Talk:List of unsolved problems in neuroscience

AfD Result Notice

This article was the subject of an AfD discussion closed on 20 August 2006. The result was Keep. Xoloz 18:07, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

NCC

i'd like to add mention of the ncc (neuronal correlate of consciousness). although it is a rather abstract idea, it is essentially the holy grail of neuroscience in some sences. any ideas where to add this seeing as though there are a nummber of sub-headings that deal with consciousness (without actually mentionig it by name!). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dylan2106 (talk • contribs) 20:08, 13 March 2007 (UTC).

also ridiculous

I just finished writing this on another page. All problems in neuroscience are unsolved. What purpose does this page serve, except to highlight unsolved problems that random wikipedians decide to post? I could sit here for the next year and contribute 10,000 entries to this page and never even breach the cortex.--Dentate 12:40, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

All problems in physics are unsolved to certain orders of precision, so why have a page for Unsolved problems in physics? The point here is to list major areas of ongoing research, the type of stuff for which a discovery would land people international fame and perhaps a Nobel Prize, depending on the magnitude of contribution. SamuelRiv 04:24, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

The majority of these are philosophical problems, in philosophy of mind, not scientific problems. The title is wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.54.59.74 (talk) 05:19, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

Consciousness

Consciousness is what I suppose is the basic unsolved problem. Also many animals have consciousness. Self awareness is a more complex feature. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Avandalen (talk • contribs) 16:48, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

FALSE.

1. Consciousness -- I do not actually understand the problem, I think it is not well formulated. Besides, it is rather philosophical (you THINK that you are conscious... you THINK that you think... etc. -- it all still comes from your brain function). Anyway, its function is to predict and to be smart. And if you mean self-consciousness, then it's just a superabundance of (social) consciousness which is idle, and which was strengthened throughout centuries because of domination of certain philosophical schools. ("Self-consciousness" and "suffering" are related terms; men were pushed into this through millenia.) Damn, how naive... how naive... I could talk long, but these are basics of basics, and philosophy, not science...

2. Perception -- generally, either you mean inborn structures of the brain like the mid-brain, or you mean neo cortex, which is plastic and thus you cannot speak of rules: it is formed arbitrarily. There are really no problems here. Some people absolutize perception and e.g. say that your brain reverses the picture it gets from retina, but this is complete nonsense... a pure picture has no up or bottom. Similarly with everything in the plastic brain. It is a product of how you live. Even Schopenhauer in the early XIXth century described (book: On Sufficient Reason) that people brought up without seeing certain objects (like horizontal lines... this was also described by Ditfurth, "The spirit didn't fall down from heaven"), weren't able to see them in future life. This is all created spontanously to match day-to-day life. There is much individual content and some rather common (which is then usually shaped in early childhood, spontanously).

3. Memory: hmm...? Why not in synapses? What are synapses for if not for connecting neurons? Connections between neurons are what your memory is. That's how, for example, conditional reflexes come into existence.

4. Brain gets less and less plastic with age. This is because chaos is needed to create connections. These connections actually already "are there", otherwise brain wouldn't be able to know A happens simultanously with B (which are completely different places in brain). Impulses already have their way thanks to the primary chaos (isn't it also responsible for chaotic behaviour of a just-born child?). As brain gets more and more organised, there is less and less plasticity, because of so-called long-term potentialization.

5. How did brain evolve... Hmm... I think Prof.Ditfurth dealt with the matter best in his "The spirit didn't fall from heaven". What, today there is no comparision? When we know all the species?

6. Sleep... well. If you have an active personality -- high-dopamine perhaps (it is known it then falls down in the morning... but maybe in REM it is high? maybe just this movement makes it high, as it is the source of stimula, and strong stimula usually raise dopamine levels...) -- then you might feel a bit like sleeping in the day too. It is a kind of hyper-activity of the brain, perhaps thanks to high dopamine or other hormones, connected with high levels of melatonine and lack of sensoric data. Some people can dream almost like they were sleeping in the day too, especially when they close their eyes. They think of other lands, stories, etc. The key thing is that mind is hyper-active and that there is no sensoric data (sensoric deprivation). A non-standard neurotransmitter configuration might also lead to weakening of usual paths of thought (like return to childhood... only best confirmed paths are "visible" enough)

7. Genetic -- it's about instincts. Like the herd instinct, which reacts on pictures of faces. Or the instinct that, likewise, causes dopamine production in response to stimula (music, fast switching pictures, etc.). Levels of hormones, like testosterone (more independent base of neurotransmitters). Every natural inborn mechanism that causes hormone production is an instinct and is genetically dependent (see ADHD). Environmental -- everything else. Reward is generally dopamine, endorphines, etc. All instincts are rewards for themselves and they create drug-loops in the brain (more and more distant stimula are connected with the aim; hormone production on every step); it is well understood. Note, the major situation when dopamine gets down is -- which lasts for a long time -- after orgasm; but it doesn't mean it's not a reward. It's a bit otherwise: after orgasm you're like a drug addict without his drug, so you want more dopamine then. But usually high-dopamine states of brain are "filled" with addiction to sex, so again you get "horny". Here you had an example. Cost? It's mostly environmental, and also through associations. Just like a just-born child acts chaotically (crying, moving, screaming etc.), which may have its "fear" component too (connection with hormone-production structures below neo-cortex), just similarly this fear remains in many uncommon situations. Also, typical "bad" situations, like when touching something warm, just give you so many stimula that you act fast... but it generally stimulates thought (whether verbal or not). Later, this thought re-appears when you see the warm thing again and so you don't act so easily. Thinking, unlike pleasure, distracts from acting.

8. Language: are you joking? Why do you think it's anything different than any other set of Pavlov's reflexes? I thought philosophers (like Hume) have dealt with the topic already...

9. Mania/schizophrenia: mainly high dopamine levels. To a certain degree it is similar to being on a drug-high -- or completely abstinent sexually for months but nevertheless quite aroused. It is already proved it's connected with high-dop levels (they intensificate your brain work... and weaken "hunger for stimula", so you live more "in the inner world", you care about the outside world less). Parkinson's it's low-dopamine, and it has something to do with that little thing on the back of the brain... sorry I don't remember English/Latin terms. Addiction: it is well known how it works. Please don't lie. There are experts on the subjects who can explain it well, there are even articles in the popular press. There is little difference between pleasure and addiction.

Have a nice day. And observe yourself more, gnothi seauton, or you will keep repeating myths "nothing is understood"!

The more people, the more illusions (like the belief in phenomena, which follows from nihilism BTW); science really cannot answer them all... But don't lie nothing is understood... You just have to OBSERVE yourself and THINK individually! Nobody will do it for you. Then you will find the answers. -- E.g. phenomena, feelings, affects etc. have something that acts physiologically in you, and this is the Will component (like some specific attributes of colors, or like pleasure): and the rest is pure absolutely NEUTRAL information. -- I don't have place here, but OBSERVE YOURSELF! Or just stop observing and start living, and you'll forget the dillemmas.

77.115.216.62 (talk) 21:50, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Merge from Unsolved problems in cognitive science

Unsolved problems in cognitive science is currently at AfD, and I'm wondering if any of the entries there, could be merged to here? -- Quiddity (talk) 17:37, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

I agree with you. --Tryptofish (talk) 18:17, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

"Practopoiesis"

Is there any reason for this particular theory to get its own section on this page? It doesn't seem either especially prominent or especially compelling, to the point it should be the only such theory under this heading. If no one objects I'll remove it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ms408 (talk • contribs) 16:20, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Magnetism & Codes in the Brain

The Brain is actually a weaker ferromagnetic substance because when someone keeps his head pointing towards Goegraphic North while sleeping or lying down, the magnetic field of the Earth whose lines are from north to south, comes towards to his brain. But at the sametime, his brain has its own magnetic field whose lines are from top of his head to its bottom. Due to this, there will be repulsion between these magnetic fields. But brain has too weak magnetic around it. So, the Earth's magnetic field suppresses it and passes through his brain. It will result in changes in mental condition & also he will experience head pain before the changes in mental condition in his brain. Also, memories in his brain will be erased little by little. Because of this magnetic effect, electric signals in his brain will change their paths to other directions, but not to their destinations. As we know that ferromagnetic substances are the best storage devices, the brain also stores a lots of information in it. According to Electricity & Magnetism in Physics, magnetic field of a substance is also formed due to flow of current or electrons which acts as electric signals, and so, the brain may have generally magnetic field around it due to this.

The brain may have certain codes as genes in their DNA molecules to control many functions like sleeping, thinking, memory, reasoning, intelligence, dreaming, imagination, consciousness, etc. Like other genes controlling various functions in various parts of the human body, the brain also has certain genes responsible for various functions. Lets take an example. Why do Albinism occurs on the skin of some people? It's due to either absence of genes responsible for colouring of skin in melanocytes or due to mutations in the that particular genes. Thinking in the same way about the brain, there are some of the genes responsible for various functions of the brain including motor & sensoring functions. A note on Genetics and Physics about the brain is too important to solve the unsolved mysteries wandering around the minds in this era.

Note : Since I am young, studying higher secondary second year, please refer this, and if this gives any clue regarding mysteries, try to spread with this and even try to research about this, my dear brothers. For any purposes regarding this, send via email ID as follows : msusendran@gmail.com, email ID of publisher of this topic.2409:4072:6310:50B7:55DB:4B37:D3A5:8AC5 (talk) 17:35, 16 July 2018 (UTC)2409:4072:6310:50B7:55DB:4B37:D3A5:8AC5 (talk) 17:25, 16 July 2018 (UTC)— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2405:204:704B:270:2570:3C:7330:18C (talk) 15:10, 8 July 2018 (UTC)

Interesting, but this page should be reserved for work aimed at improving our article, and any changes to the article would need to be justified by reputable published sources. Looie496 (talk) 16:20, 8 July 2018 (UTC)