WEBVTT - Do Our Brains Have Fingerprints Too?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb here. Oh. We think of

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<v Speaker 1>fingerprints as being something each of us carries around on

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<v Speaker 1>the terminal knuckle of our fingers, unchanging and unique from

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<v Speaker 1>everybody else's. That might be true for our digits, but

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<v Speaker 1>new research suggests that our brains have fingerprints too, and

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<v Speaker 1>that we can find them pretty quickly. Using an MRI machine,

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<v Speaker 1>neuroscientists can create what amounts to a map of your

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<v Speaker 1>brain called a functional brain connect home. The human brain

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<v Speaker 1>is a little like a country, with different regions in it.

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<v Speaker 1>One region for short term memory, another for hearing, another

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<v Speaker 1>for hand movement. The first map of the brain was

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<v Speaker 1>published in nineteen o nine by a German physician who

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<v Speaker 1>defined fifty two distinct areas of the brain. These days,

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<v Speaker 1>these brain regions are called cortical areas and researchers who

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<v Speaker 1>identified of them, and they're connected by these little neural

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<v Speaker 1>fibers that act as highways. A connect dome is based

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<v Speaker 1>on the activity that a person is doing and what

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<v Speaker 1>parts of the brain this activity needs to use. In

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<v Speaker 1>a Yale University study found that no two brain connect

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<v Speaker 1>domes are the same that when given MRI I images

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<v Speaker 1>taken of the same several brains over the course of

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<v Speaker 1>a few days, the connectivity fingerprint of each brain could

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<v Speaker 1>help scientists match up the brain with a study participant

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<v Speaker 1>with around accuracy. Then, in a study that appeared in

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<v Speaker 1>the journal Science Advances in October, the scientists examined how

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<v Speaker 1>long it actually took to capture a snapshot of a

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<v Speaker 1>person's brain fingerprint. In the past, MRI images were captured

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<v Speaker 1>over the course of several minutes, but the research team

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<v Speaker 1>wondered if they could be taken in a shorter time.

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<v Speaker 1>In a press release, researcher and Rico Amico said, until now,

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<v Speaker 1>neuroscientists have identified brain finger prints using two m r

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<v Speaker 1>I scans taken over a fairly long period. But do

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<v Speaker 1>the fingerprints actually appear after just five seconds, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>or do they need longer? And what a fingerprints of

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<v Speaker 1>different brain areas appeared at different moments in time. Nobody

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<v Speaker 1>knew the answer, so we tested different time scales to

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<v Speaker 1>see what would happen. Amiko and his colleagues found that

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<v Speaker 1>five seconds didn't cut it, but one minute and forty

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<v Speaker 1>seconds was long enough to capture a brain fingerprint and

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<v Speaker 1>further that an individual's unique brain map began appearing first

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<v Speaker 1>in sensory areas of the brain, like those related to

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<v Speaker 1>eye movement and visual perception and attention. Brain fingerprints and

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<v Speaker 1>regions related to more complex functions like the frontal cortex

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<v Speaker 1>developed over longer periods of time. The research team plans

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<v Speaker 1>to compare the brain fingerprints of patients with Alzheimer's to

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<v Speaker 1>those of healthy people, Amiko explained in the press release.

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<v Speaker 1>Based on my initial findings, it seems that the features

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<v Speaker 1>that make a brain fingerprint unique steadily disappear. As the

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<v Speaker 1>disease progresses. It gets harder to identify people based on

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<v Speaker 1>their connectomes. It's as if a person with Alzheimer's loses

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<v Speaker 1>his or her brain identity. Knowing this could mean earlier

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<v Speaker 1>detection of neurological conditions like autism, stroke, or dementia that

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<v Speaker 1>might cause a brain fingerprint to disappear. Today's episode is

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<v Speaker 1>based on the article our brains have fingerprints and we

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<v Speaker 1>can find them fast on how stuff works dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Jesslin Shields. Brain Stuff is production of by

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's produced by Tyler Klang four more podcasts from

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<v Speaker 1>my heart Radio. Visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

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