The human brain’s chain-of-command relies on not one, but two quite different – although complementary – command-and-control areas, according to neuroscientists at the Washington University School of Medicine. These two “commanders” are brain regions that do not consult each other but still work toward a common purpose – the control of voluntary, goal-oriented behavior. This […]
Scientists from the University of Bristol and University College London have found that treating mice with soil bacteria altered their behavior in a way similar to that produced by antidepressant drugs. The findings, reported in Neuroscience, indicate that the dung-loving bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae activated a group of neurons in the brain that produce serotonin. It […]
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports in Science that some smokers with damage to a part of the brain called the insula have their addiction to nicotine practically eliminated. The findings provide new insights into the role the insula plays in smoking and could lead to new smoking cessation treatments. “Research that identifies […]
The human brain underwent explosive growth after we split from our chimp cousins, but the pace of evolutionary change among the thousands of genes expressed in brain tissue has since slowed, says a new study in PLOS Biology. The researchers involved speculate that the higher complexity of the biochemical network in the brain places strong […]
Scientists may have finally discovered why the neurons in the human brain seem to fire in utterly random ways. In the latest issue ofNature Neuroscience, University of Rochester researchers show how the brain’s cortex uses seemingly chaotic – or “noisy” – signals to represent the ambiguities of the real world; and that this noise dramatically […]
The phrase “easy on the eye” may also mean that an image is easy on the mind, as it seems that judgments of attractiveness depend on ease of mental processing. At least, that what experiments led by Piotr Winkielman, of the University of California, San Diego, suggest. “What you like is a function of what […]
Researchers from State University New York Downstate Medical Center have discovered a molecular mechanism that appears to be responsible for maintaining long-term memories in the brain. Writing in Science magazine, they explained how they inhibited the molecule and thereby erased long-term memories; in much the same way as a computer disc might be erased. Interestingly, […]
Neuroscientists at the University of Southern California have proposed a simple explanation for the pleasure of grasping a new concept: The brain is getting its fix. According to researcher Irving Biederman, the “click” of comprehension triggers a biochemical cascade that rewards the brain with a shot of natural opium-like substances. Writing in American Scientist, Biederman […]
Researchers working in a relatively new area of neuroscience have made progress in understanding why some people are more prone to risk taking than others. “Neuroeconomics” is a relatively new area of neuroscience that incorporates the expertise of neuroscientists, economists, psychologists and psychiatrists. Researchers in these fields are collectively trying to understand how the brain […]
Confirming what women have known for years, researchers have found that changes in hormone levels can have dramatic effects on the female brain. While the new findings lend weight to the old time-of-the-month cliché, they should also raise concerns about the effects that various hormonal treatments, such as the birth control pill, may have on […]
