Posted by Zack Lynch

Posted by Zack Lynch

The National Institutes of Health Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, a program targeted for additional federal support in the National Neurotechnology Initiative, is launching a $30 million project that will use cutting-edge brain imaging technologies to map the circuitry of the healthy adult human brain. By systematically collecting brain imaging data from hundreds of subjects, the Human Connectome Project (HCP) will yield insight into how brain connections underlie brain function. This project will be viewed in time as sparking the development of many important innovations that will help accelerate the the Neuro Revolution.

Three imaging techniques that will be used to carry out the HCP may include: (1)High angular resolution diffusion imaging with magnetic resonance (HARDI), which detects the diffusion of water along fibrous tissue, and can be used to visualize axon bundles. (2) Resting state fMRI (R-fMRI), which detects fluctuations in brain activity while a person is at rest, and can be used to look for coordinated networks within the brain. (3) Electrophysiology and magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with fMRI (E/M fMRI), which adds information about the brain's electrical activity to the fMRI signal. In this procedure, the person performs a task so that the brain regions associated with that task become active. Since this is the first time that researchers will combine these brain imaging technologies to systematically map the brain's connections, the HCP will support development of new data models, informatics and analytic tools to help researchers make the most of the data.

Posted by Zack Lynch

In chapter two, The Witness on Your Shoulders of The Neuro Revolution, I focus on the emerging field of neurolaw. It's an extraordinarily interesting and provocative area of research that will continue the evolve rapidly in the coming years as new techniques and technologies emerge to help us peer more effectively into the brain as it contemplates ideas, such as lying or telling the truth. Which brings me to the purpose of this blog post.

There has recently been some exciting press around the Josh Greene's work around using fMRI for the purposes of lie detection and the continue skepticism surrounding its use here. As Time's Adi Narayan succinctly put it, "On an fMRI image, at least, the lying brain may look no different from one that's simply contemplating whether to lie."

So with today's technology I would agree, yet, as I argue throughout the book and have discussed here many times, major technological revolutions begin with a 15 year period of technological transformation. During these periods of rapid innovation new tools emerge that radically surpass what was previously believed to be possible. We are only just entering this period. So just because current imaging techniques appear to weak at being able detect deception, don't let this fool us. We must continue to think through the ethical, legal and societal implications of truth detection technologies, because they will emerge, and will transform our system of jurisprudence in many, many ways.

Corporations spend billions of dollars each year on food advertising. For example, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and McDonald's each spent more than $1 billion in advertising in 2007. A newly released study in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests those advertisers are missing out if their ads only mention taste and ignore our other senses.

Naturally, most food ads mention the taste of the food being marketed. But authors Ryan S. Elder and Aradhna Krishna (both University of Michigan) demonstrate that tapping into our other senses can actually increase consumers' taste perceptions.

"Because taste is generated from multiple senses (smell, texture, sight, and sound), ads mentioning these senses will have a significant impact on taste over ads mentioning taste alone," write the authors.

In the experiments, participants were randomly assigned to view one of two ads. One ad was designed to appeal to multiple senses (for example, a tagline for a chewing gum read "stimulate your senses"), while the other ad mentioned taste alone ("long-lasting flavor"). After sampling the gum, the participants listed thoughts they had regarding the item and then rated the overall taste.

"The multiple-sense ad led to more positive sensory thoughts, which then led to higher taste perception than the single-sense ad," the authors write. "The differences in thoughts were shown to drive the differences in taste." The results were repeated with potato chips and popcorn.

The authors believe their research can help advertisers reword ad copy to lead to significant differences in taste. "These results are of great value not only to food advertisers, but also to restaurants, as the descriptions contained within menus can actually alter the taste experience," the authors write. "Further, companies can implement the findings into product packaging information to alter the taste of products consumed in the home. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, ensuring positive consumption experiences is critical to success".


Posted by: Evelyn    Source

Posted by Zack Lynch

The book is finally coming out this weekend! Here are a few places where I'll be speaking over the next couple of weeks. Come out and join the dialogue. More tour information here.

July 21, 7pm Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA
July 23, 6-8pm, SF Book Launch Party, Foreign Cinema, SF, CA
July 27, 7pm, Borders, 1801 K Street, Washington D.C.
July 28, 3-5pm, Capitol Hill, Capitol Visitors Center, Senate Rooms, D.C.
July 29, 6-8 pm, NYC Book Launch Party, Scuderia, NY, NY
July 30, 12:00pm, MIT, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Boston, MA
July 30, 7pm, Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA
Aug. 3, 7pm, Books Inc., Palo Alto, CA