The first men on the Moon.

Originally shared by France Michaud Knapp - 5 comments

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two people on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface six hours after landing on July 21 at 02:56:15 UTC; Aldrin joined him about 20 minutes later. They spent about two and a quarter hours together outside the spacecraft, and collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth. Command Module Pilot Michael Collins piloted the command module Columbia alone in lunar orbit while they were on the Moon's surface. Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21.5 hours on the lunar surface before rejoining Columbia in lunar orbit.
Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16 at 13:32 UTC, and was the fifth crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program. The Apollo spacecraft had three parts: a command module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, and the only part that returned to Earth; a service module (SM), which supported the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a lunar module (LM) that had two stages – a descent stage for landing on the Moon, and an ascent stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit.
After being sent to the Moon by the Saturn V's third stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and traveled for three days until they entered lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into Eagle and landed in the Sea of Tranquillity. The astronauts used Eagle's ascent stage to lift off from the lunar surface and rejoin Collins in the command module. They jettisoned Eagle before they performed the maneuvers that blasted them out of lunar orbit on a trajectory back to Earth. They returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24 after more than eight days in space.
Armstrong's first step onto the lunar surface was broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience. He described the event as "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy: "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
mewe.com/i/francemichaud_knapp

Groucho Marx at his funniest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VckmK-ZCpAU



Grouch Marx at his best! Gut wrenching funny! There is only one problem and that is you need to be at least Seventy Plus to understand all the subtle jokes and sexual innuendos.

Watch out for flying Monkeys!

Welcome to the Barking Up The Wrong Tree weekly update for December 16th, 2018.

How To Avoid Toxic People: 5 Simple Secrets That Will Make You Happier *** Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller! To check it out, click here. *** Click here to read the post on the blog or keep scrolling to read in-email. We all know a few people that treat causing grief like it's a career. It's as if your life is a video game and they were put here just to make finishing this level harder. These aren't simple jerks or someone having a bad day; these are folks with deep-seated problems. Serious interpersonal dysfunction. Lack of social awareness. And, perhaps most notably, an inability to change. The DSM-5 says that roughly 15% of people meet the criteria for a personality disorder. And most of them are never diagnosed. Now you're not a psychiatrist and neither am I, so we shouldn't run around diagnosing people... But we can learn enough to recognize if someone is a "high-conflict person", reasonably give a diagnosis of "no good for moi" and steer clear of them. So what are the three most pernicious flavors of high-conflict people? Narcissistic HCPs: They often seem very charming at first but believe they are hugely superior to others. They insult, humiliate, mislead, and lack empathy for their Targets of Blame. They also demand constant undeserved respect and attention from everyone…  According to a 2008 report of a National Institutes of Health study, more than 6 percent of the general population has the disorder. That’s more than twenty-two million people in North America. Borderline HCPs: They often start out extremely friendly—but they can suddenly and unpredictably shift into being extremely angry. When this shift occurs, they may seek revenge for minor or nonexistent slights… The speed with which they turn from seeming to love you to hating you is breathtaking… A 2008 report of a National Institutes of Health study indicates that nearly 6 percent of the general population has BPD. Antisocial (or Sociopathic/Psychopathic) HCPs: They can be extremely charismatic—but their charm is a cover for their drive to dominate others through lying, stealing, publicly humiliating people, physically injuring them, and—in extreme cases—murdering them… The large NIH study...determined that 3.6 percent of the population has this disorder. That’s about thirteen million people in North America. I do want to emphasize that these are disorders. These people are suffering. They're not necessarily bad people. I don't want to contribute to mental health stigma -- but you need to protect yourself. Any responsible mental health professional would advise you to keep your distance from people with these problems, if at all possible. Their disorders aren't going away without serious help, and until they get it, they have the potential to seriously screw your life up. So how do we learn how to identify and avoid them? Let's get tips from an expert... Bill Eddy is a licensed clinical social worker that has provided therapy to patients in psychiatric hospitals for more than a decade. He has taught negotiation and mediation at the University of San Diego School of Law and serves as adjunct faculty at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University. His book is 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life: Identifying and Dealing with Narcissists, Sociopaths, and Other High-Conflict Personalities. We’re gonna cover the three that are likely to cause the biggest problems for you. Let’s get to it... The 4 Behavior Patterns Of High Conflict People Everybody has bad days. Or bad weeks. So how can you tell if someone is coping with some temporary issues or if they are truly an oh-my-god-watch-out-high-conflict-person? Look for these four patterns of behavior: 1) Lots of all-or-nothing thinking HCPs tend to see conflicts in terms of one simple solution (i.e., everyone doing exactly what the HCP wants). They don’t—and perhaps can’t—analyze the situation, hear different points of view, and consider several possible solutions. Compromise and flexibility seem impossible for them. 2) Intense or unmanaged emotions HCPs tend to become very emotional about their points of view. They often catch everyone else by surprise with their sudden and intense fear, sadness, yelling, or disrespect. Their responses can be way out of proportion to whatever is happening or being discussed, and they often seem unable to control their own emotions. 3) Extreme behavior or threats HCPs frequently engage in extreme negative behavior. This might include shoving or hitting someone; spreading rumors and outright lies about them; trying to have obsessive contact with them… There are also some HCPs who use emotional manipulation to hurt others but can appear very emotionally in control while they do it… They often seem clueless about how their behavior has a devastating and exhausting emotional impact on others. 4) A preoccupation with blaming others The single most common—and most obvious—HCP trait is how frequently and intensely they blame other people, especially people close to them and people who seem to be in positions of authority over them. If somebody does one of these four, hey, nobody's perfect. But if someone routinely exhibits all 4? Almost certainly an HCP. It's always a good idea to take some time getting to know people. Especially before trusting, hiring, or marrying them. Learn about their personal history, preferably from sources other than merely them. Yes, some people have had a run of bad luck and their past is marked by problems and bad relationships. But nobody has consistent bad luck for decades. This is probably not someone who has tragically gone from problem situation to problem situation; this is probably Patient Zero. And if you seriously suspect someone is an HCP, under no circumstances should you accuse them of being a narcissist, borderline or antisocial. You might as well write “please ruin my life” on your forehead. (To learn more about how you and your children can lead a successful life, check out my bestselling book here.) So you have suspicions about someone. Specifically, what should you look for? Scrutinize their words, emotions and behavior. Let's start with words... Words To Look For Each type gives clues if you listen closely: Narcissistic HCPs: Anything that indicates arrogance, entitlement, and a lack of empathy. They see the world as made up of winners and losers. Borderline HCPs: Victim narratives will be front and center. You'll feel bad for them because it seems like their life keeps burning down (but they'll neglect to mention they're an arsonist). Antisocial HCPs: They will probably attempt to break the record for most lies told in a single conversation. But all three will eventually display blaming of others, all-or-nothing thinking, victim stories, and a desire to punish. From 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life: Watch out for words that grab your attention, especially a pattern of all-or-nothing language. “You always . . .” “You never . . .” “It’s my way or the highway!” “It’s ALL your fault!” Keep in mind that we all say these things occasionally. It’s the pattern and intensity of frequently speaking and writing this way that should grab your attention. (To learn how to deal with passive-aggressive people, click here.) So you know what words to look for. But even more telling are emotions... Emotions To Look For Extreme ones. Extreme charm, extreme love, and extreme anger are all signs of possible trouble. Or someone who is tightly controlled with their emotions until -- BOOM. They lose it. And suddenly they're so unrecognizable that you skip telling them to calm down and consider calling an exorcist. The other emotions to stay aware of are your own. How are they making you feel? Many people end up in toxic romantic relationships with narcissists or borderlines and wonder how it happened. Those powerful feelings they experienced weren't love -- they were emotional manipulation. Anytime you feel extreme emotions with someone you barely know, it pays to slow things down and be a bit circumspect. So what are you most likely to feel with each type? With Narcissistic HCPs: Do you feel stupid or otherwise inadequate around the person? Do you feel in awe of the person and amazed that he or she is spending time with you? ...Does it feel like this person has lost interest in you or now insults you in front of others? When astronomers finally discover the center of the universe, narcissists will be shocked they are not it. With Borderline HCPs: Do you feel extremely frustrated with the person, like you want to shake them or yell at them to get them to stop behaving in some inappropriate way? ...Are you amazed that your emotions swing back and forth so extremely with this person? If you wonder how the fully grown adult in front of you has suddenly become the most emotionally overwrought manipulative adolescent imaginable, seeming to cycle through completely different personalities faster than you can change channels on your TV, that's a borderline. With Antisocial HCPs: Do you sometimes feel a sense of danger just being around this person? Do you sometimes get a cold, creepy feeling when this person is around? Do other people tell you that this person can’t be trusted and is a con artist? If you've wondered, "Is there anything this person wouldn't say to get what they want?" Helloooooo, antisocial. (To learn the 4 harsh truths that will make you a better person, click here.) Emotions are good signs. But nothing beats behavior... Behavior To Look For This can seem tricky because there's no exhaustive list. But there is a simple method you can use that's quite effective: the "90% rule." From 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life: When you see something extremely negative, ask yourself: Would 90 percent of people ever do this? If the answer is no, you are almost always watching a high-conflict personality in action. Yes, they're going to make excuses. Wasn't my fault, I had a rough day, the dog ate my homework and it was the aliens that built the pyramids. It'll always be something. But the most dangerous excuses are the ones you might find yourselfmaking to explain such bad behavior. This means you're already under their spell... So relay the story to an objective third party and ask their honest opinion to make sure you're not in denial about what kind of person you've been dealing with. (To learn how to make your life awesome, click here.) Okay, at this point you know they are officially a 100% USDA-approved high-conflict person. (Um... congratulations?) So what do you do now? No further contact. Period. But, sadly, that is not always an option. So here's a simple 4-step method for handling that next encounter... Use "CARS" No, Lightning McQueen, we're not talking about the Pixar movie. It's an acronym: Connect with empathy, attention, and respect Analyze alternatives or options Respond to misinformation or hostility Set limits on high-conflict behavior First, make sure you're calm. You don't want to be reactive and you don't want to show any negativity. (And that can prove verychallenging with these people.) Ready? Alright, let's walk through the 4 steps... 1) CONNECT WITH ATTENTION, EMPATHY, AND RESPECT With narcissists and antisocials, emphasize respect. With borderlines, focus on empathy. From 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life: “I can see this is a frustrating situation. [Empathy] Tell me more—I want to understand what’s happening from your point of view. [Attention] I have a lot of respect for your efforts to resolve this problem. [Respect]” Always communicate in a way that you would like them to mirror. 2) ANALYZE ALTERNATIVES OR OPTIONS Always deal with the problem at hand by presenting them with choices. It gives them the illusion of autonomy and control, which will reduce further conflict. From 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life: Talk about options or choices that the person has. You can turn anything into a choice, which makes the person feel more empowered and more respected. For example: Suppose a narcissistic HCP has just dropped in or called you, demanding attention. You could respond: “I can help you right now, but only for about five minutes. Next week, if we schedule it, I can spend about an hour with you on this. It’s up to you.” This approach helps you turn their demand into a choice, so that you can limit their disruption of your time while they still feel respected and considered. 3) RESPOND TO MISINFORMATION OR HOSTILITY Use a "BIFF response" -- brief, informative, friendly and firm. From 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life: This is what I call a BIFF response: It’s brief (just a sentence or paragraph), informative (just straight information, not defensiveness), friendly (keeps the tone nonadversarial), and firm (meaning it ends the potentially hostile discussion). 4) SET LIMITS ON HIGH-CONFLICT BEHAVIOR If your boundaries seem arbitrary they will almost certainly try and steamroll you. Narcissists will demand, borderlines will cry, and antisocials will turn on the charm. So make sure your limits come from an external source outside your control: "I'd love to give you what you want but my boss/spouse/dominatrix just won't let me." From 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life: That’s why you can’t just say no; you have to back it up with firm boundaries and clear consequences for violating them. You may need to set limits on the topics you will discuss, the amount of time you will spend together, the tasks you will do or not do for them, and so forth. In practice, we do this with everyone we meet, but people who are not high-conflict types intuitively understand our limits and normally don’t violate them… Make it clear that the limit isn’t about them; explain how your schedule, your boss, or other external circumstances require you to set this limit, and hold it firmly in place. And make sure to never trigger the deepest fear of an HCP while dealing with them: Narcissistic HCPs fear disrespect. Of course, they act like jerks and people inevitably lose respect for them. Borderline HCPs fear abandonment. Of course, they are a nonstop emotional rollercoaster that makes everyone run away from them as soon as humanly possible. Antisocial HCPs fear control. So they break every rule and often end up in prison, utterly controlled. (To learn the 4-step morning ritual that will make you happy all day, click here.) Okay, we've covered a lot. Let's round it all up and talk about the dangers of flying monkeys. Yes, I said "flying monkeys"... Sum Up This is how to avoid toxic people: Behavior patterns to look for: Blaming, all-or-nothing thinking, playing the victim and unmanaged emotions. Words to look for: "I blame you for not paying more attention to what I wrote above. You never, ever read what I write, do you? I feel so victimized by you skimming this page. And one day I'll get back at you. Just you wait..." Emotions to look for: Your own. If you're having extreme ones -- even if they're positive -- be wary. Behavior to look for: 90% of people would not kick an old lady down a flight of stairs. (Even if she did have it coming.) Use "CARS": Connect, Analyze Options, Respond with BIFF, Set Limits. So what's a flying monkey? If you're thinking "Wizard of Oz", you get the reference. They're the ones that did the Wicked Witch's dirty work. Flying monkeys are people under the spell of the HCP. They fell for one of the victim stories -- and in this narrative you're the bad guy. HCP's love a good smear campaign. So the flying monkey thinks they're being a good friend, coming to the aid of their beleaguered pal, and attacking you -- that horrible, horrible person. This can lead to rumors spread around the office or social circles that make you look bad and probably aren't easily traceable back to their source, the HCP. The flying monkey is probably a decent person just trying to "do the right thing" for their "friend." And if you unload on them, you'll look like the monster you've been portrayed as. If you say mean things about the HCP, you'll just prove your guilt. So what do you do when confronted by a flying monkey? First off, be nice. Second, the only way to break the spell and clear your name is to provide verifiable, accurate information about the evildoings of the HCP. It's no guarantee, but if you keep your cool and only say things that will check out, you may be able to free them from the Wicked Witch's mind control -- and get yourself an ally. One final, very important point: don't let all this make you paranoid. Most people are good. But if someone gets your Spidey-Sense tingling, pay attention to their words, notice your emotions, try the 90% rule, use CARS -- and be nice to flying monkeys. In the end, the only way to truly win with toxic people is not to play. Please share this on Facebook or Pocket. Thank you! Email Extras Findings from around the internet... + Want to know how to find your calling in life? Click here. + Want to know a simple but powerful learning technique? Click here. + Want to know if breakfast really is the most important meal of the day? Click here. + Miss last week's post? Here you go: New Neuroscience Reveals 9 Rituals That Will Make You An Amazing Parent. And the cheat sheet PDF I promised in last week's email is here. + Want to know the best type of exercise to improve your mood? Click here. + You made it to the end of the email. That was wonderfully low-conflict of you. Thanks for making this more pleasant than most of my relationships. You're such a wonderful listener. Alrighty, Crackerjack Time... The great and powerful David Epstein (author of the NYT bestseller The Sports Gene) has a new book coming out next year that I think is a must-read. If 10,000 hours of practicing anything sounds painful and you're more of a generalist than a specialist, you will love this book. I'll be bothering you more about it in the coming months, rest assured, because it's *that* good. Check out "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World" here. Thanks for reading! Eric

Gentle People:

 Governments and companies always look for ways to make a profit. OK, if profit making ideas are what they want and need for success, the following is one magnificent profit making idea!

 Create hundreds of vertical Fifty-Story glass covered Hydroponic Green Houses and then hire students to work the Green Houses. Sell and distribute the vegetables grown in these vertical farms to restaurants throughout the city. Use the new Electricity generating Glass panels to supply energy for the Green House Towers. These special Glass panels create electricity when ordinary day-light passes through them and the energy is then focused into batteries for the building.

 With these towers of food you are creating both clean pesticide free vegetables and work for students.

 P.S. Your present city towers are filled with people attempting to generate money and no matter how much money they make, they cannot eat money. In the future average citizens may find it difficult to buy salad from other countries. They can, however, make money selling salad if they grow their own within vertical farms. You can even place these towers on farm lands and give today's farmers a fighting chance to make a profit without pesticides or working Sixteen hour days!!

 Thanks for reading.
  Pass on this idea.
  Signed: Nelson J. Raglione.   

Deciding the value of every effort.

Corina Marinescu

NEUROSCIENCE

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19h

Study reveals how the brain decides to make an effort
From deciding to quit hitting the snooze button and get out of bed in the morning to opting to switch off the TV and prepare for sleep at night, the mind weighs the costs versus benefits of each choice we make. A study reveals the mechanics of how the brain makes value effort decisions, calculating whether it is worth expending effort in exchange for potential rewards.

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published the findings by psychologists at Emory University.

“We showed that the brain’s ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which was not previously thought to play a key role in effort-based choices, actually appears to be strongly involved in the formation of expectations underlying those choices,” says Emory psychologist Michael Treadway, senior author of the paper.

Treadway’s lab focuses on understanding the molecular and circuit-level mechanisms of psychiatric symptoms related to mood, anxiety and decision-making.

“Understanding how the brain works normally when deciding to expend effort provides a way to pinpoint what’s going on in disorders where motivation is reduced, such as depression and schizophrenia,” he says.

Previous research had observed three brain regions in decision-making; the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the anterior insula (aI) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Studies had pointed to the vmPFC as central to the computation of subjective value during probability decision-making. But prior evidence also suggested that when it comes to decisions about effort expenditure, those subjective value estimates were not computed by the vmPFC but by the other two brain regions.

A limitation to previous studies on effort-based choices is that they simultaneously presented the costs and benefits of a choice to experimental subjects.

“In the real world, however, we usually have to make decisions based on incomplete information,” says Amanda Arulpragasam, first author of the PNAS paper and a psychology PhD candidate in Treadway’s lab.

Arulpragasam designed a study that allowed the researchers to model distinct neural computations for effort and reward.

Subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing an effort-based decision-making task where the effort costs and rewards of a choice were presented separately over time.

The subjects could choose to make no effort and receive $1, or make some level of physical effort in exchange for monetary rewards of varying magnitude, up to $5.73. The physical effort involved rapid button pressing at varying percentages of each participant’s maximum button pressing rate. Participants were required to press the button using their non-dominant pinkie finger, making the task challenging enough to be unpleasant, although not painful.

In the effort-first trials, participants were shown a vertical bar representing the percentage of their maximum button pressing rate that would be required to do the task. They were then shown the size of the reward for performing the task. The reward-first trials presented the information in the opposite order.

After receiving both sets of information, participants were prompted to choose the no-effort option or the effort option.

The experimental design allowed the researchers to tease apart the effects of recent choices on the formation of value expectations of future decisions.

The results revealed a clear role for the vmPFC in encoding an expected reward before all information had been revealed. The data also suggested that the dACC and aI are involved in encoding the difference between what participants were expecting and what they actually got, rather than effort-cost encoding.

“Some have argued that decisions about effort have a different neural circuitry than decisions about probability and risk,” Treadway says. “We’ve showed that all three brain regions come into play, just in a different way than was previously known.”

Journal article:
http://www.pnas.org/content/115/22/E5233

Source:
http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2018/05/study-reveals-how-brain-decides-to-make.html

#prefrontalcortex #cingulatecortex #decisionmaking #neuroimaging #neuroscience

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The fight or flight brain circuit.

Corina Marinescu

NEUROSCIENCE

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2d

Scientists uncover brain circuits behind putting up a fight or freezing in place
In a study of mice, National Institutes of Health-funded researchers describe a new circuit involved in fine-tuning the brain’s decision either to hide or confront threats. The study, published in Nature, was partially funded by the NIH’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.

“Being able to manipulate specific circuits can uncover surprising relationships between brain areas and provide great insight into how the sensory, emotional, and behavioral centers work together to drive reactions,” said Jim Gnadt, Ph.D., program director at the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and a team lead for the BRAIN Initiative. “The tools and technologies developed through the BRAIN Initiative have made studies such as this one possible.”

A team of researchers led by Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology and of ophthalmology at Stanford University in California, investigated the role of the ventral midline thalamus (vMT) in determining how animals respond to visual threats. The thalamus is a brain region that acts as a relay station, taking in sensory information, such as what is seen and heard, and sorting out where in the brain to send that information.

Dr. Huberman and his colleagues showed that the vMT was activated when mice were confronted with a threat, specifically a black circle that grew larger on top of their cage, mimicking the experience of something looming over them. When faced with the looming threat, the mice spent most of the time freezing or hiding and very little time rattling their tails, which is typically an aggressive response.

To further investigate the role of vMT, Dr. Huberman’s team used state-of-the-art tools, including designer drugs that allowed specific circuits to be turned on and off. Although inactivating the vMT had no effect on freezing and hiding, it eliminated the tail rattling response. Turning on the vMT increased the number of tail shaking responses and caused the mice to move around more and spend less time hiding or freezing.

Dr. Huberman’s group also discovered that the vMT sends information primarily to two brain areas: the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). These circuits turned out to be critical in determining how the mice reacted to a visual threat. Turning on the circuit that projected to the BLA caused more freezing responses, while activating the mPFC circuit increased tail shaking responses.

“Dr. Huberman’s work is opening a new area of vision research with the looming threat model, helping us understand how circuitry in the brain works from sensation to behavior,” said Thomas Greenwell, Ph.D., program director at the NIH’s National Eye Institute, which co-funded the study.

Dr. Huberman and his team showed that activation of the vMT increased arousal, a state of heightened alertness. Mice preferred spending more time in a room where they received vMT activation, suggesting that turning on that brain circuit made them feel good. Although there may have been a difference in response to the visual threat, either tail shaking or freezing, the underlying positive feeling was the same for both types of reactions.

“This study may help explain why acts of courage, such as standing up for yourself or for a cause, or a physical challenge can feel empowering. Experiencing that good feeling can also make it more likely to respond to future threats in a similar way,” said Dr. Huberman. “Although our study was done in mice, learning more about the vMT may provide some insight into conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder and we are now pursuing study of the human vMT for that reason.”

Future research is needed to increase understanding of ways in which the vMT circuit affects behavior and how to develop treatments that can target specific parts of this system.

Journal article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0078-2

Source:
https://www.ninds.nih.gov/News-Events/News-and-Press-Releases/Press-Releases/Scientists-uncover-brain-circuits-behind-putting

Image: A new circuit for responses to threats: Researchers turned the ventral midline thalamus on and off in mice to study the animals’ responses to visual threats. Activated brain cells are shown in green.
Credit: Dr. Andrew Huberman and Lindsey Salay, Stanford University

#brain circuitry #thalamus #vMT #prefrontalcortex #amygdala #perception #visualthreat #neuroscience

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When surprised, the brain makes you stop, look and listen.

Corina Marinescu

NEUROSCIENCE

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3d

A Vital Pause: Neurons in the Brain’s Striatum May Help Regulate Response to Unexpected Stimuli
Changing our behavior based on unexpected cues from our environment is an essential part of survival. The ability to drop what you’re doing when circumstances demand it could mean the difference between avoiding a speeding vehicle or getting hit by it. A new study at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) has delved into a brain mechanism that may regulate such adaptation.

In the study, which was published in eLife, researchers led by Dr. Stefano Zucca at the OIST Neurobiology Research Unit investigated nerve cells in the striatum, a brain region involved in movement and motivation. Here, nerve cells called cholinergic interneurons (CINs) are in a near-constant state of activity, releasing a chemical called acetylcholine every time they fire. But if the brain gets an unexpected stimulus from outside the body – for example, a startling sound – the CINs will briefly stop firing.

“The purpose of these pauses is a mystery,” said senior author Prof. Jeff Wickens. “We wanted to know, what do these pauses do?”

To find out, his team manipulated CIN activity with a method known as optogenetics. They used a virus to replace sections of these neurons’ DNA with genes encoding for light-sensitive ion channels. Optical filaments were then implanted into the striatum of mice. By shining a laser beam into the cell along the filaments, the researchers could switch the CINs into active or inactive mode as the mice moved around their cage, allowing them to generate pauses in CIN firing at will.

The next step was the most challenging: Using electrodes inserted into single nerve cells to record the electrical impulses generated during the pauses. Previous studies recorded from outside of neurons, which can only generate limited information about the impulses they generate. To get a clear recording of electrical potential, the team needed direct measurements from inside the cell. That’s easier said than done: “You have to make a hole inside an individual cell and attach a probe without damaging it”, said Wickens. “It’s extremely fine work that Dr. Zucca perfected.”

When they generated the pauses in CIN activity, the researchers observed a knock-on effect on the neurons that CINs connect to—neurons called spiny projection neurons (SPNs), which in turn send signals from the striatum to the rest of the brain. During the pauses, because SPN neurons received lower stimulation from CINs, they were less likely to fire themselves, the study showed. These pauses, then, give interrupting events significance by effectively muting the striatum’s output signals.

The stops and starts in CIN activity may be a mechanism for controlling how animals respond to stimuli from their environment, says Wickens. For example, he said, “this mechanism might regulate how an animal stops eating when it hears an unfamiliar sound”.

“The CINs only make up 1% of cells in the striatum, but they have a huge influence,” said Prof. Wickens. “They’re important in making changes in behavior, and play a part in movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease when they malfunction.”

The researchers now plan to explore the phenomenon in more detail. “Next we’d like to see if this pause is happening everywhere in the striatum at the same time, or if it’s limited to specific locations”, says Prof. Wickens. That will help reveal how it affects behaviors from moment to moment, he adds.

Journal article:
https://elifesciences.org/articles/32510

Source:
https://www.oist.jp/news-center/news/2018/5/10/vital-pause-neurons-brain%E2%80%99s-striatum-may-help-regulate-response

Image: Florescent imaging of a section of the striatum showing Cholinergic Interneurons (CINs) in green, and Spiny Projection Neurons (SPNs) in red

#optogenetics #cholinergicinterneurons #striatum #spinyprojectionneurons #neuroscience

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