Neurons as Will and Representation: Recordings from the Human Brain

A fascinating neuroscience talk about observations made during single cell recordings during neurosurgery, and how the brain processes conscious representation. He concludes by discussing free will – after demonstrating that decisions can be changed by a single neuron before someone is consciously aware of it, how much are we really in control?

The Empathic Civilization

A wide-ranging talk on empathy: a description of mirror neurons, empathy and early childhood development, and the role of empathy in civilizations. A specially animated clip from a longer lecture on empathy here.

[Image by bloomsberries.]

Neuroscience, Law and Government Symposium

Keynote speaker Hank Greely gives a basic talk about neuroscience and the law for an audience of lawyers/law students. Topics include predicting (behaviour and illnesses), mind reading and lie detection, responsibility and consciousness, treatment, and cognitive enhancement. Q&A follows. Greely blogged about it as well; sounds like it was a great symposium and it’s a pity the other videos aren’t online too.

[Image by neurollero.]

Science Face To Face

Nobel laureate Eric Kandel talks about neuroscience history and his career in this intimate interview conducted for radio and webcast by Ira Flatow.

What We Are

What it is to be human: “a modern secular view.” First in a series of six talks by the distinguished cognitive scientist, in this long-running philosophical lecture series.

[Image by helgasms]

Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious

The Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development gives a talk on intuition. Decisions and heuristics, ecological rationality and behavioral economics, and related concepts. Some Q&A.

The Baroness, Consciousness, and the Twitterverse: A Conversation with Susan Greenfield

Greenfield recommends pub debates or rants on street corners instead of using social media. Quote: “How sad that a species that previously wrote novels and expressed themselves in thousand word letters, are now having to encapsulate important or interesting ideas in 150 [sic] characters, and that’s the first issue. And if you are used to doing that, are you going to start living your life in windows of 150 characters? And I do find that rather sad. Secondly, there’s many ways in which you can have debates and discussions. You can go to the pub, you can go out to the street, you know, you can go to universities, you can come to the Royal Institution in London. There’s many, many places and ways in which you can discuss ideas… to say that this is the only vehicle for debate and discussion for people who are ordinary human beings who aren’t in positions of power, who don’t have the platforms politicians have, I find that a bit disingenuous.” Then we’re told how one becomes a Baroness in the House of Lords. Greenfield admits she’s never used Twitter, but characterizes users as threatened and angry with a “shaky sense of identity” similar to small children demanding attention, and “perhaps they’re going nowhere.” Ironically, she is keen on the Royal Institution of Great Britain producing webcasts for the “globalization, not just democratization of science.” While their talks look interesting, the Royal Institution demands your street address and other personal data to register to watch, so I won’t. Ah, culture clashes.

title Enter the “i of the vortex”
description Rodolfo Llinás discusses his youth and education in Bogota, Colombia, and aspects of motricity, neurophysiology, and consciousness investigated in his career as a “founding father of brain science.” Part of The Science Studio interview series on the exquisite yet underexposed Science Network. A PDF transcript is available.
producer The Science Network
featuring Rodolfo Llinás, Roger Bingham
format Flash
date 17/04/07
length 01:12:00
link http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/the-science-studio/enter-the-i-of-the-vortex

Tags: brain video interview neuroscience history education neurophysiology consciousness neurostimulation free_will nanotechnology

[Image: Christof Koch, with Apple logo tattoo. Via his home page.]

title Christof Koch: Towards the Neuronal Basis of Consciousness
description Peppy yet dense talk at the Columbia 250 Brain and Mind symposium. The lecture is indexed into 11 brief “chapters” (navigating is not great). incuding “recording single neurons in conscious humans,” chapters on zombies, motion-induced blindness, flash suppression, and more. Accompanied by slides, a transcript pdf, and a link to a NYT profile of Koch and Crick.
producer Columbia University
featuring Christof Koch, Ph.D.
format Real Video
date 13/05/04
length 00:58:15
link http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_events/symposia/brain_mind/brain_mind_vid_archive.html

Tags: brain video lecture consciousness attention visual pereption cognitive neurobiology science_tattoo

Image: from Neuroscience for Kids. I put together a puzzle to get the larger image, an ecard, from a thumbnail. Check out more puzzles and ecards, many created for this Brain Awareness Week.

title BrainWorks
description “With the help of five kids, host Eric Chudler [of the awesome, award-winning Neuroscience for Kids web site] takes viewers on a journey inside of the brain. The show begins in the studio with an introduction to the nervous system. The kids then visit laboratories where they learn about automatic functions of the brain and how the electrical activity of the brain is recorded. Back in the studio, the kids see a real human brain and build their own model nerve cells and brains.” Exuberent science education. Info is aimed at adolescents, in an introduction to the brain with many statistics, demos, and fun primitive visualizations with balloons and clay.
producer University of Washington
featuring Eric Chudler, Brian Ross, Kathleen Mulligan, Debra Rollevson
format streaming in WMP, Quicktime or as a single podcast or vodcast in MPEG4, mp3
date 13/04/06
length 00:28:30
link http://www.uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=4909

Tags: brain vodcast podcast neuroscience adolescents kids science education literacy consciousness EEG balloons