Complex Systems Task Group Summaries (2009) / Chapter Skim
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Task Group Summary 6--The brain is the epitome of complexity. How will understanding the complex, linked interactions among the many types of neurons in the brain lead to knowing how the brain contributes to normal function and susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disease?
Task Group Summary 6--The brain is the epitome of complexity. How will understanding the complex, linked interactions among the many types of neurons in the brain lead to knowing how the brain contributes to normal function and susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disease?
Pages 49-58
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From page 49... ...
This is especially evident in the human cerebral cortex, a multilayered structure that is roughly 3 times larger than that of our nearest primate ancestors. Correspondingly, molecular analysis suggests that these human-specific characteristics are associated with accelerated rates of evolution of the protein products of the genes implicated in the development of the human central nervous system that are higher in primates than in other organisms These complex developmental programs and processes not only are responsible for the enhanced functional abilities of the human brain but are also error prone and likely to contribute to common complex disorders of the central nervous system (CNS)
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From page 50... ...
• How do combinations of variants in a subset of these genes and proteins perturb the function of the biological systems characteristic of the CNS and increase risk for neuropsychiatric disease? • What technologies and resources, existing and yet to be developed, would improve our abilities to understand normal and abnormal brain development and function?
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From page 51... ...
Bonasera, University of California, San Francisco • Nick Ellis, University of Michigan • Veit Elser, Cornell University • Daniel Fletcher, University of California, Berkeley • Philip LeDuc, Carnegie Mellon University • Andreas Trabesinger, Nature Physics • Shyni Varghese, University of California, San Diego • Larry Yaeger, Indiana University • Lizzie Buchen, University of California, Santa Cruz TASK GROUP SUMMARY – GROUP A By Lizzie Buchen, Graduate Science Writing Student, University of California, Santa Cruz The Problem The philosopher John Stuart Mill once marveled at the combustion of methane: What went in -- a violently flammable fuel -- bore no resemblance to what came out -- innocuous water and carbon dioxide. The scientific understanding of the 1800s could not account for this seemingly miraculous transformation.
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From page 52... ...
Neural Complexity The group viewed the brain as a quintessential complex system: it consists of fairly simple components (neurons) that engage in coordinated interactions, which are somehow bound or integrated to produce complex emergent phenomena (thoughts)
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From page 53... ...
The human ability to voluntarily postpone gratification for the sake of later outcomes vastly exceeds that observed elsewhere in the animal kingdom -- humans have the ability to abstain from drugs and sex, they diet, they save money, some even go to college and professional schools. Primates, too, can delay gratification, picking large delayed rewards over smaller immediate rewards -- but only if the delay is on the order of minutes.
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From page 54... ...
The Plan of Attack 1. For a detailed measurement of neural complexity, it is essential to gather data: the connections, communications, and firing patterns of as many neurons as possible.
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From page 55... ...
The inevitable advances in neuroscience technology will give researchers a real-time view of neuronal interactions across the entire brain; by analyzing the complexity of these interactions, the group hopes to unravel how the phenomenal mind emerges from the physical brain. TASK GROUP MEMBERS – GROUP B • Craig Atwood, UW – Madison • Edward Boyden III, MIT • Tansu Celikel, University of Southern California • Eugenio Culurciello, Yale University • Rhonda Dzakpasu, Georgetown University • Sarah Heilshorn, Stanford University • Christopher Kello, University of California, Merced • Daniel Lathrop, University of Maryland • Brian Litt, University of Pennsylvania • Stefan Maas, Lehigh University • Olaf Sporns, Indiana University • Dagmar Sternad, Northeastern University • Jennifer Lauren Lee, University of Southern California TASK GROUP SUMMARY – GROUP B By Jennifer Lauren Lee, Graduate Science Writing Student, University of Southern California Every year, new and more sophisticated methods of investigation bring the workings of the human brain into sharper relief.
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From page 56... ...
At the 2008 meeting of the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative Conference on Complex Systems, one multidisciplinary Task Group (6B) was determined to see whether treating the brain as a complex system might spark ideas for new tools to help scientists understand the brain as a complete system.
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From page 57... ...
Getting a sense of how the various levels interact with one another would give the team a signature for that particular brain state. The first step would be finding the complexity signature of the resting state of a healthy brain.
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From page 58... ...
If measuring the changes in the complexity of the system could allow scientists to catch the earliest signs of a disease, regardless of the scale on which it presents itself, patients might have a better chance of recovery. This new way of mapping the brain using complexity may also provide researchers with a short-cut to a functional understanding of the brain.
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