Lessons In Survival Morgan's research—the first of its kind—produced some fascinating findings about who does the best job resisting the interrogators and who stays focused and clearheaded despite the uncontrollable fear. Morgan looked at two different groups going through this training: regular Army troops like infantrymen, and elite Special Forces soldiers, who are known to be especially "stress hardy" or cool under pressure. At the start or base line, the two groups were essentially the same, but once the stress began, and afterward, there were significant differences. Specifically, the two groups released very different amounts of a chemical in the brain called neuropeptide Y. NPY is an abundant amino acid in our bodies that helps regulate our blood pressure, appetite, learning and memory. It also works as a natural tranquilizer, controlling anxiety and buffering the effects of stress hormones like norepenephrine, one of the chemicals that most of us simply call adrenaline. In essence, NPY is one of the fire hoses that your brain uses to extinguish your alarm and fear responses by keeping the frontal-lobe parts of your brain working longer under stress The science is cool, but reading about the SEAL training was freaky.
One of the stumbling blocks with regards to creating a true conscious machine is that the way silicon chips are designed makes them perform inherently different than neurons. Researchers at IBM are working on designing a system from the ground up that would emulate how the human brain is put together. Not just try to make silicon “think” but to first reverse engineer the architecture, then institute the method of thought. In what could be one of the most ambitious computing projects ever, neuroscientists, computer engineers and psychologists are coming together in a bid to create an entirely new computing architecture that can simulate the brain's abilities for perception, interaction and cognition. All that, while being small enough to fit into a lunch box and consuming extremely small amounts of power. read the whole thing: Cognitive Computing Project Aims to Reverse-Engineer the Mind
Fascinating interview with Daniel Tammet the Savant. He who can sit down and recite Pi to 22 thousand places. LEHRER: How were you able to recite from memory the first 22,514 numbers of Pi? And do you have advice for people looking to improve their own memory? TAMMET: As I have already mentioned, numbers to me have their own shapes, colors and textures. Various studies have long demonstrated that being able to visualize information makes it easier to remember. In addition, my number shapes are semantically meaningful, which is to say that I am able to visualize their relationship to other numbers. A simple example would be the number 37, which is lumpy like oatmeal, and 111 which is similarly lumpy but also round like the number three (being 37 x 3). Where you might see an endless string of random digits when looking at the decimals of Pi, my mind is able to “chunk” groups of these numbers spontaneously into meaningful visual images that constitute their own hierarchy of associations. There is a striking BBC show that went in depth with Daniel on his capabilities and his most unusual characteristic, which is his normalcy. Most Savants are prefaced with the word idiot: "idiot savant". Meaning they have strengths in specific areas of intelligence at the expense of others, often leaving them debilitated and unable to function normally in society. Daniel has no (or very little) debilitating issues. See video here: Savant: The boy who saw numbers
TechRivet has previously posted about the Blue Brain project here: Reverse Engineering the Brain - IBM's Blue Brain Project. Here is another in depth article illustrating how they have been able to achieve so much: Out of the Blue Some key points: According to Markram, the patch clamp robot helped the Blue Brain team redo 30 years of research in six months. By analyzing the genetic expression of real rat neurons, the scientists could then start to integrate these details into the model. They were able to construct a precise map of ion channels, figuring out which cell types had which kind of ion channel and in what density. This new knowledge was then plugged into Blue Brain, allowing the supercomputer to accurately simulate any neuron anywhere in the neocortical column. "The simulation is getting to the point," Schürmann says, "where it gives us better results than an actual experiment. We get the same data, but with less noise and human error." The model, in other words, has exceeded its own inputs. The virtual neurons are more real than reality. Fascinating. Essentially Dr. Markram and his cohorts are getting to the point that they can replicate this small section of a rats brain in a supercomputer accurately and dynamically. Go read the whole thing.
tags: [ AI | brain | science]
 I've read enough Kurzweil by now to never place a limit on the curiosity, ingenuity and persistence of humans. Here is a lecture by Henry Markram talking about the IBM Blue Brain project wherein he describes the remarkable mapping and simulation of the brain that they've been able to achieve recently with the power of supercomputers.
This is the direct result of Moore's law and the inexpensiveness of powerful computers brought to bear upon unimaginably complex problems such as unraveling the workings of the brain. What they have been able to do comes down to this. These researchers now have the ability to model tens of thousands simulated neurons at a click of a button where it used to take months to model a neuron by manual process. So what you say, it is still just a model. They are using an iterative model. Comparing how the simulated neurons behave as compared to actual behavior of neurons. And then refining the model to become more accurate. This is a long lecture with a LOT of information within it. Bottom line as far as I can glean: - There has been lots of progress on understanding how the brain works.
- The power of computers will revolutionize how fast this research moves forward (in much the same way mapping the genome went)
- Researchers such as Dr. Markram. are far closer to understanding how the brains wiring works than I had thought.
Hat Tip: Direct Neural Interface
 This is very cool.
For the Brain, Remembering Is Like Reliving Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but also, in part, how the brain is able to recreate it. For those of you that still doubt that the brain will open up its mysteries to us I need to ask you just one question: When was the last time in the history of mankind that we have been able to listen to individual neurons and accurately determine the cause of their firing? Though it did not address this longer-term process, the new study suggests that at least some of the neurons that fire when a distant memory comes to mind are those that were most active back when it happened, however long ago that was.
http://www.livescience.com/culture/080811-brain-evolution.html The conjecture goes like this: because we learned to cook our food, humans were able to get more and better calories than our raw food eating cousins thus spurring a leap of cognitive ability. In most animals, the gut needs a lot of energy to grind out nourishment from food sources. But cooking, by breaking down fibers and making nutrients more readily available, is a way of processing food outside the body. Eating (mostly) cooked meals would have lessened the energy needs of our digestion systems, Khaitovich explained, thereby freeing up calories for our brains. Makes intuitive sense.
There are two primary ancient elixirs of the ancients the elixir of life and an authentic aphrodisiac. We have seen the creation of an authentic aphrodisiac in niagra are we on the verge of seeing the other? Alzeimers has been apparently a cured. The trial was a Phase 2 study, which checks the safety and efficacy of the drug, but if a large-scale Phase 3 trial due next year repeats the findings, the drug could be available for prescribing by 2012. This is remarkable. Patients with the brain disorder had no significant decline in their mental function over a 19-month period.
 Very comprehensive review of the capabilities of this Neural Impulse Actuator device.
Review :: OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator Reading through the review it appears that a lot of the control comes from the headband interpreting facial muscle movements. There appears to be more bio-feedback type of signal receptors on the device but the reviewers struggled to make that portion work. The review will be updated over the next month as they have handed the N.I.A. off to one of their testers to get fully immersed in the use of the headband. the nia has now been passed over to our Gaming/Software reviewer - Chris Buer for a full month of testing with weekly updates. These updates will be posted as additional pages in this review, so be sure to check back on a weekly basis or register over on our forums for an automatic update on when new content is added to the review. I'll check back later. Here's the homepage of OCZ: OCZtechnology.com And a brief description of what the device tracks from the site: The biopotentials include electro-myogram, electro-encephalogram and electro-oculogram, that is, electrical signals that are generated by activity patterns in muscles, brain, and eyes, respectively.
We did this in a marketing class for my MBA last fall. It is pretty neat. I can tell you that you will fail and you can do nothing about it. We'll talk about it in the comments.
 Mind-Reading Game Headset to Hit Market
Brain computer interface is coming. And it's coming fast. There are several companies set to hit the market with products over the next couple of years: Emotiv and NeuroSky. Both of these products are focusing on the gaming market segment to begin with. There they have a ready customer, willing to spend money on accessories, looking for new gadgets and typically younger, typically male. If done correctly the experience gained from entering that market could lay the groundwork for many other segments: quadraplegics, fighter pilots, surgeons, artists, equipment operators, data/security experts. Eventually how about an everyday person in a wired world...
Paralyzed man's mind is 'read' Eric Ramsay can only "speak" by moving his eyes. Now scientists and doctors are on the verge of being able to interpret his brain signals as speach... "We have been moving towards decoding primitive vocabulary for a while now. But this is certainly an interesting development, although invasive techniques, where something is out in someone's brain, such as these will of course carry risks." This is remarkable. The forefront of Brain Computer Interface. This is not a completed interface but the doctors and scientists involved believe they are getting close.
 This segues nicely from the post I wrote yesterday: Will Wetware result in Telepathy?.
CNet News: [linky] This is not necessarily a new invention but more of an INDUSTRY STANDARD. This will hopefully allow for faster research in specific areas of brain computer interface. Other researchers can focus on solving specific problems, they can use the MIT standard interface algorithm for the communication layer. Fascinating. MIT press release: [linky] Key point: Until now, researchers working on brain prosthetics have used different algorithms depending on what method they were using to measure brain activity. The new model is applicable no matter what measurement technique is used, according to Srinivasan. "We don't need to reinvent a new paradigm for each modality or brain region," he said. Journal of Neurophysiology, the research is due to be published in October: [linky]
techRivet.com has been trying to stay on top of the whole Brain Computer Interface [BCI] technologies for awhile now. [here]
We've even talked about NeuroSky themselves and their almost-ready-for-consumer BCI unit.
Now we can see it in action
The games look somewhat basic at the moment, but give it time. If it is anything like the Wii controller and how fast people are adapting and mod-ing its uses...well it might be an interesting phase of computer interface development coming up.
Can we understand how the brain works?
What is our intuitive underlying assumption about brain that is incorrect?
Take a watch and find out.
This is fascinating. Using the tongue as the interface with the brain for Brain Computer Interface (BCI). Cool idea.
Lotsa nerve endings, very sensitive, can discern pixels up to 64k...with some training this could be very interesting. And if they can work with the taste buds you could flavor colors...
a growing body of research indicates that the tongue may in fact be the second-best place on the body for receiving visual information from the world and transmitting it to the brain.
[linky]
So. Some stroke victims that have experienced paralysis on one side of their body experience something called "anosognosia". They believe that the paralyzed limb attached to their body does not belong to them.
In fact, fibers in the motor cortex on the right side of her brain, which controls movement on her left side, have been irreparably damaged by the stroke, and she will never use her left arm again. But Mrs. M. is not a stubborn old woman refusing to admit a difficult truth. A few minutes later Mrs. M. looks at her left hand, resting inertly in her lap.
Doctor, she asks, whose hand is this?
Whose hand do you think it is?
Well, it certainly isn’t mine!
Then whose is it?
It is my son’s hand, Doctor.
They honestly, completely, consciously deny the fact that the paralyzed limb belongs to them.
This article is fascinating if a bit long: The Brain That Misplaced Its Body
Should we design our AI to be weird too?
A tangential discussion can be raised around the attempt to create "hard" AI. There a lot of people that think we are on the verge of creating AI. I know, I know it's been talked about for decades but you must admit, there is compelling facts of computer speed and memory size that are providing some merit behind the discussion.
Well what if one of the key features of our intelligence is the plain weirdness of the architecture and structure of the human brain. What if all the randomness and madness is a necessary "razors edge" that's needed to achieve consciousness and intelligence?
Can we architecture weirdness into a design? Can logical computer scientists plan for all this fuzzy logic?
Can they make an AI doubt the existence of its limbs?
Give yourself some time to read this or even print it off. It's a philosophical thought exercise made modern and "plausible" (ok maybe not).
Where Am I?
What if your brain could be removed safely and radio circuitry of some complexity implanted as the conduit with your body? Where are "you"? Are you where your senses are? or where your consciousness is?
I decided that good old Yorick deserved a visit. I and my new body, whom we might as well call Fortinbras, strode into the familiar lab to another round of applause from the technicians, who were of course congratulating themselves, not me. Once more I stood before the vat and contemplated poor Yorick, and on a whim I once again cavalierly flicked off the output transmitter switch. Imagine my surprise when nothing unusual happened. No fainting spell, no nausea, no noticeable change. A technician hurried to restore the switch to ON, but still I felt nothing.
I demanded an explanation, which the project director hastened to provide. It seems that before they had even operated on the first occasion, they had constructed a computer duplicate of my brain, reproducing both the complete information-processing structure and the computational speed of my brain in a giant computer program. After the operation, but before they had dared to send me off on my mission to Oklahoma, they had run this computer system and Yorick side by side. The incoming signals from Hamlet were sent simultaneously to Yorick's transceivers and to the computer's array of inputs. And the outputs from Yorick were not only beamed back to Hamlet, my body; they were recorded and checked against the simultaneous output of the computer program, which was called “Hubert” for reasons obscure to me. Over days and even weeks, the outputs were identical and synchronous, which of course did not prove that they had succeeded in copying the brain's functional structure, but the empirical support was greatly encouraging.
A fun read.
<<< Older Stuff Yo!
|
|
Total Posts: 716
This Year: 4
This Month: 0
This Week: 0
Comments: 0
Sign In
|