jrw's brain [3 articles]

Abstract

During evolution, the mammalian cerebral cortex has expanded disproportionately to brain volume. As a consequence, most mammals with large brains have profusely convoluted cortices. The human cortex is a good example of this trend, however, given the large variability in human brain size, it is not clear how cortical folding varies from the smallest to the largest brains. We analyzed cortical folding in a large cohort of human subjects exhibiting a 1.7-fold variation in brain volume. We show that the same ...

Abstract

Modern philosophy of mind cannot be understood without recent developments in computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, neuroscience, biology, linguistics, and psychology. Classical philosophy of formal languages as well as symbolic AI assume that all kinds of knowledge must explicitly be represented by formal or programming languages. This assumption is limited by recent insights into the biology of evolution and developmental psychology of the human organism. Most of our knowledge is implicit and unconscious. It is not formally represented, but embodied ...

Abstract

We commonly think of food as a source of energy needed to build healthy organisms and sustain their vital functions. But in the last 10 years, exciting new avenues of research have revealed that availability of individual nutrients modifies specific molecular pathways critical to brain development and adult function. “Food for thought” is not just a metaphor for nurturing creative thinking; it is a statement of fact. There is now clear and compelling evidence that nutrients modify neural plasticity and ultimately ...