Its that time again! The 31st Encephalon is being hosted over at Dr. Deb. Articles cover everything from schizophrenia to synaethesia to neurodiversity.

Looks like my “To-Read” stack just got a little bigger. So many interesting articles, so little time.

As humans, we like to think of ourselves as special. Especially when it comes to our intelligence. New research from Harvard University shows that our ability to infer the intentions of others is an ability that arose as far back as 40 million years ago. The research showed that three different types of primates (New World monkeys, Old World monkeys and apes) could infer rational, goal-direction actions just like humans. Not so special now, are you!

More details about the study after the jump.
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While you are reading this sentence, each of your eyes are most likely reading different letters at the same time, recent research suggests. They can even cross while reading. Crazy!

Previously, researchers thought that, when reading, both eyes focused on the same letter of a word. But a UK team has found this is not always the case. In fact, almost 50% of the time, each of our eyes locks on to different letters simultaneously.

The team’s results demonstrated that both eyes lock on to the same letter 53% of the time; for 39% of the time they see different letters with uncrossed eyes; and for 8% of the time the eyes are crossing to focus on different letters.

Straight from the department misleading titles, Headshots Do Not Cause Brain Damage

“Thus far, neuropsychological tests and x-ray examinations have not been able to provide an unequivocal answer to the question of whether heading in soccer can cause permanent brain damage. Our research team has tackled the issue from another angle, monitoring instead various neurochemical markers in the spinal fluid,” says Henrik Zetterberg, associate professor of neurochemistry at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

Oh, right, they are talking about soccer. I thought they were talking about headwounds from guns. Because I’m pretty sure headshots cause damage. Ask any Counterstrike player.

I spent a decent chunk of today working on the fitness function for Distributed Neuron, as well as general housekeeping. The fitness function is very simple at the moment. It tallies the lifetime of the organism and the total distance moved then normalizes these based on the predefined weights. This is performed for each trial. At the end of all the trials, the delta is computed. Delta is the average change from one trial to the next. If an organism slowly improves its fitness as trials progress, the delta value at the end will reflect this. The delta score and raw score are then normalized using predefined weights and the final fitness for the genotype is recorded.

Some work was done on the structure and flow controls leading to a fully autonomous client. It can start and stop at any time during trials and recover with minimal loss of data. It also can complete full life cycles, evolving one genotype after the next.

The next step is to build a small, random starting genetic population and start coding crossover mutation. Current genotypes are directly mutated from the parent. Crossover will bring in selective sexual pressure which will move the project much better than random mutation alone. I’m excited, I’ll be able to start running the client full time. Real data gathering can start in earnest soon!

My generation’s classroom has been slowly invaded with technology. Not the good technology like projectors and computers and other useful tools to increase learning. Those are fine with me. Our classrooms have been invaded by obnoxious gadgets and websites that replace good, old fashioned teaching. Frankly, I’m sick of it.

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Gladstone scientists uncover potential mechanism of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease. It turns out the overexcitation of Alzheimer’s patients may be the cause rather than the symptom

Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND) and Baylor College of Medicine have discovered a mechanism by which the protein Amyloid-beta(AB) may impair neurological functions in Alzheimer’s disease. AB, which is known to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer patients, has long been a focus of research into the causes and treatment of the disease. In a study published in the journal Neuron, Gladstone scientists found that A-beta triggers abnormal overexcitation of the very brain networks that are responsible for learning and memory.

No more long delays in effects, new antidepressant drugs act faster than ever. Typical antidepressant drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. This means the slow the recycling of serotonin, leaving it in the synaptic gap longer. The new drugs are serotonin receptor agonists which effectively make receptors more sensitive. I would be interested to see how long term downregulation of receptors due to increased agonist activity effects the effacy of these drugs.

Studies with rats have revealed the potential in an entirely new class of antidepressants that take effect after only days of treatment versus the weeks required for current drugs. The researchers said that they hope their findings will spur development of such new antidepressant drugs so that clinical testing can begin quickly.

And finally, someone has decided maybe we shouldn’t be drugging our kids up quite so much. Imagine that, raising your kids with consitency is a good thing. People are too quick to turn to medical disorders rather than look at their own parenting skills.

New research suggests simple techniques that give more structure to a preschooler’s day can offer a nondrug alternative to help the tiniest sufferers of ADHD. What helped? Stressing consistent rules and routines, and more praise for good behavior than punishment for bad. Surprisingly, both groups fared equally well, raising questions about how to tell which children need more intense aid.

Seemed apt.

The developing brain is a very interesting place. One fascinating aspect is the migration of embryonic neurons from their birthplace to their adult position. Embryonic neurons in the neocortex migrate to their appropriate position by crawling along fibers which are created by radial glial cells. Radial glia also act as stem cells, replicating and differentiating into new neurons. The molecular interactions between infant neurons and radial glial cells, until recently, was relatively unknown. Recent research from the Institute of Regenerative Medicine shows that gap junctions play a prominent role in the migration of neurons.

More details after the jump.
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