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The researchers are now trying to collect additional information from these brief brain activity patterns. "Sometimes, we would see a second bump in Broca's area," says Posse. "Subjects then told us they had thought of a second word."
Eventually, the researchers hope to be able deduce even more complicated characteristics--such as the type of word the person generated, whether the word made them feel happy or angry, and, ultimately, more complex thoughts. "If you can see activity generated by a single word, maybe you can also see activity from a longer sequence of thoughts, then complex brain processes," says Posse. "The idea is to be able to decompose the stream of thought processes into individual thoughts."
Brain-imaging experts say a technique that reliably measured single thoughts could open up a new world of experiments. "If we can succeed in measuring data from a single trial, it gives us a more powerful method than what's been available," says deCharms. "You could monitor performance in a task, like surgery or flying a plane, if you wanted to understand how performance changes second by second."
And this single-thought method could be used to study the learning process itself, which "happens very quickly," says deCharms. "You can only have a first impression once." To study a specific learning process, scientists would need to measure the difference in brain activity between the first time someone performs a new skill and the second or third. "If you have to average over 20 trials, you lose a lot of insight," says deCharms.
Single-trial brain-imaging techniques could also be useful in the clinic. Currently, fMRI is rarely used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes because it is difficult to gather reliable data from an individual brain image. But as fMRI techniques such as Posse's allow more-sensitive imaging, doctors will be better able to make medical decisions from individual brain scans. In addition, says Bandettini, the ability to generate reliable images in shorter amounts of time will make the process easier for both doctors and patients.
A new way to create and interpret real-time brain scans could help addicts control their cravings.
Your holiday turkey won't give you more faith in your family, but research published last year suggests that there is a relationship between tryptophan and trust.
The image seems to show Broca's area on the right.
Isn't it on the left side in most people?
d.pope
the image may be using radiological convention, which flips left/right.
I am artist-blacksmith for 30 years. Drawing the figure with ink is a refreshing balance to forge work. I make 40 plus drawing per week at the class i attend. My approach has evolved; a drawing is made during a single concentrated thought; I understand that concentrating in this way cannot go beyond 15 seconds. Each drawing is produced within 8-12 seconds.
Is there an accurate measurement for the duration of single thought?
I am proposing this single thought approach for generating a "statement" as a grant project for next year and as an exhibit for an art museum in my community.
james see jamesgarvey.net
Exercise to enhance my single thought capacity
OFPC Concentration James Garvey 2008
Exhibit Space: 15’ X 25’ with ventilation for an open fireplace
Wing Surface Desk 29” high X62’ wide X 33’ deep Forged steel ½” plate and tapered 2” round bar.
Swathe Chair 42” high back X 24” deep X 26” wide. Seat has built in two neoprene rollers to move forward and back. The seat is 3/16” forged steel; 1” thick felt lines the inside. The armature is 83” high 32” wide 1 ¼” round hollow core forging (a slot is cut along the top of the boom to accommodate wiring).
Video Screen Attachment
Lariat Felt Stand 10” X10” X 21 “ tall made of forged steel and 1” thick squares of #5 wool felt.
Swivel Sculpture 7” X 4” X 2 ½” forged and plated steel
Three Stakes Hibachi forged steel with 3’ diameter surface X 29” tall with ceramic lining inside the fire pit. Legs are forged tapers 2” round bar.
Lariat Curtain Stand is 42 “ diameter 58” high with black carbon fiber fabric curtain. Forged steel 1 ½’ round bar and ¼’ round rings with pull handles.
Exercise:
Object for Personal Ceremony to aid my CONCENTRATION. I made my desk; it is an idiosyncratic process that gradually wears off. My concentration is in short spurts; a ‘single thought’ is not longer than 12 seconds. I get glimpses of my self during concentration with a monitor of me working; it has a delay of fifteen seconds. I can measure my concentration by looking at flames. I open the curtain and study the flames rhythm for six seconds and then block the view. I remove the block, concentrate for seven seconds, and block the view. I continue eight seconds, nine seconds, ten seconds… I learn to realize the single thought that is active in me.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
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RedSevenOne
18 Comments
MEMO
Reminder: neuro-imaging is just that, an Image, Period. The OED defines such as [Noun] 1. An artificial imitation or representation of the external form of any object, esp. of a person, or of the bust of a person.’ and/or [Verb] ‘ 1. trans. To make an image of; to represent or set forth by an image (in sculpture, painting, etc.); to figure, portray, delineate.
Let us not forget that with all the ‘Promise’ that fMRI brings to the world of analysis, in the end it produces only impression, guides for diagnosis, and not Fact, particularly not Fact as defined by Evidence in a Court of Law.
Just as the DSM has been disallowed in Learned Jurisprudence, so too will inevitably be fMRI, if the protagonists are bold enough to try.
Reply
vanopelli
3 Comments
Re: MEMO
RedSevenOne: Are you a lawyer? It just looks like you're starting an argument over an article that is merely suggesting future possibilities for fmri, and it sounds like you've decided "there's no legal application, so forget about it." It's just an image so what's all the fuss? Ya know, instruments on fighter planes present mere images to the pilot . . . how much more difficult flying would be without the mere images that correlate to altitude, aircraft speed, control surface position. Now we have an emerging technology for images that correlate to electrical properties for brain functioning. Just an image? Ok lets not waste our time and money on mere images. Wow, I'm looking at images on my computer. What a waste of time. Rembrandt, Dali, Michealangelo, such useless people who wasted their lives on images. Leonardo Da Vinci? Should have had a real job, like Lawyer! We wouldn't remember him, but his life might have been better spent protecting someone's property. Sorry, when it comes to positive gains in science, I'm sick of naysayers!
IMAGination, full speed ahead. I'm sure that someday, perhaps not in court, this technology will be HUGE for new, beneficial medical applications.
Reply
aurizon
4 Comments
Re: MEMO
Might make a good way to determine degree of response in coma victims(compared to current scans, which work, but seem inferior to this method)
It would also make a whiz bang lie detector or interrogation tool.
No torture needed, just ask 20 questions and home in on the answers
Reply
starrdusk
1 Comment
Re: MEMO
Well said, Vanopelli.
and Right On
Reply
enantiomer2000
66 Comments
Re: MEMO
Your right, it is just impressions, but there are more like three periods... this is a prequel to the epic of the age of consciousness. An age in which we can read every thought in a persons brain with absolute clarity, where BMI becomes a possibility. An age in which mankind soars above the clouds of his own intelligence. It will come.
I do agree you that thought pattern recognition shouldn't be permissable in a court of law, just as the polygragh isn't.
Reply
catoosaflash
10 Comments
Re: MEMO
What is a BMI?
Reply
deirdrebeth
25 Comments
Re: MEMO
I believe s/he's referring to Bio Molecular Imaging...or possibily to where we'd hope Bio Molecular Imaging could take us.
Reply
catoosaflash
10 Comments
Re: MEMO
What is a DSM?
Reply