Quotes About Neuroscience

There's a lot of neuroscience now raising the question, 'Is all the intelligence in the human body in the brain?', and they're finding out that, no, it's not like that. The body has intelligence itself, and we're much more of an organic creature in that way.

goes back to the design of the brain…. It's designed to pay attention to the stuff that matters to you.

there is strong scientific evidence that persistent cannabis use affects how adolescent and teenage brains develop, and can permanently lower their IQ. One of my best friends when I was a kid smoked a lot of weed, and he feels it harmed him for life. He may be right. Developing brains are more fragile than adult brains: they need to be protected.

It fascinated me that you could change behavior so dramatically by changing brain chemistry….

Sleep deprivation damages memory as well.

Every game we play activates our brain, and it's the same brain we have in real life as we have in the game.

The neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux has shown that the same neural mechanisms mediate the fear response in all sorts of animals, from pigeons and rats to cats and humans. The idea that other animals experience similar emotions to us is not anthropomorphism: it is based on sound scientific evidence.

The brain is just the physical machine that runs the program called the mind. The brain is the hardware, the mind is the software.

But the brain's representation of the body has another major implication: because we can depict our own body states, we can more easily simulate the equivalent body states of others.

In most instances, the central nervous system does not act directly on the outside world. The "interior" and the nervous system form an interactive complex; the "exterior" and the nervous system do not.

the process of consciousness itself relies on images.

I was now successful in proving that a direction of movement is localized in the cerebellum.

My philosophy is really based on humility. I don't think we know enough to fix either diagnostics or therapeutics. The future of psychiatry is clinical neuroscience, based on a much deeper understanding of the brain.

Well, my parents originally wanted me to become a doctor - that's why I was in school; I was pre-med, and I graduated with a degree in psychology and a concentration in neuroscience. Really, the plan was for me to go to med school.

I don't doubt that the explanation for consciousness will arise from the mercilessly scientific account of psychology and neuroscience, but, still, isn't it neat that the universe is such that it gave rise to conscious beings like you and me?

I want to get a master's degree in... psychology.

What is dreaming, and what happens, and are there any real benefits to dreaming? Well, to take a step back, I think it's important to note that dreaming essentially is a time when we all become flagrantly psychotic.

The limbic system explodes during puberty, but the prefrontal cortex keeps maturing for another 10 years.

Antonio Damasio is a distinguished neuroscientist with a flair for writing about science and an enthusiasm for philosophizing.

Show me one neuron that has some cellular semblance of free will. And there is no such neuron.

I used to very politely say that if there is free will then it's in all sorts of boring places, like whether you're going to pick up this or that fork as you begin your meal. There really is none: It's all biology.

The brain is the black box: the final frontier.

Familiarize yourself with the parts of your brain and their function.

As an ex-programmer, I'm still just curious about how the brain functions, how that flow of information really happens.