Destacado neurobiologo chileno

Destacado neurobiologo chileno
Francisco Varela
El prominente neurobiólogo chileno Francisco Varela murió en París a los 54 años, víctima de un cáncer hepático. Presentamos una breve síntesis de su carrera y tres miradas que recorren sus aportes a la ciencia y al conocimiento

Francisco Varela

Francisco Varela video source

Francisco Varela

Dialogue on Leadership

In 1996 I did my first interview with Francisco Varela. In that conversation, Varela said that the blind spot of the 20^th century (in cognition science) was concerned with the inability to access experience. He said: I maintain that there is an irreducible core to the quality of experience that needs to be explored with a method. In other words, the problem is not that we don't know enough about the brain or about biology, the problem is that we don't know enough about experience. … We have had a blind spot in the West for that kind of methodical approach, which I would now describe as a more straightforward phenomenological method. … Everybody thinks they know about experience, I claim we don't

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Research "motivated" by some of Francisco "ideas": Antoine Lutz

Antoine Lutz, PhD  I am currently an associate scientist at the  Waisman Lab for Brain Imaging & Behavior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am doing my research in collaboration with Prof. R. J. Davidson and several researchers from his lab.  I am interested in understanding the neural counterparts to subjective experience and, more generally, the mechanisms underlying mind-brain-body interactions. In the first part of my research, I am studying the role of large-scale neuronal integration (neural synchrony mechanisms) during various mental states (voluntary attention, emotion generation); The emphasis of my work is in the use of introspective, or first-person, data in order to understand the function of these large-scale dynamical processes (Neurophenomenology). In the second part of my research, I am studying the relationship between mental training, as cultivated in contemplative traditions, and neuroplasticity. More precisely, I am looking at the impact of standard meditation techniques on basic affective, cognitive and social functions and on the brain mechanisms that subserve these processes.

Research "motivated" by some of Francisco "ideas": Cliff Saron

Clifford Saron, PhD 

Associate Research Scientist, Center for Mind and Brain Office: 202 Cousteau Pl., Suite 250, Room 268 Telephone: 415-307-9757

Email:

cdsaron

@

ucdavis.edu

My work centers on two broad areas. The first is focused on the training of attention and emotion regulation through contemplative practice. Our main project here is known as “The Shamatha Project” a large-scale collaborative and multimethod longitudinal study of the effects of intensive meditation training. We use qualitative, self-report, behavioral, electrophysiological, and biochemical measures to begin to elucidate the many levels of personal and physiological change that accompany such training. My second research area concerns sensory processing, multisensory integration, and interhemispheric communication in children with autism spectrum disorders. In collaboration with colleagues at the CMB and M.I.N.D. Institute we are using sensitive behavioral measures, eye tracking, and dense channel array event-related potentials to investigate possible deficits in these low-level processes which likely contribute to the complex phenotype of autism.

An archival collection of materials on Francisco Varela's life

 This Focus File is an archival collection of materials on Francisco Varela's life and career.




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Premio Nacional de Ciencias Naturales Postumo para Francisco Varela (1946—2001)

About

Francisco Varela fue un verdadero Maestro. Es aún demasiado pronto para poder dimensionar su obra en toda su extensión. Queda en manos de las actuales y futuras generaciones develar el vasto pensamiento de Varela y continuar su obra seminal. Y en las manos de nuestras autoridades políticas y universitarias el facilitar los caminos para que el legado de Varela y de otros científicos e intelectuales que enaltecen a Chile con sus obras, pueda ser aprovechado en beneficio de una mejor calidad de vida intelectual, verdadero pilar para el desarrollo del país.

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Francisco J Varela Research Awards

The Mind & Life Institute Francisco J. Varela Research Awards for graduate students and post docs were established in 2004 as a companion program to the Mind & Life Summer Research Institute and have been a critical element in supporting the development of the Contemplative Sciences. To date, we have distributed just under $1 million in funding to support young scientists in these emerging fields. The Varela Awards have produced at least 44 articles in peer-reviewed journals; more than 80 presentations and more than 40 poster sessions.

The Varela Awards solicit research grant proposals that stimulate basic and translational research that evaluate both state and trait effects of contemplative practice  and incorporate first-person contemplative methods into cognitive/affective neuroscience research. The Awards emphasize empirical examinations of contemplative techniques with the ultimate goal that findings derived from such investigations will provide greater insight into the mechanisms of contemplative practice and its benefits for reducing human suffering.

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