Christopher deCharms looks inside the brain

You are going to view a presentation from Ted.com.

Neuroscientist and inventor Christopher deCharms demonstrates a new way to use to show brain activity — thoughts, emotions, pain — while it is happening. In other words, you can actually see how you feel.

1. Questions:

Just from the introduction, what is he talking about?

Would you like people to look inside your brain?

2. Please review the Vocab & Phrases in this text.

a royal wave

mimic

envision

shrink it down

inject it into

the bloodstream

the arteries

collapsed

milliseconds

pattern

the therapist’s couch

pills

the knife

Chronic pain

flex your bicep (to flex )

shock

endogenous opiates

3. Because of the speed in his speech please read the text BEFORE listening. Read out loud.

Christopher deCharms looks inside the brain.

Hi. I’m going to ask you to raise your arms and wave back, just the way I am –kind of a royal wave.

You can mimic what you can see. You can program the hundreds of muscles in your arm. Soon, you’ll be able to look inside your brain and program, control the hundreds of brain areas that you see there. I’m going to tell you about that technology.

People have wanted to look inside the human mind, the human brain, for thousands of years. Well, coming out of the research labs just now, for our generation, is the possibility to do that. People envision this as being very difficult. You had to take a spaceship, shrink it down, inject it into the bloodstream. It was terribly dangerous. (Laughter) You could be attacked by white blood cells in the arteries. But now, we have a real technology to do this.

We’re going to fly into my colleague Peter’s brain. We’re going to do it non-invasively using MRI. We don’t have to inject anything. We don’t need radiation. We will be able to fly into the anatomy of Peter’s brain — literally, fly into his body — but more importantly, we can look into his mind. When Peter moves his arm, that yellow spot you see there is the interface to the functioning of Peter’s mind taking place. Now you’ve seen before that with electrodes you can control robotic arms, that brain imaging and scanners can show you the insides of brains. What’s new is that that process has typically taken days or months of analysis. We’ve collapsed that through technology to milliseconds, and that allows us to let Peter to look at his brain in real time as he’s inside the scanner. He can look at these 65,000 points of activation per second. If he can see this pattern in his own brain, he can learn how to control it.

There have been three ways to try to impact the brain: the therapist’s couch, pills and the knife. This is a fourth alternative that you are soon going to have. We all know that as we form thoughts, they form deep channels in our minds and in our brains. Chronic pain is an example. If you burn yourself, you pull your hand away. But if you’re still in pain in six months’ or six years’ time, it’s because these circuits are producing pain that’s no longer helping you. If we can look at the activation in the brain that’s producing the pain, we can form 3D models and watch in real time the brain process information, and then we can select the areas that produce the pain. So put your arms back up and flex your bicep.

Now imagine that you will soon be able to look inside your brain and select brain areas to do that same thing. What you’re seeing here is, we’ve selected the pathways in the brain of a chronic pain patient. This may shock you, but we’re literally reading this person’s brain in real time. They’re watching their own brain activation, and they’re controlling the pathway that produces their pain. They’re learning to flex this system that releases their own endogenous opiates. As they do it, in the upper left is a display that’s yoked to their brain activation of their own pain being controlled. When they control their brain, they can control their pain. This is an investigational technology, but, in clinical trials, we’re seeing a 44 to 64 percent decrease in chronic pain patients.

This is not “The Matrix.” You can only do this to yourself. You take control. I’ve seen inside my brain. You will too, soon. When you do, what do you want to control? You will be able to look at all the aspects that make you yourself, all your experiences. These are some of the areas we’re working on today that I don’t have time to go into in detail. But I want to leave with you the big question. We are the first generation that’s going to be able to enter into, using this technology, the human mind and brain. Where will we take it?

 Time 4:00

4. You are going to watch a full presentation.

This listening is for general comprehension. Please try to take notes.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_time.html

Comprehension Questions: (look to the text if necessary)

1. Before this new technique what were the three ways to impact the brain?

2. What does the yellow spot in the image signify?

3. What happens as we form thoughts?

4. DeCharms says that “when you control your brain, you can control _____   _____ “

5. Discussion

Do you like this idea?

When we control our own minds, what will we do?

Think of some ideas you can do with the following: (from the video)

Choice, free will, joy, fear, pain, vision, brilliance, truth, love.

Think of a positive and a negative response to:

Where will we take this technology?

Some applications of this technology?

6. Post class work

This presentation from Ted.com is available with subtitles and we suggest listening 1 time with subtitles and then another time with the English transcript on the right hand side.

Email question: How many points of activation are there? What can they watch in real time?

7.Using new vocabulary

Please use the vocab from sections 1 & 2 in the following sentences:

Group 1

mimic, envision, to shrink, to inject into, the bloodstream, the arteries.

1. The new budget needs to ________ economic support ________ the labour market to create new jobs.

2. Last week in the hospital they injected a blue dye into my ____________ and looked at the condition of my _________  .

3. The robot hand ________ the movement of a real hand.

4. The new jobs market ___________ dramatically this month.

5. Analysts ___________ that the economy will take 3 more years to recover.

Group 2

milliseconds, pattern, the therapist’s couch, pills, the knife, chronic,

to flex, shock, to collapse.

1.I am beginning to see a __________ in these numbers.

2. I usually avoid taking medical ______, if at all possible.

3. My uncle sometimes suffers from ________ migraines.

4. After the fire, the building eventually ____________ under its own weight.

5. New Yorkers spend a lot of time on _________________ talking about “their issues”.

6. In a photo finish it was decided that he had won the race by 2 ___________ .

7. I am in __________ , I can’t believe that she actually said that!!!

8. Could you pass me the _________, I want to cut the cake.

9. We need to ________ our mussels and show them what we can do !

8.Using the new vocab, discuss the following statements:

a). We are beginning to merge computer interfaces with humans?

b). We shouldn’t play with human nature.

c). A perfect world in not possible.

9. Post Class Revision for the week after.

1. A verb that means to contract, to tighten and loosen.
2. A tablet to make you feel better.
3. The flow of blood around the body.
4. A repeated sequence in a design or mathematical equation.
5. A part of a second.
6. To image someone could happen.
7. To copy the actions or behavior of a person or thing.
8. A type of sofa you use to talk about your problems.
9. Severe or acute adjective.
10. The feeling of surprise or fear.
11. A tool for cutting.
12. To decrease in volume or size.
13. To introduce into an entity or body with an instrument or tool.
14. Large veins.
15. To fall down