The Neurocritic

update through March 13 2026, via Jeremy Berg Trump recently announced the new roster of the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which includes plenty of tech billionaires (and just one academic scientist). This really cements the reasons for the decimation of science in the US: - The tech bros have decided that AI will do everything - A pathetic white christian …

I joined an online dating site a few months ago.1 Besides being asked about my sun, moon, and rising signs (?), I was puzzled by the following question.2 My love language? I'm supposed to choose only one answer? Gary Chapman has been a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC for 50 years. In 1992, he published a book based on his experience of advising heterosexual couples on the be…

As 2022 draws to a close, the SNL Trend Forecasters have agreed to divulge their predictions for the most — and the least — exciting research fads for the New Year. The Neurocritic: How do you guys predict today's most popular neuroscience trends? Trend Forecasters: Oh, well we have 4,000 computers, they're all big they all make charts and they beep LOUD. TN: Let's get started! In: posterior cing…

"The self is the psychological counterpart of the default mode functionality of the brain." (Scalabrini et al., 2021). The self studying how "The Self" is represented and constructed by the brain is apex meta-neuroscience.1 We can say that the self is a manifestation (or an illusory byproduct) of activity in the default mode network (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus,…

Crying Robot , by Mr.A What is 'machine yearning'? Intense longing exhibited by cartoon robots? Or a clever pun that describes a network analysis of prolonged grief symptoms? ( Malgaroli et al., 2022 ). My late wife was a writer who was very fond of robots and Futurama . This post is an opportunity to incorporate them all into a brief narrative about the computational psychiatry of prolonged grie…

modified from Franjic et al. (2022) . Cross-species comparison shows transcriptomic signatures of neurogenesis in the hippocampus of adult mouse, pig, and monkey — but not human. Does the adult brain generate new neurons throughout the lifespan? The prevailing view in most of the 20th century was that no new neurons are born in the mammalian brain once development ceases. A series of studies in t…

If you're relatively young and healthy, is a mild case of COVID-19 really “mild”, like a cold or the flu? Are you still at risk for long COVID — a persistent state of fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, exercise intolerance, and “ brain fog ” (impairments in memory, attention, and concentration) — even if you're fully vaccinated? If you have post-COVID brain fog and live in Toronto, you might be eligible…

Fig. 1 (Fernandes et al., 2017) . Domains related to ‘precision psychiatry’. “ The right drug for the right patient ” was a catch phrase in the early years of the personalized medicine movement ( 2000 ), represented by the emerging field of pharmacogenomics . No more “one size fits all” prescribing — the Human Genome Project will allow doctors to predict how you will respond to any given medicati…

A fascinating case study from 1907 describes the self-reported sensory “taste” experiences evoked by hearing specific words, names, or sounds ( Pierce, 1907 ). The subject was a young woman about to graduate from college. As far as she could tell, she's always had these experiences, and for most of her life she didn't know they were unusual. This surprise upon discovering the uniqueness of one's …

Here's the latest alarming COVID news to distract you from fires and hurricanes. {I'm very sorry if you are experiencing either of these disasters personally. Donations ideas: El Dorado Community Foundation and The Mutual Aid Response Network . } Caldor Fire : Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group. Hurricane Ida : Edmund D. Fountain/New York Times. Masklessness Outbreak Associated with SARS-CoV-2 B.1.6…

WE GET QUESTIONS! Q – “I survived a mild case of COVID. Should I be worried about the volume of gray matter in olfactory-related structures in the left hemisphere of my brain?” A – Most of what you've read on social media may be overstated. One of the scariest things about SARS-CoV-2 (other than possible death) is that it affects multiple organs , including the brain. The vast majority of studies…

Bell (1985) Can a set of equations predict and quantify complex emotions resulting from financial decisions made in an uncertain environment? An influential paper by David E. Bell considered the implications of disappointment, a psychological reaction caused by comparing an actual outcome to a more optimistic expected outcome, as in playing the lottery. Equations for regret, disappointment, elati…

from Princeton University Press (March 9, 2021) THE SPIKE is a marvelously unique popular neuroscience book by Professor Mark Humphries , Chair of Computational Neuroscience at the University of Nottingham and Proprietor of The Spike blog on Medium. Humphries' novel approach to brain exposition is built around — well — the spike, the electrical signal neurons use to communicate. In this magical r…

Every now and then, it's refreshing to remember how little we know about “how the brain works.” I put that phrase in quotes because the search for the Holy Grail of [ spike trains , network generative models , manipulated neural circuit function , My Own Private Connectome , predictive coding , the free energy principle (PDF), or a computer simulation of the human brain promised by the Blue Brai…

Pandemics have a way of bringing death into sharper focus in our everyday lives. As of this writing, 1,188,259 people around the world have died from COVID-19, including 234,218 in the United States. In the dark days of April, the death rate was over 20%. Although this has declined dramatically ( to 3% ), it’s utterly reckless to minimize the risks of coronavirus and flaunt every mitigation strat…

“This Neuralink is implanted in the region of the brain that uh where where the snout the snout is located which is actually quite a large part of the pig's brain.” 1 Elon Musk held a press event (product demo) to make grandiose claims about the Neuralink 1024-channel brain implant currently under development by his start-up. Three pigs were unveiled, all healthy and happy: Joyce (the one without…

When reading a vivid story that describes a shark attack, do you imagine yourself in the ocean, seeing the dorsal fin approach you? “...sun glints off the waves / suddenly a dark flash / in the distant waves / maybe it was a shadow / you turn to the beach / more people are pointing / they look anxious / looking back out to sea / a large fin / slices the surface / moving closer...” Or is your “min…

Despite coronavirus, Trump keeps shaking hands ( AP Photo/Alex Brandon ) Don't shake hands. Maintain a distance of 6 feet. Don't touch surfaces that could contain respiratory droplets. Don't touch your face. [ It's very hard to not touch your face .] When your leaders fail to follow the most basic guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19 , trust and confidence are eroded. Trump coronaviru…

from Dr. Ann McKee / Boston University A recent addition to the Netflix “making a murderer” franchise is Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez . At the end of any such story, there is no single answer as to what “made” the murderer. The story of Aaron Fernandez is still in the public eye because of his fame as a professional football player for the New England Patriots (2010-2012). He was so…

Schematic example of how the “mind” (cerebral cortex) is connected to the “body” (adrenal gland) - modified from Fig. 1 ( Dum et al., 2016 ): “Modern medicine has generally viewed the concept of ‘ psychosomatic ’ disease with suspicion. This view arose partly because no neural networks were known for the mind, conceptually associated with the cerebral cortex, to influence autonomic and endocrin…