Mind is the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination, including all unconscious cognitive processes. Mind manifests itself subjectively as a stream of consciousness. Neuroanatomists usually consider the brain to be the pivotal unit of what we refer to as mind. The Human Brain tricks us whenever it can. You don’t actually see what it is in real or you don’t even actually hear or smell the way it should be. Here is the time to play trick with the human brain. I assure here, trying them is completely safe.
Read and experience the entire list at: SmashingLists.com
Henry Markram is leading the Blue Brain Project, which hopes to create a realistic digital 3D model of the whole human brain within the next 10 years. (The simulation promises to do all the things that real human brains can do, including consciousness.) He’s done a proof of concept by modeling half of a rodent brain. Now he’s scaling up the project to reach a human brain.
But why? It’s essential to understand the brain for us to get along in society. We can’t keep doing animal experimentation forever. We have to embody our data in a working digital model. We need better medicines that are more specific, more concrete, more precise. (Also, it’s just fascinating.)
Markram, for the first time, shares how he is addressing one theory of how the brain works. The theory is that the brain “builds” a version of the universe and projects this version, like a bubble, all around us. But Markram says we can directly address this philosophical question with science. Anesthetics don’t work by blocking receptors. They introduce a noise into the brain to confuse the neurons to prevent you from making “decisions.” You must make decisions to perceive anything. 99% of what you see in a room is not what comes in through the eyes — it’s what you infer about that room. (Read more at TEDBlog)
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{Photography by Jurvetson}
The idea that the human brain sees tools as an extension of the body is an old one. Now scientists have some proof that it’s true.
Tool use is not entirely unique to humans, but the efficient use of a wide range of tools is a key skill separating us from other animals. Researchers have long thought that when we use a tool, even for just a few minutes, it changes the way our brain represents the size of our body; the tool becomes a part of what is known in psychology as our body schema.
In the new study, researchers reasoned that if one incorporates a used tool into the body schema, his or her subsequent bodily movements should differ when compared to those performed before the tool was used.
Indeed, that is exactly what they saw.
After using a mechanical grabber that extended their reach, people behaved as though their arm really was longer, they found.
It’s a phenomenon each of us unconsciously experiences every day, the researchers said. The reason you were able to brush your teeth this morning without necessarily looking at your mouth or arm is because your toothbrush was integrated into your brain’s representation of your arm. (Read more at: Live Science)
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{Photography by Tim Snell}
