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Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#41

Post by bonestamp2 »

WilliamEdward wrote: post #12
abricot wrote: post #8

So.. is "plasticity" a good or bad thing?

It is both, it's a double-edged sword. On one hand, your brain can adapt very quickly to new stimuli and adopt good or bad habits such as problem solving or addiction. But, this quick adaptation also means you can 'unlearn' these things very easily too. That's my pop-sci understanding of plasticity, i picked it up when trying to get rid of my bad habits.

Is there a proven and/or simple (but not necessarily "easy" of course) way to get rid of bad habits based on this principle?

Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#42

Post by reb »

ChaosDegenerate wrote: post #40
etbebl wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Plasticity" basically means "learning" at a low level, so it's not really an explanation for why learning can be addicting.

To add something here: everything is considered addiction nowadays: over-eating, sex, shopping, etc. Not to derail the discussion but isn't it too much? I'm under impression that today anyone who enjoys something more than we would like them to do so in immediately labeled an addict.

I think I've gotten a different impression. There's definitely a casual use of the word "addict" that is well-understood to be different than clinical, destructive addiction.

And that destruction is obviously where the distinction lies. One might label themselves a "coffee addict" because they spend a lot of money on coffee or find themselves more dependent on it than they might like. But I think the average person recognizes that is very different from a spending addiction that leaves you $100,000 in debt and fired from your job because you can't stop shopping online when you should be working.

Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#43

Post by petra »

magnetic wrote: post #32
abricot wrote: post #8

So.. is "plasticity" a good or bad thing?

It depends. Tinnitus is believed to be, in many cases, due to the maladaptive plasticity that happens in response to hearing loss. The brain doesn't hear some frequencies so it "reconfigures itself" to amp up the volume on those frequencies. Not unlike our own HiFi amps, if you increase the volume on a line that doesn't carry a signal, you get all kinds of bad noise.

Any way to train the brain to silence those frequencies , even while it's quiet outside ?

Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#44

Post by bonestamp2 »

segfaultbuserr wrote: post #14
Mirioron wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Next step is to serve ads directly into people's brains. Suddenly I dread the future.

And add a little Google gadget that can search whatever currently in your mind in real-time, can't be too convenient, right?

To avoid the thought police, we'd need something like tor but for brain searches. Maybe a paid service where prisoners with life sentences could proxy our thoughts through their brains and the money could benefit their families. This is starting to sound like a really bad sci-fi thriller.

Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#46

Post by warent »

petra wrote: post #43
magnetic wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends. Tinnitus is believed to be, in many cases, due to the maladaptive plasticity that happens in response to hearing loss. The brain doesn't hear some frequencies so it "reconfigures itself" to amp up the volume on those frequencies. Not unlike our own HiFi amps, if you increase the volume on a line that doesn't carry a signal, you get all kinds of bad noise.

Any way to train the brain to silence those frequencies , even while it's quiet outside ?

Anecdotally I think there must be.

I recently realized that I'm pretty sure I've had some form of tinnitus since I was a small child and never recognized it as such until recently. The sound inside of my ears is only there when I focus on it or if it's really quiet. The strange thing is because I always heard it when I was falling asleep as a child, it has always been associated with relaxation and rest, and so ends up lulling me to sleep rather than causing me distress like it does for so many other people.

Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#47

Post by has4erw »

api wrote: post #45
abricot wrote: post #8

So.. is "plasticity" a good or bad thing?

Depends. If your model of the world is inaccurate, it's better to change your mind. If it's accurate, it's better not to.

Exploration vs exploitation. But it gets funky when you try to think of how it applies to higher-level human thought. Like trying to optimize a hyperparamter without even knowing what your categories are.

Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#48

Post by duahncjak »

warent wrote: post #46
petra wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any way to train the brain to silence those frequencies , even while it's quiet outside ?

Anecdotally I think there must be. I recently realized that I'm pretty sure I've had some form of tinnitus since I was a small child and never recognized it as such until recently. The sound inside of my ears is only there when I focus on it or if it's really quiet. The strange thing is because I always heard it when I was falling asleep as a child, it has always been associated with relaxation and rest, and so ends…

I think this also applies to many kinds of low-grade chronic suffering. Changing your response to the sensation might be easier than stopping the sensation.

Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#49

Post by nighthawk648 »

vardhanw wrote: post #17
nighthawk648 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes very good thing. It means that memory associations to specific input were garnered after one hour. Typically this type of placidity takes a long time of historic reinforcement to generate. Placidity is basically an input into your brain sensory then maps to an associated brain function either a memory or a real physical action, the latter performed in the experiment. Basically a simple neuron is invoked, does it…

~Placidity~ -> Plasticity. Probably an auto spell check.

Yes, sorry you are correct. I will fix when at a computer!

Re: Immediate brain plasticity after one hour of brain–computer interface

#50

Post by nighthawk648 »

stanfordkid wrote: post #34
nighthawk648 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes very good thing. It means that memory associations to specific input were garnered after one hour. Typically this type of placidity takes a long time of historic reinforcement to generate. Placidity is basically an input into your brain sensory then maps to an associated brain function either a memory or a real physical action, the latter performed in the experiment. Basically a simple neuron is invoked, does it…

I wouldn’t be so quick to label “quick learning” as a good thing. Sure learning quick is good when you’re trying to adapt to new environments, but environments aren’t always changing. In edge cases quick learning in response to, say, a traumatic event and environment change, can yield learning that is maladaptive. A suitable analogy is to look at gradient descent methods — which explicitly rely upon a “learning rate”…

Hurm, wouldn’t you be able to train equally quick to handle the trauma? Also, while trauma is tragic, everyone who faces something bad should face it fully. If you walk away from ashes you will never find the gold, to quote Neitzche essence! The last part was not as support to my claim or some fallacy, was just to speak on the human condition and suffering, which you eluded to in your post.

I agree that quick learning is not always beneficial, regulation is always important. Actually regulation is necessary so out right bans are not induced. However, furthermore we should not stop development due to fears. There will always be fear. You cannot understand the truth or reality until you are in it. Hopefully with the development of technologies like BCI there will not only be a better understanding of the human condition but of statistical inference. The combination of both being better can lead to safeguards against the consequences aforementioned. And if at the end of the day the technology is deemed as dangerous, even though the cat cannot be put back in the box, at least the benefits will exist. No technology exists without equal benefit and harm, the spread of both is the main point of concern. Or rather the disparity creates and the widening of gaps is of concern. There is always a cost benefit analysis for any dev.

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