(Neuroscience News) Listening to music while working helps improve productivity and increases perceptions of happiness.
neurology
Research Into Brain’s Reaction to Motion Earns Significant Attention
(Neuroscience News) Neuroimaging helps researchers observe what happens in the brain as a person is rotated. The study, which gives insight into how the brain moves after the head stops moving, also provides critical information for advancing studies of TBI.
Mathematical Framework Explores How the Brain Keeps a Beat
(Neuroscience News) A new mathematical model can predict how the brain reacts when learning a rhythmic beat. The model shows how a neural network can act as a ‘neural metronome’ by estimating time intervals between beats within tens of milliseconds. The metronome relies on gamma oscillations to keep track of time.
Psychopaths and Sociopaths — Schadenfreude: Your Pain is My Gain
(Neuroscience News) Schadenfreude, or taking pleasure from the misfortune of others, can be contagious and leads to a vicious cycle of mistreatment of a victim, especially in a competitive workplace.
Scientists Unveil a ‘Brain Decoder’ That Turns Neural Activity Into Speech
Scientists Unveil a ‘Brain Decoder’ That Turns Neural Activity Into Speech
‘Mindreading’ Neurons Simulate Decisions of Social Partners
(Science Daily) Scientists have identified special types of brain cells that may allow us to simulate the decision-making processes of others, thereby reconstructing their state of mind and predicting their intentions. Dysfunction in these ‘simulation neurons’ may help explain difficulties with social interactions in conditions such as autism and social anxiety.
Dopamine For the Winners: How Our Mind’s Reward System Drives Political Ambition and Affects Civilization
(Peter Van Els) The effects of the brain’s neurochemistry on geopolitics and human interaction should be more subject to study and debate. It almost seems like a truism to state that our brains, and their fallibility, greatly affect human progress and societal advancement. But what is most striking in today’s culture, is the way in which our mind’s reward system is employed by society to encourage economic and political ambition, and to blunt the creative and critical mind.
MDMA Might Be Able to “Reopen” a Part of The Brain That Closes After Puberty
(Dan Robitzski) In the developing brain, there’s a critical period of time when adolescents learn how to socialize. This critical period happens right around the point of sexual maturity in mice, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature. But the scientists also found that they could re-open that window by giving adult mice a single dose of the drug MDMA — a finding that could point to new treatments for humans.
What are the Functions of the Hypothalamus?
(Explore Your Mind) The hypothalamus is an area of the brain that has many functions despite its small size. It plays an important role in the production of hormones. In addition, it helps stimulate many important processes.
Six Curious Brain Facts You Probably Didn’t Know
(Explore Your Mind) For a long time, the brain was believed to be in charge of our entire body, including memories and emotions. Philosophers believed that the brain contained the soul. However, some very interesting things have been discovered throughout history. In this article, we’ll go over some of those curious brain facts that you probably didn’t know.
How Does Nicotine Affect the Brain?
(Exploring your Mind) Nicotine is a substance that triggers an artificial sense of well-being. At the same time, it makes the brain age prematurely and this, in turn, affects some intellectual abilities.
Your Brain During a Spiritual Experience
(Exploring your Mind) The concept of “spiritual experience” is subjective, which makes it hard to study. One team of scientists, however, decided to look at what happens to the brain during a “spiritual experience,” independent of how you define what that is. The results offer some insight into the role spirituality might play in mental health.
Neuroscientists Make “Jaw-Dropping” Discovery of “Wireless” Brain Communication
(Elias Marat) A team of researchers studying the brain have discovered a brand new and previously unidentified form of “wireless” neural communications that self-propagates across brain tissue and is capable of leaping from neurons in one part of the brain to another, even if the connection between them has been severed.
The Neuroscience Behind Creating Your Reality — How Beliefs Affect You and How to Change Them
(Brooklyn Storme, PhD) Have you ever wondered why two people can share the exact same situation, yet experience it differently? Neural pathways are often described as a type of super-highway of nerve cells, the function of which is to transmit messages. Much like a walking track in the bush, the more you walk over it, the more trodden and clear it becomes. The same thing happens when we engage in behaviors such as thinking certain thoughts with a high degree of regularity.
Spiritual Beliefs Are Linked to a ‘Protective’ Effect Against Depression in The Brain
(Carly Cassella) Religious beliefs, or a sense of spirituality, may cushion some people’s brains against depression, according to new research.