sci fi
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If serotonin deficiency isn’t the cause of depression, then why do SSRIs work?
Acetaminophen (a.k.a paracetamol) relieves some types of headache. But this does not mean that these headaches are caused by acetaminophen deficiency. The brain doesn’t even produce acetaminophen. The point of this analogy is to make clear that a medicine can work even if it is not acting on the cause of the symptom. In many cases a medicine can work…
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Less is more? A strange case of improvement in intelligence & personality after removal of prefrontal cortical tissue!
While reading a paper on the neuroscience of dreaming I came across a reference to a 1940 paper by Donald Hebb and Wilder Penfield. It’s a neurosurgery case study that is quite stunning. It shows that in some cases, removal of prefrontal brain tissue can actually cause improvements in intelligence and personality. So basically it’s…
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Why is the brain so sensitive to early life experiences?
I was asked this question on Quora: From an evolutionary standpoint, why would the early years of brain development be paramount in determining life-long neurological patterns, when those patterns can often be detrimental to long-term success in life? Good question. We can restate it as follows: Why would natural selection allow animals to be so…
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Our computational model of visual attention disruptions in schizophrenia
My latest modeling paper has been published in Computational Psychiatry. Visual Attention Deficits in Schizophrenia Can Arise From Inhibitory Dysfunction in Thalamus or Cortex (Open Access!) Here’s the abstract: “Schizophrenia is associated with diverse cognitive deficits, including disorders of attention-related oculomotor behavior. At the structural level, schizophrenia is associated with abnormal inhibitory control in the…