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Neural activity in natural settings
When scientists design an experiment, we try really hard to minimize the number of variables so that we can identify a clear change caused by our experimental parameters. This is useful because it allows us to ask a specific question and manipulate a unique condition to study its effects. Though this may be experimentally useful, there is a disconnect between the findings of these experimental paradigms and how our bodies function in “real-life”. This new paper, from our lab at Stanford, tries to address the congruence between experimental paradigms and natural conditions. We looked at neural responses in parietal cortex during an arithmetic condition and then used that activation to…
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Face distortion!
Exciting news!!! My first coauthor paper came out today in Journal of Neuroscience. It’s pretty cool to feel like I’m actually starting to become a “real scientist.” The paper describes the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electrocorticography (ECoG), and electrical brain stimulation (EBS) to study the area of the brain involved in facial recognition. Here are a few relevant links: The Journal of Neuroscience News Coverage: Stanford Press Release with embedded video link Huffington Post SF Chronicle (front page!) ABC News Time!
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SFN 2012
I’ve been in new orleans for the past week at the Society for Neuroscience 2012 Annual meeting. This is my fourth SFN meeting and as per usual it didn’t disappoint. There were tons of great posters & talks, ridiculously long lines for coffee, bad conference center food, and people sprawled along every hallway on their laptops. One very exciting thing about this year’s meeting was that I presented a first author poster!! It was really great to hear encouraging feedback from scientists from around the world and talk to inquisitive and insightful people in a variety of neuroscientific disciplines. The collaborative nature of the conference really is a special feel-…
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Math & memory
Copied below is a news article from Stanford’s Scope blog discussing a new paper published in PNAS by Brett Foster (and others from our lab.) Exciting work that is getting a ton of press coverage today including Australian, Indian, Russian, and Dutch news sources. Very exciting- Go Brett!! 😀 ——- Why Memory and Math don’t mix: They require opposing states of the same brain circuitry Bruce Goldman on September 3rd, 2012 Can you compute your taxes while simultaneously remembering what you had for lunch yesterday? Neither can I. But doing two things at once isn’t always hard – in fact, it can be as easy as listening to music while driving, or talking…
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Science Media
I am generally a fan of science in the news. I’m honestly a believer that some public coverage, regardless of how basic or general, is good for science because the more people hear about what’s going on, the more likely they are to care. Call it wishful thinking, or call it naivety, but it seems like we have to keep talking about science (and not only amongst ourselves) in order to spread the word. I read a book by Chris Mooney called Unscientific America that describes the divide between scientists, the media, legislators, and the American public. Though it didn’t do a very good job of providing solutions to the…
