# brain: mosaic evolution of a learning and memory circuit in Heliconiini butterflies.

<< A species of tropical butterfly with unusually expanded brain structures display a fascinating mosaic pattern of neural expansion linked to a cognitive innovation. >>

<< The study (..) investigates the neural foundations of behavioural innovation in Heliconius butterflies, the only genus known to feed on both nectar and pollen. As part of this behaviour, they demonstrate a remarkable ability to learn and remember spatial information about their food sources—skills previously connected to the expansion of a brain structure called the mushroom bodies, responsible for learning and memory. >>️

Butterfly brains reveal the tweaks required for cognitive innovation. University of Bristol. Oct 18, 2024. 

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2024/october/butterfly-brains.html

Max S. Farnworth, Theodora Loupasaki, et al. Mosaic evolution of a learning and memory circuit in Heliconiini butterflies. Curr. Biol. doi: 10.1016/ j.cub.2024.09.069. Oct 18, 2024. 

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)01337-X

Also: brain, evolution, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, brain, evolution

# brain: time delay in 'reservoir brain' as a reservoir network, a hypothesis

<< Both the predictive power and the memory storage capability of an artificial neural network called a reservoir computer increase when time delays are added into how the network processes signals, according to a new model. >>️

<< They also suggest that incorporating time delays could offer advantages to living neural networks (such as those found in human and animal brains). Such a finding would be tantalizing, as time delays are known to decrease performance in living systems. For example, for a baseball player facing an oncoming ball, a longer time delay between perception and action (which is learned from experience) will decrease the likelihood they hit a home run. Are there instead cases in which time delays increase an organism’s ability to perform some task? Has evolution shaped our brains, which could perhaps be thought of as a collection of reservoir computers, so that the time delay between one neuron sending a signal and a second receiving it is exactly the right length for understanding the visual and audio that constantly impinge upon our eyes and ears? Does adding time delays impact the number of neurons the brain needs to operate correctly? Further work is needed to answer these questions, but such work could lead to a new understanding of how biological organism’s function.  >>️

Sarah Marzen. Time Delays Improve Performance of Certain Neural Networks. Physics 17, 111. July 22, 2024. 

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v17/111 

Also: pause, silence, jazz, network, brain, ai (artificial intell), in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, brain, network, neural network, reservoir network, reservoir computer, time delay, ai, artificial intelligence

# gst: tracking criticality in unknown noise

<< Many real-world systems undergo abrupt changes in dynamics as they move across critical points, often with dramatic and irreversible consequences. >>️

AA << aim to develop noise-robust indicators of the distance to criticality (DTC) for systems affected by dynamical noise in two cases: when the noise amplitude is either fixed or is unknown and variable across recordings. (They) present a highly comparative approach to this problem that compares the ability of over 7000 candidate time-series features to track the DTC in the vicinity of a supercritical Hopf bifurcation. >>️

<< in the variable-noise setting, where these conventional indicators perform poorly, (AA) highlight new types of high-performing time-series features and show that their success is accomplished by capturing the shape of the invariant density (which depends on both the DTC and the noise amplitude) relative to the spread of fast fluctuations (which depends on the noise amplitude). >>

AA << introduce a new high-performing time-series statistic, the rescaled autodensity (RAD), that combines these two algorithmic components. >>️

️

Brendan Harris, Leonardo L. Gollo, Ben D. Fulcher. Tracking the Distance to Criticality in Systems with Unknown Noise. Phys. Rev. X 14, 031021. Aug 8, 2024.

https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.14.031021

Also: noise, brain, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, noise, brain, mouse visual cortex

# gst: when a continuous attractor could survive seemingly destructive bifurcations

<< Continuous attractors offer a unique class of solutions for storing continuous-valued variables in recurrent system states for indefinitely long time intervals. Unfortunately, continuous attractors suffer from severe structural instability in general--they are destroyed by most infinitesimal changes of the dynamical law that defines them. >>️

AA << build on the persistent manifold theory to explain the commonalities between bifurcations from and approximations of continuous attractors. Fast-slow decomposition analysis uncovers the persistent manifold that survives the seemingly destructive bifurcation. Moreover, recurrent neural networks trained on analog memory tasks display approximate continuous attractors with predicted slow manifold structures. >>️

<< continuous attractors are functionally robust and remain useful as a universal analogy for understanding analog memory. >>

Ábel Ságodi, Guillermo Martín-Sánchez, Piotr Sokół, Il Memming Park. Back to the Continuous Attractor. arXiv: 2408.00109v1 [q-bio.NC]. Jul 31, 2024. 

https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.00109

Also: attractor, analogy, brain, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: gst, attractor, continuous attractor, analogy, brain

# brain: a body-brain circuit regulates the body's inflammatory responses

<< The body-brain axis is emerging as a principal conductor of organismal physiology. It senses and controls organ function, metabolism and nutritional state. >>

Here AA << show that a peripheral immune insult powerfully activates the body-brain axis to regulate immune responses. (They) demonstrate that pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines communicate with distinct populations of vagal neurons to inform the brain of an emerging inflammatory response. In turn, the brain tightly modulates the course of the peripheral immune response. >>

<< Genetic silencing of this body-to-brain circuit produced unregulated and out-of-control inflammatory responses. By contrast, activating, rather than silencing, this circuit affords exceptional neural control of immune responses. >>️

Jin, H., Li, M., Jeong, E. et al. A body–brain circuit that regulates body inflammatory responses. Nature. May 1, 2024. 

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07469-y

Also: brain, pnei, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: brain, pnei

# brain: apropos of wars ... VR plus tDCS to reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (in military veterans).

<< Key Points. Question. Can therapeutic exposure using virtual reality (VR) be augmented with simultaneously applied transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? >>

<< Meaning. These findings suggest that the use of combined VR exposure plus tDCS could be a promising treatment for warzone-related PTSD. >>️️

Mascha van’t Wout-Frank, Amanda R. Arulpragasam, et al. Virtual Reality and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.5661. Mar 6, 2024.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2815835

Also: brain, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: life, war, brain, VR, tDCS, PTSD, veterans

# brain: apropos of mandering minds, the 'default mode' network.

<< When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years ago inspired a raft of research into networks of brain regions and how they interact with each other. >>

<< The default mode was one of the first brain networks characterized by science. It consists of a handful of brain regions, including a few at the front of the brain, like the dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortices, and others scattered throughout the organ, like the posterior cingulate cortex, the precuneus and the angular gyrus. These regions are associated with memory, experience replay, prediction, action consideration, reward/ punishment and information integration. >> ️

<< The default mode is clearly up to something complicated; it’s involved in many different processes that can’t be neatly described. >>

<< “It’s kind of silly to think that we’re ever going to be like, ‘This one brain region or one brain network does one thing,’” (..). “I don’t think that’s how it works.” (..) “Network interactions are more elucidating to study in some ways than just a network in isolation because they do work together and then come apart and then change what they’re doing over time”. >> Lucina Uddin.️

Lucina Uddin << is particularly interested in how the default mode network interacts with the ️salience network, which seems to help us identify the most relevant piece of information at any given time. Her work suggests that the salience network detects when something is important to pay attention to and then acts as an off switch for the default mode network. >>

Vinod Menon << has developed what he calls️ ️the triple network theory. It posits that abnormal interactions between the default mode network, the salience network and a third one called the frontoparietal network could contribute to mental health disorders. >>️

Nora Bradford. What Your Brain Is Doing When You’re Not Doing Anything.  quantamagazine.org. Feb 5, 2024. 

https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-your-brain-is-doing-when-youre-not-doing-anything-20240205/

FonT: the cat when it is in a contemplative state ... Who knows in what forms and with what results an artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to structure itself in networks of this type.

Also: brain, brain default mode network, in  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=brain+default+mode+network

Also: brain, salience network, in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=brain+salience+network

Also: brain, triple network theory, in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=brain+triple+network+theory

Also: brain, ai (artificial intell), analogy,  in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html

Keywords: brain, mind, default mode network, salience network, triple network theory, AI

# brain: arterial pressure pulsations could modulate neuronal activity.

<< Spontaneous slow oscillations have been described in the rat olfactory bulb local field potential, even in the absence of respiration. What is the origin of these oscillations? >>

AA << discovered a subpopulation of neurons within the olfactory bulb that can directly sense cardiovascular pressure pulsations (..). The modulation of their excitability is transduced by mechanosensitive ion channels. >>

<< Thus, there exists a fast pathway for the interoception of heartbeat whereby arterial pressure pulsations within the brain modulate neuronal activity. >> Peter Stern. ️

Luna Jammal Salameh, Sebastian H. Bitzenhofer, et al. Blood pressure pulsations modulate central neuronal activity via mechanosensitive ion channels. Science. Vol 383, Issue 6682. Feb 2, 2024. 

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk8511

img: https://www.science.org/cms/10.1126/science.adk8511/asset/76a1eaf8-61d3-4233-bc2a-be2276f367cd/assets/images/large/science.adk8511-fa.jpg

Also: brain, pnei, soliton, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html  

Keywords: brain, pnei, olfactory bulb, spontaneous slow oscillations, wave, soliton

# gst: pseudo epileptic seizures in self-organized bistability

<< Self-organized bistability (SOB) stands as a critical behavior for the systems delicately adjusting themselves to the brink of bistability, characterized by a first-order transition. >>️

(AA) << embark on a theoretical exploration that extends the boundaries of the SOB concept on a higher-order network (implicitly embedded microscopically within a simplicial complex) while considering the limitations imposed by coupling constraints. >>️

AA << use continuous synchronization diagrams and statistical data from spontaneous synchronized events to demonstrate the crucial role SOB plays in initiating and terminating temporary synchronized events. (They) show that under weak coupling consumption, these spontaneous occurrences closely resemble the statistical traits of the epileptic brain functioning. >>

️

Md Sayeed Anwar, Nikita Frolov, Alexander E. Hramov, Dibakar Ghosh. Self-organized bistability on globally coupled higher-order networks. arXiv: 2401.02825v1 [nlin.AO]. Jan 5, 2024.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.02825

Also: transition, self-assembly, brain, in: https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html

Keywords: gst, transition, self-assembly, bistability, self-organized bistability, brain, epileptic seizure

# art: nature as a bizarre artist, the self-sculpted Sphinx.

<< There is evidence that the Great Sphinx was a natural landform before its surface features were chiseled by the ancient Egyptians. Is this controversial theory plausible? >>

AA << carried out experiments on the fluid mechanical erosion of clay. Based on accounts of the nonuniform composition of the Sphinx, we tested the effect of hard inclusions within hillocks of softer clay. The flow of a water tunnel mimics the prevailing winds of Giza, and three-dimensional optical scanning records the history and evolution of the shape as it erodes. >>

<< These results show what ancient peoples may have encountered in the deserts of Egypt and why they envisioned a fantastic creature. >>️

️

Samuel Boury, Scott Weady, Leif Ristroph. Sculpting the Sphinx. Phys. Rev. Fluids 8, 110503. Nov 16, 2023.

https://journals.aps.org/prfluids/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.8.110503

https://gfm.aps.org/meetings/dfd-2022/6323dcaf199e4c2c0873fad7

Also: brain, perception, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords: art, sculpt, Sphinx, erosion, fluid mechanical erosion, brain, mind, perceptions.

# brain: the sense of hearing, the sense of silence.

<< Do we only hear sounds? Or can we also hear silence? These questions are the subject of a centuries-old philosophical debate between two camps: the perceptual view (we literally hear silence), and the cognitive view (we only judge or infer silence). >>

<< In all cases (concerning seven experiments), silences elicited temporal distortions perfectly analogous to their sound-based counterparts, suggesting that auditory processing treats moments of silence the way it treats sounds. Silence is truly perceived, not merely inferred. >>️

️

Rui Zhe Goh, Ian B. Phillips, Chaz Firestone. The perception of silence. 

PNAS. 120 (29) e2301463120. Jul 10, 2023. 

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2301463120

Roberto Molar Candanosa. The sound of silence? Researchers prove we can  hear it. Johns Hopkins University - HUB. Jul 11, 2023. 

https://hub.jhu.edu/2023/07/11/can-we-hear-silence 

Researchers Prove We Hear the 

Sound of Silence. Jul 10, 2023. 

https://youtu.be/nCRosndUfMc

Also: silence, pause, sound, noise, perception, brain, in https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html 

Keywords:  brain, perception, sound, noise, pause, silence

# brain: spiral waves at the edge of neural tissue during cognitive processing.

AA << have discovered human brain signals travelling across the outer layer of neural tissue that naturally arrange themselves to resemble swirling spirals. >>️

<< The research (..) indicates these ubiquitous spirals, which are brain signals observed on the cortex during both resting and cognitive states, help organise brain activity and cognitive processing. >>️

<< Our study suggests that gaining insights into how the spirals are related to cognitive processing could significantly enhance our understanding of the dynamics and functions of the brain, (..) These spiral patterns exhibit intricate and complex dynamics, moving across the brain’s surface while rotating around central points known as phase singularities. >> Pulin Gong.

<< One key characteristic of these brain spirals is that they often emerge at the boundaries that separate different functional networks in the brain, >> Yiben Xu. 

Philip Ritchie. Scientists discover spiral-shaped signals that organise brain activity. sydney.edu.au. Jun 16, 2023. 

https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2023/06/16/scientists-discover-spiral-shaped-signals-that-organise-brain-activity.html

https://youtu.be/YZlqokljqY8️

Yiben Xu, Xian Long, Jianfeng Feng & Pulin Gong. Interacting spiral wave patterns underlie complex brain dynamics and are related to cognitive processing. Nat Hum Behav. doi: 10.1038/ s41562-023-01626-5. Jun 15,  2023.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01626-5

Also: brain, vortex, waves in: https://www.inkgmr.net/kwrds.html

Keywords: brain, vortex, waves,  cognition

# gst: apropos of transitions, a perpetual dance between states of meta-stability and chaos (in brain).

img: https://wp.technologyreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Radio_image_15.jpeg?fit=2160,1214

<< Hello! Today: new research is shining a light on how our brains flit between states of stability and chaos, depending on what we’re doing. >>

<< Our brains exist in a state somewhere between stability and chaos as they help us make sense of the world, according to recordings of brain activity taken from volunteers over the course of a week. >>

<< As we go from reading a book to chatting with a friend, for example, our brains shift from one semi-stable state to another—but only after chaotically zipping through multiple other states in a pattern that looks completely random. >>

<< Understanding how our brains restore some degree of stability after chaos could help us work out how to treat disorders at either end of this spectrum. Too much chaos is probably what happens when a person has a seizure, whereas too much stability might leave a person comatose. >>

Jessica Hamzelou. Neuroscientists listened in on people’s brains for a week. They found order and chaos. Rhiannon Williams. MIT Download. Feb 8, 2023.

https://mailchi.mp/technologyreview.com/mass-market-military-drones-have-changed-the-way-wars-are-fought-839014

<< The team (Avniel Ghuman, Maxwell Wang, et al.) found some surprising patterns in brain activity over the course of the week. Specific brain networks seemed to communicate with each other in what looked like a “dance,” with one region appearing to “listen” while the other “spoke,” say the researchers, who presented their findings at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego last year. >>

Jessica Hamzelou. MIT Tech Rev. Feb 7, 2023. 

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/02/07/1067951/brains-week-order-chaos

Also 

keyword 'danza' in Notes

(quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=danza

keyword 'dance' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=dance

keyword 'cervello' | 'brain' in Notes

(quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=cervello

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=brain

keyword 'brain' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=brain

keyword 'chaos' | 'chaotic' in Font

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=chaos

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=chaotic

keyword 'caos' | 'caotico' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=caos

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=caotico

<< Amico, qualunque  cosa suonerai . . . >>  Jelly Roll Morton. cit.: 2113 - soniche a ramulo. Jan 28, 2007

http://inkpi.blogspot.it/2007/01/2113-soniche-ramulo.html

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=jelly+roll

Keywords: gst, brain, transition, chaos, dance

# brain: how the brain says 'Oops!'

AA << have uncovered how signals from a group of neurons in the brain's frontal lobe simultaneously give humans the flexibility to learn new tasks—and the focus to develop highly specific skills. >>

<< The study's key finding is that the brain uses the same group of neurons for performance feedback in many different situations—whether a person is attempting a new task for the first time or working to perfect a specific skill. >>

<< Part of the magic of the human brain is that it is so flexible, (..) We designed our study to decipher how the brain can generalize and specialize at the same time, both of which are critical for helping us pursue a goal. >> Ueli Rutishauser. ️

️

New Study Reveals How the Brain Says 'Oops!'. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. May 5, 2022. 

https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/new-study-reveals-how-the-brain-says-oops/

AA << recorded the activity of more than 1000 neurons in the medial frontal cortex of human epilepsy patients while they performed complex cognitive tasks. They found that domain-general and domain-specific performance monitoring neurons were intermixed within this brain region. The population activity gave rise to a geometry that allowed domain-general signals to be read out with more than 90% accuracy on single trials while at the same time retaining the ability to separate different conflict conditions. These results show how the human medial frontal cortex resolves the fundamental trade-off between task generalization and specialization, which is critical for cognitive flexibility. >>

️

Zhongzheng Fu, Danielle Beam, et al. The geometry of domain-general performance monitoring in the human medial frontal cortex. Science. Vol 376, Issue 6593. doi: 10.1126/ science.abm9922. May 6, 2022.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm9922

Also

keyword 'cervello' | 'brain' in Notes

(quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=cervello

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=brain

keyword 'brain' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=brain

keyword 'organoids' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=organoids

PS: An image of "oops", not completely spanned in the air, could be this:

Keywords: brain, mind, cervello, mente, oops

# behav: cry / not cry, babe ... POMC neurons modulate the crying behavior of pups (among mice)

<< Infants cry when separated from their mothers. Here, (AA) show that POMC (pro-opiomelanocortin) neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus—via ß-endorphin production and signaling—modulate the crying behavior of mouse pups. The effect of POMC neurons on vocal behavior depends on the expression of µ-opioid receptors, the main receptor for ß-endorphin. Thus, POMC neurons in the hypothalamus modulate infant cry through opioid signaling. >>️

Gabriela M. Bosque Ortiz, Marcelo O. Dietrich. POMC neurons modulate infant vocalizations through opioid signaling. bioRxiv 2022.08.15.504046. 

doi: 10.1101/ 2022.08.15.504046. Aug 15, 2022. 

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.15.504046v1

Also

keywords 'behav' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=behav

keyword 'pnei' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=pnei

keyword 'pnei' in Notes 

(quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=pnei

Keywords: behav, brain, pnei, opioid signaling

# brain: jazzy perceptions inside, there’s more to all the noise; even in the dark, neurons of the visual cortex chat

<< Scientists are now rethinking how they study and conceive of perception. >>

<< At every moment, neurons whisper, shout, sputter and sing, filling the brain with a dizzying cacophony of voices. Yet many of those voices don’t seem to be saying anything meaningful at all. They register as habitual echoes of noise, not signal; as static, not discourse. >>️

<< But over the past decade, that view has changed. (..) There’s more to all the noise, scientists realized, than they had assumed. >>️

<< Now, by analyzing both the neural activity and the behavior of mice in unprecedented detail, researchers have revealed a surprising explanation for much of that variability: Throughout the brain, even in low-level sensory areas like the visual cortex, neurons encode information about far more than their immediately relevant task. They also babble about whatever other behaviors the animal happens to be engaging in, even trivial ones — the twitch of a whisker, the flick of a hind leg. Those simple gestures aren’t just present in the neural activity. They dominate it. >>️

<< Our brains aren’t just thinking in our heads. Our brains are interacting with our bodies and the way that we move through the world. >> Cris Niell. 

<< Wait — maybe the brain isn’t noisy. Maybe it’s actually much more precise than we thought, >> David McCormick️.️

Jordana Cepelewicz. ‘Noise’ in the Brain Encodes Surprisingly Important Signals. Quantamag. Nov 7, 2019. 

https://www.quantamagazine.org/noise-in-the-brains-vision-areas-encodes-body-movements-20191107/

Salkoff DB, Zagha E, McCarthy E, McCormick DA. Movement and Performance Explain Widespread Cortical Activity in a Visual Detection Task. Cereb Cortex. 2020 Jan 10;30(1):421-437. doi: 10.1093/ cercor/bhz206. 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31711133/

Also

keyword 'perception' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=perception

keyword 'percezione' | 'percezioni' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=percezione

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=percezioni

keyword 'error' | 'fuzzy' | 'noise'  in FonT 

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=error

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=fuzzy

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=noise

keywords 'errore' | 'errori' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=errore

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=errori

keyword 'jazz' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=jazz

keyword 'jazz' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry):

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=jazz

Keywords: brain, perception, visual cortex, noise

# brain: waiting for 'magic strings', psilocybin is a 'relatively safe' drug.

<< Psilocybin-containing mushrooms are used for recreational, spiritual, self-development and therapeutic purposes. However, physiologically relatively nontoxic, adverse reactions are occasionally reported. >>

The << study investigated the 12-month prevalence and nature of magic mushroom-related adverse reactions resulting in emergency medical treatment seeking in a global sample of (9.233) people reporting magic mushroom use. >>️

️

️ << The results confirm psilocybin mushrooms are a relatively safe drug, with serious incidents rare and short lasting. Providing harm-reduction information likely plays a key role in preventing adverse effects. More research is needed to examine the detailed circumstances and predictors of adverse reactions including rarer physiological reactions. >>️

Emma I Kopra, Jason A Ferris, et al. Adverse experiences resulting in emergency medical treatment seeking following the use of magic mushrooms. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 1-9. doi: 10.1177/ 02698811221084063. 

Apr 7, 2022.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02698811221084063

<< Psilocybin is currently being investigated in clinical trials for mental health conditions across the world, including in our department, (..) It is important to draw a distinction between the use of psilocybin in clinical or research settings and recreational magic mushroom use, with partly overlapping yet distinct safety considerations and risk profiles. >> Emma Kopra. 

Beth Ellwood. Large survey suggests psilocybin is a “relatively safe” drug, with serious reactions being rare and short-lived. May 4, 2022. 

https://www.psypost.org/2022/05/large-survey-suggests-psilocybin-is-a-relatively-safe-drug-with-serious-reactions-being-rare-and-short-lived-63075

Also

keyword 'magic string' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=magic+string

keyword 'psychedelic' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=psychedelic

Keywords: brain, drugs, magic string, magic mushrooms, psilocybin, psychedelic

# gst life: apropos of critical points, love (at first sight and love from liking or friendship) might be a second-order phase transition.

<< The hypothesis of the human brain operation in vicinity of a critical point has been a matter of a hot debate in the recent years. >>

<< In this work, (AA) suggest that love might be an example of a second-order phase transition occurring in the brain. (They) show that this hypothesis explains a lot of well-known properties of love. Analyzing several most famous literature examples and a private diary, (they) show that the intensity of feelings exhibits a universal scaling behavior, distinguishing two cases: love at first sight and love developing from liking or friendship (friends first), both being studied in psychology. >>

The theory of second-order phase transitions developed by L.D. Landau (1980) << has inspired a lot of activity in physics, because it turned out that such transitions are characterized by a universal scaling behavior. Independently of the nature of the system, their parameters exhibit power law dependencies on the dimensionless parameter (temperature). >>

<< The key hypothesis of the present work is that love is a second-order phase transition occurring in the human brain under the influence of hormones, such as dopamine and serotonin (..). The brain switches from the normal operation in the critical regime to the supercritical regime because of the increase of the excitation (more dopamine) and reduction of the inhibition (less serotonin) (..). The order parameter of the transition is the intensity of feelings: before the transition, the subject has no particular feelings, while after the transition the feelings are non-zero. The most direct consequence is that the order parameter should exhibit a universal power law behavior: the feelings should grow as a square root of time α ∼√ >>

<< Since it is impossible to analyze the human feelings directly during such uncontrollable phenomenon as ”love at first sight”, (AA) have decided to perform a quantitative study of the intensity of feelings depicted in the literature. (..) (They) have chosen three well-known books for this analysis: ”Romeo and Juliet” (W. Shakespeare), ”The Lily of the Valley” (H. de Balzac, (..)), and ”Martin Eden” (J. London). >>

<< the case of a non-zero external ”bias”, which is a situation that occurs more often than love at first sight. Indeed, one usually knows several persons better than all the others, and thus some positive feelings towards some of them can be present before the transition occurs. (..) To study this transition quantitatively, (AA) have chosen another well-known book, ”Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte. This books is also quite autobiographic, and famous for the psychological details, that got its author the title of ”first historian of the private consciousness”. The delay between the initial acquaintance and love is now of several weeks (about 45 days).

Dmitry Solnyshkov, Guillaume Malpuech. Love might be a second-order phase transition. arXiv: 2203.13246v1 [cond-mat.stat-mech]. Mar 24, 2022. 

https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.13246

Also

keyword 'transition' in FonT: 

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=transition

keyword 'transizione' | 'transition' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry): 

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=transizione

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=transition

keywords: gst, life, love, transitions,  critical point, phasetransition, second-order phase transition, brain, mind, behavior.

# life; a hypothetical externalization of knowledge effects; humans are thought to have decreased in brain volume since the end of the last ice age (3,000 y.ago)

<< Human brain size nearly quadrupled in the six million years since Homo last shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees, but human brains are thought to have decreased in volume since the end of the last Ice Age. The timing and reason for this decrease is enigmatic. Here (AA) use change-point analysis to estimate the timing of changes in the rate of hominin brain evolution. (They) find that hominin brains experienced positive rate changes at 2.1 and 1.5 million years ago, coincident with the early evolution of Homo and technological innovations evident in the archeological record. But (AA) also find that human brain size reduction was surprisingly recent, occurring in the last 3,000 years. >>

Jeremy M. DeSilva, James F. A. Traniello, et al. When and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size? A New Change-Point Analysis and Insights From Brain Evolution in Ants. Front. Ecol. Evol.,  doi: 10.3389/ fevo.2021.742639. Oct 22, 2021. 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.742639/full

When and why did human brains decrease in size 3,000 years ago? Ants may hold clues. Frontiers. Oct 22, 2021.

https://phys.org/news/2021-10-human-brains-decrease-size-years.html

Also

keyword 'nomade' | 'nomad' | 'nomads' | 'nomadic' | 'hunter-gatherers' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=nomade

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=nomad

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=nomads

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=nomadic

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=hunter-gatherers

keyword 'nomade' | 'nomadi' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=nomade

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=nomadi

keyword 'ctz' entities in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=ctz

keywords: evolution, brain, brain size, nomads, post-nomads, sociocultural effects

# brain: like a Zazen entity, mice can spontaneously self-modulate cortical dopamine impulses to reward.

AA << recently set out to investigate less understood aspects related to spontaneous impulses of dopamine. Their results, (..) have shown that mice can willfully manipulate (..) random dopamine pulses. >>

<< Rather than only occurring when presented with pleasurable, or reward-based expectations, (..) the neocortex in mice is flooded with unpredictable impulses of dopamine that occur approximately once per minute. >>️

<< mice on a treadmill received a reward if they showed they were able to control the impromptu dopamine signals. Not only were mice aware of these dopamine impulses, the data revealed, but the results confirmed that they learned to anticipate and volitionally act upon a portion of them. >>️️

<< Critically, mice learned to reliably elicit (dopamine) impulses prior to receiving a reward, (..) These effects reversed when the reward was removed. We posit that spontaneous dopamine impulses may serve as a salient cognitive event in behavioral planning. (..) We further conjecture that an animal's sense of spontaneous dopamine impulses may motivate it to search and forage in the absence of known reward-predictive stimuli, >> the researchers noted.️

'Feel good' brain messenger can be willfully controlled, new study reveals. University of California, San Diego. Jul 23, 2021. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210723121512.htm

Conrad Foo, Adrian Lozada, et al. Reinforcement learning links spontaneous cortical dopamine impulses to reward. Current Biology. doi: 10.1016/ j.cub.2021.06.069. Jul 23, 2021. 

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00898-8

Also

keywords 'dopamine' and 'meditation' in PUBMED

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=dopamine+meditation