If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn’t. - Lyall Watson

Welcome to the 34th edition of the bi-weekly neuroscience carnival - Encephalon. We have an excellent lineup of submissions, all waiting for your eager eyes to pour over.

To start, Jake Young gives us a great analysis of a study of human and macaque visual cortices. Researchers dissected and analyzed the brains of people who had lost vision in one eye, comparing the results to a controlled study of macaques who had been partially blinded. It’s a fascinating analysis that also demonstrates the limits of fMRI.

Even if your vision is perfectly fine, your perception of the world may be drastically different. Mo highlights a rare condition where afflicted individuals perceive their body parts being disproportionately large. Micro- and Macrosomatognosia are typically associated with migraine sufferers. Lewis Carol may have suffered from migraine headaches and Microsomatognosia, which is why this condition is often called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.

Chris Chatham discusses research suggesting that differences in executive functions are 99 percent genetic. What’s executive function? Check out this post for more details.

More from Chatham: a report arguing that handedness is a by-product of language. Since language is produced primarily in one hemisphere, that hemisphere also evolved to become dominant in motor control.

Cognitive Daily discusses one of the few controlled studies to address the relationship between religious belief and prosocial behavior. Does thinking about God make you act more “virtuously”? What if you’re an atheist? While this is a small study, it does offer some answers to those and other questions.

The Primate Diaries has a nice discussion of “male menopause”. Of course, in this case, the $99 question is “Does male menopause exist.” The short answer is “no.” For the long answer, you’ll need to read the whole thing.

If male menopause isn’t sexy enough for you, how about lap dancing? The Primate Diaries takes a detailed look at a study that’s generated a lot of press interest, as well as coverage from several blogs.

When a patient is in a vegetative state, doctors are often powerless to return them to consciousness. Invasive surgery has met with some success, but The Cortical Column has found an example of a much less traumatic approach: deep pressure stimulation. Could this approach work for others, or is this just a one-shot anomaly? You’ll have to read the post to find out what Brian thinks.

Luckily, you aren’t in a vegetative state. But you should probably give your brain a little workout so it doesn’t become a vegetable. SharpBrains offers its list of the top 50 brain teasers and games for adults. There are some all-time classics here — maybe you’ll spot one you haven’t seen before.

You might be shy, but does that mean you are sick? Jeremy Burman reviews a new book -
Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness. Due to changes in diagnostic technique, commonplace social anxiety (such as fear of public speaking) might be enough to label you with a mental disorder.

That wraps up this issue of Encephalon. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. The next issue will be hosted at The Primate Diaries two weeks from today (November 5)

Special thanks to Dave from Cognitive Daily. Dave helped me get this issue together so I could spend more time working on BPR3’s code.