Monday, 24 February 2025
Truly amazing videos about the hippocampus

This week I want to encourage you to watch a video entitled “How Your Brain Chooses What To Remember”, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceFFEmkxTLg. This video is one of many posted on the YouTube channel of computational neuroscientist Arsem Kirsanov. Kirsanov worked in the laboratory of neurologist Gyorgy Buzsaki , and Kirsanov’s videos about the hippocampus are truly amazing—in particular the one that I just mentioned. Not only does it present the content and methodology of a recent scientific article that is fascinating in itself, but it does so using a brilliant instructional approach with outstanding visuals.

Kirsanov has an extensive knowledge of the hippocampus and the neural rhythms associated with it, as well a great talent for communicating the concepts of his chosen field, computational neuroscience, to non-scientists. In this video, he uses animation to represent neural processes and physical behaviour concurrently, which is unusual in a video of this kind, produced by a young researcher who is already at the top of his game (but it still takes him a lot of work, as he admits in this interview). In fact, Kirsanov’s visuals in this video are so well designed and well executed that the first time I watched it, I lost track of what the narrator was saying at some points. But having now watched it a second time, I would say that his explanations are very clear and highly accessible; it’s just that he packs so many of them into such a short length of time!

I therefore recommend that you pause this video as necessary when you watch it, or watch it twice, to absorb all of the information, and then go deeper by reading this post in this blog, as well as pages 244 and 262 to 265 in my book . Like the video, this latter section of my book discusses the complex neural interactions between the hippocampus and the rest of the cortex, and in particular the bursts of high-frequency waves known as “sharp wave ripples”, through which mammals consolidate their memories as they sleep.

Just as I do in my book, Kirsanov also explains the role that sharp wave ripples in the hippocampus play when animals are awake or at rest, after having performed tasks that were especially significant for them. As explained in the study published in Science in March 2024 that is the basis for Kirsanov’s video, these sharp wave ripples then serve as a way of “bookmarking” the neurons that have just been encoded by this task, so that they can be found again and reinforced in the consolidation process during the following period of sleep (while all of the other, less important experiences that the animal had during its last time awake go unbookmarked and hence unrecorded).

Kirsanov’s YouTube channel presents over 20 other videos that are all just as fantastic!

Memory and the Brain | Comments Closed

Friday, 31 January 2025
Humans: The species built on interdependence among its members

For we humans, the most important part of the ecosystem that we live in is definitely the other human beings who live in it. We have thus developed a strong interdependence by discovering, at a very early age, our need to cooperate with one another and the benefits that this cooperation brings. If you need any proof how much human children are naturally inclined to help one another, all you need do is watch the videos shot by psychologist Michael Tomasello . (more…)

Emotions and the Brain, From Thought to Language | Comments Closed

Monday, 23 December 2024
Us versus them: between hope and hopelessness

Phenomena such as racism, sexism and ageism become more understandable in light of our strong biological tendency to divide the world into two groups: the one we belong to, and everyone else. In all primates, including humans, the sight of a stranger causes the brain to activate its “danger” pattern in less than a tenth of a second, especially if that stranger’s skin is a different colour from our own. As humans, we can use language to rationalize why any given group is inferior to our own, and we can attack its members in a wide variety of ways, ranging from verbal microaggression to genocide. The opposite is also true. As many studies on intra-group favoritism have shown, if you get into trouble while attending a sporting event and you’re wearing one of the competing team’s jerseys, that team’s fans are the ones most likely to help you. (more…)

From Thought to Language | Comments Closed

Wednesday, 27 November 2024
My book “Notre cerveau à tous les niveaux : Du Big Bang à la conscience sociale” has been launched in Québec and Europe

Back in January 2024, I posted here about one of the central concepts in the book that I was writing about the human brain, entitled Notre cerveau à tous les niveaux : Du Big Bang à la conscience sociale. On October 3, 2024, that book  had its Quebec launch. And because my wonderful publisher, Écosociété, also distributes in Europe, as of October 25 you can buy this book in France, Belgium and Switzerland as well, either from bricks-and-mortar French-language bookstores or at the  online bookstore Place des libraires.

Many of you have been visiting my website, The Brain From Top to Bottom, for over 20 years and reading my posts on the accompanying blog for the past 14. This new book represents the culmination of all my work over the past two decades, and I am truly thrilled to know that it is now available to readers in Quebec and Europe. (more…)

From the Simple to the Complex | Comments Closed

Tuesday, 29 October 2024
Neuronal recycling

The concept of neuronal recycling is based on the principle that the process of evolution never starts from zero, but instead always builds on whatever has come before. In this way, the brain can develop complex new functions far more efficiently than if it had had to create them from scratch. It would be surprising if the brain didn’t take advantage of this principle, and in fact, many neuroscience researchers have developed theories and models that are based on it. Thus, brain circuits that evolved earlier—sensorimotor circuits, for example—are thought to contribute to the development of new brain functions, such as language, while still preserving their original functions as well. (more…)

Evolution and the Brain | Comments Closed