vaughanbell

More on gender disparity

Neuroscientist Jake Young gets stuck into the recent debate on male-female mind and brain differences, inspired by a number of recent articles on the topic (see previously on Mind Hacks).

Jake does an excellent job of not only summarising what is known about gender differences, but looking at how large these differences are.

Sometimes in the scientific literature, any difference, no matter how small is seized upon as significant. Importantly, the extent of this difference is important for gauging what is the likely impact of the difference on the wider world.

In a subsequent article, he tackles whether there is a difference between men and women who perform particularly well.

For example, are the top 1% of women for a particular ability much different from the top 1% of men for the same ability?

Jake focuses particularly on mathematics, which has been a controversial area as it has been widely debated whether women are generally poorer at scientific-type subjects (largely started by the then president of Harvard claiming they weren’t!).

Rather than focusing on a single concept of ‘mathematical ability’, Jake focuses on what abilities maths actually needs, and breaks down the apparent and reported sex differences.

Link to article ‘Combating Injury with Information: Gender Differences in Cognition’.
Link to article ‘Debunking the Upper Tail: More on the Gender Disparity’.

Neuropsychiatry reviews

Neuropsychiatry Reviews is a monthly magazine that covers new research and emerging trends in neuropsychiatry and neuroscience and publishes its feature articles online two weeks after the paper edition is released.

The articles are magazine-style, so don’t contain references, but typically finish with a list of further readings if you want to expand your interest into the academic literature.

Recent online editions include pieces on the brain and creativity, new approaches to treating combat-related PTSD, and how we understand the expression of emotion in the face.

There’s many more on the magazine’s homepage.

Link to Neuropsychiatry Reviews.

Pathology, plasticity and the sharpened mind

The ever-excellent Developing Intelligence has just posted about research that suggests that certain types of brain pathology may selectively improve mental performance.

The first article reports on research that suggests that children with a history of febrile seizures (seizures or ‘fits’ caused by fever) tend to do better in school than their peers.

This is initially surprising, as seizures are traditionally associated with mental impairment if they occur frequently. As the Developing Intelligence article mentions, it is worth waiting until further evidence is gathered to be sure that this is a reliable finding, as the study uses some non-standard tests.

It does suggest the idea, however, that the brain maintains a “delicate balancing act” and that some things that may confer an advantage may also confer a risk of brain disturbances.

The second article reports that deaf people have enhanced motion sensitivity in that they can detect motion over a wider area than control participants.

Motion sensitivity is known to involve the magnocellular parts of the visual pathway. Motion sensitivity and magnocellular brain function are also known to be particularly sensitive to impairment in certain developmental conditions (such as dyslexia and autism).

The authors of the study thought that this area might, therefore, be most likely to show better performance where sensory problems (i.e. deafness) meant that vision was used to a much greater degree.

They found exactly this pattern of performance, and note that this is likely further evidence for the brain’s ‘plasticity’ – where the brain reorganises through experience.

Link to article ‘Working Memory and Convulsions’.
Link to article ‘Perceptual Enhancement Among the Deaf’.

Sex in the brain

The debate about male-female differences has always been controversial owing to the link with social and political issues. Where science has previously feared to tread, researchers are now beginning to untangle the differences and similarities.

The Economist has an in-depth article where they summarise and discuss many of the most reliable male-female differences in psychology and dispel some of the myths about men and women being fundamentally different in the way they think.

The article also tackles differences in the structures of male and female brains, noting that male brains are, on average, 9% bigger than female brains, but that female brains tend to be more densely packed with grey matter – the cell bodies and dendrites of neurons where most of the cognitive ‘work’ is supposedly done.

The San Francisco Chronicle continues in this vein by discussing the work of Dr Louann Brizendine a neuropsychiatrist who has been researching male-female brain differences and has recently published a book on her findings.

She’s obviously trying to do a bit of PR for the book (“…talking activates the pleasure centers in a girl’s brain. We’re not talking about a small amount of pleasure. This is huge. It’s a major dopamine and oxytocin rush, which is the biggest, fattest neurological reward you can get outside of an orgasm”) but otherwise discusses some of the latest and most interesting developments in the field.

One of her particular interests is the role of hormones in brain function, both during the development of the fetus, and during childhood and adult life. This is becoming an increasing focus in neuroscience research.

A good place to start if you want a grounding in the scientific literature, is a recent article by Larry Cahill in Nature Reviews Neuroscience entitled ‘Why sex matters for neuroscience’.

Link to Economist article ‘The mismeasure of woman’.
Link to SF Chronicle article ‘Femme Mentale’.
Link to ‘Why sex matters for neuroscience’.

Institute of Psychiatry / Maudsley podcasts

King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, the research wing of the Maudsley Hospital, has put a podcast archive of its talks, debates and symposiums online.

They include several of the Maudsley Debates where leading researchers debate some of the most controversial issues in mental health (“Schizophrenia – the ultimate delusion?”) and modern cognitive science (“this house believes that modern science has demonstrated the implausibility of an afterlife”).

Unfortunately, only one of the Aubrey Lewis Lectures is online. These are given in memory of the leading psychiatrist and invite an important researcher to give their own opinion on the state of psychiatry.

Apparently, future debates and talks will also appear online as they occur.

Link to IoP Podcast archive.

SciAmMind on neurosurgery, attention and DBS

Scientific American Mind has just released a new issue with several articles freely available online.

The article on neurosurgery is by neurosurgeon Dr Katrina Firlik, who we interviewed back in May.

In an excerpt from her book, she discusses what influences the decision over whether to operate or not operate on a particular patient. This can include both social and person factors, as well as practical medical issues.

Another article tackles the cognitive neuroscience of attention.

Attention is one of the most widely used concepts in modern cognitive science but is remarkably difficult to pin down. The article does a great job of unpicking this technical yet intruiging area.

The print version of the magazine also contains articles on the neuroscience of fainting, diversity at work, the function of endocannabinoids (marijuana-like) neurochemicals, the teenage brain, neuroscience archaeology and the possible emotional motivations for violence.

There’s also a revealing profile of neurologist Dr Helen Mayberg’s work on deep brain stimulation (DBS) for depression by David Dobbs, who writes the Smooth Pebbles blog.

Although the article isn’t available on the SciAmMind website, a text-only version is available on Dobbs’ website.

Enjoy!

Link to article ‘Should We Operate?’.
Link to article ‘Coming to Attention’.
Link to profile of neurologist Dr Helen Mayberg.

Area man and his endorphins

The Onion has a funny neuroscience story that charts the struggles of a man in conflict with his troublesome hypothalamus over the need for an endorphin-based mood lift. As always it’s written in their usual laconic style.

TALLAHASSEE, FL‚ÄîWith tensions already at an all-time high, the nearly 96-hour standoff between area resident Anthony Shepard and his hypothalamus came to a head Monday when the 32-year-old called for the immediate release of all endorphins back into his bloodstream.

“Earlier this week, events took place between my cerebrum’s temporal lobes that can only be described as criminal,” said Shepard, who told reporters he was first saddened, then angered, abruptly overjoyed, and saddened again to hear about the complete deregulation of his emotions. “To the nefarious gland responsible for this cowardly act, I know you can hear me. I demand, in no uncertain terms, that you surrender and cease all hostilities at once.”

Link to article ‘Area Man Calls For Immediate Release Of His Endorphins’.

Five minutes with Liz Spikol

Liz Spikol seems to have lived many lives in one. She is currently a journalist, broadcaster and blogger, and the managing editor of the Philadelphia Weekly, one of the city’s leading independent newspapers.

She has also experienced the extremes of mood and the unreal world of psychosis, which led to her being admitted to psychiatric hospital on several occasions.

This, and the day-to-day reality of managing a chronic mental illness, inspired her to write the award-winning newspaper column The Trouble with Spikol which combines biography, commentary and humour to demystify both mental health and the vagaries of modern life.

Liz recently began the anarchic blog of the same name to continue her quest to educate and entertain. She’s also been kind enough to talk to Mind Hacks about her life and work.

Continue reading “Five minutes with Liz Spikol”

New Research Digest, Synapse #4

During the last few days a new edition of the BPS Research Digest has hit the net and neuroscience writing carnival Synapse #4 has been released.

The Research Digest is a particularly good one with a piece about hyperlexia (early development of reading) in a 4 year-old autistic boy, a post on how psychopaths understand the meaning of emotions, and a short piece on how sound can aid visual learning.

There’s plenty more illuminating articles in both the Digest and Synapse, the latter of which is guested-hosted by Neurotopia.

Link to BPS Research Digest.
Link to Synapse #4.

Atomic force

I like experiments that use lasers, radiation or magnets, because, goddamit, they feel like proper science. And if the study produces a 3D fly-through animation afterwards, so much the better.

The Neurophilosopher’s blog has just published a great article discussing a study that ticks several of these boxes.

Professors Vladimir Parpura and Umar Mohideen of the University of California, Riverside have used atomic force microscopy [Roaarrrr!] to investigate the mechanisms by which neurons release neurotransmitters.

Check out the bottom of the article for the fly-through animation.

Link to Neurophilospher’s article ‘Neurotransmitter release examined using atomic force microscopy’.

APA endorses participation in military interrogations

When the American Medical Association directed its members to have no part in controversial US military interrogations, the military said they’d just use psychologists instead.

Subsequently, the American Psychological ~~Society~~ Association has endorsed a report [pdf] that sets out how psychologists can participate in the same interrogations that their medical colleagues have declared unacceptable.

Salon wrote an article about this decision, and the fact that the endorsement did not follow the standard route of approval and contained a majority of members with ties to the military.

The APA sent off an angry reply to Salon but has subsequently had to admit that some of the information in their reply was incorrect, as detailed in a further article.

The debate is likely to get heated during the APA’s summer conference where the controversy is due to be debated.

There is already an online petition of psychologists who are lobbying the APA to adopt a stricter policy which has gained 1,500 signature so far.

In response, the APA has posted their own analysis of the key similarities and differences between the medical position and their own on their website [pdf].

Link to Salon article ‘Psychological warfare’.
Link to Salon ‘Psychologists group still rocked by torture debate’.
pdf of APA ethics comparison.
pdf of Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on psychological ethics and national security.

Stopping crows

Stop That Crow! is a curiously named website that looks at some of the hottest topics in contemporary philosophy of mind.

The site’s writer, Jeff, posts his thoughts and educated analyses on everything from thinking machines to consciousness and metaphor, meaning regular readers are given a thorough grounding in mind and brain philosophy.

This is exactly the sort of philosophy which can have practical day-to-day implications for the working cognitive scientist and dispells the common myths about philosophy as a subject.

Link to Stop That Crow!

Becoming human

Scientific American has released another one if its special editions, the most recent is on the science of evolution and the rise of intelligence.

From what I can make out, all the articles have been published before in the regular Scientific American, but are collected together in place to make a special theme issue.

The ‘Becoming Human’ issue looks at the cognitive and social skills of apes, the migration patterns of early humans, the curious case of the homo floresiensis (‘hobbit’) fossils and the current theories and controversites over the evolution of mind and intelligence.

I picked up a copy in the newsagent but it looks like you can also download a version from their website for $5.

Link to SciAm special edition ‘Becoming Human’.

2006-08-04 Spike activity

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

Developing Intelligence challenges the accepted wisdom that working memory holds ‘7 plus or minus 2 items’.

Douglas Hofstadter discusses the philosophy of self on The Philosophy Zone.

Psyche pdf reviews new book ‘Mind-Altering Drugs: The Science of Subjective Experience’.

A Brood Comb collects links to online videos of philosophy talks.

Breast-fed babies handle stress better, reports BBC News.

AADT Blog discusses the trial of Andrea Yates who killed her children while suffering from psychotic depression.

Are teens miserable because they are being pushed to compete rather then connect with their peers, asks the Washington Post.

Anxious people are quicker at reading faces that others, but do so less accurately, reports ScienceDaily

PsyBlog discusses how we create theories in psychology.

Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal?

The classic 1996 paper by psychologist Henry Adams and colleagues that reported that homophobic males were more likely to be turned on by gay pornography that non-homophobic males is available online as a pdf file.

This study has been cited (not without controversy) as evidence for Freud’s concept of latent homosexuality.

It is no less controversial now and there have been many criticisms and commentaries since it was first published.

pdf of full-text paper.
Link to summary on PubMed.

Neuropsychology of combat and chemical warfare

American medical journal JAMA has just published two fascinating articles on the impact of war: one on the neuropsychological effects of combat duty on US soldiers, and the other on the impact of chemical weapons on the mental health of Iranian chemical warfare survivors.

The study on US soldiers has been covered by the New York Times and the original research paper is freely available online.

It found that compared to non-deployed soldiers, previously deployed soldiers in Iraq scored worse on measures of sustained attention, verbal learning, and visual-spatial memory and had higher scores on measures of tension and confusion. In contrast, their general reaction time had improved.

The authors of the study suggest that these differences may result from the effects of persistent arousal on the brain which heighten the ability to react quickly at the expense of dampening attention, learning, and memory for things that are not threat-relevant.

The research on the impact of chemical weapons focused on three towns in northern Iran (Oshnaviyeh, Rabat and Sardasht) that had suffered either ‘low-intensity’ conventional warfare, ‘high-intensity’ conventional warfare or a mixture of conventional and chemical warfare in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Researchers interviewed civilian residents of the towns and found frightening levels of lasting PTSD, anxiety symptoms and severe depressive symptoms, particularly in those who had experienced the additional horror of chemical weapon attack.

The chances of mental disorder were 7.2 to 14.6 times higher for chemical weapons survivors than for individuals who had experienced ‘low-intensity’ warfare.

Link to New York Times article (via Frontal Cortex).
Link to full-text JAMA paper on US soldiers.
Link to abstract of paper on chemical warfare.