Eyebrow range

Just finished a quick nine holes and had my usual vodka grapefruit at the nineteenth hole. There are several TV's playing that ring the bar with the sound off on most. Watched an interview across the bar trying to concentrate on the left half of face of Geoff Shackleford, a very bright, good looking, articulate, young commentator and his right eyebrow kept jumping out at me. In trying to concentrate on the left half face my peripheral attention often notices more movement on the right not displayed on the left. Geoff's right eyebrow seems to raise earlier, more often and higher than the left. Most of the time the left eyebrow seems to be recruited based on his emphasis, later than the right, and dropped quicker.

From my perspective he is communicating with his right side of face and the left reflects what the right is doing when the stimulus is enough.

I have no real opinion on the range finders.

Left, Right and independent

Left, Right and different

I have had in the back of my mind (s) this short interview with Michael Gazzaniga. Very interesting throughout but what he says with approx 6 min and 20 secs left I found the most intriguing. That the right hemisphere in corpus callosum split patients can learn to talk after a long period of silence.

In the normal person the left right brain interaction the dominant side in order to achieve the one functional outcome suitable to the environment may have the preference of action.  Like the elephant's trunk specialization is needed for complex tasks so there is no need for the silent hemisphere to learn the task for itself. However in the split brain patient the silent hemisphere might have a greater independence and start to perceive the environment on it's own.

Still haven't bought his book.  Maybe today

A slap from left to right

Facial droop

In working with stroke patients one of the most obvious symptoms is facial droop on one side. Often swallowing is also affected.  If there is a common drive for this musculature and it was the only drive that mattered then facial droop or swallowing problems should not be seen if the vascular accident is in the non dominant hemisphere.  However I don't think that is the case.

In my own older movements of the left face, throat, sublingual musculature and tongue I do think that they are and were left hemisphere dominant (right side of face). My newer movements that feel strange and left sided are I think right hemisphere dominant. So back to the original point even if there is a common drive as referenced in the link below it can not be the only input that matters or there would not be seen the facial droop or swallowing problems expressed on the non dominant side.

How can I rectify the two ideas? It suggests to me that learned behaviors have a role and can be dominant over the left right wiring system. Does the common drive ladder itself over the input from the nondominant hemisphere?  There are weak at points in both that I do not have a good explanation for.

From my Disconnect post.

My gut feel is that my structures close to my midline are somehow more or less directed by the left hemisphere in my older more normal way of moving and still by far the usual if I am not paying attention.  In a study referred by the Doctor it suggests what I found in my own movement. (Evidence for bilateral innervation of certain homologous motoneurone pools in man L. J. Carr, Linda M. Harrison * and J. A. Stephens)

What it feels like is I have not learned to differentiate degrees of relaxation (inhibition) on my left facial, throat, sublingual musculature and the very recalcitrant left tongue. Sort of it's on or it's off in the case of a stroke, but the gradations of relaxation needed for coordination come the contralateral hemisphere.

common drive


1. Surface EMG recordings were made from left and right homologous muscle pairs in healthy adults. During each recording session subjects were requested to maintain a weak isometric contraction of both the left and right muscle. 2. Cross-correlation analysis of the two multiunit EMG recordings from each pair of muscles was performed. Central peaks of short duration (mean durations, 11.3-13.0 ms) were seen in correlograms constructed from multiunit EMG recordings obtained from left and right diaphragm, rectus abdominis and masseter muscles. No central peaks were seen in correlograms constructed from the multiunit EMG recordings from left and right upper limb muscles. 3. To investigate descending pathways to the homologous muscle pairs, the dominant motor cortex was stimulated using a focal magnetic brain stimulator whilst recording from homologous muscle pairs. 4. Following magnetic stimulation of the dominant motor cortex, a response was recorded from both right and left diaphragm, rectus abdominis and masseter muscles. In contrast, when recording from homologous upper limb muscles, a response was only seen contralateral to the side of stimulation. 5. The finding of short duration central peaks in the cross-correlograms constructed from multiunit recordings from left and right diaphragm, rectus abdominis and masseter, suggests that muscles such as these, that are normally co-activated, share a common drive. The mechanism is discussed and it is argued that the time course of the central correlogram peaks is consistent with the hypothesis that they could be produced by a common drive that arises from activity in last-order branched presynaptic fibres although presynaptic synchronization of last-order inputs is also likely to be involved. 6. The results of the magnetic stimulation experiments suggest that this common drive may involve the corticospinal tract. 7. We saw no evidence for a common drive to left and right homologous muscle pairs that may be voluntarily co-activated but often act independently.

Postural adjustments to half a head

Most of the time when I am watching the news I am trying to see the left side of the newsperson's head. Even though I can see it easier than before, when I check that against my memory image of that left newsperson it is still much easier to recall their right sided image.  The left side image is somehow incomplete. I see a head in my memory that includes all the right side and the beginning of the left at the crown and chin but by the mouth and eyes on the left a blur. When I switch to the left memory image it is much harder for me to put a reliable picture together but it is improving. Checking in on myself there is a different postural readiness to each side. In response to the right image is the normal old feel that I have had my whole life. With the left a much different still incomplete postural adjustment.

The normal right side response is much better in terms of the familiar and I have much more functional behaviors available but there is the warnings of overuse from my left lower back which seems to be on the edge of complaint. When I try and fully incorporate the left image postural adjustment the left lower back warnings quiet some but I am unable to maintain the response for a functional period.  The ability to access my left head musculature is improving and but the movements are still spastic and feel if they are fighting against resistance. The movements feel 'left' originated and are stronger than I could imagine.

More coffee please

I drink a great deal of coffee. It's always nice to see a study that promotes the health benefits of coffee even though I suspect the hidden hand of "The Coffee Industry".  The No Agenda Show does a great job at looking the behind the scenes production of our news, media, and information world that we live in. I think sometimes they are way off base but almost always offer something that makes far more sense to me than what is presented in the more mainstream sources of information.

Just for kicks googled caffeine acetylcholine interactions.

Caffeine/Acetylcholine Interactions

When you sleep, a natural sedative in your brain triggers a significant decrease in the acetylcholine levels in your central nervous system, the National Institute of Mental Health explains. Apparently, this drop in acetylcholine allows your brain to form the chemical associations that give you the ability to remember the individual words in your vocabulary. According to a 2008 study published in “Behavioral Brain Research,” when you drink caffeine, it can block the activity of the sedative that lowers your acetylcholine levels and trigger a subsequent abnormal increase in your central nervous system’s acetylcholine supply.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/517368-does-caffeine-enhance-acetylcholines-effect/

Caffeine is an alkaloid with a stimulant effect in the body. It can interfere in transmissions based on acetylcholine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine and glutamate. Clinical studies indicate that it can be involved in the slowing of Alzheimer disease pathology and some other effects. The effects are not well understood. In the present work, we focused on the question whether caffeine can inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and/or, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), the two enzymes participating in cholinergic neurotransmission. A standard Ellman test with human AChE and BChE was done for altering concentrations of caffeine.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3676818/

Much way over my head but in moderation may be the best course.

guys with too much time on their hands video below. (I should talk and or blog)

Coffee from tap

Social Rightness

I have always referred to myself as right handed  In fact I have been very inept with my left side in a myriad of ways where the right has only been average at best.  I now believe that I am not right handed but right oriented.  I see the 'rightness' of others and relate to it. That help develop the way I use my right hand. I do not think it was set in stone but a large push in the 'right' direction

Social rightness

“The more social the animal -- where cooperation is highly valued -- the more the general population will trend toward one side,” said Abrams, an assistant professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. “The most important factor for an efficient society is a high degree of cooperation. In humans, this has resulted in a right-handed majority.” -

Extreme speculation on the role of acetylcholine in my head

I have been noticing more and more micro facial movements in other people that are expressed on the right side of the head that are not expressed in others in their left side of head. This is a relatively new development for me. Sometimes the facial expressions seemingly start on the right side then seem to gravitate to the left with the left side expressed less fully. Occasionally the left expresses something different than the right. Most of the time the right seems to be the dominant player. I don't know why I could not see this before. I have the feeling that seeing the persona in other left side of head makes changes in the functional use of myself to a very limited degree but I have no idea how.

In the previous post there are several articles that mention the role of neurotransmitters in the brain of mammals and birds. Acetylcholine seems to have a role in visual discrimination and temporal changes in the brain.

These results suggest that acetylcholine serves the role of facilitating plastic changes in the sensory cortices that are necessary for an animal to refine its sensitivity to the temporal characteristics of relevant stimuli.

The role of visual cortex acetylcholine in learning to discriminate temporally modulated visual stimuli.


I wonder if by putting my attention in my left eye's positioning and to what it discriminates on the left side of others makes changes in the role of  my cortical acetylcholine use which is then expressed in a different use of my left facial and sublingual musculature control.

Just a link
"Humans have a tough enough time figuring out one another. We actually use two languages to communicate, through words and through facial expressions and sometimes they don't match."

I see the smile expressed best in the middle frame on his right side of lips third row down. My assumption is the three rows represent three levels of processing by the technique they are using.

During development of the kitten visual cortex, synaptic competition between thalamocortical afferents driven by each eye leads to synaptic rearrangements that are critical for the formation of ocular dominance columns. Deprivation of input from one eye during a critical period of cortical development interferes with these synaptic rearrangements and leads to inability of the affected eye to drive visual cortical cells even after vision has been restored

Morphogenetic roles of acetylcholine

Bestial tails

I am using the left side of my face, sublingual musculature, and throat in a seemingly more independent way from my right sided similar structures. There is more inclusion of the muscles on the left side of my head in a way that I never previously felt. However, my tongue is still the most undefined for some reason in it's left sided aspect. It often feels like it is moving in my play but then I switch to my right sided normal way of moving and it does not appear to be the same structure. I don't know why. I have been reticent to bring this point up because with a blog named My left tongue too it's sort of inherent in the name I know what I am talking about if I am correct.

I am also feeling more clearly the difference in seeing a persona existing in the left half of someone else. Again seeing someone left sided I feel changes how my body/posture relates to theirs. I normally relate right sided to right sided and when I 'see' the persona existing in the left there is a global postural shift in myself to put my left side in a subtle position of advantage.

Are there similar examples in the animal kingdom? Not exactly but maybe some hints.  Elephants that learn to lateralize trunk control to half their brain and monkeys who orofacial control is related to the Broca' area. Sea mammals that are able to stay awake with half their brains and dogs that wag their tails in different directions on how they perceive other dogs.

a few links

Whose monkey's uncle

Beached Beluga

Why do elephants have trunks

The dogs wag

Double dribblin

My daughter's boyfriend showed me a video of Steph Curry doing a two handed drill. I did not pick up on it at the time but it seems to be an ad for special training glasses. What interested me was his ability to use both his hands in completely different patterns of use. He uses both hands at different times for juggling the tennis ball and alternately dribbling the basketball. It reminds me of the two hands writing video of a girl writing two different languages at the same time.

 I often have trouble walking and chewing gum so the work on differentiating my left tongue doesn't seem to do anything for my coordination, but it does make me again wonder if my one sided dominance is a functional orientation rather than a structural impediment.


Jemblog

Baby flippin

A recent article article in Scientific American talks about the prime window in how we learn to speak. Baby talk again has it's place in developing speech in a certain time frame. What was interesting to me is the importance of social cuing in learning language. IMO I feel that the social cues on the right side of face in most people(the left visual field of the viewer) are more expressive than the left side of face(the right visual field of the viewer) which lead to a greater muscular control in my right side as a mimicker. The article talks about how infants' attention coalesce around often repeated sounds. I believe my visual attention coalesced around the right half of other's faces to the extent that I still really do not see the left half of a person's face unless I specifically look for it.

"The study provided evidence that learning for the infant brain is not a passive process. It requires human interaction-a necessity that I call "social gating"...The experience of a young child learning to talk, in fact, resembles the way birds learn song"

"These ideas about the social component of early language learning may also explain some of the difficulties encountered by infants who go on to develop such disorders such as autism. Children with autism lack basic interest in speaking. Instead they fixate on inanimate objects and fail to pay attention to social cues so essential in language learning."

'Social gating' sounds similar to open instinct to me.

A recent discussion on Democracy Now( turn off sound if not interested in discussion) has Andrew Bacevich, scholar and retired soldier, discussing recent political events. It appears evident to me that he has more visual cues displayed on the right half of his face than the left. As an infant I think there would have been more connections to be made with and mimicked that would help establish the dominance of the one cerebral hemisphere. It would also suggest that my trying to learn to perceive and use my 'left tongue' is a lot larger and probably more difficult than I had originally thought.

Antibiotics and chronic back pain

I worked in a hospital that did many complicated back surgeries. Some surgeries lasted ten hours or more then had a second procedure scheduled. Many times the operations did not seem to help in the long run.

This article on antibiotics and back pain I found interesting.