Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream (32 page)

[>]
 
When we hear someone call our name:
R.A.A. Campbell and A. J. King, "Auditory neuroscience: a time for coincidence?"
Current Biology
14, R886–88 (2004).
"
Incredibly, we can detect ITDs":
G. D. Pollak, "Model hearing,"
Nature
417, 502–3 (2002).
The cochlea is no passive spiral cavity:
The following discussion of the auditory system derives from a personal communication with A. James Hudspeth, January 31, 2005; D. K. Chan and A. J. Hudspeth, "Ca
²⁺
current-driven nonlinear amplification by the mammalian cochlea in vitro,"
Nature Neuroscience
8, 149–55 (2005); and C. Kros, "Aid from hair force,"
Nature
433, 810–11 (2005).

[>]
 
In 2005, scientists scanned the brains:
David J. M. Kraemer et al., "Sound of silence activates auditory cortex,"
Nature
434, 158–59 (2005).

[>]
 
When a French scientist, Gil Morrot:
G. Morrot et al., "The color of odors,"
Brain and Language
79:2, 309–20 (2001).
In one study, researchers placed monkeys:
J. M. Groh et al., "Eye position influences auditory responses in primate inferior colliculus,"
Neuron
29, 509–18 (2001).
Similarly, scientists have found:
Emiliano Macaluso, "Modulation of human visual cortex by crossmodal spatial attention,"
Science
289, 1206–8 (2000).

[>]
 
Jay Gottfried and his colleagues:
J. A. Gottfried et al., "Remembrance of odors past: human olfactory cortex in crossmodal recognition memory,"
Neuron
42, 687–95 (2004).

3. WIT

[>]
 
Though your senses are taking in:
T. Norretranders,
The User Illusion
(New York: Viking, 1998), cited in Timothy Wilson, "The adaptive unconscious: knowing how we feel," talk delivered at the Medical Center Hour, University of Virginia School of Medicine, January 21, 2004.
"
We actually only see those aspects":
J. Kevin O'Regan,
Research Interests,
November 2003, at
http://nivea.psych0.univ-paris5.fr/T0pPage/Researchlnterests.html,
retrieved July 5, 2005; see also'S. Yantis, "To see is to attend,"
Science
299, 54–55 (2003).

[>]
 
This is the phenomenon demonstrated:
S. Clifasefi et al., "The effects of alcohol on inattentional blindness,"
Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology,
DOI: 10.1002/acp. 12222 (2006).

[>]
 
Francis Crick and Christof Koch suggest:
F. Crick and C. Koch, "A framework for consciousness,"
Nature Neuroscience
6, 119–26 (2003).
Imagine this challenge:
C. Sergent et al., "Timing of the brain events underlying access to consciousness during the attentional blink,"
Nature Neuroscience
8:10, 1391–99 (2005); René Marois, "Two-timing attention,"
Nature Neuroscience
8:10, 1285–86 (2005).

[>]
 
The answer depends ... on your interval timer:
Information on the interval timer is taken from R. B. Ivry and R.M.C. Spencer, "The neural representation of time,"
Current Opinion in Neurobiology
14, 225–32 (2004); personal communication with Richard Ivry, October 2006.
interval timing has no dedicated sensors:
Ivry and Spencer, "The neural representation of time," 225; personal communication with Richard Ivry, October 2006.
the brain may judge intervals:
Catalin V. Buhusi and Warren H. Meek, "What makes us tick? Functional and neural mechanisms of interval timing,"
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
6, 755–65 (2005); V. Pouthas and'S. Perbal, "Time perception depends on accurate clock mechanisms as well as unimpaired attention and memory processes,"
Acta Neurobiolo-giae Experimentalis
64, 367–85 (2004); Uma R. Karmarka and Dean V. Buonomano, "Temporal specificity of perceptual learning in an auditory discrimination task,"
Learning and Memory
10, 141–47 (2003).

[>]
 
Temperature may toy with this clock:
H. Woodrow, "Time perception," in'S. S. Stevens, ed.,
Handbook of Experimental Psychology
(New York: John Wiley, 1951), 1224–36.
When participants in one study were asked:
N. Marmaras et al., "Factors affecting accuracy of producing time intervals,"
Perceptual and Motor Skills
80, 1043–56 (1995).

[>]
To quantify just how efficiently:
J. Rubinstein et al., "Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching,"
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
27:4, 763–97 (2001); see also M. A. Just et al., "Interdependence of non-overlapping cortical systems in dual cognitive tasks,"
Neurolmage
14, 417–26 (2001).
study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
"Breakthrough research on real-world driver behavior released," NHTSA press release, April 20, 2006.

[>]
 
Imaging studies by the Shaywitzes and others:
B. A. Shaywitz et al., "Disruption of posterior brain systems for reading in children with developmental dyslexia,"
Biological Psychiatry
52, 101–10 (2002); P. E. Turkeltaub, "Development of neural mechanisms for reading,"
Nature Neuroscience
6, 767–73 (2003); P. G. Simos et al., "Dyslexia-specific brain activation profile becomes normal following successful remedial training,"
Neurology
58, 1203–13 (2002).

[>]
 
Studies show that alertness and memory:
L. Hasher et al., "It's about time: circadian rhythms, memory, and aging," in C. Izawa and N. Ohta, eds.,
Human Learning and Memory: Advances in Theory and Application
(Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005), 199–217.
Most of us are sharpest:
Mary Carskadon, "The rhythm of human sleep and wakefulness," paper presented at the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms annual meeting, 2002.
For early risers, then, concentration tends to peak:
Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman,
Rhythms of Life
(London: Profile Books, 2004), 11.
Mary Carskadon, a chronobiologist:
Carskadon, "The rhythm of human sleep and wakefulness"; M. Carskadon et al., "Adolescent sleep patterns, circadian timing, and sleepiness at a transition to early school days,"
Sleep
21:8, 871–81 (1998); M. Carskadon, ed.,
Adolescent Sleep Patterns
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
How well you do at a given mental task:
H.P.A. Van Dongen and D. F. Dinges, "Circadian rhythms in fatigue, alertness, and performance," in M. H. Kryger et al.,
Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine,
3rd ed. (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 2000), 391–99.
"
Time-of-day effects are intriguing":
Tim Salthouse, personal communication, January 28, 2005.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh tested:
T. H. Monk et al., "Circadian rhythms in human performance and mood under constant conditions,"
Journal of Sleep Research
6:1, 9–18 (1997).

[>]
 
On the flip side, researchers at Harvard:
K. P. Wright et al., "Relationship between alertness, performance, and body temperature in humans,"
American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology
283, R1370–77 (2002).
Two mental functions may be particularly susceptible:
Hasher et al., "It's about time"; L. Hasher et al., "Inhibitory control, circadian arousal, and age," in D. Gopher and A. Koriat, eds.,
Attention and Performance, XVII: Cognitive Regulation of Performance: Interaction of Theory and Application
(Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999), 653–75.
Because inhibition is particularly difficult:
C. P. May, "Synchrony effects in cognition: the costs and a benefit,"
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
6:1, 142–47 (1999).
Memory, too, may fluctuate:
S. Folkard and T. H. Monk, "Time of day effects in immediate and delayed memory," in M. M. Gruneberg et al., eds.,
Practical Aspects of Memory
(London: Academic Press, 1988), 142–68.
older adults tend to experience:
Hasher et al., "It's about time."

[>]
 "
It may not be a beautiful animal":
The following discussion on Kandel's life and work comes from Eric Kandel, "The molecular biology of memory storage: a dialogue between genes and synapses,"
Science
294, 1030–38 (2001); Kandel, personal communication, January 24, 2005; Eric Kandel, "Toward a biology of memory," presentation at the University of Virginia, January 28, 2005.

[>]
researchers at the University of Houston:
Lisa C. Lyons et al., "Circadian modulation of complex learning in diurnal and nocturnal Aplysia,"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
102, 12589–94 (2005); see also R. I. Fernandez et al., "Circadian modulation of long-term sensitization in Aplysia,"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
100, 14415–20 (2003).

4. THE TEETH OF NOON

[>]
Alessandro Benedetti asserted:
Quoted in "History of the Stomach and Intestines,"
www.stanford.edu/class/history13/earlysciencelab/body/stomachpages/stomachcolonintestines.html.
Not long ago, two Swiss researchers:
Marianne Regard and Theodor Landis, "Gourmand syndrome: eating passion associated with right anterior lesions,"
Neurology
48, 1185–90 (1997).

[>]
 
A recent neuroimaging study found:
A. Del Parigi et al., "Sex differences in the human brain's response to hunger and satiation,"
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
75:6, 1017–22 (2002).
When endocrinologists at Harvard:
Michael K. Badman and Jeffrey'S. Flier, "The gut and energy balance: visceral allies in the obesity wars,"
Science
307, 1901–14 (2005); see also Stephen C. Woods, "Gastrointestinal Satiety Signals I: an overview of gastrointestinal signals that influence food intake,"
American Journal of Physiology: Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology
286, G7–13 (2004).

[>]
 
Two brain regions read this soup:
The following is from a personal communication with David Cummings, August 14, 2006.
Researchers lately confirmed that the arcuate nucleus:
Roger D. Cone, "Anatomy and regulation of the central melanocortin system,"
Nature Neuroscience
8:5, 571–78 (2005).
One of the star players:
M. Nakazato et al., "A role for ghrelin in the central regulation of feeding,"
Nature
409, 194–98 (2001); D. E. Cummings et al., "A preprandial rise in plasma ghrelin levels suggests a role in meal initiation in humans,"
Diabetes
50, 1714–19 (2001).
Volunteers injected with ghrelin:
Y. Date et al., "The role of the gastric afferent vagal nerve in ghrelin-induced feeding and growth hormone secretion in rats,"
Gastroenterology
123:4, 1120–28 (2002).
David Cummings and his colleagues ... see ghrelin:
D. E. Cummings et al., "Ghrelin and energy balance: focus on current controversies,"
Current Drug Targets
6:2, 153–69 (2005).

[>]
 
When the researchers measured:
D. E. Cummings et al., "A preprandial rise in plasma ghrelin levels."

[>]
 "
The empty stomach, however":
This and all following quotes are from a personal communication with David Cummings, August 14, 2006.
Certain hormones oppose the actions:
Information on leptin comes from Heike Munzberg and Martin G. Myers Jr., "Molecular and anatomical determinants of central leptin resistance,"
Nature Neuroscience
8:5, 566–70 (2005); Michael K. Badman and Jeffrey'S. Flier, "The gut and energy balance."
intake exceeds expenditure:
M. Bajzer and R. J. Seeley, "Obesity and gut flora,"
Nature
444, 1009 (2006).
Leptin has worked as a therapy:
Personal communication with Jeffrey Flier, July 20, 2006.
during neonatal development:
J. K. Elmquist and J. S. Flier, "The fat-brain axis enters a new dimension,"
Science
304, 63–64 (2004); R. B. Simerly et al., "Trophic action of leptin on hypothalamic neurons that regulate feeding,"
Science
304, 108–10 (2004); Shirly Pinto et al., "Rapid rewiring of arcuate nucleus feeding circuits by leptin,"
Science
304, 110–15 (2004); personal communication with Jeffrey Flier, July 20, 2006.

[>]
 
In 2005, William Carlezon and a team:
William Carlezon et al., "Antidepressant-like effects of uridine and omega-3 fatty acids are potentiated by combined treatment in rats,"
Biological Psychiatry
54:4, 343–50 (2005).
A likely explanation for this effect:
This explanation and the following quotes are from a personal communication with William Carlezon, October 2006.

[>]
 
Carlezon's finding bolsters earlier research:
Joseph R. Hibbeln, "Fish consumption and major depression,"
Lancet
351, 1213 (1998).
"
This work provides more evidence":
" Food ingredients may be as effective as antidepressants," press release, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, February 10, 2005.
Another study suggests:
S. A. Zmarzty et al., "The influence of food on pain perception in healthy human volunteers,"
Physiology and Behaviour
62:1, 185–91 (1997).
eating chocolate may create a positive mood:
K. Räikkönen et al., "Sweet babies: chocolate consumption during pregnancy and infant temperament at six months,"
Early Human Development
76, 139–45 (2004).