Complexity theory emergence brain

Electroencepholography (EEG) is the oldest and original brain measurement technology. Since EEG was first used in clinical settings, the role of neurodiagnostic professionals has focused on two principal tasks that require specialized training. These include collecting the EEG recording, performed primarily by EEG Technologists, and interpreting the recording, generally done by physicians with proper specialization. Emerging technology appears to enable non-specialists to contribute to these tasks. Neurotechnologists may feel vulnerable to being displaced by new technology...

Despite recent advances, the origin and utility of consciousness remains under debate. Using an evolutionary perspective on the origin of consciousness, this review elaborates on the promising theoretical background suggested in the temporospatial theory of consciousness, which outlines world-brain alignment as a critical predisposition for controlling behavior and adaptation. Such a system can be evolutionarily effective only if it can provide instant cohesion between the subsystems, which is possible only if it performs an intrinsic activity modified in light of the incoming stimulation...

Understanding how different areas of the human brain communicate with each other is a crucial issue in neuroscience. The concepts of structural, functional and effective connectivity have been widely exploited to describe the human connectome, consisting of brain networks, their structural connections and functional interactions. Despite high-spatial-resolution imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) being widely used to map this complex network of multiple interactions, electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings claim high temporal resolution and are thus perfectly suitable to describe either spatially distributed and temporally dynamic patterns of neural activation and connectivity...

The neural substrate of pain experience has been described as a dense network of connected brain regions. However, the connectivity pattern of these brain regions remains elusive, precluding a deeper understanding of how pain emerges from the structural connectivity. Here, we use graph theory to systematically characterize the architecture of a comprehensive pain network, including both cortical and subcortical brain areas. This structural brain network consists of 49 nodes denoting pain-related brain areas, linked by edges representing their relative incoming and outgoing axonal projection strengths...

Investigating the effect of changes in neuronal connectivity on the brain's behavior is of interest in neuroscience studies. Complex network theory is one of the most capable tools to study the effects of these changes on collective brain behavior. By using complex networks, the neural structure, function, and dynamics can be analyzed. In this context, various frameworks can be used to mimic neural networks, among which multi-layer networks are a proper one. Compared to single-layer models, multi-layer networks can provide a more realistic model of the brain due to their high complexity and dimensionality...

The intestine is considered to be a vital digestive organ to absorb nutrients and is the largest immune organ, while numerous microorganisms coexist with the host. It is well known that the complex interactions between the gut microbiota and the host's immune system inevitably affect the function of other organs, creating an "axis" between them. During the past few years, a new technique based mainly on microfluidics and cell biology has been developed to emulate the structure, function, and microenvironment of the human gut, called the "gut-on-chip"...

Human cerebral organoids are three-dimensional biological cultures grown in the laboratory to mimic as closely as possible the cellular composition, structure, and function of the corresponding organ, the brain. For now, cerebral organoids lack blood vessels and other characteristics of the human brain, but are also capable of having coordinated electrical activity. They have been usefully employed for the study of several diseases and the development of the nervous system in unprecedented ways. Research on human cerebral organoids is proceeding at a very fast pace and their complexity is bound to improve...

The study of reaction-diffusion systems on networks is of paramount relevance for the understanding of nonlinear processes in systems where the topology is intrinsically discrete, such as the brain. Until now, reaction-diffusion systems have been studied only when species are defined on the nodes of a network. However, in a number of real systems including, e.g., the brain and the climate, dynamical variables are not only defined on nodes but also on links, faces, and higher-dimensional cells of simplicial or cell complexes, leading to topological signals...

Efforts to explain complex human decisions have focused on competing theories emphasizing utility and narrative mechanisms. These are difficult to distinguish using behavior alone. Both narrative and utility theories have been proposed to explain juror decisions, which are among the most consequential complex decisions made in a modern society. Here, we asked jury-eligible male and female subjects to rate the strength of a series of criminal cases while recording the resulting patterns of brain activation. We compared patterns of brain activation associated with evidence accumulation to patterns of brain activation derived from a large neuroimaging database to look for signatures of the cognitive processes associated with different models of juror decision-making...

BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation for cognitive-communication impairments following brain injury can be complex given the heterogenous nature of impairments post injury. Project-based intervention has the potential to improve communication skills and create a meaningful real-life context where individuals collaborate to develop a concrete product, which benefits others. While evidence for this intervention is emerging, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted increased use of telehealth interventions to serve people with brain injury...

Social gaze has received much attention in social cognition research in both human and non-human animals. Gaze following appears to be a central skill for acquiring social information, such as the location of food and predators, but can also draw attention to important social interactions, which in turn promotes the evolution of more complex socio-cognitive processes such as theory of mind and social learning. In the past decades, a large number of studies has been conducted in this field introducing differing methodologies...

Mental representations remain the central posits of psychology after many decades of scrutiny. However, there is no consensus about the representational format(s) of biological cognition. This paper provides a survey of evidence from computational cognitive psychology, perceptual psychology, developmental psychology, comparative psychology, and social psychology, and concludes that one type of format that routinely crops up is the language of thought (LoT). We outline six core properties of LoTs: (i) discrete constituents; (ii) role-filler independence; (iii) predicate-argument structure; (iv) logical operators; (v) inferential promiscuity; and (vi) abstract content...

Visual categorization is a human core cognitive capacity1 , 2 that depends on the development of visual category representations in the infant brain.3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 However, the exact nature of infant visual category representations and their relationship to the corresponding adult form remains unknown.8 Our results clarify the nature of visual category representations from electroencephalography (EEG) data in 6- to 8-month-old infants and their developmental trajectory toward adult maturity in the key characteristics of temporal dynamics,2 , 9 representational format,10 , 11 , 12 and spectral properties...

BACKGROUND: Cities are becoming the socio-economic hubs for most of the world's population. Understanding how our surroundings can mentally affect everyday life has become crucial to integrate environmental sustainability into urban development. The present review aims to explore the empirical studies investigating neural mechanisms underlying cognitive and emotional processes elicited by the exposure to different urban built and natural spaces. It also tries to identify new research questions and to leverage neurourbanism as a framework to achieve healthier and sustainable cities...

Emerging concepts for neuromorphic computing, bioelectronics, and brain-computer interfacing inspire new research avenues aimed at understanding the relationship between oxidation state and conductivity in unexplored materials. This report expands the materials playground for neuromorphic devices to include a mixed valence inorganic 3D coordination framework, a ruthenium Prussian blue analogue (RuPBA), for flexible and biocompatible artificial synapses that reversibly switch conductance by more than four orders of magnitude based on electrochemically tunable oxidation state...

Carbonic anhydrases (CA), having Zn2+ metal atoms, are responsible for the catalysis of CO2 and water to bicarbonate and protons. Any abnormality in the functioning of these enzymes may lead to morbidities such as glaucoma and different types of cancers including brain, renal and pancreatic carcinomas. To cope with the lack of presence of a promising therapeutic agent against these cancers, searching for an efficient and suitable carbonic anhydrase inhibitor is crucial. In the current study, ten novel 3-ethylaniline hybrid imino-thiazolidinones were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, NMR (1 H, 13 C), and mass spectrometry...

Aging is a complex process characterized by physical, psychological, and social changes. The interactions between these different aspects are naturally explained by embodied and situated approaches to cognition that offer a global, integrated, and unified understanding of aging. They propose a dynamic cognition emerging from the interaction of sensory-motor perceptions (embodied aspect) and the context of the present situation (situated aspect). However, very few studies have focused on this situated aspect of cognition in the study of cognitive aging...

The current epistemology of autism as a phenotype derives from the consistency of historical accounts and decades of work within the tradition of descriptive epidemiology, culminating in current categorical descriptions within DSM and ICD nosologies and the concept of "prototypical autism." The demonstrated high heritability of this phenotype has led to an essentialist theory of autism as a biological entity and the concerted search within the developmental brain and genetic science for discrete biological markers...

BACKGROUND: In patients with perieloquent tumors, neurosurgeons must use a variety of techniques to maximize survival while minimizing postoperative neurological morbidity. Recent publications have shown that conventional anatomical features may not always predict postoperative deficits. Additionally, scientific conceptualizations of complex brain function have shifted toward more dynamic, neuroplastic theories instead of traditional static, localizationist models. Functional imaging techniques have emerged as potential tools to incorporate these advances into modern neurosurgical care...

Human consciousness is widely understood to be underpinned by rich and diverse functional networks, whose breakdown results in unconsciousness. Candidate neural correlates of anesthetic-induced unconsciousness include: (1) disrupted frontoparietal functional connectivity; (2) disrupted brain network hubs; and (3) reduced spatiotemporal complexity. However, emerging counterexamples have revealed that these markers may appear outside of the state they are associated with, challenging both their inclusion as markers of conscious level, and the theories of consciousness that rely on their evidence...