Category archives: Neurobiology

Siblings and discapacity

Siblings and discapacity

NeurobiologyPsychology

By José Ramón Alonso

The relationship between siblings is, for most people, the longest they will ever enjoy. It is fundamental for many of us, but especially for children, who live together regularly with their brother or sister, and where the fraternal relationship is part of daily life, of play and leisure, of learning basic skills, of emotional development […]

Glutein-free and casein-free diet in autism

Glutein-free and casein-free diet in autism

HealthNeurobiologyNeuroscience

By José Ramón Alonso

Families with members with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are easy prey for scam artists who offer them magical solutions and therapies not backed by science. Many of these pseudotherapies are included in the so-called alternative medicine, a misnomer because they are not medical treatments and do not meet the same criteria required of a medicine: […]

Nature versus nurture: how modern science is rewriting it

Nature versus nurture: how modern science is rewriting it

EvolutionGeneticsNeurobiology

By Invited Researcher

The question of whether it is genes or environment that largely shapes human behaviour has been debated for centuries. During the second half of the 20th century, there were two camps of scientists – each believing that nature or nurture, respectively, was exclusively at play. This view is becoming increasingly rare, as research is demonstrating […]

Recognition of emotions by people with autism

Recognition of emotions by people with autism

Neurobiology

By José Ramón Alonso

Emotion recognition is the process of identifying human emotions. This is something that humans do automatically but computational methodologies have also been developed. Humans show universal consistency in recognizing emotions but also show a great deal of variability between individuals in their abilities. Whether persons with autism are able to recognize human emotions as well […]

The bodyguard

The bodyguard

EthologyNeurobiology

By José Ramón Alonso

Ladybugs are beautiful beetles and many present what is called an aposematic coloration, bright and striking colors that warn: do not eat me, I am dangerous. When they are disturbed, they defend themselves with legs and jaws, expel a poison and their brightly colored elytra with black dots are a warning to anyone who tries […]

Bad companies

Bad companies

BiologyEthologyNeurobiology

By José Ramón Alonso

Forming large groups (flocks, banks, swarms, herds, schools, …) is characteristic of many species. The generally accepted idea is that it is an adaptive process, in which the individual improves its chances of survival by being part of a numerous group. A shark does not know which fish to attack in a sardine bank and […]

Controlling visually guided behavior with holographic optogenetics

Controlling visually guided behavior with holographic optogenetics

NeurobiologyNeuroscience

By DIPC

Cortical neurons often fire together as a group, rather than independently, and these coactive groups, also known as neuronal ensembles (or chains, assemblies, attractors, clicks, motifs, songs, bumps, etc.), could constitute emergent functional units of the brain, as modular building blocks of memories, thoughts, motor programs, computations, or perceptual or mental states. In order to […]