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New Biofeedback Game called BioBox - Tetris with Biofeedback
2007-08-21 19:05:00
A game studio called Frozen North Productions (http://www.frozennorth.net/index.htm) in Canada has created an off-shoot of Tetris that they call Biobox. Their Biofeedback version of Tetris uses pulse rate to determine the speed of the following blocks. Like many biofeedback games, the object is to relax while playing - and the incentive is ease-of-play. Frozen North Productions (http://www.frozennorth.net/index.htm) will be selling the game online soon.
More About: Games , Game

Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness 11th Annual Meeting i
2007-08-21 18:36:00
The theme for ASSC 11 this year was The Magic of Cons ciousness . This year ASSC has a number of magicians who "were hand-picked because of their specific interest in the cognitive principles underlying the magic. Among the performers were James Randi, Johnny Thompson, Mac Kind and Teller (of Penn and Teller).
More About: Study , Association , Snes

10 Unsolved Mysteries Of The Brain from Discover Magazine
2007-08-18 00:56:00
Discover Magazine published an article two weeks ago about what we do not know about how we think. The list makes a good reminder of how we're early pioneers of the frontier of the brain... and everyone loves a good top 10 list.
More About: General , Brain , Unsolved Mysteries , Discover

Neuromatrix from Morphonix - A Neuroscience Game for Kids
2007-08-18 00:26:00
This looks like a great new game for teaching children how their own brains work. The game is called NeuroMatrix from Morphonix. In the game you play a secret agent infiltrating a top-secret neuroscience research facility. Morphonix released another game that teaches kids about their brains called Journey into the Brain. Here's a video trailer from Morphonix:
More About: Kids , General , Game , Neuroscience , Euros

Using beams of light to activate sets of cells in the brain
2007-08-16 08:52:00
New experiments in light stimulation are helping scientists learn more about neural systems. Optical excitation using fiber optics can be used to stimulate specific areas of the brain and is an alternative to electrode stimulation. Electrode stimulation is unable to target single types of neurons and instead activates the firing of all neurons in one neural area. This new technology may allow us to uncover what roles specific neurons play. Light stimulation every 200 milliseconds generates electrical activity in an area of the brain associated with depression.
More About: Sets , Brain , Neuroscience , Activate

Seeing the Brain in a New Light
2007-08-16 08:51:00
Here is another article on using focused beams of light to stimulate neurons from Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The illustration, which comes from a painting by Duke University student Yifan Xu, conceptually illustrates a beam of light shining into the olfactory bulb activating a mitral cell. HHMI investigator Michael Ehlers and colleagues report they have developed mice that express channelrhodopsin-2, a light-gated cation channel from the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, in neurons of the central nervous system. This enables researchers to trigger neural activity with high spatial and temporal precision—a powerful tool for those striving to map functional circuits in the brain. Researchers have devised a clever way to activate neurons in a living mouse by shining light on the surface of the animal's brain. The “light switch” that turns neurons on is actually a light-sensitive protein that is produced by algae. When this protein is genetical...
More About: Light , Brain , Neuroscience , The Brain

ADHD May Be Linked To Low Dopamine Brain Activity
2007-08-14 16:55:00
A new study (Aug 2007) published in the Archives of General Psychiatry (http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/) shows a direct correlation between ADHD and low dopamine activity in the brain. This could shed light on what seems to be large numbers of ADHD suffers among ex-methamphetamine users. Article follows:
More About: Brain , Disorders

Conversations on Consciousness from the Guardian
2007-08-13 13:26:00
The last three links are interviews of Francis Crick by Sue Blackmore. Imagine sitting by a California swimming pool surrounded by flowers and hummingbirds and trying to interview the great biologist Francis Crick (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medic ine/laureates/1962/crick-bio.html), writes Sue Blackmore. If it sounds peaceful, it wasn't. At the age of 78 and in failing health, Francis was more than a match for me. "Now let me say why I think all that's nonsense," he said at one point, and "You ask that only because you're interested in Buddhism". But what a treat it was to be able to delve into his theories of consciousness and discover the reasons why he thinks we'll one day find the neural basis for consciousness. My partner, Adam Hart-Davis (http://www.adam-hart-davis.org/), enjoyed the visit too. When we arrived at the door Francis greeted us warmly and then dismissed Adam instantly "You can go to the kitchen with Odile (http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obi t...
More About: Guardian , Consciousness , The Guardian , Cons , Snes

Neurofeedback for Peak Performance
2007-08-13 03:31:00
Here is a great video from YouTube featuring the work of Rae Tattenbaum and Susan Othmer using neurofeedback for peak performance. This shows the neurofeedback applied using the CARE model. Here is a great video from YouTube featuring the work of Rae Tattenbaum and Susan Othmer using neurofeedback for peak performance.
More About: Performance , Peak , Perform

Excellent BBC Brain Story series available online
2007-08-09 19:20:00
A great BBC series on psychology neuroscience is now available on bittorrent. The series is presented by neuroscientist Professor Susan Greenfield. There are six episodes total in the series. The links and instructions are available here on MindHacks (http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2007/08/ex cellent_bbc_brain_.html).
More About: Story , General , Series , Online , Brain

Free Neurophychopharmacology Textbook
2007-08-09 19:05:00
The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology is giving away a huge psychopharmacology textbook on their web site. Here's the link: http://www.acnp.org/default.aspx?Page=5th GenerationChapters (http://www.acnp.org/default.aspx?Page=5t hGenerationChapters)
More About: Free , Pharmacology , Harm , Ology , Arma

Who's Minding the Mind? How the subconscious can affect our conscious choi
2007-08-09 19:05:00
The New York Times just published an article in their science section about 'priming effects'. Psychological priming happens when subconscious stimuli can affect our conscious choices. They discuss a few experiments, related neuroscience research and more.
More About: General , Mind , Choi , Cons , The Mind

Consciousness Restored to Man After Six Years with Deep Brain Stimulation
2007-08-09 18:07:00
This is an incredible story of hope reported in Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v44 8/n7153/edsumm/e070802-07.html) this week which describes how neuroscientists implanted electrodes in the brain of a 38-year-old man who had been in a minimally conscious state for more than six years following a serious assault. By electrically stimulating a brain region called the central thalamus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalamus), they were able to help him name objects on request, make precise hand gestures, and chew food without the aid of a feeding tube. The thalamus is involved in motor control, arousal and in relaying sensory signals — from the visual systems, for example — to the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain involved in consciousness.
More About: General , Deep , Years , Consciousness , Brain

Free your mind: a scientific approach to unleashing creativity
2007-08-09 18:01:00
A neuroscientist claims he can unleash creativity by boosting low-frequency brainwaves - and he's tested the theory on 100 students at the Royal College of Music. Genevieve Roberts reports
More About: General , Free , Mind , Creativity , Shin

Ghost in the room? It could all be in your brainwaves
2007-08-09 17:58:00
NEUROSCIENTISTS investigating a young woman with epilepsy believe they have stumbled on an explanation why some people feel a ghostly presence nearby or develop paranoia. The 22-year-old woman was being assessed for brain surgery for epilepsy but was otherwise psychologically healthy. Part of the evaluation pinpointed the area for surgery, using thin electrodes implanted into a region of the brain. Reporting the case in today's Nature, the weekly British science journal, the doctors say that when they sent a small current to the woman's left temporo-parietal junction, she said she had the impression there was somebody behind her. The person was a "shadow," young and of indeterminate sex and did not speak, she said. The doctors slightly increased the current and changed the woman's position from lying down to seated, and got her to hug her knees. She then said she felt the creepy presence of man who was also sitting and who was clasping her unpleasantly in his arms. The temporo-pa...
More About: Ghost , Room , Disorders , Wave , Brainwave

MindBall Biofeedback Game
2007-08-09 17:23:00
Living in a more connected and tech-focused world can result in added stress, and MindBall's biofeedback system may soon become a regular way to monitor and manage stress levels. If you're going to win MindBall, a game designed by the Interactive Institute, you've got to be relaxed. Two players sit across from each other at a table wearing headbands that monitor their brain activity. Their brainwaves control a ball on the table, and the most relaxed player wins.
More About: Games , Game , Biofeedback

Coming Soon: The PreSage Personal Biofeedback System
2007-08-09 15:51:00
The MindPlace PreSage biofeedback system is coming soon! The release date has been pushed forward a bit, but we're expecting it to be available sometime in October or before. The PreSage is a very accurate (16 bits minimum) and fast (up to 20 samples/second) system which is capable of acquiring up to four channels of biofeedback information simultaneously. It will include free PreSage Monitor software for PCs, which allows information to be saved and displayed as bar graphs and line chart formats. PreSage also includes a unique, RGB front panel display. The PreSage will also connect to our Procyon system for Light Sound Biofeedback sessions. More info soon!
More About: Personal , Products , System , Ming

Flashlight Weapon Makes Targets Throw Up
2007-08-09 15:50:00
It looks like a big flashlight — but it's really a nonlethal weapon designed to make you sick. Its inventors call it the LED Incapacitator (L-E-D, as in light-emitting diode). Weapon s buffs call it a nonlethal weapon. But test subjects who have buckled and reeled from its nauseating strobe call it other names—none printable. A flashlight designed to make you nauseatingly ill? What fiendish minds would invent such a tool? The minds of Bob Lieberman and Vladimir Rubtsov, president and senior scientist of Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc., a small R D company in Torrance, CA. Under a multiphase contract from the S T Directorate’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Office, with technical direction from S T program manager Gerald Kirwin, the two physicists are refining an ultra-bright, multicolored, pulsing “lightsaber” that’s more disorienting, dazzling, and dizzying—though a tad less dangerous—than disco. It’s eno...
More About: General , Throw , Lash , Flashlight