Category Archives: Nevrofysiologi

Excellent lecture by Adrian Owen in The Norwegian Academy of Science And Letters, October 7, 2014

The lecture hall of the Norwegian Academy of Science And Letters in Oslo was filled with scientists, philosophers, clinicians (MDs, psychologists) and others when Dr. Adrian Owen presented his outstanding research on consciousness in an excellent lecture: «Using Functional Neuroimaging to Detect Awareness After Serious Brain Injury».

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Professor Adrian Owen lecturing in Oslo: «Using Functional Neuroimaging to Detect Awareness After Serious Brain Injury»

The lecture was followed by questions and discussion, including a panel discussion with Adrian Owen, Olav Gjelsvik (philosophy, University of Oslo), Johan Storm (neurophysiology, University of Oslo), and Marianne Løvstad (clinical neurophysiology, Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital/Oslo University Hospital, Oslo).

 

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Panel discussion with (from left) Adrian Owen, Olav Gjelsvik (philosophy, University of Oslo), Johan Storm (neurophysiology, University of Oslo), and Marianne Løvstad (clinical neurophysiology, Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital /OUS, Oslo).
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Panel discussion

 

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Professor Nils Christian Stenseth (Biology, University of Oslo, leader of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters), opened the Meeting.

As before, this open meeting was hosted jointly by the Forum for Consciousness Research and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

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Arian Owen in conversation with Johan F. Storm.
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Adrian Owen in conversation with Marianne Løvstad.

 

Large turnout and brilliant lecture by Giulio Tononi April 4, 2014.

The largest lecture hall in Litteraturhuset was over-filled with people when Giulio Tononi gave a brilliant lecture about his research on consciousness and his Integrated Information Theory at Litteraturhuset in Oslo. It was an open meeting hosted by the Forum for Consciousness Research and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Professor Nils Christian Stenseth, leader of the  Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, opens the Meeting.
Professor Nils Christian Stenseth, leader of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, opens the Meeting.

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Giulio Tononi (left) with professors Dagfinn Føllesdal (philosophy, UiO and Stanford:; middle) and Jens Erik Fenstad (mathematics, UiO; right) before Tononi’s lecture.
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Panel discussion with Dagfinn Føllesdal and Sebastian Watzl (both philosophy; left), Giulio Tononi, and Jens Erik Fenstad (mathematics; right).Yes_DSC_0077[1]_Tononi på talerstolen-fjern
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Johan F. Storm chaired the meeting and panel discussion with Giulio Tononi, Dagfinn Føllesdal (philosophy; left), Jens Erik Fenstad (mathematics; right), Bruno Laing (psychology; half hidden).
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Lecture on sleep by G. Tononi and C Cirelli, 4 April 2014

Guest Lecture by:

Giulio Tononi and Chiara Cirelli, University of Wisconsin:

Sleep and the price of plasticity

Time:   Friday, 4 April, 14.30-15.30 Place:    Auditorium 13, Domus Medica, Gaustad,

Inst. of Basal Medical Sciences (IMB), University of Oslo

 

Giulio Tononi is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist (MD, PhD). He is currently Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, David P. White Chair in Sleep Medicine and is a Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science. He has previously held faculty positions in Pisa, New York, San Diego.

Dr. Tononi and collaborators have pioneered several complementary approaches to study sleep.

Chiara Cirelli (MD, PhD, Pisa, Italy) is currently Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she moved in 2001. In 1994-2000 she was Fellow of The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, California.

The research in Dr. Cirelli’s laboratory aims at understanding the function of sleep and clarifying the functional consequences of sleep loss. Her team uses a combination of different approaches, from genetics in fruit flies to whole-genome expression profiling in invertebrates and mammals, to behavioral and EEG analysis in mice and rats.

The research of Tononi and Cirelli include genomics, proteomics, fruit fly models, rodent models employing multiunit / local field potential recordings in behaving animals, in vivo voltammetry and microscopy, high-density EEG recordings and transcranial magnetic stimulation in humans, and large-scale computer models of sleep and wakefulness. This research has led to a comprehensive hypothesis on the function of sleep, the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis. According to the hypothesis, wakefulness leads to a net increase in synaptic strength, and sleep is necessary to reestablish synaptic homeostasis. The hypothesis has implications for understanding the effects of sleep deprivation and for developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to sleep disorders and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Another focus of Dr. Tononi’s work is the integrated information theory of consciousness: a scientific theory of what consciousness is, how it can be measured, how it is realized in the brain and, of course, why it fades when we fall into dreamless sleep and returns when we dream. The theory is being tested with neuroimaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and computer models. In 2005, Dr. Tononi received the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for his work on sleep mechanism and function, and in 2008 he was made the David P. White Chair in Sleep Medicine and is a Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science.           (Sources: http://tononi.psychiatry.wisc.edu/people/cirelli.html; Wikipeia, PubMed etc.)

Some selected papers on sleep by Tononi and Cirelli

  • Tononi G, and Cirelli C. Sleep and the price of plasticity: from synaptic and cellular homeostasis to memory consolidation and integration. Neuron, 81(1):12-34, 2014.
  • Bushey D, Tononi G, Cirelli C. Sleep and synaptic homeostasis: structural evidence in Drosophila. Science, 332(6037):1576-1581, 2011
  • Maret S, Faraguna U, Nelson AB, Cirelli C, Tononi G. Sleep and wake modulate spine turnover in the adolescent mouse cortex. Nat Neurosci., 14(11):1418-20, 2011.
  • Gilestro GF, Tononi G, Cirelli C. Widespread changes in synaptic markers as a function of sleep and wakefulness in Drosophila. Science, 324:109-12, 2009.
  • Vyazovskiy VV, Cirelli C, Pfister-Genskow M, Faraguna U, Tononi G. Molecular and electrophysiological evidence for net synaptic potentiation in wake and depression in sleep. Nature Neuroscience, 11:200-8, 2008
  • Cirelli C, Gutierrez CM, Tononi G. Extensive and divergent effects of sleep and wakefulness on brain gene expression. Neuron 41: 35-43, 2004

 Welcome!

Johan F. Storm,

On behalf of Forum for Consciousness Rearearch

 

Giulio Tononi gave tutorial on Integrated Information Theory in Oslo, April 4th

On April 4th 2014, 11.oo-13.45, Dr. Giulio Tononi gave a tutorial on his Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness at the Department of Physiology, IMB, University of Oslo. The tutorial was attended by 25 students, researchers, and professors from different disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, basal and clinical neurophysiology, neurology, mathematics, statistics, biochemistry/molecular biology, medicine, and evolutionary biology.

 

Large turnout and brilliant lecture by Stanislas Dehaene in Oslo / Godt oppmøte på foredrag av Dehaene

Av: Olve Moldestad, Johan F. Storm

Large turnout and brilliant lecture by Stanislas Dehaene in Oslo

There was a large turnout when Dr. Stanislas Dehaene  gave a brilliant lecture about his research on consciousness at Litteraturhuset in Oslo, in an open meeting hosted by the Forum for Consciousness Research and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The lecture hall was over-filled.

Sammen med Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, arrangerte forum for bevissthetsforskning et åpent møte med professor i kognitiv psykologi Stanislas Dehaene den 6. november. Mer en 150 deltakere møtte opp for å høre ham snakke om sin forskning på bevissthet. 

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Mer en 150 hadde møtt opp for å høre Stanislas Dehaene (foto: Olve Moldestad).

Dehaene holdt et foredrag om en serie eksperimenter han har gjort med sine samarbeidspartnere som forsøker å beskrive de endringene som skjer i hjernen når forsøkspersonene blir oppmerksom på ny informasjon. Forsøkene benytter små endringer i de eksperimentelle betingelsene som kan avgjøre om de samme stimuli blir registrert eller ikke. Det er, for eksempel, små endringer i hvor lenge et stimulus blir presentert for forsøkspersonene. Forskningen benytter EEG, fMRI og MEG for å studere endringer i hjernes aktivitet under disse eksperimentene.

Møtet ble holdt på Litteraturhuset 6. november 2013 (foto: Olve Moldestad).
Møtet ble holdt på Litteraturhuset 6. november 2013 (foto: Olve Moldestad).

Resultatene fra Dehaenes forskning indikerer at bevissthet er forbundet med global økning i sen synkronisert aktivitet (en cortical “antenning”) som er spredt over mange corticale områder. Sammen med sine medarbeidere har han utviklet en teori om et globalt nevronalt arbeidsminne eller -område i hjernen. I denne teorien er opplevelsen av bevissthet knyttet til tilgjengeligheten av informasjon i store nettverk i hjernen av pyramide-nevroner med langedistanse aksoner.

Foredraget ble etterfulgt av en debatt ledet av Visepreses Nils Chr. Stenseth, og i panelet satt professor i nevrofysiologi Johan F. Storm, førsteamanuensis i psykologi Thomas Espeseth, post. doc. i filosofi Sebastian Watzl sammen med professor i kognitiv psykologi Stanislas Dehaene.

Visepreses Nils Chr. Stenseth (ytterst til høyre) ledet debatten under møtet (foto: Olve Moldestad).
Visepreses Nils Chr. Stenseth (ytterst til høyre) ledet debatten under møtet (foto: Olve Moldestad).
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I panelet satt (fra venstre) professor i nevrofysiolog Johan F. Storm, førsteamanuensis i psykologi Thomas Espeseth, post. doc. i filosofi Sebastian Watzl og professor i kognitiv psykologi Stanislas Dehaene (foto: Olve Moldestad).