NeuroByte - Neurons talking like viruses, & is your mind's eye blind?

If I ask you to visualize a butterfly, what kind of an experience do you have? How clearly do you see it, if you see it at all?

This is the first "NeuroByte" episode, where Bo and Ian discuss multiple topics without diving quite as deeply into the details. This week, we discuss a recent discovery that neurons appear to be capable of trading genetic material to one another, representing a novel mechanism by which neurons can communicate information to one another. Next, we discuss a poorly understood possible condition termed "aphantasia", a condition characterizing individuals who are entirely incapable of visualizing an imagined image - a population of people among whom Ian may well be counted.

Primary reading:

1. Pastuzyn ED, Day CE, Kearns RB, Kyrke-Smith M, Taibi AV, McCormick J, Yoder N, Belnap DM, Erlendsson S, Morado DR, Briggs JAG, Feschotte C, Shepherd JD. The Neuronal Gene Arc Encodes a Repurposed Retrotransposon Gag Protein that Mediates Intercellular RNA Transfer. Cell. 2018 Jan 11;172(1-2):275-288.e18. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.12.024. PubMed PMID: 29328916.
2. Zeman A, Dewar M, Della Sala S. Lives without imagery - Congenital aphantasia. Cortex. 2015 Dec;73:378-80. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019. Epub 2015 Jun 3. PubMed PMID: 26115582.

Why do we dream? Part 1

Dreams are quite easily one of the most common topics on the minds of most people, judging by my interactions with folks on Periscope, my friends, and random people who find out that I study the brain.  This doesn't surprise me in the slightest.  When else can you experience what it might be like to breathe underwater, or fly through the center of the sun, without questioning the experience in the slightest?

Despite being so universally interesting, and having been a subject of inquiry dating at least back to Aristotle (On Dreams, written in 350 B.C.E), dreams remain among the most widely debated topics in psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience.  We chat about the various theories that have cropped up over time, and then discuss some of the more recent discoveries and theories to try and understand why & how we dream, and the contributions dreaming makes to the development of who you are.

Literature referenced:

1. Hobson JA. REM sleep and dreaming: towards a theory of protoconsciousness. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009 Nov;10(11):803-13. doi: 10.1038/nrn2716. Epub 2009 Oct 1. Review. PubMed PMID: 19794431.
2. Hobson JA, Friston KJ. Waking and dreaming consciousness: neurobiological and functional considerations. Prog Neurobiol. 2012 Jul;98(1):82-98. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2012.05.003. Epub 2012 May 15. Review. PubMed PMID: 22609044; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3389346.
3. Rechtschaffen A. The single-mindedness and isolation of dreams. Sleep. 1978 Sep;1(1):97-109. PubMed PMID: 227026.
4. Bray N. Sleep: Inducing lucid dreams. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2014 Jul;15(7):428. doi: 10.1038/nrn3769. Epub 2014 May 29. PubMed PMID: 24871898.
5. Boyce R, Glasgow SD, Williams S, Adamantidis A. Causal evidence for the role of REM sleep theta rhythm in contextual memory consolidation. Science. 2016 May 13;352(6287):812-6. doi: 10.1126/science.aad5252. PubMed PMID: 27174984.
6. Dresler M, Wehrle R, Spoormaker VI, Steiger A, Holsboer F, Czisch M, Hobson JA. Neural correlates of insight in dreaming and psychosis. Sleep Med Rev. 2015 Apr;20:92-9. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2014.06.004. Epub 2014 Jun 25. Review. PubMed PMID: 25092021.
7. Domhoff GW, Fox KC. Dreaming and the default network: A review, synthesis, and counterintuitive research proposal. Conscious Cogn. 2015 May;33:342-53. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.01.019. Epub 2015 Feb 24. Review. PubMed PMID: 25723600.
8. Blumberg MS, Plumeau AM. A new view of "dream enactment" in REM sleep behavior disorder. Sleep Med Rev. 2015 Dec 17;30:34-42. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2015.12.002. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 26802823; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4912466.
9. Peever J, Fuller PM. Neuroscience: A Distributed Neural Network Controls REM Sleep. Curr Biol. 2016 Jan 11;26(1):R34-5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.011. PubMed PMID: 26766231.
10. Schredl M. Dreams and Nightmares in Personality Disorders. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2016 Feb;18(2):15. doi: 10.1007/s11920-015-0653-2. PubMed PMID: 26781553.
11. Stumbrys T, Erlacher D, Schädlich M, Schredl M. Induction of lucid dreams: a systematic review of evidence. Conscious Cogn. 2012 Sep;21(3):1456-75. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2012.07.003. Epub 2012 Jul 28. Review. PubMed PMID: 22841958.

What is the brain?

In this first episode, Bo and I go into a fair bit of depth regarding how the brain works - the intention of which is to provide a functional foundation for the episodes to come. I promise the next episodes will be less lecture, more conversation.

Here are some of the references I used in this episode:

1. David J. Chalmers. Consciousness and Cognition, 1990 (http://consc.net/papers/c-and-c.html)

2. Erwin D, Davidson E. The last common bilaterian ancestor. Development. 2002 129: 3021-3032 (http://dev.biologists.org/content/129/13/3021.long)

3. van der Bijl W, Thyselius M, Kotrschal A, Kolm N. Brain size affects the behavioural response to predators in female guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Proc Biol Sci. 2015 Aug 7;282(1812):20151132. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1132. PubMed PMID: 26203003 (http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1812/20151132)

4. Møller AP, Erritzøe J. Predator-prey interactions, flight initiation distance and brain size. J Evol Biol. 2014 Jan;27(1):34-42. doi: 10.1111/jeb.12272. Epub 2013 Nov 6. PubMed PMID: 25990564. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeb.12272/epdf)

5. Kandel, Eric R., James H. Schwartz, and Thomas M. Jessell. Principles of Neural Science. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, Health Professions Division, 2012.

I'd love to hear any feedback you might have!  

Intro & outro song is by Bonobo, the best electronic artist alive right now (in my opinion).  Everyone should go out and purchase his albums; they are all excellent.