Knowing Neurons- Neuroscience Articles, Infographics, SciArt, Book Reviews, and Videos.

Symbolic illustration of optogenetics with a strand of DNA coming out of someone's cartoon brain and being examined by a magnifying glass. Designed by Alexa Erdogan.

Optogenetics: An Illuminating Tool with A Bright Future

May 27, 2020May 24, 2020 Jeff Olney 0 Comments Behavior, Deep Brain Stimulation, EEG, electroconvulsive therapy, Learning and Memory, Light, Optogenetics, Technology, Therapeutic Approaches, Vision

Nearly everything we do requires our brain in some way. Eating a bagel? That uses your brain. Reading this article? That’s using your brain, too. All those questionable decisions you… Read more

Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sensation and Perception

Cognition in Schizophrenia: The Missing Piece of the Therapeutic Puzzle

April 22, 2020April 17, 2020 Jessica Brown 0 Comments Antipsychotic drugs, Cognition, Cognitive Remediation Therapy, Hallucination, Memantine, Neurological Disorder, NMDA, NMDA receptor, Quality of life, Relapse, Schizophrenia, Therapeutic Approaches

What kind of mental image springs to mind upon reading the word ‘schizophrenia’? Many envisage individuals locked in dark institutions, plagued by non-existent voices and vivid hallucinations. Fortunately, modern antipsychotic… Read more

Feature image depicting a brain in the center of a circle with a visual illusion background. On the left is a hand, palm up, holding a heart. On the right, another hand is tentatively reaching out to grab it. Designed by Alexa Erdogan.

Big Ideas Culture Philosophy Sensation and Perception

Understanding Visual Illusions Can Make Us More Empathetic

April 8, 2020April 8, 2020 McKenna Becker 1 Comment Bias, Blind spot, Cognition, Empathy, Illusion, Neuroplasticity, Optic nerve, Perception, philosophy, Photoreceptor, Politics, R.L. Gregory, Reality, Retina, Stroop Test, Top-Down Processing, V.S. Ramachandran, Visual Illusions

Philosophers and neuroscientists agree that if there is an objective reality, human beings can’t perceive it: philosophers refer to objective reality as a perception independent of any conscious awareness. Neuroscientists… Read more

Comic of a person in bed surrounded by worried faces, witches, out-of-body experiences, and ghosts. Illustrated by Rajamani Selvam.

Brain Basics Consciousness Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sensation and Perception Sleep

Sleep Paralysis: What Is It and What Causes It?

December 30, 2019December 30, 2019 Mira Rakicevic 2 Comments Anxiety, Cataplexy, circadian rhythm, EEG, Electromyogram, Genetics, Hallucination, hypnagogic hallucination, Hypnopompic, Insomnia, Narcolepsy, NREM sleep, parasomnia, PER2, Polysomnography, REM sleep, Sleep, Sleep Apnea, Sleep Atonia, Sleep paralysis, stress, Vestibular-motor Hallucination

Sleep paralysis is a type of REM parasomnia or abnormal behavior that takes place during the REM sleep cycle. Also known as sleep atonia, this condition refers to the feeling… Read more

Brain Books by Knowing Neurons. The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman. Illustrated by McCall Sarrett & Jooyeun Lee.

Big Ideas Brain Books Consciousness Evolution of Cognition Sensation and Perception

Book Review and Author Interview: The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman

December 6, 2019December 7, 2019 Joel Frohlich 1 Comment Brain Books, Cognition, Color, Consciousness, Evolution, Evolutionary Game Theory, Hallucination, hard problem of consciousness, Illusion, Interface Theory of Perception, mathematics, Motion, Necker Cube, Occam's Razor, Orientation, Perception, Physicalism, Psychology, Quantum mechanics

A full interview with Donald Hoffman follows this book review Does the moon still exist when you’re not looking at it? In a provocative new book titled The Case Against… Read more

An artistic take on the "monkey-to-man" cartoon, depicting the final result as a larger human near fast food with a red warning sign around it. Illustrated by McCall Sarrett.

Big Ideas Brain Basics Brain Development Culture

Brain, Healthy Fats, and the Importance of Fitting Into Your Genes

November 27, 2019November 27, 2019 Marco Travaglio 0 Comments Attention, Brain Fat, Cortex, dementia, depression, DHA, Diet, Dopamine, Dorsal Attention Network, EPA, Evolution, Fat, Fish Oil, Frontoparietal Network, Genetics, Monounsaturated Fat, Neurological Disorder, Neurotransmitters, Omega-3, Omega-6, Polyunsaturated Fat, serotonin, supplements

Our brains are extremely rich in fat. Indeed, about two thirds of the human brain is composed of fat, 35% of which consists of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. What are… Read more

Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT) Feature Image

Infographics Movement Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sensation and Perception

Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease [Infographic]

November 13, 2019November 13, 2019 Rajamani Selvam 0 Comments Autosomal dominant, Autosomal Recessive, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, Electromyogram, Genetic Mutation, Genetic Testing, Muscle Atrophy, mutation, myelin, Nerve Conduction Study, peripheral neuropathy, Sensory Loss, X-linked Dominant

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a peripheral neuropathy disorder that affects various genders and ethnic groups worldwide. Nerve cell abnormalities are associated with this disorder and are linked to symptoms such as… Read more

Infographics Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorder [Infographic]

November 6, 2019November 5, 2019 Rajamani Selvam 0 Comments Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Infographic, language, Neurodevelopmental Disorder, Social Communication, Vaccines

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in language acquisition and social communication. The disorder is referred to as a “spectrum,” as individuals can exhibit a… Read more

Brain Development Infographics Movement Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Alternating Hemiplegia [Infographic]

October 16, 2019October 16, 2019 Rajamani Selvam 0 Comments Alternating Hemiplegia, ATP, Autosomal dominant, de novo mutation, Genetic Counseling, Infographic, Movement, Neurodevelopment, Paralysis, Physical Therapy, Seizure

Alternating Hemiplegia is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects children. A characteristic symptom of the disorder is repetitive episodes of paralysis on one side or both sides of the body. The… Read more

Feature image depicting a fetus in the womb of a pregnant woman experiencing pain shortly after birth and having that pain show up later on in adulthood. Illustrated by McCall Sarrett.

Aging Big Ideas Brain Development Sensation and Perception

How Pain in Newborns Can Have Lifelong Consequences

September 18, 2019September 17, 2019 Denis Duagi 0 Comments Analgesics, Brain development, Chronic Pain, EEG, Excitatory Neurons, fMRI, GABA, Glycine, Inhibitory Neurons, Neonatal Pain, Pain, Sensation, Somatosensory, Tactile fibers, Touch

You probably don’t remember anything from when you were an infant. However, chances are that you experienced some pain immediately after you were born. You might have needed an IV… Read more

A sleeping brain on the left versus a brain lifting weights on the right. Illustrated by Rajamani Selvam.

Big Ideas Culture

The Neuroscience of Motivation and How to Improve It

September 4, 2019September 4, 2019 Marco Travaglio 0 Comments Dopamine, Insula, Limbic, Mesolimbic Pathway, Motivation, MRI, neurotransmitter, Nucleus accumbens, Prefrontal Cortex, Reward-Seeking Behavior, Ventral Tegmental Area

Motivation can be a hard thing to come by. Whether at home, at school or at work, most of us have been in a situation where we know exactly what… Read more

Image split in half with two backgrounds, day and night, with a watch in the center. A face on the watch is half awake on the day side of the image and asleep on the night side. Illustrated by McCall Sarrett.

Collaborations Neuroscience Technologies Sleep

What I Learned from Tracking My Sleep with Fitbit for Two Months

August 28, 2019August 28, 2019 Joel Frohlich 0 Comments Blood Oxygenation, EEG, Fitbit, Non-REM Sleep, Photoplethysmography, Polysomnography, PPG, REM sleep, Sleep, Sleep Apnea

If someone had told me a year ago that he sleeps with his watch on at night, I’d probably wonder just how eccentric of a personality I was dealing with.… Read more

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