Brain research shows past experience is invaluable for complex decis... ( Researchers funded by the Biotechnol...)

Brain research shows past experience is invaluable for complex decision making

Date:5/13/2009

Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have shown that past experience really does help when we have to make complex decisions based on uncertain or confusing information. They show that learning from experience actually changes the circuitry in our brains so that we can quickly categorise what we are seeing and make a decision or carry out appropriate actions. The research is published today (13 May) in Neuron.

Lead researcher, Dr Zoe Kourtzi from the University of Birmingham, said: "What we have found is that learning from past experience actually rewires our brains so that we can categorise the things we are looking at, and respond appropriately to them in any context.

In selecting a course of action that is most likely to be successful, the brain has to interpret and assign meaning to inherently uncertain sensory information - being able to do this is vital for our survival! This ability is especially critical when we are responding and acting in relation to visual stimuli that are highly similar to each other. For example, this is what is happening when you are trying to recognise friends in a crowd or discern a tumour from healthy tissue on a medical scan.

"We have shown that this learning process is not just a matter of learning the structure of the physical world when I look at something I'm not just playing a game of 'snap' in my head where I try to match images to each other. In fact, areas in our brains are actually trained to learn the rules that determine the way we interpret sensory information.''

Dr Kourtzi and colleagues wanted to find out about the human brain mechanisms that mediate flexible decision making through learning, which have so far not been well understood, despite it being fairly clear that successful decisions benefit from previous experience. They combined measurements of behaviour and brain signals to study how volunteers learned to
'/>"/>

Contact: Tracey Jewitt
tracey.jewitt@bbsrc.ac.uk
44-179-341-4694
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Source:Eurekalert

1

GOOD

Page: 1 2
Related biology technology :

1. Adipose-derived Stem Cells Could Help Traumatic Brain Injury Patients, Says Bio-Matrix Scientific Groups, Entest BioMedical Inc. Researcher
2. Bio-Matrix Scientific Group & Entest BioMedical Submit Research Proposal to U.S. Army for Funding Adipose-Derived Stem Cells to Treat Traumatic Brain Injury
3. Elsevier and Brain Mapping Foundation Co-Host 6th Annual World Congress of IBMISPS on Brain Mapping and Image Guided Therapy
4. BrainCells Inc. Appoints Philip Jochelson, M.D. Chief Medical Officer and Jason Levin Chief Business Officer
5. NeuroSky to Launch Brainwave-Based Technology for Stereo Headsets for Personal Computers
6. Progress toward an Alzheimers drug that saves brain cells
7. New Brain Fitness Survey Reinforces Importance of Brain Awareness Week
8. Addiction Treatment Finds Success Treating Brain Deficiencies through the Belly
9. NeuroFocus Names John Polich, World-Renowned Scientist in Brain Function and Cognition, to Head Global NeuroLab Operations
10. YM BIOSCIENCES RECEIVES CLEARANCE TO INITIATE RANDOMIZED DOUBLE-BLIND CLINICAL TRIALS OF NIMOTUZUMAB IN LUNG CANCER AND BRAIN METASTASES FROM LUNG CANCER
11. BrainCells Inc. Appoints David E. Thompson to Its Board of Directors

Post Your Comments:

(Date:3/16/2010)... Stock Exchange Symbol: MS , ... , , ... ... EDMONTON , March 16 ... ...

(Date:3/16/2010)... PharmAthene, Inc. (Amex: PIP ) a biodefense company developing medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, announced today that its financial results ... ... , ... ... ...

(Date:3/16/2010)... March 16 The Gynecologic Cancer Foundation (GCF) and the Claudia ... as the first recipient of the $50,000 GCF/Claudia Cohen Prize for Outstanding ... (SGO) 41st Annual Meeting on Women,s Cancer, meeting in San Francisco ... ... ...

(Date:3/16/2010)... (LSE: SHP,NASDAQ; SHPGY), announces that it has received a Paragraph IV Notice ... New Drug Application ("ANDA") for a generic version of Shire,s 1,mg, 2mg, ... ... ... , ...

[0] BioMS Medical Announces 2009 Year End Results [0] PharmAthene to Host Year-End 2009 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 [0] Paul Goodfellow, PhD, Awarded First GCF/Claudia Cohen Prize for Outstanding Gynecologic Cancer Researcher [0] Shire Receives INTUNIV (TM) Paragraph IV Notice Letter From Teva Pharmaceuticals

... Wisconsins Department of Commerce, said on Friday that he would resign ... the law firm Quarles & Bradys Milwaukee office. , ,Nettles has ... He will be returning to the firm he worked at before ... Governor Doyle as a leader, a boss, and a friend, he ...

... Madison, Wis. While the Madison chapter of ... ahead for new social and technological developments, Scott Converse showed ... if they want to see where the next big thing ... the UW-Madison School of Business and founder of the Web ...

... into two major groups: open minds in closed societies and ... of products must address the issues of sexual connotation with ... UK went soft and packed up their most cherished and ... all over the world are happy as they seriously objected ...

Other Biology Technology:Secretary Nettles leaving Commerce for law practice 2 Secretary Nettles leaving Commerce for law practice 3 Business-school IT director points to reasons for wireless trend 2 We are American No sex, please 2 We are American No sex, please 3 We are American No sex, please 4

Secretary Nettles leaving Commerce for law practice Business-school IT director points to reasons for wireless trend We are American No sex, please

(Date:3/18/2010)... can live for twenty years, fertilizing millions of eggs ... activity. , Danish researchers who have studied ants ... 1992 discovered that in both ant and bee species ... fluid favors the survival of its own sperm over ... stored, leafcutter ant queens neutralize male-male sperm competition with ...

(Date:3/18/2010)... available in Spanish . , Feeding ... as part of their regular diet makes them ... a study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists ... and overall behavioral activity among young female pigs ... acquired through diet, is the precursor for the ...

(Date:3/18/2010)... Biotech, Inc., ( www.genwaybio.com ) the US-based diagnostic company ... is expanding this cancer testing program internationally. An ... YouTM Cancer Assessment in Greece starting in April. ... as well. GenWay currently offers this test in ... Sergey Sikora, Vice President of Business Development, said, "The ...

Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Females shut down male-male sperm competition in leafcutter ants 2 Tryptophan-enriched diet reduces pig aggression 2 Moravia Worldwide Names George Krawczyk as Sales Director for Ireland and UK 61905 1 Moravia Worldwide Names George Krawczyk as Sales Director for Ireland and UK 61905 2 Barbara Fentress Designer of the Denver International Airport and Convention Center Offers Her Private Mansion at Absolute Auction 61902 1 Barbara Fentress Designer of the Denver International Airport and Convention Center Offers Her Private Mansion at Absolute Auction 61902 2 Ophthalmic Equipment Distributor Latham 26amp 3B Phillips SE Division Unveils Website 61899 1 Ophthalmic Equipment Distributor Latham 26amp 3B Phillips SE Division Unveils Website 61899 2 Ophthalmic Equipment Distributor Latham 26amp 3B Phillips SE Division Unveils Website 61899 3

[0] Females shut down male-male sperm competition in leafcutter ants [0] Tryptophan-enriched diet reduces pig aggression [0] GenWay Biotech extends the You Test You program overseas

... GEOLOGY topics include "the best submarine record ... hazardous volcanic ice-slurry flows, the controversy over riverbank ... CO 2 sequestration, ultradeep Australian diamonds, Earth,s ... into the Pacific, early marine fossils preserved in ...

... release is available in German . ... a single proton. If a neutron is added, the ... in place of hydrogen atoms are chemically identical. However, ... with molecules that contain deuterium in place of hydrogen, ...

... This release is available in Spanish . ... inflammatory processes, but also those that do not. This is ... affect healthy cells. With this aim in mind, a team ... analogues of the C1P molecule. , Today two types ...

January GEOLOGY media highlights Heavy pyridine crystallizes differently The quest for specific anti-inflammatory treatment

...

... ISOQUANT(R) Isoaspartate Detection Kit is intended for ... proteins and peptides, which can result from ... rearrangement of aspartic acid residues during storage ... depend on the monitoring of charge differences ...

...

Biology Products:

Streptavidin, FITC conjugated/tagged from BD Biosciences Pharmingen ISOQUANT Isoaspartate Detection Kit from Promega MagneSil KF, Genomic System from Promega IPG Buffer pH 3-10 from GE Healthcare, formerly Amersham Biosciences

Brain research shows past experience is invaluable for complex decis...( Researchers funded by the Biotechnol...)