Posted by Noa on November 4, 1999, at 13:48:21
Did abyone read the news about a neuroscientist at Wisconsin that has come out with data on brain images showing certain emotions associated with electromagnetic activity on either the left or right prefrontal cortex? The Washington Post did a feature in their health section. VERY INTERESTING. He found positive, activating emotions to be connected with more activity on one side, while negative, deactivating emotions were connected with the other side (sorry-I left the article at work, don't remember the specifics-I'll post them tommorrow). When I read this article, it spoke to me about my very variable moods. The article also said that most people have more activity on one side or the other, and this is associated with temperament. Motivation was associated with the ability to access positive feelings about the envisioned outcome of effort. While intuitively, this is no surprise, it seems this guy was able to operationalize these things and get actual images using a device that measures electromagnetic activity. The article mentioned the idea of a potential for using a pacemaker type device in the brain to regulate activity in people with mood disorders--similar to something mentioned in an earlier thread. Also helps me understand the ECT and Transcrainial magnetic stimulation thing. It seems someday instead of bathing our entire brains in neurotransmitter stimulating chemicals, we might be able to target stimulation to the parts of the brain where the cascade of electrical activity/neurotransmitter activity is malfunctioning. Way cool, if you ask me.
poster:Noa
thread:14590
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991028/msgs/14590.html