Working with mice, researchers at the University of Toyama were able to generate artificial links between unrelated pieces of information stored in memory, resulting in long-lasting changes in behavior. The work, published in in Cell Reports, may point the way to the development of new treatments for disorders such as PTSD, where the main symptoms […]
Recent studies into Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have found a lack of synchronization (“connectivity”) between different parts of the brain that normally work in tandem. But other studies have found the exact opposite – over-synchronization in the brains of those with ASD. Now, new research published in Nature Neuroscience suggests that the various reports – […]
A study by University of Texas scientists has found that chronic marijuana users have a smaller orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), but increased brain connectivity. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe how they compared adult marijuana users and gender- and age-matched non-users, accounting for potential biases such as gender, age and ethnicity. […]
It turns out that offsetting the music soundtrack of TV adverts by an imperceptible amount makes the adverts significantly more memorable in viewers’ minds. Researcher Andy Rogers, from the University of Huddersfield (UK), detailed his discovery at the International Computer Music Association’s 2014 conference, held in Athens. “The audience at the conference were very interested […]
How closely does the relationship between people and their dogs mirror the parent-child relationship? A new study has been investigating differences in how parts of the brain are activated when women view images of their children and of their own dogs. The researchers, from Massachusetts General Hospital, have detailed their findings in the journal PLOS […]
Using non-invasive techniques, an international team of researchers have demonstrated direct brain-to-brain communication between two human subjects located 5,000 miles apart. Their experiment, detailed in the journal PLOS ONE, involved reading the brain activity of the first subject, transmitting that information over the Internet, and then “inserting” the information into the brain of the second […]
Spinal cord injuries that result in paraplegia may one day be treatable using a technique that bypasses the damaged neural pathways that connect the brain to the spinal locomotor center. The researchers, from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Japan, have demonstrated how the computer-controlled bypass circuit allowed a subject to use hand movements […]
For the first time, researchers have measured the level of entropy for different networks in the brain under the influence of psilocybin, the psychedelic chemical in magic mushrooms. They found that activity in the more primitive brain network linked to emotional thinking became more pronounced – a pattern of activity similar to that observed in […]
Free will, the ability that we believe we have to make choices – and mistakes – might arise from simple random fluctuations in the brain’s background electrical noise, say neuroscientists from the University of California, Davis. “How do we behave independently of cause and effect?” said Jesse Bengson, a researcher at the University’s Center for […]
Researchers have long known that young brains are malleable enough to re-wire the circuits that process sensory information. For example, a young child who is blind develops a much keener sense of hearing. Now, researchers have overturned conventional wisdom, showing that adult brains can alsobe re-wired. The findings, published in the journal Neuron, may lead […]
