In the brain, winning is everywhere
2011-10-06
(Press-News.org) Winning may not be the only thing, but the human brain devotes a lot of resources to the outcome of games, a new study by Yale researchers suggest.
The study published in the Oct. 6 issue of the journal Neuron shows that when participants play games, such as rock-paper-scissors, almost the entire brain is engaged, not just the reward centers of the brain, which have been assigned the central role for shaping adaptive human behavior.
"Our brain functions to maximize the chance of survival and reproduction, so reward should be important for all cognitive functions, and thus most brain regions," said Timothy Vickery, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology and lead author of the study.
Textbooks teach that sensations of reward and punishment are centered in a region at the center of the brain called the basal ganglia, which contains a network of cells distributing dopamine, a neurotransmitter that reaches into the prefrontal cortex and other areas of the brain. The theory has been confirmed by previous functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) scans that show high levels of activity in the dopamine network when subjects are presented by desirable or frightening stimuli.
Vickery — along with Yale colleagues Marvin Chun, professor of psychology and neurobiology, and senior author Daeyeol Lee, professor of neurobiology, psychology and researcher for the Kavli Institute of Neuroscience — wanted to know if the textbooks were leaving out the role of other brain areas. They used a technique called multi-voxel pattern analysis to analyze fMRI data. Instead of comparing the overall signal strength corresponding to reward and punishment within each region of the brain, the new analysis looked for patterns within patches of brain activity. Just as a computer vision algorithm is trained to "recognize" objects from an image pattern, this technique involves training the computer to "recognize" reactions to wins and losses from brain activity patterns.
They found that wins and losses in games were recognizable from almost all areas of the brain.
"We aren't saying that the dopamine network is not the core system of reward processing in the brain," Vickery said. "Our novel point is that this information makes it way throughout the entire brain in a much more far-reaching manner than previously thought."
INFORMATION:
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2011-10-06
Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – A new study from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) reports surprising results that suggest that the devastating neuromuscular disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), might not exclusively affect the motor neurons in the spinal cord as has long been thought. The new findings suggest that defects in peripheral tissues such as liver, muscle, heart, etc., might also contribute to the pathology of the disease in severely affected patients. The study, which also paves the way for a potential SMA drug to enter human trials by the end of the year, ...
2011-10-06
Many different types of animals come together to form vast groups – insect swarms, mammal herds, or bird flocks, for example. Researchers in France added another example to the list, reported today in the online journal PLoS ONE: the huge Wels catfish, the world's third largest and Europe's largest fresh-water fish. Researchers observed these fish in the Rhone River from May 2009 to Feb. 2011 and found that they formed dense groups of 15 to 44 individuals, corresponding to an estimated total biomass of up to 1132 kilograms with a biomass density of 14 to 40 kilograms per ...
2011-10-06
When an athlete is doing well, commentators may describe him as being "hot" or "on fire," but scientists have generally thought that such streaks were primarily in the eye of the beholder -- until now. Today in the online journal PLoS ONE, researchers report an analysis of five years of NBA free-throws that supports what is called the "hot hand" phenomenon: that a streak of positive outcomes is likely to continue.
This phenomenon had largely been considered a product of human perception since its coining in 1985, but in this case the researchers were able to use a very ...
2011-10-06
At the beginning of the 2011-12 flu season, a new study finds that the proportion of nursing home patients who get a shot remains lower than a national public health goal and that the rate is lower for blacks than for whites. The disparity persists even within individual nursing homes, said researchers at Brown University, who investigated the disparity and some of the reasons behind it.
"One reason you would potentially see a difference is that blacks and whites are by and large served by different nursing homes and there's lots of evidence to suggest that blacks are ...
2011-10-06
Large, persistent populations of genetically engineered canola 1 have been found outside of cultivation in North Dakota. As genetically engineered crops become increasingly prevalent in the United States, concerns remain about potential ecological side effects.
A study published today by the online journal PLoS ONE reports that genetically engineered canola endowed with herbicide resistance have been found growing outside of established cultivation regions along roadsides across North Dakota. These "escaped" plants were found state-wide and accounted for 45% of the total ...
2011-10-06
DURHAM, N.C.-- In a first ever demonstration of a two-way interaction between a primate brain and a virtual body, two monkeys trained at the Duke University Center for Neuroengineering learned to employ brain activity alone to move an avatar hand and identify the texture of virtual objects.
"Someday in the near future, quadriplegic patients will take advantage of this technology not only to move their arms and hands and to walk again, but also to sense the texture of objects placed in their hands, or experience the nuances of the terrain on which they stroll with the ...
2011-10-06
Ross-Simons is excited to announce an online jewelry sweepstakes, co-sponsored by More, the magazine for women of style and substance. The "Gotta Have Bling Sweepstakes" will give away $10,000 worth of fine jewelry to three very lucky winners. Contestants are invited to enter online at www.ross-simons.com/sweeps to win the following prizes:
- One Grand Prize: $5,000 Ross-Simons jewelry shopping spree
- One First Prize: $3,000 Ross-Simons jewelry shopping spree
- One Second Prize: $2,000 Ross-Simons jewelry shopping spree
An Unprecedented Jewelry Extravaganza
Darrell ...
2011-10-06
Women donating their eggs for use in fertility clinics are typically financially compensated for the time and discomfort involved in the procedure. However, guidelines established by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2005 state that women who donate their eggs for use in stem cell research should not be compensated, although the procedures they undergo are the same. In the October 7th issue of Cell Stem Cell, researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) and the Department of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University argue that this lack of compensation ...
2011-10-06
Two decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act went into effect, people with disabilities continue to face difficulties meeting major social needs, including obtaining appropriate access to health care facilities and services. In an article in the October issue of Health Affairs, Lisa Iezzoni, MD, director of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, analyzes available information on disparities affecting people with disabilities and highlights barriers that continue to restrict their access to health services.
"A lot of attention ...
2011-10-06
A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine may lead to a way to prevent the progression, or induce the regression, of lung injury that results from use of the anti-cancer chemotherapy drug Bleomycin. Pulmonary fibrosis caused by this drug, as well as Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) from unknown causes, affect nearly five million people worldwide. No therapy is known to improve the health or survival of patients.
Their research shows that the RSK-C/EBP-Beta phosphorylation pathway may contribute to the development of lung injury ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] In the brain, winning is everywhere
