Daniel Stolte - How the Brain Strings Words Into Sentences

This press release from the University of Arizona reveals some new research on how the brain makes sentences from single words. Brain imaging has made this process visible (or possibly visible) for the first time.

How the Brain Strings Words Into Sentences

Using magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, researchers can visualize the two main language processing regions, Broca's region (yellow) and Wernicke's region (purple). (Image: Stephen Wilson)

By Daniel Stolte, University Communications, November 23, 2011

Distinct neural pathways are important for different aspects of language processing, researchers have discovered, studying patients with language impairments caused by neurodegenerative diseases.

While it has long been recognized that certain areas in the brain's left hemisphere enable us to understand and produce language, scientists are still figuring out exactly how those areas divvy up the highly complex processes necessary to comprehend and produce language.

Advances in brain imaging made within the last 10 years have revealed that highly complex cognitive tasks such as language processing rely not only on particular regions of the cerebral cortex, but also on the white matter fiber pathways that connect them.

"With this new technology, scientists started to realize that in the language network, there are a lot more connecting pathways than we originally thought," said Stephen Wilson, who recently joined the University of Arizona's department of speech, language and hearing sciences as an assistant professor. "They are likely to have different functions because the brain is not just a homogeneous conglomerate of cells, but there hasn't been a lot of evidence as to what kind of information is carried on the different pathways."

Working in collaboration with his colleagues at the UA, the department of neurology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the Scientific Institute and University Hospital San Raffaele in Milan, Italy, Wilson discovered that not only are the connecting pathways important for language processing, but they specialize in different tasks.

Assistant professor Stephen Wilson studies how the brain processes language by combining brain imaging with performance-based language tests. (Photo: D. Stolte/UANews)

Two brain areas called Broca's region and Wernicke's region serve as the main computing hubs underlying language processing, with dense bundles of nerve fibers linking the two, much like fiber optic cables connecting computer servers. But while it was known that Broca's and Wernicke's region are connected by upper and a lower white matter pathways, most research had focused on the nerve cells clustered inside the two language-processing regions themselves.

Working with patients suffering from language impairments because of a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, Wilsons' team used brain imaging and language tests to disentangle the roles played by the two pathways. Their findings are published in a recent issue of the scientific journal Neuron.

"If you have damage to the lower pathway, you have damage to the lexicon and semantics," Wilson said. "You forget the name of things, you forget the meaning of words. But surprisingly, you're extremely good at constructing sentences."

"With damage to the upper pathway, the opposite is true; patients name things quite well, they know the words, they can understand them, they can remember them, but when it comes to figuring out the meaning of a complex sentence, they are going to fail."

The study marks the first time it has been shown that upper and lower tracts play distinct functional roles in language processing, the authors write. Only the upper pathway plays a critical role in syntactic processing.

Wilson collected the data while he was a postdoctoral fellow working with patients with neurodegenerative diseases of varying severity, recruited through the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF. The study included 15 men and 12 women around the age of 66.

Unlike many other studies investigating acquired language disorders, which are called aphasias and usually caused by damage to the brain, Wilson's team had a unique opportunity to study patients with very specific and variable degrees of brain damage.

"Most aphasias are caused by strokes, and most of the strokes that affect language regions probably would affect both pathways," Wilson said. "In contrast, the patients with progressive aphasias who we worked with had very rare and very specific neurodegenerative diseases that selectively target different brain regions, allowing us to tease apart the contributions of the two pathways."

To find out which of the two nerve fiber bundles does what in language processing, the team combined magnetic resonance brain imaging technology to visualize damaged areas and language assessment tasks testing the participants' ability to comprehend and produce sentences.

"We would give the study participants a brief scenario and ask them to complete it with what comes naturally," Wilson said. "For example, if I said to you, ‘A man was walking along the railway tracks. He didn't hear the train coming. What happened to the man?' Usually, you would say, ‘He was hit by the train,' or something along those lines."

"But a patient with damage to the upper pathway might say something like 'train, man, hit.' We found that the lower pathway has a completely different function, which is in the meaning of single words."

To test for comprehension of the meaning of a sentence, the researchers presented the patient with a sentence like, "The girl who is pushing the boy is green," and then ask which of the two pictures depicted that scenario accurately.

"One picture would show a green girl pushing a boy, and the other would show a girl pushing a green boy," Wilson said. "The colors will be the same, the agents will be the same, and the action is the same. The only difference is, which actor does the color apply to?"

"Those who have only lower pathway damage do really well on this, which shows that damage to that pathway doesn't interfere with your ability to use the little function words or the functional endings on words to figure out the relationships between the words in a sentence."

Wilson said that most previous studies linking neurodegeneration of specific regions with cognitive deficits have focused on damage to gray matter, rather than the white matter that connects regions to one another.

"Our study shows that the deficits in the ability to process sentences are above and beyond anything that could be explained by gray matter loss alone," Wilson added. "It is the first study to show that damage to one major pathway more than the other major pathway is associated with a specific deficit in one aspect of language."

The study was primarily funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and included the following co-authors: Sebastian Galantucci, Maria Carmela Tartaglia, Kindle Rising, Dianne Patterson (both at the UA's department of speech, language and hearing sciences), Maya Henry, Jennifer Ogar, Jessica DeLeon, Bruce Miller and Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini.

Upaya Dharma Podcasts - Thanksgiving Retreat: Form and Emptiness, Exploring the Heart Sutra

This is a very cool 5-part teaching on the Heart Sutra from Upaya Zen Center, given over the Thanksgiving weekend by Beate Stolte and based on a version of the Heart Sutra translated by Sensei Kaz Tanahashi and Roshi Joan Halifax.

Thanksgiving 2011 Retreat: All 5 Parts

Recorded: Sunday Dec 4, 2011

The 5 part series  Thanksgiving Retreat: Form and Emptiness, Exploring the Heart Sutra is now published. To access the entire series, please click on the link below:

Thanksgiving 2011 Retreat: All 5 Parts

Here is part one, with links to the other 4 parts below.

Beate Stolte: 11-23-2011: Thanksgiving Retreat: Form and Emptiness, Exploring the Heart Sutra (Part 1 of 5)

Speaker: Beate Stolte

Recorded: Wednesday Nov 23, 2011

Boundlessness is the nature of all things.
It neither arises nor perishes,
neither stains nor purifies,
neither increases nor decreases.

~from the Heart Sutra

The Heart Sutra, chanted daily in Zen monasteries and practice places throughout the world, contains the central teachings of Buddhism in a very concise form.

In this retreat, we will work with the beautiful rendition of the Heart Sutra used at Upaya, translated by Sensei Kaz Tanahashi and Roshi Joan Halifax.

When we drop into stillness we discover the boundless quality of our hearts and minds. Through zazen (three times a day), chanting, service, oryoki meals, study, and discussion, we will experience for ourselves the wisdom contained in the Heart Sutra.  We will also familiarize ourselves with the other essential related teachings within the sutra.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Thanksgiving 2011 Retreat: Part 2 of 5
Thanksgiving 2011 Retreat: Part 3 of 5
Thanksgiving 2011 Retreat: Part 4 of 5
Thanksgiving 2011 Retreat: Part 5 of 5

Authors@Google: Dario Nardi - Neuroscience of Personality

The other day I posted a short clip of Dr. Helen Fisher (at The Masculine Heart) talking about her theory of four personality types (based on serotonin, dopamine, estrogen, and testosterone) - in this Google talk, Dr. Dario Nardio of UCLA offers a different take based on brain regions and how they work to create personality.

Dario Nardi - Neuroscience of Personality

UCLA professor and author, Dario Nardi, has discovered that people of different personality types don't merely rely on different brain regions -- they use their brains in fundamentally different ways. Using colorful anecdotes and brain imagery, Dr. Nardi shares key insights from his lab. Among these insights: how people of different personalities can find and sustain a state of creative flow. This talk is suitable for a general audience including those who have passing familiarity with the Myers-Briggs types.

Mind and Life XXIII - Session 10 - Discussion among participants and His Holiness's final remarks

This is the final session of Mind and Life XXIII, "Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence" - Session 10: A discussion among participants and His Holiness's final remarks. Mind and Life XXIII conference features His Holiness the Dalai Lama in dialogue with contemplative scholars, activists and ecological scientists who discuss the interconnection between individual choices and environmental consequences. The conference was held at His Holiness's office in Dharamsala, India, from October 17-21, 2011.

Nassim Haramein's INFINITE REALMS: The Unified Field

I think they raised the money to make this documentary, and I believe this is a promotional video for the longer effort, which was funded through Kickstarter.

As you can read below, Nassim Haramein is the physicist who is developing/has developed a Unified Field Theory. You can read more at his site, The Resonance Project.

About this project

INFINITE REALMS: The Unified Field is a short documentary film that aims to visually and aesthetically describe how all people are connected through key concepts from recent scientific research in physics. Specifically, the research undertaken by physicist Nassim Haramein to create a "Unified Field Theory". This information can change our lives on earth dramatically, because it unlocks deep levels of understanding about our existence and explores direct correlation between the structure of the universe and human consciousness. It is crucial for us to adapt our way of living now and eliminate the out of date practices that are no longer relevant to our future on this planet.

Understanding the science behind Unified Field Theory can be complex to the layman, and in his presentations Nassim Haramein spends up to two weeks explaining everything required to cognitively grasp the theory. Jamie Janover is a lead emissary for Nassim Haramein's Resonance Project and travels the world giving talks on Nassim's theory, which although condensed, still last up to four or five hours. So how do we condense this into a film?

Some of the basic concepts can be shown by incorporating visual examples in the right contexts. For instance: a visual of water spinning down a drain, a hurricane whirling and images of our galaxy swirling. In fact, when you understand the theory, you can see it everywhere you go! It exists in everything, because it is a "theory of everything". This is our attempt as artists to translate some basic concepts of this theory and other related themes into a visual and artistic form, so that it can be interpreted easily, by anyone, without the need for a PhD level comprehension of mathematics or physics.

We realize that it would be a challenge to incorporate everything into one film so if we are funded, this film will serve as the first seed in the aims of growing a network of similar projects. We want to show people how tangible and relevant this information is to everyone!

WHAT IS THE UNIFIED FIELD?
The unified field is the space we all live in. All matter we observe is made of atoms and all atoms are made of 99.999999% space, yet we measure the "emptiness" of space to actually be infinitely full with energy!

Unified field theory is a theory of everything that describes the nature of all things, no matter how big or how small. Physicists describe the universe and the nature of reality using a specific language called math to write equations that reflect what we observe in the universe.

Contemporary science we have different equations to describe the big and the small, but if we want to truly understand the fundamentals of our universe then we need to understand the very structure of the fabric of space-time. The study of structure in space is called geometry so to understand space we need to understand the geometry of the fabric of the vacuum and the dynamics of space-time within that structure.

This film will compile the research and theories of many people but focuses on the work of Nassim Haramein of The Resonance Project Foundation. His ground-breaking theories describe the universe in a new and more complete way than other models and his research is starting to unlock deeper levels of understanding about our reality.

Science is progressing exponentially and at an accelerated rate. Our technology is developing just as rapidly. This is a critical period in our evolution to assimilate all that we know about the universe in hopes of coming into coherency and harmony with nature instead of destroying our environment as we interact with it.

IONS - "Psychology of the Future" with Stanislav Grof

This is an interesting conversation with Stanislav Grof on his work in developing consciousness and psychology studies over the last 50 years. The podcast come from the Institute of Noetic Sciences library.

"Psychology of the Future" with Stanislav Grof

Visionary: Stanislav Grof, MD, PhD

In the last five decades, psychedelic therapy and other avenues of modern consciousness research have revealed a rich array of “anomalous” phenomena that have undermined some of the most basic assumptions of modern psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy concerning consciousness and the human psyche in health and disease. Many of these observations are so radical that they question the basic philosophical assumptions of materialistic science.

In this interview, we review these remarkable data and explore the most important major revisions that would have to be made in our understanding of consciousness, of the human psyche, and of the nature of reality to respond to these conceptual challenges. These radical changes in our thinking would fall into the following categories:

• Cartography of the Human Psyche
• Architecture of Emotional and Psychosomatic Disorders.
• Effective Therapeutic Mechanisms
• Strategy of Psychotherapy and Self-Exploration
• Role of Spirituality in Human Life
• The Nature of Reality: Psyche, Cosmos, and Consciousness

Related Sets: "Mysteries of Consciousness" Teleseminar Series

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Download as mp3

Publication Date: 2011-06-15

Mind and Life XXIII - Session 9: The Skillful Means of Activism

Here is session 9 - The Skillful Means of Activism - of "Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence", the Mind and Life XXIII conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in dialogue with contemplative scholars, activists and ecological scientists who discuss the interconnection between individual choices and environmental consequences. The conference was held at His Holiness's office in Dharamsala, India, from October 17-21, 2011.

Dharma Quote - Chonyi Taylor on Right Speech

ENOUGH!
A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from Addictive Patterns
by Chönyi Taylor
more...

Dharma Quote of the Week

Speech that is not harmful is the meaning of "right speech." It is wise speech. Wise people can still be quite firm and decisive when that is what is needed. It means finding generous and productive ways of saying things. There are times when we need to be strict, but we do not have to denigrate or harm the person or child who is out of line. Firm speech can also be wise speech.

Wise speech is another tool that can be practiced. We can begin by practicing wise speech to ourselves--replacing the inner voice of guilt that is putting us down and opening a space to listen to our deeper needs.

What can I say which will be helpful to someone? What tone of voice will I use? And when is it wise to say nothing? Imagine yourself actually saying something helpful and supportive. Imagine the difference it would make in your life if you could say just one helpful thing to one person. Imagine your life if your speech always came from wisdom.(p.136)

--from Enough! A Buddhist Approach to Finding Release from Addictive Patterns by Chonyi Taylor, published by Snow Lion Publications

Enough! • Now at 5O% off!
(Good until December 30th).

All in the Mind - Many Selves, One Body: Dissociation and early trauma

All in the Mind, hosted by Natasha Mitchell, is one of the best psychology podcasts on the web, and now the show is going off the air. I'm sad about this - but she is moving on to bigger and better things.

In honor of the show's ten years on the radio (ABC Radio National in Australia), they have been posting some of their best shows, including the one below.

Many Selves, One Body: Dissociation and early trauma

• Download audio
• show transcript

Broadcast: Saturday 22 August 2009

We all dissociate to a degree—compartmentalising major traumatic experiences in our psyche to protect ourselves. But Dissociation Identity Disorder is the extreme end, where a person might present multiple selves or 'alters' to the world without fully knowing it—swapping clothes, life histories and personalities each time they 'switch'. Don't miss this firsthand account.

Transcript

Show

Guests

Professor Warwick Middleton

Brisbane based psychiatrist in private practice Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, La Trobe University Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Queensland Chair, Cannan Institute Director, Trauma and Dissociation Unit, Belmont Hospital

Zoe Farris

Queensland Association of Mental Health

Publications

Title: When Me Means Me: Multiple Personality - A View from the Inside

Author: Zoe Long (now Farris) & Co

Publisher: Queensland Association of Mental Health Inc, 1996 (booklet)

Title: Dissociative Identity Disorder: An Australian series

Author: Warwick Middleton and Jeremy Butler

Publisher: Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1998 Dec;32(6):794-804

Title: Dissociative Identity Disorder: Multiple Personalities, Multiple Controversies

Author: Scott Lilienfield and Steven Jay Lynn

Publisher: in Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology (edited by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, Jeffrey M. Lohr), 2004

Title: A Clinician's Understanding of Dissociation: Fragments of an Acquaintance

Author: Richard P Kluft

Publisher: in Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders: DSM-V and Beyond (edited by Paul F Dell, and John A O'Neill), Routledge, 2009

Title: Historical conceptions of dissociation and psychosis: Nineteenth and earlt twentieth century perspectives on severe psychopathology

Author: Warwick Middleton, Martin Dorahy, Andrew Moskowitz

Publisher: in Psychosis, Trauma and Dissociation (edited by Andrew Moskowitz, Ingo Scahfer and Martin Dorahy), John Wiley and Sons, 2008

Title: A New Model of Dissociative Identity Disorder

Author: Paul F Dell

Publisher: Psychiatric Clinics of North America (Psychaitr Clin N Am), 2006, 1-26

Title: Owning the past, claiming the present - perspectives on the treatment of dissociative patients

Author: Warwick Middleton

Publisher: Australiasian Psychiatry, Vol 13, No 1, March 2005

Title: Remembering the past, anticipating the future

Author: Warwick Middleton, Lisa De Marni Cromer, Jennifer Freyd

Publisher: Australasian Psychiatry, Vol 13, No 3, September 2005

Title: The Persistence of Folly: A Critical Examination of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Part I. The Excesses of an Improbable Concept

Author: August Piper, Harold Merskey

Publisher: Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 49, No 9, September 2004

Mind and Life XXIII - Session 8 - A Buddhist Perspective on the Psychology of Action and Behavior Change

Here is session 8 - A Buddhist Perspective on the Psychology of Action and Behavior Change - of "Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence", the Mind and Life XXIII conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in dialogue with contemplative scholars, activists and ecological scientists who discuss the interconnection between individual choices and environmental consequences. The conference was held at His Holiness's office in Dharamsala, India, from October 17-21, 2011.

Sounds True - Pema Chödrön: Unconditional Confidence

Very cool podcast from Tami Simon at Sounds True - Pema Chödrön is one of my favorite teachers on any subject. This is a nice dharma teaching.

Unconditional Confidence

In addition to being the founder of Sounds True, Tami Simon also produces a number of our audio programs. One of the programs that stood out to Tami was Pema Chödrön’s Unconditional Confidence: Instructions for Meeting Any Experience with Trust and Courage. As Tami says, “When it comes to delivering heart instructions on how to work with what feels unworkable, perhaps no one hits the bulls-eye with as much warmth and accessibility as Pema Chödrön.” This week’s excerpt comes from Tami’s interview with Pema included on Unconditional Confidence, in which Pema talks about how we can puncture and aerate any difficult experience with spaciousness.

more from Pema Chodron

Changesurfer Radio - The Bodhisattva’s Brain with Owen Flanagan

Owen Flangan has a new book, The Bodhisattva’s Brain: Buddhism Naturalized. Dr. J at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies interviewed Flanagan for Changesurfer Radio's podcast series.

Flanagan is a well-known philosopher, a couple of books include The Problem Of The Soul: Two Visions Of Mind And How To Reconcile Them and The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World (Bradford Books).

There are some similarities between Flanagan and Thomas Metzinger, but they are coming from much different disciplines. Both incorporate Buddhist concepts of no-self into human consciousness - Flanagan works from the inside out (philosophy) and Metzinger works from the outside in (neuroscience). Their approaches are different in a lot of ways, and their conclusions are framed differently, but they both seem to adopt an interpretation of emptiness in looking at consciousness (see also B Alan Wallace).

The Bodhisattva’s Brain pt1

Owen Flanagan

Changesurfer Radio

Posted: Dec 20, 2011

Dr. J. chats with Owen Flanagan, professor of philosophy at Duke University and author of The Bodhisattva’s Brain: Buddhism Naturalized. They discuss the relationship of the Aristotleian and Buddhist ideas of happiness and virtue, and the relevance of neuropsychological research on what it means to have a flourishing life. (Part 1 of 2)

Listen/View

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The Bodhisattva’s Brain pt2

Owen Flanagan

Changesurfer Radio

Posted: Dec 20, 2011

Dr. J. chats with Owen Flanagan, professor of philosophy at Duke University and author of The Bodhisattva’s Brain: Buddhism Naturalized. They discuss the relationship of the Aristotleian and Buddhist ideas of happiness and virtue, and the relevance of neuropsychological research on what it means to have a flourishing life. (Part 2 of 2)

Listen/View

Mind and Life XXIII - Session 7: The Psychology of Action and Behavior Change

Here is session 7 - The Psychology of Action and Behavior Change - of "Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence", the Mind and Life XXIII conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in dialogue with contemplative scholars, activists and ecological scientists who discuss the interconnection between individual choices and environmental consequences. The conference was held at His Holiness's office in Dharamsala, India, from October 17-21, 2011.