October 31, 2007 by sean.

“Brain activity associated with psychiatric illness has been observed in healthy people who missed a single night’s sleep. As well as shedding light on why sleep deprivation makes us feel so bad, the study could change our thinking about mental illness.” [via New Scientist]

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October 21, 2007 by sean.

Rob Brown on developing a bottom-up collective intelligence model for improving Netflix recommendations:

What was striking to me was that this system, iterating over a massive amount of sloppy, low precision data, could organize the model with such stunning precision. I could type in the names of two movies, and ask “how similar” they are, and the results were almost always exactly what I would expect. I could type the name of a movie, and get a list, in order, of the top 20 movies that are seen as most similar. And it did quite a good job at the assigned task, predicting how users would rate movies. Those who claimed the process couldn’t work, after seeing the results, were shocked.

The point, of course, is that this system is very evolution-like, in that lots of messy data, with very little apparent “intelligence,” processed by a simple iterative algorithm, can find sophisticated equilibria with a great deal of precision. Looking directly at the raw data, such as at an individual user’s set of ratings, would indicate a lot more slop than is apparent in the final model. The system doesn’t “know” that a movie is a science fiction movie, any more than natural selection “knows” why a particular mutation in the DNA increases the chance of an animal surviving to adulthood. Nonetheless, it works, against all intuition. [via karmatics.com]

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October 18, 2007 by sean.

Research on artificial nerve grafting for treatment of patients with traumatic injuries of nerves in the arms and legs, organ transplants and the removal of tumors:

University of Manchester researchers have transformed fat tissue stem cells into nerve cells — and now plan to develop an artificial nerve that will bring damaged limbs and organs back to life.

In a study published in October’s Experimental Neurology, Dr Paul Kingham and his team at the UK Centre for Tissue Regeneration (UKCTR) isolated the stem cells from the fat tissue of adult animals and differentiated them into nerve cells to be used for repair and regeneration of injured nerves. They are now about to start a trial extracting stem cells from fat tissue of volunteer adult patients, in order to compare in the laboratory human and animal stem cells. [via University of Manchester]

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October 18, 2007 by sean.

Scientists studing “cognitive reserve” [resources for withstanding brain aging], are seeking methods for improving brain health:

Physical exercise is the best-proven prescription so far, the scientists agreed. Memory improved when 72-year-olds started a walking program three days a week, and sophisticated scans showed their brains’ activity patterns started resembling those of younger people…

Then there’s the “use-it-or-lose-it” theory, that people with higher education, more challenging occupations and enriched social lives build more cognitive reserve than couch potatoes.

Everything from doing crossword puzzles to various computer-based brain-training programs has been touted, but nothing is yet proven to work [while] animal studies suggesting low-dose estrogen and drugs that might mimic or ramp up brain signaling are promising possibilities. [via Wired News]

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October 18, 2007 by sean.

MIT researchers believe that blood may actually play a role in neural activitiy:

“We hypothesize that blood actively modulates how neurons process information,” Christopher Moore, a principal investigator in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, explained in an invited review in the October issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology. “Many lines of evidence suggest that blood does something more interesting than just delivering supplies. If it does modulate how neurons relay signals, that changes how we think the brain works.” [via MIT News]

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October 16, 2007 by sean.

Clive Thompson investigates the science behind Cory Doctorow’s fiction:

This summer, neuroscientist Ian Robertson polled 3,000 people and found that the younger ones were less able than their elders to recall standard personal info. When Robertson asked his subjects to tell them a relative’s birth date, 87 percent of respondents over age 50 could recite it, while less than 40 percent of those under 30 could do so. And when he asked them their own phone number, fully one-third of the youngsters drew a blank. They had to whip out their handsets to look it up. [via Wired]

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October 15, 2007 by sean.

New Scientist explores Microsoft’s latest software patents for “mind reading” software that evalautes the user experience:

Microsoft wants to read the data straight from the user’s brain as he or she works away. They plan to do this using electroencephalograms (EEGs) to record electrical signals within the brain. The trouble is that EEG data is filled with artefacts caused, for example, by blinking or involuntary actions, and this is hard to tease apart from the cognitive data that Microsoft would like to study.

So the company has come up with a method for filtering EEG data in such a way that it separates useful cognitive information from the not-so-useful non-cognitive stuff. The company hopes that the data will better enable to them to design user interfaces that people find easy to use. Whether users will want Microsoft reading their brain waves is another matter altogether.

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October 14, 2007 by sean.

I recently created a YouTube playlist re: Augmented Reality content including some amazing material from Total Immersion:

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October 14, 2007 by sean.

Lifehack.org claims that Your [Un-augmented] Brain is Not Your Friend:

A mind is a terrible thing. Whether because of the brain’s internal structure or the way social and cultural pressures cause our minds to develop and function, in the end the result is the same: minds that are not only easily deceived and frequently deceptive in their own right, but when caught out, refuse to accept and address their errors. If you have a mind — or even half a mind — you might be best off losing it entirely. Barring that, though, there are a few things you should know about the enemy in your head. Before it hurts someone.

Posted in neuroscience, learning theory, augmented cognition | No Comments »

October 14, 2007 by sean.

Some recent developments in the area of human-computer interface promise control of software [including game avatars, soundtracks, and more] via thoughts and emotional responses rather than keyboards or joysticks.

• In Second Life Gets Brain Controls a “brain computer interface” is described that has been developed to allow a person to control their own avatar in Second Life via thought. [via Smart Mobs and Pink Tentacle]
• Emotiv Systems, an electronic-game company from San Francisco, wants people to play with the power of the mind. Starting tomorrow, video-game makers will be able to buy Emotiv’s electro-encephalograph (EEG) caps and software developer’s tool kits so that they can build games that use the electrical signals from a player’s brain to control the on-screen action… S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames, a company based in San Marcos, CA, sells games and EEG caps designed to treat people with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. [via Technology Review]

If you can’t wait for a technology-based solution for improving your brain, you can start with the low tech methods to Get Smart: How to Boost your IQ by 10 points, including:

10. Sit up straight, and close your mouth: Good posture affects our state of mind, and helps us to think more clearly. Wanna prove it to yourself? Try solving some math in your head while slouching, looking at the floor and letting your mouth hang open. Then do the mental math while sitting up straight, keeping your mouth closed and looking forward or slightly upwards. You’ll get the point.

14. Make connections: To grow longer dendrites, do something new. Try learning a new language or developing a skill such as drawing, and you’ll see instant changes in how you think.

20. Graze: To give your brain a steady supply of energy and minerals, eat little and often. Eating large meals shunts blood to your digestive tract, away from your brain.

25. Make friends: Preferably ones with large amounts of frizzy grey hair. Recent research showed that hanging out with boffins can boost your IQ by up to 10 percent.

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October 2, 2007 by sean.

Stephen Wolfram, creator of Mathematica, discusses his controversial book A New Kind of Science which suggests that all complex systems emerge from recursive applications of simple rules, with Charlie Rose [starting around 14:20].

Posted in software, collective intelligence, social networks | No Comments »