sum nauta caelorum

marrypotter:

KR36 by catters.

(Source: marrypotter)

naivespirit:

Bombay Bicycle Club - Fracture

“It’s not complex.” 

(Source: penabranca)

neuroticthought:

Conformity Linked to the Size of a Brain Region

ScienceDaily (Feb. 20, 2012)

 
To identify structural measures of the brain that could relate to this trait, the team first measured the volumes of brain regions in 28 participants. This approach involved a technique known as voxel-based morphometry, which allows researchers to measure the volume of grey matter (the nerve cells where the processing takes place) from three-dimensional images of the brain provided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

To measure how participants responded to social influence, they were tested to see how their preferences for certain pieces of music changed after being told what authoritative ‘music critics’ thought about them.

A week before testing, each participant listed 20 songs they liked but didn’t personally own. On the day of the test, the participants rated their choices out of ten.

Next, the researchers stated that music critics with expert opinions had listened to the participants’ choices and had also rated these songs out of ten. The participants then performed a task comparing their choices with unknown music. After the task, the participants re-rated their 20 choices, and the degree to which their opinions differed in light of hearing the critics’ ratings served as a measure of conformity under social influence.

Strikingly, only grey matter volume in one precise brain region — the lateral orbitofrontal cortex — was associated with this measure of social influence. The linear relationship between grey matter volume and the tendency of individuals to conform was observed in this particular region in both hemispheres of the brain.

In a previous study, the researchers had looked at the level of activity in the participants’ brains when faced with disagreement with the experts. This activity predicted how much influence the experts would have. By comparing the measures in this new study with the previous findings, they were able to show that grey matter volume in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex also predicted how individuals responded when the critics disagreed with their opinions.

These findings suggest that the brain region is particularly tuned to recognising cues of social conflict, such as when someone disapproves of a choice, which may prompt the subject to update their opinions accordingly.

(Source: karlmagkatzen)

Yeah… it just sucks because it’s a nice way to keep up with friends. And myself, hah. I hate that I have to censor now.

I’m annoyed at the amount of people I know who have found this.

That’s why I haven’t been around.

Considering taking down all my personal info.

Oh look it’s me.

Yeah I’m still alive.

(Source: afternoon-serendipity)

fuckyeahneuroscience:

“The Urban Times team are collaborating with GV Art in a series set to blow the mind: Traumas. The first in the series explores the connection between Art and Alzheimer’s. On the evening of 26th January Urban Times will be filming a talk given by Patricia Utermohlen and Shelley James, with questions then becoming open to the floor. Patricia will discuss what it was like to be married to an artist living with Alzheimer’s as the wife of late William Utermohlen. William was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1995 yet he continued drawing. His last self portraits painted between 1995 and 2001 tell a unique tale of an implacable disease encroaching on to his mind and senses. With perseverance, courage and honesty the artist adapts his style and technique to the growing limitations of his perception and motor skills to produce images that communicate his predicament. Patricia will talk about William’s artistic journey and how his art went from a figurative to minimalist style.”

(via Art and Alzheimer’s – Urban Times)

wizzard890:

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

-Michelangelo

(Source: weissesrauschen)

Without you I’ve been

Falling to the bottom of

These bottles, alone.

caaaiiiiit:

by AleckVenegas

neuroticthought:

Creative running

by Janet Kwasniak

Christopher Bergland (here) believes that we think in a different way when we exercise.

Anyone who exercises regularly knows that your thinking process changes when you are walking, jogging, biking, swimming, riding the elliptical trainer, etc. New ideas tend to bubble up and crystallize when you are inside the aerobic zone. You are able to connect the dots and problem solve with a cognitive flexibility that you don’t have when you are sitting at your desk. This is a universal phenomenon, but one that neuroscientists are just beginning to understand. … Creativity is the ability to bring together disparate ideas in new and useful combinations. What is happening to the electrical, chemical and architectural environment of our brains when we exercise that stimulates our imagination and makes us more creative? What is the parallel between the waking dream state induced by exercise and the REM dream state experienced during sleep? Although these questions remain enigmatic, neuroscientists have identified that the non-thinking ‘default state‘ of consciousness is key to creative thinking. … Sweat is like WD-40 for your mind-–it lubricates the rusty hinges of your brain and makes your thinking more fluid. Exercise allows your conscious mind to access fresh ideas that are buried in the subconscious. Every thought that you have is a unique tapestry of millions of neurons locking together in a specific pattern-this is called an engram. If you do not ‘unclamp’ during the day, you get locked into a loop of rut-like thinking. If for any reason you are unable to do aerobic activity, focused meditation is also an excellent way to create a default state.

The piece has quotes from a number of writers and runners such as:

Ralph Waldo Emerson said of Thoreau: “The length of his walk uniformly made the length of his writing. If shut up in the house, he did not write at all.”

I find this idea intriguing. There is no reason why the rhythm and effort of running (or even walking) would not affect both cognition and consciousness. There might even be some chemistry there. But also the ‘default network’ angle is interesting. If the motor part of the brain is busy and, because of moving, we cannot override the control of sensory input – then there cannot be a ‘task’ control of attention. It would be, or be like, the default network being in control.

A totally opposite but somehow the similar effect is my old trick of sitting still in the dark and silence to think. What would be the difference between: the motor and sensory parts of the brain working automatically and therefore leaving the rest of the brain free to mull; and, a sort of imposed sensory deprivation and motor inactivity letting the brain mull? 

black-tangled-heart:

Insomnia (Arnasa)

by Joseba Eskubi

(Source: arpeggia)