Neuroscience deals with the structure and function of the nervous system and its components in biological organisms.
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Is it possible for any animals today to have more than one brain?
Is it possible for any organisms in the animal kingdom to have more than one brain?
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102 views
Epilepsy explained by computational neuroscience
A few years ago, on my maths masters, I did a module in theoretical neuroscience. I was shown that the mathematical framework the course developed for neurons, with a small adjustment in the ...
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540 views
What are the positive and negative effects of insulin on cognitive function?
A UCLA study seems to imply that insulin interferes with cognitive function.
The DHA-deprived rats also developed signs of resistance to insulin, a
hormone that controls blood sugar and ...
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212 views
Is it purely the nervous system causing vaginal lubrication (arousal)?
My girlfriend was watching some documentary on TLC about a paralyzed woman getting pregnant. I believe that woman still has some feeling, as she spoke about feeling the effects of a bladder ...
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72 views
If a non-mammal is starved of oxygen for some time, how long would it take the animal's neurons to die?
This is a follow-up question to Why do neurons die so quickly (relative to other cells) when deprived of oxygen?.
I'm particularly interested in the case of reptiles, octopuses, and other ...
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514 views
Why do neurons die so quickly (relative to other cells) when deprived of oxygen?
This question could be considered a follow-up question to Why is a lack of oxygen fatal to cells?, although the top answer there does not address why damage starts to pop in.
The answer says this:
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Why is the Patellar reflex not triggered when the tendon is extended slowly?
I have been previously told that the Patellar reflex (knee-jerk-reaction) exists to prevent the hyper-extension of the patellar tendon. Yet if the impact to the tendon is delivered slowly - i.e. by ...
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Why do the brains of cocaine-users shrink faster than the brains of non-cocaine users?
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/04/cocaine-may-age-the-brain.html?rss=1
Cocaine-dependent individuals showed a significantly greater-than-normal age-related decline in gray matter in ...
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Why are melodies/harmonies perceived as pleasurable by humans?
Is there any evolutionary advantage to finding melodies or harmonies pleasurable? Does the ear pick up these particular oscillating waves differently from other sounds, and if so, how does that affect ...
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Can one dendrite pass through another?
While tracing dendrites on EyeWire I encountered the following situation. They belong to an Orientation Selective Ganglion Cell.
It's the first dendrite I've noticed with such a clear 'hole' in it, ...
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What actually happens when my leg 'falls asleep'?
Most people have experienced the temporary loss of feeling and tingling in their leg resulting from sitting in an abnormal position for a short while. Usually you get a loss of feeling in your leg ...
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Soma-soma paired neurons
I'm reading this paper for a presentation I have to do. Since I have no real biology background I encountered a few questions and one I couldn't find an answer using my google-fu.
It's about how ...
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96 views
Is there a biophysical causation from local field potential (LFP) to spikes?
Many experiments showed that neurons tend to fire at some phase (usually trough) of local field potential (LFP) oscillations, such as theta or gamma rhythm. LFP is supposedly generated by a population ...
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Are CN3, CN7, CN9 and CN10 the only Parasymphatetic Cranial Nerves?
It has been my thought for a long time that that is the case but I am unsure about it now, since the parasympathetic tract of colon sigmoideum does not seem to have connection with CN 10. It connects ...
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76 views
Does the Parasympathetic Tract of Colon Sigmoideum Travel with Nervus Vagus and its Nucleus Dorsalis Nervi Vagi?
I have the following tractus now:
nucleus parasymphaticus sacrales -> nervus splanchnic -> ganglion
terminalis -> colon sigmoideum
The tract is parasympathetic.
It suggests me that it should ...
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58 views
Somatosensory System
I have a test in my upcoming Neuroscience class, one of the items on the study guide is:
Identify 2 means by which a maintained, constant stimulus produces only a transient excitation of the ...
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180 views
Brain + ethanol experiment suggestions needed
I need to demonstrate the effects of ethanol on a human brain (or other brain with developed telencephalon) in vitro; ideally the effects on vigilance and/or memory.
Could you please suggest such an ...
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Do men have more extreme variations than women?
This question was considered unsuitable for Skeptics and I think it is more suited to BIology than Cognitive Sciences
I was reading this article which I found interesting. It is not supported with ...
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213 views
What is a inhibitory tone when talking about neurons?
In this SE answer: Could an "overactive" brain increase the chances of Alzheimer's Disease?
user @nico used the word inhibitory tone What does that ...
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66 views
If inhibiting S6 kinase decreases protein translation, then could inhibiting S6 kinase could possibly slow down long-term potentiation in neurons?
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P70S6_kinase...
Phosphorylation of S6 induces protein synthesis at the ribosome.
P70S6 kinase is in a signaling pathway that includes mTOR (the
mammalian ...
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229 views
Long-term-potentiation and memory. Where do we stand?
I was reading the answers to the question: How and where, in the human brain, are memories stored? and, as expected, LTP and LTD came out.
Every time I read about LTP/LTD there is always something ...
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383 views
Density of neurons/cells in the mouse brain
Could someone point out some relevant papers or resources (an online DB maybe?) describing the density of neurons (or, more in general, of cells) in different areas of the mouse brain?
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165 views
Is the minicolumn the unit of the neocortex?
There are many arguments for what the unit of the neocortex is. "Columns" seem to be the standard, but what exactly those are is extremely contradictory between individuals, cortical regions, and ...
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How reversible is DAT upregulation from long-term ADHD medication use?
A mechanism for ADHD stimulant medication tolerance has now been found. See http://neurosciencenews.com/adhd-medication-patient-brains-adapt-dat/.
Here's the thing though: what exactly is the ...
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How does Golgi's neural histological stain work?
What is known about the targets of Golgi staining of neurons? Are larger neurons more likely to be stained? Are specific cell types more susceptible than others?
The current wikipedia article says ...
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What evidence gives clues to the physiological basis for conversion disorder?
Conversion disorder has a set of DSM diagnosis criteria, which, among other things, includes ruling out all neurological disease.
However, as the media has shown us (and one could argue a biased ...
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420 views
How does an inhibitory synapse communicate to the cell body of a neuron?
I picture a neuron as having multiple trees of dendrites attached to the cell body with a single axon leaving the cell body. I believe the cell body near the axon root makes the decision to fire or ...
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How does the brain's energy consumption depend on mental activity?
What is the impact of mental activity on the energy consumption of the human brain?
I am most interested in intellectually demanding tasks (e.g., chess matches, solving a puzzle, taking a difficult ...
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126 views
What are the constraints when growing an artificial brain?
Are there any experiments on growing artificial brains from brain tissue?
What are the constraints? Will such tissue grown to the mass greater than that of human brain surpass it in intellect or it ...
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644 views
What is Peter's rule in neuroscience?
I have heard and read about Peter's rule informally in the past, but never saw a formal definition or description.
Informally I have learned to understand Peter's rule as the assumed correlation ...
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265 views
Could an “overactive” brain increase the chances of Alzheimer's Disease?
From Raichle ME. 2010. Two views of brain function. Trends in cognitive sciences 14: 180–90:
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of progressive
cognitive decline and dementia in ...
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289 views
When did vision evolve for the first time?
Today I wondered what the first organism to evolve vision would have been. I assume that it would have been kind of primitive and basic, but of course extremely innovative and eventually useful to a ...
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643 views
How and where, in the human brain, are memories stored?
Background
I am a computer programmer who is fascinated by artificial intelligence and artificial neural networks, and I am becoming more curious about how biological neural networks work.
Context ...
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Why have humans evolved much more quickly than other animals?
Humans have, in a relatively short amount of time, evolved from apes on the African plains to upright brainiacs with nukes, computers, and space travel.
Meanwhile, a lion is still a lion and a ...
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197 views
Is it correct that the body only responds to the most painful stimulus?
I'm rather ashamed to say that this question is partly based on an episode of House.
I have previously heard that, if there are multiple simultaneous painful stimuli, the mind will only feel the ...
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78 views
Which brain regions are D1 dopamine receptors expressed, and which brain regions are D2 dopamine receptors expressed?
This is a follow-up question to If D1 receptors stimulate adenylate cyclase (through GPCRs) and D2 receptors inhibit it, then why do mutations in both have similar effects?.
As a further question - ...
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589 views
How do dopamine agonists like amphetamine/methylphenidate affect acetylcholine signalling?
Do they increase it, or is the effect mostly neutral?
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If D1 receptors stimulate adenylate cyclase (through GPCRs) and D2 receptors inhibit it, then why do mutations in both have similar effects?
D1 and D2 both refer to specific types of dopamine receptors.
I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that the D1 receptors are in regions different from D2 receptors.
I know that adenylate ...
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125 views
Do taller people have larger somatosensory cortices than short people?
Do taller people have larger somatosensory cortices than short people? What about larger motor cortices? And if so, could this imply that they have less space devoted to other functions, like ...
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4k views
How reversible is decerebrate posturing caused by brain stem damage?
This is a follow-up question to How likely would Abraham Lincoln be to survive his wounds today?
You don't have to see a CT scan or autopsy to know if the brainstem is
injured (directly or ...
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Are there neurons that can sense light shining in your ears?
I know someone who bought earphones that shine light in you ears. According to what he was told, there are neurons that sense light and then make you feel wide awake when activated, which seemed like ...
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171 views
First discovery of long-term depression?
LTP was first described by Tim Bliss and Terje Lømo in their paper Long-lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission in the dentate area of the anaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the ...
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Human perception of time depending on age
From what I can tell and what thus far all people with whom I discussed this subject confirmed is that time appears to "accelerate" as we age.
Digging a little, most explanations I found basically ...
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What portions of the brain have drastic changes in activation when we “sense” someone is there?
I was watching an old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie ("Commando") where he plays an elite soldier (surprise). An enemy tries to sneak up on him, and Arnold says that he smelled the other guy ...
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Is the squid giant axon the fastest conducting unmyelinated axon known?
The conduction velocity of the squid giant axon can reach 30 m/s. Is there any known example of an even faster conducting unmyelinated axons?
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530 views
How does a brain distinguish stimuli?
If all the brain ever "sees" is action potentials, how do we know that one set of action potentials denotes a flash of light, another one signifies a loud sound, etc ?
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214 views
Why does regular exercise increase brain volume?
It has been shown in several studies that regular aerobic exercise increases brain volume in aging humans. The changes were observed in hippocampus and were correlated with dramatic reduction of ...
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153 views
What would be the conduction speed of A-alpha fibers, were they unmyelinated?
It's known (Hursh 1939) that myelinated axons exhibit the behavior v = 6d, where v is the propagation speed [m/s] and d is the axon diameter [μm].
A related relation for unmyelinated axons is ...
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86 views
Are Schwann cells the sole source of myelination in PNS?
Are Schwann cells the only source of myelin for axons in the peripheral nervous system, or are there other neuroglia or other processes that result in myelination of PNS axons?
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673 views
What causes REM atonia to be lost in sleepwalking?
I understand that in normal REM sleep the voluntary muscles are in effect paralysed in order to prevent an individual acting out their dreams. This paper indicates that there are likley to be ...
