Word: neural
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What does all this tell us about the mind? "What you're seeing here is a window into thought itself," says Ramachandran, who is slated to speak at the Princeton meeting. "It also gives us an experimental handle to investigate the neural basis of more elusive phenomena like metaphor." It's a fair bet, he argues, that synesthesia is caused by genetic mutations that create dense neural connections between areas of the brain that process sensory information. Ramachandran hypothesizes that in normal brains, a handful of these links might play a role in the formulation of metaphors, which often blend...
...school can actually do anything to prevent plaques and tangles from forming, there is substantial evidence that schooling postpones memory and orientation problems. Education may help the brain's nerve cells build up more connections, giving it a larger cushion or reserve from which to draw upon when the neural network begins to fade...
Many other misconceptions about brain potential can probably be traced to a series of studies in the 1970s showing that young rats raised with access to mazes and toys had more neural connections than those kept in barren cages. Similarly, studies indicate that children raised without sufficient nurturing often suffer from cognitive deficiencies. However, no evidence indicates that a lot of attention, in the form of early and constant stimulation, enhances a child's intellectual growth. According to the current scientific literature, the type and amount of stimulation needed for proper childhood development is already built into the normal life...
...Many other misconceptions about brain potential can probably be traced to a series of studies in the 1970s showing that young rats raised with access to mazes and toys had more neural connections than those kept in barren cages. Similarly, studies indicate that children raised without sufficient nurturing often suffer from cognitive deficiencies. However, no evidence indicates that a lot of attention, in the form of early and constant stimulation, enhances a child's intellectual growth. According to the current scientific literature, the type and amount of stimulation needed for proper childhood development is already built into the normal life...
...obese may eat more in an effort to stimulate the dopamine "pleasure" circuits in their brain, just as addicts do by drinking or taking drugs. New studies show that the obese have fewer dopamine receptors than their normal-weight counterparts. It isn't clear, however, whether the neural difference is a consequence or a cause of obesity...