promotes out-group derogation.
    9. Thus, there is support for the hypothesis that (/) oxytocin creates in- tergroup bias because (//) oxytocin promotes in-group favoritism. Mixed support was obtained for the hypothesis (Hi) that oxytocin promotes out-group derogation.

      .

    10. .

      This article's researchers did experiments to determine whether oxytocin had an effect on in-group favoritism and out-group derogation. Of two groups, one was administered oxytocin and the other was administered placebo. Both groups had to engage in a task that measured in-group favoritism and out-group derogation.

    11. In-group favoritism and out-group derogation conspire to create intergroup bias: the unfair response toward another group that devalues or disadvantages the other group and its members by valuing or privileging members of one's in-group (29). Here we predicted that (/) oxytocin creates such intergroup bias because (ii) oxytocin promotes in-group favoritism and, possibly, (///) out- group derogation.

      .

    12. .

      Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view one's own group as superior to others. It manifests itself as the valuation of members of the in-group as good and superior, and members of out-groups as bad and inferior. It is a survival mechanism because it builds cooperation between in-group members and avoids harm from out-group members.

    13. .

      Oxytocin has been shown to motivate in-group favoritism. Because in-group favoritism can sometimes manifest itself as out-group derogation, oxytocin may also motivate out-group derogation.

    14. .

      This article's researchers hypothesized that human ethnocentrism is motivated by oxytocin. Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter/peptide hormone that has various effects in different brain areas. Oxytocin promotes trust and cooperation in humans, but this effect may apply to in-group members only. If that is the case, then humans given oxytocin should show more in-group favoritism than humans given a placebo in an experiment.

    15. If in-group favoritism and out-group derogation have adaptive value and sustain in-group functioning, coordination, and co- operation, it follows that (/) throughout evolution those individ- uals who displayed in-group favoritism and out-group derogation and who detected such tendencies in others were more likely to spread than individuals lacking these capacities (5-8) and (ii) the human brain may have evolved to sustain ethnocentrism through yet-unknown neurobiological systems.

      .

    16. Human ethnocentrism - the tendency to view one's group as cen- trally important and superior to other groups- creates intergroup bias that fuels prejudice, xenophobia, and intergroup violence. Grounded in the idea that ethnocentrism also facilitates within- group trust cooperation, and coordination, we conjecture that eth- nocentrism may be modulated by brain oxytocin, a peptide shown to promote cooperation among in-group members.

      .

    17. Results show that oxytocin creates intergroup bias be- cause oxytocin motivates in-group favoritism and, to a lesser ex- tent, out-group derogation. These findings call into question the view of oxytocin as an indiscriminate "love drug" or "cuddle chem- ical" and suggest that oxytocin has a role in the emergence of in- tergroup conflict and violence.

      .

    Tags

    Annotators

    1. Powerful tools can support creativity: Innovation can be facilitated by powerful tools that supply templates and support exploratory processes such as brainstorming (offering links to related concepts), state-space expl oration (trying out all permutations), idea combining (systematic pairings), rapid prototyping, and simulation modeling.

      State-space exploration and idea combining (systematic pairings) are just modern reimaginings of ideas going back to Raymond Llull and possibly earlier.

    1. The present results ought to be considered alongside the lim-itations of this study.
    2. recruitment of prefrontal and subcortical circuitry. Beyond estab-lishing these basic differences between PI and comparison youth,thepresentstudyidentifiedaneuraladaptationamongPIyouththatpredicted greater resilience over time. Specifically, stronger hip-pocampal–prefrontal coupling prospectively predicted a reductionin anxiety symptomology over a 2 year period. This suggests thatgreater integration of information across brain systems involved inaversive learning and regulation is a protective factor for individualswho have experienced adversity.
    3. The present study revealed that PI and comparison youth arecapable of amygdala-based aversive learning. However, aversivelearning following institutionalization was associated with a broader

      .

    4. caregiving adversity.

      .

    5. Specifically, individual differences in hip-pocampal–vmPFC connectivity during aversive learning predictanxiety outcomes among individuals who have experienced early

      .

    6. Theseresults suggest that greater prefrontal–hippocampal communi-cation during development may protect against a pathologicalcourse of anxiety for individuals who have experienced caregiv-ing adversity.

      .

    7. Together withthe present findings, this suggests that adversity-induced altera-tions in hippocampal function may facilitate adaptive learning, atleast in the short term, about threats in one’s environment.

      .

    8. Together with the present findings, this suggests that earlycaregiving adversity changes the pacing of amygdala–hippo-campus–vmPFC circuit development and, in doing so, alters theway that aversive learning is represented in the brain.

      .

    9. These resultssuggest that age-atypical hippocampal–vmPFC connectivitymay be an important source of resilience for youth with ahistory of caregiving adversity.

      .

    10. The current study examined this rearing aberration in human development.Eighty-nine children and adolescents who were either previously institutionalized (PI youth; N46; 33 females and 13 males; age range,7–16 years) or were raised by their biological parents from birth (N43; 22 females and 21 males; age range, 7–16 years) completed anaversive-learning paradigm while undergoing functional neuroimaging, wherein visual cues were paired with either an aversive sound(CS) or no sound (CS).

      IVs: previously institutionalized children, biologically raised children. DVs: brain activity, trait anxiety.

    11. Given evidence from animal models that early caregiving adver-sity accelerates amygdala, hippocampal, and medial prefrontaldevelopment (Callaghan et al., 2014), we hypothesized that aver-sive learning would be supported by a more distributed, adult-like set of brain regions in PI youth relative to comparison youth.

      H1: aversive learning will be supported by a more distributed, adult-like set of brain regions in PI youth relative to comparison youth.

    12. Given evidence thatneural adaptations to caregiving adversity can be anxiolytic (Geeet al., 2013), it was hypothesized that altered amygdala–hip-pocampal–mPFC function during aversive learning would pre-dict reduced anxiety among PI youth.

      H2: altered amygdala-hippocampal-mPFC function during aversive learning will predict reduced anxiety among PI youth.

    13. The second question that the current study addressed waswhether differences in aversive learning might partially explainthe association between early institutionalization and anxiety.

      RQ2: do differences in aversive learning partially explain the association between early institutionalization and anxiety?

    14. The first question the present study addressed was whetherearly adversity, in the form of prior institutionalization, alters theneurobiology of aversive learning during human development.

      RQ1: does early adversity, in the form of prior institutionalization, alter neurobiology of aversive learning during human development?

    15. For the PI youth, better aversive learning was associated with higher concurrent trait anxiety. Both groupsshowed robust learning and amygdala activation for CSversus CStrials. However, PI youth also exhibited broader recruitment ofseveral regions and increased hippocampal connectivity with prefrontal cortex. Stronger connectivity between the hippocampus andventromedialPFCpredictedsignificantimprovementsinfutureanxiety(measured2yearslater),andthiswasparticularlytruewithinthePI group.

      .

    16. Juvenile animals rely exclu-sively on the amygdala for aversive learning (Kim et al., 2012; Li etal., 2012). During adolescence, striking changes in amygdala–hippocampal–mPFC connectivity are observed (Pattwell et al.,2011), and, by adulthood, aversive learning is supported bystrong interconnections among the amygdala, hippocampus, andmPFC in nonhuman animals (LeDoux et al., 1990; Corcoran andQuirk, 2007; Sierra-Mercado et al., 2011) and human adults (Ful-lana et al., 2016; Greco and Liberzon, 2016). Rodent models haverevealed that maternal separation leads to precocious prefrontaland hippocampal maturation (Huang et al., 2005; Muhammad etal., 2012), and adult-like aversive learning and anxiety duringdevelopment (Moriceau and Sullivan, 2006; Ono et al., 2008;Callaghan and Richardson, 2011).

      .

    17. Gorka et al., 2014), little is known about how it impacts aversivelearning during human development. This limits our under-standing of how early adversity begets adult anxiety.

      .

    18. Although it is known that early adversityalters the neural bases of aversive learning and predicts anxiety inadults (Bremner et al., 2005; Bagot et al., 2009; Kessler et al., 2010;

      .

    1. Design of helical trimers based on the HIV-1 6-HB model.

      Another application of peptide chemistry, Unsing those to target virus helical coils (a way to interrup PPIs). In this case they use helical peptides to bind virus helixes with high affinity (I wonder if we can use this to make libraries of helical stappled peptides and improve binding efficiency as well)

    1. “Scarcity: WhyHaving Too Little Means So Much” (2013) by Mullainathan andShafir. They investigate how the experience of scarcity has cognitiveeffects and causes changes in decision-making processes.

      I'm reminded of a reference recently to Republicans being upset that poor people of color would "waste" their money on frivolities like manicures and fake fingernails instead of on food or other necessities. How might this tie into the argument made in this book?

  5. Feb 2022
    1. .

      Previous research has found that barrel cortex NMDAR activation was required to initiate plasticity after learning a somatosensory task, but that barrel cortex mGluR activation was required to initiate plasticity after re-practicing that same task. The current study hypothesized that a similar phenomenon occurred with plasticity after learning a fear task in the hippocampus, and its results support this assertion.

    2. .

      Previous research has found that piriform cortex NMDAR activation was required for initial learning of an olfactory discrimination task, but piriform cortex neuron intrinsic excitability increase and synaptic NMDAR subunit composition alteration was required for subsequent learning of the same task. The current study hypothesized that a similar phenomenon occurred in the hippocampus with spatial/contextual learning, and its results support this assertion.

    3. .

      Blocking neuronal excitability or the reactivation of excitable neurons may reduce NMDAR-independent learning, and NMDAR-independent learning may persist over time before eventually disappearing. Recent study results support these assertions.

    4. .

      Two conditions must be met to conclude that hippocampal NMDAR activation is not required for subsequent memory formation: animals must form a new memory during training and not simply generalize from previous experiences, and NMDAR-independent memories must depend on the hippocampus. The current study found that both of these conditions were met, suggesting that hippocampal NMDAR activation is in fact not required for subsequent memory formation.

    5. .

      Hippocampal NMDAR activation is only required for initial memories to be formed, since subsequent memories can be formed in the presence of hippocampal NMDAR antagonists. Prior NMDAR-dependent learning has to be of a similar task for later NMDAR-independent learning to occur.

    6. .

      Some forms of hippocampal LTP that do not require NMDAR activation require the activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) instead. The current study aimed to see if that was the case through the use of bioassays of animal models.

    7. .

      It is possible that initial learning increases intrinsic excitability, which allows subsequently learned information to be encoded by plasticity mechanisms that don't involve the activation of NMDARs. The current study aimed to see if this was the case using bioassays of animal models.

    8. .

      We know from psychology that previous experiences impact how individuals learn, but we don't know much about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this process. This is because we've only been able to experiment in lab settings that may not accurately reflect nature.