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Transcript of Nobel Magazine
8/6/2019 Nobel Magazine
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THE BRAIN & BEING HUMAN
OCTOBER 4 & 5, 2011
The Nobel Conerence at Gustavus Adolphus College is the frst
ongoing educational conerence o its kind in the United States
NOBEL CONFERENCE® 47 PREVIEW GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE
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Understanding what it is to be human means understanding the brain. This intriguing scientic challenge has
grabbed the attention o more and more people rom all walks o lie. You may have noticed how oten brain science
pops up; breakthroughs are highlighted in the news almost daily and even serve as the basis or TV entertainment
in shows like Law and Order or interviews on the Colbert Report . The application o neuroscience has changed the
way the NFL manages concussive injuries, led to laws prohibiting the exchange o text messages while driving, and
suggested that exercise will not only trim your waistline but also improve your memory. Just three years ago, during
Nobel Conerence® 44, “Who Were the First Humans?” we learned how human brains have grown larger as our
communities have grown. Our hope is that people with a variety o interests and backgrounds and rom all corners
o campus and the wider community will realize that they can be part o this neuroscience conversation.
In 1994, the distinguished speakers who participated in Nobel Conerence 30, “Unlocking the Brain,” provided a
window or us to see how a set o electrical events traveling around in our head could account or how we move,
eel, and learn. In the past two decades, the pace o discovery in neuroscience has been astonishing, and the breadth
o the eld has expanded dramatically to encompass almost all human activities. It serves as a bridge between
diferent disciplinary perspectives, producing exciting new vantage points in the study o the human experience.
Now, in 2011, we make the leap to explore these grand new ideas at Nobel Conerence 47. Although we are
humbled by the complexity o the undertaking, we are excited to share with you the boundless possibilities o “The
Brain and Being Human.”
We hope that you can join us.
Michael Ferragamo, Chair Chuck Niederriter, Director
Nobel Conerence 47 Nobel Conerence
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE
AND THE NOBEL CONFERENCE®
Established in 1862 by Swedish Lutheran immigrants, Gustavus AdolphusCollege is a private, liberal arts college that provides an undergraduate
education of recognized excellence. The Alfred Nobel Hall of Science
at the College was named as a memorial to the great Swedish inventor
and philanthropist. Following its dedication in 1963—which was attended
by Nobel Foundation officials and 26 Nobel laureates—the College
sought endorsement from the Nobel Foundation for an annual science
conference. Permission was granted and the conference, now in its sixth
decade, continues to set a standard for timeliness, intellectual inquiry,
and free debate of contemporary issues related to the natural and social
sciences.
GREETINGSFROM GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2011
10 a.m. First Lecture: Vilayanur Ramachandran,
M.D., Ph.D., center for Brain and Cognition,
Psychology Department, and Neurosciences Program,
University of California, San Diego
1 p.m. Second Lecture: Larry J. Young, Ph.D.,
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
Emory University School of Medicine, and Center for
Behavioral Neuroscience, Atlanta, Ga.
3 p.m. Third Lecture: Helen Mayberg, M.D.,
Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, and
Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Atlanta, Ga.
6:30 p.m. Fourth Lecture: Aniruddh D. Patel, Ph.D.,
The Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, Calif.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2011
10 a.m. Fifth Lecture: John Donoghue, Ph.D.,
Department of Neuroscience and Institute for Brain
Science, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
1 p.m. Sixth Lecture: Paul W. Glimcher, Ph.D.,
Center for Neuroeconomics and Center for Neural
Science, New York University
3 p.m. Seventh Lecture: Martha Farah, Ph.D.,
Center for Neuroscience and Society, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
8 p.m. Closing Lecture: Nancey Murphy, Ph.D.,
(banquet) Th.D., School of Theology, Fuller Theological
Seminary, Pasadena, Calif.
ABOUT THE
ARTWORK The theme o Nobel Conerence 47, “The Brain & Being Human,” comes to lie
through an intricate and detailed illustration created by Leandro Lima, a Brazilian
illustrator, designer, and digital artist currently living in Milan, Italy. Lima has
done work or numerous clients worldwide, including Microsot, Sony Ericsson,
Vespa, Everlast, and Wired magazine.
For this year’s conerence, he creatively incorporated aspects o daily human lie
and the workings o the human brain. Utilizing a highly stylized typographic
approach, he has created letterorms and pictures that represent sight, smell,
emotion, and decision-making. The design highlights the senses associated with
being human: among the images, an ear receiving sound waves produced by
strings, representing the eect o music; a tearul eye, representing vision and
emotion; a hand using a key, representing “the human possibility” o decision-
making; and a ace reacting with pleasure to the perume o a ower. The
reaching hands recall Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam , representing not
only the connection between people but also the theological implications o the
passage in the book o Genesis that tells o God giving lie and conscious thought
to Adam, the frst human.
There is a “discovery” aspect in Lima’s design. It might take the viewer some time
to see and appreciate all its aspects, not unlike our attempts to understand the
brain. At frst blush, our brains look like lumpy grey matter, but studying them
rom dierent points o view or with “dierent” eyes, we begin to appreciate their
subtle beauty.
THE BRAIN AND BEING HUMAN 3
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF SPEAKERS All lectures are held in Lund Center Arena.
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As we unravel the biological complexity
of the brain we edge ever closer to a
unified explanation of being human.
Knowledge from the humanities, social
sciences, arts, ethics and religion, and
even aspects of daily human life are
now incorporated into the scientific
arena in a new synthesis to understand
the human experience. Nobel
Conference® 47 is a recognition that
the time has come to bring together
the leading minds and to engage them
in conversations about where this
frontier of science may deliver us.
Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran derives his dazzling insights into the workings of the brain from both the clinic and
laboratory. With his uncanny ability to convey his ideas with clarity and humor to the general public, he has become a
charismatic diplomat for the field of neuroscience. His work with neurology patients has led him to ask some intriguing
questions: How does an amputee feel a limb that no longer exists? How can an epileptic seizure produce a deep religious
experience? Why can some individuals taste color? How can someone with damage to the brain be blind and yet still see?
In solving these clinical puzzles Ramachandran has challenged our thinking about what “gives rise to our rich conscious
experience.”
4 NOBEL CONFERENCE 47
THE BRAIN &
BEING HUMAN by Michael Ferragamo and Janine Wotton,
with Gwendolyn Freed
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How the brain directs the interactions humans have
with other individuals was once thought to be beyond
mechanistic explanation. However, the work of Dr.
Larry Young on the physiological underpinnings of
social behavior has now made this goal approachable.
His clever use of a comparative animal model, the
monogamous prairie vole, has revealed the crucial role
that specific peptides play in the brain when social bonds
are formed and how the environment may shape these
processes. Now, armed with this knowledge, we can
turn our attention to developing novel strategies for
treating social deficits such as autism, schizophrenia, and
depression.
At the heart of the conference is the recognition
of the importance of emotion to the well-being of
individuals. How and where are emotions experienced
in the brain? How do the brains of patients with mood
disorders differ from the brains of others? Dr. Helen
Mayberg ’s pioneering work on brain imaging of
patients with depressive disorders has revealed not only
the circuitry involved in depression and mood but has
also led to the design of new and exciting treatment
options. The ability to identify which treatments are
best suited to the individual has revolutionized the
medical care of depressive disorders and has led to a
greater understanding of emotion in both healthy and
disordered brains.
Over the past 20 years we have witnessed enormousadvances in the field of brain-machine interfaces, such
as devices that enable a deaf child to listen to a teacher
explain algebra or participate in a sing-along. One of
the most significant breakthroughs in what could be
called the history of human cyborgs occurred about
five years ago, when Dr. John Donoghue and his team
awed the world by restoring the ability of a quadriplegic
patient to operate computer cursors and robotic arms
by simply imagining the movement. The inspiration of
these highly innovative approaches has restored hopeto individuals suffering from all forms of paralysis and
along the way extended what we know about how the
brain coordinates movement.
The revelation of the essence of what makes us human
will likely emanate from people who, like Dr. Aniruddh
Patel, study the cognitive and neural links between
what may be considered our two most definitive traits—
language and music. In recognizing how vital music is
to the richness of the human experience, Patel borrows
from the tool kit of both evolutionary biology and
neuroscience to give us a better handle on why music
appeals to us, moves us in dance, draws us together in
rituals, and in many circumstances may even be more
effective than language as a mode of expression.
We all make choices every day but what guides us to
choose one course of action over another? Why dosome people gamble everything on a risky stock but
others play it safe and put their money in the bank?
Dr. Paul Glimcher is one of the founders of a new
field called neuroeconomics, which seeks to understand
what happens in the brain when people are faced with
choices. His work reveals how the patterns of activity
among a population of brain cells can embody the logic,
the emotion, and the life experiences that influence
what goes into making a decision. Once we understand
how the human brain makes decisions, perhaps it will
no longer be beyond imagination to directly manipulate
how one votes or what one buys.
Dr. Martha Farah will help lead the discussion of the
ethical issues generated by the research described by
other conference lecturers. Questions will undoubtedly
arise about what the impact of neuroscience will be
for individuals and for humanity. Farah, a prominent
neuroscientist who is a founder of an emerging field
called neuroethics, is uniquely qualified to address
these concerns. In 2009 she co-authored a letter,
“Neuroscience and the Soul,” in the journal Science withDr. Nancey Murphy , who has been invited to share
the perspective of a philosopher on the neurobiology
of moral responsibility and free will. Discoveries in
contemporary neuroscience have led Murphy to
evaluate the complementary roles of religion and science
in our explanations of being human.
The biologist E. O. Wilson famously used the term
consilience to describe a phenomenon in which different
types of human endeavor following varied paths of
inquiry end up identifying common truths. In pursuitof their mutual quest to make positive contributions
through greater understanding of the brain and the
human experience, this year’s Nobel Conference speakers
will offer a variety of perspectives that both converge on
and diverge from ideas and findings in other fields.
Michael Ferragamo, associate professor of biology and director of the Neuroscience
Program at Gustavus Adolphus College, is the chair of Nobel Conference 47,
“The Brain and Being Human.” He was assisted in the development of this
essay by Janine Wotton, associate professor of psychology and associate in the
Neuroscience Program. Gwendolyn Freed, former vice president for marketing and
communication, also contributed to the article.
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NOBEL CONFERENCE® 47
PRESENTERSVILAYANUR RAMACHANDRAN, M.D. Ph.D.
Phantom limb pain occurs
in at least 90 percent of limb
amputees and has been known
about for hundreds of years, yet
only recently has neuroscience
begun to understand the
condition and its relationship
to empathy, and perhaps to
the next great leap forward
in human evolution. Some neurons, which normally
fire when you poke a patient with a needle, also fire
when the patient watches another patient being poked.
Vilayanur Ramachandran exploited this property, of
so-called mirror neurons, and developed therapies for
phantom limb pain and related disorders with a trick
box that provides false visual information about the limb
to counteract the phantom signals.
These mirror neurons seem to dissolve the barrier
between self and other. Rama, as his friends and
colleagues refer to him, calls them “empathy neurons”
or “Dalai Lama neurons.” He says, “Dissolving this
barrier is the basis of many ethical systems, and may
imply that mirror neurons can provide rational grounds
for ethics.”
The son of an Indian diplomat, Ramachandran spent
much of his youth moving among several different posts
in India and other parts of Asia. He had many scientific
interests as a youth but eventually focused on medicine.
After receiving his medical training in India, he pursued
his interest in the field of neurology. He says, “How
could you not be interested in understanding the
brain?” At Trinity College, Cambridge, he studied
vision and learned about mapping vision to different
locations in the brain.
Returning to his first love, neurology, he began to try
to understand how the brain fills in blind spots. He
was able to apply what he learned to missing limbs and
quickly made many discoveries about phantom limbs.
Ramachandran says, “Any field is exciting in its
early stages. There are many opportunities for fools’
experiments. Faraday did many of these in the
beginning stages of our understanding of magnetism.Neurology is still at the Faraday stage. Yet it is of vital
importance. Why do you laugh and cry? How do you
remember? We know so very little and there are lots of
very elementary questions yet to be answered.”
Ramachandran studies neurology for two reasons,
clinical and scientific. Understanding the plasticity of
the brain, its ability to change with time, could very
well help patients deal with pain and recover from many
disorders. But understanding how the brain works is a
first step in our drive to understand ourselves as humans,
something that could enrich our understanding of our
relationships and our place in the world.
Imagine we know everything there is to know about
the intricate circuitry and functioning of the human
brain. Scientists could create a “Matrix” scenario,
where thousands of electrodes and patterns of electrical
stimulation would make your brain think and feel that
it’s experiencing actual life events, and the simulation
could include a perfect sense of past, present, and
future. Your brain wouldn’t know that its experiences,
its entire life, are not real. And a philosopher would ask,
what is real anyway?
One should not be surprised what Rama does for
fun. In addition to walking and running, he studies
archeology, paleontology, and cosmology. He says that
he is a bit of a bookworm.
6 NOBEL CONFERENCE 47
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LARRY J. YOUNG, Ph.D.
Most people probably don’t
know that prairie voles are
monogamous and meadow
voles are promiscuous. One
might even wonder why anyone
would care. But Larry Young’s
work in understanding the very
slight differences in the brains
of voles is already leading to
development of novel treatments for autism spectrum
disorders. It turns out that the molecules regulating
behavior in voles have similar effects in humans,
providing Young and his colleagues a way to study the
complex interpersonal relationships of our species.
Growing up in rural south Georgia meant not having
easy access to college prep schools and classes. But
childhood on a farm provided Larry Young with a view
of the diversity of nature that a city kid would never
know. He was fascinated by the differences between the
animals he saw on the farm and in nature in general,
and was determined to understand them. He says that
if you are persistent, you can make your dream reality.
And persistent he was, earning a degree in biochemistry
from the University of Georgia in 1989 and going on to
get his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in
neuroendocrinology in 1994. During his undergraduate
education, he says, he became fascinated with the ideathat well-defined biochemical processes control complex
biological phenomena, and that many of these processes
are determined by an organism’s genes. As a graduate
student, he compared the behavior of two different
species of lizards and their underlying molecular
differences. It was as a postdoc at Emory University
that he began investigating the molecular mechanisms
affecting social attachment in prairie voles. Like the
lizards, different species of voles engage in different
behaviors. Prairie voles are monogamous and form life-
long social attachments, while montane and meadow
voles are promiscuous breeders and do not form social
attachments at all.
Although the vole studies have shown some promise,
Young says, “The real progress in understanding
the relationships between genes, social experiences,
neurological chemicals, and behavior will be made
when we translate the vole work into primate studies.
We need to go beyond prairie voles and study how
brain chemistry affects monkeys, chimps, and humans.
And we need to understand the effects that early life
experiences have on brain chemistry.”
For example, studies have shown that women who
were abused and neglected early in life have lower levels
of the hormone oxytocin later in life. Oxytocin is the
chemical that promotes social behavior in voles, and
apparently in humans. It is also the active ingredient in
a product called Liquid Trust, which is being marketed
for use in a variety of social situations from dating to
company management. “In the long run,” Young says,
“we need to understand how the human brain works
in order to understand human behavior and to treat
neurological disorders. And we need to learn from the
differences we observe in nature.”
Larry Young enjoys spending time with his family,
watching his children’s soccer games, and taking care
of his pets. He says that he has a house full of animals,
from parrots and parakeets to aquaria full of fish.
Visiting his house must be something like visiting a zoo.
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NOBEL CONFERENCE® 47
PRESENTERS
8 NOBEL CONFERENCE 47
HELEN MAYBERG, M.D.
Helen Mayberg grew up in
a medical family. Her father
practiced family medicine in
Orange County, California,
after considering training in
neurosurgery. She spent time
in her uncle’s nuclear medicinelab at UC Irvine, learning how
radiotracers could be used to map
physiological functions in the body. While she helped with
small tasks in the lab, she and her uncle would talk about
the potential for mapping brain function, a topic in its
infancy. “I loved the lab and the opportunity it provided
to think about new ways to solve problems,” she says.
As a USC medical student Mayberg’s interests in
neuropsychiatric disorders became more focused,
but she had difficulty deciding between residency training in psychiatry, neurology, or neurosurgery.
There were limited opportunities in those days for
brain-based quantitative measurements of complex
behavior. Computed tomography (CT) was only
newly available to help diagnose brain lesions; positron
emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) were not available. But in her senior
year, she had the opportunity to study with behavioral
neurologist Norman Geschwind in Boston, solidifying
her decision to train in neurology but with a future focuson neuropsychiatry. Mayberg completed her neurology
training at the Neurological Institute at Columbia
Presbyterian in New York before moving to Johns
Hopkins for further training in nuclear medicine and the
emerging field of functional neuroimaging using PET.
Following training in PET methods and their application
to the study of epilepsy, Mayberg chose to focus on major
depression, taking a neurologist’s perspective and
capitalizing on the mapping strategies offered by PET
and later functional MRI scanning methods. Studies with
colleagues in Baltimore, San Antonio, and then Toronto
further explored the effects of various antidepressant
treatments—starting first with medication, but then also
cognitive behavioral therapy and even placebo—mapping
brain regions most critical to illness recovery. Thesestudies led to observations about the critical role of the
subcallosal cingulate region—Brodman Area 25—in
both depression recovery and the mediation of negative
mood in healthy subjects. The rationale to target Area 25
using deep brain stimulation in intractably ill depressed
patients was developed and ultimately tested by her team
in Toronto, bringing cutting-edge neuroscience to the
threshold of therapeutic practicality.
“What makes this work gratifying is seeing how research
can have major impact on individual patients’ lives,Mayberg says. “Deep brain stimulation seems to allow the
brain to recover, but it takes time. It isn’t like flipping a
switch, but it is still amazing to realize that patients who
were debilitated for years by depression are able to return
to normal lives, going back to their families, to school, to
jobs—getting on with activities we all take for granted. It
is wonderful to see people thrive after fighting their brains
for so long.”
The experiences of her research subjects are teaching
Mayberg and her colleagues things about the brain they could not have anticipated, helping to better design
future studies. “All scientists should be so lucky as to have
this kind of feedback,” Mayberg says. She is encouraging
students to study neuroscience, not just because it is
interesting, but because we need to understand how the
brain works to help people affected by neuropsychiatric
disorders like depression. “This is an area where science
and humanity meet,” she says.
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ANIRUDDH PATEL, Ph.D.
What is it about rock and roll
music that makes those listening
want to move? The beat, of
course. But, what is it about the
human brain that makes it so
responsive to beat and rhythm?
After all, this reaction isn’t thatcommon in nature. Monkeys, for
example, can’t be trained to tap
to a beat, while some birds do respond. For the last few
years, Aniruddh Patel has been trying to find a model
system to study the human response to a musical beat as
a way to explore brain interactions between the auditory
and motor systems during beat perception. It isn’t just
because he likes working with Snowball, the sulfur-
crested cockatoo, who has been seen by millions on
YouTube. It’s largely due to curiosity about the universalpower of music to drive rhythmic movement in human
listeners. This power has been shown to help Parkinson’s
disease patients to walk, though the mechanisms behind
this effect remain unknown. Patel’s work with Snowball
complements the neuroimaging research he and his
colleagues are conducting with humans, to unravel the
brain mechanisms of musical beat perception.
As long as he can remember, Patel has been passionate
about two things: biology and music. He was able to
pursue at least one of his passions in college, earning abachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia. As a senior,
while taking a class in behavioral biology, he began
thinking about studying the biology of human music.
He quickly learned how little was known about this
topic at the time, but that didn’t dissuade him. He went
on to study evolutionary biology under E. O. Wilson
at Harvard. Wilson encouraged his unusual interests.
Working with Wilson and with scholars from a range
of disciplines, including linguistics, neuroscience, and
music psychology, Patel learned about the neurobiology
of auditory communication and wrote his thesis, “A
Biological Study of the Relationship between Language
and Music.” His scholarship helped usher in a new field
of study, the neurobiology of music.
Patel’s 1998 brain imaging work showed for the first
time that the processing of musical grammar overlaps
with the processing of language grammar in the brain.
This was an early clue that the neurobiology of music
could provide some insight into language disabilities
and maybe even point to a way to heal them. Patel’s
work has thus contributed to a recent rise of interest in
music-based treatments to help stroke victims re-learn
language skills. For example, it has been shown by other
researchers that having such patients produce simple
phrases by singing is often more effective than thetraditional therapy of having them repeat the spoken
phrases, suggesting that portions of the brain responsible
for processing music can take over when language areas
of the brain have been damaged.
Patel says that the study of the neuroscience of music
is in its early stages. He is excited to be in this field
because it offers the chance to study the connections
between culture and biology and to do empirical work
that spans linguistics, music psychology, animal behavior,
and other areas of science and social science. He thinks
that the next interesting area of study will be the two-
way interaction between brain and culture, exploring
how musical experience shapes the brain and influences
mental abilities such as language and attention both in
normal people and in neurological patients.
Aniruddh Patel enjoys spending time with his family,
especially taking his two children to Legoland, the zoo,
and the beach.
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NOBEL CONFERENCE® 47
PRESENTERSJOHN P. DONOGHUE, Ph.D.
A woman driving a wheelchair
with nothing but her mind. Does
this sound like science fiction?
With the help of BrainGate
neural prosthetic technology
designed by John Donoghue,
Cathy Hutchinson can controlher wheelchair, a computer,
and even one of her arms. This
wonder of applied research and engineering promises
to allow stroke victims like Cathy and those with ALS
and spinal cord injuries to again control their limbs and
perhaps even allow them to perform many day-to-day
activities. One of John Donoghue’s short-term goals is
to provide Cathy with enough control of her limbs that
she can take a drink without assistance.
Donoghue obtained his bachelor’s degree in biology from Boston University and his master’s degree in
anatomy from the University of Vermont. After earning
his doctorate in neuroscience from Brown University,
he began a post-doctoral appointment at Michigan
State University. There, he studied brain abnormalities
in people with mental retardation, and continued the
research at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Exploring the cerebral cortex, he looked at many brain
cells at once in order to understand how the brain
transforms thought into action. The development of multi-electrode brain probes allowed Donoghue and
his students to understand the fundamental codes of
communication used by the brain. They were able to
demonstrate, for example, how a monkey could play a
simple video game using only its mind.
Donoghue’s BrainGate system combines one hundred
hair-like electrodes inserted in the motor cortex with
external processors and additional electrodes
to bypass the broken communication system in
paralyzed individuals. In most cases, the brain still
commands the muscles to move; it is a breakdown
of the spinal cord, nerves, or muscles themselves that
keep muscles from responding. Insight into the firing
of cells associated with the thought of motion made it
possible for Donoghue to stun the world by helpingto restore movement to the paralyzed. To develop the
laboratory findings into clinical applications for humans,
Donoghue co-founded Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology
Systems, Inc., which is continuing to develop the
BrainGate system. His work earned him a number of
awards, including the 2005 Breakthrough Award from
Popular Mechanics magazine, a 2004 Discover Award
for Innovation and Reader’s Digest ’s Top Medical
Breakthrough of 2005.
John Donohue is excited to be able to apply basicscience to help the human condition. The 20 years of
National Institutes of Health money that allowed him
to teach monkeys to play video games has also jump-
started neurotechnology. What started out as just an
attempt to determine how the brain worked could
end up changing the lives of many people suffering
from paralysis due to brain and spinal cord injury. He
will continue to work to make it possible for paralyzed
people to communicate, to develop crude movement,
even to get up and walk around.Running two laboratories keeps John Donoghue very
busy. Whenever he has the chance, he says, “I enjoy
being out on the water in my small power boat.”
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PAUL GLIMCHER, Ph.D.
Have you ever entered the cereal
aisle in a large grocery store
and felt overwhelmed by the
choices? Maybe you have sat
down at a new restaurant and
you just couldn’t decide what to
order. Why does your brain just
seem to shut down? Under what
circumstances does this happen?
Paul Glimcher believes he can understand the biological
reasons for your experience by applying neural activation
models to your decision-making process. He describes
this as “stitching together the boundary between the
natural and social sciences to develop a better standard
model of human decision-making.”
Glimcher says that he was “raised as neurophysiologist.”
Growing up in New York, he was always interested
in science, so it was natural to study neuroscience at
Princeton as an undergraduate. After earning his Ph.D.
in neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, he
remained for a postdoc position in the psychology
department. While studying the brainstem and nerves
that control eye rotations, he found evidence that the
nerves participating in the execution of saccadic eye
movements (i.e., quick, simultaneous gaze shifts of
both eyes in the same direction) might be involved
in planning those movements as well. Since then, heand his students have been studying the signals that
connect the neural processes associated with sensory
inputs and the neural processes responsible for motion,
which they believe underlie decision-making. They use
a variety of tools in their work, including single-neuron
electrophysiology, functional magnetic resonance
imaging traditionally used by neuroscientists, and game
theory developed by psychologists and economists.
Recognizing the applications of evolutionary behavioral
economics to his work, Glimcher went back to school,
so to speak, to learn economics. It wasn’t easy. “I
had to essentially teach myself micro-economics to
show that I was serious enough to get the attention
of economists,” he says. Eventually, he was invited to
join the economics department, and ultimately formeda neuroeconomics center at NYU with postdocs in
economics, neuroscience, and psychology.
Glimcher is excited about the tremendous consilience
now evolving among biology, chemistry, physics,
psychology, and economics as a result of the kind of
work he does. The challenge of understanding animal
and human choice behavior requires work from the
level of neurons and ion channels up to the level of
economics, according to Glimcher. Studying choice
behavior in humans with scanners and using chemical
and electrophysiology stimulation to test the rich
models developed in this incredible collaboration will
lead to a better standard model of human decision
making. An important challenge is learning how and
where in the brain the value of various options is stored.
“Only true interdisciplinary research is up to this
challenge,” he says. He requires his students to develop
a deep enough understanding of each of the disciplines
that they see the beauty in all of them, putting aside the
biases of their original discipline and taking up the biasesof the others, so that they can develop richer and better
models.
Glimcher enjoys solving optimization problems on the
fly, sailing in ocean races. He has single-handedly sailed
a number of 1,000-mile passages, and with other crew
members he has circumnavigated the globe one-and-a-
half times.
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NOBEL CONFERENCE® 47
PRESENTERSMARTHA FARAH
“Neuromarketing could make
mind reading the ad-man’s
ultimate tool.” Could this title
of a recent Guardian article
become reality? Although
Martha Farah thinks “such
technology is a million light years away,” there are ethical
issues related to how functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans are used.
“We are nowhere near being able to read thoughts,”
Farah said, “but we can derive a fair amount of personal
information from MRIs, including current mental
states, such as mood, intentions, and desire to buy an
object.”
Marketing has enlisted the help of neuroscientists to
more accurately predict how we’ll react to stimuli in the
marketplace, from prices to packages to advertisments,
in order to make more money for clients. This leads
Farah to be wary of neuro-marketing. “The biggest
ethical issue to me is the fact that many of the most
exciting new applications of brain imaging are being
developed entirely with private corporate funding for
commercial purposes,” she said. “I don’t think that is
going to give us the best new contributions to society,
and I don’t think that is going to lead to the greatest
transparency concerning what these scans can do.”
Martha Farah earned bachelor’s degrees in both
metallurgy and philosophy at MIT and went on to
receive a Ph.D. in psychology at Harvard. She has
taught at Carnegie Mellon University and at the
University of Pennsylvania, where she is now a professor
of psychology and director of the Center for Cognitive
Neuroscience. She began her career as a cognitive
scientist and slowly drifted into cognitive neuroscience.
She describes the difference between these two areas
by saying, “Basically, it’s the difference between trying
to do something really hard with one hand tied behind
your back, and going at it with both hands.”
When asked about the biggest changes in the field,
Farah says that there have been so many changes in
cognitive neuroscience in the last 30 years that it is hard
to point to just one thing as being the greatest. Perhaps
functional imaging of cognition, or computational
models linking single-neuron behavior with the
functioning of large-scale networks in the brain, or
the extension of the cognitive neuroscience approach
into the study of social and emotional functions, or . . .
She says, “Maybe the best way to answer the question
is to say this: We went from having neuroscience and
cognitive science as two separate disciplines to having
a truly integrated study of mind and brain.” Her work spans many topics within cognitive neuroscience,
including visual recognition, attention, mental imagery,
semantic memory, reading, and prefrontal function.
Martha Farah is proud that Penn’s Center for
Cognitive Neuroscience is state-of-the-art in a wide
range of methods, and very much committed to a
multidisciplinary approach. At a time when many
scientists are focusing on neuroimaging, she points
out that there are fundamental questions that imaging
can’t answer but that patient-based research can. In
addition to a thriving fMRI facility, the Penn Center
for Cognitive Neuroscience has its own patient research
coordinator to locate and screen potential research
subjects. But even the most advanced equipment and
best patients are useless without good experimental
design, so that is also—necessarily—a focus of her work.
Martha Farah lives in Philadelphia with her daughter
and her parrot.
12 NOBEL CONFERENCE 47
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NANCEY MURPHY, Ph.D., Th.D.
Nancey Murphy is attracted to
the often-charged intersection
of faith and scientific
understanding, seeking to
support greater dialogue among
theologians and scientists. As she
points out, religion and science
are merged virtually everywhere
in modern life. According
to some polls, more than 80 percent of the world’s
people believe in God, and most of those people are
immersed in technology and benefit in some way from
scientific discovery. Murphy now spends most of her
time studying this important interface, and is especially
interested in how recent advances in neuroscience will
change the understanding of scientists and theologians.
Murphy grew up on a ranch in Nebraska before
majoring in psychology and philosophy at Creighton
University. As she recalls, “Psychology at that time
was all about behaviorism.” She got interested in
the philosophy of science and continued her studies
in that field at UC Berkeley, where she earned her
Ph.D. Realizing that she wanted to teach philosophy
in a seminary, she decided she should also get a
doctorate in theology, which she did, at the Graduate
Theological Union in Berkeley. After a brief stint as
an assistant professor of religion, she joined FullerTheological Seminary. There, she has contributed to
the philosophical preparation of pastors, providing the
background they need to work with their congregations.
Over time, she has become involved in the science and
theology conversation and has contributed several of her
ten books and many more chapters and scholarly articles
in this area.
Teaching at Fuller is rewarding, Murphy says, because
the students are highly motivated and are delighted
to have the opportunity to think critically and
participate in open scholarly inquiry. Since the doctoral
program at Fuller is large, she has ample opportunity
to teach seminars in many areas of philosophy, such
as philosophical ethics, philosophical theology, andphilosophical issues in theology and science, along with
more traditional theology and philosophy courses.
When new interests arise, she can develop courses to
help focus her exploration and, of course, to share with
her students.
Murphy’s colleague, Warren Brown, who teaches
neuroscience at Fuller, got her involved in the
connections among philosophy, theology, and
neuroscience. Brown notes that most Christians are
dualists; as the pressure from society to put more stock
in science and technology has increased, the need has
arisen to help Christians develop an understanding of
human nature that is consistent with science. Do we
even need the concepts of mind or soul ? How do those
concepts fit with our new understanding of the brain
and its workings? Murphy has authored or co-authored
several books on these issues, including Did My Neurons
Make Me Do It? Philosophical and Neurobiological
Perspectives on Moral Responsibility and Free Will , and
Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?
Murphy enjoys the traveling that comes with her
collaborations in philosophy, science, and theology, as
well as reading gory mystery and crime novels, which
give her a break from “real” life. For the past two years,
she has been helping her brother build a new house.
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THE NOBEL CONFERENCE CONCERT, 2011
‘A STATE OF MIND AND MUSIC: NEW SONGS BY MINNESOTA COMPOSERS’
Tuesday, October 4 | 8:15 p.m. | Jussi Björling Recital Hall | Free—no ticket required
You are invited to experience vocal solo music written in the last ten years that provides insight into the creative
minds of a number of composers who call Minnesota home. Represented composers include Pulitzer Prize-winning
composer Dominick Argento, Libby Larsen (the 2010 winner of the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding
Contributions to Music in America), Stephen Paulus, and Gustavus alumnus Steve Heitzeg. World premieres ofcommissioned music by Timothy Berry and Todd Harper will be featured, as well as works by Jocelyn Hagen and
Hiram Titus. Professor of Music Michael Jorgensen, baritone, and Bonnie Jorgensen, piano, will have coached the
music with the respective composers and will be assisted in the recital by student musicians. We anticipate that the
composers will be in attendance as we celebrate their musical genius.
THEATRE
‘ON EGO’
Tuesday, October 4 | 8:15 p.m. | Anderson Theatre | Reserved seating, tickets
available at gustavustickets.com
On Tuesday evening, the Department of Theatre and Dance presents a specialperformance of On Ego, a play by Mick Gordon and Paul Broks inspired by the book
Into the Silent Land by Paul Broks, directed by Assistant Professor of Theatre Henry
MacCarthy. The play, called “totally gripping theatre” by the Sunday Times, addresses
how the brain creates a sense of self. How does the darkness inside our skulls become a
world of people and places, pleasure and pain, love and loss? On Ego is an exploration of
identity, humanity, and what it means to be unique.
ART EXHIBITIONS
A COLLECTOR’S PASSION FOR DÜRER’S SECRETS: THE MAGJEKL COLLECTION
COMFORT ME, SAID HE: RECENT WORK by Kristen LoweFOCUS IN/ON: GUY PÈNE DU BOIS, ‘CONNOISSEURS’
September 12–November 6 | Hillstrom Museum of Art
Nobel Conference Reception | October 4 | 6–8 p.m.
The Hillstrom Museum of Art is featuring two exhibitions and the latest in its continuing
series of collaborative, detailed considerations of particular individual artworks from the
Hillstrom Collection, FOCUS IN/ON, during the 2011 Nobel Conference. One exhibition
is the remarkable and extensive Magjekl Collection of prints by German Renaissance
master Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), begun by collector Elizabeth Garner in 2006 featuring
around 50 masterpieces by the acclaimed artist.
The second exhibition features works from the recently begun series of dramatic
and intensely emotional large-scale works by artist Kristen Lowe, who teaches in
the Department of Art and Art History at Gustavus Adolphus College. Finally, the
displayed FOCUS IN/ON project is a collaboration of sociologist Richard A. Hilbert, of
the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Hillstrom Museum of Art Director
Donald Myers considering the Museum’s watercolor Connoisseurs (1938), by American
artist and critic Guy Pène du Bois (1884–1958), which was donated to the Museum in
2004 by the Reverend Richard L. Hillstrom.
Kristen LoweComfort Me, Said He, No. 2, 2010charcoal on paper42 x 72 inches
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NOBEL CONFERENCE® 47
CONTRIBUTORS
NOBEL CONFERENCE® 47
COMMITTEE
THE BRAIN AND BEING HUMAN 15
The Nobel Conerence at Gustavus Adolphus College, the frst educational conerence o its kind in
the United States, is made possible through income generated by a Nobel Conerence endowment
and the support o annual conerence contributors. The Nobel Conerence Endowment Fund was
created in July 1978 and is permanently secured as a result o the generous support o Drell and
Adeline Bernhardson. Other gits to the und have been made by Russell and Rhoda Lund; the
Mardag Foundation, in memory o Edgar B. Ober; and the UnitedHealth Group.
The College also acknowledges key contributions to the 2011 conerence rom Cambria, Thrivent
Financial or Lutherans, and Heroic Productions.
In addition, the College acknowledges the Mankato Clinic Foundation and Medtronic, Inc. or their
generous support.
Chuck Niederriter, Ph.D., proessor o physics;
director, Nobel Conerence
Mike Ferragamo, Ph.D., associate proessor o
biology and neuroscience; chair, Nobel Conerence 47
Jennifer Ackil, Ph.D., proessor o psychology
Scott Bur, Ph.D., associate proessor o chemistry
Baili Chen, Ph.D., assistant proessor o mathematicsand computer science
Patric Giesler, Ph.D., associate proessor o sociology
and anthropology
Jon Grinnell, Ph.D., associate proessor o biology
Michele Koomen, Ph.D., associate proessor o
education
Mark Kruger, Ph.D., proessor o psychology
Richard Leitch Jr., Ph.D., associate proessor o
political science
Tom LoFaro, Ph.D., proessor o mathematics and
computer science
Karla Marz, Ph.D., assistant proessor o biology
Scott Moore, D.M.A., assistant proessor o music
So Young Park, Ph.D., assistant proessor o English
Garrett Paul, Ph.D., proessor o religion
Jessie Petricka, Ph.D., assistant proessor o physicsTim Robinson, Ph.D., proessor o psychology
Amy Seham, Ph.D., proessor o theatre and dance
Bob Shoemaker, M.S., visiting instructor o education
Dean Wahlund, director, communication services and
special events
Esther Wang, D.M.A., associate proessor o music
Janine Wotton, Ph.D., associate proessor o
psychology and neuroscience
Steve Wright, D.M.A., associate proessor o music
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NOBEL CONFERENCE® 47 TICKETS ONLINE!
8 0 0 W e s t C o l l e g e A v e n u e
S t . P e t e r , M N 5 6 0 8 2
Order lecture and meal tickets online with Visa or
Mastercard at gustavustickets.com, or by phone at
507-933-7520 (mail orders no longer accepted).
Tickets are good or the two-day conerence.
Seating in Lund Center Arena is limited to 3,000.
Overow seating will be available in Lund Center
Forum, a specially, video-equipped site. Tickets are
non-reundable. Please note that a separate ticket
is required or the Nobel Conerence Banquet on
Wednesday evening.
Tickets will be mailed beginning mid-August.
Tickets ordered too late or mail delivery will be
held at the Nobel Conerence registration desk
in Lund Center. Ticket prices: Reserved–$100;
General Admission–$65; Student Delegation
(block o 10)–$40. For more inormation, contact
the Ofce o Marketing and Communication at
507-933-7520, by ax 507-933-6147, or e-mail
N O N P R O F I T O R G .
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P A I D G U S T A V U S A D O L P H U S
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