How to Understand and Outwit Adaptation

How to understand and outwit adaptation.

Adaptation is the ability of a system to respond and reset itself even in the continuing presence of a stimulus. On one hand, adaptation is a physiological necessity that enables proper neuronal signaling and cell movement. On the other hand, adaptation can be a source of annoyance, as it can make biological systems resistant to experimental perturbations. Here we speculate where adaptation mig...

Learning how to understand language

To understand how babies breathe...

HOW TO UNDERSTAND IT Statistical parametric mapping

© 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd THE BASIC IDEA Brain responses are recorded using an imaging technique such as fMRI, which allows the repeated measurement of brain activity at hundreds of thousands of points, or voxels, throughout the brain (Fig. 1). Each voxel represents physiological responses from a small anatomical portion of the brain (typically 3 × 3 × 3 mm). The analysis of such data see...

Using Activity Theory to Understand How People

In a typical workplace in the United States, two knowledge -producing activity systems are in motion. Each produces knowledge about how to do the work of that workplace, but they are differently motivated: one toward productivity, and the other toward earning a living. The conflict between these two systems is addressed through the process of negotiation. A.N. Leont’ev’s insight on the power of...