18 October 2007

Blood May Help Us Think

Another nail in the coffin of simple dualisms?
"'Many lines of evidence suggest that blood does something more interesting than just delivering supplies. If it does modulate how neurons relay signals, that changes how we think the brain works.'"

In other words this is another piece of evidence to suggest that the physiological dimensions of thinking are whole-body related. In turn this is nicely consonant with Biblical/Hebraic approaches to anthropology which see humans whole rather than as partite.
However, don't push it too far:
How could blood flow affect brain activity? Blood contains diffusible factors that could leak out of vessels to affect neural activity, and changes to blood volume could affect the concentration of these factors. Also, neurons and support cells called glia may react to the mechanical forces of blood vessels expanding and contracting. In addition, blood influences the temperature of brain tissue, which affects neural activity.
They're not proposing blood 'thinks' as such.

ScienceDaily: Blood May Help Us Think:

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