Neurofrontiers

Echoes of memory: A conversation beyond the lab - Neurofrontiers Interview with Prof. Matthew Larkum

“Memory becomes nothing less than the expectations you have on the basis of prior experiences.” What does that mean for how we understand learning, identity, and the future? Find out in my conversation with Prof. Matthew Larkum. Available in English, German, and Romanian (links below).
#neuroskyence

Echoes of memory: A conversation beyond the lab - Neurofrontiers Interview with Prof. Matthew Larkum

🇬🇧 neurofrontiers.blog/echoes-of-me...
🇩🇪 neurofrontiers.blog/de/echos-der...
🇷🇴 neurofrontiers.blog/ro/ecouri-al...

Echoes of memory: A conversation beyond the lab - Neurofrontiers Interview with Prof. Matthew Larkum

“Memory becomes nothing less than the expectations you have on the basis of prior experiences.” What does that mean for how we understand learning, identity, and the future? Find out in my conversation with Prof. Matthew Larkum. Available in English, German, and Romanian (links below).
#neuroskyence

Consistently sleeping against your natural chronotype can have detrimental effects on health. Disrupting your body’s internal clock may increase the risk of sleep disorders, cardiovascular disease, metabolic issues, and even depression. 2/2
#neuroskyence #chronotype #sleep #NightOwl #EarlyBird

Day 16: Similar to sleep length, your chronotype, i.e. whether you’re a night owl or an early bird, is also influenced by your genes. Chronotypes are distributed on a spectrum: most people fall somewhere in the middle, with a few toward the extremes. 1/2

The Mere Presence of a Cell Phone May be Distracting: Implications for Attention and Task Performance: Social Psychology: Vol 45, No 6

Sure! econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/...

I originally found it from this review, maybe that’s also interesting: www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

And as if that weren’t luck enough, it seems that people with this trait might also be protected against neurodegenerative disorders, such as dementia.

#neuroskyence #sleep #biology #brain #genetics

And then there’s the really lucky ones. If you ever met someone who’s fully functional after only 5 hours of sleep and thought “man, they must’ve won the genetic lottery”, you were right. This extreme trait is determined by a handful of genes and is known as “familial natural short sleep”.

Day 15: The amount of sleep you need is influenced by your genes. For the majority of the population, sleep length is highly polygenic, meaning that a lot of genes each contribute a little bit to determine how much one individual needs.

#Lithuanian is growing again! Thanks to Simona Mačiulaitytė, four more articles are now available in this language. You can find them all here:
neurofrontiers.blog/lt/lietuvisk...

#lietuviškai #neuroskyence #accessibility #multilingual #language #skyence #translation

- the “one brain rhythm - one function” idea: oscillations like theta, alpha, and gamma have been linked to many behaviors, but there’s rarely a unique match. Rhythms seem to support general organizing principles that get reused across many cognitive and behavioral processes. 4/4
#neuroskyence

- the “one brain area - one function” idea: while some brain regions are more involved in certain functions, the brain operates as a network. Functions are distributed, flexible, and often supported by overlapping regions depending on the task, context, and individual experience. 3/4

Some examples:
- the “one gene - one psychiatric disorder” model: it turns out psychiatric disorders are complex conditions caused by an interplay of genetic, environmental, developmental, and social factors. Even the same genetic variants can lead to different outcomes depending on context. 2/4

Day 14: There seems to be a common theme in neuroscience: start from the view that we can map things in the brain with clean, one-to-one correspondences, then find out that reality is a lot more complex and nothing works in isolation. Again. And again. And yet again.

1/4

Decided to challenge myself to share more often online without filtering and overthinking, so starting a 365-day challenge where I’ll post a neuro fact once a day.

#ShyButSharing365 (Feel free to join, doesn’t have to be neuro-related)

Day 13: Pain is essential for survival. As annoying as a sprained ankle is, that pain forces you to rest until it heals. People who can't feel pain often face serious risks, as they may not realize when they're injured, and their bodies don’t get the signals to stop harmful actions.
#neuroskyence

Between systems and selves - the journey of a clinical psychologist - Neurofrontiers What does it take to become a clinical psychologist, not only from a training, but from a human perspective? And who cares for the carers?

“As a therapist, you’re often a container. With time, that kind of chips away at you.”

We talked to Ana Dumitru, clinical psychologist trainee in the UK, about therapy, training, life, and cultural differences.

#psychology #therapy #MentalHealth #interview #journey #neuroskyence #talk #life

Day 12: Simply showing an image of a brain scan with "activity" overlaid can make people trust neuroscientific results more, no matter whether the results actually make sense. I came across this study in undergrad and I still find it mind-blowing how much of a difference such a small detail makes.

Day 11: The longer you spend thinking about falling asleep, the more difficult it will be to do it. If you find yourself tossing and turning in bed, it’s better to get up and distract yourself for a while rather than stress about how many hours of sleep you’ll manage to get.
#sleep #insomnia #rest

I'm near speechless. @awaisaftab.bsky.social heard was I was trying to say (and added his own insights). Thank you for engaging with Elusive Cures so thoughtfully, Awais. I'm so appreciative.

The exact role is currently unclear, but after learning tasks, retrotransposition
increases, suggesting a link to #memory formation. Retrotransposons might help #neurons adapt by altering #gene expression or facilitating functional diversity, supporting the flexibility for learning and memory.2/2

Day 10: Retrotransposons are genetic elements that copy and insert themselves into other parts of the genome. They are highly active in the hippocampus. Their activity is particularly high during neurogenesis, as the hippocampus is one of few areas in the adult brain where new neurons are formed.1/2

Empathy in the brain and beyond - Neurofrontiers What is empathy and is it good for anything? Let's find out.

”Do you remember that episode from the PowerPuff girls in which the colorful clown is accidentally bleached, turning into an evil mime, and he starts absorbing all the colors from Townsville, stunning everyone into sadness? That’s how I feel lately.”

#empathy #neuroskyence #positivity #hope

The type of #light can also influence how much the #pupil dilates. Changes in lighting can cause larger pupil responses than cognitive load, making it hard to isolate mental effort without careful controls. Other factors like emotion, fatigue, can also affect pupil size, adding even more #noise. 2/2

Day 9: Your pupil size can offer information about your cognitive load, making it a seemingly accessible marker for tracking mental effort. But using that information outside of the lab is more challenging than it sounds.

The pupil also changes size in response to light. 1/2

The results are still mixed and more research is needed to optimize such protocols, but that hasn’t stopped the development of commercial applications that claim unproven benefits. Yet here’s the kicker: when tested in the lab, some of these commercial devices led to worse memory. 2/2 #neuroskyence

Day 8: Still on memory - a lot of people want to have a “better” memory. Improving memory is also an active research topic, with tremendous potential in disorders such as dementia. One method that is currently being studied is transcranial stimulation - applying small currents to the scalp. 1/2

Myelination appears to happen at different rates between sexes, yes, with brain maturation happening somewhat earlier in females.

Secondhand smoke is definitely harmful and I’d say it counts as an air pollutant.