Lians Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 http://www.livescience.com/42897-unique-human-brain-region-found.html Scientists have identified a part of the brain that seems to be unique to humans. The brain region, called the lateral frontal pole prefrontal cortex, was described today (Jan. 28) in the journal Neuron, and is linked to higher thinking processes.
Wuzzums Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 There are several divisions of the human brain. The easiest one is the lobes one, then there's Broadman's division which constitutes of about 52 areas... and then there are all the other subdivisions constituted of hundreds of areas. Nobody ever bothered with the other theories because 52 was way too much as it is (even though they're as valid as the rest). My point is these "areas" are a step above arbitrary division. They don't really mean anything. If I name each an every one of the ants in my ant colony, it doesn't mean I now know how ants work. This sort of science really bothers me. There's no point to it. They did that study, pointed out there's a difference (and why wouldn't there be a difference seeing how humans and monkeys don't even belong in the same genus!) and then they start with the bullshit: "which past studies have tied to higher thinking", "tied to psychiatric disorders", "was more connected to auditory nerves perhaps to facilitate language processing", "has been identified with strategic planning and decision making, as well as multi-tasking". What the hell. So what they're saying is that this new area does and/or is related to the following: higher thinking, decision making, multi-tasking, cause psychiatric disorders, language processing and strategic planning. Doesn't leave out much, does it? I can boil down this whole study in one phrase: "Scientists discover than non-human animal is different from human animal."
Lians Posted January 29, 2014 Author Posted January 29, 2014 I found the study interesting because I wasn't sure whether the core differences in the abilities of humans and primates are a result of a different brain "clock rate" or a different structure. Computers aren't a great analogy, but it's like comparing a 4 MHz CPU to a 4 GHz CPU. There are certain algorithms/heuristics that become impractical on slower CPUs, particularly when it comes to real-time application. As it turns out, there exists a difference in the underlying computational structure, which may change the way scientists study the human brain.
Wuzzums Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 But you still don't know that. They just pointed out a difference and just assumed that's what makes us human. They say it's a region that's unique to humans. That's a flat out lie. They just studied Rhesus monkeys, of course they were gonna find something one species had and the other didn't. It's a scientific certainty.
Eva Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 I agree with Wuzzums here, but thank you Liams for posting this. Brain science is very interesting, even though it's true that most often they just look at simple correlations (well, it's way to earn a living, isn' it? ). Some helpful facts can be drawn from this still.
cab21 Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 Genus wise, what other Homo brains do we have to study? Family wise, what other Hominidae brains have been studied/ do we have to study?
James E Mahler Posted February 14, 2014 Posted February 14, 2014 The fact is no one knows exactly how the human brain works. Questions such how do humans really see? How much of the brain is used for storage/memory or is the memory stored inside the brain at all? Why is that anywhere from 70 to 80 percent of the brain mass is considered by scientists to be inert and not much of use? And perhaps two of the most important questions are, one, why does the brain knows, up to 6 seconds ahead of time, which choice you're going to make or answer your'going to give. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmT-aFvRHKY Two, why does the hart produces more magnetic energy than the brain does?The seeing mechanism is understood even by middle school children. Light is projected from the object, passes thru the eye, image gets inverted and sent to the brain thru the optical nerve. From that point on it is all pure speculation.Honestly I think scientists are looking thru the wrong keyhole.
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