Tuesday, June 10, 2014

attributing awareness to oneself and to others


princeton |  This study tested the possible relationship between reported visual awareness (“I see a visual stimulus in front of me”) and the social attribution of awareness to someone else (“That person is aware of an object next to him”). Subjects were tested in two steps. First, in an fMRI experiment, subjects were asked to attribute states of awareness to a cartoon face. Activity associated with this task was found bilaterally within the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) among other areas. Second, the TPJ was transiently disrupted using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). When the TMS was targeted to the same cortical sites that had become active during the social attribution task, the subjects showed symptoms of visual neglect in that their detection of visual stimuli was significantly affected. In control trials, when TMS was targeted to nearby cortical sites that had not become active during the social attribution task, no significant effect on visual detection was found. These results suggest that there may be at least some partial overlap in brain mechanisms that participate in the social attribution of sensory awareness to other people and in attributing sensory awareness to oneself. 

Significance:  What is the relationship between your own private awareness of events and the awareness that you intuitively attribute to the people around you? In this study, a region of the human cerebral cortex was active when people attributed sensory awareness to someone else. Furthermore, when that region of cortex was temporarily disrupted, the person’s own sensory awareness was disrupted. The findings suggest a fundamental connection between private awareness and social cognition.

8 comments:

BigDonOne said...

All dogs are one species, as are all humans. It's perfectly OK to talk about dogs.... http://www.pet360.com/slideshow/dog/lifestyle/what-is-the-smartest-dog-breed/1/2je0bUlQ60qlmW8JVVtZ_Q?utm

CNu said...

lol, Nicholas Wade has the same type of infected mush sloshing around inside his head-melon as you. Given the fact that Wade has been discredited six ways to Sunday hereabouts, http://subrealism.blogspot.com/search?q=wade - you may wish to reconsider his sorely compromised status as your trump-card and go-to guy...,

BigDonOne said...

Give your Guard Poodle a virtual pat on the head from Big Don....

CNu said...

Elevate your played out HBD game and bone up on Canidae and Hominidae and get back at me when you've worked out something at least a little bit more interesting and compelling than that tired dog breeds story you've been peddling here-to-date.

DD said...

Thought this piece was germane to some of the overarching themes around here.

http://deadspin.com/can-jason-whitlock-save-espns-black-grantland-from-hi-1586606960

CNu said...

Easily the most tedious 60 minutes I've ever squandered on whining about the racial politics of infotainment about bread and circus and all signifying nothing. This essay exemplifies why Adolph Reed disdains the deleterious habit of public intellectuals pretending to be on about cultural production rather than engaging the deadly serious business of political economy.

DD said...

haha. I didn't say you'd like it, just that it was relevant.

CNu said...

Well, you know..., given my keen and oft-expressed interest in America's favorite pastimes - ego-jousting amongst that space's commentariat is just bound to set me on fire. I realize you're just trying to expand my horizons http://youtu.be/VsEpjTcWkyw?t=59s - but mad squabbles among the stupid hit me like fingernails on a chalkboard....,

Master Arbitrageur Nancy Pelosi Is At It Again....,

🇺🇸TUCKER: HOW DID NANCY PELOSI GET SO RICH? Tucker: "I have no clue at all how Nancy Pelosi is just so rich or how her stock picks ar...