#neural rewiring

[tk-n-la]

Nicely sums up why I hate it when a news report starts with "Researchers say..."

The whole "the brain isn't fully mature until age 25" bit is actually a fairly impressive bit of psuedoscience for how incredibly stupid the way it misinterprets the data it's based on is.

Okay, so: there's a part of the human brain called the "prefrontal cortex" which is, among other things, responsible for executive function and impulse control. Like most parts of the brain, it undergoes active "rewiring" over time (i.e., pruning unused neural connections and establishing new ones), and in the case of the prefrontal cortex in particular, this rewiring sharply accelerates during puberty.

Because the pace of rewiring in the prefrontal cortex is linked to specific developmental milestones, it was hypothesised that it would slow down and eventually stop in adulthood. However, the process can't directly be observed; the only way to tell how much neural rewiring is taking place in a particular part of the brain is to compare multiple brain scans of the same individual performed over a period of time.

Thus, something called a "longitudinal study" was commissioned: the same individuals would undergo regular brain scans over a period of mayn years, beginning in early childhood, so that their prefrontal development could accurately be tracked.

The longitudinal study was originally planned to follow its subjects up to age 21. However, when the predicted cessation of prefrontal rewiring was not observed by age 21, additional funding was obtained, and the study period was extended to age 25. The predicted cessation of prefrontal development wasn't observed by age 25, either, at which point the study was terminated.

When the mainstream press got hold of these results, the conclusion that prefrontal rewiring continues at least until age 25 was reported as prefrontal development finishing at age 25. Critically, this is the exact opposite of what the study actually concluded. The study was unable to identify a stopping point for prefrontal development because no such stopping point was observed for any subject during the study period. The only significance of the age 25 is that no subjects were tracked beyond this age because the study ran out of funding!

It gets me when people try to argue against the neuroscience-proves-everybody-under-25-is-a-child talking point by claiming that it's merely an average, or that prefrontal development doesn't tell the whole story. Like, no, it's not an average – it's just bullshit. There's no evidence that the cited phenomenon exists at all. If there is an age where prefrontal rewiring levels off and stops (and it's not clear that there is), we don't know what age that is; we merely know that it must be older than 25.

[isolophilian]

the minute "Seaweed Brain" and "Wise Girl" are uttered, I will become the most annoying person you know

[subskz]

seungmin with a doggy tail plug that’s vibrating on max inside of him while you hold his head firmly in place to throatfuck him while he’s squirming and thrashing around on the floor <33333 and you can see the tail vibrating so it looks like he’s wagging his tail hehe

the puppy tail plug making it look like his tail is wagging is pure insanity 😰 there are no words to describe how hot that is

seungminnie on all fours like a good dog, keeping his hands obediently to himself even when they start clawing around on the floor bc the combination of your strap down his throat and the plug buzzing mercilessly against his sweet spot has him dizzy and scrambling for purchase. or maybe, he’s kneeling upright w his hands curled up by his chest like cute lil paws, not daring to interfere as you grip his hair (or maybe his puppy ears if he’s wearing some hehe) and use his mouth however you please <3 he’d look so pathetic bucking desperately into the air like a mutt in heat w a small puddle forming on the floor from how much precum is dripping out of him

he’d try his best not to be fussy as you stretch his pretty lips wide open w each thrust, but even he can’t help a few muffled whimpers from spilling out of him each time you bottom out in his mouth. it’d be extra fun to push all the way down his throat then order him to bark for you like a good boy <3 the garbled, slurred sounds that would come out of him would be so adorable hehe. and when you finally pull out to give him a moment to breathe, he sticks his tongue out obediently for you, panting and gazing up w his big innocent eyes as you tap the tip of your strap against his waiting tongue

and when he gets close to cumming, his dick starts twitching n throbbing like crazy along w the tail plug wiggling around inside of him…both of his tails are wagging 🥰

[baconcolacan]

Slightly gross headcanon but, I feel like if Tord ever gets INTO a project he can go for days neglecting everything else. No food, sleep, shower, social interactions etc until the project is done.

The mindset would be that he CANNOT have those things until the project is done, then when he does finish he does a deep clean of EVERYTHING.

His room is the shittiest during these times but by the end of it his room is actually the cleanest and most sanitary place.

Edd can’t rebuke him btw, because sometimes he does this too, but he doesn’t do it purposefully like Tord, in his case he forgets.

[b-oredzoi]

Books I Read in 2023: Our Hideous Progeny by C.E McGill (@c-e-mcgill)

We had built here, in this half-ruined boat house on the edge of the Moray Firth, a temple to our own strange gods- to Chemistry and Anatomy and Electricity.

[talesfromthecrypts]

Knightriders (1981) dir. George Romero

[padfootastic]

hello! i am back with yet another…thing. thank u for the tag @lovelymasks <3 (i realised, upon second reading, that this was supposed to be a sunday snippet but i’m an idiot n therefore this is now a saturday snippet mwuah)

I think you should go to a Healer, Sirius. 

Why, he’d asked, flippant. What was there to do with a Healer when you were a convict on the run? Besides, Sirius was wrong in a way that couldn’t be made right. He was past the point of return. Healers would’ve barely known what to do with him before Azkaban, let alone in the condition he was in now. 

Because you look like a stiff wind will blow you over, Harry’d answered, though the answering flippancy didn’t quite land the way he intended because what Sirius heard was ‘Because I don't want to lose anyone else.’ 

What Harry didn't say, and Sirius didn’t want to hear, was ‘Because I can’t lose another parent.’

He quietly acquiesced after that. The trembling, hopeful smile growing on his godson’s face was enough to wipe away all apprehensions after that. 

Until now, when Harry was at Hogwarts, and he was second guessing this whole business. 

Did he really need a Healer, like, really?

One look at the mirror in front of him gave him a solid, sturdy answer. 

He was dressed in his old rags and it was a testament to the conditions of Azkaban that clothes from when he was younger, before hitting his final growth spurts, were barely just fitting him now. Sirius’ back was almost constantly bent these days--all days spent curled up in a ball seemed to have reshaped his skeletal structure, who knew--each vertebrae gaining a distinct notch in the column of his skin. His stomach was a fascinating blend of too small and too bloated. He couldn’t keep anything down, but he wasn’t able to eat much either. A mystery for the ages. 

Less said about his face, the better. Sirius wasn’t vain, never had any reason to be, but there was a certain…pride he’d maintained, a level of outward appearance that was considered bare minimum for a Black, a conditioning he’d never managed to shake off. 

It was that conditioning itching at him now, turning him away from any reflective surface before he could see his distorted features, grotesque and inhuman, staring back at him. 

And ultimately, it was that, he realised with a shameful sort of guilt, that pushed him to see a Healer. Not his godson’s pleading look, not concern for his wellbeing--but leftovers from an upbringing that he hated, his mother’s words he couldn’t stop hearing, his father’s sharp commands. 

Ultimately, it was his blood that made him give in, as it always did. 

further tagging @jmagnabo92 @soopsiedaisies @groundzero-v 💜

[arolesbianism]

I am once again being haunted by "a paradox" holy fuck Olivia what the fuck is going on here what did you get yourself involved with and what did you do after it speak to me Olivia I can't keep living like this

[jadeandquartzes]

sorry that last prompt was. genuinely so much fun. alan ross, the fact that i haven't written a 9k E-rated character study of you yet is a testament to exactly how busy i've been in the past year and a half.

[joonipertree]

I literally said "Did you get the angst fucked out of you? Probably yeah"

one breath, without pause

because I went to therapy today where we're working on me feeling more attractive and its working but I realised that maybe getting laid might help

I realised i was a lot more sexually repressed than I thought I was

and I'm like 'huh'

a few orgasms (all by my lonesome) later and I'm like

'hUH'

anyways.....what character would ask u this after they fuck u real good?

[moonlightduelist]

like logically i understand and respect people who played veilguard and who have not played any other da game and also don’t want to like that’s completely normal. but emotionally i’m going to kill everyone who refuses to play origins and da2.

[violent-red]

I’m watching the Australia interview… again… Richie’s a bit obnoxious in it, it’s endearing though. He’s a goof. Do you think they were both drunk here? Jon’s not really enunciating clearly, but I can’t tell

Take a shot every time Richie says Australia, you’ll actually die of alcohol poisoning

[eldritchqueerture]

status report: i am now properly hydrated and fed, and i still feel insane as fuck. fully blaming harlan for this one

[froggierboy]

harrow is actually so funny bc internally she's actually a very normal teenage girl. her internal monologue is literally like "i'm insane...i'm unloveable...my mere existence is a sin for which i can never be cleansed....anyway enough about my 18 years of relentless trauma. poorly constructed coffee shop au onto which i project my crush" girl you're so regular it's embarrassing

[biblicalhorror]

Seeing the number 69 in the wild: heh, nice

Seeing the number 96 in the wild: omg just like yellowjackets

[imgtoxai278]

Neural Rewiring Glow

Create a dynamic brain illustration glowing brightly in orange and red. Show neural pathways lighting up intensely with each indulgence, gradually dulling as tolerance grows. Represent this visually as the glow weakening and new pathways slowly forming, symbolizing the rewiring of the brain and the restoration of sensitivity.