Any Neuroscience Majors here /sci/? Undergraduate or Graduate people welcome.
What research are you working on right now? I'm currently doing some Behavioral Research concerning Vagus Nerve Stimulation combined with auditory discrimination tests. Nothing wet, but dealing with rats for 11 hours a week is surprisingly relaxing.
>>7734773
im doing BCI
>>7735419
BCI in humans to facilitate human-machine mediated communication (fmri)
nothing novel yet, we're working on making it work, optimizing the procedure. We're running participants next month so we still have a bit to go before any results
If you have any reading/lecture recommendations on understanding neural networks and relevant mathematics please do share, my background is from a completely different side and we practically didnt cover these topics at all. Its quite impressive how interdisciplinary work is in neuroscience
>>7734773
Instead of talking about the research, lets talk about your future suicide pending your career prospects
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2011_11_18/caredit.a1100128
>>7735466
OK, I don't know how much math you know, but here are some books that I read as an undergrad in Biophysics just out of curiosity:
>understanding neural networks
1) "Theoretical Neuroscience" (Dayan + Abbott): Undergrad level, assumes some elementary knowledge of differential equations and linear algebra.
2) "Mathematical Neuroscience" (Ermentrout + Terman): Graduate level, will teach you some dynamical systems theory, assumes basic partial differential equations knowledge.
3) "Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms": Undergrad level, assumes some knowledge of probability and algorithms.
>relevant mathematics
1) Differential Equations (incl. elementary bifurcation theory)
- "Differential Equations, Dynamical Systems and an Introduction to Chaos"
- "Ordinary Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems"
- "Invitation to Dynamical Systems"
2) Probability Theory / Math Stats
- "Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes With Applications" (Knill)
- "Statistical Theory" (Gentle)
>>7734773
Psych taking neuro emphasis.
Wish my school offered a full major
>>7735545
You can always self-study a bit. My favorite book for pleasure reading is 'Principles of Neural Science'. If you're serious about neuroscience, I would highly recommend it.
>>7734773
I'm a postdoc in a developmental EEG lab. This is my second postdoc. Love the research but eeg analysis takes forever. I plan to do another year of my postdoc and then I'll be well positioned for jobs.
>>7735576
>developmental EEG
I must confess I'm not well-versed in those kinds of experiments. Can you briefly exposit on them?
>>7735580
We test children and adults with typical and atypical neurodevelopment to see how attention and perception change over the course of development. The presence or absence of specific ERPs in different stimulus contexts tell us about the mechanisms of attn and their interaction with perception and cognition. This knowledge can impact detection and intervention methods.
>>7735545
I'm also a psych major since there was no neuroscience major available. I love my relatively large school but I am very disappointed in the amount of classes on neuroscience available.
Hell this next semester is the first time they'll have a Neuropsychology available in the time I've been attending. But since I'll be taking: O chem 2, calculus, physiology and research experience, I just don't think I could handle it as well.
>>7735595
Interesting. I read a paper once suggesting that the local connectivity in the PFC and FC don't shift to a mature pattern until fairly late in development, which is one reason for the shorter attention span of children. Have you observed any interesting differences between the sexes in this respect?
>>7735610
We haven't found many strong sex differences, but its always something we check. But the idea that connectivity between regions (perhaps as modules) is changing over development is central to our research, particularly in the case of autism, where we see hyperconnectivity followed by extensive neural pruning in adolescence.
>>7734773
>Any Neuroscience Majors here /sci/?
No. Neuroscience majors are smart enough to know that if their degree has the term 'science' right in the title then they are not a real science.
Unfortunately this is a lesson that Computer Scientists have too low of an IQ to even comprehend.
>>7735618
>hyperconnectivity followed by extensive neural pruning in adolescence
Interesting. That explains the high sensitivity of autistic children to stimuli - presumably the hyperconnectivity "amplifies" sensory signals - why do you think that some autistic children are far more sensitive to certain stimuli than others?
One hallmark of autism is repetitive behavior. When performing one of these repetitive behavior, is there less activity in sensory areas of the brain than when observing a novel stimulus or performing a novel task (e.g autistic child prefers to flap hands - what happens when he is asked to clap?)
>>7735642
3/10 is the best I can give you, but thanks for the bump!
>>7735647
Yes exactly. People with autism have trouble integrating stimuli from multiple sensory modalities. Instead of binding an audio with a visual stimulus, they perceive two separate stimuli, which can be understandably overwhelming. Autism is so heterogeneous though, it's really difficult to make predictions that apply to all.
Regarding repetitive behavior, that's a good question. My understanding is that repetitive behavior helps them process information because it introduces predictability. But I don't know if it attenuates sensory activity. Interesting thought.
>>7735517
>>7735466
If you're still around, do you feel like these are within your comfort zone? If not I can recommend some free texts on the prerequisites for these things.
>>7735661
>Autism is heterogeneous
Good point. Have you observed any salient distinction between HFA/AS people and more severely autistic ones? That is, to HFA/AS people have roughly the same differences, but to a lesser extent, or are they distinct from neurotypicals in different ways?
>>7735576
>I'm a postdoc in a developmental EEG lab. This is my second postdoc. Love the research but eeg analysis takes forever. I plan to do another year of my postdoc and then I'll be well positioned for jobs.
how old are you? Do you regret doing research/going for an academic career? Have you been insecure financially, or did it work out? I've heard a lot of horror stories about phd's and postdocs being basically underpaid slaves who cohabit and eat ramen to make it through the month. How bad is it overall?
>>7735891
Im 30. Financially it hasn't been too bad, DINK and all. I don't feel like a slave but i do know without me the lab would fall apart. If only my salary reflected that!
I'm a little burnt out on academia at this point. I want to make more money and I feel that i can make a contribution in ways other than the tenure track. There's do much competition for jobs it's discouraging at times. I just started a consulting gig that will hopefully turn into something stable.
