Computational neuroscience

According to Solso (2008), artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that uses programs to enhance cognitive functions. Pattern-recognition uses previous experience to identify a pattern accurately. Pattern-recognition through artificial intelligence is an area being explored at an extraordinary rate. Through the use of experiments using mouse brains and three data sets that consider neural networking for pattern recognition is not so far away. In the study presented by Zeng (2015), mice brains were analyzed for the gene expression patterns. This study used the Allen Developing Mouse Brain Atlas (ADA) and Allen Developing Mouse Brain Reference Atlas (ARA) along with in-situ hybridization (ISH) gene expression patterns in different stages of development of the brain. The first goal was to identify if a gene expression was detectable in a detailed structure. If found to be there, said gene expression was noted using pattern, intensity and density matrix. If the said gene was not present, it was labeled as “undetected” for the above metrics (Zeng, 2015). To execute and have a reliable study the use of four data sets, one for each developmental stage was used. Each of these data sets contained 2,000 gene expression. Pattern, density and intensity were the metrics used to identify different parts of gene expression. To counter an imbalance, a more concise identification set was considered, where one may continue to the undetected category, and the other…

skills and get ready for graduate-level research in neuroscience. To investigate this field thoroughly, I have spent my 4-year undergraduate study taking a large number of brain-related courses across departments, work on interdisciplinary research in diverse fields, and attend international conferences and summer programs globally. Yet, being a foreigner in the Korean society makes it fairly exhausting due to the language barrier and partiality. A significant portion of classes are conducted…

The seminar was entitled “Towards a Culturally Informed Social Neuroscience: How Computer Science can Help Untangle Relationships Between Culture, Brain and Health” and was given by Dr. Elizabeth Losin. Dr Losin, is a faculty member in the psychology department and the director of the social and cultural neuroscience lab at UM. The purpose of the seminar was to illustrate the importance of computational methods in the sociocultural neuroscience field. As Dr. Losin explains, advanced…

Engineering is a complex process of solving, and then designing ways to solve problems in the human body using medicines or technology to improve humanities overall health. More specifically, Biomedical Neural Engineers, or neuroengineers, works with comprehending, improving, enhancing, and restoring parts of the nervous system. I chose this type of engineer because they focus on the electrical impulses that control the human body, including the brain, and how we can make them superior. There…

The memory works in a process of three stages- encoding, storage and retrieval. This enables humans to learn new material, store the material and then retrieve and extract it at a later date when necessary (Eysenck & Keane, 2010). However, many psychologists have researched the effect of emotion on these stages of memory processing. Many have been interested in the idea of emotion affecting the ability to accurately retrieve past events due to many alternating factors. Some argue that matching…

Introduction This report is going to study the differences between orthodox medicine and complementary therapies for the treatments of conditions that affect different systems of the body. Next, the attitudes of the population towards complementary therapies will be analysed, as well as their psychological effects and contra-indications. The sources of information that claim the benefits of complementary therapies will be evaluated to know their reliability. Finally, it is going to be evaluated…

began during an independent research project in the second year of my master’s degree at Bangalore University. I was in awe when I realized how extraordinarily complex the neural mechanisms that support memory formation are and yet these profound neural events may be “undone” if the memories are not retrieved. Furthermore, I learned that memories can be embedded in chains, or “engrams”, composed of antecedent and subsequent events and may lack specific retrieval ‘checkpoints’. Despite having…

Building New Pathways In The Brain It was once commonly accepted that a person’s brain ceased to change after reaching adulthood. Science believed that each part of the brain had its own specific function, and if a certain part was completely damaged, nothing could be done about it. This led to a belief that treatment for many brain conditions was impractical and unjustified, or that even changing our character was unfeasible. But new discoveries in neuroscience have shown that the brain is…

In author Matthew Lieberman’s “Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect,” he expounds on his research in social neuroscience, where he reveals how essential our need to interact and connect with others around us is and the role that the lack of social interaction is playing in our everyday lives. He goes on to explain that this need to be social is as, if not more, important as our physiological needs, such as food, water, and shelter. Lieberman uses various forms of data collected from…

Dreams can be seen as a trip into a fantasy, to relax, or even allow your unconscious to go through with fantasies that your conscious mind may not accept. Yet, sometimes dreams can be terrifying; they can leave you without any idea if what you are seeing is fantasy or reality. I remember, since childhood, of being told, ‘if you punch yourself and don’t feel pain then you’re sleeping’. But what if you pinch yourself and feel it; “...pain can be found in dreams and, thus, the saying that pitching…