The Raelian Movement
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Utah researchers discover how brain is wired for attention
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-11/uouh-urd102810.php
Public release date: 1-Nov-2010
Study may lead to clues about abnormalities in autism, schizophrenia,
other disorders
SALT LAKE CITY—University of Utah (U of U) medical researchers have
uncovered a wiring diagram that shows how the brain pays attention to
visual, cognitive, sensory, and motor cues. The research provides a
critical foundation for the study of abnormalities in attention that
can be seen in many brain disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and
attention deficit disorder. The study appears Nov. 1, 2010, online in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"This study is the first of its kind to show how the brain switches
attention from one feature to the next," says lead researcher Jeffery
S. Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., U of U assistant professor of radiology.
Anderson and his team used MRI to study a part of the brain known as
the intraparietal sulcus. "The brain is organized into territories,
sort of like a map of Europe. There are visual regions, regions that
process sound and areas that process sensory and motor information. In
between all these areas is the intraparietal sulcus, which is known to
be a key area for processing attention," Anderson says. "We discovered
that the intraparietal sulcus contains a miniature map of all of these
territories. We also found an organized pattern for how control
regions of the brain connect to this map in the intraparietal sulcus.
These connections help our brain switch its attention from one thing
to another."
In addition, scientists discovered that this miniature map of all the
things one can pay attention to is reproduced in at least 13 other
places in the brain. They found connections between these duplicate
maps and the intraparietal sulcus. Each copy appears to do something
different with the information. For instance, one map processes eye
movements while another processes analytical information. This map of
the world that allows us to pay attention may be a fundamental
building block for how information is represented in the brain.
"The research uncovers how we can shift our attention to different
things with precision," says Anderson. "It's a big step in
understanding how we organize information. Furthermore, it has
important implications for disease. There are several diseases or
disorders where attention processing is off, such as autism, attention
deficit disorder, and schizophrenia, among others. This research gives
us the information to test theories and see what is abnormal. When we
know what is wrong, we can talk about strategies for treatment or
intervention."
###
Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry in the U of U
Schoold of Medicine and an investigator with the U of U Brain
Institute and the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative
(USTAR), was the principal investigator and senior author of the
study. The research was funded by a National Institutes of Health
grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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