"Aside from Tourette's, brain injuries, strokes, dementia , seizures and many other forms neurological damage can usher the onset of coprolalia as well. It is known to be caused by brain dysfunction, but the details are, as yet, hazy. One hypothesis, described by psychologist Timothy Jay in his book "Why We Curse" (John Benjamins Pub Co. 2000), suggests that it's caused by damage to the amygdala, a region of the brain that normally mitigates anger and aggression. Because cursing is a form of verbal aggression, amygdala damage could result in the inability to control aggression, including verbal aggression, or cursing."
http://www.livescience.com/33384-tourette-syndrome-people-curse-uncontrollably.html

I don't think I've ever seen gracilis muscles in a television commercial before.

As much as these things involuntarily stimulate the amygdala, I'd rather they not be so easily accessible on television. I have concerns about my boys' perspectives and expectations of women becoming perverted.

P.S. If anyone tries that sandwich, let me know how it goes. It looks pretty tasty, and I'm glad they're offering an un-battered, un-fried fish sandwich.

i just did a presentation in genetics that touched on the control loop for fear between the cingulate and amygdala, and how the response gets clamped down in some people and in others.... welll..... AHHH!!!

Alas for the field of rational science - it has been hijacked by biased politically motivated cretins. Climate science has been utterly lost, and not content with besmirching that branch alone, the trogs are moving into neurology?

A slightly larger amygdala has been associated with complex social interaction and the ability to move more information into long term memory. Whoopeedoo. The anterior cingulate cortex is associated with error detection, which is nothing more than a simple cognitive function. Again - whoopeedoo. A person with a huge anygdala can have excellent error detection, and just because someone has a bigger ACC doesn't necessarily mean they can perform higher thought for squat.

To imply from this study that Democrats are all complex thinkers and that Republicans don't think at all is in and of itself proof of quite the opposite. Only someone being driven by their basest, most fearful emotions could possibly believe such Gobbelesque tripe. Whatever brains believe that sort of flawed interpretation are certainly NOT being driven by complex thought.

On the other hand, having a larger than average Amygdala appears to be very helpful in forming social networks.

http://healthland.time.com/2010/12/28/how-to-win-friends-have-a-big-amygdala/?xid=rss-topstories

The hypocrisy is conflating homosexuality with morality.

We could go back and forth for years over which side has the biggest hypocrites. 'Last week' it was Weiner.

It is not immoral to be gay.

Though I believe homosexuality is genetic, it's still a matter of sexuality, which requires temperance by a moral code, laws, religion, or best out of three (ha).

It is immoral to demonize the way God made you.

A serial killer could argue that since he naturally has a shrunken amygdala, a common trait among serial killers and thus the way nature made him, he shouldn't be judged for killing, at least not by the same standards as a mafia hit man.

The cartoon is about the general failings of the left when it comes to having moral standards, a byproduct of framing every argument as rich versus poor instead of right versus wrong.

>> ^mgittle:

@Winstonfield_Pennypacker Your enlarged right amygdala isyou've labeled "warmies".


look at what volumptous said. This is really the pot that called out the kettle.

@Winstonfield_Pennypacker Your enlarged right amygdala is showing.

Even so, I agree that the discussion is often "is it occuring?" rather than "are humans affecting climate?", which is a problem.

Also, it would be cool if you didn't saturate your posts with ad hominem attacks. If you have a good point to make, you don't need to add the equivalent of "warmies", "bozo", etc. to every post you ever make. As for people calling you an idiot being the same thing...well...at least they're attacking you personally rather than some nebulous group you've labeled "warmies".

Ah yes, the "unbiased" brain story. http://rockinconservative.com/2011/04/12/a-tale-of-two-brains/

I"m too lazy to formulate my own words at this time, so I found someone with words that match my sentiments:

I believe people have rights to legally designate in contract law who can visit them in hospitals, who can be named as insurance beneficiaries and the raft of other considerations sought for gay and lesbian couples. Call the arrangement civil unions if you wish.

But that's not the same as defining any union a marriage.

My fear — based on secular, more than religious precepts — is that watering down marriage could eventually rob society of the stabilizing and other beneficial effects of an institution now relentlessly under attack. Perhaps this argument is too ethereal to be grasped or accepted in an age of radical individualism. But it's an argument that is understood by plenty of Americans willing to state it, although it puts them in danger of being painted as haters.

--Dennis Byrne


Where I disagree with Byrne is that this nightmare world is wrought by "radical individualism". It's the herd, the mob, the petty tyrants, behind these farcical ideas.


>> ^bareboards2:

“Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior Cingulate Cortex – a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger Amygdala, an almond shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.”
So @<a rel="nofollow" href="http://videosift.com/member/quantumushroom" title="member since June 22nd, 2006" class="profilelink">quantumushroom, next time you feel a strongly conservative stance coming on, you might consider teasing out what is irrational fear versus a well-founded fear. And maybe, just maybe, try some critical and thoughtful analysis of the situation.
You know, like, considering science.
Why ARE you so afraid of gays and lesbians? And please don't say you aren't -- every time you trot out that 4% number, you are broadcasting "fear of the other."

“Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior Cingulate Cortex – a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more likely to have a larger Amygdala, an almond shaped area that is associated with fear and anxiety.”

So @quantumushroom, next time you feel a strongly conservative stance coming on, you might consider teasing out what is irrational fear versus a well-founded fear. And maybe, just maybe, try some critical and thoughtful analysis of the situation.

You know, like, considering science.

Why ARE you so afraid of gays and lesbians? And please don't say you aren't -- every time you trot out that 4% number, you are broadcasting "fear of the other."

I removed this post because while it is science, it's pretty low on quality info. Notably the amygdala is misspelled "amigdala".

Also some major oversimplification going on....and the cortex bit is either too confusing or straight-up wrong.

I haven't watched the video yet, but GeeSussFreek's comment prompted me to reply. I don't want to sound mean, but most of GSF's comment is gobbledygook. Words like "experience" and "consciousness" need to be thrown out of the discussion unless you not only rigorously define them but also prove that they apply to humans. If you define them simply as "what human minds do" (which is what you have done in your talk of experiencing the color blue) then all you have is a tautology.

The problem with the man in the box thought experiment is as gwiz665 pointed out. First, you can't just assume such a translation book would be possible. If such a book did exist, if the book allowed for fluent conversation on arbitrary topics, then the man-plus-book system would indeed possess understanding of the language. Saying the man doesn't have understanding of the language is like dividing a brain into the amygdala, hypothalamus, etc and saying of any piece that it doesn't possess understanding of language--it's true but doesn't prove anything other than that intelligence isn't infinitely divisible into smaller pieces of the same. Just like water isn't infinitely divisible into smaller pieces of water, eventually you find the individual pieces are made out of some other kind of stuff.

A simple thought experiment shows that AI is not only possible, but with computers that process information the same as today's. The brain is made out of matter, which obeys the laws of quantum mechanics, which we can simulate on today's hardware. A computer that is sufficiently fast could simulate the fertilization of a human egg and its development into a full grown adult. Running the simulation in real time and providing it with the appropriate input signals(a pair of video cameras for vision, etc), the adult would be just as intelligent or self-aware as you or me. In fact, any words like "experience" or "consciousness" you use to talk about you or me would apply equally to our simulated person. By starting the simulation at the fertilization of the egg, it doesn't even require any knowledge about how the brain works. But, since it is unlikely that the brain directly relies on quantum phenomena, with sufficient knowledge of the cellular and chemical structure of the brain you could simulate it at that level instead and get the same results on hardware that is many orders of magnitude slower. The only way to refute this line of reasoning is to relegate the mind to some supernatural phenomenon, but at that point you're believing in magic and all bets on meaningful conversation are off.

>> ^westy:
racism seems absurd to me , How anyone could be religious/racist is beyond me i guess its pore education and lack of critical thinking that allows these mental desises to persist.


Actually it's physical.

The amygdala experiences increased activity when faces of a different race are observed. This is exemplified in multiple studies, the landmark of which is this one: http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190212

Basically the brain triggers a "fight or flight" response when seeing a person of a race other than one's self. This is hardwired through evolution.

^Wrong again, my friend. I never mentioned that I thought you were a marijuana user. I was referring to other comments made by... potheads. I'm sorry if you felt wrongly accused.

Do you need citations? Okay, here:

A 2007 study by the Canadian government found cannabis smoke contained more toxic substances than tobacco smoke. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7150274.stm

Cannabis use has been assessed by several studies to be correlated with the development of anxiety, psychosis and depression.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118739270/abstract?C
RETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Links between long-term use and incidence of heart attacks, strokes, as well as abnormalities in the amygdala and hippocampus regions of the brain.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/05/13/pot-stroke.html

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews
/story/CTVNews/20080602/marijuana_effects_080602/20080602?hub=Health

It has been estimated by the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention that over 140 million people worldwide use marijuana. Their study has shown that marijuana is the second most common drug found in the bloodstream of those who have suffered fatal injuries.
http://www.ehow.com/about_4688712_harmful-effects-marijuana.html

Medical Marijuana? The National Multiple Sclerosis Society states that there is no convincing evidence that marijuana provides any health benefits for those with MS.
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/index.aspx

Legalization advocates point to marijuana's many claimed health benefits, such as the possible reduction of cancerous tumor growths, decrease in the number of spasms in Parkinson's and epilepsy patients, and that it is useful in the treatment of wasting syndrome caused by AIDS. However, in a study conducted by the Institute of Medicine in 1999, it was concluded that there is no medical value attached to marijuana in the treatment of these conditions. It is the belief of the British Medical Association that due to these widespread misconceptions, the public has been fooled into believing that marijuana is safe to use, when in actuality its effects have been proven harmful to health.
http://www.iom.edu/CMS/3775/5608/14066.aspx

In 1982, the National Academy of Sciences conducted a study on the health effects of marijuana on the body. The study spanned a period of 15 months, and in its closing statement says, "...the scientific evidence published to date indicates that marijuana has a broad range of psychological and biological effects, some of which, at least under certain circumstances, are harmful to a person's health."
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/nas/AMPMenu.htm

...and one of my favorites:
One study that was published in 'Neurology,' conducted by Dr. Lambros Messinis, neurologist for University Hospital of Patras in Greece, concluded that the longer a person used marijuana, the greater the deterioration of their cognitive abilities such as their ability to remember important facts and their ability to learn new things.
http://www.neurology.org/cgi/reprint/67/10/1902
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/426691/marijuana_again_
tied_to_memory_problems/

>> ^videosiftbannedme:
I remember catching an episode of The New Candid Camera (late 1990's) and the setup was this: they had taken over an ice cream shop and put a sign on the register apologizing for not being able to give change. Then someone would come in, order two cones, hand them $5 and Allen Funt, Jr. would put the money in the till, shut the drawer and wait. As you can all see where this is going, people wanted their change and he kindly explained that they don't give change. And of course people were getting upset.
All except one guy.
He comes in, pays for his cone, doesn't get his money back and stands there calmly eating his cone. Funt Jr., not seeing any reaction, tries to assuage the guy by explaining that they don't give change. "Cool..." the guys says. Funt Jr. tries again to provoke a reaction. Nothing. So finally he breaks down, admits to the guy that it's Candid Camera, they caught him, yuk yuk yuk, etc. Intrested, Funt Jr. pursues the guy in his questioning, asking why he didn't get upset. And to this day, I'll never forget what the customer's answer was:
"Yeah, I don't let stuff like that rent space in my head." Fucking brilliant. Because that's what stuff like this does. It just rents space in your head. Until the next thing comes along.
Be smarter than the drama. Leave it on the stage where it belongs.


Don't let the amygdala rule your mind. It will make bad decisions for you. What you first feel in reaction to something is not always the right feeling, step out of yourself, and so as to make better decisions.