Terry Pratchett announces he has early-onset Alzheimer's. I am not okay with this, not even a little. Pratchett is keeping a good attitude about it, at least: "I think there's time for at least a few more books yet." (Of course, I'm not satisfied with this. He needs to produce at least two books a year until I die. I command it.) Terry Pratchett's brain can not rot out. Also, Neil Gaiman is never allowed to lose his hair. Or his brain. But also his hair.

In the post-script to his announcement, Pratchett says "I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry." Note to self: Study harder.

So, I'm not finding much in the neuropsych realm for my research into skepticism. My professor suggests I narrow or widen my interest so I can find neuropsychological research that has already been done. He asked me to think about the components of skepticism: what makes someone doubt something? He suggested it was a Theory of Mind issue, but I don't feel like that's the right direction. (Also, I kinda hate theory of mind). I'm more interested in what makes an idea "sound" credible, and I don't think it's entirely the source. I'm interested in the brain conditions that make something "sound like it makes sense." I'm fairly convinced this is a brain state that can be induced -- imagine something like the opposite of a truth serum: an "everything you're saying makes so much sense!" serum, if you will. Terrifying, no?

Still, on the theme of "stuff what makes other stuff sound like it makes sense" theme, I'm reminded of two articles from this year. These are strictly psychological studies, even though they deal with why Neuro is hot, but I'm going to bring them up in class anyway.

June: The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations, Weisberg et al
October: Seeing is believing: The effect of brain images on judgments of scientific reasoning, McCabe & Castel.

via dpolicar and mostly for cabanasloth and laurenhat: The Language Log on Weisberg et al (in press): "The seductive allure of neuroscience explanation"

I'm guilty of taking advantage of this phenomenon at differenceblog more than once (maybe in every post). If you cite "studies", your explanations, no matter how weak, sound better. Hell, that was a technique recommended in Elgin's The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense, which I read in junior high. Elgin even recommends making up studies if you don't know of any real ones. SRSLY. Still, it's gratifying to see that "studies show" that people are stupid about studies.

[edit: Apropos of something else entirely, I'd really like to see a butch lesbian pin-up calendar.]

Neuroscience x-post: anyone know how much of our brains we use at a time?

DBlog x-post: While we're at it, does anyone know of any proof of the "women are better at multitasking" statement?

also, does anyone know of good transgender resources specifically for people who are still questioning? All the ones I know are for people who have already made up their minds one way or another.

Oh, and does anyone know anything about the HPV test (not the same as Pap). I recently tripped over it on a Google search, and I'd always been told by doctors that there wasn't a way to test for HPV unless you got an abnormal pap, but this website says the HPV test "has been approved" for routine screening, but the website looks kinda sketchy to me.

The internet knows everything.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why are neuropsychologists so inexplicably fascinated with consciousness? I don't think I've ever heard it in a sentence that interested me. Anytime someone starts to talk about consciousness, I start to drift off.

via hugh_mannity:
Manatee's smooth brain "isn't missing anything important." Scientist suggesting that unwrinkled brains may not be associated with stupidity.

Politics are fun and all, but I have some neurostuff on my mind (ha!) so I'm going to yammer about it for a minute. Feel free to ignore ( this self-centered yammering. )

My Neuropsych class last night had a Halloween party with a costume contest. The assignment was to come as your favorite "discrete brain part." Everyone who came in costume got extra credit. I was concerned that I didn't have time to prepare, but the ever-fantastic laurenhat loaned me her Wernicke's area t-shirt. However, once I got out of work, I decided that I really did want to go as the hypothalamus (even though I was concerned that it didn't really represent a discrete brain part), and put together a costume between 5-6pm (instead of studying.) Apparently the blinking LEDs (safety strobes) in my "viscera" pushed me over the top so I got the $10 Barnes and Noble gift card instead of the other hypothalamus, who I thought was much better, since he had little dials that turned to reveal various chemicals produces by the hypothalamus. I also liked the guy who came as the cerebellum by wiring broccoli to the back of his hat.

I'm a little concerned about my priorities. I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating lately, or doing anything productive, and I get caught up in these silly little projects instead of doing stuff that I should be doing, like studying, packing, and laundry. I got my anatomy quiz back and I only got 68% correct, which is fairly upsetting, but also seems fairly typical of the class. Still, I'm not used to being typical. Generally, I just feel like I've been depressed for a few weeks. I keep waiting for the stress hormones from the condo-buying/midterm week to work themselves out, but I keep being exhausted and not being able to focus. I feel like crap. However, I have two three-day weekends in a row coming up, so if that doesn't kick-start my mood, I may have to start looking into meds.

May I be excused?

The brain anatomy quizzes here are bitchin' It's like playing memory, but with braiiins.

Edit: Okay, so go here and then "Click for Atlas". A couple of links will take you down to various slides of the brain, and at the bottom of each of the pages with brain disections on them, there should be a button that says "Start Quiz"

Warning, I did come across a couple extra ICKY pictures in this site. It is, after all, cadaver dissections.

Well, classes have started. I took "Foundations of Neuropsych" last night, and was frustrated beyond belief by the philosophical bent. Tonight, I took "Introduction to Neurobiology." oooh... Science! There were all these names for things, and I didn't know them! If I spaced out, I missed things! There were slides with more diagrams than words! I can not express my joy over this without multiple exclamation points. Seriously, though, I really think taking these classes together was a good idea. I think the parts are going to mesh really well, one informing the other.

Science! I'm-a go read diagrams now.

Dammit. Now I can't stop itching... I should have known better than to think about it. On the other hand, I should be thanking cabanasloth. At his urging, I started to put more neurological studies into the references on differenceblog, and they're finally starting to get easier to read. I also read one yesterday on the neural correlates of love that got me really excited, and I think might give me an idea for my master's thesis.