Neuroscience Report
Lili Tcheang
Neuroscience Definitions
Major areas in current neuroscience research
Term
Definition
Neuroscience
Study of the nervous system. This includes the brain.
Neurology
Study of disorders of the nervous system.
Neuropsychology Study structure and function of brain as it relates
specifically to psychology. Neuropsychologists tend to
work in clinical settings.
Behavioural
Study of behaviour.
neuroscience
Cognitive
Study of cognitive functions e.g. memory, language,
Neuroscience
attention. Behavioural neuroscience meets cognitive
neuroscience the more complex, behaviour becomes.
Computational
Modelling of neuronal processes, from single cell, network
Neuroscience
of cells to whole brain models.
Neuroeconomics Encompasses behavioural economics. Attempts to
understand the neural basis of judgment and decision
making, social behavior, and market economies.
Behavioural
The study of psychology as it relates to the economic
economics
decision making processes of individuals and institutions.
A brief history
of
Neuroscience
Neuron Structure
Camillo Golgi used silver
chromate to stain and
reveal neuronal structure.
EEG
electroencephalography
Hans Berger publishes
findings about the first
human
electroencephalogram
Drug
Dexedrine (an
amphetamine)
introduced to treat
narcolepsy
Technological
developments
1861
1873
1874
1888
1890 1906
1909
1911 1929
1935 1936
Lobotomy
Neuron Doctrine
The basic functional unit
of the brain is the neuron
by Santiago Ramon y
Cajal.
Theoretical
developments
Egas Moniz publishes
work on the first human
frontal lobotomy.
Functional
Localisation
Brodmann describes 52
discrete cortical areas –
still used today to identify
and allocate function
Wernicke’s Area
Carl Wernicke discovered
Wernicke’s area (left
posterior, superior
temporal gyrus) where
damage to this area led
to the loss of language
comprehension, although
speech was produced
normally.
Broca’s Area
Paul Broca suggests certain brain
regions responsible for certain
function. Discovered broca’s area
of the brain (left inferior frontal
gyrus), where damage to this area
led to the inability to produce
speech.
Brain Firing
Schizophrenia
Roy & Sherrington link
blood flow to brain
region with neuronal
firing
Schizophrenia first coined
by Eugen Bleuler
Alzheimers
Alois Alzheimer describes
presenile dementia
TMS Transcranial
Magnetic Stimulation
A brief history
of
Neuroscience
PET/MRI Positron
Emission
Tomography/Magnetic
Resonance Imaging
Technological
developments
M.E.Phelps, E.J.Hoffman
and M.M.Ter Pogossian
develop first PET scanner
First MRI image (a
mouse) is taken by Paul
Lauterbur, Peter
Mansfield (University of
Nottingham) refined his
technique so that images
would take seconds as
opposed to hours to
collect
DRUG Parkinsons
Levadopa successfully
treats parkinsonism
First successful
Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation study by
Anthony Barker and
colleagues.
DBS Deep Brain
Stimulation
Parkinsons
First Deep Brain
stimulation performed on
Parkinson patient.
MEG
First MEG signals
measured
1953 1960 1961
1952
Cell electrical
properties
Modern understanding of
the electrical properties
of nerve cells from work
of Hodgkin and Huxley on
the squid giant axon.
Theoretical
developments
Parkinson’s
Oleh Hornykiewicz shows
that brain dopamine is
lower than normal in
Parkinson's disease
patients
Hippocampus
Brenda Milner discusses
patient HM who suffers
from memory loss of
hippocampal surgery
1968
1974
1985
1987 1990
fMRI Born functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Seiji Ogawa discovers
differences in MRI images
between oxygenated and
deoxygenated blood. In
neuroimaging the blood
oxidation level-dependent
(BOLD) contrast is
considered a marker for
neuronal activity at
localised sites of the brain.
Basic Neuroanatomy
The following diagram and descriptions relate to key areas of interest in the brain.
Neocortex incorporates the most evolutionarily developed areas of the brain. A
measure of human intelligence is often argued on the basis of the larger relative size
of neocortex to the rest of the brain in humans compared with other animals. The
limbic system is a group of interconnected structures that mediate emotions, learning
and memory.
Neocortex
Neocortex
Occipital lobe – helps process visual information.
Parietal lobe – receives and processes information
about temperature, taste, touch, and movement
coming from the rest of the body. Reading and
arithmetic are also processed in this region.
Temporal lobe – processes hearing, memory and
language functions.
Frontal lobe – helps control skilled muscle
movements, mood, planning for the future, setting
goals and judging priorities.
Limbic System
Amygdala – limbic structure involved in many brain
functions, including emotion, learning and memory. It
is part of a system that processes "reflexive"
emotions like fear and anxiety.
Cerebellum – governs movement.
Hippocampus – plays a significant role in the
formation of long-term memories.
Neuroscience Tools
This section is divided into two sections. Passive techniques involve those that measure brain activity and do not affect brain function. Active
techniques are tools that influence neuronal activity in the brain. Neuroscience theories use evidence from a compliment of techniques drawing on a
number of corroborating experiments to back their conclusions.
Passive Techniques
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Brief Description
Mechanism
Spatial/Temporal Applications
Pros
Cons
Resolution
Anatomical structure A powerful magnetic Spatial resolution: Used to identify stroke damage.
Allows identification of Participants must not have
of the brain
field aligns the
0.5 - 1mm3
Has been used to identify platelet
specific brain structures, metal implants, pacemakers or
visualised.
magnetization of
(several hundred levels in potential alzheimer’s
whose size can be
other such medical devises.
Can be shown for
some atomic nuclei in thousand neurons) patients although now, this is thought correlated with
Participants must not be
individual brains
the human body
Temporal
not to correlate with alzheimer’s
behaviour or
claustrophobic.
Radio frequency
resolution:
diagnosis.
performance.
Requires participants to lie
fields systematically ~ seconds
On group level, used to correlate size
supine and still for long
alter the alignment of
of brain areas to specific behaviours
periods in a noisy and enclosed
this magnetization.
or characteristics. i.e. alzheimers
environment.
Causes the nuclei to
patients tend to have smaller
Experimental conditions limit
produce a rotating
hippocampi
the type of experiment that can
magnetic field
Used experimentally to show brain
be performed.
detectable by the
plasticity over a lifetime. E.g. taxi
scanner
drivers’ hippocampal size correlates
with their years of experience in
navigating, as opposed to bus drivers
who follow a specific route, where no
correlation was found.
Passive Techniques
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
Brief Description
Mechanism
Spatial/Temporal
Resolution
Measures localised brain
activity as opposed to
structure in MRI.
Although individual
brain activity can be
extracted, effects are
often summated over a
group of brain scans.
Used in conjunction with
eeg or meg in order to
extract good time
resolution.
Eeg can be used
simultaneously with
fMRI.
Relies on the assumption 2cm
that localised neuronal ~secs
activity directly affects
brain oxygenation levels.
Therefore affecting blood
flow directly to brain
region. Blood flow can
be detected through brain
imaging.
Applications
Pros
Cons
Clinicians use it to map
functional brain areas in
order to assess potential
damage before surgery.
Used extensively in
research to identify areas
of function with
behaviour and
performance.
Links performance
directly to activation of
specific brain region.
In research, often only
conclusive within groups
of subjects.
Similar to MRI.
Signals critical for
perception, thought or
actions that are encoded
at a finer spatial scale
may be hard to detect.
Passive Techniques
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Brief Description
Mechanism
Spatial/Temporal
Resolution
Measures brain activity, Electrical activity
Msec resolution (2kHz)
through residual
generated by neuronal
electrical signals detected firing produces a
at the scalp
spatially distributed
Characteristic wave
residual signal at the
patterns used to identify scalp that is recorded by
sleep states in
numerous electrodes
participants.
attached at regular
intervals to the scalp.
Applications
Pros
Cons
US military developing High temporal
Significantly low spatial
mind reading through eeg Resolution
resolution
to enable soldiers to
Relatively cheap
Poor resolution of brain
communicate movements Relatively portable
activity below surface
in battlefield.
Relatively tolerant to
level neurons.
Many commercial games subject movement
Unlike PET cannot
have been developed
Silent (useful for
identify specific locations
such as balancing a ball auditory stimuli)
at which
with the mind.
Does not aggravate
neurotransmitters, drugs
Many applications in
claustrophobia
can be found1.
development for
Detects covert processing Set-up and precise
paralysis patients,
(i.e. participant does not electrode locating, timelocked-in syndrome
need to physically
consuming.
patients and so on, to use respond)
Signal to noise ratio
brain activity to control
poor.
external manipulators as
a way to interact with the
world.
Passive Techniques
Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
Brief Description
Mechanism
Spatial/Temporal
Resolution
Applications
Participants sit in upright
position, with their heads
in a stationary position in
the scanner.
Neuronal activity induces 1 msec precision
Clinical: detection and
a weak associated
Spatial Resolution:
localisation of epilepsy.
magnetic field, that is
Accurately pinpoints
detected by MEG.
primary auditory cortex,
somatosensory areas and
motor areas.
Pros
Cons
High temporal resolution
Magnetic fields less
distorted by skull and
scalp compared with eeg
signal.
Only detects tangential
components. Therefore
only detects activity in
brain sulci (brain creases
at 90 deg to brain
surface). However any
activity detected is more
accurately located.
Must be highly shielded
due to weakness of
signal. Requires testing
room to be enclosed in
metal housing.
Active Techniques
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Brief Description
Mechanism
First demonstrated in
Magnetic
1985
induction: A
Pulsed signal can be
moving electrical
single, double or
field, caused by a
repetitive, creating
current flow in a
inhibition (virtual lesion) wire, induces a
or excitation of the cortex moving magnetic
as desired.
field, which in
Essentially causes
turn induces a
temporary virtual lesion moving electrical
in the brain with
current in
Used to assess the role of neurons in the
brain area on specific
brain.
behaviours.
Cleared in 2008 for use in
depression by FDA2.
Spatial/Temporal Applications
Resolution
Pros
Cons
Tens of msec
Diagnoses connections between primary No long term
Can only target cortical areas
resolution.
motor cortex and muscle to evaluate
effects
close to the surface of the
Spatial resolution, damage from strokes, spinal cord
Virtual lesion
brain.
function of coil
injuries, multiple sclerosis and motor
enables
Difficulties in targeting frontal
456
shape, size and
neuron disease .
investigation of role cortical areas due to
applied magnetic Repetitive TMS alleviates7
of specific brain
uncomfortable side effects in
field. Typically
Schizophrenia
region to cognitive facial muscles in the vicinity.
7mm – tens of cms. However still controversial as one large- function.
Very small risk of seizure
Focal enough to
scale study refutes this8.
High temporal
associated with medication or
stimulate individual Metaanalyses suggest certain types of resolution enables recent changes in biological
finger regions3
major depression alleviated using
studying the
clock.
9
rTMS
temporal dynamics Seizures not associated with
Can temporarily reduce chronic pain
of certain
previous history of epilepsy,
and change pain-related brain and nerve processes.
nevertheless participants with a
activity, as well as predict the success of
family history of epilepsy are
surgically implanted electrical brain
ruled out.
stimulation for the treatment of pain10.
Active Techniques
Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (TES)
Brief Description
Mechanism
Spatial/Temporal Applications
Resolution
Around since 19th
century although
superceded by
electroshock therapy
and ignored until very
recently11.
Application of low-intensity
Relatively diffuse
current to scalp.
throughout brain
This can be as a direct current
(transcranial direct current
stimulation – TDCS) or as an
alternating current (transcranial
alternating current stimulation –
TACS).
TDCS, modulates neuronal
excitability depending on the
direction of the applied current
(Anodal stimulation increases
excitability, cathodal decreases
it).
TACS entrains frequency
specific neural oscillations in
the brain.
TDCS therapeutic
effects shown in clinical
trials involving
Parkinson’s disease12,
tinnitus, fibromyalgia,
and post-stroke motor
deficits13.
TACS has currently
been used in an
experimental context to
induce phosphenes in
the visual areas of the
brain.
Pros
Cons
Less expensive, more Less spatial and
portable
temporal resolution
Easier to control
compaired with TMS.
modulation direction by
switching voltage
direction
Insensitive to subject
head movements,
therefore allowing
stimulation during
sleep.
Less associated risks
although experimental
screening procedures
identical to TMS due to
novelty of technique.
Active Techniques
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
Brief
Description
1
Mechanism
Spatial/Temporal
Applications
Pros
Cons
Yasuno et al (2008). "The PET Radioligand [11C]MePPEP Binds Reversibly and with High Specific Signal to Cannabinoid CB1 Receptors in Nonhuman Primate Brain."
Resolution
Neuropsychopharmacology, 33, 259-269.
2
http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1266946139826.html
Surgically
implanted
powered neurostimulator n/a
Used to treat
Can reach deeper areas Associated surgical risks.
3
Ro
T,
Cheifet
S,
Ingle
H,
Shoup
R,
Rafal
R(1999)
Localization
of
the
human
frontal
eye
fields
and
motor
hand
14
area
with
transcranial
magnetic stimulationCalibration
and magneticof electrodes
‘brain pacemaker’ for
sends electrical activity
Parkinson’s , chronic of the brain.
resonance imaging. Neuropsychologia 37:225–231
disorders
to
to target site.
relief
in veryNeurology 68 (7): 484–488.
specific to each patient
4
Rossini, P;resistant
Rossi, S (2007).
"Transcranial
magnetic stimulation: diagnostic, therapeutic, andpain
research
potential".
15
5other forms of treatment. Underlying principles
specific cases
.
and time-consuming.
Dimyan, MA; Cohen, L (2010). "Contribution of transcranial magnetic stimulation to the understanding
of mechanisms
of functional recovery after stroke".
Neurorehabilitation
FDA
approved inand
1997
Neuraland
Repair
mechanisms
24 (2): 125–135.
are still
Used experimentally to
Displacement of
6
16
Nowak, D; Bösl, K; Podubeckà,
J;
Carey,
J
(2010).
"Noninvasive
brain
stimulation
and
motor
recovery
after
stroke".
Restorative
Neurology
and
Neuroscience
28 (4): 531–
not clear.
treat major depression
electrodes
during surgery
544.
17
and
tourettes
syndrome
can
lead
to
serious
7
Aleman,A. et al. (2007) Efficacy of low repetitive transcranialmagnetic stimulation in the treatment of resistant auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia: a meta-analysis. J.
although results are as
complications and side
Clin. Psychiatry 68, 416–421 41
yet inconclusive.
effects.
8
Slotema, C.W. et al. (2011) Can low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation really relieve medication-resistant auditory verbal hallucinations? Negative
results from a large randomized controlled trial. Biol. Psychiatry 69, 450–456
9
Slotema, CW; Blom, JD; Hoek, HW; Sommer, IEC (2010). "Should We Expand the Toolbox of Psychiatric Treatment Methods to Include Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation (rTMS)?". The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 71 (7): 873–884.
10
Rosen, AC; Ramkumar, M; Nguyen, T; Hoeft, F (2009). "Noninvasive Transcranial Brain Stimulation and Pain". Current Pain and Headache Reports 13 (1): 12–17.
11
Utz, K. S., Dimova, V., Oppenlander, K., & Kerkhoff, G. (2010). Electrified minds: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation
(GVS) as methods of non-invasive brain stimulation in neuropsychology-A review of current data and future implications. Neuropsychologia, 48(10), 2789–2810.
12
Boggio et al. (2006). Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on working memory in patients with Parkinson's disease. Journal of the Neurological Sciences
249:31–38.
13
Norris, S., Degabriele, R., Lagopoulos, J. (2010.) Recommendations for the use of tDCS in clinical research. Acta Neuropsychiatrica 22: 197–198.
14
Kringelbach ML, Jenkinson N, Owen SLF, Aziz TZ (2007). "Translational principles of deep brain stimulation". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 8:623–635.
15
Young RF & Brechner T. Electrical stimulation of the brain for relief of intractable pain due to cancer. Cancer. 1986;57:1266–72.
16
Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2009 May;22(3):306–11
Mink JW, Walkup J, Frey KA, et al. (November 2006). "Patient selection and assessment recommendations for deep brain stimulation in Tourette syndrome". Mov Disord.
21(11):1831–8.
17
Neuroscience Diseases
This section contains three main subsections comprising of neuroscience diseases that will have greatest impact for the nation.
These are Neurodegenerative diseases, neurodevelopmental diseases and neurological diseases.
Neurodegenerative Disease
Dementia
Description
Cause
Main causes3:
Vascular dementia gradual hardening and
narrowing of blood
vessels, interrupting
blood flow to brain.
Early onset dementia Risk factors: diabetes,
occurs to under 65
obesity, smoking,
year olds and
excessive drinking,
accounts for 2% of
lack of exercise, high
cases.
fat diet.
Dementia with Lewy
The second leading
bodies – small circular
health concern after proteins that develop
cancer in US1,2
in brain. Origin
unknown.
Fronto-temporal
dementia – frontal half
of the brain becoming
damaged and
shrinking.
A non-specific illness
with a number of
symptoms - serious
loss of general
cognitive ability.
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment
Cost
increasing difficulties with
tasks and activities that
require concentration and
planning
•memory loss
•depression
•changes in personality
and mood
•periods of mental
confusion
•low attention span
•urinary incontinence
•stroke-like symptoms,
such as muscle
weakness or paralysis on
one side of the body
•visual hallucinations
(seeing things that are
not there)
•wandering during the
night
•slow and unsteady gait
(the way that you walk)
Non-specific and
based on cooccurrence of a
number of
symptoms.
Symptoms must be
persistent over 6
months.
Cognitive testing
e.g. abbreviated
mental test score
(AMTS), mini
mental state
examination
(MMSE). Routine
blood tests used to
rule out treatable
causes e.g. vitamin
abnormalities.
Neuroimaging to
look for atrophy of
brain, stroke but
cannot confirm
cases alone.
No clinical cure.
Current drugs treat
behavioural and
cognitive symptoms
not underlying
pathophysiology.
¼ of NHS hospital
beds at any one time4
2012 updated figures
from Dementia UK5,
£23 billion annually,
800K cases. Cost
include formal care
+financial value of
informal care (1/3 of
all care)
Alzheimers
Description
Cause
Symptoms
A degenerative brain Amyloid Plaques
Can be diagnosed without any external
disease resulting in
• Accumulation of amyloid
symptoms7
progressive mental
plaques between nerve cells
weakening with
(neurons) in the brain.
External symptoms include8:
disorientation, memory • Amyloid: a general term for
 Routinely place important items in odd
disturbance and
protein fragments that the
places: keys in fridge, wallet in
disorder.
body produces normally.
dishwasher
Not to be confused
• In a healthy brain, these
 Forget names of family members &
with dementia, defined protein fragments are broken
common objects
as a “progressive brain down and eliminated.
 Frequently forget entire conversations
dysfunction that
Neurofibrillary Tangles
 Dress regardless of the weather, wear
eventually leads to the • Neurofibrillary tangles:
several skirts on warm day, or shorts in
limitation of daily
insoluble twisted fibers found
snow storm
activities.”
inside the brain's cells.
 Can’t follow recipe directions
Alzheimers can lead to • Consist primarily of a protein  Can no longer manage checkbook,
some forms of
called tau, which forms part of
balance figures, solve problems, or think
dementia6
a structure called a
abstractly.
microtubule, which helps
 Withdraw from usual interests and
transport nutrients and other
activities, sit in front of the TV for hours,
important substances from
sleep far more than usual
one part of the nerve cell to
 Get lost in familiar places, don’t
another.
remember how you got there or how to
• In Alzheimer's disease,
get home
however, the tau protein is
 Experience rapid mood swings, from
abnormal and the microtubule
tears to rage, for no discernible reason
structures collapse.
Diagnosis
Often difficult
− particularly
at early
stages.
Definite
diagnosis may
only be
confirmed
after death.
MRI currently
being
developed as
a biomarker
for early
diagnosis9
Treatment
No known
cure. Drug
treatment
can alleviate
symptoms.
Alternative
therapies
have often
been tried,
although no
scientific
evidence to
back
claims1011.
Cost
Parkinsons
Description
Cause
Symptoms
A person with
PD has two to
six times the risk
of suffering
dementia
compared to the
general
population12.
Unknown true
cause, however
Tremor, rigidity,
Parkinson’s
slowness of
patients have a
movement.
depletion of
dopamine (a
neurotransmitter) in
the substantia nigra
region of the brain.
Often associated
with catastrophic
failure
The substantia
nigra plays an
important role in
reward, addiction,
and movement.13
Diagnosis
Treatment
Cost
Currently no lab
test clearly
identifies the
disease
Brain scans are
sometimes used
to rule out
disorders that
could give rise to
similar
symptoms
Drugs: Levodopa converts to dopamine in
the brain
MAO-B inhibitors (selegiline and
rasagiline) increase the level of dopamine
in the basal ganglia by blocking its
metabolism14
Repetitive transcranial magnetic
stimulation temporarily improves
levodopa-induced dyskinesias15. Its
usefulness in PD is an open research
topic16, although recent studies have
shown no effect by rTMS17.
Deep Brain Stimulation as a last resort
treatment.
Lesions in specific subcortical areas (a
technique known as pallidotomy in the
case of the lesion being produced in the
globus pallidus)18.
Most treatments researched using MPTP
monkey models. MPTP is a neurotoxin
that destroys dopaminergic neurons,
inducing Parkinson’s disease.
2007 Annual cost in
the UK is estimated to
be between 449
million and 3.3 billion
pounds19.
Broken down by: NHS
direct costs, Social
Service costs, Private
related expenditure as
well as lost
productivity lost leisure
time and carer
replacement cost.
Figures represent an
extreme of accounting
for the last 3 points
and a conservative
(58,600) to higher
prevalence (100,000)
of the disease.
Developmental Disorders
ADHD
Description
Cause
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment
Developmental disorder,
involves lack of impulse
control and inattention.
Brain imaging of prefrontal cortex shows lag
of 3-5 years.
Co-occurs with sleep
disorders.
1.7% of population
affected mostly children
and males.
Exact cause unknown.
Twin studies suggest
genetic cause, although
mechanism is complex
Easily distracted, miss
details, forget things, and
frequently switch activity.
Have difficulty
maintaining focus
Become quickly bored
Clinical diagnosis through Combination of
interview.
medication and therapy
In Children:
most effective, followed
• symptoms continuous 6 by medication, then
months
therapy.
• symptoms before age 7 Also recommended in
children to address
Adult diagnosis more
associated sleep
difficult due to developed problems before other
coping mechanisms that therapies considered.
mask symptoms.
Autism
Description
Cause
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Restricted social
No. of genetic
Restricted social
Parents may notice
interaction and
variants
interaction,
signs by age 2.
communication skills. Evidence
communication.
Based on behaviour
Difference in brain
inconclusive.
Repetitive behaviour. ratings based on
organisation Controversial study
parent interview and
processing of
showed links to
clinical observations
incoming inputs.
vaccines
and interactions with
Asperger’s milder
No subsequent
the child.
form, individuals
scientific study has
function
been able to replicate
independently.
this finding.
Prevalence .2% of
Subsequently been
population. Sex
retracted by the
ratios M:F 4:1.
Lancet (medical
journal) although
media coverage
periodically surfaces
regarding it.
Treatment
Cost
No single universal
treatment. Intensive,
sustained special
education and
behaviour therapy
early in life improves
chances for selfcare, social and job
skills52.
Critical periods for
intervention
unsubstantiated.
£27billion annually.
£2.7 billion towards
children, £25 billion
on adults.
Costs include
services: health,
social care, special
education,
Housing (outside
parental home),
leisure services, outof-pocket payments
made for services
and lost employment
costs.
Dyslexia
Description
Cause
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment
Difficulty in
comprehension accuracy
in reading, not correlated
with IQ.
Prevalence 4-8% of
school children with boys
1.5 – 3 times more likely
to suffer.
Partially genetic
Caused by abnormalities
in the brain areas
responsible for speech
and writing.
Delays in speech, letter reversal or mirror Verbal and
writing, and being easily distracted by
spelling tests.
background noise.
Not funded
Difficulty identifying/generating rhyming on the NHS.
words, counting syllables in words,
segmenting words into individual sounds,
or blending sounds to make words, with
word retrieval or naming problems.
Commonly very poor spelling
Educational aids can
manage disorder.
95% of children
respond well to
educational
interventions.
Description
Cause
Symptoms
Treatment
Akin to dyslexia, not
linked to IQ.
Current potential causes:
Neurological: lesions to
supramarginal and
angular gyri1.
Hereditary disorder?
Evidence not yet
concrete.
Deficit in subitizing - the ability to know,
from a brief glance and without counting,
how many objects there are in a small
group
Difficulty with everyday tasks like reading
analog clocks
Inability to comprehend financial
planning or budgeting.
Difficulty with conceptualizing time and
judging the passing of time. Problems
with differentiating between left and right
Difficulty reading musical notation
Difficulty navigating or mental rotation.
Dyscalculia
1
Diagnosis
Software intended to
remediate dyscalculia
has been developed.
Levy LM, Reis IL, Grafman J (August 1999). "Metabolic abnormalities detected by 1H-MRS in dyscalculia and dysgraphia". Neurology 53 (3): 639–41.
Neurological
Schizophrenia
Description
Cause
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment
Cost
Mental disorder
characterized by a
breakdown of
thought processes
and by poor
emotional
responsiveness20
Normal onset is
young adulthood
Not a split
personality disorder
as commonly
misperceived21.
fMRI and PET
studies show brain
activity differences in
frontal lobes,
hippocampus, and
temporal lobes22
Combination of
genetics and
environment23
Heritability vary due
to the number of
genetic factors
implicated24.
>40% identical twins
share symptoms21
Urban environments
increase risk x2 21,25
Social isolation,
migration and other
social factors26
Associated with
substance misuse,
such as cannabis,
cocaine and
amphetamines21.
More incidences in
winter or spring
births in the northern
hemisphere or other
stresses during fetal
development27.
Auditory
hallucinations.
Paranoid/bizarre
delusions.
Disorganized
speech and
thinking.
Significant social
or occupational
dysfunction
3 diagnostic criteria
must be met28:
>2 of the following,
mostly present in 1
month: Delusions,
Hallucinations,
Disorganized
speech, Grossly
disorganized
behavior, Negative
symptoms: Blunted
affect, alogia or
avolition
Social or
occupational
dysfunction
Significant duration:
Continuous signs of
the disturbance for at
least 6 months.
Antipsychotic medication In the UK, in
can reduce the "positive" economic terms:
symptoms of
some 80 million
29
psychosis .
working days are lost
Psychotherapy: widely each year at a cost
recommended, not
of £3.7 billion; the
widely used, due to
NHS spends around
reimbursement problems £1 billion on
or lack of training30.
treatment and
Cognitive behavioral
personal social
therapy (CBT) used to
services another
target specific
£400 million34.
symptoms31.
Cognitive remediation
therapy, a technique
aimed at remediating the
neurocognitive deficits
sometimes present in
schizophrenia32.
Family Therapy,
addresses whole family
system of an individual
33.
Depression
Description
Cause
More common in
Inconclusive.
35
women than men , Proposed
urban populations36 causes:
psychological,
psycho-social,
hereditary,
evolutionary
and biological
factors as well
as long term
drug use
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment
Affects family and
personal relationships,
work or school life,
sleeping and eating
habits, and general
health.
No definitive test. Psychotherapy delivered to
2011
Doctors
individual, group or family by
£8.6billion41
examination will
mental health professionals.
rule out medical
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy –
conditions with
talking therapy designed to
similar symptoms question automatic
e.g. thyroid
negative/destructive thoughts.
disorders.
National Institute for Health and
Specialist therapist Clinical Excellence (NICE)
discusses history of recommend it for clinical
symptoms.
depression37
Medication: Only effective in
severe depression38. Side effects
mediated through dosage39
Electroconvulsive therapy –
pulse of electricity through brain
induces a seizure in patient
under general anaesthesia.
Recommended as quick therapy
for catatonic or severely suicidal
patients40
Cost
Anxiety
Description
Cause
State of
Biological: chemical
apprehension,
balances in the brain
uncertainty and fear. (linked to genetics)
Psychological: life
Adolescent study
experience triggers.
showed higher
activity in nucleus
acumbens when as
infants, observed to
be highly
apprehensive,
vigilant and fearful42.
Neural circuitry of
amygdale and
hippocampus also
implicated43.
Co-occurs with
depression.
1
Symptoms
Diagnosis
•restlessness
Symptoms present
•a sense of dread
for more than 6
•feeling constantly
months.
'on edge'
•difficulty
concentrating
•irritability
•impatience
•being easily
distracted
•dizziness
•drowsiness and
tiredness
•pins and needles
•palpitations
•muscle aches and
tension
•dry mouth
•excessive sweating
•shortness of breath
•stomach ache
•nausea
•diarrhoea
•headache
•excessive thirst
•frequent urinating
•insomnia44
Swaminathan, N. (2012 February). How to Save Your Brain. Psychology Today. Volume45. 74-79
Treatment
Therapy:
Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy
focuses on
addressing thoughts.
Exposure Therapy:
confront source of
anxiety in controlled
environment.
Medication: is most
effective when used
in conjunction with
therapy45.
Cost
2
http://www.alzheimer-europe.org/Research/Value-of-knowing
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Dementia/Pages/Causes.aspx
4
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/download_info.php?fileID=788
5
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=418
6
http://diseasealzheimers.com/difference.php
7
Roan S (August 9, 2010). "Tapping into an accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/aging/la-heb-alzheimers20100809,0,5683387.story
8
http://www.helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_disease_symptoms_stages.htm
9
http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=3016
10
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=134
11
Simon Singh, Edzard Ernst (2008).Trick Or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine, W. W. Norton & Company.
12
Caballol N, Martí MJ, Tolosa E (September 2007). "Cognitive dysfunction and dementia in Parkinson disease". Mov. Disord. 22 (Suppl 17): S358–66. doi:10.1002/mds.21677. PMID
18175397.
13
Jankovic J (April 2008). "Parkinson's disease: clinical features and diagnosis". J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. 79 (4): 368–76. doi:10.1136/jnnp.2007.131045. PMID 18344392.
http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/79/4/368.full.
14
The National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions, ed. (2006). "Symptomatic pharmacological therapy in Parkinson’s disease". Parkinson's Disease. London: Royal College of
Physicians. pp. 59–100.
15
Koch G (2010). "rTMS effects on levodopa induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease patients: searching for effective cortical targets". Restor. Neurol. Neurosci. 28 (4): 561–8.
16
Platz T, Rothwell JC (2010). "Brain stimulation and brain repair—rTMS: from animal experiment to clinical trials—what do we know?". Restor. Neurol. Neurosci. 28 (4): 387–98.
17
Arias P, Vivas J, Grieve KL, Cudeiro J (September 2010). "Controlled trial on the effect of 10 days low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on motor signs in
Parkinson's disease". Mov. Disord. 25 (12): 1830–8.
18
The National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions, ed. (2006). "Surgery for Parkinson’s disease". Parkinson's Disease. London: Royal College of Physicians. pp. 101–11.
19
Findley LJ (September 2007). "The economic impact of Parkinson's disease". Parkinsonism Relat. Disord. 13 (Suppl): S8–S12.
20
Schizophrenia" Concise Medical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2010
21
Picchioni MM, Murray RM. Schizophrenia. BMJ. 2007;335(7610):91–5.
22
Kircher, Tilo and Renate Thienel. The Boundaries of Consciousness. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2006. ISBN 0444528768. Functional brain imaging of symptoms and cognition in schizophrenia.
p. 302.
23
van Os J, Kapur S. Schizophrenia. Lancet. 2009;374(9690):635–45
24
O'Donovan MC, Williams NM, Owen MJ. Recent advances in the genetics of schizophrenia. Hum. Mol. Genet.. 2003;12 Spec No 2:R125–33.
25
Becker T, Kilian R. Psychiatric services for people with severe mental illness across western Europe: what can be generalized from current knowledge about differences in provision, costs
and outcomes of mental health care?. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Supplement. 2006;429(429):9–16.
26
Selten JP, Cantor-Graae E, Kahn RS. Migration and schizophrenia. Current Opinion in Psychiatry. 2007;20(2):111–115.
27
Yolken R.. Viruses and schizophrenia: a focus on herpes simplex virus.. Herpes. 2004;11(Suppl 2):83A–88A
28
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.; 2000
29
The Royal College of Psychiatrists & The British Psychological Society (2003). Schizophrenia. Full national clinical guideline on core interventions in primary and secondary care (PDF).
London: Gaskell and the British Psychological Society. Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
30
Moran M (18 November 2005). "Psychosocial Treatment Often Missing From Schizophrenia Regimens". Psychiatr News 40 (22): 24.
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/40/22/24-b. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
31
Wykes T, Steel C, Everitt B, Tarrier N (May 2008). "Cognitive behavior therapy for schizophrenia: effect sizes, clinical models, and methodological rigor". Schizophr Bull 34 (3): 523–37.
3
32
Wykes T, Brammer M, Mellers J et al. (2002). "Effects on the brain of a psychological treatment: cognitive remediation therapy: functional magnetic resonance imaging in schizophrenia".
British Journal of Psychiatry 181: 144–52
33
Glynn SM, Cohen AN, Niv N (January 2007). "New challenges in family interventions for schizophrenia". Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics 7 (1): 33–43.
34
http://schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm
35
Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey
Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2005;62(6):593–602.
36
37
Gelder, M., Mayou, R. and Geddes, J. 2005. Psychiatry. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford. pp105
http://mbct.co.uk/about-mbct/
Fournier JC, DeRubeis RJ, Hollon SD, et al. (January 2010). "Antidepressant drug effects and depression severity: a patient-level meta-analysis". JAMA 303 (1): 47–53.
39
Karasu TB, Gelenberg A, Merriam A, Wang P. Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients With Major Depressive Disorder (Second Edition). Am J Psychiatry. 2000;157(4 Suppl):1–
45
40
American Psychiatric Association. Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with major depressive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2000b;157(Supp 4):1–45.
41
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/depression-costs-economy-16386bn-a-year-1706018.html
42
Bar-Haim Y, Fox NA, Benson B, Guyer AE, Williams A, Nelson EE, Perez-Edgar K, Pine DS, Ernst M. (2009). Neural correlates of reward processing in adolescents with a history of
inhibited temperament. Psychol Sci. 20(8):1009-18.
43
Rosen JB, Schulkin J (1998). "From normal fear to pathological anxiety". Psychol Rev 105 (2): 325–50.
44
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Anxiety/Pages/Symptoms.aspx
45
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/anxiety_types_symptoms_treatment.htm
38
Neuroscience and the Media
This section provides clarity to some of the neuroscience myths being perpetuated in the
media and limits to its application.
•
We do not use only 10% of our brain
– Brain activity is constant; it’s going on all the time. In reality a lot of research in
neuroimaging has examined the ‘resting’ brain state, since there are a set of brain
regions consistently more active during this than during a task. 2
Figure 1: Certain sleep stages show greater amplitude brain oscillations compared with being
awake. Furthermore, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep stage, the period in which we dream,
shows much smaller amplitude oscillations, although this is the stage that many of us remember
as quite active when awake.
2
Shulman GL, Fiez JA, Corbetta M, Buckner RL, Miezin FM, Raichle ME, Petersen SE (1997)
Common blood flow changes across visual tasks. II. Decreases in cerebral cortex. J Cogn Neurosci
9:648–663.
Brain Imaging in the Media
Appeals: Appears to mirror reductionist approach that is standard in science, e.g.
chemistry can be reduced to atomic particles, behaviour reduced to a brain region.
Problems and pitfalls:
fMRI images betray complexity of processing that goes into producing an image as well as
the complexity of brain processes that underlie the image data.
Brain regions alone cannot explain complicated behaviours/emotions that accompany
them.
fMRI images are not photographs, unlike X-rays. fMRI images undergo huge amounts of
post-processing, from smoothing data, fitting to a template brain, and large-scale statistical
processing, to arrive at the final image. Typically individual brains vary substantially in
shape and size, a fact which is lost in the final brain image.
fMRI does not measure activity per se, but contrasts in activity. Therefore a brain image
cannot interpret a behaviour in isolation, but is always a contrast between one behaviour
and another. Failure to appreciate this can lead to misunderstadings. E.g. One news
headline: “The scientists found that female voices activate the brain's auditory section, but
male voices activated the area at the back of the brain called the mind's eye”3. Because in
the experiment, listening to male voices had to be compared to listening to female voices,
the subsequent analysis uses the male voice as the baseline measure. This did not mean
that male voices did not activate auditory cortex at all.
Real time fMRI
– Pitfalls – assumes a linear correlation between brain area and activation and
behaviour. Individual brains do not necessarily reflect population behaviour.
– Uses in research limited due to analysis intensive technique and noise. Used
interactively to mediate pain perception in participants, who focus on reducing
activation in known brain area.
fMRI and the Law
•
noliemri.com claims to detect lying unequivocally using fMRI.
– Oversimplification of neural correlates of lying.
Viegas J.(2005, August 2). It’s official! Listening to women pays off. ABC Science. Retrieved
October 12, 2009, from http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/08/02/1428081.htm
3
– Website cites only 5 publications (latest 2005)
– Subsequent publication in same journal:
“fMRI-based deception detection measures can be vulnerable to countermeasures,
calling for caution before applying these methods to real-world situations”4
4
Giorgio Ganis, J. Peter Rosenfeld, John Meixner, Rogier A. Kievit, Haline E. Schendan, Lying in the
scanner: Covert countermeasures disrupt deception detection by functional magnetic resonance imaging,
NeuroImage, Volume 55, Issue 1, 1 March 2011, Pages 312-319, ISSN 1053-8119,
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.025. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811910014552)
Policy
Education:
Usha Goswami’s state of science with respect to education review as part of
the Foresight Mental Health and Wellbeing project (Recap of Mental Capital
and Wellbeing report 2008):
Educational Promise of Neuroscience.
1. An understanding of the neural basis of the mental representations
important for effective education (e.g. for literacy and numeracy);
2. The discovery of neural markers for educational risk, which can be
measured at any age using passive processing paradigms (i.e. without
attention);
3. The evaluation of debates in education that have been difficult to resolve on
the basis of behavioural data.
Why Neuroscience Matters for Education
Biomarkers of brain development can act as markers of learning development.
E.g. atypical auditory development found in developmental dyslexia 5.
EEG (electroencephalography – measurement of residual brain activity at the
scalp) on 5 year olds and adults showed magnitude information associated with
numbers was activated equally rapidly in both groups. However, the children took
three times as long as the adults to organise their task-relevant responses6.
Further neuroimaging results suggest executive resources controlling behaviour
are taxed to a much larger extent in children than in adults during the processing
of numerical information7. Taken together, these results suggest that the eeg
signal could act as a marker to compare children with processing difficulties
separately from associated motor behaviour in numerical tests.
Educational Myths perpetuated by popular media:
 Fish oils improve Brain Function: Definitive scientific evidence on this is
scarce8.
 Learning strategies should be tailored towards left/right brain learning or
visual/auditory/kinaesthetic strategies depending on the individuals’ optimal
style of learning. Howard-Jones comments that commercial exercise
packages concepts and explanations are unrecognisable to
neuroscientists9.
5
Goswami, U., Thomson, J., Richardson, U., Stainthorp, R., Hughes, D., Rosen, S. and Scott, S.K.
2002.
Amplitude envelope onsets and developmental dyslexia: a new hypothesis. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 99:10911-10916.
6
Temple, E. and Posner, M.I. 1998. Brain mechanisms of quantity are similar in 5-year-old children
and adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 95:7836-7841.
7
Szűcs, D. Soltész, F., Jármi, E. and Csépe V. 2007. Event-related potentials reveal the contribution of
immature executive functions to processing arithmetic information in children. Behavioral and Brain
Functions, 3:23
8
Goldacre, B. 2006. The fish oil files. The Guardian, 16 September 2006. See
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
science/2006/sep/16/badscience.uknews
9
Howard-Jones, P. 2007. Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities. Commentary by the
Teaching and Learning Research Programme. London: TLRP.
General conclusions were that current neuroscience had little to translate to
classroom practice. Greatest potential was in longitudinal brain imaging studies to
measure mental representations in typically developing brains10, deepening
understanding of plasticity and learning, and identification of neural markers or
risks in development.
Health
Professor Theresa Marteau has a background in social and clinical psychology.
She is the director of Behaviour and Health Research Unit in Cambridge funded
by the Department of Health (2010-2015), officially launched in April 2011.
The aim of the centre is to impact on four areas of health: diet, physical activity,
smoking and alcohol consumption, which together are responsible for the majority
of premature deaths worldwide.
Expertise to tackle these issues within the Unit, include behavioural economics,
anthropology, sociology, neuroscience and social psychology as well as
epidemiology and public health.
Of the 21 team members listed, one explicitly uses neuroscience techniques
(brain imaging) to study emotional links to food.
Obesity11
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
No single brain area involved.
Deficiency of the hormone leptin as a result of mutated gene led to obesity
in rare cases.
Brain scans of leptin deficient participants showed more activity in striatum
when shown images of appetizing foods.
A whole host of other chemicals involved in signaling satiety in the brain.
Fatty foods tap pleasure centres of the brain, as do heroin and cocaine
habits.
Rats fed a high calorie, high fat diet showed less response in the brain
pleasure centres over time.
Addressing obesity requires changes across a range of themes, with
environmental, behavioural, chemical and genetic components currently
being researched.
Economic
•
New economic theories are emerging showing that in a free market,
individuals do not act rationally to optimize benefit. A number of
characteristic traits have emerged such as ‘loss aversion’- people show
greater sensitivity to losses than to equivalent gains in decision making.
Szűcs, D. and Goswami, U. 2007. Educational neuroscience: Defining a new discipline for the study
of mental representations. Mind, Brain and Education, 3:114-127.
11
http://www.sfn.org/skins/main/pdf/rd/Obesity.pdf
10
Neural loss aversion in ventral striatum correlated with behavioural loss
aversion12.
•
‘Too many jams’ study
demonstrates that too many
investment choices create
confusion that leads to
inaction13.

Testosterone levels indicate
success in short term trades.

‘winner effect’ – increasing
success increases testosterone
levels to eventual irrational risk
taking. Driving market volatility.

Cortisol levels are marker of performance uncertainty

As markets become more volatile, cortisol levels in individuals may
increase.

High cortisol decreases risk taking behaviour – exaggerating market
downturns.14
Figure 2: Standard deviation of Profit and
Loss increases with cortisol mean levels (top)
and standard deviation levels (bottom),
showing that financial uncertainty is directly
correlated with cortisol levels.
Professor Wolfram Schultz studies reward mechanisms in the brain and relates
this to behaviour. His main expertise has been in neurophysiology, recording
single neuron activity in monkeys. He also collaborates with groups that
perform functional magnetic resonance imaging to corroborate animal findings
in the human brain to a degree. He has written a review titled
‘Neuroeconomics: the promise and the profit’, which looks at how decisions
about gains and losses are controlled by an individual’s brain activity. He will
likely talk about this at the roundtable.
Professor Nick Chater has worked on a number of probabilistic models of
reasoning and applied these to human experiments in order to explain
behaviour. He applies his expertise to the company he founded ‘Decision
Technology’, a research consultancy dedicated to the study of human
decision-making and the development of any associated practical and
commercial applications.
12
Sabrina M Tom, Craig R Fox, Christopher Trepel, Russell A Poldrack (2007). The neural basis of
loss aversion in decision-making under risk. Science 315 (5811) p. 515-8
13
Sheena Iyengar, The Art of Choosing (New York, 2010)
14
J. M. Coates and J. Herbert (2008). Endogenous steroids and financial risk taking on a London
trading floor. PNAS. 105(16), p 6167-6172.
French Policy
The Strategic Analysis Centre (Centre d’analyse stratégique)
At the request of the Prime Minister of France, The Strategic Analysis Centre provides
forecasts for major governmental reforms.
On its own initiative, it also carries out studies and analysis as part of an annual
working program.
A report commissioned by the Director of the Centre, Vincent Chiriqui, supervised by
Olivier Oullier and Sarah Sauneron. Titled, ‘Improving public health prevention with
behavioural, cognitive and neuroscience research.’ Was published in 2010. It
originates from discussions conducted at the centre in 2009 leading to a workshop in
June 16th 2009. Produced in collaboration with French and international researchers,
including Cary Cooper at the University of Lancaster and others in marketing,
neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics. It appears to be similar to the
Foresight project reports although shorter in timescale and scope. It focusses on
smoking, domestic poisoning incidents and obesity under the following headings.
Major areas of report:

Public Health Prevention beyond rational decision making.
o Most efficient prevention strategies
o Changing behaviours in chronic disease prevention
o Improving health with nudge
o Consumer neuroscience
o Effectiveness of prevention campaigns

Toxic Substances
o Evaluation of current cessation of smoking campaigns
o Neuroscience and smoking prevention

Obesity
o Political priority
o Information and education strategies
o Neuroscience and obesity
o
Mental Capital and Wellbeing (2008)
Aim:
The aim of the Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing has been to
advise the Government on how to achieve the best possible mental
development and mental wellbeing for everyone in the UK in the future.
The Project has used the best available scientific evidence to develop a vision
for:

the opportunities and challenges facing the UK over the next 20 years
and beyond, and the implications for everyone’s mental development
and mental wellbeing;

signposts to what we all need to do to meet the challenges ahead –
Government, individuals and business.
Project Oversight:

John Denham MP, Secretary of State, received the Project on behalf of
the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Bill Rammell
MP, formerly Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher
Education sponsored the Project and chaired the Project High Level
Stakeholder Group.

Professor John Beddington, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the
Government was the Project Director.

Professor Cary Cooper CBE, pro-vice-chancellor at the University of
Lancaster, chaired the Project's Science Co-ordination team.