Sweet memories

Memories...they never fail to revitalize ye, aye? Esp. the sweeter sort

I'm starved for time this week. Work's demanding me eight to eight, I have debate on schizophronia and other neuropsychiatric disorders coming up in two week's time, and I've got to do the pilot study for my research by next week..all that excluding anything personal. What fuels me is hope, and hope only. I am as happy as a soul could be, yet I have no zeal for life, no hunger for death. Life, a meaningless entity. I, enslaved by it.

Am off to log some Zs, tara!

Blissfully ignorant

Tabula rasa. Ready to be moulded, shaped and forged by the societial norms.
And now I ask myself if the mature mind is potent enough to see through the ingrained preconceptions.

Drawn with blood

Came across some creative artwork by Laura Splan. Her work's being exhibited at the New York Hall of Science, as Delicate Structures, Innate Forces. Of her drawings, Thought Patterns was the series that most struck a chord in me, the caption to which goes, "Thought Patterns is a series of images inspired by neuroanatomical structures. Each drawing was created using blood taken from my fingertips as the primary medium. The series explores the relationship between the images being depicted and the source of the medium with which they are drawn. I was drawn to these images as a formal exploration of the elements of our body that tell us we sense pain or pleasure. The images of neurons and other brain structures evoke the complex psychological and physiological responses our body has to outside forces. The forms of the brain structures act as visual metaphors for the extreme complexity and delicate fragility of the human body." Coupla drawings from Thought Patterns:-


Visit her site to checkout more of her work.

Fascinating, innit?

A beautiful brain

For us, recalling the fraction 3/14, or pi, to 100 decimal places would be a tedious task. Daniel Tammet had no trouble reciting it to 22,514 decimal places in March 2004, thus breaking the then European record for recalling pi. BBC qouted him saying, "It literally took me a few weeks to learn the number, and that was backwards as well as forwards, it wasn't a problem for me at all. I would even go as far as to say it was actually rather easy."

As a baby, Tammet showed signs of autism - constant crying till the age of two, only to be soothed by repetitious movement (by being rocked back and forth in a blanket the form of a hammock). Of the autistic population, roughly 10% display savant syndrome - the ability to perform extraordinary mental feats. Tammet's prodigious savant abilities sprang from a number of epileptic seizures from the age of three, and spreads beyond sequence memory to complex mathetical calculations, and a flair for learning natural languages.

These remarkable abilities were demonstrated in the documentaries Brainman and The boy with the incredible brain. When asked to calculate 37 raised to the power of 4, he gave the correct answer of 1,874,161 in less than one minute. When asked to divide 13 by 97, he went upto the interviewers computer calculator of 32 decimal places and continued on! As part of the documentary, he was also asked to learn Icelandic language, which he did in only a week's time, adding to the collection of languages he already spoke - English, French, Finnish, German, Spanish, Lithuanian, Estonian and Esperanto. He is also devising his own language Mänti.

Link to the Brainman documentary.

What set him apart from the other savants was his ability to describe how he did what he did. In a form of synesthesia, he experiences numbers as shapes, colours and sensations, with each number (up to 10,000) having its own unique shape and feel. He described getting a "sense" whether a number is prime or composite; and results of calculations are "seen" as landscapes in his mind. As the Guardian article qouted, "When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like maths without having to think."

Savant syndrome is not new to this blog; I've written surfacing of savant intelligence in normal individuals when subject to TMS in a previous entry.

Enjoy!

More optical illusions

If my last post caught your fancy, here's a good source for more such illusions (inclusive of explanations though they may prove to be a bit complex. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.)

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/

Enjoy!

After effect illusions

Let's play games with your mind.

1. Follow the moving dot. It's pink, right?

2. Stare at the black cross. The moving dot is green now, aye?

3. Stare longer. See the pink dots disappear completely?

Source: http://www.officebuffoon.com/funny/dotty.asp

Although the dots are not changing location, an apparent motion is percieved; which can readily be explained by the famous phi-phenomenon (same principle used in motion pictures). What is more interesting is why the moving dot changes colour from pink to green.

The illusion of colour change occurs due to a colour after-effect. After effects occur because brain cells interpreting sensory information rely on changes between the baselines of specialized cells. In the visual cortex for instance, certain cells detect motion in one direction while other cells detect motion in the opposite direction. Our perception of a given stimuli result from activation of cells above the set baseline. Continued activation results in no apparent change in stimulation, leading to sensory adaptation. Stopping the continuous activation leads to an interval during which the adapted cells return to baseline stimulation, and cells detecting change in the opposite direction having a higher stimulation than the adapted cells (ie., baseline is higher than the adapted stimulation level). This results in a momentary after effect - an illusion that the adapted stimuli is still occuring but in the opposite direction (same reason why normally lit rooms appear darker at first if you walk in from bright sunlight). I hope that's clear.

Back to the demo. Pink dots create a green colour after-effect. Due to the phi-phenomenon, all separate after effects come together to create the illusion of a single moving green dot. The brain never fails to amaze me.

Checkout a motion after-effect illusion on youtube here.

In dire need of an academic journal

The ministries in Maldives are certainly never short of surveys/research to be conducted across the country. I hopped around in the three most northern atolls as an enumerator for a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health in 2001. I even helped compile and enter the data into the database, but the results of it never materialized in a form accessible to the public. How many cases of up-to-date published papers have we seen?

I yearn for a day when research across the country, at least those conducted by the government sectors, get collectively published in an academic journal. Enough of magazines with gossip, politics and religion, don't you think? Let's have something concrete, susbstantial and worth a thought in the busy lives we lead.

I can almost hear you say it: dream on, girl.

Face blindness

Have you ever come across a person who had difficulty recognizing faces, and only faces? Bill Choisser is one of many, and describes his condition and experiences in his website Face Blind! As he aptly puts it , "people who are 'tone deaf' are not deaf to tones - they can hear tones, they just can't tell them apart. People who are 'color blind' can see things that are in color - they just can't tell colors apart. Similarly, I can see faces. I just can't tell them apart."

This neurological condition whereby individuals display intact visual perception (e.g. normal eye sight) and relatively intact object recognition but suffer a selective deficit in recognizing faces (including one's own: Bill Choisser recognized his own image at the age of 48) is known as prosopagnosia or face blindness. Here is an interesting article in Wired Magazine that describes a face-blind model who cannot recognize herself on Vogue or Elle, a father who cannot recognize his own children, and an artist who drew portraits without faces. Because individuals with prosopagnosia differ in their levels of impairment, their abilities to understand faces also differ, and these differences have lent support for the widely accepted stage theories of face perception.

Brain imaging studies have shown the fusiform gyrus, a part of the temporal lobe, to be active during face perception and not during object perception; implying a different brain system for the more complex process of face recognition. The area has thus come to be known as the fusiform face area.


Prosopagnostics show deficits in temploral lobe structures especially the fusiform gyrus. The condition was once thought to be acquired following brain damage (head injury, stroke) or neurological illnesses but the evidence now points to it being a potential developemntal condition (i.e., born with it) that may well be heritable. And so research continues.

Like I always say, it is the tidbits of faulty shortcomings that light a torch onto the complex and intricate workings of the magnificent machine we possess: the human brain.

Fresh new design

Finally!

I've been meaning to get down to it for sometime but only got the time for it this morning. Hope it's tolerable.

My husband's done an awesome job of helping me out with it. He's been a great critic through and through...ta, luv!

How do u like it?

The hill stations

The Nilgiris District is one of the oldest mountain ranges (older than Himalayas) that is located at the tri-junction of the southern Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It's commonly dubbed as the Blue Mountains, either because of the smoky haze that hug the mountain tops or because of the kurunji flowers that bloom every twelve years and give the slopes a bluish tinge. We had the pleasure of zipping through the picturesque towns of Ooty, Coonoor and Kotagiri within just two days.

We crossed into Tamil Nadu through the Mudumalai National Park, the first santuary to be established in Southern India. Of the wealth of wildlife that it hosts for, including langurs, bonnet macaques, tigers, stripped hyenas, golden jackals, sloth bears, gaurs, etc, we espied only spotted deers and monkeys on our way - not surprisingly.


Treacherous winding roads led us up to the hill stations and numerous hair-pin bends punctuated the ascend, making our hair stand on their ends. Grape gardens, tea and coffee plantations carpeted the rolling hills, amidst which stood tall white buildings...


First stop was Ooty, the queen of hill stations, dwelling at 7,440 feet(2,268 metres) above sea level. From the number of boating options available on the Ooty Lake (the artificial lake built by John Sullivan) we opted for the paddleboat. And away we paddled, splashing water at each other and roaring away with laughter. As we stopped for a short rest, I looked back to the river bank and saw a view I would never tire of - the roller coasters of the children's amusement park, the boats bobbing at the dock, and the sparkle of the lake water- with the distant laughter piercing the crisp air..


Afterwards, we tried homemade chocolates and 'corn in cup' from the food stalls, which were just short of being heavenly - it was the best chocolate and the best 'majaa' I've ever had! I take a keen interest in horseback riding and guess what, horses were available for hire near the lake! But it turned out to be a bit too expensive and so we settled for a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride instead.


A well-known tourist spot, the Botanical gardens, was home to an abundance of flora and fauna and featured pleasant walks through the greenery.

This hut located in the Botanical gardens closely resembled the hut used by Toda tribe of Nilgiri, and may possibly be a relic...


After a long day of tiring excursions we went back to the hotel room. It got very cold in the night, there was no heating whatsoever, and not even a blanket was provided. At least we had each other..

We set off from Ooty early the next morning, stopped over in Kotagiri for breakfast and continued onto Coonoor. A relatively small town and less commercialized, the natural beauty of Coonoor was breathtaking, and I would happily second it's reputation as being "a reality-defying, idyllic Shangri-La". Tea plantations rolled away from all around as far as the eyes can see, and the clouds seemed to kiss the foggy mountain tops..


And it wasn't merely the sight - the aroma and the taste of the freshly brewed tea seduced our senses. I particularly favoured the chocolate-flavoured tea and Jaa liked the ginger tea. After a refreshing cuppa we set forth to see a bit of Coonoor. The top of Dolphine's nose commanded some great views, and at the foot of it we encountered some charming monkeys...


Enjoy!

Coffee

It's a well established fact that caffeine in moderate doses can enhance a number of cognitive processes, including vigilance, attention, information processing, long-term memory recall and reasoning. The optimal dose has been reported to be 200 milligrams, which is equivalant to two cups of coffee. The psychoactive effects of caffeine are believed to be caused due to the blocking of adenosine receptors in the central nervous system, especially the brain.

A recent study has explored the role of caffeine in the individual's ability to be convinced by a persuasive argument. According to the paper caffeine induces greater systematic processing, greater message-congruent thinking and consequently, greater attitudinal changes in the face of a more convincing argument.

All in all, caffeine helps understand others' arguments, even if they are contrary to your own, because it helps seeing the reasoning underlying those statements.

So, who'd care to sit down for a coffee with the prez?

Adioz

Hats off to Borat!

It's been a loooong time since I've been out, and I mean a proper night out. Stayed in on halloween, and I missed the bonfire night in Lewes. So it felt good to dress up, dab on some make-up and head to town for a flick and a late meal.

The movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, had me on the edge of the seat, doubled over with laughter. YOU HAVE GOT TO SEE IT, if you haven't done so already! It is just too good to miss. Check out Jaa's blog for a brief intro.

Afterwards we headed to Chinatown for some crispy duck with hoi sin sauce. And of cox dumplings. For a change we tried some sea-cucumber soup, which turned out to be amazingly good!! There's another u've got to try out if u haven't done so already.

High five!

Thoughts

Glimpse of a gliding thought
Enough to charm, bewitch.
Entranced, I'd follow, willing to be guided
Contemplating where we'd end up
Picturing the possibilities...

Delighted I'd laugh,
Noticing more thoughts
Scrambling for attention
Beckoning, coaxing me
Basked I did, within the open arms of the delicious thoughts
Savouring the pure joy they imparted in me

Time seemly stood still
Every minute counted, every minute valued
It was time dilation alright
Only in reverse

Sigh. I handed in the research proposal today...Now missing the mental high. It's left me empty, beaten and dry. My eyes haven't caught much sleep the last few days, and I can almost feel the twinkling sweat trickling down the side of my brain...over the ridges and into the grooves...hehe, enough of me.

Bye for now, catch ye soon

Me and my obsessions

Within the past month...

Adobe photoshop (wish I could share my work but got to respect privacy issues..)

Sudoku (ah! the period of decimal number dreams! But here's the bit I wanna bold, italicize, underline, put in qoutes, etc etc.
I beat out Jaa )

Stargate Atlantis (was infectious, got infected)

Blogging (ahem! ahem!!)

Right now: Cheddar cheese and pickle on malted bread. Plsss! Somebody, gimme me a better combination!

Kids with cancer

I spent a month this summer doing volunteer social work in Bangalore, India. Most of my time was spent at RFS, rehabilitation centre for the mentally disabled (I shall write an account of the experience later), but I took two days off every week to visit kids with cancer. Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology is the regional cancer centre and, as a charitable institute, extended its services to poor cancer patients.

The poor in-patient kids, those coming from the nearby villages who could not afford chemotherapy sessions, were bedded in two adjacent wards. At least the kids received some sort of care and treatment. The hospital had arranged for a special educator to visit them for an hour every Saturday and Monday, giving the kids something to look forward to during the week. There came my opportunity, to visit them with Ms. Meena Jain, one of the founders of the former Shristi Special Academy.

My first day there was quite an experience. Upon our arrival, the playroom (usually kept locked) was opened. The room lifted by spirits instantly - cartoons played out on the walls, stuffed animals and toys squeezed into the cupboard that stretched from one wall to the other, and toy cars and carts stood neatly lined up in a corner. I heard laughter, excited voices and then the kids started streaming in. Three year olds, four, five, to ten year olds and two older kids of 13 or 14. Goosebumps erupted all over my body. I fought back tears as I saw the thin and bald skeleton-like bodies, their clothes seemingly hanging around them, too baggy now for their slender forms. Two still had a bit of hair left, and a thought crossed my mind - they must have joined the others recently..

Meena greeted them with smiles and hugs and kisses. And the kids, they were just jumping up and down with pure joy to see her! She pulled the water colours, containers and colour books out of the bags and we had a messy round of water colouring, making our hands dirty with happy bright colours! Onto the crayons next, with me drawing what they asked me to. Flowers, butterflies, balloons. They'd hop on my lap shrieking "Aunty, help me!" I spoke in English as I helped them and it didn't matter whether they undertood me or not. So sweet they were, so innocent. And all the while I was fighting back the thought that occupied my mind: they are dying, they are dying, they are dying.

The hour flew past, and we watched the kids return to their beds, tired from the exertion. She noticed me upset, and said, "We do what we could. We give them a happy moment before they go."

As simple as her words were, they made me come to terms with the kids' illness. I never got emotional with them again. Instead, I gave them the best I could. Times of happiness they could treasure before they closed their eyes to this world.

Instincts and circumstances

Nomadic instincts are stirring within
Urging me to gather up my meager belongings,
And bid farewell to the cold

Travel I would, far and wide
In search of warmer shelters
In search of greener pastures..

I wish!

Working on my research proposal at the moment, due next week. Wish me luck!