Guest Lecture

Hey guys!

Sorry for not telling you about this sooner, it slipped my mind, but I was one of the lucky attendees of the Susan Fiske lecture. I've read about her work in both this class as well as my Neurohumanities course and I think her work, along with Dr. Harris, is quite intriguing and offers a perspective on social interactions that I haven't really thought about.

In this lecture, Dr. Fiske talks about the classifications of in-groups/out-groups, which can be divided into four categories. These categories are as follows:

• pride (in-group)
• envy (out-group)
• disgust (out-group)
• pity (out-group)

She surveyed the research she was involved in, and gave everyone a great idea of how this classification works. There were some interesting perspectives given, and what I found truly amazing is how the mPFC may not even react to people classified in the disgust out-group category. It was mentioned however that the slightest though about something as trivial as what they had for breakfast, can activate the mPFC despite the way we initially think about them. This collective four group system was named the Stereotypic Content Model (SCM), which divides people into these groups based on the parameters of, "warmth," and "competence. 

The whole concept makes a lot of sense and I would be interested in seeing how this manifests itself in children, who aren't as quick to stereotype as adults are. You should definitely look into their research though, it is really interesting!

My Experience with fMRI

Hey all!

In the midst of studying for finals I almost forgot to tell you about my experience with an fMRI study! I participated in the Duke Neurogenetics study run by Dr. Ahmad Hariri's lab, which is an ambitious study with regard to the amount of participants they wish to run. I think they menitoned it was something like 600...that's 600 fMRIs! That must cost at least $6000.00, not counting the $120 dollars they pay participants once they have completed the study. So anyway, let me tell you a bit about the study.

This study took place over three sessions. The first session was an intensive psych/IQ test, in which we were asked to perform memory tasks and psych evals and whatnot. This continued into the second session which consisted of a 2-3 hour survey, asking more questions about mental health and all that jazz. THe third and final session consisted of an fMRI, and man was that interesting!

So I probably shouldn't say what the paradigm was, but what I can say is that the preliminary set up of the fMRI took way longer than the actual trials. I must've spent 30 minutes lying down in a tight space, tucked in quite nicely with a blanket , and listening to the soothing sound of jackhammer like banging (if it wasn't for the ear buds, I probably would be deaf). Even though I was quite restricted in movement, I was able to complete the task, which consisted of pushing buttons in response to on screen cues. I think the hardest part of the study, in addition to trying to stay awake, was trying not to move, as I am one to fidget a lot, it's hard to stay in one place for a long period of time. But despite that, the people at Hariri lab were great, and even helped me give a saliva sample through the presentation of delicious food a la world wide web.

Overall it was a pleasant experience and I recommend it to all of you!

And That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles...

Hey all!

I just want to say that watching everyone's presentation has been a lot of fun. I've been exposed to movies I've never even heard of before and I must admit, my interest is piqued. Working on this project would not have been nearly as fun without my partners Jen and Anthony. I like to think of us as the three musketeers, three quirky individuals who complement each other extremely well. We presented on Eagle Eye, Tron: Legacy and Stealth. I have watched all of these movies at one point and hope that you enjoyed these clips as much as I have! We each worked on our movie independently (mine was Eagle Eye) and then met to assemble the presentation. It took a bit of practice to nail down the timing, but once we got it down we were able to have fun with it. I think we met all of the requirements and were able to make it entertaining as well. This project was a great conclusion to the class and really got us thinking about AI in ways we never have before.

Thanks for a great semester everyone!

Best,

Chris

My Favorite Philosopher

Philosophy, though very interesting and thought provoking, is not something I find myself wanting to learn more about. I don't find their arguments about existence and reality particularly reasonable, but I do believe it has important implications for reasoning and knowledge. If I had to choose a favorite philosopher, I would have to go with Plato, I too am of Greek heritage. Plato's well-roundedness as a philosopher is astounding; he made important contributions to not only logic and thought but science and math as well. I have not read through the whole dialogue, but I read excerpts of Plato's "Apology" and it was really powerful because the trial of Socrates was overall such a tragic event. I'd be curious to learn more about his contributions to math and science. 

Prioner's Dilemma

Hey Y'all!

Hope you head a great Halloween! Too bad it was on a wednesday as that falls right during the time of midterms; in that case I wish you the best of luck! Today I'm going to talk a bit about the Prisoners Dilemma, an economic game I find particularly interesting because the conflict it presents always brings out my indecisive side.

 Prisoners Dilemma really gets at the crux of game theory and what I find truly intriguing about it is how human beings will be hesitant to cooperate with each other due to self interest and a lack of trust in the other person, regardless of how the cooperation may benefit them. Inherent in the design is the fact that betrayal of the other "prisoner" yields a better reward (in this case a lesser sentence) than cooperation does, however contrary to what one would think, people tend to show a bias towards cooperation.

If you want some information as to how this is set up just click on this link!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

Thanks and Best of Luck!

Chris

Violating the Norms

Hi y'all!

It's been a while, hope everyone enjoyed their fall breaks! I've been good, just chugging on through classes and the usual routine, but I took some time this week to break from that routine, and I went boldly where most men usually don't go...not actually, but I did violate a social norm! So after studying the still face paradigm and how it affects babies, I thought, "hey, why not give this a try on people my own age!" Humans rely on social cues to adapt to various situations, and so i was curious to see what would happen when you take those social cues away.

In order to do this, I kept a straight face for as long as possible during my interactions with friends. This included:

• no smiling
• no nodding
• blank stares
• subtle hints of apathy with body language

and what I found out went a little something like this...I would first engage the person normally, so as to get a conversation going, then, as soon as they started explaining something to me or telling me a story I became stonewall Jackson, not a single emotion showed on my face, no response was given. Before the switch to still-face, the other person was speaking normally, but then all of a sudden, realized that I was not giving any reaction to the, "cool," things they had to say. This manifested itself in the following ways:

• slowed speech
• lowering of eyebrows
• looks of confusion 
• jittery movements
• loss of eye contact
• early termination of interaction

This was pretty constant across everyone I did this too. When we stop reacting to people, and they lose those social cues, people tend to be at a loss. The cool thing is though, after going still face, once I reverted back to normal, the conversation was able to continue as it normally had before the switch. I did get cursed at by some of my closer friends, but that is the cost of science! 

Anyway, hope all of you are well and have a great week!

Best,

Chris :)

What's Up With These Emotions?

Fellow Neuro Peeps,

Hope everyone is hanging in there! Midterm week is insane, I AM REALLY ANGRY! lol jk not really, just frustrated, but the reason I used anger is because I will be talking about emotion today! So what really is emotion? My answer is, who knows! When I was younger I believed that emotions came from the heart where thinking and logic came from the brain, hence the sayings, " I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!" or ," IF I THINK ANY HARDER MY BRAIN WILL EXPLODE!". Well, I now know that emotions don't come from the heart, but I also believe emotion isn't tied to the neocortex or higher level processing. It's hard to find a satisfactory definition of emotion, part of me wants to say that emotions are pure, raw feelings that come from within (but that sort of sounds like something our favorite purple dinosaur would say). Ancient Greece would argue that emotions are the result of some foolish woman by the name of Pandora who opened a nice big box of emotion...thanks Pandora! But all jokes aside, emotions are something that have been around as long as humans have. To me, emotions are impulses that are second nature to humans, hardwired into the lower cortical regions of our brain, leading us to make snap second decisions and judgements before trying to think things through. Emotions are like the reflexes of the brain! Emotions are like m&m's, there are many different varities and colors within that variety, representative of different degrees of each different emotion. I love m&m's and I love Emotions! i'm just that kind of guy!

Tell me what ya think, leave a tone!

This Is Your Brain on Jazz

I love jazz music. It's one of the most soothing, emotionally driven genres of music out there. I go to see the Duke Jazz ensemble all the time and whenever I have some spare time, I check out the Mary Lou. For me, the best music to study to is jazz, where a sexy saxophone compliments the cool vibes of the xylophone, always freeing me from the grasp of writers block. Hot Damn!! can those jazz musicians free style! The reason I bring this up is because one of the most fascinating fMRI studies I've ever hear about studied jazz improvisation. This study was performed at Johns Hopkins using  jazz pianists from their Peabody Institute. The study was divided into four exercises.

"Each musician first took part in four different exercises designed to separate out the brain activity involved in playing simple memorized piano pieces and activity while improvising their music. While lying in the fMRI machine with the special keyboard propped on their laps, the pianists all began by playing the C-major scale, a well-memorized order of notes that every beginner learns. With the sound of a metronome playing over the headphones, the musicians were instructed to play the scale, making sure that each volunteer played the same notes with the same timing. 

In the second exercise, the pianists were asked to improvise in time with the metronome. They were asked to use quarter notes on the C-major scale, but could play any of these notes that they wanted. Next, the musicians were asked to play an original blues melody that they all memorized in advance, while a recorded jazz quartet that complemented the tune played in the background.  In the last exercise, the musicians were told to improvise their own tunes with the same recorded jazz quartet.." 

The key finding of this study was that during times of improvisation, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, linked to planning and self-censoring, exhibited a significant decrease in activation hinting at the idea that less activation means less inhibitions. There was also increased activation of the prefrontal cortex, linked to self-expression and individuality.

How cool is that! The brain shuts off inhibition and increases self-expression when being creative, it frees itself from censorship and lets you take total control. I think this is awesome!

What do you guys think?

Brains, Minds, and Ethics

Fellow Amigos,

How's everything?! I didn't mention this to anyone but my blog was flagged for spam last week...finally got that taken care of and i'm back with a vengeance... Anyway, today I want to comment on how much technology has advanced and where it could possibly advance to in the future. I'm sure i'm not alone when I say I went through a superpower phase wanting to fly, have telekinesis, telepathy, and the ability to read minds. Most people site these powers a their top favorites, yet as we get older, we sort of veer away from wanting the ability to read minds, mainly because some things are better left unsaid. That it mind, its highly feasible that mind reading can become a reality in the near future...but is that something we really want? If I was given a genius brain that was predestined to invent innovative and exciting technology (as opposed to struggling to understand a science article) I think 99.9 times out of a hundred, I would opt out of inventing a mind reading machine and instead create the perfect brain reading machine. Why? The short answer is because completely understanding the biology and functionality of the brain will open up al sorts of doors to new medications and procedures to improve the fight against brain diseases and disorders. The other answer...well, how can we morally justify a ind reading device? In this day in age, our thoughts are really the only privacy we have. Though reading minds can grant psychologists more insight to the way people think and behave, or maybe even a better understanding of the disordered schizophrenic brain, there are strong ethic violations that seem evident. This machine can easily become a tool of the military when holding POW's, and just invades something that is sacred to every individual. For these reasons I say, give us the brain machine!

My First Encounter

Hey Guys,

Hope everyone is having a great week! Also stay healthy! I have unfortunately been chilling with sickness for the past few days but hopefully it goes away soon! College dorms are something else aren't they? Anyway, today I'd like to talk about my first encounter with a brain disorder, one that claimed the life of someone dear to me. Before the diagnosis, I had no idea what Neuroscience was or what type of brain diseases existed but it is ultimately what sparked my interest in the field.

Coming from an Italian-Greek household, family is something that is cherished deeply and i've aways had extended family over growing up for as long as I can remember. My grandmother lived with me my whole life and was, as a result, a second mother to me. When I was going into my first year of High School, one of her doctors noticed something off about the way she walked and sent her to a Neurologist to get looked at. It was then that we learned she had Parkinson's Disease, a brain disorder that results from a dopamine neuron death in the substantia nigra.

My Grandmother had always been a strong woman, taking care of my mom and two uncles on her own after my Grandfather died due to heart failure. When I was younger she would take me to work with her and we would go play in the park afterwards. She was very active, always refusing to sit down, always trying to clean every last square inch of the house, and always dancing to some Sinatra. I looked up to her, and when I found out she had Parkinson's I took a special interest in neuroscience. She used to tell me about her doctor visits and would have me look up symptoms and causes for the disease. I found it all fascinating but I hated the disease so much. I looked up videos of Michael J. Fox after he had parkinson's and was scared for what it would do to my Grandma. The years following were miserable for me. I slowly watched as the disease ate away at her strength. She would shake constantly and drag her feet while she walked. She didn't have the strength to do all the trivial household things she used to do and she would fight her fatigue to do it anyway. I picked up her medicine whenever she needed refills, i'll never forget the name "Carbidopa-Levodopa". The disease claimed her life early second semester of my Freshman Year and I swore to accomplish what i promised my Grandma, to become a doctor that specialized in neuroscience and treat my patients better than her doctors had treated her.

This was my first encounter, and this is my motivation.

Statistics? Experimentation? What the...?

Ciao! Chris here, back with my weekly Neuro blog #THECORTEX, and this time, I want to rant a bit on the complexities of understanding statistical reports and experimentation in scientific papers. Like many people who find themselves plunging head first into piles of assigned articles, I have difficulty getting past the Oxford Dictionary-esque language that researchers love to use. Usually, this isn’t much of an issue (I’m used to it from Shakespeare) but the problem lies in the fact that they use complex vocabulary along with very specialized terms and acronyms that only people highly immersed in the field will understand. It frustrates me to no end, but hey, that’s the status quo, science is professional.

            Moving beyond the wording of papers, I find statistical reporting plain old confusing. I have a general understanding of p-values, error bars, normal distributions, significance of results, the whole 9-yards, but sometimes they use tests that I just have never seen before. I get so lost up in the explanation that I tend to lose track of what the paper is trying to say. When closely analyzed, the statistics isn’t that bad, but the inclusion of their statistical procedure has a tendency to make things clustered for me.

            Lastly, the most confusing thing about experimentation in scientific papers is the different types of procedures used and the figures that special computer programs spit out. I’m extremely familiar with EEG tests from my own research, however experimenters use tests I have never heard of or am not too familiar with, I tend to spend so much time trying to figure out what’s going on.

            It’s crazy how on can spend a few hours trying to understand 5 pages fully, I definitely need more practice!

 What do you think? Drop me a line!

Some Disney Stats 

Neuro Approaches to Social Behavior - Prologue

What's up everyone! My name is Christopher Mazis, but you can call me Chris for short. I'm a junior this year, majoring in Neuroscience, minoring in Chemistry, and am a Global Health Candidate. I'm from the most legit state in the US, New York baby, and I'm proud to represent NY here at Duke. That being said, I'm pumped for this year and even more stoked to finally be taking courses I'm interested in (Pre-med courses have had me swamped). I enrolled in Neuro Approaches to Social Behavior for a few reasons. First off, the field of Neuroscience fascinates me. It's constantly changing and new discoveries are being made all the time. They say our mind is limitless and so studying the mind can never get tedious as there is always something cool and new to discover. That being said, I wanted to get away from the biological aspect of neuroscience (I get enough of that in Fundamentals) and branch off to see how neuroscience functions with other disciplines. Secondly, I'm enrolled in Fundamentals of Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Brain Neurohumanities, and felt another neuro class that relates the inner workings of the mind to social behavior would be an excellent chance to give me a well rounded neuro packed semester. I took Psych Stats with Dr. Harris last year and I liked his teaching style, so I thought i'd check him out in his element, and so far, I think it was a great choice.

Well, that's my motivation, I look forward to working with y'all this semester and don't forget to follow my blog! Ill try to leave funny pics/videos in addition to some interesting facts and my own opinions about various neuro related topics. Catch ya!