Leonhard Schilbach’s Post

TL;DR - educational neuroscience is fascinating and important, but at the moment there's still a big gap between analyses of the brain's physical structure and how cognition functions. Be wary of overly simplistic "the brain lights up during this cognitive process, so we should teach this way" recommendations and explanations. https://lnkd.in/eMuHnwei

Could a short nap really lead to a bigger, healthier brain? New research suggests the answer is yes. Studies have revealed that individuals who take regular 30-minute naps actually show a measurable increase in brain volume—approximately 15 cubic centimeters, or the size of a small plum. This seemingly small difference can translate to a significant boost in cognitive abilities and resilience against age-related cognitive decline. It’s a reminder that rest isn't just downtime; it’s an active process of growth and reinforcement for our neural networks. Curious if anyone else has found that short breaks during the day actually boost productivity and creativity? Full SuperCreativity video at https://lnkd.in/dU2kXVM #Neuroscience #CognitiveHealth #Productivity #Wellbeing #BrainHealth #Leadership

⸻ ECEPJ: Redefining the Brain’s Energy Code ⚡🧠 For nearly a century, neuroscience has relied on outdated models of “brainwaves” and binary spikes. But cognition, memory, and consciousness are not driven by single frequencies — they emerge from energy patterns, field synchronization, and capacitor dynamics deep within the brain. The ECEPJ model offers an astute reinterpretation of how the brain works: • Neurons act as biological capacitors, storing and releasing energy. • Field synchronization drives memory, attention, and cognition. • Integrated with NeuroGuardian and NeuroByte, ECEPJ connects neuroscience with AI, energy-based healing, and Alzheimer’s breakthroughs. This is more than a model — it’s a new paradigm for decoding the brain’s true language: energy, frequency, and vibration. 📌 Join the movement: Collaborate, challenge, and explore with us. #ECEPJ #NeuroGuardian #NeuroByte #AI #NeuroscienceInnovation #AlzheimersResearch

Now that GenAI driven AI summer is cooling down, do you think neuroscience inspired cognitive modeling is the pivot for brighter days in AI? That path is also fraught with enormous challenges. Cognitive modeling provides a pathway to build AI systems that can learn, reason, plan, make decisions, perceive, and solve problems in ways that are similar to humans All neuroscience has produced so far is explanation of some soecific brain functions at a macro level, based empirical studies. There is no comprehensive theory of overall brain functions that produces various cognitive behaviors. The complexity of of the brain at molecular, cellular, regional and overall levels is intractable. There is nothing that could inspire comprehensive congnitive modeling of AI. There are some cognitive modeling approaches, such as predictive brain theory and active inference. But they are limited and inadequate to simulate all cognitive functions. #ai #genai #neuroscience #cognition #brain #agi

Your Brain Thinks Faster Than You Realize… And New Research Proves It! Computational Neuroscience researchers have discovered that our brain doesn’t just solve problems—it predicts the future at the neural level! Advanced computational models show that neural networks in our brain exchange information faster than any supercomputer, helping us understand learning, memory, and decision-making in a completely new way. This breakthrough could revolutionize AI, human-computer interaction, and treatments for neurological disorders. If our brains can truly predict the future… what would you love to see this applied to first? #Neuroscience #BrainResearch #ComputationalNeuroscience #AI #NeuroTech #Innovation

Recent scientific research has provided fascinating evidence that a form of telepathy may be real, revealing that the brains of close friends can become synchronised. Studies using advanced neuroimaging techniques have shown that when best friends interact or even anticipate each other’s thoughts, similar patterns of brain activity occur in both individuals. This neural synchronisation is strongest among people with deep emotional bonds, suggesting that shared experiences, empathy, and familiarity can enhance the connection between brains. In practical terms, this means that friends may be able to predict each other’s reactions, complete each other’s thoughts, or communicate subtle ideas without words. Researchers conducted experiments where friends were placed in separate rooms and asked to perform tasks or answer questions about one another. The results consistently showed that brain waves and neural responses aligned more closely in best friends compared to strangers, providing scientific support for the long-observed phenomenon of “thinking alike” among close companions. These findings have significant implications for understanding human social behaviour, empathy, and communication. They suggest that strong emotional bonds can create a measurable, physiological connection that goes beyond verbal interaction. It also opens avenues for exploring how human relationships shape cognition, learning, and decision-making. While the idea of telepathy often seems like science fiction, these discoveries highlight the remarkable ways the human brain can connect and synchronise with others. The research underscores the power of friendship and emotional closeness in shaping not just behaviour, but neural processes as well. #Telepathy #BrainScience #Neuroscience #Friendship #MindsCanvas #NeuralConnection #Empathy

Recent scientific research has provided fascinating evidence that a form of telepathy may be real, revealing that the brains of close friends can become synchronised. Studies using advanced neuroimaging techniques have shown that when best friends interact or even anticipate each other’s thoughts, similar patterns of brain activity occur in both individuals. This neural synchronisation is strongest among people with deep emotional bonds, suggesting that shared experiences, empathy, and familiarity can enhance the connection between brains. In practical terms, this means that friends may be able to predict each other’s reactions, complete each other’s thoughts, or communicate subtle ideas without words. Researchers conducted experiments where friends were placed in separate rooms and asked to perform tasks or answer questions about one another. The results consistently showed that brain waves and neural responses aligned more closely in best friends compared to strangers, providing scientific support for the long-observed phenomenon of “thinking alike” among close companions. These findings have significant implications for understanding human social behaviour, empathy, and communication. They suggest that strong emotional bonds can create a measurable, physiological connection that goes beyond verbal interaction. It also opens avenues for exploring how human relationships shape cognition, learning, and decision-making. While the idea of telepathy often seems like science fiction, these discoveries highlight the remarkable ways the human brain can connect and synchronise with others. The research underscores the power of friendship and emotional closeness in shaping not just behaviour, but neural processes as well. #Telepathy #BrainScience #Neuroscience #Friendship #MindsCanvas #NeuralConnection #Empathy

Millisecond Windows of Time May Be Key to How We Hear 🦻 Insightful new research from the University of Rochester, in collaboration with Columbia University and New York University, reveals that the auditory cortex listens at a fixed internal timescale, even when speech speed changes. Slowing down speech doesn’t stretch the brain’s “window” of integration; instead, neural processing seems to operate on constant millisecond-scale intervals This has big implications: better computational models of speech, improved understanding of language processing disorders, and refining how we interpret auditory signals. 🔍 Authors: Sam Norman-Haignere, Nima Mesgarani, Menoua Keshishian, and others. 📚 Read the full study here: Nature Portfolio Neuroscience — URMC HHBe Newsroom has a great summary. University of Rochester Medical Center #Neuroscience #Hearing #AuditoryCortex #SpeechProcessing #NatureNeuroscience

🧠 This newly published paper connects neuroscience theories of consciousness with cognitive architectures used in AI. Let me walk you through it 👇 The Common Model of Cognition (CMC) is a brain-inspired framework with 5 functional modules: 👁️ Perception – detects stimuli 🧠 Working Memory (WM) – holds and evaluates information 📚 Declarative Memory – retrieves past knowledge 🎯 Executive Control – sets goals and makes decisions 🤖 Action – executes responses (motor or internal) But here's the interesting part: 📌 The paper maps each of these CMC modules to real brain areas and to leading theories of consciousness. 🔎 Here’s a summary table of the CMC modules, their corresponding brain regions, and related theories of consciousness 🧠👇 (see table image at the end of this post) 📍So how does consciousness emerge in this model? The CMC operates as a dynamic cycle: - A stimulus is perceived - WM evaluates its relevance - Memory retrieves related knowledge - Executive Control decides - Action is taken 🌀 Consciousness arises when a signal competes, wins, and stays in WM long enough to be integrated with memory and control — becoming globally available to the rest of the system. 🧠 In that sense, conscious content is what survives this competitive loop and gains access to the whole architecture. 🧠 💡 Here's an interesting analogy: The selection and amplification of conscious content could function like a cognitive wavefront —where signals such as motivation, novelty, frequency, and memory interfere with each other. Some combinations resonate and amplify, pushing the content into consciousness. Others cancel out, and the information fades before it gains access. Kind of like quantum interference, but applied to attention and cognition. 🤯 Could this inspire new ways to model attention and consciousness in AI, or even hint at quantum-like dynamics in the brain? 📖 The original paper: https://lnkd.in/dbt3-w_b #Neuroscience #ArtificialIntelligence #NeuroComputation #QuantumAI #CognitiveScience #Consciousness #BrainInspiredAI #CognitiveArchitecture #NeuroTech

Neuroscience of Mary’s Room: Why “Knowing” Is Not the Same as “Experiencing” Frank Jackson’s thought experiment Mary’s Room (1982) asks: if a scientist knows every theory about color but has never seen it, does she learn something new the moment she sees a red apple? This highlights qualia—the difference between theoretical knowledge and lived experience. From a neuroscience perspective, comprehension and experience rely on distinct brain systems Comprehension: the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe consolidate long-term memory (Squire & Zola-Morgan, 1991); the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) evaluates context (Padoa-Schioppa & Assad, 2006); the vmPFC integrates knowledge with values and identity (Bechara et al., 1997); and the dlPFC enables reappraisal and cognitive control (Ochsner & Gross, 2005). Experience: sensory cortices (e.g., V1/V4 for vision) generate the immediate percept; the insula encodes interoception; the amygdala links perception to emotion. Studies (Lamme, 2006; Koch & Tsuchiya, 2007) show that recurrent processing between sensory and higher-order areas is essential for conscious experience. Thus, even if you understand everything about sadness, facing it activates an entirely different neural circuit. Knowledge prepares you—but experience transforms you. … Ref Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio, A. R. (1997). Deciding advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275(5304), 1293–1295. Buhle, J. T., et al. (2014). Cognitive reappraisal of emotion: A meta-analysis of human neuroimaging studies. Cerebral Cortex, 24(11), 2981–2990. Jackson, F. (1982). Epiphenomenal qualia. Philosophical Quarterly, 32(127), 127–136. Jackson, F. (1986). What Mary didn’t know. Journal of Philosophy, 83(5), 291–295. Koch, C., & Tsuchiya, N. (2007). Attention and consciousness: Two distinct brain processes. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(1), 16–22. Lamme, V. A. F. (2006). Towards a true neural stance on consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(11), 494–501. Padoa-Schioppa, C., & Assad, J. A. (2006). Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex encode economic value. Nature, 441(7090), 223–226. Rolls, E. T. (2019). The orbitofrontal cortex and emotion in health and disease, including depression. Neuropsychologia, 128, 14–43. Squire, L. R., & Zola-Morgan, S. (1991). The medial temporal lobe memory system. Science, 253(5026), 1380–1386. Takashima, A., et al. (2006). Shift from hippocampal to neocortical retrieval network with consolidation. Nature Neuroscience, 9(9), 1001–1007. Ochsner, K. N., & Gross, J. J. (2005). The cognitive control of emotion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(5), 242–249.