Do Fish Dream of Electric Eels?

And now, because I’m a crazy loner who lives on her own, it’s time for a story about Sam’s fish.

Johnny spent all of yesterday building a bubble nest in the middle of the little ruin that graces his fishbowl. Now, The Professor does this regularly, but this was the first time I’d ever seen Johnny at the task. And boy, was that little guy determined. He was resolutely at the top of his bowl, little mouth gulping at the air as he made his bubbles. Nothing would distract him from his task, including me, trying to distract him (because I am an asshole). Not even feeding time could pull him from his duty. It’s like he knew that if he worked long and hard enough, I’d give him a lady Betta to make sweet, sweet fishy love to.

Unfortunately, Johnny learned what The Professor learned long ago- I am a withholding bitch who will not give them any ladiez. This morning, I wandered over to his bowl to find his magnificent bubble nest gone, destroyed in what I can only imagine was the rage-induced thrashings of a fish who realizes he’s wasted a whole day trying to woo a lady that will never come. Poor little guy.

At least, that’s what I assume he was thinking. Because I am not a fish and do not know anything about fish thoughts.

But while I am in the dark about fish thoughts, researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Genetics are not. Or, at least, they’re less in the dark. The group managed to capture the first video of a thought passing through a fish’s brain. Check it:

True, it’s probably not a terribly complex thought (but I can’t be too judgmental, seeing as my most recent thought was “Why the fuck is my lip bleeding?”), but it’s still freaking awesome. The researchers were able to capture this little thought using a super-sensitive fluorescent probe they created to detect neural activity, as well as a genetic probe that can be inserted directly into the neurons of interest. This two-pronged attack allows us to see neuronal activity at the cellular level.

Badass.

The thought pictured above occurred when the little zebrafish being observed was checking out a paramecium flitting around it. We don’t know what that thought was, but it was probably something along the lines of, “Mmm, lunch.”

This probe is just beyond cool. It opens new doors in neural studies, and it could potentially help us understand how connections between brain cells work together to produce thoughts. You get that? It could help us understand how thought works, not just in humans, but in animals as well.

And until then, it allows us to see a little fish thinking. And while the thought itself remains a mystery, it’s beautiful to watch it.

‘s not gonna help me understand Johnny or The Professor, though. Thankfully, their rage and spite comes across loud and clear.

This is Your Brain on Love

We all know that the emotion of love originates, not in the heart (or liver), but in the brain. The same is true of sexual desire (turns out, men are always thinking with just one head). But, strangely enough, no one has bothered to make a comprehensive map of exactly which areas of the brain activate for feelings of love and desire.

Until now, dear galleons.

In an international study involving scientists from both the United States and Switzerland, 20 separate studies that mapped love or lust in the brain using fMRIs (you know, monitoring brain activity while looking at sex-ay picture or pictures of significant others) were analyzed and compiled.

The result was the first complete map of love and desire, allowing us to actually follow how desire morphs into love within the brain. Despite the hideous phrase “making love,” sexual desire and love actually activate different (but related) areas of the brain. Ergo, we can still want to slam someone against a wall without wanting to walk down the aisle with them.

There are two primary areas in the brain that trace that path from wanton desire to actual affection- the striatum and the insular cortex (more commonly referred to as the insula). Now, the striatum is this funky bulbous structure inside the brain with a curling tail-like-bit (the purple structure in the following image):

The striatum is located deep within the brain, near the center (inside the forebrain). The insula, on the other hand, is located a little further out, folded between the temporal and frontal lobes. In the following frontal cross-section of the brain, you’ll notice the insula over on the right side of the image.

Now, you might not realize it, but the striatum is also evident on this image. Look for the caudate nucleus and lentiform nucleus- those are parts of the striatum. As you can see, the striatum and insula are located nearby one another.

That area, dear galleons, is the home of love and desire in the brain.

Now, some of you might be flaring your nostrils at me, sputtering about how the amygdala, widely known to be deeply involved in the processing of emotional events, wasn’t listed. Calm the fuck down. The limbic system (of which the amygdala is a part) actually works with the striatum, as does the cerebral cortex (which is where the insula comes in). Remember, the brain’s this complex, intricate system, and I’m just bastardizing it with my woefully inadequate words. Suffice to say, the striatum (the primary basal ganglia input center) is taking in information from places like the insula and the amygdala, okay?

So, love and desire actually activate very different sections of the striatum. See, the striatum is one of those big names in the reward system of the brain. It’s taking in information from the limbic system and cerebral cortex, information relating to pleasure and novelty. Now, when you’re feeling the need to ride someone until neither of you can walk, you’re using a section of the striatum that’s activated by things that are inherently pleasurable. Like food. And sex. But when your crazed rabbit humping starts to move into the realm of love, a different part of the striatum is activating. This is the part involved in behavioral conditioning and reward. Here, something (or someone) paired with one of those inherently pleasurable activities is given its own inherent value.

So yes, at first, it might just be about the sex. Or the conversation (What? Intellectual blokes are dead sexy). But eventually, if you are sexing up the same person again and again, or are spending night after night in exciting debates and conversations… well, then that person is going to develop their own inherent value. In your brain, they are now a source of pleasure.

And you, my galleons, find yourselves in love.

Because the striatum is so involved in the pleasure/reward system of the brain, it plays a strong role in drug addiction as well. As Jim Pfaus, co-author of the study, said, “Love is actually a habit that is formed from sexual desire as desire is rewarded. It works the same way in the brain as when people become addicted to drugs.”

Like it or not, it looks like Ke$ha had it right.

 

Do Zombie Mice Only Eat Head Cheese?

Oh, my poor, neglected galleons, do not fret. I am here once more, to spread the joys of science to you all.

This story is nearly a week old now, so it’s likely you’ve already seen a mention of it somewhere, but it’s really too interesting/important to not feature here.

Anyone who’s ever been subjected to any form of health questionnaire has probably been asked if they or anyone in their family has/had Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease. Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,  is a degenerative, fatal neurological disease. At present, there is no cure for any of these diseases, and we are always working toward a breakthrough in winning the war against them.

A breakthrough we might just be on the cusp of, thanks to some intrepid scientists.

And mice.

See, humans are not the only creatures to suffer neurodegenerative disorders. We’ve all heard of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), a neurodegenerative disease affecting cattle, but mice have their own as well- prion disease.

Before we talk about the study, we need to talk proteins. In neurodegenerative diseases, proteins mis-fold in a variety of ways. Misshapen proteins can no longer fit into neural soft locks, and these deformed proteins build up in the brain, causing things like the plaques found in Alzheimer’s brains and the Lewy bodies found in Parkinson’s brains. However, another thing these mis-folded proteins do is block a very important switch in the brain.

And here’s where our scientists enter the picture.

Researchers at the University of Leicester studied mice with prion disease, and they found, not only a mechanism causing brain cell death, but a way of stopping it.

A way that does not result in zombie mice, for the record.

See, when these proteins start mis-folding and building up in the brain, a defense mechanism is triggered. The production of new proteins is essentially “switched off” to prevent the brain from creating more and more wonkity proteins. Unfortunately, in diseased mice, scientists found that, as existing proteins keep mis-folding and building up, the jacked up proteins prevent the switch from turning back on. Which means the brain isn’t getting the proteins it needs to survive. Which leads to brain cell death.

The cause of brain cell death has eluded us until now, so just discovering the source is a big deal. But our scientists didn’t just stop at finding the source- they found a way to correct it. By going in and manually “flipping the switch” back so that proteins were being created, essential protein levels were restored and synaptic transmission was restored. Brain cells stopped dying. And even though only a small portion of their brains received this treatment, the mice lived longer.

While this is only the beginning of lengthy research, these scientists just blew the door open to a whole new avenue of neurodegenerative research. Because what is truly incredible about this study is, not just the discovery of the source of brain cell death and a method of stopping it, but the fact that, while these neurodegenerative diseases may have different triggers, it looks like they may be acting through a common mechanism to damage cells. Which means this study is not just a potential step in the direction toward one cure, but a base for cures for a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases.

Badass, no?

Training Your “GoldenEye”: The Impact of Video Games on Brain Activity

There’s an ongoing (mostly unsubstantiated) idea that violent video games lead to increased violence in children and adults. There’s no solid, empirical evidence backing up these claims, just circumstantial correlations here and there. Indeed, the purported cases of video games causing increased violence could just as easily be turned around to argue that individuals with dispositions of a certain sort might be more drawn to violent games. And, in either case, the “evidence” does not hold true for all gamers (or even a majority).

And so, while uptight matrons battle pasty-skinned nerds over the moral implications of violent entertainment, few have bothered to really study any other impact of video game play on the brain. We gamers boast that the rapid button clicking and finite joystick control give us superior hand-eye coordination, but is that rooted in scientific fact?

Turns out, a recent study out of the University of Toronto has found a solid link between playing first person shooters and enhanced activity in certain areas of the brain.

A team led by psychology professor Ian Spence had 25 test subjects (individuals who did not play video games) attempt to detect a target object among a sea of distractions in a wide visual field while their brain waves were recorded. Of these 25, 16 went on to play an unidentified FPS for ten total hours (in one or two hour sessions), while the control group of nine played some casual puzzle game for the same amount of time.

After their ten hours were over, all subjects once again performed the visual attention task while their brain waves were recorded.

The results?

Subjects who played the FPS performed far better on their second visual attention task, and their brain waves also displayed significant changes. The control subjects, on the other hand, showed no significant changes in visual attention or brain waves.

“After playing the shooter game, the changes in electrical activity were consistent with brain processes that enhance visual attention and suppress distracting information,” said Sijing Wu, one of Spence’s PhD students.

This is the first solid demonstration that playing video games (even for a mere ten hours) can actually change brain activity. And visual attention, the focus of this particular experiment, is important in one’s day-to-day life, from driving a car to avoiding obstacles when walking through a cluttered or crowded room.

Seems video games do impact the lives of the players, though not through the flipping of a violence switch in their brains.

Obviously, this research requires further study. It will be interesting to see how other types of video games (not just FPSs) impact the brain. Would a sword-and-shield game generate similar activity to a shooter? And what about RTSs? How long does it take the increased visual attention activity to slide back to how it was before, and does regular gaming maintain and/or solidify these changes within the brain? And is there a cap to how much FPS gaming can impact these areas of the brain, or does increased difficulty/variety of games allow one to increase this activity level still further? Does brain activity change between single player gaming and the often more complex task of multiplayer interactions?

Questions, questions. One thing’s for certain: I look forward to seeing us delve deeper into the neuroplastic changes gaming brings about.

…I also volunteer as a test subject.

Orgasmic Remap: Neuroplasticity and Phantom Limbs

“You wanted to make damn good and sure I’d never be able to turn over in bed again without feeling that body beside me, not there but tangible, like a leg that’s been cut off. Gone but the place still hurts.” ~Margaret Atwood

The phenomenon of phantom limbs in amputees (…this is the second time this week I’ve discussed amputation, and I honestly don’t know why) is fascinating, but rather commonplace. Both a strange, frequently painful, sensory experience and a romantic notion surrounding the pain of parted lovers, the phantom limb concept is one we’re all familiar with.

These ghostly limbs usually appear in the empty space the missing limb used to take up, but sometimes, the limb appears somewhere else. Like a phantom hand attached to a cheek. And sometimes, even if the phantom sensations are located in the correct area, they can be… a bit off.

Like experiencing an orgasm in your missing foot, for instance.

Phantoms limbs themselves (and the oddities mentioned above) are the result of a form of neuroplasticity called cortical remapping. Cortical remapping is what happens in the brain after an accident or trauma. It’s the reason people with brain damage can relearn functions of movement, memory, and language- the brain forges new neural pathways and creates a work-around system. And after the trauma of a lost limb, the brain can start the remapping process for the lost sensory information.

But sometimes, the remapping can have some curious effects. Like a hand being remapped onto the corresponding cheek, with sensations felt on the cheek also being felt on the phantom hand.

Why is that?

The cortical homunculus is, basically, the brain’s map of the body. A graphic anyone with so much as an Intro to Psych background is familiar with, it depicts grossly distorted body parts along the corresponding portion of the brain responsible for movement and sensory functions:

As you can see from our little homunculus here, the portion of the brain that corresponds to the hand is next to the portion that corresponds to the face/cheek. This is why, when sensory information ceases for a hand (due to its untimely separation from the body), remapping can cause a neighboring area to essentially step-in and fill the void. In this case, that’s the cheek (note that it can also be the arm). And so, the phantom sensation is now felt in the usurping region- the cheek.

This becomes more evident in folks who lose a foot. Because the foot and the genitals are side-by-side on our creepy little diagram, the sensory gap left by the missing foot can be remapped so that the genitals step in. In kind of a reverse from the last example, where the missing limb appears grafted on the usurping region. Here, the usurping region simply fills in for the lost sensation from the limb.

And then, as dear ol’ Rama can tell us, we get our phantom orgasms:

An engineer in Florida reported a heightening of sensation in his phantom lower limb during orgasm and that his experience actually spread all the way down into the [phantom] foot instead of remaining confined to the genitals: so that the orgasm was much bigger than it used to be.

You know, people will do a lot of stupid things to achieve the ultimate orgasm (autoerotic asphyxiation comes to mind…). Which makes me wonder if, given the information that an amputated foot may lead to more intense orgasms, more people might start wantonly chopping their feet off.

I’m just saying, if word gets out, it might be a safe bet to invest in the prosthetics business.