Learning a Second Language Protects Against Alzheimer

Want to protect against the effects of Alzheimer's? Learn another language. That's the takeaway from recent brain research, which shows that bilingual people's brains function better and for longer after developing the disease.

Psychologist Ellen Bialystok and her colleagues at York University in Toronto recently tested about 450 patients who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Half of these patients were bilingual, and half spoke only one language.
While all the patients had similar levels of cognitive impairment, the researchers found that those who were bilingual had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's about four years later, on average, than those who spoke just one language. And the bilingual people reported their symptoms had begun about five years later than those who spoke only one language.

Read more: Learning a Second Language Protects Against Alzheimer's | Boost Memory | Bilingualism | LiveScience

Facial recognition at first glance: Humans and monkeys perceive faces of kin immediately

We meet a multitude of people on a daily basis: the nice waitress in the coffee shop around the corner, the bus driver or the colleagues at the office. Without the ability to recognize faces at first glance we would not be able to distinguish between people. Monkeys also possess the remarkable ability to differentiate faces of group members and to extract the relevant information about the individual directly from the face

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Facial recognition at first glance: Humans and monkeys perceive faces of kin immediately

Face Recognition: The Eyes Have It

Our brain extracts important information for face recognition principally from the eyes, and secondly from the mouth and nose, according to a new study from a researcher at the University of Barcelona. This result was obtained by analyzing several hundred face images in a way similar to that of the brain.

Read more:Face Recognition: The Eyes Have It: "Our brain extracts important information for face recognition principally from the eyes, and secondly from the mouth and nose, according to a new study from a researcher at the University of Barcelona. This result was obtained by analyzing several hundred face images in a way similar to that of the brain."

Brain Region Used In Face Recognition Is Active In New Object Recognition

The brain region critical in face perception is also active when humans become expert in recognizing a set of unknown, novel objects, according to a new study by researchers at Yale University Medical School and Brown University.

Read more:Brain Region Used In Face Recognition Is Active In New Object Recognition

Finding a Face in the Crowd : Discovery News

Tracy Staedter chats with face recognition expert Rob Jenkins, department of psychology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.javascript:void(0)

Finding a Face in the Crowd : Discovery News: "Tracy Staedter chats with face recognition expert Rob Jenkins, department of psychology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland."

The Nose Knows: Two Fixation Points Needed For Face Recognition

Many of us are bad at remembering names but we are very quick to point out that at least we never forget a face. Never mind recognizing a familiar face- how is it that we recognize faces at all? Facial recognition is so automatic that we do not think about how our brain actually perceives a face.

The Nose Knows: Two Fixation Points Needed For Face Recognition

Using LCD projectors for... mind control? | Health Tech - CNET News

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have announced that, using inexpensive components from ordinary liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors, they're able to control both the brains and the muscles of tiny organisms such as worms.
Until now, the field of optogenetics (combining optical and genetic techniques) had been limited to larger animals, with manipulation achieved only by placing optical fibers into animals' brains or illuminating an animal's entire body.
The experiments out of Georgia Tech, however, demonstrate that it's also possible to control brain circuitry using the red, green, and blue lights from a projector. By using these lights to activate light-sensitive microbrial proteins genetically engineered into the organisms, the researchers can switch neurons and muscles on and off.

Read more: Using LCD projectors for... mind control? | Health Tech - CNET News

EEG headset makes surfing brain's waves easier | Health Tech - CNET News

A prototype wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) headset debuts this week at the Medical Device and Manufacturing conference and exhibition in Anaheim, Calif., and European developers IMEC and Holst Centre say it could lead to not just neuro-feedback but improved safety (no more sleeping behind the wheel) and entertainment (real-time video game adjustments based on the user's mood).

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20031102-247.html#ixzz1DTBA03Ga
EEG headset makes surfing brain's waves easier | Health Tech - CNET News

Retina Implant Restores Vision, Lets Cyborgs See IR Spectrum! | Singularity Hub

Scientists in Germany have developed a retina implant to restore vision to the blind that hints at the augmentation cyborgs may receive in the future. The device, developed by Retina Implant AG, is an array of 1500+ photodiodes (roughly 38×40 pixels) that is surgically placed under the retina. Light that enters the eye stimulates the photodiodes which send electric currents through the underlying neurons. In a recent article in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers describe how blind patients (mostly suffering from retinitis pigmentosa) were able to see light and dark areas and discern basic shapes only a week after their surgeries. One man was even able to see the difference between objects, and read large letters! That would be remarkable enough, but implanted patients also reported a sensitivity to infrared light. That’s right, the retina implant could only provide very basic vision, but it did so in an extended spectrum. Cybernetic implants like these may not only be able to restore sight to the blind, they could let them see things that no normal person has ever seen before with their own eyes.

Read more: Retina Implant Restores Vision, Lets Cyborgs See IR Spectrum! | Singularity Hub

Cyborg Professor With Camera on Back of His Head!

Never question the resolve of an artist. First off, they are crazy enough to do anything. More importantly, some of them are secretly cyborgs. NYU Professor Wafaa Bilal announced his intent to install a camera on the back of his head earlier this season, and, true to his word, he is now walking around with the device surgically implanted. Bilal, an Iraq-born artist, has a history of controversial projects aimed at getting audiences to explore the limits and boundaries of society. Now, his backwards facing camera will stream the part of the world he never sees to visitors at the Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar. The art project, entitled “The 3rd I” will go live on December 15th and continue for a year. Take a look at the cybernetic camera and listen to Bilal explain his work in the video from the Associated Press below. Two hours of surgery with nothing but local anesthesia – well, no one said becoming a cyborg (or an artist) was easy.

Read more: Video Of Cyborg Professor With Camera on Back of His Head! | Singularity Hub

Researchers Develop “Brain-Controlled” Wheelchair Robotic Arm | Singularity Hub

Researchers at USF have created a wheelchair with a robotic arm that is operated by capturing the user’s brain waves and converting them into actions, such as typing. This is just another example of a string of recent successes that heralds the coming revolution in brain computer interfaces (BCI) that is steadily underway.

In addition to a BCI controlled robotic arm, the wheelchair also includes a 3-D joy-stick, keypad, and touch screen, demonstrating the increasing versatility and functionality that technology can deliver to the disabled. As pointed out in our recent post about the Immaculate Prosthetic Arm, the day will eventually come when these limbs, tools, and attachments will actually exceed the abilities of normal human physiology. At this point prosthetic arms and wheelchair attachments for the disabled would quickly move into the domain of “normal” people, used to enhance completely normal body parts and functions.

Read more: Researchers Develop “Brain-Controlled” Wheelchair Robotic Arm | Singularity Hub

Functional Boost For Magnetic Resonance Imaging - Science News - redOrbit

Over the last few years, researchers have used a type of brain scanning, known as functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI, to help them map changes in blood flow in the brain and to correlate this with thoughts and behavior. A new way to analyze fMRI data, which could improve is reported in the International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design.

Scientists have known since the 1890s that changes in blood flow and blood oxygenation in the brain (hemodynamics) are correlated with activity in brain cells, neurons. When a neuron is active it needs more energy from glucose and this demand increases blood flow to the regions of the brain where there is more neural activity. This leads to local changes in the relative concentration of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin and changes in local cerebral blood volume and in local cerebral blood flow, which researchers have been measuring using fMRI since the early 1990s. Since then, brain mapping using this relatively non-invasive technique, which also avoids exposure to ionizing radiation has become more and more widely used.

Read more: Functional Boost For Magnetic Resonance Imaging - Science News - redOrbit

Dr. Charles Eric Henry, Pioneer of EEG, Dies at 95 | InteraXon Blog

Just over one month ago, one of the five pioneers of electroencephalography (EEG) passed away at age 95. Dr. Charles Eric Henry had helped standardize the recording, interpretation and reporting of EEG, and actively contributed to clinical and research aspects of the field.

Read more: Dr. Charles Eric Henry, Pioneer of EEG, Dies at 95 | InteraXon Blog

The fusiform face area: a cortical region specialized for the perception of faces

Paper by: Nancy Kanwisher and Galit Yovel. 2006

Faces are among the most important visual stimuli we perceive, informing us not only about a person's identity, but also about their mood, sex, age and direction of gaze. The ability to extract this information within a fraction of a second of viewing a face is important for normal social interactions and has probably played a critical role in the survival of our primate ancestors. Considerable evidence from behavioural, neuropsychological and neurophysiological investigations supports the hypothesis that humans have specialized cognitive and neural mechanisms dedicated to the perception of faces (the face-specificity hypothesis). Here, we review the literature on a region of the human brain that appears to play a key role in face perception, known as the fusiform face area (FFA).

Read more: The fusiform face area: a cortical region specialized for the perception of faces

How It Works - Thought-controlled computing - Interaxon

Your brain generates electrical patterns that resonate outside your head, which accumulate into brainwaves detectable by an Electroencephalograph (EEG). The EEG can't read your thoughts, just your brain's overall pattern of activity, like how relaxed or alert you are. With practice you can learn to manipulate your brainwave pattern, like flexing a muscle you've never used before.

Read more: How It Works - Thought-controlled computing - Interaxon

PLoS ONE: Facilitate Insight by Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation

Our experiences can blind us. Once we have learned to solve problems by one method, we often have difficulties in generating solutions involving a different kind of insight. Yet there is evidence that people with brain lesions are sometimes more resistant to this so-called mental set effect. This inspired us to investigate whether the mental set effect can be reduced by non-invasive brain stimulation. 60 healthy right-handed participants were asked to take an insight problem solving task while receiving transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the anterior temporal lobes (ATL). Only 20% of participants solved an insight problem with sham stimulation (control), whereas 3 times as many participants did so (p = 0.011) with cathodal stimulation (decreased excitability) of the left ATL together with anodal stimulation (increased excitability) of the right ATL. We found hemispheric differences in that a stimulation montage involving the opposite polarities did not facilitate performance. Our findings are consistent with the theory that inhibition to the left ATL can lead to a cognitive style that is less influenced by mental templates and that the right ATL may be associated with insight or novel meaning. Further studies including neurophysiological imaging are needed to elucidate the specific mechanisms leading to the enhancement.

PLoS ONE: Facilitate Insight by Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation

Electric thinking cap? Flash of fresh insight by electrical brain stimulation

Yet another example of futuristic plotlines coming to fruition: New scientific research suggests that by stimulating parts of their brains electrically, people can be induced to think more creatively than they normally do.

Read more: Electric thinking cap? Flash of fresh insight by electrical brain stimulation