Writing Workshop
• Find the relevant literature
– Use the review journals as a first approach e.g.
• Nature Reviews Neuroscience
• Trends in Neuroscience
• Trends in Cognitive Science
Writing Workshop
• Pick one theory
Writing Workshop
• Pick one experiment
Writing Workshop
• Pick one technique
Writing Workshop
• Describe experimental design
Writing Workshop
• Here are some typical writing style issues
which people have trouble with.
Writing Workshop
• Here are some typical writing style issues
which people have trouble with.
• Here are some typical writing-style issues with
which people have trouble.
Writing Workshop
• Data is
• Data are
Writing Workshop
• Its a nice day.
• It’s a nice day.
Writing Workshop
• I’m going to try and find area V5.
• I’m going to try to find area V5.
• I propose to identify area V5.
Writing Workshop
• Use care with words like “thing” and “where”.
For example:
– “things like vision”
• Better: “perceptual processes such as vision”
– “visual illusions where colours are distorted”
• Better: “visual illusions in which colours are distorted”
Writing Workshop
• Say what you mean
– E.g. “unpalpable birds” not the same as
“unpalatable butterflies”
Writing Workshop
• Correlate means
– Determine the mathematical relationship
between two sets of numbers
– Determine the quantitative relationship between
two processes (using numbers)
• Correlate doesn’t mean “to investigate”
Writing Workshop
• “affects” is a verb
• “effects” is a noun
– For example:
• Nicotine affects memory
• I will study the effects of nicotine on memory.
Writing Workshop
• Read more.
– E.g. Scientific American
Writing Workshop
• Don’t constantly and redundantly use
unnecessary, unneeded and gratuitous modifiers.
For example:
– “Parkinson’s disease is an extremely tragic disease
that very negatively impacts the happiness of the
unfortunate patients who suffer from it”.
– Parkinson’s disease negatively impacts quality of life.
– Or consider leaving this unsaid...
Writing Workshop
• The goal of the background section is that, by
the end of it, the reader has the same theory
as you!
Writing Workshop
• Don’t use the word “now” unless you actually
mean “right now” (and you almost certainly
do not). For example:
– “Now, the visual system is very complex.”
Writing Workshop
• Be concise.
Writing Workshop
• Be even more concise.
Writing Workshop
• A major stimulant within coffee, caffeine, and its
effect on the nervous system is well documented.
Writing Workshop
• A major stimulant within coffee, caffeine, and its effect
on the nervous system is well documented.
• Caffeine, a stimulant found in coffee, produces welldocumented effects on the nervous system.
• Caffeine is the principal stimulant found in coffee, and its
effects on the nervous system are well documented.
• Coffee contains caffeine, which is a stimulant with welldocumented effects on the nervous system.
Writing Workshop
•
My theory is that a similar area of the brain is used for language, more specifically word
recognition, in both healthy and deaf individuals, however not the exact same areas due to
different pathways the stimuli is processed through and alterations to brain development due to
impairment.
•
My theory is that word recognition in healthy and deaf individuals engages similar brain areas,
within limits imposed by developmental alterations and differences in processing constraints.
•
My theory is that word recognition in healthy and deaf individuals engages similar brain areas.
However, I propose that developmental alterations and differences in processing constraints
probably limit this functional overlap.
•
Two factors probably account for differences between deaf and hearing individuals. First, early
development of the sensory systems is known to be influenced by the quality of available sensory
input (e.g. Cynader, 1977). Thus, in the case of congenital deafness, early development of the
auditory pathways is probably compromised. Distortions in subsequent development of languageprocessing areas probably follow. Second, because the sensory representations of spoken and
signed language are entirely different, the initial processing steps required for word recognition
must also be different. I therefore propose that word recognition in deaf and hearing brains shares
only partially overlapping functional anatomy.
Writing Workshop
• Here’s an example of a tricky-to-compose sentence:
– “This could be interpreted as absolute pitch can be obtained
through vigorous practice starting at a young age. “
– “This could be interpreted to mean that absolute pitch can be
obtained through vigorous practice starting at a young age”
(better)
– “This suggests that absolute pitch can be obtained through
vigorous practice starting at a young age (even better)
– … therefore absolute pitch probably develops through early
practice” (best)
Writing Workshop
• Get immediately to the point. Every sentence
must directly contribute to the proposal.
Writing Workshop
• Yes you need references. Consider Endnote or
something like it.
Writing Workshop
• Use future tense
Writing Workshop
• Use active voice
• Along the path the boy walked.
• The boy walked along the path.
Writing Workshop
• WOA
Writing Workshop
• Write Out Acronyms (WOA)
Writing Workshop
• Spell check
Mirror Neurons
What are Mirror Neurons?
• Mirror neurons are cells that fire when a
monkey (or person?) performs an action or
when it views another animal performing that
same action
What are Mirror Neurons?
• Located in conjunction with a frontoparietal
action planning network:
– posterior inferior frontal
• pre-motor areas that represent impending actions
• Many cells are “motor dominant”: they fire when monkey
grasps or reaches, but are independent of visual input
– inferior parietal
• sensory area that integrates somatosensory, visual and
auditory signals
• Many cells are “visuo-dominant” or “visuomotor-dominant”:
they fire when monkey sees a graspable object or a stimulus
that could be interacted with
– These regions are densely interconnected
What are Mirror Neurons?
• Mirror neurons are in regions immediately
adjacent to these frontal and parietal areas
• Motor properties of mirror neurons are same as
“non-mirror” neurons but…
• Sensory properties are different
– These cells do not fire when monkey sees a graspable
object
– They do fire when monkey sees another monkey (or a
person!) perform actions relative to objects
What can Mirror Neurons Represent?
• Some cells are precisely tuned to the specific
actions (strictly congruent – about 1/3 of cells)
– e.g. using two fingers to pick up an object
• Others are broadly tuned to any action that
accomplishes the same goal (broadly
congruent – about 2/3 of cells)
– E.g. using any combination of hand and fingers to
pick up an object
What can Mirror Neurons Represent?
• Mirror neurons represent abstract actions and
goals
– Cells will not fire when grasping is pantomimed
– Cells will fire when grasping is real and visible
– Cells will also fire when grasping happens behind
an occluding screen, as long as the monkey has
seen that there is an object to be grasped behind
the screen!
What can Mirror Neurons Represent?
• Mirror neurons represent abstract actions and
goals
– Some mirror neurons will even fire in response to
the sound of an action being performed
• e.g. the sound of breaking a peanut shell
What are mirror neurons for?
• Two theories:
– Action imitation
– Understanding actions of others
Mirror Neurons in Humans?
• The existence of mirror neurons in humans is
inferred
– We don’t record directly from human cortex!
Mirror Neurons in Humans?
• EEG and MEG evidence suggests a Mu
desynchronization (9 – 12 Hz over premotor
areas) when someone observes grasping
• TMS evidence shows that observed grasping
decreases the threshold for triggering motor
potentials for grasping muscles in the hand.
• The putative Mirror
Neuron System in
humans
Iacoboni et al (2006)
Mirror Neurons in Humans?
• fMRI studies have found evidence for two
brain regions associated with imitative actions
Task 1: watch action
Task 2: perform action
Task 3: imitate action
Mirror Neurons in Humans?
• Based on work with
monkeys, it was
presumed that mirror
neuron areas would
exhibit a specific pattern
of BOLD response:
• Task 1 < Task 2 < Task 3
• Two regions exhibited
such a response
Mirror Neurons Dysfunction in
Autism?
• Some evidence supports a theory that a dysfunction of the
MNS underlies social isolation disorders such as autism
spectrum disorder (ASD)
– Some structural abnormalities revealed
with anatomical MRI
Mirror Neurons Dysfunction in
Autism?
• Some evidence supports a theory that a dysfunction of the
MNS underlies social isolation disorders such as autism
spectrum disorder (ASD)
– MEG data shows abnormal propagation of signals in the
MNS when imitating lip movements in individuals with
Asperger’s Syndrome
Mirror Neurons Dysfunction in
Autism?
• fMRI data shows that BOLD signal in MNS during
viewing and imitating emotional expressions is
negatively correlated with severity of Autism
Spectrum Disorder