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Neuroscience Of Rhythm
The neuroscience of rhythm refers to the various forms of rhythm generated by the central nervous system (CNS). Nerve cells, also known as neurons in the human brain are capable of firing in specific patterns which cause oscillations. The brain possesses many different types of oscillators with different periods. Oscillators are simultaneously outputting frequencies from .02 Hz to 600 Hz. It is now well known that a computer is capable of running thousands of processes with just one high-frequency clock. Humans have many different clocks as a result of evolution. Prior organisms had no need for a fast-responding oscillator. This multi-clock system permits quick response to constantly changing sensory input while still maintaining the autonomic processes that sustain life. This method modulates and controls a great deal of bodily functions. Autonomic rhythms The autonomic nervous system is responsible for many of the regulatory processes that sustain human life. Autonomic ...
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Central Nervous System
The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain, spinal cord and retina. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all parts of the bodies of bilateria, bilaterally symmetric and triploblastic animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and Coelenterata, diploblasts. It is a structure composed of nervous tissue positioned along the Anatomical_terms_of_location#Rostral,_cranial,_and_caudal, rostral (nose end) to caudal (tail end) axis of the body and may have an enlarged section at the rostral end which is a brain. Only arthropods, cephalopods and vertebrates have a true brain, though precursor structures exist in onychophorans, gastropods and lancelets. The rest of this article exclusively discusses the vertebrate central nervous system, which is radically distinct from all other animals. Overview In vertebrates, the brain and spinal ...
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Central Pattern Generator
Central pattern generators (CPGs) are self-organizing biological neural circuits that produce rhythmic outputs in the absence of rhythmic input. They are the source of the tightly-coupled patterns of neural activity that drive rhythmic and stereotyped motor behaviors like walking, swimming, breathing, or chewing. The ability to function without input from higher brain areas still requires modulatory inputs, and their outputs are not fixed. Flexibility in response to sensory input is a fundamental quality of CPG-driven behavior. To be classified as a rhythmic generator, a CPG requires: # "two or more processes that interact such that each process sequentially increases and decreases, and # that, as a result of this interaction, the system repeatedly returns to its starting condition." CPGs are found in humans and most other vertebrates, and in some invertebrates. Physiology CPG neurons CPG neurons can have different intrinsic membrane properties (see schematic). Some neurons ...
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Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or just plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through neurogenesis, growth and reorganization. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize and rewire its neural connections, enabling it to adapt and function in ways that differ from its prior state. This process can occur in response to learning new skills, experiencing environmental changes, recovering from injuries, or adapting to sensory or cognitive deficits. Such adaptability highlights the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of the brain, even into adulthood. These changes range from individual neuron pathways making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping or neural oscillation. Other forms of neuroplasticity include homologous area adaptation, cross modal reassignment, map expansion, and compensatory masquerade. Examples of neuroplasticity include neural circuit, circuit and network changes that result fr ...
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Zebra Finch
The zebra finches are two species of estrildid finch in the genus ''Taeniopygia'' found in Australia and Indonesia. They are seed-eaters that travel in large flocks. Species The species are: Previously, both species were classified as a single species, the zebra finch (''T. guttata''). However, they were split by the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International in 2016. The International Ornithological Congress followed suit in 2022 based on studies noting differences in plumage, mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ... divergence, and assortative mating between both species in captivity. The zebra finch was first captured in 1801 during Nicolas Baudin's Baudin expedition to Australia, expedition to Australia. The Indonesian species was Scientific descripti ...
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Computational Neuroscience
Computational neuroscience (also known as theoretical neuroscience or mathematical neuroscience) is a branch of  neuroscience which employs mathematics, computer science, theoretical analysis and abstractions of the brain to understand the principles that govern the development, structure, physiology and cognitive abilities of the nervous system. Computational neuroscience employs computational simulations to validate and solve mathematical models, and so can be seen as a sub-field of theoretical neuroscience; however, the two fields are often synonymous. The term mathematical neuroscience is also used sometimes, to stress the quantitative nature of the field. Computational neuroscience focuses on the description of biologically plausible neurons (and neural systems) and their physiology and dynamics, and it is therefore not directly concerned with biologically unrealistic models used in connectionism, control theory, cybernetics, quantitative psychology, machine le ...
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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that region also increases. The primary form of fMRI uses the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) contrast, discovered by Seiji Ogawa in 1990. This is a type of specialized brain and body scan used to map neuron, neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals by imaging the change in blood flow (hemodynamic response) related to energy use by brain cells. Since the early 1990s, fMRI has come to dominate brain mapping research because it does not involve the use of injections, surgery, the ingestion of substances, or exposure to ionizing radiation. This measure is frequently corrupted by noise from various sources; hence, statistical procedures are used to extract the underlying si ...
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Supplementary Motor Area
The supplementary motor area (SMA) is a part of the motor cortex of primates that contributes to the control of movement. It is located on the midline surface of the hemisphere just in front of (anterior to) the primary motor cortex leg representation. In monkeys, the SMA contains a rough map of the body. In humans, the body map is not apparent. Neurons in the SMA project directly to the spinal cord and may play a role in the direct control of movement. Possible functions attributed to the SMA include the postural stabilization of the body, the coordination of both sides of the body such as during bimanual action, the control of movements that are internally generated rather than triggered by sensory events, and the control of sequences of movements. All of these proposed functions remain hypotheses. The precise role or roles of the SMA is not yet known. For the discovery of the SMA and its relationship to other motor cortical areas, see the main article on the motor cortex. Subre ...
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Basal Ganglia
The basal ganglia (BG) or basal nuclei are a group of subcortical Nucleus (neuroanatomy), nuclei found in the brains of vertebrates. In humans and other primates, differences exist, primarily in the division of the globus pallidus into external and internal regions, and in the division of the striatum. Positioned at the base of the forebrain and the top of the midbrain, they have strong connections with the cerebral cortex, thalamus, brainstem and other brain areas. The basal ganglia are associated with a variety of functions, including regulating voluntary motor control, motor movements, procedural memory, procedural learning, habituation, habit formation, conditional learning, eye movements, cognition, and emotion. The main functional components of the basal ganglia include the striatum, consisting of both the dorsal striatum (caudate nucleus and putamen) and the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens and olfactory tubercle), the globus pallidus, the ventral pallidum, the substa ...
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Jessica Grahn
Jessica Adrienne Grahn is an American music neuroscientist. She is the director of the Human Cognitive and Sensorimotor Core of the University of Western Ontario's Brain and Mind Institute. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Grahn was named to the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Early life and education Grahn completed her degrees in Neuroscience and Piano Performance from Northwestern University and her PhD from the University of Cambridge. Grahn was awarded the 2001 Gates Cambridge Scholarship to study in England. Career Grahn left the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge in 2010 when she was offered a position at the University of Western Ontario (UWO). At UWO, she established the Neuroscience and Music Lab at the Brain and Mind Institute with assistance from the Canada Foundation for Innovation Leaders Opportunity Fund in 2012. She also received an Ontario Early Researcher Award to "make ...
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Afferent Nerve Fiber
Afferent nerve fibers are axons (nerve fibers) of sensory neurons that carry sensory information from sensory receptors to the central nervous system. Many afferent projections ''arrive'' at a particular brain region. In the peripheral nervous system, afferent nerve fibers are part of the sensory nervous system and arise from outside of the central nervous system. Sensory and mixed nerves contain afferent fibers. Structure Afferent neurons are pseudounipolar neurons that have a single process leaving the cell body dividing into two branches: the long one towards the sensory organ, and the short one toward the central nervous system (e.g. spinal cord). These cells do have sensory afferent dendrites, similar to those typically inherent in neurons. They have a smooth and rounded cell body located in the ganglia of the peripheral nervous system. Just outside the spinal cord, thousands of afferent neuronal cell bodies are aggregated in a swelling in the dorsal root known a ...
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Efferent Nerve Fiber
Efferent nerve fibers are axons (nerve fibers) of efferent neurons that exit a particular region. These terms have a slightly different meaning in the context of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS). The efferent fiber is a long process projecting far from the neuron's body that carries nerve impulses away from the central nervous system toward the peripheral effector organs (muscles and glands). A bundle of these fibers constitute an efferent nerve. The opposite direction of neural activity is afferent conduction, which carries impulses by way of the afferent nerve fibers of sensory neurons. In the nervous system, there is a "closed loop" system of sensation, decision, and reactions. This process is carried out through the activity of sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons. In the CNS, afferent and efferent projections can be from the perspective of any given brain region. That is, each brain region has its own unique set of affe ...
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Muscle Memory
Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning. When a movement is repeated over time, the brain creates a long-term muscle memory for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed with little to no conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems. Muscle memory is found in many everyday activities that become automatic and improve with practice, such as riding bikes, driving motor vehicles, playing ball sports, typing on keyboards, entering PINs, playing musical instruments, poker, martial arts, swimming, dancing, and drawing. History The origins of research for the acquisition of motor skills stem from philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle and Galen. After the break from tradition of the pre-1900s view of introspection, psychologists emphasized research ...
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