Learning to move machines with the mind

Learning to move machines with the mind: "Publication year: 2010
Source: Trends in Neurosciences, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 20 December 2010
Andrea M., Green , John F., Kalaska
Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) extract signals from neural activity to control remote devices ranging from computer cursors to limb-like robots. They show great potential to help patients with severe motor deficits perform everyday tasks without the constant assistance of caregivers. Understanding the neural mechanisms by which subjects use BCI systems could lead to improved designs and provide unique insights into normal motor control and skill acquisition. However, reports vary considerably about how much training is required to use a BCI system, the degree to which performance improves with practice and the underlying neural mechanisms. This review examines these diverse findings, their..."

HDB's first eco-precinct

HDB's first eco-precinct: "SINGAPORE: Singapore's public housing has gone green."

Doctors may have found HIV cure

Doctors may have found HIV cure: "WASHINGTON: An American man is still HIV-free more than three years after receiving a stem cell transplant, suggesting the first-ever cure of the virus that causes AIDS, German doctors said Wednesday."

Ageing study to be done in 3 phases

Great news! Something practical at least...

Ageing study to be done in 3 phases: "SINGAPORE : The five-year study in Marine Parade on ageing, announced by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on Sunday, will be carried out in three phases."

Singapore's salad days are over

Posting in Nature about Singapore's research funding system.
Perhaps one should not blame a country, but bite down and realize that to produce something, one needs to work hard...
But at the same time, the need for and nature of freedom in research is poorly understood in most government and industrial organization, in my opinion.

Singapore's salad days are over

Singapore's salad days are over

Nature 468, 7325 (2010). doi:10.1038/468731a

Uncertainty has replaced confidence as economic reality bites science in the city-state and scientists find that their research funds now come with strings attached.

Goodbye Champaign, IL.

This is for all my friends past and present in Champaign-Urbana, IL. And this is difficult.

It is difficult to say goodbye to you. It means I cannot see you as often as I like. It means that our paths will go separate ways. It means that all the things we've experienced together in the past will be faint memories and I cannot touch them.

This has been and always will be my home. For here is where I have left a part of my heart. That part will very soon split into a hundred pieces, and each go their own way to various parts of the earth. Is this not the most painful thing in the world?

Till we meet again.

Neuroscience: Movement decoded

Neuroscience: Movement decoded: "

Neuroscience: Movement decoded

Nature 466, 534 (2010). doi:10.1038/466534f

J. Neurosci.30, 9659–9669 (2010) 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5443-09.2010Brain signals in monkeys have been decoded and used to reconstruct three-dimensional arm movements, raising the possibility of future neuroprosthetic devices that people who are paralysed could use to control robotic arms for

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Brain-like computing on an organic molecular layer

Brain-like computing on an organic molecular layer: "One big advantage a brain's circuitry has always had over a computer's is its ability to evolve as it tackles complex problems. Now, scientists have created a tiny computing device with a brain-like 'evolutionary circuit.'"

This is really really cool technology.

Reasoning about social conflicts improves into old age [Psychological_And_Cognitive_Sciences-BS]

Reasoning about social conflicts improves into old age [Psychological_And_Cognitive_Sciences-BS]: "It is well documented that aging is associated with cognitive declines in many domains. Yet it is a common lay..."

Aging and wisdom PNAS article just out.

No gain from brain training

"The largest trial to date of "brain-training" computer games suggests that people who use the software to boost their mental skills are likely to be disappointed.

The study, a collaboration between British researchers and the BBC Lab UK web site, recruited viewers of the BBC science program "Bang Goes the Theory" to practice a series of online tasks for a minimum of ten minutes a day, three times a week, for six weeks. [More]"

No one would debate that the transfer of training on a specific task to another is meager. What is a better framework to understand this work, however, may be to ask what kinds of training affect what kinds of cognitive ability. One key may be how abstract a level of processing is involved...

Neural mechanisms of ageing and cognitive decline

Key review article just out in Nature.

Neural mechanisms of ageing and cognitive decline

Nature 464, 529 (2010). doi:10.1038/nature08983

Authors: Nicholas A. Bishop, Tao Lu & Bruce A. Yankner

During the past century, treatments for the diseases of youth and middle age have helped raise life expectancy significantly. However, cognitive decline has emerged as one of the greatest health threats of old age, with nearly 50% of adults over the age of 85 afflicted ...

Two views of brain function

Two views of brain function:

Publication year: 2010
Source: Trends in Cognitive Sciences, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 4 March 2010
Marcus E., Raichle

Traditionally studies of brain function have focused on task-evoked responses. By their very nature, such experiments tacitly encourage a reflexive view of brain function. Although such an approach has been remarkably productive, it ignores the alternative possibility that brain functions are mainly intrinsic, involving information processing for interpreting, responding to and predicting environmental demands. Here I argue that the latter view best captures the essence of brain function, a position that accords well with the allocation of the brain's energy resources. Recognizing the importance of intrinsic activity will require integrating knowledge from cognitive and systems neuroscience with cellular and molecular..."

A New Spin on Conductivity: Electric Signals Can Propagate through an Insulator

Possible inorganic myelin sheath?

A New Spin on Conductivity: Electric Signals Can Propagate through an Insulator:

An electric insulator, in the simplest terms, blocks the flow of electric current. So it would be a bit counterintuitive, to say the least, if a current on one side of an insulator could produce voltage on the other. [More]

Reduced Neural Selectivity Increases fMRI Adaptation with Age during Face Discrimination

Key project finally published! This took quite a while, but it was worth it.

[Link to article if you have journal access]
[Link to Pubmed abstract access]

By Joshua O., Goh , Atsunobu, Suzuki , Denise C., Park
Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA; Center for Vital Longevity, University of Texas, Dallas, TX, USA.

Ventral-visual activity in older adults has been characterized by dedifferentiation, or reduced distinctiveness, of responses to different categories of visual stimuli such as faces and houses, that typically elicit highly specialized responses in the fusiform and parahippocampal brain regions respectively in young adults (Park et al., 2004). In the present study, we demonstrate that age-related neural dedifferentiation applies to within-category stimuli (different types of faces) as well, such that older adults process less distinctive representations for individual faces than young adults. We performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation experiment while young and older participants made same-different judgments to serially presented face-pairs that were Identical, Moderate in similarity through morphing, or Different. As expected, older adults showed adaptation in the fusiform face area (FFA), during the Identical as well as the Moderate conditions relative to the Different condition. Young adults showed adaptation during the Identical condition, but minimal adaptation to the Moderate condition. These results indicate that older adults' FFA treated the morphed faces as Identical faces, reflecting decreased fidelity of neural representation of faces with age.

NeuroImage, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 6 February 2010

Origami and the Brain

Origami. The art of folding paper into shapes using a single sheet of paper without tearing or cutting. Perhaps, at an abstract level, this may be likened to what our brains do. We have one brain. We can't make big changes to it, like take one part of the brain and manually "connect" it to another part of the brain. Rather, we have to work within the limits of certain neural connection rules to establish a certain way to get to an end state.

For example, some rules may be related to the fact that our neurons have many short range local connections with neighboring neurons, as well as, some long range connections to more distant groups of neurons. Establishing and pruning these connections is dependent on time and stimulation from external as well as internal events. These events can be cognitive or biological or physical (e.g. the intention to retrieve a memory, or some neurotransmitter regulation, or some visual energy input, respectively). Within this system, our brains try to represent external information, and to generate certain actions or responses.

In a similar manner, in origami, each fold is like an imprint of an event that happens. The effect of folding, however, is limited by the thickness, elasticity, and size of the paper, as well as the force of the folding. Folding could be a sharp strong crease, a light depression, or a curve. Folding also occurs along specific lines or regions on the paper at a time. Finally, folding has temporal order. Through a combination of these factors, the paper encodes what forces have been exerted on it, and represents all of that in a particular physical form. The end state.

The end state maybe be a meaningful shape, or it may have a meaningful function. We can transform a simple piece of paper into a form of a crane, or a box, or a really complex shape (origami experts have been able to do wonders!). We can even use the tension inherent in the folded paper as a spring with tremendous kinetic energy when released. We can also use folding to allow a large piece of material that ordinarily would not fit in specific area to conform to the shape and therefore fit in the area.

Likewise, the brain performs an interesting function in incorporating sensory information from the physical world and representing all the rich material within a single piece of organic tissue. This "folding" of information from one state to another may be a framework to understand neural function.

Consider that we can quantify the physical forces and characteristics of a piece of paper and its folds. Based on low level parameters, we can then determine what the origami will look like, what it can do, what properties its resulting form maintains. Applying a similar method to parameterize neural function may allow us to better describe how the properties of the brain relate to cognition and behavior. For example, the ease with which a paper folds may be dependent on the thickness of the paper (for a given material elasticity/rigidity/brittleness). This will in turn determine how much force must be applied to the paper to achieve a fold of a certain angle. In the same way, one property of the brain may be how strong the connections in a certain neuronal region may be. The stronger the connections, the easier it may be for a signal in one region to affect the activity in another. Another case in point, the brain maintains a certain level to generate new neurons in key parts of the cortex. Neurogenesis is known to occur even in late adulthood in the hippocampus and the peri-ventricular walls. Importantly, recent studies have shown that neurogenesis may be helpful in overcoming drug addiction. A possible mechanism might be that the new neurons enable the brain to represent existing addiction behaviors (information "folding"), in a new way that discourages addiction [link to relevant post]. Moreover, it is possible that different individuals have different rates, or ability, of neurogenesis, and external events or neurochemical interventions may also encourage neurogenesis. It is this rate of neurogenesis that might be a candidate parameter that determines how much a particular brain can fold.

Of course, this is all analogical. There is no necessary association between paper and brain. But, this presents an interesting way to approach the problem of quantifying brain function. Paper folding has been applied to several interesting real life problems. For example, the folding of solar-energy panels into a satellite so that large plates fit into a small structure for launching, and unfold in space to achieve maximum surface area for efficient energy collection. In addition, protein folding occurs according to the electro-chemical forces at the molecular level. Paper folding has been applied to understanding and even manipulating these forces to make protein molecules that achieve specific helpful biomolecular functions. Here's an example of applying origami to practical problem from an MIT group [link].

After all, the reason why origami is meaningful, is because we perceive cranes in a few simple folds.

The Automation of Science

Article from Science:

[REPORTS] The Automation of Science
"A robot scientist discovers orphan enzymes that take part in yeast metabolism."

This was published a while ago. But it may be worth mentioning because it could be the pivotal moment in AI.

Increasing neurogenesis might prevent drug addiction and relapse

Article from ScienceDaily:

Increasing neurogenesis might prevent drug addiction and relapse
"Researchers hope they have begun paving a new pathway in the fight against drug dependence."

This makes computational sense. Adding new neurons creates the possibility of forming new inhibitory connections, as well as de-potentiating the strength, or contribution, of existing ones. Such predifferentiated neurons serve as fresh unwritten computational space for which new behaviors and cognitions can be learned. In addition, old pathways which have been entrained and which are hard to change (because of prolonged experience or intensity) can have their effects counterbalanced.

Boston 2009

Click here to view these pictures larger

New Year Thoughts

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

"No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

"If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also."

1 John 4:7-21

How difficult it is to love! How easy it is to know we have to do it, to say it. But it is next to impossible to do it. John gives a good reminder that inspires and defines for us what life we should be living. If we chase after anything, it should be love. For God is love. This is the contemplation on the eve of 2009.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.