BRAINS: Mind as Matter:
Gigantic Graphene model:
Ice Lab:
Eye & I:
Brian Bits:
PIg’s brain Dissection:
What does the brain actually look like?
Do we know what each part of the brain does? If so, how?
How do brain surgeries work?
This week I have been fortunate enough to be one of the bloggers invited to a ‘personalised tour’ of the Brains: Mind As Matter exhibition at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry. Curator Marius Kwint, neuroscientist Prof. Stuart Allan and artist Daksha Patel guided us through this amazing exhibition which tells the story of how our knowledge of the brain developed over time and what we have done to the brain. The exhibition begins by showing the audience how brains (and in turn people), were classified according to the size of their heads- an extremely prejudistic and not to mention, flawed approach. Then it shows how people from Descartes to Cajal to Jeff Lichtman have attempted to represent the anatomy of the brain. Lastly, it tell us about the different surgical procedure such as trephination (drilling holes in people’s skulls), most of which are accentuated by photographs of people who have undergone such procedures. Gory though as it may seem, but such vivid truth-telling is what drew me even more to take a closer look, twice if not three times at each display.
The Brains exhibition highlights the interconnection between our culture and our understanding of the brain. However, what intrigued me the most is the fact that despite the enormous amount of progress and knowledge that we have accumulated through years of research, we still know very little about that 1.5 kilograms of mass that control our lives. The exhibit left me with a rush of excitement stemming from the realisation that there is so much more to discover about the brain, and that I, personally, can take part in these discoveries.
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINKS TO FIND OUT MORE:
Museum of Science and Industry
Brains: The Mind As Matter (MOSI)
From Nature’s Video Channel:
The Sally-Anne test is a psychological test which is used to check a people’s understanding of others’ beliefs and points of views, also known as Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind is important because it allows us to predict what others might say or do in certain situations (Baron-Cohen, Leslie & Frith, 1985). Frith and Frith (2002) proposed that a Theory of Mind deficit may explain the social and communication difficulties displayed by people with Autism.
REFERENCES:
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. & Frith, U. (1985). Does the Autistic child have ‘theory of mind’? Cognition, 21, 37-46.
Frith, U. & Frith, C. (2002). Development and neuropsychology of mentalizing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 358, 459-473.
More articles on Autism:
Getting off to a good start: Meeting students with ASD for the first time
What Would You Do If You Witness An Autistic Person Being Insulted?
Never EVER say these things to people iwth Autism!
He flaps his hands and screams a lot but he doesn’t mean to annoy you
Optimum Outcomes for people with Autism
DSM 5 and its implications to ASD diagnosis
Diagnosing Autism: What you need to know
Vote for Miss Montana 2012, Alexis Wineman
Communication difficulties in Autism
Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Poster Boy?
Still unsure if Sheldon has Asperger’s?
The Autistic Me: BBC Documentary
Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds
Autism in the classroom:
Guide to parents of students with ASD on coping with the first day back to school
Common signs of Autism in the classroom
First day back to school: Top tips for parents of children with Autism
Practical tips to make your classroom Autism-Friendly
Inspiring People with Autism:
Jessica-Jane Applegate (British Paralympian)
Satoshi Tajiri (Pokemon creator)
More on Savants:
Simon Baron-Cohen on Daniel Tammet
The Psychology of Savants: Memory Masters
The Einstein Effect: Is there a link between having Autism and being a genius?
A research published only 3 days ago has found that it is possible for some people to ‘lose’ their Autism diagnosis. Deborah Fein and her colleagues compared a groups of 34 ‘Optimal Outcome’ individuals (i.e. those who were diagnosed with Autism at childhood but now exhibit no autistic symptoms) between the ages of 8-21, to a typically developing group (i.e. those who has not been diagnosed with Autism and do not exhibit any symptoms) and to a group of people with High Functioning form of Autism (HFA; ‘milder’ form of Autism), on various cognitive, social and communication abilities. The researchers also used the Autism Diagnosis Observation Schedule (ADOS; Lord et al., 2000) to see whether any of the participants meet the diagnostic criteria for Autism.
The results revealed that the Optimal Outcome group had average scores in the areas of Communication, Socialization, Adaptive Behaviours and Facial Recognition.It should be noted that they did not differ significantlly to those in the Typically Developing group, whilst those with High Functioning Autism scored lower across all the areas mentioned. It is also important to note that based on interviews with the participants’ parents, participants in the ‘Optimal Outcome’ group had relatively milder symptoms compared to those who were in the HFA group. Although, these reports are questionnable since they were based on parents’ memories and recent events may have clouded their responses.
POINTS TO CONSIDER:
QUESTIONS THAT WERE NOT ANSWERED BY THE RESEARCH:
More on Autism:
Diagnosing Autism: What you need to know
Vote for Miss Montana 2012, Alexis Wineman
Communication difficulties in Autism
Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Poster Boy?
Still unsure if Sheldon has Asperger’s?
The Autistic Me: BBC Documentary
Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds
Autism in the classroom:
Guide to parents of students with ASD on coping with the first day back to school
Common signs of Autism in the classroom
First day back to school: Top tips for parents of children with Autism
Practical tips to make your classroom Autism-Friendly
Inspiring People with Autism:
Jessica-Jane Applegate (British Paralympian)
Satoshi Tajiri (Pokemon creator)
More on Savants:
The Psychology of Savants: Memory Masters
The Einstein Effect: Is there a link between having Autism and being a genius?
The video below shows Cathy Hutchinson, a woman who has been paralysed for over 15 years controlling a robot arm with her thoughts. Yes, with her thoughts! This video is from a research conducted by Leigh Rochberg et al. (2012) [CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE] They have developed an interface which they placed inside the brains of two tetraplegic individuals. This device transmits signals from the brains’ Motor Cortex (the part of the brain which controls movement) to the robot arm which performs the actions.
Watch and be amazed:
Understanding and Embracing Diversity 