How Brain Works. Minicolumn Hypothesis. Consciousness. Neurotransmitters and Drugs. Human Evolution. Transhumanism and Other Materials.

Как работи мозъкът. Хипотезата за миниколоните в неокортекса като градивен елемент на разума. Съзнание. Еволюция на човека. Трансхуманизъм. Класическо кондициониране и други интересни материали.

Some cited from Boris Kazachenko's knols, pointed by himself or commenters, some suggested by me, browsing around.

• 
  На български, бърз курс за работата на мозъка и допълнителни връки в моята лекция от курса по Универсален изкуствен разум (Brain Architecture): 
  
  http://research.twenkid.com/agi/Brain_Architecture_22_4_2010.pdf
  
  
• The brain from top to bottom -  comprehensive, well-structured and well explained in short linked articles - check it out! 
  
  http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/index_i.html
  
  Как работят наркотиците, как наркотиците въздействат на невротрансмитерите и невроните в мозъка (анимирано)
  How drugs work, how drugs affect neurons (animated):
  How drugs affect neurotransmitters:
  
  http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_03/i_03_m/i_03_m_par/i_03_m_par_alcool.html#drogues
  
  

• The minicolumn hypothesis in neuroscience:
  
  http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/125/5/935
  
  See also, though: Confusing cortical columns, Pasko Rakic* :  
  
  http://www.pnas.org/content/105/34/12099.full

• 
  Функционални различия между лявото и дясното полукълбо на мозъка:
  Left and Right hemisphere functional differences of the brain:
  
  The Split Brain - Revisited, By Michael S. Gazzaniga
  About 35 years ago in Scientific American, I wrote about dramatic new studies of the brain.
  
  http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~phils4/splitbrain.pdf

• ASD (Autistic spectrum disorder) as a Developmental Disorder - A Suggested Neurological Underpinning
  
  http://a-shade-of-grey.blogspot.com/2007/06/asd-as-developmental-disorder-suggested.html
  
  
•  Partially enhanced thalamocortical functional connectivity in autism
  
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6SYR-4KBVWWG-6&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=15fe0f3f8ff41c1068ee8fe1ac0a4fd0

• Teenage Brain: A work in progress (Fact Sheet)
  
  http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/teenage-brain-a-work-in-progress-fact-sheet/index.shtml
  
  
•  Competing for Consciousness:  A Darwinian Mechanism at an Appropriate Level of Explanation, By William H. Calvin
  
  http://williamcalvin.com/1990s/1998JConscStudies.htm
  
  
• Human neurophysiology: a student text By Oliver Holmes
  
  http://books.google.com/books?id=ql4VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA197&lpg=PA197&dq=neocortex+myelination+age+sequence&source=bl&ots=csg_LPPfSY&sig=ruo4Acyh2GZBrVDvC-I5daA-xyU&hl=en&ei=LGESSoTIPJiu8QSH7aSQBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#v=onepage&q=neocortex%20myelination%20age%20sequence&f=false
  
  
  Other materials
  
  Accelerating Future: Transhumanism, AI, nanotechnology, the Singularity, and extinction risk:
  
  http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/category/ai/
  
  
• Leonid Perlovsky's works, Dynamic Logic, Knowledge Instinct, Neural modeling fields
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Perlovskyhttp://www.leonid-perlovsky.com/research.htm#tki
  
  
  
• Classical Conditioning experiment with a baby, taught to be afraid of rats, eventually any furry objects. Displays also stimulus generalization. Immoral, but interesting:
  

  Little Albert experiment:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Albert_experiment

• Human Evolution:

  http://www.evolution-of-man.info/
  

• Obstetrical Dilemma:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstetrical_Dilemma
  
  --> bigger the brain/head of proto-human baby
  --> harder birth and dependent on help from others (obstetrician)
  --> shorter the pregnancy in order the baby to get ouf of the mother's pelvis
  --> more immature newborn baby
  --> more underdeveloped brain of the baby (20-25% fully developed, vs 45-50% in chimps)
  --> baby is more dependent on mother's care for a longer time
  --> mother is dependent on others' carе
  --> family, division of labour, society
  
  "Акушерската дилема" в еволюцията на човека
  
  --> по-голям мозък/глава на бебетата на еволюционните предци на човека
  --> по-тежки раждания и зависимост от чужда помощ (акушерки)
  --> по-кратка бременност, за да може бебето да се промуши през тазобедрената става на майка си
  --> по-недоразвито новородено
  --> по-недоразвит мозък (20-25% напълно развит при човека, докато 45-50% при шимпанзетата)
  --> бебето е по-зависимо от грижите на майка си за по-дълъг период
  --> майката е по-зависима от грижите на другите
  --> семейство, разделение на труда, общество
  
  
• Brain development and the female pelvis
  
  http://www.evolution-of-man.info/pelvis.htm
  
  

Enjoy!