James Brody
December 31st, 2005, 03:04 PM
Kirschner & Gerhard (2005) provide great detail about exploratory systems in angiogenesis, immune systems, and a wide array of other organizations. Even David Buss commented once on exploratory systems when he referred to calluses: use your hand and calluses grow so long as you continue that use. They then fold up.
A similar process appears to characterized neurons: violinists have more cortex devoted to their hands for so long as they practice. Anorectic individuals view a hamburger as larger. And probably a guy into porn has more of his neurons involved in viewing smut, neurons that will bitch if he gives up the habit.
Kauffman's language applies: emergent systems discover self interest when they find resources. And my love for riding the bike or, for that matter, my obsession about exploratory systems, cares little for my other responsibilities.
The following item in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is consistent with exploration. The interesting question becomes the extent to which genes modify environments and environments modify structures orchestrated by genes and the means that produce those outcomes. A metaphor: we drive on an Interstate in one manner when there is no trooper, another manner when we see one. And genes that do not recognize environments and find routes around them would not be with us long!
(A second implication: the drug houses will soon give us pills that manage blues in someone who just got dumped!)
Happy New Year!
JimB
PNAS | November 22, 2005 | vol. 102 | no. 47 | 17237-17240
OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE
PSYCHOLOGY
Early experience in humans is associated with changes in neuropeptides critical for regulating social behavior
Alison B. Wismer Fries, Toni E. Ziegler, Joseph R. Kurian, Steve Jacoris and Seth D. Pollak
Edited by William T. Greenough, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL and approved September 20, 2005 (received for review June 7, 2005)
The formation of social attachments is a critical component of human relationships. Infants begin to bond to their caregivers from the moment of birth, and these social bonds continue to provide regulatory emotional functions throughout adulthood. It is difficult to examine the interactions between social experience and the biological origins of these complex behaviors because children undergo both brain development and accumulate social experience at the same time. We had a rare opportunity to examine children who were reared in extremely aberrant social environments where they were deprived of the kind of care-giving typical for our species. The present experiment in nature provides insight into the role of early experience on the brain systems underlying the development of emotional behavior. These data indicate that the vasopressin and oxytocin neuropeptide systems, which are critical in the establishment of social bonds and the regulation of emotional behaviors, are affected by early social experience. The results of this experiment suggest a potential mechanism whose atypical function may explain the pervasive social and emotional difficulties observed in many children who have experienced aberrant care-giving. The present findings are consistent with the view that there is a critical role for early experience in the development of the brain systems underlying basic aspects of human social behavior.
A similar process appears to characterized neurons: violinists have more cortex devoted to their hands for so long as they practice. Anorectic individuals view a hamburger as larger. And probably a guy into porn has more of his neurons involved in viewing smut, neurons that will bitch if he gives up the habit.
Kauffman's language applies: emergent systems discover self interest when they find resources. And my love for riding the bike or, for that matter, my obsession about exploratory systems, cares little for my other responsibilities.
The following item in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is consistent with exploration. The interesting question becomes the extent to which genes modify environments and environments modify structures orchestrated by genes and the means that produce those outcomes. A metaphor: we drive on an Interstate in one manner when there is no trooper, another manner when we see one. And genes that do not recognize environments and find routes around them would not be with us long!
(A second implication: the drug houses will soon give us pills that manage blues in someone who just got dumped!)
Happy New Year!
JimB
PNAS | November 22, 2005 | vol. 102 | no. 47 | 17237-17240
OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE
PSYCHOLOGY
Early experience in humans is associated with changes in neuropeptides critical for regulating social behavior
Alison B. Wismer Fries, Toni E. Ziegler, Joseph R. Kurian, Steve Jacoris and Seth D. Pollak
Edited by William T. Greenough, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL and approved September 20, 2005 (received for review June 7, 2005)
The formation of social attachments is a critical component of human relationships. Infants begin to bond to their caregivers from the moment of birth, and these social bonds continue to provide regulatory emotional functions throughout adulthood. It is difficult to examine the interactions between social experience and the biological origins of these complex behaviors because children undergo both brain development and accumulate social experience at the same time. We had a rare opportunity to examine children who were reared in extremely aberrant social environments where they were deprived of the kind of care-giving typical for our species. The present experiment in nature provides insight into the role of early experience on the brain systems underlying the development of emotional behavior. These data indicate that the vasopressin and oxytocin neuropeptide systems, which are critical in the establishment of social bonds and the regulation of emotional behaviors, are affected by early social experience. The results of this experiment suggest a potential mechanism whose atypical function may explain the pervasive social and emotional difficulties observed in many children who have experienced aberrant care-giving. The present findings are consistent with the view that there is a critical role for early experience in the development of the brain systems underlying basic aspects of human social behavior.