Questões de Inglês

Functional specificity in the human brain: A window into the functional architecture of the mind

June 22, 2010

Nancy Kanwisher

  Understanding the nature of the human mind is arguably the greatest intellectual quest of all time. It is also one of the most challenging, requiring the combined insights not only of psychologists, computer scientists, and neuroscientists but of thinkers in nearly every intellectual pursuit, from biology and mathematics to art and anthropology. Here, I discuss one currently fruitful component of this grand enterprise: the effort to infer the architecture of the human mind from the functional organization of the human brain.

  The idea that the human mind/brain is made up of highly specialized components began with the Viennese physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828). Gall proposed that the brain is the seat of the mind, that the mind is composed of distinct mental faculties, and that each mental faculty resides in a specific brain organ. A heated debate on localization of function in the brain raged over the next century, with many of the major figures in the history of neuroscience weighing in (Broca, Brodmann, and Ferrier in favor, and Flourens, Golgi, and Lashley opposed). By the early 20th century, a consensus emerged that at least basic sensory and motor functions reside in specialized brain regions.

  The debate did not end there, however. Today, a century later, two questions are still fiercely contested. First, how functionally specialized are regions of the brain? The concept of functional specialization is not all or none but a matter of degree; a cortical region might be only slightly more engaged in one mental function than another, or it might be exclusively engaged in a single mental function. Many neuroscientists today challenge the strong (exclusive) version of functional specialization. As one visual neuroscientist put it, “each extrastriate visual area, rather than performing a unique, one-function analysis, is engaged, as are most neurons in the visual system, in many different tasks”.

  The second ongoing controversy concerns the question of whether only basic sensory and motor functions are carried out in functionally specialized regions, or whether the same might be true even for higher-level cognitive functions. Although one might think that Broca settled this matter with his demonstration that the left frontal lobe is specialized for aspects of language, the current status of this debate is far from clear. Indeed, a recent authoritative review of the brain-imaging literature on language concludes that “areas of the brain that have been associated with language processing appear to be recruited across other cognitive domains”. The case of language is not unique. Indeed, a backlash against strong functional specialization seems to be in vogue. A recent neuroimaging textbook argues that “unlike the phrenologists, who believed that very complex traits were associated with discrete brain regions, modern researchers recognize that … a single brain region may participate in more than one function”.

(www.pnas.org. Adaptado.)

Functional specificity in the human brain: A window into the functional architecture of the mind

June 22, 2010

Nancy Kanwisher

  Understanding the nature of the human mind is arguably the greatest intellectual quest of all time. It is also one of the most challenging, requiring the combined insights not only of psychologists, computer scientists, and neuroscientists but of thinkers in nearly every intellectual pursuit, from biology and mathematics to art and anthropology. Here, I discuss one currently fruitful component of this grand enterprise: the effort to infer the architecture of the human mind from the functional organization of the human brain.

  The idea that the human mind/brain is made up of highly specialized components began with the Viennese physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828). Gall proposed that the brain is the seat of the mind, that the mind is composed of distinct mental faculties, and that each mental faculty resides in a specific brain organ. A heated debate on localization of function in the brain raged over the next century, with many of the major figures in the history of neuroscience weighing in (Broca, Brodmann, and Ferrier in favor, and Flourens, Golgi, and Lashley opposed). By the early 20th century, a consensus emerged that at least basic sensory and motor functions reside in specialized brain regions.

  The debate did not end there, however. Today, a century later, two questions are still fiercely contested. First, how functionally specialized are regions of the brain? The concept of functional specialization is not all or none but a matter of degree; a cortical region might be only slightly more engaged in one mental function than another, or it might be exclusively engaged in a single mental function. Many neuroscientists today challenge the strong (exclusive) version of functional specialization. As one visual neuroscientist put it, “each extrastriate visual area, rather than performing a unique, one-function analysis, is engaged, as are most neurons in the visual system, in many different tasks”.

  The second ongoing controversy concerns the question of whether only basic sensory and motor functions are carried out in functionally specialized regions, or whether the same might be true even for higher-level cognitive functions. Although one might think that Broca settled this matter with his demonstration that the left frontal lobe is specialized for aspects of language, the current status of this debate is far from clear. Indeed, a recent authoritative review of the brain-imaging literature on language concludes that “areas of the brain that have been associated with language processing appear to be recruited across other cognitive domains”. The case of language is not unique. Indeed, a backlash against strong functional specialization seems to be in vogue. A recent neuroimaging textbook argues that “unlike the phrenologists, who believed that very complex traits were associated with discrete brain regions, modern researchers recognize that … a single brain region may participate in more than one function”.

(www.pnas.org. Adaptado.)

The Wristwatch Looks For a New Use

[1] Last year while writing about students entering their first year of college I made an interesting

observation: these newly commissioned freshmen don’t use wristwatches. In fact, the wristwatch is so

alien to this group of late teens that even the mere action of pointing to a wrist to ask someone the time

is akin to speaking an unfamiliar foreign language. (They use mobile phones and laptops to tell the time.)

[5] Equipped with this knowledge, 5 we could be led to believe that the wristwatch’s time is almost up and that

this piece of technology is destined for the same graveyard as vinyl records or the horse-drawn carriage.

Not so fast. A number of companies are hoping to offer a new product that can take over the real

estate of the wrist, and although these devices can tell the time, they can also go above and beyond the

old stem winder your grandfather likely owned.

[10] One watch that recently caused a lot of excitement online was the TikTok, a watch that uses an MP3

player as its internals. People seemed to flock to this device because of its slick design, and of course

because it had a little fashionable logo on the back.

Another watch that is currently being tested, called the Allerta inPulse, acts more like a computer than a

timepiece. This device is different because its creators hope programmers and developers will “hack” the

[15] watch, creating new applications or uses for it. The Allerta is expected to cost $150.

Eric Migicovsky, chief operating officer of Allerta, the maker of the new watch, said in an e-mail that he

hopes people will use the device as an extension to their mobile phones, where the watch can offer a

third screen of information without someone having to fumble for their phone in their pocket or purse.

Mr. Migicovsky said that installing apps on the new watch will be a simple process. “It’s possible to get up

[20] and run with inPulse within five minutes,” he said, noting that you don’t need to be a programmer or

developer to take advantage of the apps on the watch, but watch owners will have to rely on this

community to build new applications.

Some programmers are already using the new Allerta. One app offers the ability to control a music library

from this watch. Another becomes an extension of a smartphone and shows new e-mail messages

[25] and calendars on the phone through the watch’s display. And finally, a programmer recreated the popular

videogame Doom to be played on this new gadget.

Slightly adapted from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/the-wristwatch-looks-for-a-new-use/

The Wristwatch Looks For a New Use

[1] Last year while writing about students entering their first year of college I made an interesting

observation: these newly commissioned freshmen don’t use wristwatches. In fact, the wristwatch is so

alien to this group of late teens that even the mere action of pointing to a wrist to ask someone the time

is akin to speaking an unfamiliar foreign language. (They use mobile phones and laptops to tell the time.)

[5] Equipped with this knowledge, 5 we could be led to believe that the wristwatch’s time is almost up and that

this piece of technology is destined for the same graveyard as vinyl records or the horse-drawn carriage.

Not so fast. A number of companies are hoping to offer a new product that can take over the real

estate of the wrist, and although these devices can tell the time, they can also go above and beyond the

old stem winder your grandfather likely owned.

[10] One watch that recently caused a lot of excitement online was the TikTok, a watch that uses an MP3

player as its internals. People seemed to flock to this device because of its slick design, and of course

because it had a little fashionable logo on the back.

Another watch that is currently being tested, called the Allerta inPulse, acts more like a computer than a

timepiece. This device is different because its creators hope programmers and developers will “hack” the

[15] watch, creating new applications or uses for it. The Allerta is expected to cost $150.

Eric Migicovsky, chief operating officer of Allerta, the maker of the new watch, said in an e-mail that he

hopes people will use the device as an extension to their mobile phones, where the watch can offer a

third screen of information without someone having to fumble for their phone in their pocket or purse.

Mr. Migicovsky said that installing apps on the new watch will be a simple process. “It’s possible to get up

[20] and run with inPulse within five minutes,” he said, noting that you don’t need to be a programmer or

developer to take advantage of the apps on the watch, but watch owners will have to rely on this

community to build new applications.

Some programmers are already using the new Allerta. One app offers the ability to control a music library

from this watch. Another becomes an extension of a smartphone and shows new e-mail messages

[25] and calendars on the phone through the watch’s display. And finally, a programmer recreated the popular

videogame Doom to be played on this new gadget.

Slightly adapted from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/the-wristwatch-looks-for-a-new-use/

The Wristwatch Looks For a New Use

[1] Last year while writing about students entering their first year of college I made an interesting

observation: these newly commissioned freshmen don’t use wristwatches. In fact, the wristwatch is so

alien to this group of late teens that even the mere action of pointing to a wrist to ask someone the time

is akin to speaking an unfamiliar foreign language. (They use mobile phones and laptops to tell the time.)

[5] Equipped with this knowledge, 5 we could be led to believe that the wristwatch’s time is almost up and that

this piece of technology is destined for the same graveyard as vinyl records or the horse-drawn carriage.

Not so fast. A number of companies are hoping to offer a new product that can take over the real

estate of the wrist, and although these devices can tell the time, they can also go above and beyond the

old stem winder your grandfather likely owned.

[10] One watch that recently caused a lot of excitement online was the TikTok, a watch that uses an MP3

player as its internals. People seemed to flock to this device because of its slick design, and of course

because it had a little fashionable logo on the back.

Another watch that is currently being tested, called the Allerta inPulse, acts more like a computer than a

timepiece. This device is different because its creators hope programmers and developers will “hack” the

[15] watch, creating new applications or uses for it. The Allerta is expected to cost $150.

Eric Migicovsky, chief operating officer of Allerta, the maker of the new watch, said in an e-mail that he

hopes people will use the device as an extension to their mobile phones, where the watch can offer a

third screen of information without someone having to fumble for their phone in their pocket or purse.

Mr. Migicovsky said that installing apps on the new watch will be a simple process. “It’s possible to get up

[20] and run with inPulse within five minutes,” he said, noting that you don’t need to be a programmer or

developer to take advantage of the apps on the watch, but watch owners will have to rely on this

community to build new applications.

Some programmers are already using the new Allerta. One app offers the ability to control a music library

from this watch. Another becomes an extension of a smartphone and shows new e-mail messages

[25] and calendars on the phone through the watch’s display. And finally, a programmer recreated the popular

videogame Doom to be played on this new gadget.

Slightly adapted from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/the-wristwatch-looks-for-a-new-use/

The Wristwatch Looks For a New Use

[1] Last year while writing about students entering their first year of college I made an interesting

observation: these newly commissioned freshmen don’t use wristwatches. In fact, the wristwatch is so

alien to this group of late teens that even the mere action of pointing to a wrist to ask someone the time

is akin to speaking an unfamiliar foreign language. (They use mobile phones and laptops to tell the time.)

[5] Equipped with this knowledge, 5 we could be led to believe that the wristwatch’s time is almost up and that

this piece of technology is destined for the same graveyard as vinyl records or the horse-drawn carriage.

Not so fast. A number of companies are hoping to offer a new product that can take over the real

estate of the wrist, and although these devices can tell the time, they can also go above and beyond the

old stem winder your grandfather likely owned.

[10] One watch that recently caused a lot of excitement online was the TikTok, a watch that uses an MP3

player as its internals. People seemed to flock to this device because of its slick design, and of course

because it had a little fashionable logo on the back.

Another watch that is currently being tested, called the Allerta inPulse, acts more like a computer than a

timepiece. This device is different because its creators hope programmers and developers will “hack” the

[15] watch, creating new applications or uses for it. The Allerta is expected to cost $150.

Eric Migicovsky, chief operating officer of Allerta, the maker of the new watch, said in an e-mail that he

hopes people will use the device as an extension to their mobile phones, where the watch can offer a

third screen of information without someone having to fumble for their phone in their pocket or purse.

Mr. Migicovsky said that installing apps on the new watch will be a simple process. “It’s possible to get up

[20] and run with inPulse within five minutes,” he said, noting that you don’t need to be a programmer or

developer to take advantage of the apps on the watch, but watch owners will have to rely on this

community to build new applications.

Some programmers are already using the new Allerta. One app offers the ability to control a music library

from this watch. Another becomes an extension of a smartphone and shows new e-mail messages

[25] and calendars on the phone through the watch’s display. And finally, a programmer recreated the popular

videogame Doom to be played on this new gadget.

Slightly adapted from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/the-wristwatch-looks-for-a-new-use/