# 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

# gst: asymmetric ferroelectric bi-stability with two unequal stable polarization states by broken inversion symmetry

AA << demonstrated this phenomenon for the first time in engineered two-dimensional crystals. (..) These engineered crystals lead to an asymmetric bi-stability with two unequal stable polarization states in contrast to a natural ferroelectric. >>

New electronic phenomenon discovered. University of North Florida. Aug 11, 2021. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210811131503.htm

<< In atomic-layer superlattices constructed using three constituent phases, (..) the stacking sequence of the atomic layers is found to control the symmetry of the high-temperature dielectric response. In such a superlattice when a nanostructured asymmetric strain is programmed into the lattice via the stacking order, the natural symmetry at high temperatures is removed and a polarized sample is obtained in which the polarization increases as the temperature is lowered. In contrast to a ferroelectric characterized by a bistable ground state with two equal and opposite electronic polarizations, (they)  experiments show evidence of asymmetric ferroelectric correlations that set in when such a sample becomes hysteretic below a temperature Tx, with two unequal polarization states. >>

Maitri P. Warusawithana, Caitlin S. Kengle, et al. Asymmetric ferroelectricity by design in atomic-layer superlattices with broken inversion symmetry.  Phys. Rev. B 104, 085103. Aug 4,  2021.

https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.085103  

# brain: brain images of silence

<< When imagining music, the musicians' brain activity had the opposite electrical polarity to when they listened to it -- indicating different brain activations -- but the same type of activity as for imagery occurred in silent moments of the songs when people would have expected a note but there wasn't one. >>

<< There is no sensory input during silence and imagined music, so the neural activity we discovered is coming purely from the brain's predictions e.g., the brain's internal model of music. Even though the silent time-intervals do not have an input sound, we found consistent patterns of neural activity in those intervals, indicating that the brain reacts to both notes and silences of music. Ultimately, this underlines that music is more than a sensory experience for the brain as it engages the brain in a continuous attempt of predicting upcoming musical events. Our study has isolated the neural activity produced by that prediction process. And our results suggest that such prediction processes are at the foundation of both music listening and imagery. >> Giovanni Di Liberto. 

The music of silence: Imagining a song triggers similar brain activity to moments of mid-music silence. Trinity College Dublin. Aug 3, 2021. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210803105600.htm

Guilhem Marion, Giovanni M. Di Liberto,  Shihab A. Shamma. The Music of Silence. Part I: Responses to Musical Imagery Encode Melodic Expectations and Acoustics. Journal of Neuroscience  JN-RM-0183-21. doi: 10.1523/ JNEUROSCI.0183-21.2021. 2 Aug 2, 2021.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2021/07/23/JNEUROSCI.0183-21.2021.

Giovanni M. Di Liberto, Guilhem Marion,  Shihab A. Shamma. The music of silence. Part II: Music Listening Induces Imagery Responses. Journal of Neuroscience JN-RM-0184-21. doi: 10.1523/ JNEUROSCI.0184-21.2021. 

Aug 2, 2021.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2021/07/22/JNEUROSCI.0184-21.2021

Also

2123 - le dislocazioni pausali di Theo. 

(quasi-stochastic poetry). Notes. Feb 26, 2007.

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/2007/02/2123-le-dislocazioni-pausali-di-theo.html

A pause (acyclic pauses?)  approach to enhance and manage creativity. Mar 23, 2019.

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2019/03/brain-pause-acyclic-pauses-approach-to.html

We pronounce words more slowly compared with verbs and sometimes pause. May 20, 2018.

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2018/05/lang-we-pronounce-words-more-slowly.html

# ai.bot: a mechanism of analogy could be the master key to achieving an abstract artificial intelligence

<< It’s understanding the essence of a situation by mapping it to another situation that is already understood, (..) If you tell me a story and I say, ‘Oh, the same thing happened to me,’ literally the same thing did not happen to me that happened to you, but I can make a mapping that makes it seem very analogous. It’s something that we humans do all the time without even realizing we’re doing it. We’re swimming in this sea of analogies constantly. >> Melanie Mitchell.

️

John Pavlus. The Computer Scientist Training AI to Think With Analogies. QuantaMag. Jul 14, 2021.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/melanie-mitchell-trains-ai-to-think-with-analogies-20210714/

https://twitter.com/QuantaMagazine/status/1416798420669509635

Also

here a fuzzy example:  "qui non e' impossibile immaginare ..." (here it is not impossible to imagine ... )

in: Notes. Dec 31, 2015 (quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/2015/12/rmx-s-gst-anomalous-formation-of.html

keyword 'gst' (general system theory) in FonT 

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

keyword 'organoids' in FonT

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

keyword 'ai' | 'bot' in FonT

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

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

keyword 'ia' | 'ai' | 'robota' in Notes (quasi-stochastic poetry)

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

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

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

# art: Nomadic masters; Neanderthals created art.

AA << analysed samples of red residues collected from the flowstone surface and compared them with iron oxide-rich deposits in the cave. They concluded that the ochre-based pigment was intentionally applied, i.e. painted -- by Neanderthals, as modern humans had yet to make their appearance on the European continent -- and that, importantly, it had probably been brought to the cave from an external source. >>

<< variations in pigment composition between samples were detected, corresponding to different dates of application, sometimes many thousands of years apart. Thus, it seems that many generations of Neanderthals visited this cave and coloured the draperies of the great flowstone formation with red ochre. >>

<< This behaviour indicates a motivation to return to the cave and symbolically mark the site, and it bears witness to the transmission of a tradition down through the generations. >>

Neanderthals indeed painted Andalusia’s Cueva de Ardales. CNRS. 

Aug 2, 2021. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210802160624.htm

Africa Pitarch Marti, Joao Zilhao, et al. The symbolic role of the underground world among Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals. PNAS. 118 (33) e2021495118; doi: 10.1073/ pnas.2021495118. Aug 17, 2021. 

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/33/e2021495118  

# life: Nomadic masters, ancient people ate bread, beer and other carbs, long before domesticated crops

<< it has become clear that early humans were cooking and eating carbs almost as soon as they could light fires. >>

<< These are the best grinding tools ever, and I’ve seen a lot of grindstones, (..) People at Göbekli Tepe knew what they were doing, and what could be done with cereals. They’re beyond the experimentation phase. >> Laura Dietrich.

️

<< The old-fashioned idea that hunter-gatherers didn’t eat starch is nonsense, >> Dorian Fuller.️

Andrew Curry. How ancient people fell in love with bread, beer and other carbs. Well before people domesticated crops, they were grinding grains for hearty stews and other starchy dishes. Nature 594, 488-491. doi: 10.1038/ d41586-021-01681-w. Jun 22, 2021.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01681-w

Audio long-read: How ancient people learned to love carbs. Nature Podcast 

Jul 26, 2021.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01998-6?

# phys: Sir Isaac in the corner? The image of a "Time crystal", as a perpetual chaotic "out-of-equilibrium" phase; order and stability in an excited, evolving state.

<< A time crystal is a new phase of matter that, simplified, would be like having a snowflake that constantly cycled back and forth between two different configurations. It’s a seven-pointed lattice one moment and a ten-pointed lattice the next, or whatever. >>

<< What’s amazing about time crystals is that when they cycle back and forth between two different configurations, they don’t lose or use any energy. >>

<< Time crystals can survive energy processes without falling victim to entropy. The reason they’re called time crystals is because they can have their cake and eat it too. >>

<< They can be in a state of having eaten the whole cake, and then cycle right back to a state of still having the cake – and they can, theoretically, do this forever and ever. >>

<< Most importantly, they can do this inside of an isolated system. That means they can consume the cake and then magically make it reappear over and over again forever, without using any fuel or energy. >>️

Tristan Greene. Google's 'time crystals' could be the greatest scientific achievement of our lifetimes. Jul 30, 2021. 

https://thenextweb.com/news/google-may-have-achieved-breakthrough-time-crystals  

<< The time crystal is the first “out-of-equilibrium” phase: It has order and perfect stability despite being in an excited and evolving state. >>

️

Natalie Wolchover. Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real. Jul 30, 2021. 

https://www.quantamagazine.org/first-time-crystal-built-using-googles-quantum-computer-20210730/

Xiao Mi, Matteo Ippoliti, et al. Observation of Time-Crystalline Eigenstate Order on a Quantum Processor. arXiv:2107.13571v1 (quant-ph). Jul 28, 2021.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.13571