Brain And Consciousness Research - June 2009 Archives

Does quantum mechanics show a connection between the human mind and the cosmos? (6/30/2009)

'Quantum Gods' analyzes purported link between physics and cosmic consciousness ...> Full Article

Researchers identify parallel mechanism monkeys and humans use to recognize faces (6/29/2009)

This study with rhesus monkeys suggests the human ability to distinguish faces is 30+ million years old ...> Full Article

Brain plasticity: Changes and resets in homeostasis (6/29/2009)

In an article published in the June 25 edition of the journal Neuron, researchers at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, have found that synaptic plasticity, long implicated as a device for "change" in the brain, may also be essential for stability. ...> Full Article

Remembering what to remember and what to forget (6/28/2009)

People with mild Alzheimer's have trouble focusing on what's most important ...> Full Article

In 'reading' a gaze, what we believe changes what we see (6/27/2009)

In primates including ourselves, the ability to register where others are looking is key in social circles. And, according to a new report published online on June 25 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, the way our brains process gaze-direction is much more sophisticated than a simple eyes-right vs. eyes-left. ...> Full Article

Mouse model provides clues to human language development (6/26/2009)

Scientists of the German Mouse Clinic at Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen have made a major contribution to understanding human language development. Using a comprehensive screening method, they studied a mouse model carrying a "humanized version" of a key gene associated with human language. ...> Full Article

Ability to literally imagine oneself in another's shoes may be tied to empathy (6/25/2009)

New research from Vanderbilt University indicates the way our brain handles how we move through space -- including being able to imagine literally stepping into someone else's shoes -- may be related to how and why we experience empathy toward others. ...> Full Article

Morning people and night owls show different brain function: University of Alberta study (6/24/2009)

Are you a "morning person" or a "night owl?"Scientists at the University of Alberta have found that there are significant differences in the way our brains function depending on whether we're early risers or night owls. ...> Full Article

Brain represents tools as temporary body parts, study confirms (6/23/2009)

Researchers have what they say is the first direct proof of a very old idea: that when we use a tool -- even for just a few minutes -- it changes the way our brain represents the size of our body. In other words, the tool becomes a part of what is known in psychology as our body schema, according to a report published in the June 23 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. ...> Full Article

Scientists capture the first image of memories being made (6/22/2009)

The ability to learn and to establish new memories is essential to our daily existence and identity; enabling us to navigate through the world. A new study by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University and University of California, Los Angeles, has captured an image for the first time of a mechanism, specifically protein translation, which underlies long-term memory formation. ...> Full Article

Neural noise created during binocular rivalry (6/21/2009)

Neural "noise" may cause you to miss important changes in your environment when you are concentrating on something else, new research indicates. ...> Full Article

Researchers visualize formation of a new synapse (6/20/2009)

'Movie' shows dynamics of molecule implicated in autism ...> Full Article

Brain detects happiness more quickly than sadness (6/19/2009)

People make value judgments about others based on their facial expressions. A new study, carried out be Spanish and Brazilian researchers, shows that -- after looking at a face for only 100 milliseconds -- we can detect expressions of happiness and surprise faster than those of sadness or fear. ...> Full Article

The sweet taste of uncertainty: Winners enjoy waiting to discover what they've won (6/18/2009)

You've just won a prize. Would you like to find out what it is right away, or wait until later? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says most people are happier waiting. ...> Full Article

Putting a name to a face may be key to brain's facial expertise (6/17/2009)

Our tendency to see people and faces as individuals may explain why we are such experts at recognizing them, new research indicates. This approach can be learned and applied to other objects as well. ...> Full Article

Brain energy use key to understanding consciousness, researchers find (6/16/2009)

High levels of brain energy are required to maintain consciousness, a finding which suggests a new way to understand the properties of this still mysterious state of being, Yale University researchers report. ...> Full Article

If the shoe flits, duck: A real-life example of humans' dual vision system (6/14/2009)

The reactions of former President George W. Bush and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki when an Iraqi reporter flung his shoes toward the two men during a Baghdad news conference confirmed the results of an experiment being conducted by neuroscientists. ...> Full Article

Naps with rapid eye movement sleep increase receptiveness to positive emotion (6/13/2009)

Naps with rapid eye movement sleep refresh the brain's empathetic sensitivity for evaluating human emotions by decreasing a negative bias and amplifying recognition of positive emotions, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, at SLEEP 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. ...> Full Article

A voice only a mom could love: New insight into maternal auditory cortex plasticity (6/12/2009)

A recent study reveals changes specific to the mother mouse brain that may improve the detection of isolation calls from a mouse baby. The research, published by Cell Press in the June 11 issue of the journal Neuron, provides fascinating new insight into how call-evoked neural inhibition plays a key role in the brain's representation of this important communication vocalization. ...> Full Article

Study: Depending on the problem, media may be an escape or a way to cope (6/11/2009)

The last thing most people in a bad love affair want to do is to read informational articles about romance. But people facing financial difficulties often choose to read articles which may help them cope with their money problems. Those are some of the findings of a new study that aimed to discover whether people use the news media to escape from their problems or find information on how to cope with them. ...> Full Article

Embracing your primitive nature can help in fight against depression (6/7/2009)

Stephen Ilardi of the University of Kansas thinks depression primarily stems from modern living: social isolation, fast-food diets, physical inactivity, sleep deprivation and less exposure to the outdoors. ...> Full Article

Single women gaze longer (6/6/2009)

Neuroscientists found woman's partner status relevant for her interest in the opposite sex ...> Full Article

People who wear rose-colored glasses see more, University of Toronto study shows (6/5/2009)

A University of Toronto study provides the first direct evidence that our mood literally changes the way our visual system filters our perceptual experience suggesting that seeing the world through rose-colored glasses is more biological reality than metaphor. ...> Full Article

Discoveries shed new light on how the brain processes what the eye sees (6/4/2009)

Researchers at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University in Newark have identified the need to develop a new framework for understanding "perceptual stability" and how we see the world with their discovery that visual input obtained during eye movements is being processed by the brain but blocked from awareness. ...> Full Article

Protein linked to mental retardation controls synapse maturation, plasticity (6/3/2009)

Oligophrenin-1, a Rho-GTPase-activating protein, stabilizes postsynaptic AMPA receptors ...> Full Article

First live 'cloning' of faces challenges assumptions about human behavior (6/3/2009)

Computer scientists at the University of East Anglia have developed a new way of cloning facial expressions during live conversations to help us better understand what influences our behavior when we communicate with others. ...> Full Article

Scientists reveal how neuronal activity is timed in brain's memory-making circuits (6/2/2009)

Study shows theta oscillations move across the hippocampus as traveling waves ...> Full Article

Flipping the brain's addiction switch without drugs (6/1/2009)

Researchers investigating how the brain becomes drug dependent have now implicated a naturally occurring protein, a dose of which allowed them to get rats hooked with no drugs at all. The finding could suggest ways to medically counteract the effects of drug addiction. ...> Full Article

Long-distance brain waves focus attention (6/1/2009)

Just as our world buzzes with distractions -- from phone calls to e-mails to tweets -- the neurons in our brain are bombarded with messages. Research has shown that when we pay attention, some of these neurons begin firing in unison, like a chorus rising above the noise. Now, a study in the May 29 issue of Science reveals the likely brain center that serves as the conductor of this neural chorus. ...> Full Article