Discussions of the how the brain works.
Several days ago I mentioned the work of Wilhelm His, who modeled the neural tube after a flexible rubber tube. He noted that a rubber tube could be manipulated into forms that resembled the neural tube of the chick embryo, at various stages by pulling strings attached to certain places on the rubber tube. The […]
I started blogging in order to share some of my experiences as the brother of a severely autistic, low functioning and nonverbal person. I grew up in a time where little was known about autism and there was very little support available in the community for autistic individuals, their siblings or their parents. I was […]
Yesterday, I spoke about expressionism in terms of large sweeping movements of the body, such as those a dancer would make. Yesterday I also thought that it might be just a little oxymoronic to consider a small format painting as expressionistic. I admit that I may have been a little hasty in making that determination. […]
How does one make a decision to go to the hospital emergency room when one has an acute change in mental status? This is actually a two-part question, or actually a question for two different classes of individuals; for the person with the change in mental status and for the friend or family who notices […]
My blog yesterday featured Jonah Lehrer’s analysis of Cézanne’s struggle to represent the world as he saw it, likening it to the very process of vision. Today I would like to look into the process of seeing by autistic individuals. Many autistic individuals are creative and express themselves in the arts. [1] In this short […]
In his book Proust was a Neuroscientist, Jonah Lehrer illustrates how the revelations of the arts and literature give us insight into the human mind with as much, and possibly more clarity than does the work of neuroscientists. The chapter about Paul Cézanne caught my interest. Cézanne’s vision The impressionists, whose work was contemporaneous with […]
As I mentioned yesterday, I started reading Proust was a Neuroscientist. The intriguing premise of this book is that discoveries in neuroscience have their parallels in arts and literature. Today I wish to address the author’s treatment of the writer and poet, Walt Whitman, how it applies to neuroscience and explore whether Whitman’s approach can […]
Neuroanatomy Those of you who follow my blog know that my interest in the brain stems from my older brother who is autistic, profoundly retarded and has never uttered a word in his life. I had the good fortune to be able to study neuroanatomy with a colleague, Dr. Andrew Lautin, and participate in the […]
For some reason I started reading The Science of Evil [1] again. It is an easy read, and I needed to relax. Not that reading about the scientific basis of evil, or rather as Baron-Cohen puts it, the erosion of empathy, is a particularly relaxing pastime. However, as it seems as good a place as […]
Baby William is doing very well. He is a lot different from when he was a week old. Back then, I couldn’t even get his attention. I suppose, since he was busy getting used to living in an air environment, that’s understandable. Plus the fact that his gaze, focused at about 8-10 inches according to […]
