History of the Brain: A New BBC Radio Series

Do you like British accents?  Do you like learning about the brain?  How about history?  If so, I've found something you will probably like.  I was reading a blog over at "Advances in the History of Psychology" and they have a post about a new BBC Radio 4 show about the history of the brain.  Check out their post here.

The BBC 4 Radio Site
Episode 1--A Hole in the Head

If you explore the site, there are also other links to some great brain education items.

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Infant Brains and Teenage Brains--Two New Articles

This weekend has been a boon for neuroscience articles.  Below are a couple of articles that we could use in our classes related to development and the human brain.

1)  National Geographic--The Teenage Brain

Printable version of the article
The article begins by asking rhetorical questions about our teens and their decision making process.  The article also deals with a cross-cultural/historical mention of adolescence and its tempering effect on behavior.  The article includes an excellent overview of brain development, including myelination.  Very nice article--but what else would one expect from National Geographic.


2)  The second article comes from NPR--the article describes a book and interview with the authors of Welcome to Your Child's Brain with an article entitled "How to Help Your Child's Brain Grow Up Strong."


The NPR article also discusses brain development, but highlights what infants are capable of which is considerably more than previously thought.  Help a child develop self-control is a highlight of both the book and article. It's another good read.  Also, in the left column of the article are links to other brain books and authors.


posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Migraines

At some point every semester, one or more students will ask, "what causes headaches?" and/or "what causes migraines?"  I usually pull out one of my posters that are not already on the wall about the topic (the second edition is to the right--my poster is the first edition from anatomical.com http://www.anatomical.com/product.asp?pn=9780781776592).  Most texts that I've seen rarely deal with the subject since it's more medical than psychological.

Today, while on facebook, PBS offered this little article about migraines.  It also had a wonderful little graphic--I love how artists are increasingly making incredible looking graphics related to the body and brain.

Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Neuroscientist David Eagleman on Colbert Report on 7/21/11

I was catching up on some television watching when I discovered this little nugget.  Dr. David Eagleman has written the book, Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain which examines the various processes that occur without the conscious mind being aware.  The reviews on Amazon are mixed, but for those of us who are not in the neuroscience field, it could be a good read.  In the interview, he comes across as a younger, cool, hip and bright neuroscientist.  He does not come off all like the stereotypical stodgy scientist image.  It's a short, fun interview.  Who knows, it may just make a student interested in the brain.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
David Eagleman
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

National Geographics Brain Page

Believe it or not, the National Geographic has part of their website devoted to the human body. I (Kent) will leave the sections on the digestive system, heart, skin and lungs to our colleagues in biology and concentrate on the section devoted to the brain. Go to http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/brain-article.html for more information.

In addition, make sure to check out a short, but fantastic slide show at http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/photos/brain/?source=A-to-Z as well as an article on sleep deprivation in rats at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/04/110427-sleep-deprived-brains-nature-science-health-rat-asleep-awake/

Brain Scans as Art

Thanks to Eric Chudler over at Neuroscience for Kids for this find.

The artist, Elizabeth Jameson has taken brain scans and made art from them.  Check out her work here.

posted by Chuck Schallhorn

The Human Brain Book by Rita Carter

I've been able to purchase and read several books this past spring and summer.  I will be posting about several of them.  The first summer review is The Human Brain Book by Rita Carter (the subtitle is "An illustrated guide to its structure, function, and disorders).  The book makes for not just a great coffee table book (it's over sized), but also includes a DVD that has some additional features one can use in class. The publisher is D/K, the wonderful publishers whose books are among my favorites.



Oh, how I wish I had a book like this when I began teaching psychology.  From a visual learner's point of view, this book hits the jackpot. It begins with a history of studying the brain, landmarks in neuroscience and photos of a series of brain scans.  You know all those pesky little questions that your students ask, but you're not sure of the answer because your neuroscience course was 20+ years ago and the images (I mean drawings) were in black and white?  This book has those answers.  There are 70+ pages of pictures and explanations of brain anatomy (all the parts, not just the ones in our texts), brain zones, neurons, and research to satisfy the best of us. 

This book has a chapter on the senses, one on movement and control, emotions and feelings, the social brain, language and communication, memory, thinking, consciousness, the individual brain, development and aging, and concludes with diseases and disorders.

Although I have not read every word on every page, just for the illustrations, I am giving this book my highest recommendation.  It is a must for every psychology class.  Order by clicking below.  You will not be disappointed.





Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Falling in and Out of Love

One of the daily emails I receive is called Delancey Place.com.   Each day, an excerpt from a book or magazine is highlighted--the topics vary widely.  This week, they are doing a series on love.  Every semester, my students ask me about falling in and out of love.  I know have my answer thanks to this find from  Delancey Place.  Here is the excerpt:

12/28/09 to 1/1/10: The Delanceyplace.com Week of Love!!!

In today's encore excerpt - the neural and chemical basis of love. Why doesn't passionate love last? - because we develop a chemical tolerance:

"Anthropologist Helen Fisher ... has devoted much of her career to studying the biochemical pathways of love in all its manifestations: lust, romance, attachment, the way they wax and wane ... [In her studies] when each subject looked at his or her loved one, the parts of the brain linked to reward and pleasure - the ventral tegmental area and the caudate nucleus - lit up. ... Love lights up the caudate nucleus because it is home to a dense spread of receptors for a neurotransmitter called dopamine ... which creates intense energy, exhilaration, focused attention ... [thus] love makes you bold, makes you bright, makes you run real risks, which you sometimes survive, and sometimes you don't. ...

"Researchers have long hypothesized that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have a serotonin 'imbalance.' Drugs like Prozac seem to alleviate OCD by increasing the amount of this neurotransmitter available at the juncture between neurons. [Researchers] compared the lover's serotonin levels with those from the OCD group and another group who were free from both passion and mental illness. Levels of serotonin in both the obsessives' blood and the lovers' blood were 40 percent lower than those in normal subjects. ... Translation: Love and mental illness may be difficult to tell apart. ...

"Why doesn't passionate love last? ... Biologically speaking, the reasons romantic love fades may be found in the way our brains respond to the surge and pulse of dopamine ... cocaine users describe the phenomenon of tolerance: the brain adapts to the excessive input of the drug ... From a physiological point of view, [couples move] from the dopamine-drenched state of romantic love to the relative quiet of the oxytocin-induced attachment. Oxytocin is a hormone that promotes a feeling of connection, bonding."

Lauren Slater, "Love: The Chemical Reaction," National Geographic, February 2006, pp. 35-45

Broca's Area, Speech, and Wires in the Brain

Wires in the Human Brain Reveal Speech Surprise. That was the title of this article from Wired magazine. The article begins this way:

A rare set of high-resolution readouts taken directly from the wired-in brains of epileptics has provided an unprecedented look at how the brain processes language.

Though only a glimpse, it was enough to show that part of the brain’s language center handles multiple tasks, rather than one.

“If the same part of the brain does different things at different times, that’s a thunderously complex level of organization,” said Ned Sahin, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego.

The reality now is that as teachers of psychology, we oversimplify many ideas when it comes to brain parts and their respective functions. This article contains more insights into the complexity and a reminder to us that we need to keep asking questions and allowing for the scientific idea of "I don't know" and "this is what we know so far, but more is always being investigated and learned." Of course, that is one reason I love psychology--things are always changing--I kinda like that uncertainty.